Chapter 58: Three cubic meters

"Why do you sound unsure?" Melissa asked, confused about Eldrian's uncertainty.

"Ah, I guess because looking at it now I can't really believe I stood against it. I also died while fighting it, which, still feels so weird to say."

"You died? Like for real, how was being resurrected?" Melissa asked in wonderment, curious about how this felt. No one ever wanted to talk about it and she didn't want to die just to find out.

"I-I, don't really know how to answer it. It wasn't fun, that's for sure."

"Sorry, I guess that isn't really a good thing to ask someone. How are you doing now?"

"Much better, I mean I still feel tired and all that stuff. But I am glad to be alive, so many aren't so lucky." Eldrian became somber after saying this, thinking back to the pyres.

"Don't go there! Remember their valor, and honor it. Do not become sad!" Melissa said, slapping Eldrian's shoulder as a form of encouragement.

Feeling the slap Eldrian felt confused, it was such a weird thing to do to someone who was sad, but it certainly made him leave his dark thoughts.

"Thanks, I needed that."

"On to more cheerful stuff. Do you want me to help you gut this guy?" She asked in an excited tone sounding cheerful.

Hearing this Eldrian was left flabbergasted, feeling like this topic wasn't much better and that her tone certainly didn't fit it.

"How can you be so nonchalant about this?" He asked.

"You get used to it, with time. And if you don't then you retire or you died. Stop looking at me like that!" She shouted the last bit after seeing Eldrian looking at her like she was a freak.

Hearing her reprimand Eldrian turned his gaze back to the Alpha.

"What do you even do with it? What is important and what is valueless?"

Hearing this Melissa burst into laughter.

"Oh Asteria help me." She said just before doubling over from laughing.

"Did you seriously just ask that. This is a Direwolf, Alpha! Everything is valuable." She said after having laughed for almost a minute. Tears of laughter were flowing down her face, forming white streaks on her face emphasizing her warm ivory skin.

Seeing this Eldrian started looking at her properly for the first time. He had been too focused on the Alpha all this time, only talking to her as a secondary function.

She was wearing leather armor, but not of the skimpy kind. Rather her armor was tight-fitting over her arms and legs, while the breastplate was loose. Or rather separated from her chest, making it hard to see her figure. The chestnut coloring of the leather fitted well with her light brown hair, and her green eyes seemed at home in all the brownish colors.

After having looked her over Eldrian realized that he had been not at all subtle in the action. In his embarrassment he also realized that she had been truthful to him, seeing as she could have easily just told him to take certain stuff. Taking the rest for herself.

Looking at her face Eldrian saw her smiling at him, he had no idea what it was meant to portray, but he felt like it was a knowing smile. Not wanting things to turn weird he decided to apologize.

"Sorry for staring, I have been so focused on the Alpha and everything else. I simply got caught up in it when I finally got out of my dazed focus I became dazed by you."

"And thanks for not pulling one over me!" Eldrian rushed the thank you, feeling very awkward after having apologized.

"Don't worry I don't mind. Heck, you get used to it quite quickly. Are we going to get started?" While saying this she pointed to the Alpha, helping Eldrian realize what she was talking about. For a moment his mind had gone somewhere else.

"Ah, umm. Sure, but how are we supposed to do this. And what tools are needed?" Eldrian asked, realizing for the first time that he didn't have anything with him other than his spear.

"Oh, I also forgot about that part. I just have a knife, and it isn't all that good a knife. Only Tier 3, it will be a massive hassle if we want to skin this guy."

Hearing her admit that they would need tools Eldrian felt like trying something else. All players had an inventory that was split into two parts; having 10 slots that could only take 10 single items and then also a three-meter cubic compartment which Eldrian hadn't played with yet. Thinking of the cube storage he wondered if he might be able to store the Alpha inside it.

First, he decided to test how the inventory worked in the area of taking none single items. He bent down and grabbed a handful of grass. Holding the grass he tried to store it in the inventory slots as he had done with his spear, but he soon found that nothing happened. Confirming to him that the slots seemed to be for either classified items or only a single thing can fit inside it.

Next, he moved to the cube storage, thinking of just throwing it inside. As soon as he did the grass disappeared from his hand. Wanting to look into the storage he soon found an interface overlay his view. From here he saw the grass floating in the middle of the room. Seeing it floating there randomly, he decided to try and take it out. Finding that it took a few tries.

