Chapter 18: Give us a break!

"Say, Kanan. I’ve been thinking."

"Not interested."

"Aw, man, don’t be like that. You don’t even know what I’m going to say."

"Terin, whenever you’re thinking about something, it always leads to bad news. Granted, it was only one time, but that was still one time too many."

It had been a month since the poison incident, and things were slowly returning to normal. Winter was only two months away, and the autumn leaves had begun displaying their full glory as the temperature steadily dropped, forcing Kanan to wear an animal-skin top.

"Can you just listen to what I have to say? Please?"

Ever since being poisoned, Terin had felt more powerless than ever. He had only recently overcome his feelings of inferiority—where they came from, Kanan still didn’t know—and now, after nearly experiencing death for a second time, Terin was determined to prepare himself in case something like this ever happened again.

Kanan was finally getting back into his routine: waking up early to hunt, learning more about roles, having sex with Viola on her break, helping around the farm occasionally, and having more sex with Glena at night before doing the same thing over again the next day.

But a few days into his routine, Terin decided to join. The hunting, not the sex, and ever since then, he would talk Kanan’s ear off.

"Okay, okay, fine. What’s on your mind, Terin?"

Terin smiled and instantly pulled out an erb from his pouch. "You see this, Kanan?"

"Yes?"

"It’s a poisonous plant!"

Now, Kanan didn’t think Terin was a stupid guy. In fact, he believed that Terin was actually pretty smart. He may have his moments here and there with his honorable ambitions, but there were times when he would act first and think later.

What did Terin do? Well, it was pretty obvious: he ate the poisonous plant.

"TERIN!"

He chewed the plant like a salad and made sure to move it all around his mouth. "Hehe, smart, right?"

"No!" A slap to the face was enough to force Terin to spit the plant out.

"Pwehh! W-Why did you do that?"

"Because you’re a fucking idiot! Do you want to die?"

"No! That’s why I’m eating the plant! You know, to build up a resistance!"

"It doesn’t...ugghhh!" Rubbing his temples wasn’t enough to get Terin’s stupidity out of his head. "It doesn’t work like that, Terin."

"H-How do you know? And why did you slap me so hard? I can barely feel my cheek."

"I was hoping to restart your brain, but it seems like I failed. Want me to try again?"

"Nooo!" Terin backed away and covered the red handprint on his cheek.

"First of all, if you want to build up poison resistance, you need to consume very small amounts of the poison so you don’t die right away and have the antidote on standby in case something goes wrong. You and your smart brain didn’t do either."

"Y-You think I’m smart?"

There was a limit on how much Kanan could handle. So, he walked away. "Go back to the village, Terin. I don’t want you dying before the blessing ceremony."

"R-Right! I’ll go hunting with you tomorrow!" He ran off

"Please don’t."

---

Kanan experimented with the system during the past month and learned more about it. Though it wasn’t fully awakened, there was still a lot the system had to offer.

One thing he learned was that he could gain information on anything he put inside the system’s inventory. While he could ask the system for information on whatever he saw or held, if he didn’t ask, the system wouldn’t tell him.

However, placing an item in the system would automatically give him a written description of what the item was, how it functioned, and where to get it or how to craft it.

This came in handy as Kanan was able to craft Angler Poison antidotes on his own. It took him a few tries since he knew nothing of herbalism and wasn’t an herbalist, but he got it down eventually.

"I don’t even feel like hunting today; I just want to relax. I think dealing with Terin’s insane idea drained me of my drive to be productive." So, Kanan decided to check on the traps around the hunting grounds to make sure they were still functioning properly.

"Hmm? That’s odd." There were many traps around the hunting grounds, and it was only natural for some to come undone by the weather, animals, or some force of nature.

But what Kanan was looking at didn’t seem like the work of an animal or nature. A string was attached to this particular trap, and once triggered, it would fire sharpened wooden spears at its prey. Yet the string had been cut so cleanly that Kanan could have sliced his finger on its edge.

"I trust my gut, and my gut is telling me that something is happening. So, before anything crazy happens, I’m going back home."

As Kanan stood up, he heard bushes rustle and noticed a small glint in them. Without pausing to investigate, he quickly maneuvered himself to the side, dodging a metal dart that flew into a tree.

"You dodged that? Must be blessed." A woman’s voice broke the silence as she stepped from the bushes. She stood tall and broad-shouldered, her muscular frame covered in intricate tattoos that wound across her arms, torso, and legs.

Her appearance didn’t take away from her beautiful looks: large boobs and thick thighs.

Kanan recognized those markings on her body. It was the same ones the prisoners had when he had killed one of them.

"You’re from the Typhon Tribe!" Kanan backed away, nocking an arrow.

"I am. Tell me, boy, how is your tribe faring?"

"Whatever you’re trying to do, it won’t work."

"Haha, you don’t even know what I plan on doing."

"True, but I’m sure he does." Kanan pointed behind the woman.

"What?!" She turned around, about to go off on a person whom she told not to follow, but saw no one. Turning back around, Kanan was already running away.

"That fucker!" She took off like a flash of light to catch up with Kanan.