That night, Enzo went to bed with his stomach full. He stretched out on the coarse fur, hummed contentedly, and fell asleep.
The next morning, he was up before the sun came up. He didn’t rush to the gathering point. Instead, he began to exercise.
Notably, Enzo began to understand how strong his body was. The exercises began just as they would in his previous life, with some light jogging to wake his body up. He didn’t start sweating like he thought he would.
Then he moved on to some low-intensity exercises. The more he did, the more he realized how different this body was compared to his previous one. Before the low-intensity exercises ended, he changed to high-intensity.
He didn’t have any dumbbells, so he made do with the jars in the hut. Only then did he begin to sweat and feel a sense of accomplishment.
After the workout, he came up with a comprehensive plan. Knowing how this new body worked, he figured out the best way to build his body back to its peak. He didn’t need the muscles he had before.
In this life, he preferred to go with the flow. Since the sub-beasts here had lean muscle, he would keep the norm. The booty was still going to need work.
The workout ended quickly, and he made himself breakfast. He stared at the yellow salt in his hand and shook his head. He had to wait until they went out for the inter-tribe trade. By that time, Rin would step in some dog-shit luck and find an underground salt mine.
As long as he could get a few chunks, he could wash it, smash it, and have salt until it killed him.
When he finished eating, he walked toward the central area. He stepped directly beside Zeli and Nova.
Zeli was surprised when he saw him. "Aren’t you going to Gato’s?"
Enzo’s ears twitched. His body jolted, and he looked towards Gato’s hut. It was some distance away, but he could see it. "I forgot," he said, slapping his forehead.
"Do you want to go now?"
"But aren’t we showing them where we found the ginger and the mushroom?"
Nova chimed in, "We don’t need you. We know where you found it. We can tell them. You go with Gato. If he gets angry, I won’t help you."
Enzo sneered. "Who asked you?"
Honestly, he really had forgotten about yesterday. He felt conflicted standing there. He wanted to go into the forest to find more food. He wanted to test the plant ability more.
He stared at the hut and wondered if he could skip it. But he thought better of it. If he couldn’t use the ability in the wild, didn’t he have Gato’s hut?
There should be lots of dried herbs there. He wasn’t sure if his ability could work on dried herbs.
Not everyone had arrived. Enzo wanted to see if Gato would let him go gathering. "I’ll be right back."
At Gato’s leaf door, Enzo called out. After getting a reply, he stepped inside.
The smell of herbs was strong today. Most likely because of the person lying on the bed. Enzo could see that he still hadn’t woken up. His eyes went wide when he saw how much the large gash had healed.
It had only been one night. The almost bone-deep gash had closed to an extent. It wasn’t bleeding and looked well on its way to healing.
Remembering the herbs Gato used the night before, he wondered if those herbs had some type of super-healing ability.
Gato stood beside the person checking his leg. He didn’t immediately acknowledge Enzo. His eyes were glued to the bone as if he could see it growing simply by looking at it.
Enzo cleared his throat. "Ummm...Gato, healer. I was wondering...do you mind if I go with the gathering team first and then come back?"
Gato didn’t respond immediately; he kept staring at the leg. Finally, he said, "Go, come directly here afterward."
Enzo smiled, thanked him, and ran out. Gato turned when he ran out and shook his head.
"Cubs," he said to himself, then rubbed his chin and went back to watching the leg.
When Enzo arrived, Zeli was telling everyone that Gato needed him, which was why he wasn’t there. They all saw Enzo stepping into the team.
With all eyes on him, Enzo said, "Sorry for keeping everyone waiting."
"Aren’t you staying with Gato?" Zeli asked.
"I asked him. He said I could come and go back to him after."
Jarik clapped his hands when he heard the answer. "Since everyone is here, let’s head out."
This time, Enzo, Zeli, and Nova led the group. They walked without hesitation toward their destination.
Fifteen minutes later, the team was at the spot where Enzo found ginger. The section behind it was all shrubs, so they needed to search carefully. It didn’t take long for them to find a large section of ginger.
The chatter began as everyone started pulling up the ginger. Enzo was the same. He now had a space. He wanted to try planting things inside.
Secretly, he sent one clump to the space; the rest he put in his bundle.
Not all the ginger was pulled up. Rin spoke up to remind everyone to leave some so they could grow more in the future.
Enzo completely agreed. How else would he have the chance to steal a few more?
Once they finished the ginger harvest, they moved on to the wood mushrooms. The walk wasn’t long. Another five minutes and they arrived at their destination.
This wasn’t a giant mushroom patch, but they discovered that, not far away, other mushrooms were growing.
Enzo observed the dead log. Currently, there were no mushrooms on it, but he wondered if he could drag the log into the space without anyone noticing.
Scanning the surroundings, he decided against it. There were still many people nearby. He would need to come another day.
The rest of that day was spent searching for various mushrooms. When the tribe heard they would last through the winter, they went crazy searching for mushrooms after finding more.
Enzo also used his plant ability to confirm which mushrooms were poisonous.
One mushroom in particular made him curious. It was brightly coloured, and according to Rin’s own account and his knowledge, brightly coloured mushrooms are poisonous.
He only approached because he thought it was a unique-looking mushroom. It reminded him of the parasol mushroom, except the top was red with circular, purple dots.
Enzo found it interesting and reached out to touch it.
[Name: Scarlet Mushroom]
[Classification: Medicinal/Toxic Fungus]
[Edibility: Not recommended]
[Toxicity: Moderate]
[Grade: Common]
[Growth stage: Mature]
[Quality: Good]
[Properties]
[- Blood-purifying, Circulation-enhancing, Vitality-stimulating, Mildly numbing]
[Primary Uses]
[-Blood-purifying medicine, Recovery Medicine, Antidote Preparation]
[Energy: Present]
[Concentration: Low]
Enzo furrowed his brow. He saw new information. Things he didn’t see before when he had checked the ginger, mushrooms, and other common plants.
This was the only one that referred to energy, but what did energy mean? Didn’t the other plants have energy?
"Enzo," Zeli called.
He quickly plucked the mushroom and put it on his space. He would check it another day.
"Coming," he shouted back.