Volume 16 Chapter 39: Camping Outside

“We can salvage a few of them.” Most of the marble golems melted from the heat, but a few were semi cooked: cut the melted section, and the rest could be usable.

Eric nodded, “Let’s do that.” Losing such important pieces would be a shame.

Derek grumbled as he cut, “This was decent marble too. It could have fetched a good price.”

“...” Alvin’s nose twitched as he tried to ignore him while Keith rubbed his back, “We can find it; we have time.” The marble golem at the beginning was a lucky find; they were supposed to take hours searching for it.

Eric placed them inside his storage ring, “At least it gives us a reason to train more.” There was an upside: venturing into a dungeon and fighting was something he did seldom. It was a valuable experience.

Recovering the usable sections, the quartet headed down. Despite venturing deeper into the dungeon, there were no signs of monsters. Derek grumbled, “This is all your fault!”

“My fault?!” Alvin’s eyes narrowed.

“It is,” Eric agreed.

“Come on, let’s not fight with one another. We’ll eventually meet more marble golems if we continue downward.” There was no need to argue. He was right. As the group headed down, more golems were spotted.

However,

“They’re not marble golems.” Unlike the white marble before him, this was grey.

“It’s not stone either.” Keith’s eyes narrowed, “Looks good quality.”

“Keith, if you would?”

“Mmhmm.” Keith raised his hand, and lightning lances blasted through the golems. Their luck was high in the beginning: the horde of white golems was high-grade marble. The one before them was a mixture of grey and white. Alvin picked them up, “Keith, can you store them? I want to do some research.”

“Sure,” Keith tossed them into his bag. Like so, the search continued.

“We’re not finding good ones,” Eric frowned. Despite many golems charging at them, it wasn’t the color they wanted.

“Let’s take a break here.” Glancing down at his watch, they had explored this dungeon for five hours now. The three nodded; it was a good stopping point as they were in an open area, perfect for rest.

“Alright, I’m on cooking duty.” All the ingredients were brought out onto the table.

“Then we’ll do the rest.” Eric rolled up his sleeves.

“Eh?” Alvin and Derek looked at him.

“Why are you two surprised?” Eric frowned, “Our little brother is on cooking duty while the rest of us are on watch.” The dungeon was not to be treaded lightly: monsters could still attack them.

“Do you think you can skimp out and do nothing?”

“...” Derek and Alvin glanced at one another. That was the plan. Eric scoffed, “Set up the tent, you brats!” He was this close to smacking their heads.

Keith laughed before preparing their meal. Rinsing some rice, he placed it into a pot over a campfire. The next dish he worked on was vegetables, as he had fresh cabbage.

Rinsing the rice, he placed the pot over the campfire to cook. The next dish he worked on was fresh cabbage.

Derek’s nose flared. “Little brother, are rice and vegetables the only dishes you’re going to cook?”

“Of course not.” A large amount of sliced meat appeared, “I’m going to be cooking this live.” Freshly grilled was always the best when eating around a campfire. With some tongs, the meat was placed on the grill. Eric and the two quickly set up their tents and safety net before sitting down.

“Let’s eat now.” Keith placed the meat onto a plate, and the three dived in.

“The best.” Eric and the others muttered as they ate. Keith took a deep breath, “Thankfully, it’s only golems here.”

“Ahh, yeah.” Golems were rock monsters, incapable of smelling food. It was a suitable location.

“Little brother will always be the best cook in the world.” Derek grinned with a mouthful of rice.

“But little brother, you shouldn’t be so focused on this.”

“Hmm?”

“You’re still a little kid. And there’s going to be a lot of things you need to accomplish before anything.”

“That’s right, smell the roses as well.” Derek joked.

“I know.” Keith laughed as he placed more food for them. Tomorrow was going to be a long day...or so they thought. ​

“What the? There are a lot of golems here.” Mixed in were a bunch of marble golems.

Derek muttered, “Don’t you even think about trying to use the magic.”  

“We can finally leave now.”

“We still need to search for more items.” Keith and the others were prepared.