BXBX NOVEL Chapter 167: Working Together (3).
"This is amazing..." Cain had an incredulous look in his eyes as he took another bite of the roasted rabbit\'s thigh.
"Of course it is... Most of the mutant beasts taste incredible once cooked. This is due to the magical properties imbibed in them. The ones that don\'t taste any good are probably poisonous..."
"It\'s mine... You are eating my meat..." Vincent said, sitting beside a tree as tears streamed down his eyes...
Meanwhile, the rest all sat down beside a campfire that had been made to roast the mutant rabbit. Although the rabbit wouldn\'t provide them with a lot of energy, it would satiate their hunger for a while.
Ignoring the soliloquizing Vincent, Hunter turned to Cain with a huge chunk of meat in his mouth which quickly turned into mush within his strong jaws.
"So what exactly is your plan?" Hunter asked.
Cain stopped chewing for a while before he resumed,
"We make a bridge..."
The others who were listening all stopped eating and stared at Cain with confusion...
"A bridge?" Blaze had an odd expression on his face as he started at Cain as though he was looking at a wild animal.
"Where are we going to find the resources and tools to even begin with? No scratch that... Do we even know how to build a bridge?!" Hunter asked with twitching eyelids.
"What type of bridge?" Susan suddenly asked, causing Cain to look away from his meat and at her with a wide smile on his face.
"An Ice bridge..."
The others fell silent when they heard Cain. They stared at Cain with confusion and surprise, but Cain wasn\'t done.
Seeing that they still didn\'t understand, Cain set his meal aside and began explaining...
"Old Man Ling and Dan can work together to create a sturdy Ice bridge that we all will be able to use to cross to the other Islands... Our skills and spells exist for reasons outside of fighting you know..."
"Why not just make boats with wood instead? Or even metal?" Hunter rolled his eyes.
"Because we don\'t know what to expect from the waters below us..." Cain said confidently.
"Then how is using an ice bridge any safer?" Dan chimed in.
"If we are on a boat, there will not be appropriate space for all of us to act if we come to face a powerful sea mutant beast or a weather disaster. However, if we create the ice bridge, not only will we be able to protect those that are creating it, but we will also be able to attack the fish in the ocean below. Plus, it will take less time and effort.
All we need to do is ensure we have enough mana potions in hand..." Cain said, confidence flowing within his voice.
"That is the craziest plan I have ever heard. I\'m in!" Suddenly, Manny, who had been gone for a while appeared in this midst alongside a gust of wind that also appeared out of nowhere...
He sported the same clothes he had worn before, only they were torn and covered in blood and dirt. Despite that, his body still looked clean aside from a few scars here and there that didn\'t seem to be healing up.
Everyone, including Cain, expressed surprise at his sudden and undetected arrival...
"What have you been up to?" Cain asked.
"Hehehe... Training?" Manny said with a bashful smile.
"How did you get so many injuries, and why aren\'t they healing up?" Hunter said in a deep voice as he also analyzed Manny.
"Err... I cut myself during training?" Manny answered honestly...
"Hahaha... You seem to be as crazy as ever. Count me in as well, comrade!" Steve who had also been in the forest appeared from a bush and into the midst of everyone present with a wide smile on his face.
"Idiots..." Hunter could do nothing but massage his temples with his fingers to stop the headache he felt building up.
"While it isn\'t a foolproof plan, it still has some major flaws, number one being the strength of the Ice. It takes a lot of magic power to create ice that will be solid and thick enough to support all our weights, especially..." Susan said with a serious expression, nearly failing to keep a straight face as she directed her gaze toward Vincent during the final parts of her statement.
"Hmph!" Vincent had a dark look on his face that quickly faded into a sad expression when he noticed that all of the mutant rabbit meat had been completely devoured as soon as Manny and Steve had arrived and taken the last remaining bits for themselves...
"Regarding the strength of the Ice, I don\'t think we will need to worry. I\'ll take care of it..." Cain said with a mysterious smile on his face.
Cain had understood a decent portion of the theory of rune crafting and array creation. Rune could be used on any surface that could conduct mana. And what was a better conductor of mana than a bridge created completely out of one?
"How will you do that?" Steve asked although he didn\'t look surprised at all.
"That will be a secret until then..." Cain said.
"What about the potions? Are you done making them?" Cain asked Steve with a neutral expression on his face. Without the presence of the MP potions, his plan would be nothing more than crazy rambling as it would take far too much time for them to finish without external help.
"We gathered enough materials to make over 5,000 vials of both MP and HP potions. However, the success rate is only 70%, so we only produced a little over 3,500 vials, which is still a lot." Steve said with a pleased look.
"That will be more than enough. Alright then, all in favor of the plan, raise your hands!" Cain said as he raised his hand slightly over his head.
He had no intentions of forcing his plans or ideals over anyone of them. Should they disagree, he would simply ask them to think of a better solution than his. If they could, he would drop his idea without hesitation.
"I can see all the way this could go terribly. I\'m in..." Blaze said with a wide grin on his face...
"I don\'t care... I just want to eat some food..." Vincent said earning him a look of disgust from Hunter.
"I think that while the plan might be a bit flawed, we will be able to make it work," David said with a small smile on his face as he stretched his one good arm to the side.
"If we die, I\'ll come after you..." Hunter said with a frown on his face as he also raised his hand. Seeing Hunter in agreement, Dan raised his hand as well with a shrug.
Susan was quiet for a while in deep thought when she noticed Cain staring at her intently...
