13 Skin over skin

The prior situation was beyond embarrassing, so it wasn't a surprise how both of them decided to avoid it as a topic.

And of course since they evaded it, they could only progress towards the other little goal they had.

Although it took a bit of effort, she managed to lift William up on his feet. And this time, the boy's sprains didn't kick in as hard.

Once he stood up, it was far easier to prepare the young man since he could avoid any kind of pain. The healer didn't really have to worry about anything.

First Olivia covered him with one, admittedly thick, layer of dark leather armour. It coated his entire upper body and it fit him like a glove.

"I don't think this fancy shirt can stop those needle heads," William expressed.

Afterwards he gazed at a mutilated carcass of a dragon sapling, his face carried nothing but disgust through that short glance.

Olivia snapped the other's focus away as she softly spoke, "Don't worry about that."

After she attained the boy's attention, she said. "This leather is made out of stone tailed titano-vipers, it takes like three years to dry this material out."

While he sunk in a bit of confusion, the young man questioned. "So I'm guessing, snake leather is strong? Isn't it weird to wear the skin of our own kind? It kinda seems like..."

"Cannibalism? Yes it does look like that, but titano-vipers are not our kind." The lady admitted.

William noticed that they had gone off topic, but this was a good opportunity to reap some information.

Likewise, he had to weigh in. "Then who is our kind? There are many snakes in the city, many colours. This group is all mixed up as well."

"Our kind... is whoever follows king Kantemos, his allies are also our friends, you should know that already." Olivia pressured.

As he was eager to push this topic a little bit further, he taunted. "So the titano-vipers are against us? They don't like our king?" 

With that familiar soft tone, the healer sealed this topic swiftly. "They are animals, not snakezoids so they won't play nice. We can't even tame some small bugs, as you can see."

"Oh... so there are dumber snakes huh," He muttered, barely anyone heard the boy.

That was when the system flashed a smaller tab across the guest's eyes. This portion included bits of information, specifically, about the same snake these people just talked about.

The animal's name was on the title, and underneath it he could see tiny sentences. This tab included everything they just mentioned about this animal.

But for some odd reason, the information was limited. It was extremely small in comparison to the tabs that William saw before. There wasn't even a picture of the animal here, so this chart wasn't so helpful.

For that matter he had to question, "System, why is there so little to read about these stone tailed snakes? Don't you know anything about them?"

Without a single stutter, the lady in his head described. [In this world, I have information about almost anything, but there are certain aspects which you have to figure out yourself.]

Although it almost sounded poetic, the system also added. [The species which this world proudly or unproudly carries, is a continuous adventure you'll have to explore by yourself.]

While the lady in his head described that portion, the young snakezoid already browsed through the rest of this category.

On the left portion of his vision, there was an option which was labelled "species".

Once he selected that tiny thing, another tab swiftly opened up. It included a small list of creatures, specifically, the ones which William had been into close contact with.

The list barely had ten animals in it, and each selectable option didn't carry much information either. But it proved the system's point through and through, this collection had been gathered up almost manually.

"I never saw any of this animal stuff before," He mumbled.

And he was quick to understand that all of this data had been gathered up earlier, before he even bought the visual information tabs. So perhaps this category was partially linked to his memory?

However, as she was fact-oriented, the system reminded. [You didn't have enough time to explore the visual charts and maps, that healer interrupted you earlier.]

Coincidentally, that was when Olivia spoke out. "Okay, now we can put some iron on you!"

Through the aid of a single thought, the boy managed to remove these tabs from his vision.

After a couple of seconds, he saw a pile of metal which was laid out a couple of feet away. It was apparent that the healer had put in a bit of muscle to bring these things here.

That aside, she aimed to be efficient as well, so it only took her a few moments to sort the plates out. In a matter of seconds, she grabbed a couple of shoulder pads.

And as if carefulness was her second name, she suited the boy with an extensive amount of care. One could not imagine that she was the same girl who fell over the other, just a moment ago.

Through a bit of skill-handed work, she strapped the boy with every selection of armour available. He carried freckled, dark-grey iron plates on most parts of his body, apart from his stomach and buttocks.

The leather layer he put on earlier, would protect the boy from lethal blows against the belly anyway, so it didn't seem worth it to limit his mobility.

That was why he had not been suited around the buttock area either. Enemies don't usually attack there, and it would be difficult to walk if he covered that portion with iron.

"All done?" William pressured, he urged to sit down already.

"Tired ha?" The healer lady questioned.

And with a casual tone she chattered along, "It's probably because you didn't eat anything, I'll get you something right away."

"Okay but can I sit?" He asked once more, as he felt that his prior question was ignored.

In an instant this good woman answered, "Not yet."

Another healer approached them at that moment. Some lady dropped a heavy chunk of brown fur near the two snakezoids, and then she efficiently went ahead to handle some other duty.

Olivia picked this fur up and dusted it a little bit, right before she sorted it out. Afterwards she slowly put this apparent coat around the boy. Once she was done, it seemed reasonable for William to sit down.

"Is it really smart to wear fur in this heat? We're in summer, right?" The younger one was quick to complain.

As if she expected that question, the lady softly answered. "This is fur from the great brown bears of our mountains, it will help you scare these bugs away."

"What?" He questioned as he was genuinely confused.

"Oh you didn't know?" The healer asked.

And then she slowly described, "These bears are fierce hunters, they can kill hundreds of bugs alone, so the dragon saplings fear and avoid them."

"Let's hope they mistake me as one of those big guys," He hoped.

With a hint of excitement, Olivia explained. "Even if they won't, this fur will protect you. The only reason why bears are good bug hunters is because of their fur."

"How does that work?" William followed along.

In brief, the lady answered. "The bugs get tangled on this thick fur, so they can't hurt the bears."

"I'm gonna be much safer this time... and sweatier. It's worth it to stink I guess." He muttered.

"You're funny!" Olivia complimented once more, right after she unleashed a raw laughter.

While the other enjoyed the sweet laugh of this fine woman, he also saw a notification pop up on his vision.

It briefly cited, [You successfully obtained a fur coat, so the side-task related to it has been marked as complete]

On a seperate little paragraph, the tab described. [Likewise, you received fifty system points as a reward]

And at the bottom a line specified, [Total system points = seven hundred]

"I kinda forgot about these task things," He admitted.

And then he questioned through a thought, "There was another one I should finish, right?"

Through a visual tab, the system wrote. [Two actually. If you find a library that contains information about the giant blue-bee and the hantonic disease, you'll get a few more system points.]

As he aimed to embrace realism, William expressed. "Doubt that there's a library out here, I can't be that lucky."

[Luck is weird... Anyway, since you bought what was left of the secondary upgrades, other purchases have been unlocked,] The lady in his head described.

And then she specified, [These ones circle around the intelligence category, you're gonna love them.]