章節 180: Dismantling a drake (1)
To break through to level 7 in my dismantling skill I need to learn something new. The knowledge of how to dismantle small and medium-sized monsters had already been in my mind years before so I only had to work on my proficiency.
However, I never had the chance to study how large creatures were dismantled. I should mention, while the classifications are small, medium, and large this is an old mistake that was never corrected. In standard dungeons power often scales with size so it makes sense that they named it that way.
But some monsters don't increase in size or at least not by much and they are still counted as large-sized monsters.
The thing about monsters of the large category is that they are a walking heap of treasure. You'll hardly find any part of them that doesn't have a buyer somewhere.
With my dismantling at level 6, I thankfully don't need to get a teacher to level the skill. I can learn most things with a list of what needs to be dismantled and a lot of trial and error.
The list has already been placed in my hand as I enter the VR room I intend to train in. I set the room to a wide, open field since some of the monsters are going to be large after all.
I glance at the list and sigh, drakes, wyverns, and advanced demons are there as expected but why does it also list fairies and crystal golems?
<I read some articles online and they said that these would allow you to level up the dismantling skill very quickly.>
That's not entirely wrong but don't you think me dismantling a fairy is... distasteful?
<It's just a simulation and I'd prefer for a fairy to be neatly dismantled than to be brutalized by a savage with a knife. I've seen some dismantled fairies that looked more like they had been mutilated.>
Okay then. What about the crystal golem? I can't use a dismantling knife to take that thing apart! My knife will break!
<Your knife is in a VR room, it is a simulation. If you need other tools just have the system give them to you.>
If you say so.
I let a whole bag full of supplementary tools for dismantling appear beside me. This will do.
Let's begin with a firedrake. A standard target for carriers to dismantle since it's often hunted for materials. Not that I would ever have been involved in a hunt like that. All I ever did concerning fire drakes was listen to a ton of stories from people who declare to have dismantled them.
The six-meter carcass of a firedrake is now lying before me. From what I can gather it was killed from a deep slash to the base of the neck. Even though it's dead I can still feel a mighty and threatening aura coming off the slain monster.
I'm in luck as the firedrake is already on its side. Its underbelly is the most vulnerable spot for a carrier to cut large openings. However, while it is the "most" vulnerable it still feels like I'm cutting through tabbed leather with a dull knife. It takes me nearly ten minutes to make a one-meter-long incision into the upper center of the drake's underbelly. After the outer skin is dealt with I begin to cut deeper trying to separate the muscles of the drake's front legs and create a path deeper inside.
I use some solid wooden poles to hoist up the side of the drake's body that is above the incision. Without these poles, the weight of the drake's flesh alone can keep me from cutting further.
After what feels like an eternity of slicing through drake muscle I finally strike upon something hard. The firedrake's magic stone.
Magic stones can only be found in monsters of a certain strength that wield magic or elemental powers. More importantly, magic stones aren't part of a living monster's body. They are the product of the monster's magic or elemental powers converging in one point after its death. If a monster mastered multiple elements there will even be multiple magic stones and the stronger the power converging the larger the magic stone will be.
Since this firedrake wasn't particularly strong it never mastered magic and only had its base elemental powers that allowed it to wield fire. The magic stone that I am now carefully removing is about the size of an apple.
Now, why do we spend all this effort to get out a stone that could also be collected at the end?
Two reasons. First, if anything gets attracted by the smell of the dead drake and the adventurers can't take care of it they want the most valuable thing to be secured first.
Second, the next thing I need to remove is the heart so it's kind of nice to already be this deep inside the carcass.
Why the heart? Ever heard of spontaneous muscle contractions after death? Well, according to monster researchers the dragon family has a little mutation to their hearts. If the heart suddenly contracts it sends an impulse to the rest of the body to attack. And no carrier wants to be dismantling a killing machine weighing multiple tons when a sudden contraction in its heart could elicit a full-body movement meant to kill.
Therefore, remove the heart second and be done with that.
The heart is located in the left chest area quite close to where the magic stone converges. A few more poles to clear the way and my knife soon reaches the heart. After that, I take out the rest of the drake's innards before finally beginning on its outside.
The part that probably takes the most time is the scales. Because guess what, there's a ton of them and you need to separate them one by one.
The process is simple but the execution holds a lot of difficulties. I push the tip of my knife below one of the scales and carefully slide it in between to scales until I hit the place where the scale is held by the drake's flesh.
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