25: Finding water

Sphere Professor was indeed angry.

He used Mage Hand to push away the blanket covering him and started cursing.

Fortunately, I didn't understand many of the words, but from his tone, he must have been swearing profusely.

"Professor, please don't be angry yet. I was half-asleep just now and thought... I thought another beast was ambushing us again," I tried to placate him. "Yes, yes, didn't some animal steal my dried meat last night?"

"Who dares? What scoundrel dares to steal my child's food!" Sphere Professor's Mage Hand clenched into a fist, expressing his indignation.

"The Dragon King and I are going to cut some branches today to build a fence to protect our home and you, Sphere Professor. With a safe environment, I can concentrate better on your lessons."

"The duty to defend one's home belongs to everyone! You brat, give me a weapon! I will guard the house, and you and the Dragon King can go in peace!"

Was this still the Sphere Professor introduced by the system?

Didn't it say his Mage Hand could only be used to move himself?

I suspiciously handed him a short sword.

Unexpectedly, Sphere Professor took the short sword with Mage Hand and performed a few sword flourishes, looking quite skilled.

I led the Dragon King out of the lean-to, cautiously surveyed the surroundings, and after confirming there was no danger, took out a map.

This was a simple, hand-drawn map, one of many left behind by the Halfling.

At that time, several teachers had used this map to explain a few possible escape routes to me.

If I had been able to successfully escape from the cave then, heading northeast along the coastal road, Candlekeep, the nearest human settlement, would have been about seven or eight days away.

That's right, it was Candlekeep, the famous great library in the Baldur's Gate game, the former residence of the prophet Olando.

A bit further east, about ten-odd days away, was the Morning Song Temple east of Goresberte, where the two human teachers wanted to go.

It's just that I still haven't figured out whether I've transmigrated into a game or a book.

At that time, several Halfling teachers said that if the two humans could bring me to a human settlement, that would be best, but if I was left alone, it would be difficult for me to leave the forest with my current abilities.

It would be best to find a nearby cave or tree hollow to build a shelter, hunt to fill my stomach, and then try to leave this forest once my skills improved.

On the far left of the map was a winding vertical line, representing the coastline here.

At the very top of this line segment was that mountain, and at its leftmost protrusion was a triangular mark, which was where our seaside cave was located at the time.

In the upper right and lower right corners of the map were two slender, diagonal lines.

The upper right led to the northern mountain range, and the lower right was a river.

Lavinia had told me that they had followed this river northwest until they reached a relatively sparse grassland area by the cliff, and then traveled a short distance north before encountering me.

Before felling trees today, I planned to take the Dragon King to the river first to get some fresh water and familiarize myself with the environment along this route.

Before setting off, I found a few pieces of leather and mended my leather armor.

The scratches on my back from the Dire Wolf last night had already healed without a trace, but the leather armor still bore the marks of being torn.

After reluctantly mending it with new plates, the defense rating of this full-body leather armor still dropped from 4 (6 against piercing and ranged attacks) to 5 (7 against piercing and ranged attacks).

I put on my leather armor again, with both daggers still strapped to my back to reinforce back protection, and held my bow and arrows in my hands, entering a state of stealth and silent movement, ready to deal with any potential dangers.

I had the Dragon King fly around me, simultaneously looking out for dangers and guarding me.

Thus, we, one human and one dragon, cautiously observed our surroundings while slowly advancing southward.

Along the way, the Dragon King and I occasionally cooperated to hunt several seabirds and rabbits, storing them one by one in the system space.

I found that the "food" placed in the system space maintained its temperature, and when taken out, it was the same as before it was put in.

It seems to have a preservation function too.

This morning's plan was to go south, check out the nearby river on the map, get fresh water, and practice hunting.

In the bush ahead, there were some bright red fruits covered with a layer of fine fuzz. I leaned in to examine them closely.

I sniffed them and detected a faint sweet scent.

I picked up a few more from the ground to observe carefully and found that two of the fruits had traces of being gnawed by small animals.

I judged that they were very likely edible.

I chose one that was large and fragrant, wiped the fuzz off its skin on my leather armor, and after thinking about it, still used Appraisal on it.

Using it to determine the safety of food wasn't a waste.

【Redberry】

Redberry is a wild fruit with a vibrant color and a sweet-sour, delicious taste. Its plump, bright red surface is sometimes covered with a layer of fine fuzz. Growing in bushes, it is not only delicious but also highly nutritious.

Isn't this the cranberry from Blue Planet? It's here too.

I peeled the skin, carefully and lightly licked a bit, a hint of sourness accompanied by a touch of sweetness.

Pure wild Redberry is more acidic.

The Dragon King and I picked some ripe fruits and stored them in the food section of the system space.

Some of the flora and fauna here are similar to those on Blue Planet, while a small number of species are distinctly different from those back home.

Similar ones I saw included trees, shrubs, wild grasses, seabirds, rabbits, squirrels, spiders, and several types of insects.

Distinctly different ones I found included several strangely shaped small rodents, several peculiar insects, and several exotic plants.

Because I was worried about encountering large predatory beasts and monsters like yesterday again, my route avoided the dense primeval forest to the east, using clusters of small trees in the grassland as cover, stealthily advancing southward in a winding path.

After more than an hour of traveling south, I heard the faint sound of a waterfall.

A hint of joy and urgency arose in my heart, but I quickly suppressed it.

I still remembered that this was a dangerous world.

Along the way, although I hadn't yet found any dangerous animals in the grassland area, I noticed several pairs of cold beast eyes in the forest.

After carefully walking for another twenty minutes, a small river winding out of the forest appeared before my eyes.

Sunlight spilled onto the river surface, shimmering.

It was like a glittering silk ribbon, flowing from east to west towards the cliff.

At its end, it formed a small waterfall, plunging into the sea.

I hid behind a large tree, motionless, quietly observing the surroundings of the small river.

In the distance, at the border between the forest and the grassland, seven or eight wild deer were drinking water on the south bank of the river.

There were also several groups of strange insects flying in the air, occasionally a few flying down to the river surface to collect water droplets.

As they flew away, the sunlight illuminated the water droplets in their embrace, sparkling like diamonds.

Above the small river, it was as if several pieces of light gauze adorned with sparkling sequins gracefully drifted eastward, finally disappearing into the darkness of the forest.

Shortly after the deer herd left, a black bear, three creatures resembling elk, and two bobcats successively came to the river to drink water.

After all the large animals had successively left, I sent the Dragon King upstream a bit to absorb the river water.

In my mind, I saw the system's energy grid, designated as the freshwater zone, slowly filling with clear river water.

The system's energy completely isolated the river water from other items.

This large grid of river water was about 200 liters, enough for me to drink for two or three months.

According to the characteristics of the system space, this river water, after being stored in the system space for 6 seconds, would also be considered sterilized. As long as it wasn't poisonous, I could drink it with confidence.

While the Dragon King was drawing water, I also ran to the nearest riverbank to wash my hands and face.

The river water was crystal clear to the bottom. If I wasn't worried about beasts appearing nearby at any moment, I would have loved to jump into the river for a bath.

Soon, I saw large animals approaching the riverbank from the distant forest again.

I quickly entered stealth mode and ran back to the west side of that small grove to hide.

The large beast in the distance did not move in my direction, which made me breathe a sigh of relief.

Waiting for it to finish drinking and disappear into the forest again, I took advantage of the temporary absence of other large animals and quietly and quickly retreated the way I came.

I originally thought my luck was good today, but I still encountered large fierce beasts and a group of beasts that carried weapons and could speak human language.