Cutting It Up

Meditating proved to be a very welcome experience yet again. Malik managed to do so almost all night again. He also felt the same reinvigorated sense of self that he had before too. It was an amazing thing, magic. It could make him feel as if he could fight a hundred men. 

While he was unsure what he had gained, that changed very quickly when the guide popped up.

'Checking your status often will help you gauge the experience you gain through training, quests, and daily life.'

'Name: Malik

Race: eldritch vessel

Age: 2 days

Class: none

Level: 3, 15%

Attack: 13

Defense: 18

Intelligence: 16

Health: 36

Charm: 12

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.

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Skills: passive

'Scholar elephant memory, Siren's cord, mental fortress, Spirit veins, Humanoid slime stomach

Skills: Active

Wyvern talons' 

'The progress is substantial due to the vast amount of learning the host has done in the past day alone. Continuing this and following the three quest objectives will greatly boost strength again.'

Malik didn't have anything to say. He felt accomplished. He may still be weak in the grand scheme of things, but this was amazing. He had gained so much already!

It could only get better though. The more that he pursued strength through learning, the more he would grow. He could spend weeks learning just in the city of light alone. That would make him very powerful. 

'Due to being the first ever eldritch vessel race, it is recommended that the host gains real battle experience sooner than later. Many threats exist within and outside the world.'

This was unsettling. 

"I'm human. Don't call me some eldritch vessel monster thing." His anger and disgust could have been felt if anyone was there to witness it. Luckily, the system guide had not responded. Or else Malik might lose it. 

Noticing the wyvern talons starting to appear because of his anger, Malik took some deep breaths. 

The idea that threats could appear before him in the back of his mind.

After a moment to calm himself, he stood up and found that Clara was just coming down the hallways. "Good morning Clara!" 

Seeing Malik awake and much more energetic proved to Clara that they had chosen the right methods to help him. Welcoming him in the guild with a job was enough to begin freeing him from whatever torture he had undergone. 

"It is a good morning!" Clara's smile definitely brightened Malik's day already. "I'll show you how to get to the butchery area. They have a large open section near the trading ground entrance. They have to accept the larger monster bodies that way. Or else they would be able to get them inside where it's cleaner."

"That means the meat has less chance to rot, get dirty, or attract pests to the guild or city as a whole." Clara hummed a little after explaining this and leading Malik to a back staircase. 

When they got down the stairs, the smell of blood hit him hard. Metallic sharp and somewhat unsettling. Yet, also exciting. His heart beat a little more than what it should have and Malik knew this. It made him unsettled. 

"I know, so many hanging monster pieces and the smell of blood can do that to anyone. But the butchers trained very well to handle it. Actually, pardon me for a moment." Clara took a deep breath. 

"Ralph! Get your worthless body over here and do something of use for once!" The drastic change was nothing that Malik had expected Clara capable of. She was always so business like. So refined. 

"Oh to the dark underworld of death with you woman! I work all day just to hear your bitter voice? Do you really need to come down here and cause me trouble when you should be out finding yourself a boyfriend or something?" 

And now Malik understood. The gravelly voice mixed with the rude attitude was why Clara was willing to drop any facade of kindness. This was one of those people that needed a blunt and harsh encounter to understand things. 

"This is Ralph, he doesn't do enough work for what he's worth. He will teach you the basics of monster anatomy along with butchery. Please stop by the front desk before you go to the dagger arts class." Clara hopped away. She didn't even give Ralph a glance.

"You the runt that Alan bragged about?" Ralph stared Malik down. His piercing brown eyes with long tied back brown hair and scraggly beard made it seem he was better suited to a bar than a workplace. However, not a drop of blood was on him. A sign that as a butcher, his skills were incredibly high.

"I'm Malik. Alan said if I learn more knife skills from you, I can learn dagger art related skills easier." Seeing as he had no choice, Malik spoke first. 

"Whatever, put on a hide apron and grab a set of knife holsters." There wasn't even a further glance. Malik rushed to grab the thick brown apron made of a tough monster hide. The knife holster was like any tool belt. Instead of tools though, it had various sharpened and longer knives. Each exuding the experience of years in the butchery. 

"We receive various small game from pest elimination jobs. We are focusing on the rock spiked lizard first. It came in from a top tier adventurer due to it making a den near a merchant trail by the mountains." 

The large body was the size of a horse. Various brown rock like horns protruded from the tougher brown scaled skin. Otherwise, it was what anyone would expect from a lizard. 

In a swift swing of a longer blade, Ralph cut off the head and passed it to the side. "Rich nobles will pay a nice price for a mounted trophy like that. We'll refine it later." 

 "The vertebrae are easier to cut through than the bone. Cut between them. Sever the muscles and the tendons. Then hang for an hour to allow blood to drain from the wound." Ralph used a knife to point out various body parts.

With his rough attitude aside, he was extremely knowledgeable. Every muscle he explained had different characteristics. Softer muscles and how to preserve their tenderness. Tougher Muscles and how to easily cut through them. 

All of this was like fuel for Malik as they progressed. "These tougher scales will be discarded as building materials. If they could be cut in half they could be sold better to blacksmiths. But using that much force would damage the knives. It's better to accept that and make a profit while saving the time and repair costs."

A slight hesitation made Ralph look at Malik a little more carefully. Seeing that Ralph was paying attention made Ralph like him a little more. However, when he saw Malik hesitating, he wondered what the reason for it was. "What's stopping you? Just ask what you need to ask." 

"Can I use a skill?" Malik spoke carefully wondering if he would be stopped. 

"If it gets the job done sooner, then use it however you can." Ralph grumbled a little since it seemed foolish for Malik to wonder if he could use a skill at all.

However, the slightly worried look on Malik's face as if to say there they were more to this than there should be. Regardless, Malik stepped forward and raised his hands. 

The wyvern talons appeared as Malic used one talon to cut around the scale and under the spike on the rock spike lizard's body. His talon easily sliced through the tougher earth armor that the knives would be damaged by. Malik even perfectly pulled out the spikes one by one without even breaking a sweat. He just followed what he had been told. 

"Those spikes are worth triple what we would have sold them for. Archers would pay a hefty price for those since they are nearly perfectly cut out. Kid, you have a goddamn job if you keep working like this!" Ralph slammed his hand on to Malik's back. 

It seemed money was just enough to get Ralph's approval. 

For a moment, Malik looked at the talons as if he was looking at the most disgusting thing ever. There was a small smirk though. At the end. Just for a split second where Malik was glad that he had this skill. He could make use of this skill that he had never wanted. The skill he felt was not right for him. 

As the pair went further in to the dissection, Malik found that Ralph was saying more and more information. The best ways to handle a knife. The best ways to get used to cutting through flesh or joints. Even the techniques to better extract delicate organs that some people would eat as delicacies. 

The knowledge felt like Malik was being ushered in to a whole new aspect of the world. One that made him curious about everything he had ever eaten. Everything that he could ever recall eating. How the food had been prepared. How it had been brought to a kitchen. All of it. 

"Hey, how are these monsters hunted?" Malik couldn't help but ask this when he became too curious.