When they first started and John gave him another demonstration on what to do, Xinya was sure he could deal with it, but that was before he actually had to handle the monster himself. The action of cutting a monster open, watching the blood ooze from it, feeling a monster"s insides with his own hands, was disturbing.

The first five times, made Xinya s.h.i.+ver just thinking about having to do it again, but on his seventh one, it became second nature to him. He stopped a.s.sociating the monsters as living things but as things that could be eaten. It was a coping mechanism, but with these realistic graphics, n.o.body could fault him for having one.

By the time he was on his 12th one, he was skinning the monsters so skillfully that John started to praise him on his technique. To which Xinya just looked at him, trying not to give a grimace for that acknowledgment, but instead turned his lips up in what could be a sad attempt at a smile.

It was late morning when they were finished skinning all the monsters, and as Xinya finished his last one he couldn"t help but sigh with happiness. He was finished, he didn"t have to listen to anymore tearing of flesh, squelching sound of insides being pulled out or the dripping of blood as it fell to the floor. 

If there was only one thing that he knew right now, it was that he darn sure didn"t want to see any more monster meat, for at least the rest of the week. He was planning a meat party for Melting Snow"s arrival but he would just change his plans. Melting Snow would love anything he makes anyway.

"Thank you so much for your help, I don"t think I would have been able to finish skinning all of these monster carca.s.ses on my own," John said cheerfully, holding out his hand that was red from blood at him.

Gingerly grabbing ahold of John"s hand, Xinya shook it, "You welcome… I guess."

[Quest Complete!!]

Reward: 2500 exp / 15 bronze coins / Learn: Field Dressing

A sudden ding sound of a notification rang out in the air, startling Xinya as he moved his hand away from John"s. 

[Ding!]    

[A mysterious wind has flown by activating your luck be prepared]

"I know that I tricked you into helping me a tad." Just started as Xinya looked at him with an expression that said, "So you admit it.""But to make it up to you I will allow you free reign over my store, connected to my butcher"s shop is my grocery store. I will allow you to buy anything inside of it for free as long as the cost doesn"t exceed 30 silver coins." 

Xinya couldn"t believe his luck, figuratively and literally. Thirty silver coins worth of food ingredients would save him a lot. He could even stock up ingredients on one of the first recipes he plans to sell once the new update arrives. 

"Really?! You mean it?" Xinya asked wanting to confirm what he just heard was truly real.

John wiped his hands on his ap.r.o.n while nodding at Xinya in confirmation, "I won"t lie to you, you saved my behind. Who knows what would have happened if I didn"t get that meat delivered on time."

"Thank you, I really appreciate your generosity," Xinya told him happily.

"No problem, now follow me." The red-haired boy said.

John led Xinya through a side door in the butcher shop, when Xinya walked through it was like he was in a different world. Gone was the smell of meat and blood, with body parts laying all around. Now there was a sunny run of a mill grocery shop full of delectable foods and other items.

Xinya followed John over to the grocery shop counter where he watched as John type something in a machine. After scanning a black card, John handed it to Xinya, "This card holds exactly 30 silver no more, no less. Just swipe it over the items you want to buy and they will be purchased."

Taking the card, Xinya looked it over. It was just black with no distinguishable features. The size was indeed similar to that of credit cards, Xinya really wanted to test it right now.

"Timothy!!" John shouted, startling Xinya. A little boy with the same facial features as John ran out from one of the doors in the store.

"What do you want, John?" The little boy asked.

"This is my brother Tim, he will watch you shop while I run the meat over to the mayor," John explained to Xinya completely ignoring his brother.

"John…" Timothy whined. "Do I really have to watch him? I was doing something."

"Do what I say, or I will skin you like one of those monsters in the butcher shop." John threatened.

Timothy just rolled his eyes as if he heard the same thing many times before, "Whatever."

Xinya his smile as he watched the two brothers go at it. As soon as John left he promised the little boy that he would only take about 30 minutes at the most and with that he began to shop. 

The card worked wonderfully as soon as he swiped over an item it would disappear into his inventory and the card would show his remaining balance. Just like that for the next half hour or so Xinya shopped to his heart"s content, buying things he needed right now and things that would be needed in the future. 

