Flap! Flap! Flap!
A huge bird with a wingspan of more or less two meters landed on someone’s arms.
“So…are we almost there?” Michael said while looking at the huge eagle perched on Storm Moonlight’s arm with an envious gaze, and he wasn’t the only one, as almost all of them except for Dylan is looking at the former’s pet with the same eyes as Michael.
After all, a pet that could share what it sees to its owner is quite a rarity in the game, as they are the best for scouting and tracking preys, and what’s more, the said pet is very similar to one of the most dangerous birds of prey in the real world, the Golden Eagle.
But in the game, the bird’s name is called Star Eagle, and they were called that because of the unique star pattern on their foreheads.
Aside from Storm Moonlight, Michael is the only one among those who had seen a full-grown Star Eagle before, and the place where he had seen them before is when he was roaming around at one of the military barracks back when he was still at Sunrise Empire.
One of Sunrise Empire’s armies actually consists of a brigade of soldiers riding on the back of full-grown Star Eagles that has a wingspan of eight meters and stands at five meters tall.
And because of this elite army of the empire, they were able to rule the skies above their empire and stood over almost all of the kingdom in the continent.
On the other hand, the one perched on Storm Moonlight’s arm is just an eagle in its juvenile years and hasn’t reached its adulthood yet.
The only thing useful about this juvenile Star Eagle right now is its scouting abilities as its attacking capabilities right now is somewhat lacking.
Storm Moonlight summoned back her pet and looked at Michael and the rest before replying, “Two more days, once we reach that mountain range over, then we’ll be on the lands of the Grey Orcs”
She pointed towards a towering mountain in the distance, which certainly doesn’t look that far from where they are standing, but the only problem for them is the snow that piled up around them that reaches their knees which made traversing hard for them as it takes a lot of energy and time just lifting their foot and stepping forward.
After that, the group once again continued on their journey on foot.
“I shouldn’t have agreed to come with you guys”
Dylan who was walking behind Michael complained in a sour tone, as he would raise his foot awkwardly and step forward like he was trying to avoid stepping on poop.
“You can always go back brat, no one’s stopping you” Chakram sneered with a laugh.
Dylan looked and clicked his tongue and said, “Tsk, I really don’t like you old man”
Chakram just laughed at him in a creepy manner, which gave Dylan the goosebumps.
Hearing what’s happening behind him, Michael just smiled and thought.
‘That old man just loves creeping the shit out of Dylan’
Meanwhile, on the other hand.
Solitary Tempest and Storm Moonlight are having their own conversation by themselves.
“You…want to learn how to cook from me?” Storm Moonlight said in a doubtful tone as she thought that she’s hearing things.
“Yeah, Michael told me that you cooked most of the food back then during your housewarming party. It was really good” Solitary Tempest said with an eager expression on her face.
“I don’t know how to cook. It was Tony who did the cooking back then” Storm Moonlight said, not admitting it.
Solitary Tempest raised an eyebrow and looked at her with doubtful eyes.
“But Michael told me that you were once a three-star Michelin chef”
When Storm Moonlight heard what Solitary Tempest said, a shiver suddenly ran through her spine as she remembered some memories that she long forgot, but she just closed her eyes and continued moving forward as she ignored Solitary Tempest and didn’t say anything on what latter said to her.
Seeing that Storm Moonlight is ignoring her, Solitary Tempest didn’t insist but made a mental note to ask the former again later when the group makes camp to take a rest.
Five hours later.
Midday.
The group made a clearing until they reached a somewhat hard but muddy ground around a group of trees covered in ice and snow.
The trees around them that have the same appearance as an Evergreen Tree, but in this world, these trees are called the Elven Tree.
They are called that because the trees have similarities with the elusive Elven Race, which is their really long lifespan that spans to tens of thousands of years.
Of course, that lifespan only applies to the rare High Elves, as a normal Elf could only live up to two to three thousand years unless they die of course.
And the Elven Tree are the only trees that can live on this land covered in snow and with its harsh climate.
Dylan took out a couple of wooden logs from his [Storage] and quickly started a fire, while Michael on the other hand, took out a small table, then a chunk of meat, and then a knife and started slicing the meats into barbecue chunks.
With Solitary Tempest standing by the side, watching his movements.
“You do know that I can’t cook that well in real life and only inside the game, right?” said Michael to Solitary Tempest with a ridiculing laugh.
The latter just shrugged her shoulders and replied, “Yeah, but the applications are still similar”
Michael just smiled and continued cutting the meat in front of him, then a couple of seconds later, he raised his head and looked towards Storm Moonlight who’s currently having a rest while leaning on a tree.
“Aren’t you going to cook?” he asked.
There’s a reason why Michael wanted her to cook, it was because her [Cooking] skill had already reached Advance Level, meaning the food she cooks has way better effects than what Michael makes, giving whoever eats them better buffs.
After all, Michael’s [Cooking] Skill is only at Intermediate right now.
Storm Moonlight turned her head towards Michael then glanced at Solitary Tempest, where she quickly noticed the eagerness in her eyes while looking at her.
Storm Moonlight calmly said, “I don’t know how to cook”
Michael rolled his eyes when he heard her, “As if, because I clearly remember you boasting about you once being a head ch-Ackk!”
His words were cut short when a snowball suddenly sped past towards him and hit him straight in the face!
The force behind it was so powerful that his head was flung backward.
“Yaah! You old hag!”
Michael angrily glared at Storm Moonlight who had now stood up and currently walking towards them.
Storm Moonlight ignored him and pushed him off to the side, then she looked at Solitary Tempest and said.
“What you’ll see can be applied outside of the game. Of course, the taste would be different as it would be amplified due to the skill effects, so watch closely”
“Yes”
Solitary Tempest looked at her and nodded repeatedly with eagerness.
“What the hell? Is there also a friendly fire here?”
Dylan couldn’t help but mutter to himself, and then looked at Michael and laughed at his sorry sight.
Michael held his face, and the spot that was hit was bright red and he could feel a throbbing pain coming from it, and it was all because his pain sensation is topped at one hundred percent!
Michael was about to open his mouth and cursed at Storm Moonlight once again when he suddenly had a changed of expression and quickly executed a backward roll!
Twang!
Of course, Michael wasn’t the only one who sensed that danger was heading towards them, as all of them quickly distanced themselves from their campground, except for Dylan who was sitting there in front of the fire with a dumbfounded look on his face as he looked at the thing stuck and trembling at the spot where Michael was at earlier.
“W-what the hell!?”
Dylan quickly jumped in shock and ran towards where Michael is and hid behind him as he quickly pulled his wizard staff from his back.
“Bro, did you f*cking see that thing!?”
“Is someone shooting us with a ballista or something!? Because that is a huge ass arrow over there!”
“Damn!”