"I\'m still not convinced... You have an ace in the hole, don\'t you?" Susan said with narrowed eyes, causing Cain to let out a soft chuckle and divert his gaze without saying anything.
"Hmph! Doesn\'t matter... I\'ll still figure it out once we begin, won\'t I?" Susan said nothing more.
"If that\'s the case, then that means we are all in..." Cain said. Seeing all of them nod in agreement, Cain nodded as well.
"Let\'s get off this place..."
***
Space split open as Cain jumped through a gash that magically appeared in the air, and landed right before Jenny.
"Sorry, it took so long. Are you all ready to leave?" Cain asked.
"We are all ready..." Behind Jenny, Li, Sue, and Stan stood, with different expressions on their faces. Sue had a nervous, yet spiteful expression as she stared deeply at Cain. Noticing her glare, Cain returned the stare, only for her to quickly pull away once she noticed him glance at her.
Meanwhile, Li had a fierce expression in his eyes despite keeping a neutral and composed face. Cain could tell from the huge amount of battle lust seeking out of him, how badly he wanted a fight.
On the other hand, the huge Stan simply stared at Cain with a weird smile on his face. Cain could sense no intent from the huge guy, making him all the more curious about him.
On the other hand, Jenny simply gazed at Cain with surprise on her face...
"You seem stronger than before..."
Cain let out the umpteenth chuckle of the day as he stared her straight in the eye,
"I plan on keeping that promise."
"I see..." Jenny said as a smile also appeared on her pink luscious lips.
"Ehem... So what\'s the plan?" Li cleared his throat and asked.
"One word... Bridges..." Cain had a weird expression on his face as he began explaining his plan to them...
***
"Yep... you most definitely are crazy... I am not going to do something so obviously suicidal!" Li said with crossed arms.
"Hahaha! Wonderful Idea! I knew you wouldn\'t disappoint!" Stan said as he let out hearty laughter and smacked Cain across the back multiple times
"Sister Jenny, why and how did we get mixed up with this nutjob?" Sue said in a dry voice.
"That seems dangerous... We are still prone to attacks with such a plan, you know..." Jenny said as she gazed deeply into Cain\'s eyes which radiated overwhelming amounts of confidence.
"A boat will be incredibly easy to capsize. Once that happens, it will be game over for whoever cannot swim, or is unable to battle their opponent in the water."
"So are you saying that the bridge you plan on making will be impervious to the attacks of the mutant sea creatures that are lurking in the waters?"
"Not completely, but they will be better than any boat you could want to make out of wood or metal..." Cain said.
"In that case, count me in..." Jenny said with a smile.
"Jenny!"
"Sister Jenny!"
Sue and Li exclaimed loudly but were ignored by Jenny.
"Great! Are you all prepared?" Cain said with a mischievous smile on his face.
"H-hold on! I didn\'t sign up for any of this madness... I\'d rather die of starvation than die in those dark and cold waters..."
"Or could it be that you are scared of the ocean?" Cain asked.
Li froze up for a moment but quickly recovered...
"I haven\'t been scared of anything since I was birthed. If you want to play it like that, then fine! I\'ll head on this suicide mission." Li said with a stoic expression that caused Stan to break into a laughing fit.
"Is that so..." Cain had an amused looking his eyes as he stared at Li who now looked a bit embarrassed down...
"Hmph! Unlike my coward brother, I am not so easily intimidated."
"You little..."
Ignoring Li who now looked like a tomato, Sue directed a cold glance at Cain,
"You\'d have to fight me if you want me to go ahead with your stupid plan. Defeat me, and I will yield." Sue said as she drew her weapon from her inventory.
"Sue! Stop this!" Jenny had a hard look on her face as she tried to dissuade Sue from fighting. However, her attempt fell on deaf ears as Sue had already attacked.
A burst of pitch-black flames appeared at the tip of her wand, causing the temperature of the surroundings to heat up very quickly...
\'Let\'s see how cocky you can get when I...\'
"I\'m not interested in fighting with you," Cain said with a freezing calm, causing Sue to pause in her tracks and stare at him with narrowed eyes.
"Here..." Retrieving something from his inventory, Cain tossed the object toward Sue who caught it out of the air effortlessly.
"Hmm?" A surprised sound escaped from Sue\'s mouth as she turned her attention to the object in her hand.
"You... You..." The black flames building up at the tip of her wand expanded by multiple folds as the tiny beauty was nearly consumed by her rage and desire to murder.
However, that desire was completely quenched when the soft and delicate aroma wafted from the object in her hands and into her nose. A monster-like grumbling made its way from her stomach as the flames that swelled up around her faded away like a dying match.
Sue stared at the piece of roasted meat with a complicated expression on her face.
"I thought you\'d be hungry..." Cain had an amused expression on his face as he watched Sue\'s facial expressions change from angry, to hungry, to embarrassed, to happy, too bashful in a single breath.
Her wand disappeared into her inventory as she grabbed the huge piece of meat with her tiny hands and brought it to her mouth in somewhat of a daze...
Munch... Munch... Munch...
Tears streamed down her face as she muttered some words in between her chewing...
"So... So delicious!" Sue said as she ignored Cain and continued to devour the food...
"What about me?" Li had a sad smile on his face as he held back his tears handheld onto his stomach which had also begun to rumble.
"You get nothing..." Cain said quickly and ruthlessly, causing Li to nearly cough out a mouthful of blood and curse at him.