novelnext Chapter 102 Team Building Activities
Chapter 102 Team Building Activities
Chapter 102 Team Building Activities
As he frowned, weighing whether to discard his claws and only take the most valuable and relatively easy-to-carry tail spikes, Melissa's gentle voice came from beside him: "Mr. Charlin, if it's inconvenient for you to carry, I can put them away for you first. I'll return them to you when we get back to town."
As she spoke, she stretched out her hand, revealing a simple silver ring on her slender finger. With a slight movement of her finger, she aimed at the tail spikes and claws on the ground.
The three blood-stained materials on the ground vanished instantly!
Xia Lin's pupils contracted slightly; this scene was familiar to him.
"A magical accessory with built-in storage space?" he blurted out, recalling the ring belonging to the female mage Eileen.
"Yes, that's right." Melissa nodded, explaining somewhat embarrassedly, "These are basic storage rings that the church uniformly distributes to facilitate field missions. Garu and Kyle also have them."
However, ours has a relatively small storage space, only about half a cubic meter, which is not as good as the high-end stuff used by mages.
Upon hearing this, Garu, standing nearby, shook his large hand, which was adorned with something resembling a ring, and grinned, saying, "That's right, we could barely manage to pack some dry rations, camping gear, and a sleeping bag. We can only envy the kind of things that mages use."
Xia Lin was once again shocked by the church's wealth and power.
Indeed, adventurers with organized "iron rice bowls" are different.
These magical storage items, which are valuable and convenient in the eyes of ordinary adventurers, are actually distributed as "basic equipment" within the church system!
Even if the space is small, it is enough to solve the burden problem of many field operations.
After packing up, the team didn't linger. The appearance of the Spiny-tailed Lion, especially its attraction to carrion, reminded them that this area wasn't as "quiet" as it seemed.
They continued deeper into the forest, where the trees grew taller and older, and the light became even dimmer.
Night fell completely over the depths of the Loran Forest.
The team set up camp in a relatively dry clearing nestled against a giant rock. A campfire was carefully lit, dispelling the damp chill and darkness of the forest, and the flickering flames cast warm, swaying light on everyone's faces.
Xia Lin and Jia Lu skillfully cleared away the pebbles and dead branches on the ground, laid out waterproof sheets, and placed their sleeping bags in relatively warm positions on either side of the campfire.
Kyle quietly set up several simple warning traps around the camp to prevent any surprises from strange monsters appearing in the middle of the night.
Dinner time.
The four men sat down around the campfire and each took out food from their bags.
Standard adventurer rations.
The meat jerky is firm and durable, the coarse wheat cakes need to be boiled in water before they can be eaten, and a packet of soup powder mixed with dried beans, minced meat and spices.
Melissa, acting as the "temporary chef," took out an iron pot from her storage ring, placed it on a rock next to the campfire, and the orc poured in water to start simmering a thick soup.
Xia Lin took out a small package carefully wrapped in oil paper and handed it to Woody, who was already impatiently waiting on her shoulder.
Those were the fries that Jasmine had prepared for Woody before he left town. Although they were cold, they were still a rare delicacy in the eyes of the food-loving crow.
"Crunch, crunch—" Woody's pecking sound of fries was exceptionally clear in the quiet camp. He squinted his eyes, looking extremely satisfied.
Xia Lin looked at it and suddenly found the jerky she had finally managed to chew even harder to swallow.
I really want to trade with it —
But Woody probably wouldn't agree—well, not probably, he definitely wouldn't. Because Xia Lin discovered that the cunning Woody seemed to have sensed her "friendly deal" and had quietly distanced himself from her—
The remaining three were not so "lucky".
The dried meat lived up to its name; it was dry and hard, with a salty taste accompanied by a lingering, rough, leathery texture that required repeated soaking with saliva and laborious chewing. It was far less delicious and palatable than the carefully prepared stewed meat or roasted mushrooms at the Jasmine Hotel.
Xia Lin noticed Melissa take a small bite of the jerky, her brow furrowing almost imperceptibly, clearly also feeling a bit uncomfortable. Dragonborn Kyle, on the other hand, ate calmly, but chewed noticeably slower than usual, obviously struggling with the stubborn jerky in his teeth.
Garu didn't care. The orc's good teeth and coarse eating habits made him very accepting of this kind of food. To him, the coarse jerky was no different from Woody's French fries, and he chewed it with a crunching sound.
However, these individuals were, after all, professional workers who spent most of their time on missions, and far from being so fussy. After a brief adjustment period, they quietly began their simple dinner, enjoying the gradually wafting aroma of the hot soup.
Seeing how these professionals also struggled with jerky, Xia Lin suddenly felt that the food in her mouth didn't seem so hard anymore, and the saltiness seemed to have taken on a "flavor" of sharing the hardship.
The campfire crackled; it was still early, not yet the late hour when night watchmen needed to be assigned. The silence of the forest was amplified by the sound of the fire and the occasional calls of unknown night birds in the distance.
When there's nothing to do, chatting becomes the best way to pass the time and deepen understanding.
Without the addictive electronic entertainment of their past lives, fireside chats were a different kind of experience for a team that needed to venture into dangerous territory.
For a team that relies on each other, this is a healthy and necessary "team building activity".
Of course, there was another potential reason for Xia Lin.
He was genuinely curious about the daily lives and tasks of these church professionals who had secure "iron rice bowls" (guaranteed jobs).
"Speaking of which," Xia Lin swallowed a mouthful of dried meat that had softened slightly from soaking in the hot soup, and carefully began, "how does your church usually structure its teams when carrying out missions? Like this time?"
Fortunately, thanks to their familiarity with the orc Garu, and their shared battle during the day, Dragonborn Kyle and Priestess Melissa had a good impression of Xia Lin. They exchanged a glance, Melissa smiled gently, and Kyle put down her water pouch and replied, "Normally, a standard squad consists of four people." She held up her fingers, habitually beginning her explanation, "One warrior or paladin responsible for frontal engagement and protection, one priest providing healing, support, and dispelling evil, one archer or spellcaster responsible for ranged firepower suppression or magical support, and—a rogue or related profession responsible for reconnaissance, infiltration, defusing traps, or precise assassinations."
She glanced at Xia Lin, clearly indicating that Xia Lin was not yet part of any of the professionals she had mentioned in her plan.
Even though Xia Lin performed well in the previous battle against the Spiky Lion, she is still some distance from those professionals.
"This is the basic framework of 'warrior, healer, and mage,' with minor adjustments based on the nature of the mission."