117: Chapter 117 Feeding dire wolves raw fish ≈ “child abuse”?

That evening, the three of them returned to the inn in Lakeside Town. The fireplace in the lobby was piled with cold ash, just like last week. Su Wan used "Prestidigitation" to gather the ashes, and Lin Rui used an iron shovel to toss them outside.

Su Wan added a few pieces of dry firewood and ignited them with "Prestidigitation." The firewood crackled softly, and the orange-red flames danced in the fireplace, warming a corner of the lobby.

Since they had cleared out the Murlocs at the entrance during the day, dinner naturally consisted of the various fresh fish dropped by the Murlocs. Hu Jinsi pulled seven or eight fish of various sizes from his backpack—some palm-wide green-scaled fish, others arm-length silver-tailed fish—their scales glistening with a moist sheen in the firelight.

He gutted and scaled the fish, rinsed them with lake water, and skewered them on sharpened branches.

Unlike last week, this time they had brought a variety of seasonings for the grilled fish. Su Wan took several small cloth bags from her backpack: fresh lemon, sea salt grains, cumin powder, black pepper sauce, and even a can of Orleans seasoning bought from the supermarket at the entrance.

Hu Jinsi brushed the seasoning evenly onto the fish, and the scent of grease mixed with spices soon drifted from the fireplace.

Clearly, these various scents stimulated more than just the three humans' sense of smell. The Direwolf Cub was originally lying on the floor opposite the fireplace, its nose buried between its front paws, feigning indifference.

But as the aroma of the grilled fish grew stronger, it lifted its nose from its paws, ears standing straight up, eyes locked on the branch in Hu Jinsi's hand. Its iron-gray fur shimmered with a dark golden luster in the firelight, and the black markings on its spine rose and fell gently with its breathing.

The Dire Wolf suddenly recalled that it had also eaten fish a few days ago. But back then, the guy called Hu Jinsi had given it raw fish, whereas now they were eating this fragrant grilled fish themselves.

In the cub's tiny mind, it began to ponder whether the "child abuse" often mentioned on TV was exactly what Hu Jinsi had done before.

But before its thoughts could deepen into memories, the three had already taken the grilled fish off the fire. Grease dripped onto the flames, making a sizzling sound.

Hu Jinsi used a small knife to slice off some of the tenderest meat, put it into a stainless steel basin, and pushed it toward the cub. The three of them shared the rest; the fish was crispy on the outside and tender on the inside, the refreshing scent of lemon mixed with the savory saltiness, making every bite satisfying.

The Dire Wolf lowered its head to sniff the meat in the basin. This hot, cooked fish was completely different from the raw fish of the past few days. It picked up a piece, and a slight tearing sound echoed as its teeth sank into the flesh.

The aroma of cooked meat exploded in its mouth, and it pressed its ears back, then quickened its chewing speed. Although wolves hold grudges, since these three caretakers had let it eat its fill, there was no need for it to hold a grudge anymore.

...

After dinner was the squad's customary time for a debriefing and new planning. The three sat around the fireplace, while the Direwolf Cub lay at Su Wan's feet, its chin resting on its front paws, eyes half-open, but its ears remained perked up, ready to catch any information from the surrounding conversation.

But today, before the debriefing and planning, there were still some unfinished matters. For instance, that [Skill Stone: Charge (Dire Wolf Exclusive)]—should they give it to the cub in front of them to learn now?

Su Wan clearly felt that since the item had dropped, the sooner it was learned, the better.

She sat cross-legged on the floor, fingers unconsciously twirling the end of her ponytail, her tone light: "Learn it early, get familiar with it early, and build combat effectiveness early. We're four people now—no, three plus one—having one more fighter is just one more layer of security."

Lin Rui, on the other hand, expressed opposition. He leaned back in his chair, hands crossed behind his head, his voice steady: "I looked up the information when I went back. Most Dire Wolves can autonomously learn the Charge skill during their growth process. It's clearly written on this skill stone that it can further strengthen the Dire Wolf's Charge skill later. There is absolutely no need to waste this skill stone now."

"If it learns it now, it can still be strengthened later," Su Wan said.

"If it learns it now, the initial effect will be at the current level," Lin Rui shook his head. "But if we wait for it to comprehend Charge on its own and then use the skill stone to strengthen it, it's equivalent to stacking it on a higher foundation. It's like learning a primary skill first and then using a strengthening stone, versus comprehending an intermediate skill first and then using a strengthening stone; the final effect is different."

