Departure

"Aha!! Checkmate!!" Rhean then went to make a small victory dance as she looked smug against Ashea,

"Again! I wasn't focused and you got lucky!" Ashea then rearranged the pieces for another game. Brendel and Kent were playing dart with stone knives, and Brad is in the corner making stone tools. He might have metals now but having stone tools could still prove useful, metal is scare now that the production of worm poop is found to be very slow. So he still made some stone tools now and then and stored them in a room where he stores most of his weapons.

This was how the five people spend their day to pass the winter, which is now gradually calming down as last month storms and blizzards were going by non-stop. They did some tunnel searching and even got to fight some large insects, some were creepy while some became food after Brad tried a large pill bug and tasted it. It became a new favorite by the five that they found more and preserved the meats. Some though were very unappetizing.

The four platinum adventurers had spent three months here in this homely place within the cold icy winter. They got to know Brad better seeing all the hard work he had done for the past months. Brendel even got to learn how to make wild glue and stone tools because she found these knowledge to be very important for adventurers. Kent even watched how Brad made more metal tools for daily life.

Getting that much metal made Brad able to practice and hone his blacksmithing skills. From Knives, bats, swords, shields, tongs, cast iron pans, large pots, woks and even a grill. Due to the presence of the four Brad had to butcher one of the young boars and some Dodos. The feed he had prepared for winter is still abundant enough to last for three more months. Bread grew larger up to 1.5 meters tall which made it possible for Brad to ride him thus made a saddle from the many leathers he have left.

Ashea learned how to make simple alcohol and medicinal salves because they had once explored more tunnels before and got into a fight against some large Centipedes that were about ten meters long and a meter wide. Ashea got poisoned due to getting caught of guard thus made Brad perform a series of first aid procedures and take out a herbal extract he made from various herbs. Being unable to heal due to block mana paths made Ashea realize to study more ways of healing.

Rhean was trying to teach Brad magic but he seemed unable to gather mana, this discourage Brad but got over it seeing that he could still do lots of damage with his physical body alone. Kent was able to break through and got Orichalcum level of Mana saturation. Even then he got trashed badly by Brad during their spar, this made the four realized that Brad might be at the top of Orichalcum rank just by his Physical prowess alone.

A bond has been made between the five but the mission they have was to return and see if their work has an effect in the war. Being ignorant of the situation of their people made the four want to go back but only one of them was okay is staying behind. Surprisingly it was Ashea, not the clingy Rhean who has a big crush on Brad or Brendel who sees him a potential mate.

Kent was going back due to his identity as a paladin of the Berond Church, Rhean was a Priestess of the Erlune Shrine and felt the call of her goddess thus must go back to their main shrine and Brendel said she was going back due to have done a great achievement that enabled her to become a war-chief. This world has it's own mystical way of telling a person of their upcoming improvement by giving instinctive feelings within.

It has been a mystery to Scholars this day how they get a feeling or a call from some mysterious entity but it made the positions of Religions in the various races a important matter. Some are good and some are bad, It depends on what the god represents or how their leader of the religion handles their belief. Brad was kinda sad that his new friends were gonna go but Brendel promised once she get's back and become War-chief, she'll find a way to go back here even if she goes alone.

She said to Brad. "I'll be back, I still find you to be very attractive and strong." Brad was flabbergasted at how direct she was but he later learned from Kent that marriage between races in quite common in some kingdoms. He even talked about how some strong women have their own Consortium of lovers. Brad learned more about their culture and he really wanted to go there to sometimes.

He might have many things here that could ensure a bountiful life but his restless soul wanted to get more things that he could add here. He had been wanting to find more spices to make food more appetizing and varry. Sure he could find some here in this forest but not all could be found. He will always need to go to civilization cause it is a nature within humans to be social creatures.

He could make many things with his forge but why make it one by one when he could get some items on cities then put it in his cave to improve his life here. Sure he is far from any kind of settlement but he won't move out as he was comfortable here now. He heard from the four how chaotic it was out there due to Beast Lords fighting but this place did not show any signs at all of large battles taking place.

It was due to his cliff being on a remote corner in the Eagle Kings Territory that has less population of Beast or else there would be dozens of Platinum ranked Beast nesting around here. Even when his son dead this place was close to his former playground thus most animals had steered clear of this place. Some Platinum ranked were left but they were all land Beast. Brad was lucky to have arrived on an easy zone but he still found outside to be dangerous.

He wasn't sure how the three would travel but he kept making tools that'll help them. He thought it would be better if they go before winter is over as this is the time beast are not yet waking up. He made a set of snow gear and prepared the three Boars that had just become two month old. They were nearly a meter tall but they were strong and fast enough to travel the snow. Beeing born and raised by the three adventurers made them able to bond.

Brad was then able to see magic because the three was able to take out some pet contract that they have in hand, they were happy getting gold ranked pets, he also asked one for him and Bread. Only nobles were able to afford gold ranked cubs or adventurers that had saved lots of money to be able afford this kind of beast cubs.

Pretty sure they would be the envy of their friends when they get back cause they only have one month left before winter ends and they planned to go two weeks before it is gone. Kent has estimated that they could get to the Eastern Settlements in one week if the Boars are travelling at full speed.

They might be small but Brad had seen them charge like tanks driven by Nascar drivers. He did see the Large Alpha Boar fight of many Terror Birds by itself and still some out on top so Brad was assured that even if these Boars are still young they are sturdy and fast enough to travel very far. He also fed them some of his hidden booster potions (elk dick wine) so their stamina's would improve very fast.