Frontier Chef: My Cooking Skills Are Broken-Chapter 3: Into the Jungle

[ Quest assigned: Help the poor woman ]

’Well it sure does beat fighting more crab dogs.’

[ Quest accepted ]

> Objective: Help the poor woman

> Reward: 1,500 Frontier Tokens

> Failure: Death

Ezra looked at the jungle, then back at the crab.

His buff timers were ticking.

Bludgeoning had less than an hour left, and whatever was in that jungle probably didn’t care about his schedule.

’Okay, but I’m not going in there with just my fists.’

The crab’s pincers were still attached to the claw arms, locked open from rigor. He crouched next to the body and grabbed one at the joint. It resisted, then gave with a wet crack that popped cartilage across the sand.

He held it up to the air as if he’d given birth. The thing was dense, heavier than it looked, and the inner edge tapered to a ridge sharp enough to split skin.

But the theories were starting to stack up, and Ezra needed concrete conclusions. So he pressed his palm into the sharp edge with little force.

A thin line of red opened across the callused skin.

’Yeah, that’ll work. Now there’s a bigger issue. How do I—’

[ Ping! ]

[ System has analyzed host’s intent to craft ]

[ Would you like to open the crafting interface? ]

"That seems pretty damn convenient," Ezra muttered. "But sure."

A bigger HUD expanded before him.

[ Crafting Interface ]

[ Available: Coastal Pincer Crab (★) ]

> Crab Pincer Knife

> Crab Spike Spear

A knife meant getting close, whereas the spear gave him range. But Ezra already ended on a conclusion. That is, range was the only advantage a naked man had.

"Crab Spike Spear."

[ Required Materials ]

> Minor Crab Pincer 1/2

> Overgrown Vine 0/3

’One pincer short and I don’t know what an Overgrown Vine is.’

The second pincer was easy enough. He grabbed the remaining claw arm and cracked it off the same way as the first. The interface updated before he set it down.

> Minor Crab Pincer 2/2

The vine was a different problem. Nothing on the beach qualified, but the treeline was only twenty feet away and the jungle’s edge was dripping with green.

Ezra saw it then. Thick ropey vines hung from the lower branches in tangles. He grabbed the closest one and pulled.

It stretched but didn’t snap.

"Appraisal."

Appraisal did its work. The vines were Overgrown Vine, common material at that. Strong tensile strength, used as natural binding. Ezra pulled two more lengths free, wrapping each one around his forearm. The interface ticked up with every one.

> Overgrown Vine 3/3

[ All materials gathered ]

[ Craft Crab Spike Spear? ]

"Show me how."

The pincers went grey at the edges first, like ash spreading through paper, then dissolved into nothing before he could react. The vines around his forearm unraveled in the same breath, turning to dust that didn’t fall.

Something hit the sand at his feet.

"Well shit, gotta give you props System."

The spear lay there fully formed. Vine-wrapped shaft over a core of compressed crab shell, with two pincers fanning out at the tip in a V-shape that tapered to serrated points. He picked it up and it was lighter than he expected for its size.

[ Once a piece of equipment has been crafted, it requires a Blacksmith or equivalent to appraise its attributes before usage ]

"Does that mean..." Ezra pointed at the spear. "Appraisal."

[ Crab Spike Spear — ★ ]

> Profile: Improvised polearm. Piercing and serration. Culling Arts compatible.

Ezra paused. "I don’t even know what ’Culling Arts’ does."

[ Ping! ]

[ Event Summary ]

> Crafted: Weapon (★) x1

> +150 Frontier Tokens

That made it three-hundred tokens now. Even then, he still had no clue what they were for.

Ezra hefted the spear over one shoulder and faced the jungle.

The bludgeoning passive ticked at forty-six minutes.

Ahead, the canopy was a wall of green less than ten steps past the treeline.

He walked in and the air hit him immediately. Thicker and wetter than the beach, it pressed against his bare skin and settled in his pores.

What little sunlight reached the ground came through in thin cuts between leaves the size of his chest. Fifteen feet of visibility at best.

Ferns as tall as him grew between trunks wider than cars, and the insect noise was constant, clicks and buzzing from things he couldn’t see.

’Which direction did the scream come from?’

[ Bzzt ]

’Not you, idiot.’

Roughly ahead and to the left. But that was twenty minutes ago.

Still, roughly was all he had.

Ezra picked a gap between two trunks and pushed through. Fronds slapped his bare chest and arms, leaving thin welts that stung in the humidity.

The scream came again, closer, but still muffled by the canopy. Definitely still a woman.

The sound cut through the insect noise and stopped.

He shifted the spear to his dominant hand.

’That’s either a person or something that sounds exactly like one. Can’t complain though.

I’ll just keep an open mind.’

SP drain from moving at pace was slow but visible, recovering whenever he paused to listen. His calves started burning before he noticed the ground had been rising.

Roots crossed the floor like tripwires and he stumbled over one hard enough to nearly eat dirt.

Then the ferns to his right blew apart.

A wall of brown hide hit him across the ribs before he could turn. The impact launched him sideways into a tree trunk, back cracking against bark, and the spear flew out of his hand.

Ezra gripped the earthy ground, nails digging into the dirt. The wind had been knocked out of his lungs, but his eyes managed to lock back on the beast.

> HP: 194/240

’Breathe Ez, breathe. It’s not going to give you a fucking chance.’

It stood ten feet away. Low to the ground, built like a gorilla crossbred with a battering ram. Its hide was plated in rough segments that looked like tree bark, dark ridges over thick muscle.

No claws on its stumped legs. No fangs visible in its snout either.

So that meant only one thing:

The thing itself was the weapon.

Ezra staggered to his knees, wiping blood from his elbow where he’d caught the ground.

"Appraisal."

[ Cartigon — ★★ ]

> Profile: Tough, lean meat beneath bark plating. Low fat content. Joint meat is the accessible cut.

’So my spear’s useless against the hide.’

The Cartigon didn’t wait for anything.

’Fuck.’ 𝐟𝗿𝐞𝚎𝚠𝐞𝚋𝕟𝐨𝚟𝐞𝕝.𝕔𝕠𝚖

It lowered its head and charged, but Ezra anticipated it. He threw himself left and it blew past close enough to brush his arm, crashing through a fern cluster without slowing. Turned faster than something that size should have.

Ezra was already on his feet. He had grabbed the spear through the tumble. He jabbed at its flank on instinct. The tip hit bark plating and skidded off without a mark. The vibration ran up the shaft into his wrists.

It charged again and Ezra didn’t dodge clean. The shoulder caught his hip, spun him into the undergrowth, and his HP bar dropped a visible chunk.

> HP: 173/240

Ezra spit red on the dirt and raised the spear forward. "Try that again, fat fuck."