A lot of them just rot away in the dirt—what a waste.
She picked the ones that looked good, and left the smaller or weaker ones to keep growing.
Even so, she still picked two big baskets, both stuffed to the brim and almost overflowing.
You can never have too much good stuff. If you can't finish eating it, just dry it for the winter.
She's gotten a lot stronger since turning into a Beastman.
She dragged the baskets full of mushrooms over to the chestnut tree and stacked them up with her other baskets full of supplies.
She counted—eight baskets in all, every single one jam-packed with today's bounty.
She was dog-tired and sweating buckets, but she was super happy inside.
Suddenly she felt a little weird—her stomach hurt and she really needed to poop.
In her memory, the original owner hadn't pooped in over a week.
Luna herself hadn't done it since arriving here, either.
She hadn't felt anything before, and was starting to think maybe even that function got skipped over.
Now that she finally had to go, she was honestly overjoyed.
Turns out, eating more fruit actually pays off.
She hurriedly picked a few big leaves, washed them at a spot with water, and dove into a nearby bush to do her business.
She didn't take off her Beast Skin Skirt, just picked it up, squatted, and got to work.
Looking at the few clean leaves in her hand, her mouth twitched hard.
No paper in the Beastman world. You either use leaves to wipe, or just wash with water afterwards.
Luna Sutton couldn't bring herself to run around bare-butt, so it had to be leaves, at least for now.
This reminded her she really needed to figure out how to make grass paper. No way she's wiping with leaves forever, right?
What do you use to make grass paper again?
Wasn't it straw?
She remembered: you had to cut up the straw, steam it to soften it, then wash and pulp it to spread out the fibers. After that came forming, and drying, and ta-da, grass paper.
Except, where was she going to find straw? And if there was straw, there had to be rice somewhere.
Just imagining fluffy, fragrant white rice made her eyes water—she felt so sorry for herself.
No clue where there's any rice here. She'd have to ask a Beastman about it later.
Luna Sutton was squatting and enjoying her bathroom break when she heard rustling in the bushes, along with a whiff of blood and danger in the air.
Her reflexes kicked in and she looked back—and nearly lost her soul with fright.
A gigantic Saber-toothed Tiger had crept up behind her, jaws wide open, staring at her with pure malice.
Clearly, it saw her as prey.
Her face turned white with fear. She couldn't even be bothered to wipe, just yanked up her Beast Skin Skirt and ran for her life.
Cursing the whole time in her heart.
Seriously, what kind of cursed luck is this? Can't a girl poop in peace? Saber-toothed Tiger, really?
The Saber-toothed Tiger saw her run and roared at the sky, "ROAR..."
Then it leapt after her, lightning-fast.
"Oh my god, save me—!"
Luna ran, glancing back, seeing the Saber-toothed Tiger in hot pursuit, its savage face making her heart pound with terror.
She knew she couldn't outrun a Saber-toothed Tiger, but stopping was basically suicide.
Her power was still only level 1—good for basic detox or healing, but useless in a fight.
All she could do was keep running like hell.
The Saber-toothed Tiger was terrifyingly fast and closing in quick.
She was almost scared to death, screaming in her head, "System! Help me!"
The system sighed sympathetically, but sounded like it had no intention of helping, "Hang in there, Host—a second male lead is nearby, heard the commotion, and is heading your way. You won't die."
"Wait, Rhys Blackwood is coming? Where?"
Luna felt a wave of hope, scanning around as she ran, trying to spot Rhys Blackwood.
She looked everywhere, but there wasn't a Rhys in sight.
Not even a snake.
Instead, the Saber-toothed Tiger caught up and lunged with its bloody mouth wide open.
"Oh my god, help—!"
Her heart was pounding like crazy. To avoid getting chomped, she dove sideways into a patch of bushes and rolled, barely escaping a nasty death.
But, of course, she tumbled down a hillside for her trouble.
Right before she went tumbling, the Saber-toothed Tiger snagged the corner of her Beast Skin Skirt and yanked it off.
Luna was freaked out, but had no time to worry—she just covered her head and kept rolling.
The hill was pretty steep, and once she started rolling it felt endless—like she was gonna roll right off the map.
She was dizzy and aching all over by the time she finally stopped.
At least she'd managed to ditch the Saber-toothed Tiger.
Luna lay there on the ground, gasping for breath, feeling like her bones were about to fall apart. Everything hurt.
She just lay there for a while, catching her breath.
Torn-up arms and legs, bleeding here and there, stinging like hell.
She rubbed her bruised limbs, then patted her head to check for damage.
At least her head was fine—otherwise, she'd be a goner for sure.
Forgetting about her wounds for now, Luna cautiously sat up, glancing around to figure out where she was.
Then she noticed something was wrong.
Where was her Beast Skin Skirt?
She looked down and realized she was totally naked. Not a stitch on her.
No skirt in sight!
Luna's face changed. Then she suddenly remembered: the Saber-toothed Tiger had yanked it off before she went tumbling.
She looked awful—going back without a skirt? Was she supposed to stroll home naked?
No way she was doing the birthday suit tour.
She was not the type to go streaking, thanks very much.
Her eye caught some broad leaves nearby—and bingo!
She quickly grabbed a bunch of big leaves, picked out the best ones, braided them together with vines, and fashioned herself a makeshift leaf skirt.
Primitive as it was, at least it covered her enough to avoid streaking through the forest.
After that, she used her power to heal herself up.
Once the bleeding stopped and her wounds started closing up, and it didn't hurt as much, she finally relaxed.
Then she started looking for a way back.
Just then, she heard fighting noises at the top of the hill—a tiger's roaring and roaring.
"ROAR..."
Also the hissing sound of a snake flicking its tongue.
The noise was massive.
Luna Sutton's heart skipped—maybe Rhys Blackwood had caught up with the Saber-toothed Tiger and they were fighting now.
She crept up the hill, trying to get a look.
The slope was steep, but nothing she couldn't handle.
Soon, she reached the top.
She hugged a bush, peeking through the leaves, and saw it—a massive black python tangling with the Saber-toothed Tiger in a fierce battle.
The black python was as thick as a water barrel and probably measured over ten meters long—utterly insane.
A faint black mist clung to its body—super mysterious.
That mist looked corrosive; every time the Saber-toothed Tiger touched it, the beast let out a blood-curdling scream and a patch of its fur sizzled off.
Obviously, that was Rhys Blackwood's power at work.
Luna hid in the bushes and watched from afar, jaw to the ground in shock.
She knew Beastmen here were strong and their animal forms badass, but she'd never seen one actually go toe-to-toe with a monster before.
And this was a Saber-toothed Tiger, of all creatures.
She stared at the fight and noticed, though the Saber-toothed Tiger was savage, it was clearly no match for Rhys Blackwood.
Rhys's animal form soon coiled tightly around the massive tiger's head, squeezing tighter and tighter until it started to look totally deformed.