[Identify edible wild greens x2]
Boil bitter roots x3
Produce one bowl of edible root mash
Reward:
1 pinch mineral salt
1 bent iron spoon
+5 Health Recovery
Unlock: [Wild Edible Recognition]
Then, just as Tessa was waiting for further clarification, the system disappeared.
"You got to be kidding me. How am I supposed to identify those? And just look at this place—it looks half dead. Who even lives in such dead land?" she lamented.
Valen, who saw her talking to the air, looked around in confusion.
"Is there anyone there??" he asked, his eyes peering around as if he might catch a glimpse of whoever she was talking to.
Tessa groaned. She was already frustrated, and this man was only adding to her annoyance. Just when she thought she couldn't take any more of it because of the strenuous task ahead, Valen suddenly began jumping around, making her irritation spike.
Then he brought out the toothpick and started dancing with it.
"What about the game we wanted to play? Let's do it now!" he said excitedly, bouncing around like a child.
Tessa blinked at him in disbelief.
All this… because of the brushing game?
How ridiculous.
"Leave that for now. Don't you want to eat? Because if we don't find a suitable meal, we're going to die here."
At least let him help her find the goddamn ingredients, whatever they were.
She was sure she hadn't seen anything edible so far—except those pink-looking mushrooms scattered all over the dry soil. The miserable land wasn't even encouraging enough to make one want to hunt for food because of how pitiful it looked.
"I want to eat, Tessa Yun. Let me help..." he offered.
Tessa facepalmed. Wasn't that exactly what she had just said a few minutes ago? So he had literally just repeated her.
"Yeah, I want to eat too. Both of us want to. But if we don't start now, I believe we'll become fertilizer for this dead soil with our corpses."
Tessa's words struck a chord of fear in the merman's heart because his expression instantly changed from playful excitement to panic.
Tessa, who had totally given up at this point, started moving ahead to search for the ingredients the task demanded. She didn't know who was supposed to protect who anymore because, with this attitude, it felt like she was the one babysitting a grown ass man.
And wasn't that also part of the system?
Gosh, she was fucked up really bad.
Because if this was just the beginning, then how the hell was the rest of the journey going to go?
And didn't the system specifically say husbands?
Like her packing men like Pokémon.
"Let's start. If I tell you what to pick, do that. And warning—avoid any mushrooms until I tell you which one is edible."
She gave that warning because who knew if this man would start biting every random thing around him, which definitely wasn't good for either of them.
"Tessa, look what I found!"
Valen's excited voice rang out from far ahead, and she looked up, her eyes widening when she realized he had gone so far while she was still searching nearby.
Her stomach was hurting so badly, and she needed to hurry because who knew when she might collapse. This damn body wasn't just fragile—she had already noticed it was weak as well.
Just this small walk had left her severely exhausted, and now she was already gasping for breath.
C'mon, this is just a little walk...
She screamed internally, almost dragging her feet in frustration, until Valen's voice stopped her again.
What is it this time??
"Come fast and see!!" he urged.
But Tessa, who was suffering from lack of proper nutrients, severe malnutrition, and weak eyesight, just groaned. She hadn't even walked a full meter and this body was already on the brink of collapse, so how was she supposed to get all the way to where the merman wanted her to go?
"I can't come further. I am tired—actually not me, but this body!" she yelled from the distance, her eyes squinting around.
Valen looked back and gasped when he saw just how far apart they were.
Then he started walking back toward her.
What was he doing? Shouldn't he get the damn thing he saw instead of coming back?
But the man kept walking proudly until he stopped just a few meters away.
"Tessa, let me carry you there since you're tired."
Before she could protest, he bent down and scooped her into his arms in a bridal style.
The effortless way he did it only made her more embarrassed.
Just look at how weightless she was.
She must not even weigh anything useful, and the way he lifted her so easily wasn't just insulting—it made her feel ashamed.
The health issues just kept piling up.
Valen tucked her properly in his arms, then softly used his rough hands to fix her white mane back into place. Her eyes didn't leave the pair of midnight orbs staring back at her.
