26 Skill level up!

They all talked outside the shelter but within the defenses, and everyone had many questions which Lucas and John answered thoroughly.

Their main motive was to tell them everything in order to make everyone more wary of their surroundings.

"We were very lucky as the Kobold was very arrogant, it felt that me and Uncle John were weak. But this won't happen again and I assure you that." Throughout the whole conversation, Lucas was very serious.

"We all have to get adept with our abilities as it's the only way that we can survive in this place," John interjected in between.

Everyone nodded together like sheep, they all were feeling quite strange after getting to know that there were these types of creatures inside this mysterious forest too.

When they were all talking, a growl came from the side. Lucas's eyes went to the location of the sound and he tried his best to control his emotions.

At the side of the camp, Sarah had a blushing face while everyone looked at her.

"Ohh~ Little Sarah is hungry?" Ella asked while giggling. She was trying to lighten the mood as everyone hadn't eaten since the night. As Lucas couldn't see any daylight, it was hard to tell what the time could be but if he had to guess. He was sure that it was afternoon.

"We don't have anything to eat..." Sean spoke from the side to which Lucas and John nodded. They looked at each other with a strange glint in their eyes.

"We could have eaten some herbs or plants but everything I collected is just medicinal. But we do have one thing..." Lucas said, the strange glint still in his eyes.

Ella, Sarah, Barney, and Sean couldn't tell what he was talking about but John did. They had just hunted something that had fresh flesh.

"... It seems morally bad, Lucas. I don't think we can eat it." John said with a somewhat disgusted look. The three immature people still couldn't understand but Ella had caught up already. She looked at the Kobold's corpse that was inside the shelter right at the entrance.

"Do we have anything else to eat, Uncle John? We can't starve and it's been more than twelve hours since we ate..." Lucas snapped a little. He felt that he was being a little rude but he was getting grumpy cause of not eating for a while.

Yet John was a good-hearted person by heart, he had a lot of experience with human emotions and he knew why Lucas was being so grumpy. The end result was that he took the situation with calmness and went on thinking.

"Well, you have that herbalism skill. Does it tell you if something's eatable or not?" John said with eyes alive again as if he had a great plan in his mind.

"... Yeah, I have seen some plants that are not poisonous and are even edible. But the quantity in one won't even make a single person's stomach full."

"But it's not like we have specially gone to look for it, so the idea is not that out of reach." John was still speaking with hope and it was infectious.

'Damn you for giving me other hopes...' Lucas thought. After preparing his mind to eat that Kobold for a long time, John had come up with a different thing.

"Well, we can only try and see," Lucas said with some reluctance. They had just come back yet they needed to go again.

"Okay! Let's not be so hopeless, in a few minutes we will all leave to find food. No one will stay behind, okay?" john said after getting up, he had a grin on his face and even if everyone were hungry, they felt that they could find something due to John.

..

10 minutes later,

Lucas led the group with a decisive stride, orchestrating their movements with precision. Positioned at the forefront, Lucas fortified their defenses, while John stood steadfastly at the rear, ensuring their protection. Sarah positioned herself just ahead of John, always ready to provide the necessary support when called upon. Taking her place before Sarah, Sean stood prepared to bestow his buffs at a moment's notice.

Lastly were Ella and Barney. Ella was a healer with no fighting skill yet she was still important. But Barney was feeling very left out as he was the only one that was useless in the whole group. His skill sounded nice and strong, to move anything in the air whether it be a bowl of food or a weapon.

Lucas looked everywhere and was able to find many things, they came across a tree with many fruits but Lucas knew that they were poisonous ones that could make the skin bloat. He was in a dilemma as they had gone around the shelter to find something closer to them yet it was pretty hard.

"I saw a bunny when I came here at first, the wolf brought a bunny too. Then where are the others?"

"A wolf brought you a bunny?"

"Oh yeah, she was pretty cute you know~"

"Yeah, cute until it bites your leg off."

"Ugh... Lucas, why are you so mean?"

The banter went on for a long while and it was a pretty good way to make time go fast. Before they knew it, Lucas had looked at over 50 plants that had some quality or another.

Many of them gave him a feeling that they were not yet ready to be harvested which he got before so he just made a mental note to check later.

[Skill 'Herbalism' Level up!]

"... huh" Lucas closed his eyes and stopped.

"What huh? I am saying a cheeseburger is better than a burrito."

Lucas did not respond to it and just closed his eyes while still at a stop.

'Ugh... this familiar pain... I hate it...' Lucas was having a severe headache but it was still milder than the first time.

Lucas could tell that the information in his brain about herbalism was upgrading.

"What's wrong, Lucas?" John asked from the back as it had been a minute since he stopped with eyes closed.

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Thanks for reading the chapter!

Ugh, we were so close to a 100 Power stones! But since it reached 70, there will be 2 bonus chapters tomorrow!