The Insider System

Chapter 81: Exhausted

Lake was sitting on a log thinking of a better way to get around in the future. He guessed once he was as fast as Lucas seemed to be he could do what he was doing now but at the moment he would really like a cart or something he could ride. Lake guessed he could try and find a horse that was faster than him, but then how would he catch it.

What he really needed was to actually just raise his stats by leveling up his jobs. With what had happened earlier, Lake knew he was probably going to get a visit from the Demon Lord soon, so him trying to only level up a job once before moving on was going to get him killed.

Lake needed to be strong enough that he could run for days without stopping and to do that he needed to get all his stats over 100 at the least because always being on the move was probably the best way to keep himself safe until the war was over.

As long as no one knew where he was he would be safe because of Trespasser. Lake started to laugh. The only way he would actually be safe was if the Demon Lord lost, it didn't actually matter if the war was over if the Demon Lord won because he would still be around, and Lake would have to continue to run.

What Lake found funny was the Insider had shown him this before it had made him promise to help the Light Temple. It was like it knew his instinct was to lay low, and it had been trying to show him that if he did that, he would be on the run for the rest of his life.

Lake knew the insider was old and had seen a lot, but the fact it had known all this so far in advance was kind of cool. He guessed it already knew a lot about this world because Laka had been here and had a hand in what was happening now, so it wasn't like the Insider could see the future or anything.

It had just been telling him what his best option was if he wanted to survive. It had also shown Lake he could reform the Mage guild to help fight the Demon Lord which made Lake wonder if Lucas actually wanted to stay neutral.

If he was to approach Lucas with a plan would he reject it, or was he just biding his time. Lucas had been acting weird when Lake left, and it made him think there was something going on. Lucas was preparing for an attack, and the fact that Lake had only seen people from the Demon Lord's side made him think it was an attack from the Demon Lord.

With Lucas expecting an attack from the Demon Lord why hadn't he joined the God of Lights side though. The fact the Light Temple was evacuating people towards the Alchemist guild made him think they were on ok terms, but both Lucas and the Temple Head had been very clear that they had nothing to do with the other.

Lake guessed they could be lying, but it was such an obvious lie that the Demon Lord would be expecting it, so they would get no strategic advantage from any surprise attacks they could pull off before the Demon Lord realized he had been fooled.

The only other thing Lake could think of was Lucas was planning to take on everyone by himself which seemed crazy because both sides had gods or equivalent fighting for them. Lake was pretty sure they could crush the guild building with very little effort.

Lake stopped running. He was almost back to the capital, but he had been needing a break for a while so this seemed like a good time. He had just seen a patch of weird looking mushrooms and he thought this was good enough to keep him busy till he could keep running.

As Lake was walking over he saw one of the mushrooms move a bit before shooting a cloud of spores. Lake assumed this was its way of protecting itself and stopped. He was effectively immune to poison but he didn't know if that was what the spores would cause.

It was possible the spores would just use his body as food to grow, and his skill couldn't stop that. Lake wondered if these mushrooms were actually closer to monsters than he first realized, maybe he could kill them for Exp.

Not wanting to get close, Lake took out his bow and took aim. Mushrooms had heads so Lake knew where to aim. After he fired he moved back away in case his attack caused the mushroom to explode or something but when the arrow pierced and he didn't feel how he did when he earned Exp, Lake guessed a small hole in a mushroom wasn't enough to kill it.

Switching his job to Fire Mage Lake charged up enough mana for a Fire Bolt and fired it. This actually made the mushroom explode, but it also seemed to take care of the spores, so Lake guessed he found the way he would be killing these mushrooms.

Lake waited for Exp from the mushroom he had just killed until he was pretty sure it wasn't going to give him any, and started to blast the rest. Lake thought maybe he needed to be a farmer or something to get Exp from plants. Once he had killed all the normal sized ones Lake got ready to deal with the biggest one in the center.

Lake was guessing it was a higher level than the rest by quite a bit and probably spread the others that were around it. Lake got as far as he could before he fired at the big one because while the smaller ones had exploded after the first spell Lake was pretty sure he would need to hit this one a few times.

Like he expected, as soon as the first fire blast landed the mushroom started to spew spores from the top and the hole he had opened in its side. Lake wondered if this patch of mushrooms would regrow from all these spores making this a renewable source of them.

Lake guessed that would only be nice if he needed a huge amount of these mushrooms, but in reality he was only doing this to keep himself busy until he could continue to run. Finishing of the big one Lake wanted until the spores left the air and found the closest chunk of mushroom he could. Inspecting it, Lake looked at its details.

Migpie mushroom Lv.7

Effect 1: Damage Stamina 8 Points

Lake wasn't sure which mushroom this chunk came from so he went over to grab a bigger piece he was sure came from the big one.

Migpie mushroom Lv.12

Effect 1: Damage Stamina 13 Points

Effect 2: Damage Health 3 Points

Lake was right about these mushrooms being dangerous, both of the first two effects were bad. They were also boring, Lake knew effects that affected Health, Stamina, and Mana were the most common but he had been hoping for at least one cool effect like a status or something.

Lake guessed it was a good thing for him though. His stamina was getting pretty low from all the running and the fact he hadn't slept for a while was probably not helping, so eating this would make him feel better.

Lake knew eating enough of this to fill his stomach would probably give him thirty Stamina, so Lake got to work. After the first bite Lake realized his skill didn't fix the taste, just the effect. He knew stuff tastes better when you are hungry, but he didn't think that could fix something that tastes of dirt.

Lake wished he had a bucket of water, because he would be able to use Distill to make this into an extract that would remove the flavor while keeping the effect. Lake realized he actually had a container that had water in it but it was so old he wasn't sure if he could use it, because it still had the whanto leaf he had put in there days ago to make tea.

Removing the top Lake decided to not even try because it had clearly started to rot. Lucas had said the quality of the catalyst mattered and Lake was sure rotting tea wasn't good enough. He would also have to remove the whanto leaf because it was an impurity in this situation, and Lake wasn't very practiced in this area.

Lake guessed he would just have to eat it the old fashioned way and took another bite, but when he felt the spit in his mouth start to mix with the chewed mushroom he had an idea. Using his tongue to stir what was in his mouth he activated Distill.

Once distill was on he could feel the the magic properties of the mushroom start to be detached from the rest that was just mundane flesh Lake used another skill he had Poison Control to keep the important part that would restore his stamina and spit the rest.

With the first try being somewhat successful Lake thought he could probably make it so he didn't even need to use his mouth this time. Dragging a large chunk Lake brought it over to a log and sat down. Ripping a hand size piece of the mushroom off Lake used both Distill and Poison Control while it was still in his hand.

Seeing what was in his hand start to deflate like it was in a dehydrator, Lake thought it might be working, and after a few seconds, Lake saw a small amount of the poison that was in the mushroom start to condense into a bead of liquid, but Lake could tell it was unstable through distill though, so he threw it into his mouth using Poison Control.

Once it was in his mouth Lake used his tongue to mix it with his spit and swallowed it. Lake then looked at his Stamina, and saw it go up a few points once the poison reached his stomach, and the best part was he didn't even taste it. Smiling Lake got down to business and started processing the rest of the mushroom into a meal.