They left with the rabbit merchants, heading even further south. The change in location seemed to be prolonging the end of the hot-dry season of Summer. First from the wolf village to the horse village, and now from the horse village to the rabbit one. Chiaki found that of all her wolf admirers from Rock Mountain, only one was still determinedly following her group. The red-haired wolf, Faolan. He'd been quietly in the background during the time to the first stop, only returning to his courting attempts once they were at the village. He had also been gifting her the best parts of his hunting, from what she knew of the preferred meats from animals. The only other from their first caravan was Mu Die, who Jiu Ruan had told her was a passable male, one who even had a sister back at Rock Mountain.
The rest of their new caravan was filled with rabbit merchants, all but one who seemed to stay in their humanoid forms. The black hare had introduced himself as Orc a few days back, as Chiaki got food from the market. It was an odd name, even as far as the naming went on this world.
"It would look odd to have no belongings at all." This had been agreed upon, so Chiaki's trunk was left out of the item box. A few daily items left inside it completed the ruse.
The mornings were muggy, the afternoons hot and humid, and the evenings drizzled rain. The time between the hot Summer and rainy Autumn had finally caught up with them. On afternoons like this Chiaki preferred riding on Curtis' back, even though the giant snake form set most of the non-mated males on edge. His cool scales pulled the excess heat from her body. The drizzle of rain was annoying, seeing as all the guys wanted to keep her from getting wet. Wet equaled sick to them, she insisted she was made of tougher stuff than most females. She enjoyed the rain, it took the heat out of the air so it was comfortable to sleep each night. But the damp ground released the water the next day as it heated up again, causing a cycle.
Chiaki was able to add a few new wildflowers to her collection. She wasn't sure what ones would end up proving useful and knowing the space was unlimited made her not mind when most of them were only good as basic salad ingredients. What she really wanted was more of these powers now that she understood how she was getting them.
A screen popped up as they traveled. Sitting on Curtis' back allowed her to pay attention to it without worry. It read: 'Activate quest giving? Yes/No' Her long talk with Tobi looked to be paying off. If she agreed to restore the Beast God, she wanted a clearer source of progress.
She chose 'yes' and the screen changed. 'Quest given: Bring bee keeping to the Green Plains Rabbit Tribe. Reward: Beast God praise power increases. Status: Ongoing.'
She looked at the quest. So she should work towards introducing bee keeping to the rabbit village. That would probably take a bit of time, that meant she would likely have to stay at the village for more than a season. It was close to Autumn already, probably already more rainy further north that here. They'd be Wintering with the rabbits then.
'Quest given: Find the hidden power in the Beast God's Ribs. Reward: Hidden. Status: Ongoing.'
Chiaki blinked at the sudden addition of a second quest.
'Quest given: Increase relations between the Rock Mountain tribe and the Black Ice tribe. Reward: Hidden. Status: Failed. Something bad may happen.'
'Quest given: Gain five mates. Reward: Males with no stripes will no longer try to court you without reason. Status: Complete.'
'Quest given: Gain ten mates. Reward: Males with one-stripe will no longer try to court you without reason. Status: 7/10.'
'Quest given: Find out a dark secret. Reward: Beast God praise power increases. Status: Ongoing.'
At last the pop-ups stopped and Chiaki had the time to sort through all the new information. She frowned when she saw she'd failed at a quest without even knowing it exited. She probably should have activated the quest system sooner, had she know it would generate quests even before she activated it on her end. She didn't like the idea that she might have prevented something bad happening, but it was too late now.
There was more to figure out about the System she and Tobi had set up, but this was already a lot to take in. Chiaki closed the window. Around her the scenery hadn't changed. The village was out of sight behind them, but the plains seemed to stretch out forever in all directions.
Curtis' scales were cool against her legs. The sun nearing its zenith, the temperature would jump soon. The caravan slowed to a stop, they didn't need to rest themselves but wanted to give Chiaki some time to 'rest' from traveling. It didn't matter that she hadn't done anything all morning but sit.
A small ground animal was quickly hunted, the group of males taking out a whole burrow of them. Chiaki thought they looked a bit like Prairie Dogs, but with tan and black striped hides. Qianhuang cut the fur, releasing it from the feet, head and slicing up the belly before pulling the entire layer off by hand. Studying it with her identification ability said they were 'Black-Striped Tonpiza' pelts. The store offered to pay her 1 clear Spar for ten furs. She thought she'd rather keep them for the upcoming Winter.
The Tonpiza were gutted and quick roasted over a fire, with her mates simply downing the less desirable parts as they worked. The merchant rabbits watched, partly in awe of the effective and easy way the males got along, and partly surprised that they openly ate raw meat while their female could see. Chiaki didn't even take notice of the events. After a couple of years with husbands that still had wild instincts she just lost her modern-day attitude towards it all.
In the distance she could hear the 'ton-ton-ton' calls of the rest of the living animals warning of the danger in the area. While her mates did that, Chiaki stretched her legs and while she stayed close to the camp, she was able to collect enough wild greens for at least herself to eat. She knew they eyes of the rabbit men followed her, watching what plants she picked. They were probably waiting to quickly stop her from picking anything dangerous. When she settled by her working mates, they all sighed a quiet sound of relief.
The meat was bland, dry, and a bit tough. She wasn't about to complain though. Living day to day and hand to mouth was the truth of things. She happily took bites of her fresh greens salad between bites of meat.
"Do you like them?" Bai Di asked.
"Sort of like- short winged bird and boar mixed into one meat."
"We can make you a new wrap with the hides or would you like to keep the fur on them?" Curtis asked.
She paused to think about how the pattern of the animal looked. "Probably keep the fur on, even if the clothes made that way don't last as long." It would really come down to if they got to the rabbit village while the hides were in good condition or not. Then she shook her head, remembering that her item box kept everything in exactly the same state it was when put in.