The private room on the second floor of the Golden Eagle Tavern, where the lights were growing brighter as the sun set.
"Cheers! Tonight, we drink till we drop!"
After downing a huge gulp of beer, Silverback grabbed a pork leg and stuffed it into his mouth. A massive lump still adorned his forehead—the price he'd paid for challenging Lude.
Crow was studying how to transform part of his body, and was currently trying to cut beef with just one bird's claw.
As for Sally, although she seemed to have mostly recovered, the tips of her ears were still bright red and trembling slightly.
Lude had originally planned to throw a banquet for the three of them. After all, for spellcasters, the Soul Burning Ritual and awakening their Secret Arts were life-changing, life-or-death ordeals—far more consequential than the college entrance exam.
Back in Lude's hometown, the custom was to hold a banquet for an occasion like this.
Who would've thought that not only Sally but Silverback and Crow would refuse, too?
As they put it, they'd already received too many favors from Lude, and it would be embarrassing to keep taking from him, food included. So the three of them had gone to the mountains near town, caught a family of five wild boars, and traded them to the Golden Eagle Tavern for a meal!
More precisely, two adult boars had been exchanged for a table full of hearty dishes and a few bottles of liquor, while the three piglets had all been roasted and served as suckling pigs.
After a few rounds of drinks and a few courses of food, Lude had figured out what each of their Secret Arts did.
[Call of the Wild], Silverback's Secret Art. Power: B, Mobility: C, Control: E, Durability: A, Range: E, Growth: