-----
After killing the moles and the mysterious ant (which I accidentally ate), we decided to take a break and eat something. There were a ton of moles, not only they gave a nice amount of EXP but they were also fatty and with tons of soft meat, surprisingly. I wish I could cook the giant ant, but I ended eating it entirely. Its flavor was terrible so I don't think it might had been any tasty at the end, but really, I wish it could had been better. Maybe if I cooked it, it could had tasted like shrimp. Now I'll never know that!
After we collected the materials, I quickly dropped a few Mole carcasses and began butchering them up with a big sword, Partner and Emeraldine decided to help me. Partner mostly drained the blood out of the carcass than anything else. Emeraldine was surprisingly talented at butchering monster or beasts' carcasses, as she was taught by her mother how to hunt.
Come to think of it, I never truly butchered many monsters, Emeraldine and Partner did most of the work with Lucifer and the Goblins helping as well. Now that I am doing it myself, Emeraldine has been teaching me the ropes.
"And like this, you slowly slice the skin with the pelt out of the muscles and the bones, be careful not to leave any skin over the meat." Emeraldine guided me.
"I see… like this?" I wondered, as I sliced the knife carefully below the skin of the large Mole, it slowly began to slide out.
"Yeah, yeah, just like that!" Said Emeraldine. "You're a quick learner, Maria!"
"Hm, you're doing a good job." Lucifer pointed out.
"Can we make clothes with this pelt?" Wondered Partner.
"No, I don't think we can do something for now, it is too smelly." I said.
The twins had stayed with us as they were fairly stronger than the dwarves as well, and after this Mole Massacre, they had leveled up plentily, to the point they even said their Unique Skills suddenly evolved a bit more, growing stronger.
I guess that's what happens when you're on the early stages of Unique Skill development. Right now I can only force my Unique Skills to evolve using System Points! Wait, isn't that a quick way to grow stronger? Maybe I'll do it whenever I am in a pinch.
"We want to butcher too!" Takeshi said. "I want to learn how to be more independent."
"Me too, I have never really butchered myself…" Laura added.
"Well… Takeshi aren't you good at butchering fish?" I wondered.
"Ah yeah!" Takeshi said. "But not big monsters."
"I promise I won't blow it up!" Laura said.
"Alright, come with us then, grab a knife and join us." Emeraldine was a very gentle teacher with a lot of patience, so she easily let the kids join.
At the end, we butchered two of the large Moles, and got tons of meat out of them. Butchering really calmed us down a lot and eased our hearts as we dedicated to do something else than fighting for a little while.
Ding!
[You learned the [Dismantle: Lv1] Skill!]
[You acquired the [Butcherer: Lv1] Title Skill!]
-----
[Dismantle: Lv1]
A Skill that only those with the ability to dismantle carcasses can learn. It grants special insights while dismantling carcasses or other things about special areas of the body that are weak and easy to butcher. It enhances the dismantling efficacy and quality of the resulting product by +30% with each Skill Level. Additionally, weak points can also be detected on living beings.
-----
[Butcherer: Lv1]
A Title Skill only given to Butcherers! After you've butchered dozens of carcasses, you can now butcher them even better. Your ability to butcher, efficacy, and how you handle a knife is enhanced by +50% (with an additional +10% with each Level), and there's a 100% chance for the resulting product to increase in quality by one Grade.
-----
Would you look at that! It seems that I finally learned those Skills. As I said before, I had not done much butchering myself and didn't knew much of it either, so I guess it is fair that only now I was able to learn the Skills. And damn, the Skills were surprisingly awesome! With this, I can butcher even better and even detect weak points of living foes' bodies? And even more, I seem to be able to increase the quality of whatever materials and products result of what I butcher.
Wait, is this why the meat is glowing so brightly?
"Emeraldine do you have the Dismantle and Butcherer Skills?" I wondered.
"Oh, yeah, I do!" Emeraldine answered. "It took me years to learn them- Ah, don't tell me you learned them just now." She sighed.
? "Y-Yeah…" I said. "I think the Butcherer Title is pretty crazy how much it increases quality and all."
"Quality? My Butcherer Title can't do that…" Emeraldine said.
"Eh?!"
[Indeed, even if you share the same Skills with others, Skills tend to vary in effects, even if the name is the same, they can be unique even when their name or distribution seems generic. Because you posses the incredible Unique Skill: System, you're able to learn Skills that are always stronger than the normal one's other people can learn through their Soul Books. Yet another amazing advantage of your Reincarnation Gifted Powers.]
I feel like you're growing constantly more cynical, my dear system. But I'll take what you said with no grains of salt, or pepper, but with a grain of sugar because that really raised my superiority complex a little bit.
"Ehem! I guess I really do have my own amazing personal Skills." I said while puffing my chest, the rest of my group raised an eyebrow in response, completely unaware of what the heck was I even talking about.
"Anyways, this meat looks very shiny, let's cook something! I'm starving!" Partner said, as she began drinking some Vampire Blood Potion I had made for her.
-----