The two held their own opinions, neither able to convince the other. Su Wan glared at Lin Rui, and Lin Rui glared back. A stalemate silence drifted through the air.

Finally, both turned their eyes toward Hu Jinsi. It was a 1:1 tie now; whoever Hu Jinsi supported would have the upper hand in the plan.

Hu Jinsi looked at Su Wan, then at Lin Rui, and then helplessly turned his gaze toward Xiaoquan Yilang, who was lying at Su Wan's feet. He reached out and pointed at the cub, saying: "Did neither of you think to ask Xiao Lang for its own opinion? After all, it's the one learning the skill, and its intelligence is perfectly capable of understanding this matter."

Lin Rui and Su Wan only then realized. The two of them always subconsciously forgot that the little guy in front of them was also a being with normal intelligence.

Su Wan immediately leaned down, one hand gently stroking the Dire Wolf's chin, while she said in a slightly apologetic tone: "I'm sorry, Xiao Lang. We ignored your feelings. So, what do you think now? Should you learn it now, or save it for later?"

The cub's ears twitched. It lifted its head from the floor, amber eyes sweeping across the three faces one by one. Then it did something that surprised all three of them.

It stretched out its front paw and pointed at the dark brown skill stone placed on the coffee table. Its claw hovered in mid-air, the tip pointed at the beast-claw pattern on the stone's surface, motionless.

Hu Jinsi was stunned for a moment; he observed the cub's expression—it was a state mixed with curiosity and desire.

Ever since this skill stone had dropped, the cub had felt that the skill inside was resonating with it. For a three-month-old creature, such a resonance was difficult to resist. It wasn't hunger, nor curiosity, but an instinctive call from deep within its bloodline.

Seeing this, the three immediately understood the little guy's need. Hu Jinsi picked up the skill stone from the coffee table, walked over to the cub, and slowly brought it close to the Dire Wolf's head. The markings on the stone's surface shimmered with a dark red faint light in the firelight, exactly the same hue as the depths of the cub's pupils.

Who would have thought that this Dire Wolf would not follow the conventional path? It suddenly sprang up from the floor, swiped its front paw in the air, and swatted the skill stone out of Hu Jinsi's hand. The speed was so fast that Hu Jinsi didn't even have time to react.

When the cub landed, its mouth had already closed. It didn't even chew; with a tilt of its neck, it swallowed the skill stone directly into its belly.

Su Wan let out an "Ah," and sprang up from the floor. She even wanted to perform an emetic or the Heimlich maneuver on the Dire Wolf, but Hu Jinsi reached out and stopped her in time.

"Don't panic." Hu Jinsi stared at the cub's attribute panel, "Look."

Su Wan looked in the direction he pointed. In the Direwolf Cub's attribute list, a new line of text had appeared in the skill column: [Charge (Dire Wolf)]. And it was currently lowering its head to lick the tip of its nose, tail drooping, shoulders slightly hunched, with a calm expression that said, "I ate it, so what?"

Su Wan slowly sat back down on the floor, letting out a long breath. She patted her chest, still lingering in fear: "You scared me to death. I thought it would choke."

"It seems this is how beasts learn skills." Hu Jinsi withdrew his hand, "Unlike us humans. We read information by placing it near our brows; they swallow it directly to digest it. With its digestive organs, it can probably decompose the energy inside the skill stone directly."

The matter of the skill stone was resolved. As for the remaining pile of Dire Wolf equipment, it would certainly have to wait until it was an adult before it could wear them. Now, those breastplates, wolf-collars, and iron sets were all too big for a three-month-old cub and could only be kept by the three of them for the time being.

...

For the next while, the three sat around the fireplace and began to prepare for tomorrow's plan. The flames had diminished quite a bit; Hu Jinsi added two pieces of dry firewood, and the flames danced up again. Xiaoquan Yilang changed its posture, lying at Hu Jinsi's feet, burying its nose into its tail, but its ears remained upright.

According to the three's current raiding speed, by tomorrow noon or at the latest, the afternoon, they would be able to completely catch up to the progress of the Blackrock Orc raid from last week in the dungeon. The camps ahead were all unknown territory, and the enemy configuration, numbers, and terrain were all new.

