[The Embryo of the Legendary-grade Felhorn likes your Mana. It shows good progress.] [Hatching progress: 2%]
Broken nodded quietly, allowing his Mana to be drawn into the egg until it was completely depleted.
[The embryo likes the Mana, it wants more.]
Even as an embryo, it’s already got quite the appetite, he thought.
He rested again, waiting for his Mana to regenerate before supplying it to the egg once more.
[The embryo feels full. It doesn’t want Mana right now. It needs to be left alone-don’t come closer.]
Broken furrowed his brow, then walked away from the egg. How long had he been there? Three or four hours? It felt like such a waste of time. Damn, he couldn’t help but think he could be using his time more efficiently if only he had a blacksmith workstation set up here. He sighed in frustration.
What could he do while waiting? He pondered. He wanted to explore the cave further, but that would mean leaving the egg unguarded, and he was worried about monsters or other dangers that could appear unexpectedly. He needed someone to watch over it if he wanted to do anything else.
Summon? No, none of his summons were reliable enough to guard the egg for an extended period. If only Polly were here, that would be helpful.
He could just laze around, eat, and let his Mana and Stamina recover while leveling up in the process. That was one of the perks of being a Sloth Champion, after all. But the idea of doing nothing for an entire month was already stressing him out.
Sure, in one month he’d get something incredible. A month in the game-yet still, it was a whole month!
He was already feeling the pressure, and he hadn’t even been in the cave for half a day yet. [Nature’s Herald (Active Skill)]
He summoned a Poison Ivy Rat, a small creature covered in vines of poisonous ivy. Its dark green fur had patterns like leaves, and its glowing toxic green eyes gleamed. The rat was only slightly smaller than a normal cat, but its small size made it agile and quick on its feet.
Broken sent the rat into the cave to explore.
“Gaia, can you tell if something kills the rat, or maybe let me know if it finds something?” he asked.
“Master, I will know if the summon is killed by something, but no, I don’t have vision through its eyes—at least not yet,” Gaia responded.
“Okay, so you need more upgrades to do that,” he nodded in understanding.
He continued, “Please have the rat return to me if it finds anything-especially monsters.” Broken kept repeating the same routine-sending the Poison Ivy Rat deeper into the cave, pushing it as far as possible before the summon duration ran out. The goal was to randomly search for anything lurking within. After countless attempts, mostly out of boredom, he began to conclude that there were no monsters inside after all.
Marlene had already confirmed that earlier, right before they entered the cave. But again, Broken found it hard to fully trust something he hadn’t seen with his own eyes.
“Ouahhh…” he yawned, feeling the weight of the monotony. frёeweɓηovel.coɱ
Maybe he should learn a new skill while waiting? Like dancing? Wait! He could practice battle moves with different types of weapons! Yes, that would be a much better use of his time. Even though training in the game wouldn’t build his real muscles, it could still sharpen his senses and improve his proficiency with various weapons while he waited.
He started with the spear, smiling as he finally found something productive to do to fend off the boredom.
One day passed just like that.
Damn! Only one day had passed? Motherf***.
Broken decided to head back to the outer part of the cave, trying to figure out what else he could do. Was this a sign that he actually needed another human around to kill his boredom? Did this mean he wasn’t as antisocial as he thought? No, he could easily survive 2-3 months alone if he had blacksmithing work to keep him busy. But doing nothing? That was different. That drove him crazy.
From a distance, Broken could hear loud voices-members of the Shadow Wolves shouting in frustration, some angry, others sounding disappointed.
What happened to them? The sounds grew closer, and soon the figures of the Shadow Wolves came into view.
“Damn, I almost got wiped out by that monster,” one of them muttered.
“Sorry, my Stamina’s depleted, I couldn’t heal in time,” Calista replied, her voice laced with fear.
“Haha, it’s fine, Calista. We’re lucky we made it out. Let’s just wait until things calm down,” someone reassured her.
As Broken approached, the group noticed him, though most were too wrapped up in their complaints to say much. Subaru, however, spoke up awkwardly.
“Hi, Broken. Hey, how are you holding up there, man? Having fun yet? Haha,” Subaru said with a forced laugh.
Broken glanced at them and noticed a few were badly injured-one had a deep gash on their thigh, clearly from a fight.
Without a word, Broken summoned his Fern Rabbit. The small creature hopped around his feet before bounding toward the injured members, as if knowing exactly what to do. The rabbit approached them, and moments later, they watched in awe as it began to heal their wounds.
An awkward silence settled over the group as the Fern Rabbit healed them one by one. The swordsman, who had suffered the worst injury, was now fully healed. He stood up and approached Broken.
“You helped me. I feel so ashamed for how we treated you at the start,” he admitted awkwardly.
“Hahaha, see? I told you, Broken is really something special!” Subaru chimed in with a laugh. Another person stood up, the tanker. “Thanks, Broken. You’ve helped us a lot,” he said softly. One of the others, Archer, an archer who had also been healed by the Fern Rabbit, remained silent, clenching his fists in frustration. “Damn!” he muttered, then walked over to Broken. “I don’t know how to make up for my mistakes. I’m sorry if I ever spoke badly about you. And… thanks,” he said, his voice stiff.
Broken nodded slowly, and a faint smile appeared naturally on his face. For some reason, the warmth of their gratitude touched him. Having grown up mostly hearing insults and harsh words, hearing a simple “thank you” always stirred something strange yet comforting within
him.
“Come on, Broken, join us. Have you eaten yet? Haha,” Subaru said, pulling him over to the
campfire.
Broken let himself be led, sitting down near the fire as the rest of the group gathered around. Only Marlene remained off to the side, sitting on a chair with her legs crossed, a glass and bottle of drink in hand, watching the scene unfold with her usual calm demeanor.
“Come on, Broken, I’ll share my food with you! Hahaha, it’s the best of the bunch-only for
you,” Subaru said with a laugh.
“No, it’s okay, I brought my own,” Broken replied.
He then pulled out a roasted meat from his inventory, its mouthwatering aroma instantly
filling the air and gently tickling everyone’s noses.
“Woah, why does that smell so good? Damn, did you head into the cave just to enjoy that all
by yourself? Hahaha,” Subaru teased.
The others joined in, laughing along with the banter.