On the first try he simply pulled at one grass, making it float nearer to him while the rest didn't move. On the next attempt, he managed to pull more grasses but scattered those he didn't pull. Luckily it seemed he only had to focus and intended it to happen and it would seemingly happen. Eldrian had no idea how it worked, but he was glad that he could use this inventory without needing to use mana. Since then he would have no use for it at this time.

Finally, he managed to take all the grass out, having spent around a minute in doing this. Looking up he saw that Melissa was walking around the Alpha, seemingly looking for a place to start at.

Seeing this he decided to try some more, this time trying to let the grass go into a specific place in the entire three meters cube of space. He managed to achieve this after his third attempt, the others having had a few leaves of grass sent flying around when he 'put' it into the inventory.

'Yes, it might work!' He shouted internally, ecstatic that he could actually use the entire three cubic meters. From his tests with the grass he knew that there was no gravity in this space, meaning he could even stack fragile stuff up to the roof.

Next he moved on to something bigger, taking a sword which was lying nearby Eldrian first equipped it. Curious about what its stats were, but seeing them he quickly became uninterested in the sword.

It was a Tier 2 arming sword, doing only 7,8 damage. The physical attack damage was only at 8.2, meaning each of his attacks would do less than 10 damage if the target had no armor. Eldrian didn't know how armor worked, but he felt certain this blade would have struggled to even pierce a Beta's skin.

Still, the sword would do its function as a test. Eldrian concentrated, wanting the sword to be placed inside the cube inventory on the floor in a corner. Taking a few seconds Eldrian managed to pull it off. Looking at the inventory he found that the sword was lying there safely. He then took it out, cutting his hand in the process.

When he took it out it had appeared right in his hand, but he had done something wrong as the blade had appeared in his hand, not the hilt. This resulted in him having cut himself a bit, but the wound wasn't deep nor really painful so he quickly moved on. Taking the hilt with his other hand and stabbing the sword into the ground.

'Seems it is easier to take out than the normal slot inventory. But it is also harder in a way, as it requires me to think and control it with my mind.' Eldrian contemplated and started walking to the Alpha. Feeling ready to try and store the Alpha inside the cube. It certainly was big, but luckily his storage was bigger.

He hoped that when things were inside his inventory that its time would stop. He didn't know if this would be the case. But he hoped so, it was often the case in other games and anime. Eldrian knew that if it worked then players would never have to harvest their kills on the spot. Which would save so much time also making it easier for players. Since they could bring it to an actual slaughterhouse or something alike. He didn't know if such places existed, but at the least, he would be able to put it off until he becomes comfortable with the idea of harvesting it himself.

Arriving in front of the Alpha again, Eldrian placed his hand on the beast's head. Closing his eyes and focusing on the interface which was in front of him. Willing the beast's corpse to appear against the right-side wall.

As he willed it to appear he started feeling a tug-of-war inside his head, similar to when he was in the dungeon. But he felt certain that this was the only thing which was going to be the same, at least he tried to convince himself of this.

Continuing to concentrate, sweat starting to drip from Eldrian's forehead as his closed eyes quivered.

'What on earth is he trying to do?' Melissa asked herself, having stopped her action of looking for a place to start. She was finding it to be quite difficult, since her knife only barely cut the Alphas skin, making her need to find a nice place or she would never finish it in a day.

Suddenly she felt the soft feeling under one of her hands disappear. Shocked she looked at Eldrian and then where the Alpha used to be.

"What the hell did you just do?" She asked in confusion.

To her question, she received no reply as Eldrian fell to his knees and struggled to breathe. Luckily he wasn't feeling any pain. He would seriously start thinking the game had it out for him.

Having experienced more pain in these past two days in-game, than he had in years IRL.

Instead of pain he simply felt completely drained, mentally. Wanting to just fall on his side and fall asleep. But he fought this urge, wanting to stay awake and claim some more stuff, hopefully.

Seeing his condition Melissa stayed, waiting for him to recover so that he could answer her questions. She didn't need anything really, only aiming for the Alpha since it was something truly valuable. She also knew there was more than enough time for her to harvest a Beta at the very least.

His current condition looked similar to magic overuse to her, but she hadn't felt any magic coming from him. This intrigued her greatly. She knew that she wasn't an expert in magic, but she believed she was one of the best Adept Apprentices and she knew Eldrian was Tier 0. Having used Observe on him before she had initiated the conversation.

She also knew he was a Chosen, making her wonder if he might have used something unique to them.