According to the information shared by the Gunpowder Squad, if they continued to advance, they might see sporadic Black Whelps mixed in with the Blackrock Orcs. These creatures, which could both fly and breathe fire, were a brand-new threat to the three of them.

Su Wan could rely on [Spell-Breaking Melody] to increase the spellcasting difficulty for casters, but it wouldn't have any effect on creatures like Black Whelps that relied on instinct and transcendent organs to cast spells.

Therefore, the squad's tentative plan was: once a Black Whelp was discovered, Hu Jinsi would go over to deal with it first. If it couldn't be dealt with quickly, at least its wings must be injured to abolish its flight ability. After all, such flying guys could easily endanger Su Wan's safety in the back row.

Fortunately, according to intelligence from the Gunpowder Squad, the number of these Black Whelps was not very high. They only appeared sporadically, one or two accompanying those Blackrock Renegades; if they formed a cluster, the squad wouldn't dare to provoke them.

The three had self-awareness; they, a group of C-rank professionals, wouldn't dare to compete with those two S-rank twin professionals. Even that S-rank pair had already fallen to the Black Whelps; once the three faced a large cluster of Whelps, they would definitely run as far as they could.

Since the tactics were decided, the three didn't intend to stay up late. Hu Jinsi turned down the fire in the fireplace and added two pieces of long-burning hardwood. When assigning night watch duties, Xiaoquan Yilang was arranged to be responsible for vigilance during Hu Jinsi's shift; its sense of smell and hearing were much sharper than humans', and it could detect many movements in the night that the three of them wouldn't notice.

The three spread out their sleeping bags one by one and lay down. The lobby gradually quieted down, leaving only the slight crackling of the firewood burning in the fireplace.

Xiaoquan Yilang curled up next to Hu Jinsi's sleeping bag, its tail covering its nose, eyes half-open, but its ears remained in an upright state.

By 6:00 AM the next morning, Hu Jinsi had already awakened from his meditation.

He crawled out of his sleeping bag lightly, not waking the other two.

Only a few strands of dark red embers remained in the fireplace; he stuffed the last few pieces of dry wood in, and the flames danced again.

Then, he took out two small fish dropped by murlocs from his backpack, gutted and scaled them, and put them into the pot to make soup.

It was clear that their breakfast this morning would be noodles in fish soup.

He set the pot on the fireplace; the clear soup slowly turned white, and the savory aroma of fish wafted from the pot.

He threw the noodles into the soup, and they were cooked soft after a few minutes.

Hu Jinsi ladled a bowl for himself, Lin Rui, and Su Wan each, then poured the remaining fish and soup base into a stainless steel basin and placed it in front of Xiaoquan Yilang.

"Yours." He patted the cub's head.

The Dire Wolf raised its head, sniffed the steam of the fish soup with its nose, and then lowered its head to start licking.

Its eating manners were much more refined than yesterday, but the speed of swallowing was still very fast, its tongue scraping against the bottom of the basin with a sizzling sound.

The three sat by the fireplace, holding their bowls and slurping noodles; the steaming soup slid down their throats into their stomachs, dispelling the chill of the early morning.

After eating and drinking their fill, the three people and one cub set off towards the north of Lakeside Town, full of energy.

The morning light filtered in through the hall windows, shining on the floor and casting long shadows.

Pushing open the wooden door of the inn, the air outside carried the damp scent of lake water and soil, and the shimmering waves of Stillwater Lake in the distance glinted under the morning sun.

It had to be said that this Dire Wolf was growing quite fast.

In less than a week of following them, it had already become familiar with the trio's combat style.

Even today, it could use its sense of smell to provide early warnings to the three from a distance.

Hu Jinsi had to get within ten meters to smell the unique stench of the orcs, while the Dire Wolf could already catch the scent of the orcs from dozens of meters away.

With the assurance of not being ambushed by orcs, the trio's speed of advancement was indeed much higher.

They followed the main road all the way north, skipping the camps they had already cleared yesterday, and pushed directly into the unknown area.

Also according to plan, they had pushed to the last Blackrock Orc camp from last week just past twelve o'clock.

By less than two o'clock after their lunch break, the three had already finished clearing this camp as well.

The subsequent battles were almost entirely unknown to the three.

Hu Jinsi stood at the edge of the camp, his ironwood staff slung over his shoulder, his gaze cast toward the unknown region shrouded in thin mist to the north.