~

After leaving the shop Xinya started walking back to the houseboat when his interface video chat started beeping. Opening the call up he saw that it was Melting Snow on the other end.

"Guess what?!" Melting Snow excitedly asked as a greeting.

Continuing to walk down the road, Xinya replied, "What?"

"I have arrived at Errinishworth!" Melting Snow told him. "Tell me where you are staying."

"How about I come to pick you up." A smile played around Xinya lips. "You might get lost if you try to find the place on your own."

"As if I ever get lost. You must be thinking of someone else." Melting Snow said. "Tell me where to go, you don"t have trouble yourself to pick me."

Smiling gently Xinya responded, "It no trouble at all, I"m walking back there now, myself. Another stop along the way won"t hurt."

"Alright, I will wait for you out in front of the Darina Inn." Melting Snow told him.

After saying goodbye, Melting Snow hung up the video call and turned around to face Rose Lilly. "My friend will be here soon, as per our agreement I don"t want you anywhere near him."

"Whatever." Rose Lilly said rolling her eyes. "I understood you the first time, I will just rent a place around here somewhere. I won"t bother your friends at all."

"Good because if you do I will cancel our agreement." Melting Snow said.

"Fine, what do you want me to report to your brother? He knows we already made it to Errinishworth." Rose Lilly asked.

Thinking, Melting Snow said, "Tell him that I met my friend, gush about how nice and kind he is. You know how you girls do but say he shy so you couldn"t join us and that I will fill you in on what happened later."

"You know your brother won"t believe, second-hand knowledge. He might think you lied to me." Rose Lilly said.

"Than just tell him you followed us at a distance and spied on what we were doing. Your good at making him believe anything you say, it shouldn"t be hard." Melting Snow replied a little irritated. 

"Fine, I will do that then." Rose Lilly said before leaving Melting Snow. She couldn"t believe how this brat was acting. Like she should just kneel down and do whatever he says. If it wasn"t for Zixuan, she would have made that boy"s life a living h.e.l.l. He might have gotten hold over her now but once she has Zixuan wrapped around her little finger, her payback would come, but for now, she needed to find a place to rent for a while. 

Once Rose Lilly left, Melting Snow let out a breath he didn"t know he was holding. He was finally free of the shackle his brother put on him and can enjoy hanging out with Drifting Cloud again. He couldn"t wait to ask him how he got Wondering Sound to join him.

Hanging out with a celebrity wasn"t something Melting Snow could even dream of Drifting Cloud doing since he doesn"t like attention. As Melting Snow was wondering about that and other things he heard a beep. Opening his interface it looks like he got a voice call from his cousin.

~

20 minutes earlier in another part of Ziam  

A man walked inside of a room angrily slamming the door behind him as he did so. He was so dreadfully tired of all of the back and forth the other guilds gave him. Just because his guild was mostly full of crafters, didn"t mean that they should hesitate when forming an alliance with him.

His guild also had some of the strongest fighters in the game and if he didn"t respect his guild"s member"s privacy he would show those other guilds that look down on them, how 15 of his members are in the top 100 of the rankings.

Sighing the man deactivated the ring on his finger, disabling his disguised state. He transformed from a red-haired dwarf with a st.u.r.dy body to a tall looking human with long legs and a muscular body. His hair changed from red to black, it also became shorter only reaching the edges of his ears. 

n.o.body knew him in this form, and he didn"t want anyone too either If anybody realizes that his dwarf form was a disguise for this one, he would never get any peace. His dwarf form was too well known and famous because of his blacksmithing skills. It was one of the reasons why he created his guild because he was sick of people trying to recruit him into theirs.

The man knew that it wasn"t really the other guilds that were stressing him out, it was the upcoming contract signing with the military. Some of his designs caught the attention of the Airforce and they wanted him to create several designs for them over the next few years.

It was a great opportunity for him not only would they sponsor him, but they would also give him over 100 million dollars for each design. Although as a test he needed to finish a design that has been on their shelf for the last ten years.

The pressure of knowing how much this would help out his family situation was slightly getting to him, but he knew he would pull through as long as he took his mind off of things. Thinking of what could help him get his mind off of his problems and remembered that his cousin said he would be meeting his friend today. 

With a smile the man opened up his interface and video called his little cousin, he wonders if he could get him and maybe his friend to come to Arkala.