月亮播放器

Chapter 67: Gathering, II

Kris had found some food, but most of the fruits found weren’t part of the Database, which made consuming or even touching them too risky.

‘I could have Raya run some tests, but that would probably take too long. We still have some food left, and these that I found will already be a nice change of pace…’

The group went back to the spaceship.

Sixteen hours before take-off.

The Paru, followed by the female Granilith, remained around the area for a bit, before leaving for the forest once again.

It didn’t take too long before the Paru found them.

‘The red berries that Kris talked about…’ The Paru stood in front of a bush filled with them. ‘It can’t be that-‘

The Paru reached for the berries and,

Slap-

‘Huh?’

The female Granilith had swatted his hand away. She stared at his confused expression, before pointing at a tree.

‘Seriously…?’

Having her against a tree had become one of their favorite pastimes, but the Paru was still surprised that she would slap his hand and be that aggressive about it.

The next second, the female Granilith hit the tree with a front kick, and some kind of fruit fell to the ground. It resembled an orange with a purplish peel.

‘Oh… Yes, that works too.’

The Paru took hold of that fruit, pointed at it, and gestured to the female Granilith.

Her eyes sparkled and she turned away, eager to gather as much as she could find.

‘Alright. She should know best what we can eat and what we can’t… Whether they can eat the same things as Graniliths though… Well, they can run tests or something. Some things could be poisonous to them but not to us. In any case, these red berries seem to be bad for Graniliths too. Therefore…’

The Paru grabbed a handful of those berries,

Gulp-

And ate them.

‘Eating berries would take too long though. I need to eat large quantities of the poison if I want it to develop into anything… If it even will.’

The Paru took hold of the bush, and pulled it clean off the ground.

Leaves and roots, the Paru ate all of it.

‘Let’s look for more of these…’

The Paru focused on the bushes with red berries, but he didn’t shy away from other fruits.

Everything and anything could be used.

[You have Developed the Skill “Weak Poison Production”.]

‘Weak… I suppose that makes sense.’

The tip of the Paru’s index finger twitched.

‘Let’s test just how weak it is.’

The female Granilith came up, holding a dozen pieces of fruit in her arms.

It didn’t take long for them to find a lonely Granilith.

It swung at the Paru, and the latter grabbed its arm.

A second later, the Granlith was on the ground.

‘Stop moving.’

The Paru used his right arm to pin one of the Granilith’s arms to the ground.

The sharp legs he used to have were showed themselves from below his shell.

With great speed, they pierced through the Granilith’s other arm, pinning that one to the ground as well.

Growl-

‘Shut up already.’ The Paru used his free hand to hold the Granilith’s mouth open.

The next second, a drop of poison fell from the tip of his index finger into that Granilith’s mouth.

‘Producing it uses up quite a bit of Endurance Points. Still…’

Ten drops fell into the Granilith’s mouth.

Seconds passed, and the Granilith’s movements turned erratic.

It tried to throw up, but the Paru didn’t let it.

More seconds passed, and pinning the Granilith to the ground became easier.

‘I see…’ The Paru thought to himself after about a minute had passed. ‘It’s basically paralyzed. It’s not really weak… But it won’t kill. Plus, while the fruits do hold this poison, one berry holds much less than a drop of it. Ten drops of this poison is probably the quantity you could extract from hundreds of berries.’

The Paru nodded, satisfied.

The female Granilith gathered more fruit on the way.

‘Why didn’t I get sick by the way? I’m not immune to poison, am I? I assume I have some resistance, since Parus can eat everything and anything.’

[Through your “Venomous Fangs” Skill, you already hold immunity and resistance to certain kinds of Poisons and Venoms.]

‘Right. It’s safe to assume that the Venom I can produce wouldn’t hurt me. If I remember right, the body produces random combinations to deal with antigens. Having Resistance to something, might mean having Resistance to others. Immunology is a funny thing.’

…

By the time the two left the forest, the female Granilith was holding a small hill of fruit in her hands.

Towards the end, it was the Paru who took the fruits under her guidance, and placed them at the top of the hill she was holding.

‘It’s important for them to see her bringing the food. Since they still have trouble accepting her…’

“Oh, that’s amazing!” Kris shouted upon seeing the large pile. “Many of them I managed to find in the Database. And they’re edible!”

It was usually the job of the newer females of the tribe to bring food, but the female Granilith didn’t mind. The females of the tribe were so small, they might as well have been children.

The female Granilith thought of this exclusively about the male Worka.

…

Fourteen hours before take-off.

Guns, ammo, and food had been stored inside the spaceship.

Ten hours for all to get plenty of sleep.

Two hours to bring the heavy machinery back into the ship.

Two hours to prepare for take-off.

All parties within the spaceship felt rather nervous about it. Not just because they were going back to the planet of Visero, but also because some things had changed.

The presence of the Paru and the female Granilith changed many things.

One of those things was…

‘Will we give him a room? Or will he sleep in a storage room? Or…?’

‘It was fine here, but seeing him all the time inside will be…’

‘Tsk. I need to focus. I won’t let his swinging distract me from…’

Additionally, Al hadn’t let go of the arousal that had risen within him since seeing them.

‘I think I might go pay one of them a visit.’ He thought to himself and chuckled.

Al had, after all, rejected the advances of one of the female Workas at the start of their mission.

‘I feel so dirty saying this… But I think it’s time I got some.’