The sound of electronic interference could be heard, and pixels began to appear in front of him. The pixels clustered together into the shape of his Haunted Knight.
There was a flash of light. When it faded, the Haunted Knight manifested. She took up her usual "Knight Sentry" pose, as she awaited orders.
Tsukuru retrieved one of his Black Obsidian Daggers from his Inventory, and held it out to her.
"I want you to carve up the bodies of these three Beasts, and extract their Beast Crystals." He replied. Due to the Haunted Knight being a ghost possessing a suit of armor, the residual heat of the Palewalkers' burnt corpses wouldn't even affect her.
Wordlessly, the Haunted Knight put her sword into the sheath on her hip. She then reached out, and gently took the dagger from Tsukuru's hand.
Tsukuru watched as the Haunted Knight approached the three bodies of the Beasts.
When she reached them, she knelt down in front of the first Palewalker, and began carving it up using the Basic-Tier dagger.
Tsukuru began to walk back over towards the first Palewalker he had killed. The two severed pieces had pretty much landed next to each other when the Beast had fallen. Tsukuru knelt down next to it, and placed his hand flat against the Beast's chest. Instantly, a System screen popped up in front of him.
[Would you like to activate the Skill Plunder?
[Yes] [No] ]
'Yes.' Tsukuru thought.
As he did, a new System message appeared.
[Skill Plunder has been activated. One Intermediate-Tier Palewalker Crystal has been extracted. Intermediate-Tier Palewalker Crystal has been placed in your Inventory.]
Satisfied, Tsukuru walked back over to the other corpses, and watched the Haunted Knight work. Seeing it, it reminded Tsukuru of watching Shizuka and her subordinates carve up Beasts whenever she dragged him along on one of her "hunting trips".
At first, the sight of the Beast's black blood and guts made him nauseous. And he had thrown up more than once. But eventually, by the end of the third trip he had been dragged along on, he grew…desensitized to it.
Eventually, the process was done.
The Haunted Knight stood back up and faced Tsukuru. She knelt down on one knee in front of him, and held her arms out as if presenting something. In her cupped hands, she held the three Intermediate-Tier Beast Crystals and the Basic-Tier Black Obsidian Dagger.
Tsukuru narrowed his eyes, as he looked at the dagger. He saw a few small chips along its blade, but that was pretty much expected. Due to the difference in Tier between the Beasts and the weapon.
Tsukuru extended his hands out, and took the objects.
First, Tsukuru placed the three Intermediate-Tier Crystals in his System's Inventory. The three crystals breaking apart into pixels when he did so.
Then, he placed the dagger back in his System's Inventory. Despite being chipped, it was still usable. Like the Crystals, the dagger broke apart into pixels.
Tsukuru glanced over at the Haunted Knight. She looked down at him intently, awaiting orders. He gave her an appreciative nod. She nodded back. Seconds later, she too began to break apart into pixels, unsummoning herself.
A minute later, Tsukuru stood alone in the middle of the forest.
Suddenly, he felt an intense hunger in his stomach. Soon after, a rumbling could be heard. Tsukuru glanced down at his grumbling stomach. Instantly, a System message popped up in front of him. Ironically, it was one he had seen before from Quinn's System.
[Your hunger grows. Your HP will decrease by 1 HP every hour until edible food has been consumed. Current HP: 35/45.]
"Ugh, I'm hungry and tired." He muttered. He brought his wristwatch up to his face, and looked at it. In the upper-right corner, it displayed "20:00", indicating that it was now 8:00 at night. "Hmm…better set up camp for the night." Tsukuru thought.
He walked towards a large, open space in the forest. Once he was there, he held his arm out in front of him, and activated his Ability. It was time to see if he truly could make "large" objects.
Instantly, the sounds of electronic interference could be heard, and pixels began to appear in front of him. Pixels began to cluster together, forming the shape of a rectangle. Like with the Minotaur in his System's "Battle Arena", more and more pixels were added to the shape, as it increased in size. When it was done, the rectangle was the size of a compact car.
There was a bright flash of light. When it faded, the rectangle came into existence. It was a solid black, metal rectangle, being constructed out of 100% Glathrium. The rectangle had large slits going along the sides, for ventilation to allow clean air in.
Looking down near the bottom, Tsukuru saw a small rectangle popping out. Tsukuru pressed it, and an audible "click" was heard.
Instantly, a section in the middle like a vertical rectangle shot upwards, as if spring-loaded. Inside, it revealed a hollow structure with a full sized bed lining the structure length-wise.
Tsukuru poked his head in, and looked around. The structure was essentially barren, as the bed was the only thing in it. It was essentially a sleeping chamber, and nothing else. Tsukuru reached up, stretching on his tippy-toes, and grabbed the lid. He wrenched it downwards, and back in place.
Once it was, the audible "click" was heard, the locking mechanism affixing the lid back in place. Tsukuru continued to stare at the "sleeping chamber" for another minute.
"Well, that solves that problem." He muttered. He then turned, and walked away. "Now, to deal with my other one."
Tsukuru walked a few feet away from the Glathrium rectangle, and held his hand out again. He activated his Ability once again, causing the sound of electronic interference to be heard, and for pixels to start appearing. The pixels clustered together into the shape of a picnic table. However, instead of consisting of a table and seats, it was just one, solid piece. The "legs" of the table were on its outside edges, and curved upwards from the ground, connecting to the long plant used as the "seats" on either side.
Additionally, just like the "sleeping chamber" the whole thing was made out of Glathrium. Tsukuru then turned around, and held out his hand.
"Summon." He replied.
The sound of electronic interference could be heard, and two groups of pixels could be seen forming. Due to his Video Summon Skill Leveling Up, he could now have multiple Summons active at once. The two groups of pixels clustered together into the Elite Pawn Grade Harpie, and the Pawn Grade Amazon, respectively. There was a flash of light, and the two Summons fully manifested.
While the Harpie did her "curtsey", the Amazon knelt down, her left arm leaning on her right knee, and her right fist planted on the ground.
"Greetings again, my liege." The Harpie replied. "How may I be of service?" She asked.
Tsukuru smiled warmly, and pointed towards the picnic table.
"C'mon, we're gonna enjoy a meal together." He replied.
Instantly, the Amazon's eyes widened in surprise.
However, the Harpie merely smiled.
"Of course, my liege." She replied.
However, it was hard for her to hide the excitement in her voice.
***
Five minutes later, the two Summons sat next to each other on the far "seat" of the picnic table, watching Tsukuru work. The Amazon looked wholly confused, similar to how the Harpie had been when Tsukuru had said he was taking her into the movie theater last weekend. In front of Tsukuru, he had a large, rectangular, clear container in front of him. Inside, there was a form of food that consisted of long sheets of pasta, covered in red sauce and melted cheese. This was lasagna, and Tsukuru figured that it was the easiest to feed multiple people with.
Tsukuru had used a sharp knife to cut the lasagna into a grid of nine pieces, like a "tick-tak-toe" board. Using a small "serving spatula", Tsukuru would place one of the pieces of lasagna on a metal plate. He would then place a silver fork and knife on each plate, and put it aside. After he had filled five plates, he placed his hand hovering over the pan. A System message popped up in front of him.
[Would you like to place the four servings of Lasagna in your Inventory?
[Yes] [No] ]
Tsukuru thought "yes", and he watched as the food within the container broke apart into pixels.