After managing to create his own fire, Koda hopped around from group to group, helping everyone else figure out the groove method.

In no time, almost every stone pit in the clearing had a steady little flame crackling inside it—except, of course, for those two young female beastwomen, who were still stubbornly staring at their cold sticks.

Ding!

A blue holographic screen popped up right in front of Nuan’s nose.

[ Side Quest: Red Evil Summoning Session — Completed! ]

[ Objective: Teach the Silver Grey Wolf Clan how to use fire. — Accomplished! ]

[ Reward: Silent Walk Ability is being installed... ]

[ Installation complete ]

[ Silent Walk Ability unlocked ]

Hah! Finally, something useful without some annoying mating-related task! Nuan thought, feeling a wave of relief. She quickly tapped on the Ability’s info button to check out her new prize.

[ Type: Active Ability ]

[ Grade: Common ]

[ Description: A basic stealth skill granted by the system. When activated, the user suppresses the sound of their footsteps, breathing, and minor body movements, making it significantly harder for nearby creatures to detect them through sound. The skill does not grant invisibility and does not hide the user’s scent. ]

[ Effects: Footsteps become completely silent. Movement through grass, leaves, and brush creates greatly reduced noise. Breathing and clothing rustling are suppressed. Detection through smell or direct sight remains unaffected. ]

[ Duration: 10 minutes ]

[ Cooldown: 30 minutes ]

[ Energy Cost: 10 Stamina ]

[ Limitations: Running at full speed increases the chance of detection. Strong odors can still reveal the user’s location. Does not work against enemies with supernatural tracking abilities. Attacking an enemy immediately ends the skill. ]

Nuan’s excitement instantly deflated. She stared at the screen with a deeply disappointed face.

Huh?! This is basically useless in a beastworld! Every single predator out here can smell me from a mile away with their crazy sharp senses! What good is quiet breathing if I still smell like a human steak?

And why on earth is it only for ten minutes, but the cooldown is a whopping thirty minutes?! The logistics are terrible!

[ But Host, it is all highly practical stuff for a common-grade skill! It helps you sneak away in a pinch. ]

Yeah, still! It’s super stingy!

[ Should I lock it back up and delete the data then? ]

No! Keep it! Nuan snapped internally, quickly waving her hand to close the screen before the system actually took it back. It’s still way better than nothing!

[ Good choice, Host. ]

[ Do not worry, it is an upgradable skill. ]

Eh, what? Like those webtoons where the main character just keeps leveling up their stats?

[ Yes, something like that... you can at least increase the duration of use. ]

Oh, nice. Having male-lead power-scaling mechanics inside a female-lead romance system sounds absolutely perfect for my survival logistics.

"Witch Aestra!" Koda called out, hobbling over to the rock where Nuan was sitting.

She quickly closed the system screen window mentally and looked down at the fluffy-eared wolf boy. "Hey, how about just calling me Nuan? Because honestly, I’d rather you call me Nuan."

Koda thought about it for a hard second, ears twitching, and then firmly nodded. "Yes, Witch!"

Nuan let out a defeated sigh and rubbed her temples. "Never mind. What is it, Koda?"

"What do we do with the Red Evil now?" he asked, pointing at the crackling flames.

Nuan looked around at all the moon-shaped stone pits filled with bright, dancing fires. Just then, right on cue, her stomach let out a massive, thunderous growl.

Koda blinked, staring straight at her midsection. Nuan casually rubbed her tummy, completely unbothered. Defence could wait. Hunger always came first.

"Okay, here’s the plan. We are going to use the Red Evil to make our food taste a hundred times better!" Nuan declared.

She reached over and shook Kael, who was napping right beside her on the rock. "Kael! Wake up!"

The giant wolf-man cracked open one golden eye to look at her.

"Help me get up!" Nuan commanded.

Kael stood up, but instead of holding her arm, he immediately turned around and knelt right in front of her, his broad back facing her.

"What are you doing—" Before Nuan could even finish her question, Kael gently grabbed her legs, pulled them over his broad shoulders, and stood straight up.

"Whoa, whoa, waaa!!!!" Nuan squeaked, her balance totally vanishing as she flew into the air. She quickly grabbed onto his messy hair with both hands, clutching it like a lifeline. "Put me down! Put me down, I’m gonna fall!"

"Don’t move so much, meek savior," Kael rumbled from below her, completely unfazed. "It is much easier to carry you like this instead of supporting your bad ankle. Just... don’t grab my ears!"

Nuan gulped, looking down at the entire pack from almost ten feet in the air. Sitting on his shoulders was like sitting on top of a fuzzy refrigerator.

"Okay then... take me to the center of the clearing," she muttered, adjusting her grip.

Kael marched right into the middle of the stone pits and stood tall, carrying her as if she weighed nothing.

Nuan clapped her hands together to get everyone’s attention, wobbled dangerously for a second, and quickly grabbed Kael’s hair again.

"Alright, everyone! We are going to eat some actually good food by using the power of the Red Evil! Do we all have meat? Everyone, go bring your personal meat pieces over here right now!"

Ding!

A bright blue screen flashed right in front of Nuan’s nose again.

[ New Side Quest: Cooking with Red Evil’s Power ]

[ Objective: Teach the Silver Grey Wolf Clan how to use fire to cook food. ]

[ Reward: Better digestive system for daily meat consumption in the beastworld. ]

Yeah? Honestly, that makes total sense, Nuan thought, her eyes widening a bit. I haven’t pooped once since I arrived in this place, and I’ve been feeling way too sleepy when I eat. All my metabolic energy is literally going into digesting this heavy, raw-ish beast meat.

[ Aren’t I the best, Host? ]

Yeah, yeah. I mean, at least your quest rewards aren’t half bad for my survival logistics.

Within a few minutes, every single wolf in the pack scrambled to grab their raw meat rations and gathered right back around her. And somehow, every single wolf had brought a ridiculously huge chunk of meat.

"Okay, first step! We need to cut these into medium-small, bite-sized pieces," Nuan called out.

She carefully opened her two palms down before Kael’s face, trying her best not to wobble around on his high shoulders.

Kael reached out, easily snatching a large piece of meat from a nearby wolf to hold it up for her.

"Stick, please," Nuan said, looking down.

Koda immediately handed a clean, sharp stick to Kael. Kael gave the kid a low, warning growl but still took the stick and passed it up to Nuan.

"We are going to push the stick straight through the meat like this," Nuan explained to her high-altitude audience, carefully sliding the sharp wood through the center of the raw meat chunk. "This makes a skewer."

Koda’s eyes lit up with excitement as he watched the demonstration. "Oh! It’s just like mating! Inserting the stick inside—"

"Blugh!!!" Nuan gagged, nearly losing her balance on Kael’s shoulders. "Someone put heavy-duty duct tape on his mouth, please! We are trying to make something to eat here! Stop comparing literally everything to mating!"