Xiaoquan Yilang crouched at his feet, its nose pointing in the same direction, ears pricked straight up.

Its shoulders and back were slightly hunched, and its iron-gray fur shimmered with a layer of dark golden luster in the afternoon sun.

Its tail hung low, but the tip twitched slightly, as if it were excited.

"Let's go." Hu Jinsi said.

The cub's ears twitched.

It stood up from the ground, followed at Hu Jinsi's feet, and walked step by step toward that unknown area.

The shadows of the three were stretched long by the sunlight, overlapping on the dirt road, moving slowly.

...

The three were clearly worrying unnecessarily.

Less than ten minutes after pushing north along the main road, a sound of flapping wings came from the bushes ahead.

Hu Jinsi raised his hand to signal a stop, his ironwood staff held horizontally in front of him.

A black figure swooped down from the canopy and landed on a rock ten meters away.

It was a Black Whelp.

Its size was much smaller than expected; if it landed on the ground, its shoulder height only reached Hu Jinsi's knees, about the size of a medium-sized dog.

The black scales had not fully grown, and the membranes at the edges of its wings showed a faint pinkish-white, like a layer of wet paint.

Its eyes were dark yellow vertical pupils, staring at the three, and a sound between a hiss and a sneeze rolled out of its throat.

"That's it?" Lin Rui unslung the shotgun from his shoulder, the muzzle pointing toward the ground.

"Don't be careless." Su Wan's fingers rested on her collar. "Its damage is not low."

Before the words fell, the Black Whelp had already opened its mouth.

A stream of orange-red flame erupted from its throat, carving a two-meter-long trail of fire in the air.

The heat wave rushed toward them; Hu Jinsi sidestepped to dodge, the flame stream brushing past his shoulder and igniting a small patch of bushes behind him.

"What about the fireball?" Hu Jinsi surged forward, his staff sweeping horizontally.

The Black Whelp flapped its wings, trying to fly high to dodge, but its tender wings were not fully developed, and its flight speed was not fast.

Less than a meter off the ground, it was struck in the flank by Hu Jinsi's staff.

The blunt impact of the ironwood staff smashed against the scales, emitting a muffled boom.

The Black Whelp shrieked, tumbled from mid-air, rolled twice on the muddy ground, and flailed its wings, trying to climb up.

Hu Jinsi followed up, stepped on the base of its wing, and pressed the staff against the side of its neck.

The Black Whelp struggled a few times, its dark yellow pupils suddenly tightening, and sprayed another small burst of flame from its mouth, but the angle was clearly off, only scorching the hem of Hu Jinsi's trousers.

"Physically, it is indeed weak." Hu Jinsi withdrew his foot, looking at the Black Whelp sprawled on the ground.

At least two of its ribs were broken, and one wing hung limply, without even the strength to stand up.

In comparison, those Blackrock Renegades could still stagger and continue to Charge after taking a hit from his staff, while this Black Whelp had completely lost its ability to move.

However, the long-range threat was real.

If that fireball hit, given the trio's current fire resistance, they would at least lose a layer of skin.

And this was just a lone Black Whelp.

Hu Jinsi delivered one final blow, ensuring the Black Whelp went to rest completely peacefully.

Two minutes later, beside the corpse of the Black Whelp, several gray-black materials slowly condensed out of light and shadow.

A small bottle of dark red Dragon Blood, three dragon scales with flame patterns on the edges, a curved dragon tooth, and a segment of translucent dragon tendon.

Adding all the materials together, Su Wan's appraisal showed it was close to two hundred credits.

"Two hundred for just one." A sudden gleam sparked in Lin Rui's eyes. "Ten would be two thousand."

"How much ammo is that enough for you to fire?" Hu Jinsi put the materials into his backpack.

"10 shotgun shells cost 30 credits, and a fuel tank filled for 30 shots costs 150 credits." Lin Rui calculated, "Two thousand is enough for me to fire over 600 shotgun shells, or nearly twenty fuel tanks; it's absolutely enough for the ammunition consumption of this dungeon."

...

It was a pity, however, that in the entire afternoon, they did not manage to see 10 Black Whelps.

This afternoon they only saw four Black Whelps.

Lin Rui's plan to recoup his costs failed.

...

Dinner took place in the inn.

The fire in the fireplace had been relit, and the three sat around on the floor, with dry rations and jerky brought from outside placed in front of them.

