Chapter 51

Because of the lack of materials at hand, Wenlong had no choice but to process the large piece of fur in a simplified manner.

He first cleaned the fur, then took out the salt he had with him and rubbed it into the flesh side of the fur. After that, he hung the salted fur under the shade of a nearby tree to dry slowly. This method would keep the fur soft and also serve as a preservative.

Actually, according to the proper process, the fur should have been soaked in an alkaline solution, but Wenlong skipped this step.

Although the alkaline solution could be easily made by dissolving a few pieces of soap from soap-loving Catherine in water, Wenlong did not have a large enough container to soak such a large piece of fur, and it would not be time-efficient.

"Anyway, this piece of fur won't last for years, and there are plenty of beavers around here. I can get a better one when the conditions are right, meow," Wenlong thought.

After processing the beaver fur, while waiting for it to dry, Wenlong turned his attention to the pile of fresh beaver meat.

"The claws and bones can be used as materials for crafting equipment, but what can I do with this pile of fresh meat, meow?" Wenlong wondered.

Previously, due to hunting many wild boars, the amount of meat in Wenlong's bag had already reached a considerable level. This meat had already been salted and could be stored for a long time without spoiling.

Moreover, with the abundance of wildlife in the forest, it was not difficult for a hunter to obtain meat. Therefore, Wenlong was not particularly interested in this large pile of fresh meat.

"But throwing it away seems wasteful. In that case..."

Suddenly, Wenlong seemed to have an idea.

"Ah, right! In the game, fresh meat can be used as an important material for synthesizing 'Power Walk' potions. This should be possible here too; I almost forgot, meow!"

Wenlong remembered that in the game, the 'Power Walk' potion was a special potion that allowed a hunter's stamina to not decrease for a period of time. For hunters who relied heavily on stamina for attacks, the value of this potion was very high, and it was often in short supply on the market.

"Something that is in short supply in the game should fetch a good price in Mirard Village, and I need it myself when using dual swords, meow..."

With this in mind, Wenlong immediately said to Catherine:

"Hey! Woman, quickly set up the grill and cook two portions of well-done meat for lunch. The rest should be cooked to medium-rare, meow!"

"Eh? Cook the rest to medium-rare except for the lunch portions?" Catherine was puzzled.

Generally, well-done meat tasted better, although some people preferred medium-rare. However, cooking a large amount of medium-rare meat would be difficult to preserve, as meat easily spoils without proper treatment.

"Just do as I say. I have some things to do around here. You stay here and cook the meat, meow."

"Okay, Mr. Cat," Catherine nodded and began to take out flint and a grill from her bag.

"By the way, can you cook the meat to medium-rare without any problems? Can you control the heat well, meow?" Before leaving, Wenlong still seemed a bit worried.

"No problem, Mr. Cat," Catherine answered confidently, a rare look of confidence on her face. "When my brother was still around, the only thing I could do for him was to prepare a delicious dinner before he came home..."

After saying this, a hint of melancholy appeared on Catherine's face.

"Alright, then..." Wenlong recalled how, when he first asked Catherine to process the materials from a wild boar, she had chopped the ribs into pieces to make braised spareribs, which earned her a scolding from him.

"Then cook the meat well here. If you encounter any danger, shout for help. I won't go too far and will return quickly, meow."

Like a nagging old woman, Wenlong gave Catherine some instructions before shouldering his backpack and heading into the nearby forest.

"Really, when did I become so concerned about others..." As he walked, Wenlong thought to himself.

This time, Wenlong needed to collect two types of materials in the forest: one was natural wild mountain honey, which he had previously used in making Recovery Potion G, but the amount collected was not much and was now almost used up. The other was a type of insect called a bitter bug, which was said to be very bitter but beneficial to the human body.

These two materials were relatively common in the Valley of the Morning Breeze, so Wenlong left Catherine behind and entered the forest alone to search.

Sure enough, it didn't take long for Wenlong to spot a large wild mountain bee hive, about the size of three human heads, hanging on the trunk of a large tree. Around the hive, there were countless wild mountain bees swarming.

"Luck is on my side, meow!"

Seeing the bee hive, Wenlong began to gather some half-dry branches nearby and piled them under the hive, adding some dry grass. He then used flint to ignite the dry grass, which quickly caught fire. The half-dry branches began to produce a large amount of thick smoke, which rose directly to the bee hive.

Soon, the wild mountain bees in the hive could no longer tolerate the smoke and began to fly away in large numbers.

Once most of the wild mountain bees had left, Wenlong approached and used a knife to cut open the hive, squeezing the honey into a wide-mouthed bottle he had prepared.

Wenlong also placed a thin piece of gauze over the mouth of the bottle, allowing the honey to flow through the gauze into the bottle while filtering out impurities. The final product was a bottle of pure, golden wild mountain honey.

"Tsk, this golden color, I can't help but want to taste it, meow..."

Although he had this thought, Wenlong resisted. After all, while honey was good, its value would increase several times when mixed to make 'Power Walk' potions or Recovery Potion G. The benefits it would bring to Wenlong would far outweigh the temptation of a small taste now.

Before long, a bottle of honey was collected. Wenlong carefully examined it and found that there seemed to be some honey left in the hive, so he took out another bottle and continued to collect it using the same method.

Thus, by the time the honey in the hive was almost completely extracted, Wenlong had collected a full two wide-mouthed bottles of honey!