"It would be better if you look at it yourself, so don't stress yourself. Let me help you the best I can."
Then he started walking, his strides eating up the distance so quickly that Tessa couldn't help but stare.
It finally clicked in her mind that his two steps would take her forever to match because this damn body was just slow.
So fucking slow.
And now she was trapped cleaning up the mess the original host left behind.
Arriving at the place, Tessa's eyes nearly exploded out of their sockets.
The area was filled with all kinds of wild plants—ones that had probably been abandoned and written off as poisonous. But if they were useful in a world where food was so scarce, then why had this place been left untouched?
It was obvious the land had been abandoned because no one thought it could grow anything useful.
And she had been one of those people too.
But just seeing the plants around made her smile.
"See? Among these, some might be good, right??"
Valen put her down so she could check, while he stood a few meters away, watching.
What if none of these were edible?
What if her happiness was all for nothing?
Just what if that was the case?
Tessa looked at the little plants with worry, but she still braved it and picked one.
Then the translucent panel appeared before her, flashing the details she desperately needed.
[Wild Amaranth / Pig Weed]
Biting her finger anxiously, she waited for further clarification, silently begging the gods to have mercy on her soul because at this point her stomach was about to eat her alive.
[Edible and safe for eating]
She exhaled in relief, almost sagging from joy.
Then another plant caught her attention.
The first one had been broad-leafed and soft.
This new one was narrow, jagged, and bitter-smelling, making her grimace instantly.
Gosh, that was terrible.
If just the smell was this bad, how the hell would it taste?
[Unknown plant...]
[Great for broth making]
Tessa frowned in confusion.
Unknown plant?
Nah.
She was going to pass.
For the system not to fully recognize it, something felt off.
So she stuck with the safer option and continued gathering the first one, though the horrible-smelling one stayed in the back of her mind.
Now for the unfortunate bitter roots—only the gods knew where she was supposed to find those.
Just as she was about to step away, her eyes caught sight of something beneath Valen's foot and she screamed—
"Get your feet off our food now!!"
Valen gasped and looked around in alarm before glancing down.
He had truly been stepping on a curly root.
Tessa immediately recognized it.
Wild yam tubers.
And it was exactly what they needed.
"Be careful, Valen. Look before you step on anything. Just see how you almost made us starve."
She pointed it out, and Valen immediately crouched down and started digging up the root.
Bitter root...
That meant by boiling it, the taste should at least be detoxified, based on simple logic.
But when she looked closer at what Valen was digging out, she realized it wasn't just a single yam.
It was like eight in one.
Enormous. Fat. Perfect.
She started bouncing on the spot, nearly crying tears of joy.
This was everything.
They were almost there.
Just a few more steps and they would be unstoppable.
Then something clicked in her head.
The mother-fucking land had no pot.
No spoon.
And even starting a fire would probably take ages.
She exhaled sharply.
What a struggle.
Valen was still grinning from ear to ear, proud of himself.
But just as they were about to turn around and leave, a drop fell from the sky.
Then another.
And another.
Tessa's face instantly drained of color.
Not just a drizzle.
A massive downpour.
"A storm. It always comes like this—let's go!"
The merman grabbed Tessa's hand and started running, making her stumble badly.
"Stop! I can't run for long!"
Valen understood immediately and scooped her back into his arms, holding both her and the ingredients as the race began.
Violent wind shook everything in its path, and with the tremors around them, Tessa finally understood why beastmen didn't stay out in the wilderness.
The weather wasn't just harsh.
It was brutal.
And with food already so scarce, storms like this would wipe out anything that tried to survive.
Even the strange winter from earlier—it was like some kind of unnatural global warming.
None of it felt normal.
And now the issue of shelter was becoming very real.
"Take a deep breath. We are going to my territory." Valen assured her.
Tessa was just about to relax when her eyes snapped wide open.
His territory?
Wasn't it inside the water??
Couldn't he see she couldn't breathe underwater??
Like she wasn't a fucking mermaid.
Before she could even ask, the heavy rainfall crashed down completely, swallowing every sound around them.