Chapter 9: Base Camp (Part 2)
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Translator: SFBaka
It seems Cleria also wanted to bathe. That’s good. Cleria’s body still had dried blood sticking all over it. She seemed to have tried removing some of it, but her face and hair still had some sticking on them.
Oops, she seems to want me to help take off her armor. Oh, that’s a lot of belts. Guess you really can’t wear these alone. Her armor felt strangely light when I took them off. I already noticed it when I examined the protectors yesterday, but even her torso armor was quite light.
(What’s it made of?)
[…Unknown.]
Huh? Nanom was unable to analyze this thing?
[Please ingest a sample.]
Eh? Ain’t that kind of bad? This was Cleria’s after all. Would a piece from the back of the armor work? I scraped a really small portion off and swallowed it.
[It seems to be a metal alloy of some sort.]
Uh, okay. So you can’t give me any other details huh? It looks like stainless steel but it’s unusually lightweight. I have no choice but to ask Cleria later. I cleaned the dirt off the armor pieces with a cloth.
She seems to have finished bathing. When I turned around, I saw a whole different girl from before.
Eh? Cleria!?
She turned so beautiful to the point that I would’ve mistaken her for another person.
Her brunette hair was vibrant and her skin was milky white. She had lovely and elegant features fit for Miss Galaxy.
How did she change so much just from washing some dirt off? It was like a complete make-over man! Women really were fearsome.
It’s already evening.
It’s time to sleep. I had Cleria lie down first, cleaned up after the meal, picked up some firewood, threw them inside the bonfire and had Nanom take charge of guard duty.
I woke up at dawn as always. There was still a lot of fish and boar meat left, so I grilled them all before they went bad. We’ll have the rest for lunch.
Cleria was attracted by the smell of grilled meat and fish and woke up as well. The menu is the same as yesterdays. I refrained from making raw canapes this time.
Cleria’s appetite was tremendous right from the morning, but there was enough grilled meat to go around, so I packed the rest into a bento for lunch.
After cleaning up, I helped Cleria put her armor back on and set off once again. I wanted to look for a place suitable for a base camp upstream, in a direction away from the road. You really can’t resist the benefits of being near a river.
We walked for about three hours along the riverbank. [There is a large opening in that direction.] Nanom suddenly announced.
There was a wide space between two large rocks nearby. Rather than a cave, it was more of a gap made between two large rock walls.
I cautiously entered inside. I had to bend low in order to squeeze myself in, but the interior was tall and wide enough for people to stand. It was about 5×5 meters by my estimate.
Unfortunately, there was a ten centimeter opening on top of the formation. If it rains, water would soak the place.
But you could say it was convenient in the daytime as well because sunlight would seep in from the opening. There was also an area that would shield us from the rain further in, so we should be able to make do.
It’s pretty nice overall. Yep, it’s great. If we put some obstacles near the entrance, it would serve as the perfect base.
Was this place okay with Cleria? I gestured to ask, and she nodded in reply. In the meantime, let’s stay here. If we encounter any problems, let’s just look for another place.
First, let’s think of ways to block off the entrance. Well, the only options available would be stones or making a fence from wood.
We left all our luggage inside and went out with only weapons in hand for some recon. I found another riffle about 50 meters upstream that was perfect for bathing. There were also some fish swimming in the water.
After looking around a bit, I haven’t managed to find materials suitable for blocking the base entrance. Wait, there’s a fallen tree with a large enough trunk about 150 meters ahead, near the riverbank. It doesn’t look durable enough to be used for long, but I’ll check it out anyway.
When I observed closely, the tree really did have a fairly thick looking trunk. It felt like this tree had stood in this area for a considerable amount of years before finally toppling over. Its thickness was just right, but it’s length was about 10 meters long.
If I had a tool specialized in cutting trees on hand, it would’ve posed no problem. But I don’t have such a thing with me. It even seems I would have a tough time even with an ax due to the thickness of the trunk. It would be too difficult and time-consuming with just a knife. A sword isn’t exactly suitable either.
I pulled out my sword anyway and tried hitting it with just the tip. When I did so, the blade ended up sinking halfway.
Wow, this sword sure is sharp! I didn’t even put in a lot of strength in that swing. I swung it down with a little more force next. This time, the sword blade got buried fully inside. It would be too inconvenient to do this repeatedly.
If I swung it down with full force every time, there was a chance the sword would chip and break.
Huh? This situation seemed kinda familiar…
Come to think of it, there was a scenario similar to this one in the game.
That RPG had a turtle monster that would rebound most attacks if you only hit it with plain sword slashes. It was a stage where either you defeated the monster first or your sword gets broken in the battle.
I remember I got a lot of swords broken in that particular stage.
But if you master the control of Ki, you would be able to pass the stage without your sword getting broken in the process.
That’s right! I remember now. There was a technique I learned in order to pass that stage.
Corinth-style Swordsmanship Hidden Technique – Final Blade
This was a special technique that would infuse Ki (life energy) from within the body to the blade of a sword in order to buff its attack and cutting power.
Aaargh! That embarrassing name! Really man, what was I thinking back then dammit!?
What’s up with the whole Ki (life energy) thing anyway? The developers were having too much fun designing that game.
I remember the days when I desperately tried to copy that skill from an NPC master and managed to obtain it after countless rounds of trial and error. It felt kinda nostalgic and made me want to try it out right now.
I closed my eyes and took a stance with my sword. I sensed the life energy within my body, controlled its flow and guided it up to my arms, towards the sword blade… Just kidding!
I was just kinda playing around. But when I opened my eyes once more, my sword released a blinding glow.
(What the heck’s going on!?)
[Unconfirmed. But we have managed to pick up an unknown energy signature.]
Again with that stuff huh. Did I really manage to activate Final Blade?
I tried lightly slashing the trunk with my sword. The tree was easily cut up without offering any resistance whatsoever.
Oi, oi! What the heck’s up with this, man? I stared intently at the glowing sword blade.
Even Cleria should find this surprising! When I turned towards her, I found her ogling the tree trunk and not my glowing sword. Huh? You’re concerned about that?
(This is weird, isn’t it?) I asked Nanom.
[It’s abnormal.]
Yep, thought so. Well, I ended up cutting it anyway, so whatever. Let’s make full use of it then. I rolled the log all the way over to our new base.
When we arrived back, I tried to think of the best method to use the thing. Guess I’ll just have to use some strength to move it aside whenever we go out. There wasn’t any point to using it to block the entrance if it could be moved away easily anyway. Its length was close to 1 meter, and it looked quite heavy.
I had Cleria go in first and followed afterward while pulling the log to seal the entrance. I’m glad we managed to find something nearby. Cleria would have a hard time moving this thing. The thickness of the trunk fit the entrance nicely. The remaining gaps don’t exceed 20 centimeters in width. Dangerous creatures would be unable to easily enter with this.
When I turned towards Cleria to ask for her opinion, she nodded while seeming impressed.
OK. With this, security is set.
Since it was about ten in the morning already, I decided to have an early lunch. The food tasted alright, even when cold.
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