237 Chapter 237: Fried frost lizard


    After chiding his rumbling stomach, Frost came across the boss room for this floor. He didn’t n on fighting the thing, just a glimpse to satisfy his curiosity before calling it a night. He scavenged the meat from hisst frost lizard kill, aiming to turn that into his meal for the night. His backpack finally had something stored in it now, and the smell was quite strong. He only had a basic backpack, though it had a fair number ofpartments and was of decent quality itcked some advanced features. More specialised backpacks would have specialpartments lined with smell absorbing material or perhaps even runes dedicated to preservation of meat. This was just another thing that adventurers had to pay for in order to do their jobs.


    Before Frost was the familiar entrance to a boss room, that lead to the next floor. However, unlike the previous three times, the room was empty, no boss.


    “Huh?” Frost frowned as he walked into the room, examining the entire area for signs of a monster but there was nothing but the remains of bloodstains upon the ground. “Someone must have beaten me to it, guess I’ll just have to wait until tomorrow.” Frost shook his head and shrugged, he wasn’t the only one in this monsterir and sometimes that meant giving up the hunt.


    From the blood stains he surmised that he just missed the group by a few minutes. Any group that could make it through to the fifth floor was no amateur. The bottom most floors were reserved for those at the peak of D-rank and perhaps even C-rank, especially with the monster stampede looming. If one of these groups were as foolish as the uprightnces, Frost may have a really hard fight on his hands, he may even need to retreat.


    Unfortunately, there wasn’t any sign of what monster this boss room usually contained so Frost couldn’t satisfy his curiosity. But it surely wouldn’t be an easy opponent or opponents given the remnants of battle.


    Frost didn’t know how long it would take for the boss to respawn but surely after a nights rest it would return and if not he’d just have an easy path to the fifth floor. Fighting the boss was not a necessity but each one so far had allowed him to improve his skills. The first floor boss improved his mastery in the [summon ice golem] spell whereas the second improved his [ice bolt] whereas thest one improved his ive mastery by a small realm. Missing out on an opportunity would be unfortunate but not the end of the world, there were plenty of other monsters waiting for him deeper in their, plus he could always fight them on the way back up.


    Other groups that weren’t quite so proficient in their skills would joyfully take advantage of there being no boss on the floor, easily skipping to the lower floors which contained the more profitable monsters. Down on the fifth and sixth floors, rare and very lucrative monsters existed but their strength was also greater. Frost lizards were hard enough for the regr groups at E-rank, them being D-rank was pretty much overkill for most. But they weren’t the real problem, the bottom most floors were the main reason for this monsterir’s name [beginner’s ice magic]. Down there monster can use not only 1st circle spells but also 2nd circle, not to mention chakra and other magical means.


    Spirits were prevalent there and not in their simple wisp or fairy form but something much more tangible and deadly, each with their own techniques and spells. It was a higher level ofbat down there, one of which that really required someone with magic capabilities or special equipment. But that would be for tomorrow, for now he needed to find a ce to call shelter tonight.


    The environment was like a massive ice in withrge cliffs and rocks dotted around, along with patches of winter trees but throughout thest section he struggled to find somewhere worthwhile, and not from theck of trying.


    .....


    “Haaaaaaaa” Frost sighed as journeyed back through the section with a frustrated frown on his face. Nowhere looked decent especially when venturing alone. He needed somewhere with extra protection since he couldn’t keep watch and sleep at the same time, well not effectively.


    After passing the third failure area his stomach returned to rumbling with fury, making his already irritating situation that much worse. Thankfully it seemed as though the heavens were merciful. While looking upwards to curse at his father for giving him such a weakness he caught sight of arge ice cliff with an outreached shelf and minor depression in the side that would function as a good cave, with a little extra carving. The thing was even several metres up, perfect for deterring the local fauna and other adventurers. Not everyone could scale a cliff so high, for Frost however there was no issue.


    With impressive agility he leaped up halfway before kicking against the cliff to reach the shelf and depression. It wasrger than it looked from the floor and would suit him just fine for the night.


    There was always the option of trying to join with another group adventurers for the night, but he felt that he’d always need to be on guard, especially after the actions of the uprightnces. If he didn’t find this ce however he may have had no recourse.


    The shelf on the ice cliff was several metres long and almost two metres wide whereas the depression was around a metre deep, not quite enough to shelter him from the weather and noise of the local fauna and intruders but that was easily fixed.


    With a wide smile and glinting eyes Frost gripped his ive hard and twirled it in the air before shing across the depression to deepen it to the level of a minor cave. As long as he stayed within the new cave the monsterir wouldn’t be able to regenerate it. He kicked the pieces of sliced up ice cliff to the floor, giving him ample space to set up his tent and cooking pit.


    “Much better,” with a nod Frost started to remove his camping supplies and got to work. The tent he purchased was big enough for one person and would fit into the cave nicely, whereas cooking equipment was minimal and would be sufficient to prepare the meat from a frost lizard. Hecked an array of spices as well as the know-how and patience to make a stew or hotpot. His stomachcked the patience for such a prep heavy dish, no he was going to go down the simple path, frying.


    After setting up his tent within the cave he removed dried firewood from his spatial ring and aligned them like the fire pits present in Beta camp.


    “[Ignition]” with lifestyle magic’smand word a small me appeared at the end of Frost’s finger which was promptly sent towards the firewood, lighting it up in almost an instant. There’s a 1st circle spell of the wind element that would suck out all the moisture from the wood allowing one to turn even the most damp and cold of twigs into perfect tinder. But Frostcked the capability to use wind magic and the lifestyle magic dry barely made a dent, so he purchased firewood for this journey and kept it in his spatial ring.


    The firewood quickly cackled and released a strong aura of warmth that would make most feelfortable yet for Frost who was the embodiment of ice the cold was much moreforting. He only needed the me for cooking when it came to sleeping he’d put it out. The exact opposite of the rest of adventurers who would rely on the me’s warmth to make it through the night. One trait that he was grateful towards his father for.


    He removed his cookware, arge wok perfect for frying frost lizard meat. He didn’t have any vegetables or sauce making this a purely meat dish, but it’d be far more satisfying than the dried jerky he’d been munching on. Many adventurers faced simr issues while adventuring, theck of vegetables can really take a toll on one’s body. It was much easier scavenge meat than it was to find vegetables in a monsterir, most of the stuff growing were herbs with medicinal properties not good for cooking. Tobat a meat filled diet, most carried with them special biscuits made of dried fruit or vegetables. They could be stored for long periods and would give the body some much needed nutrients. Frost didn’t pack such things, but he would in the future, another thing he learned from this excursion.


    “I wonder how frost lizard meat will taste?” Once the wok heated up he removed the slices of frost lizard meat from his backpack and tossed them into the wok releasing a loud sizzling sound as the meat met the metal. Frying was quick and easy, perfect for some fast cooking. All he needed was something fresh and hot too fill his loud rumbling belly, which grew even louder when the meat started to give off a tantalising smell.


    “At this rate it’ll be ready in a couple minutes so calm the hell down.” With a shake he flipped the meat to cook the other side while at same time tapping his belly as though coaxing.