System Made Me a Tank [LitRPG-Evolution]

Boran looked around to gather firewood. Finding enough dry branches in the dark forest wouldn't be easy. The humid air of Wyvern Valley had made most of the wood wet and unusable. Still, he didn't give up; moving forward carefully, he began checking the bases of trees.

"Wet branches won't do us any good," he muttered to himself. "I need to find dry wood, or we won't be able to make a fire."

He took the first branch he found and bent it gently. The branch broke immediately — this was a good sign. To check if it was dry, he scraped a piece with his fingernail. The inside was dry too.

"That's it!" he said joyfully.

Boran stopped next to a large log. There were several more dry branches under the log. He tucked these under his arm too. Now he was carrying an armful of wood.

While gathering the branches, he kept watching his surroundings. He knew the Wyverlings could attack at any moment. Fortunately, all was quiet for now.

After collecting the last few branches, he returned to the camp area. Noemi was still sitting in her spot, with Boney waiting nearby. Boran neatly arranged the wood on the ground.

"Now it's time to make a fire," he said. "Boney, my friend, I need your help."

Boney approached. The blue fire in his eye sockets flickered slightly.

"You know," Boran said, turning to Noemi, "this fire in Boney's eyes is real fire. It can ignite things."

"Interesting," said Noemi. "How do you do it?"

"Just like lighting something with a lighter," said Boran. He arranged the small branches in a pyramid shape and placed some dry leaves underneath. "Boney, come here."

He took a piece of branch and lit it using the fire from Boney's eyes. The flames quickly spread and engulfed the small branches.

"There we go!" said Boran proudly. "Now we have our fire."

Boran carefully added larger branches to the fire. The flames grew stronger and began illuminating the surroundings. The temperature was slowly rising.

"This fire will burn for a long time," said Boran. "I chose the wood well. Not too thick that it takes long to catch, not too thin that it burns out quickly."

The crackling of the fire and dancing flames cast strange shadows in the dark forest. Boran adjusted the fire a bit more and set aside the last few branches as spare.

Boran walked toward the nearest Wyverling. "Ah, damn! I forgot to bring a knife."

"I have one," said Noemi, rummaging through her inventory. She found what she was looking for and produced it. It was a sharp, well-maintained hunting knife. "Here, take it. I don't use it anyway."

"Are you sure?" Boran asked while examining the knife.

"Yes, I'm sure. As a mage, I don't need close combat weapons. Besides, you'll use it more."

"Thank you," said Boran with a smile. He took the knife and turned back to the Wyverling. "This job might be a bit... messy."

Noemi wrinkled her face and turned away. "Please don't make me watch this part."

"Okay, you don't have to look."

Boran dragged the Wyverling next to the fire and got to work. Meanwhile, Noemi had her back turned, continuing to add wood to the fire.

Boran brought the knife to the Wyverling's chest but wasn't sure where to start. After thinking for a few seconds, he said, "I guess I should start with this skin first."

The first cut was a bit uneven. The knife couldn't cut through the hard scales under the skin. "This... is going to be harder than I thought," he muttered.

"What happened?" asked Noemi, still facing away.

"Can't cut through these scales. Maybe I should start from the belly, it looks softer there."

Boran pointed the knife at the Wyverling's belly and made a more careful cut. This time the skin split, but a strange smell emerged. "Ugh... what's this smell?"

"I told you so," said Noemi, holding her nose.

"No, no, I'll continue," said Boran determinedly. "Now... let's see what's inside..." He looked into the cut. "Wow, what's this green stuff? I don't think it's supposed to be like this..."

"Boran, if it's green inside, maybe you shouldn't eat it," said Noemi worriedly.

"But I'm so hungry!" Boran sighed. "Alright, you're right. I guess eating these Wyverlings wasn't a good idea. The ones that come from the ground are probably the most edible ones. I'll just eat the Dark Crawler meat I cooked earlier."

"Dark Crawler meat?"

"Yes, from the Dark Crawlers in the previous dungeon. Not great, but it'll do."

"What kind of stomach do you have?"

"Like iron!"

Three hours later, Boran and Noemi were quietly moving deeper into the valley. The fresh afternoon air was still present.

"There, between the trees," whispered Boran, pointing with his hand. Ahead, three Wyverlings were circling around a pool of water.

"What's the plan this time?" asked Noemi while readying her staff.

"Let's use the same tactic. You cast Fireball, if they don't die, I'll draw them to me. Boney will watch our backs."

They both moved forward crouching. Boran drew his bow, Noemi raised her staff. They nodded to each other and launched their attack.

The Fireball from Noemi's staff killed all the Wyverlings in one shot. The creatures let out a painful scream as they burned.

[Kill 10/10 Muffled Breath Wyverlings]

"Great! We just need to find and kill the Valley Reaper! Where do you think it could be?"

"I don't know," said Noemi. "But I think we'll have to search the entire valley."

They both started moving forward, looking around. But no matter where they looked, they couldn't find any trace of the creature. Two hours had passed.

"Strange," said Boran. "We couldn't find a single trace of such a powerful creature."

"Maybe it's somewhere else," suggested Noemi. "Or we're looking in the wrong places."

"Do you remember exactly what the creature description said?"

"Yes, a six-legged, aggressive creature that defends its territory. It has a scythe-like tail. But I don't know where it can be found."

"If it defends its territory, it must be protecting its own area," said Boran thoughtfully. "Maybe we should climb to the highest point of the valley and look around, what do you think?"

"We've got nothing to lose..."