How does it taste?
Michael could not answer in time before he puked everything on the ground, this made it 4 inedible monsters.
They all looked fairly beast like, however, none of them tasted good after being cooked up.
Orin went to sleep in the cave as well, the surroundings were pretty safe and so was the cave.
There was one problem though, that problem was in the shape of a yellow dot not too far away from him.
‘Why is she stalking me?’ A shiver ran down his spine as he attempted to hunt yet another monster, this one looked like a pig.
He cut off its head and brought it back to the cave where he had set up a makeshift campfire that he could try cooking the food on.
Water was not a big issue either as inside the cave was a small pond which he used Purify on, making the water drinkable.
He tried doing the same with the monster meat, but none turned out good at all.
‘System, what am I doing wrong, can’t you teach me how to cook these things?’ He complained while preparing the pig looking monster for cooking.
How would I know how to cook? While I do know a lot of things, you were not exactly known for cooking.. ever.
‘Right.. about that, how many of my previous selves can you feel?’
Hm.. I can’t give you an accurate number, however, there are quite a lot, that doesn’t mean I can access their memories though, only bits and pieces.
Michael sighed and put away his Sword of Light which he used to butcher the pig monster. ‘What about the 2 from the trial, did neither of them know how to cook either?’
Nope, as I said, you were a bad cook in all of your lives.
‘Well.. that is not great to hear, do you have anyone else’s memories stashed away inside you? Someone who knew how to cook?’
No, you already figured out that I only hold the memories of your past selves, why do you expect me to have anyone else?
‘I don’t know? Maybe because of that being who put you inside my head?’
What are you on about? Did you see anyone appear before you died?
Michael looked back for a moment before shaking his head.
Exactly, I don’t have any other memories and that’s final, if you need cooking advice, go ask that child or even the woman who has been stalking you for the last hour.
Michael’s brow twitched as he heard the system’s comment, it sounded ridiculous but it might not be that bad of an idea.
If they were to fight, he doubted that he could win, she looked pretty strong.
As for Orin, it did not seem like cooking food was on his mind at all.
‘How much stronger is she than me?’ He asked and put the pig monster to the side, skewering it on a few Swords of Light to prevent it from lying on the ground.
She is a Tier 2, early at that, but still, don’t face her unless you really have to, you might seriously die this time.
Just as Michael began contemplating his decisions, he saw a red dot appear on the map but before he could react, it swiftly disappeared.
‘She killed it…’ He noticed her yellow dot had moved at a very high speed, instantly killing the red dot that had been approaching them.
He also noticed that she went right back to observing him while standing completely still.
Michael found her to be quite odd, it didn’t seem like she had any hostile intentions, however, her actions were something he could not predict.
‘Oh, whatever..’ He decided to walk in her direction, a helping hand would be greatly appreciated.
She noticed him approaching and stepped back, mirroring the speed at which he was walking towards her.
Michael sped up, yet so did she, seemingly running away from him.
He eventually gave up and started walking back, while also paying attention to the map, seeing her following right after him.
The surroundings made it very annoying to run after her, there were too many tree vines in the way.
It was also not a very good idea to stray too far away from the cave, after all, he didn’t want to make Orin feel like he had been abandoned.
“If you can hear me, can you come help me with cooking? I can’t figure out how to cook the meat from the monsters of this forest.” He said with a shout, the echo sending it much further and reaching her.
However, she still refused to come to him, she was so eagerly staring at him back at the entrance, yet she wouldn’t even approach him now.
‘Just what is wrong with her?’
He walked back to the cave and cut off one of the legs of the pig monster before putting it over a fire and slowly cooking it.
It was a long process, he didn’t exactly know how to make the fire burn stronger and it seemed there was some kind of a limit, possibly due to the mana.
After nearly 20 minutes of waiting, it finally looked cooked.
And the best of all, it actually looked edible, though so did his last 4 dishes, yet when he bit into them, Michael was left with disappointment.
Michael.
The moment the system’s voice resounded in his ears, he took a glance at the map, realizing the yellow dot was now directly in front of him.
She was staring down at him, specifically, at the food he had just cooked.
Michael tilted his head and broke off a small piece, holding it in his outstretched hand.
“Want some?”
She took it out of his hands before he could even react, if she had gone for the kill there, he would have certainly died.
Now that she was up close to him, he took another glance at her eyes, however, he was left a bit dumbfounded.
When he first saw her, she had green eyes, now, however, they were a silver color and even her hair that he previously did not pay attention to was fully black, just like his.
“What’s your name?” He asked, not taking his eyes away from hers.
“..Astraea” She replied in a quiet voice while taking a few bites out of the cooked piece of pork he had given her.
For some reason, upon hearing her name, his heart began beating faster. Taking a glance at her appearance once again, he was met with a sharp headache.
A flood of memories appeared inside of his mind, they were of her, however, not one of the memories held any semblance of friendship or anything of the sort.
In fact, he remembered only seeing her from a distance, nothing more. He hadn’t even talked to her at all.
Yet at the same time, his heartbeat was now slowing down and he even found it starting to get a little hard to breathe.
Michael was not sure what kind of emotions these were, he had never felt anything like this even back in his original world before he died.
However, whatever they were, regret was clearly present, almost triumphing above all the other emotions he felt.
‘System?’ He asked as he looked away from her eyes, staring into the fire.
Not sure.. she seems like someone you were connected to in one of your lives.
‘How is that possible though? Even if I could remember her eventually, why did she make the memories resurface?’
From what I can gauge, those memories are incredibly old, even older than the ones from your first trial, perhaps it was the actual Michael’s memories?
As the system kept rambling, Michael grew even more confused.
“Sorry for asking, but how old are you?” He blurted out before realizing what he said, causing him to inwardly facepalm.
Astraea’s eyes narrowed and she took a slightly more aggressive bite “I am 19, why? Do I look younger?”
‘Quite the opposite actually..’ A cold sweat ran down his spine as more questions began appearing in his mind, however, the system quickly interjected.
She is likely just like you, a person with fragmented memories of their past.
Michael turned to stare at her again, not quite believing the system’s statement, it seemed too absurd.
“My name is Michael.”
He expected some sort of reaction similar to his, however, she merely nodded and continued eating, almost finishing the whole leg of the pig monster.
Michael sighed and looked at his empty hand.
‘She stole it…’