Xiaoquan Yilang lay at Hu Jinsi's feet, its nose pointing toward the fireplace, ears occasionally twitching, catching the faint sound of wood cracking in the flames.

The review began.

Su Wan spoke first, summarizing the afternoon's progress and resource consumption.

Hu Jinsi added the combat data for the Black Whelp: the fireball cast time was about one and a half seconds, the range was about fifteen meters, and the flame temperature was enough to ignite bushes.

Physical defense was lower than a Blackrock Renegade, but the long-range threat was higher than an Orc Summoner.

When it was Lin Rui's turn, he remained silent for a few seconds.

Then he spoke, his voice a pitch lower than usual.

"I'm scared in hindsight."

Su Wan and Hu Jinsi looked at him simultaneously.

"When I saw the drops from the Black Whelp," Lin Rui's fingers unconsciously rubbed the stock of his shotgun, "Dragon Blood, dragon scales, dragon tooth, dragon tendon—every item was valuable."

"The words were already on the tip of my tongue; I wanted to say, should we go south to farm Black Whelps?"

He paused, his Adam's apple bobbing up and down.

"But I thought about the encounters of others." He said, "Those words didn't come out."

"Thinking about it afterwards, greed really blinds the eyes."

Hu Jinsi did not immediately respond.

He added a piece of wood to the fireplace, the flames jumped, casting swaying shadows on the wall.

Then he turned around and spoke in a tone that was almost like casual conversation.

"Think about it." He said, "In a certain area, there are only underage Black Whelps. Then what does this place amount to?"

Su Wan frowned.

Lin Rui also looked up.

"It amounts to a nursery for dragons." Hu Jinsi continued, "Where there is a nursery, there must be a nanny."

"What do you think the nanny of these Black Whelps would be?"

A silence drifted through the air.

The wood in the fireplace made a faint crackling sound, like some kind of silent response.

"Anyway, I don't dare to think about it." Hu Jinsi said, "And I'm not willing to touch it."

He paused and added: "Even though the threshold limit of this map clearly states level 25, the lesson of [The Cathedral] is still vivid in my memory."

"The threshold limit there was only level 20, but the level 20 monsters were so strong that even elite university students who were already Transcendent were no match."

"They went in with Transcendent professions and expertise, and were still suppressed to the point where they couldn't lift their heads."

"And here, it is level 25 dragon-kind." Hu Jinsi's voice dropped a few degrees, "You first think about how strong they could be."

The last trace of greed in Lin Rui's eyes dissipated.

He calmed down and followed Hu Jinsi's logic.

Letting a group of lively Black Whelps run around everywhere was like opening the door wide with a house full of gold.

To say there were no protective measures, even he himself wouldn't believe it.

Then this wouldn't be a dungeon, but a welfare run.

But how could a welfare run ever fall to the lot of mud-legged folks like them.

"Actually, if you observe the map of Lakeside Town carefully," Hu Jinsi took out a hand-drawn sketch from his backpack and spread it on the ground, "you can see that the area we are currently active in is just surrounding the easternmost part of the entire map."

"Moving along the northeast and southeast directions, we haven't even crossed Stillwater Lake."

He pointed to the center of the sketch: "Stillwater Lake occupies the central area of the map."

"To the west of the lake, the Stone Fortress Tower and the Tower of Ilgala are both unknown and forbidden areas for current students."

Hu Jinsi certainly knew what was over there.

But he didn't intend to say, and certainly didn't intend to go.

"According to the current exploration speed," he put away the sketch, "tomorrow we should be able to push to the maximum limit allowed in the north, the five-kilometer line."

"Further north, the risks will start to become uncontrollable."

"This pace is just right." Su Wan said, "Tomorrow we'll spend the day on Blackrock Orcs, and the last half day cleaning up Gnolls."

"The time is neither too tight nor too slow."

"The only regret," Hu Jinsi looked at Su Wan, "is that we didn't get a Shadow Bolt skill stone for you in this dungeon."

Su Wan shrugged.

"We'll farm it slowly. The cantrip version of the skill stone isn't expensive; the cap is at most five thousand credits."

"The effect of [Lesser Shadow Ray] is indeed not as useful as [Dancing Lights] of the same level."

She added, "[Dancing Lights] only sells for five thousand, this spell won't be more expensive."