Chapter 209: [209] Guessing Game

"Ouch!" Olivia hissed, frowning at Ark. He was wiping off the blood from a nasty wound on her forehead, but since she could not sit still to save her life, he had not even gone halfway.

"Stay still..." he sighed, lifting the rag again, only to get the same reaction.

"Of all places to get injured, why did it have to be your face? It is your only redeeming quality."

Olivia’s face flushed pink for a moment, just before she blinked, the realisation setting in. "Wait, is that supposed to be a compliment or an insult??"

Ark’s fireball was burning in the center of their makeshift camp, while Thalia went around to heal those that had been injured.

Her healing magic was not great since it was not exactly her field, but it was useful for minor injuries.

"Hey, Ark! I’m talking to you!"

Ragnar, who was relatively unharmed, and Dark, who had been healed first because he wouldn’t stop whining, were busy removing the fur from the bears, while Olivia and Cici sat down awaiting treatment.

"Don’t zone out, answer my question!!"

The members of the support team were also working to de-skin the monsters.

"Hey. Why does the wound even need to be cleaned? Can’t Thalia just do her magic and fix it??" Olivia frowned.

"Because it is proper practice. Leaving a wound dirty can lead to an infection, even after it is sealed shut."

Thalia explained as she got to her. Olivia’s frown deepened. She folded her hands across her chest as Thalia began her work.

Meanwhile, Ark summoned his weapon in the form of a hunter’s knife and walked up to where Ragnar and Dark were.

Ragnar caught a glimpse of him and nodded as Ark crouched next to the pile of corpses.

He stuck his knife into the monster’s belly, and then drew a deep line down to its neck before peeling off the first layer.

Simultaneously, Ark made use of his extraction skill to harvest abilities from the monsters.

[Harvest successful! You have successfully received +2 Strength Points!]

"You know how to use that?" Ragnar tilted his chin towards the knife. He had a similar weapon, although it was clearly a simple hunting knife, unlike his weapon, which was actually an A-Rank skill.

Ark shrugged. "At most I can cut. I’ll figure out the rest."

Ragnar smiled. "You can just follow my instructions. The way you are doing it isn’t right. You’re going to ruin a perfectly good hide...."

Ark glanced at him, slightly offended. "Are you some sort of expert?" All they needed was something for the cold, not perfection.

Ragnar twirled his knife between his fingers and tossed it into the air, only to catch it with the very tip of his claw.

"Just a little bit."

"Show-off."

Following Ragnar’s instructions, Ark noticed that the hide was coming off far more easily and neatly. It felt like peeling a banana as opposed to how it felt before.

They would stick the knife a few inches into the monster’s belly, the tip of the blade stopping just before it reached flesh, then drag the weapon up towards its head.

Tugging on the hide was next. This exposed the connective layer just below it, which they would then cut off with their knives, detaching it.

They worked ceaselessly for a couple of minutes, and when they were done, they had enough bear coats for everyone, and Ark had gained a total of fourteen stat points.

Ten of the stat points went into strength, which was to be expected considering how powerful monsters were, while the remaining four went to defence.

There were no skills, which was annoying since Ark really wanted Heart of Winter, but he had to make do with what he had.

Strips of bear meat were well-seasoned and arranged around the fire to cook, while the support crew were gathering the hides to prepare them when Ark stopped them.

"Is there a problem?" Rodolph asked, stopping with a bunch of fur in his hand.

Ark shook his head. "Not really, I just want to try something first."

They finally had the fur, but they could not simply wear the fresh bear hide on their bodies just like that.

Worst of all, preparing bear hide would take quite some time. Unless...

Rodolph gave him a strange look, but following his instructions, he placed the hide on the floor.

Ark crouched down next to the pile of hide and placed his hands over the material, activating his harvest skill.

Harvest was able to remove impurities from materials. He had done it when he needed to purify a bottle of potion back in the tutorial, but since then, Ark had mostly forgotten the skill.

But recently, Dark Harvest had evolved, and Ark was interested in seeing just what it could do...

He placed his hand on the fur and activated Dark Harvest. If it was a full body, then he would likely get stats or a skill, or likely nothing since he had already gotten fourteen stats...

But this was just a part of the monster, so it was classified as an entirely new entity.

The moment Ark activated the skill, the bear hide vanished, and then a few pieces of flesh and impurities appeared in his hand.

[Harvest successful! You have successfully received +1 Prepared Bear Hide!]

"What just happened?" Rodolph stared at him with wide eyes.

Ark summoned the hide from the inventory, and a pristine, white folded bundle of hide appeared in his hands.

It was soft to the touch, the fibres were beyond smooth, and it even had a nice lingering scent. The hide had been completely prepared, meaning they could skip the long, arduous work of preparing the hide.

"Bring them all to me, I’ll prepare them myself."

It took less than five minutes, and a huge stack of spotless, clean hides was now standing in the center of the camp.

One of them was thicker than the rest and had a few dark blue patterns on its fur. It was the fur of the chief bear.

Although Ark had no use for a coat, he had purposely picked it out. It was pretty. Who said he didn’t have the right to pretty things?

"I’ll need to take all your measurements so that I can begin work," Agneth said as she picked up one of the bundles.

"Wait. You can sew?" Dark asked, looking surprised.

Agneth nodded with a smile. "It’s a skill I just happened to pick up." She waved her hand in the air, and tiny threads formed of mana appeared, just before solidifying into solid thread.

"Creation magic," Ark muttered with a nod. It was nothing compared to the more powerful creation magic, but it was still impressive. "Creation magic is hard to learn, even with a skill tome..."

Most people spent years trying to master creation magic, and yet she had managed to just pick it up?

Ark suspected there was more to her story, but he did not press. He hated when people pried into his personal life, so there was no need to do the same.

Agneth shrugged off his compliment with a polite bow. "It’s nothing special, really." She smiled, her eyes sweeping across the camp. "Who wants to go first?"

Cici suddenly shot up to her feet, surprising everyone in the camp.

Agneth smiled. "Do you want to go first, dear?"

The girl stared at her for a few seconds, just before shaking her head furiously...

She did not say anything. She just stared blankly at everyone, her face as cold as the ice all around them.

"I know what it is. You must be hungry!" Olivia asked, glancing at Thalia, who was preparing the bear meat, her forest-green eyes twinkling like stars. "Don’t worry, it will soon be done..."

She shook her head again. Apparently, that wasn’t it. So, over the next few minutes, everyone played the game of trying to guess what Cici was thinking.

"Are you cold?" Thalia asked.

"Do you need to rest?" Ragnar asked in a more serious tone. "You must have exerted yourself earlier..."

"Ahh, I know what it is! You want to spar, don’t you? The bear fight was not enough, was it? I am itching for her round!" Dark excitedly said.

Even Ark made a few guesses, but at the end of the day, they were all completely wrong.

Finally, after observing her for a few seconds, Thalia stared up from the fire and dusted her hands. "You need to go to the toilet..."

Before she could even finish, Cici nodded furiously, confirming her deduction.

Ark paused. ’Really, that is it?’ They had spent so much time trying to figure out what was wrong with her, and all she needed to do was go?

"..."

Cici continued to stare at them...

"Well, what are you waiting for? You know you don’t need my permission to go, right?"

She glanced at Ark, and then her lips parted open slowly. Ark half expected her to eat up her words and remain silent, but surprisingly, she spoke...

"Monsters..."