Versatile: Alternate World

Those two are not the only eye-catching things I received as the monster drops were not something you can disregard either. I was about to fully inspect them when the girls who I asked to try and thaw the ice surrounding the two people frozen at the center of the place started to exclaim. This caught my attention and I decided to look at what they are being excited to see all of a sudden.

I was just a little bit of distance from them but then I noticed one thing from one of the frozen people who are now lying on the ground.

A tail...

I rub my eyes a bit to see clearly that I am not hallucinating. Yep, it's a tail. A fishtail to be exact. Then realization hits.

"F*CK. A mermaid?!"

I quickly joined the others and indeed confirmed the two people to be the people of the sea. In short, merfolks. I rarely see merfolks in the past timeline and if ever I saw one, it's either they are on a quest or they are trying to see the world and get out of the sea from time to time. Not only that but you can't see them in their pure forms which is their forms where they retain their tails. They are usually on the form where they got rid of the tails and gained legs to walk on land. As for the way to determine whether they are merfolk or not, their ears are similar to fish fins and they are mostly people who have green or pink hair.

Seeing merfolks before me in their purest forms ignited my desire to see more of them. I mean, they are quite beautiful in beauty standards and even though they can't beat an elf's beauty, they are one of the people that you can rarely see around. They also contain a lot of legends so my desire to learn more of them seems to have been ignited.

The two merfolk who were frozen earlier are a man and a woman. The woman is a bit younger while the man, though he is in his teens, he is a pretty buff for a teenager. They don't have clothes, not a single covering in their body like a shellfish to cover the chest of the mermaid. The only thing covering the mermaid's chest is her long, pink hair. As for the man, welp, there is nothing to cover since the lower half is a fishtail.

"Let's get them to safety first. Tina, you know what to ask for Cotton. Thanks."

Tina nodded and started to negotiate with Cotton. Cotton was compliant and made a web that is enough for us to place them together for us to carry them together.

I summoned Atlas and quickly asked for a favor from him. "Atlas, I will be inconveniencing you in helping me carry the two of them at the moment."

"Don't worry Master, I have plenty of rest so this will be a good workout for me."

After that, we carried the two merfolk out of the cave. The three girls were in charge of protecting us in case there are enemies present while we are carrying the two. Thankfully, just like when we get back out, there are no enemies when we exited.

We stopped when we arrived back outside the cave. Atlas and I placed the web carrying the two and let them bask in the sun for a bit so that the coldness that they have felt after being frozen for long will be gone while keeping them hydrated using water magic of both mine and Lina's since Lucia's magic skills are all fire-based.

"Master, are they perhaps the key to our negotiation with the King of the Kingdom of the Deep Sea?" Lucia asked.

"Perhaps. I thought it was an item but it never occurred to me that it will be people. Also, since the Kingdom of the Deep Sea is a place where merfolks live, perhaps we can gain recognition once we present them to them. However, we still need to know whether they are connected to the kingdom in some other way, otherwise, we would just be wasting time."

"That means we are going to camp here? Alright, leave the camping preparations to me!" Lina announced before she disappeared in the distance as she quickly went to the bushy forest.

In a few minutes, she returned and this time, she is carrying a few twigs and quickly made a campfire. We heard rumblings of something falling down to the ground though I can't exactly pinpoint what fell down. She returned and this time, she asked Atlas to come with her. Just like earlier, in just a few seconds, she returned with Atlas carrying a few logs.

With the help of Atlas, they processed the logs easily and became raw wood materials. After Lina thanked Atlas, she quickly made a skeletal framework. In just an hour, a hut big enough even for Atlas to go in appeared before us.

"Wait...wait...wait... what the f*ck?!" I was too surprised that I was at loss for words seeing how she managed to create a hut big enough to be called a wooden house in just a matter of an hour. It was like she is playing mi*ecr*ft and easily created a house by piling objects in one go.

"Hehe, sorry to hide it, Master. I received a skill related to the construction of buildings. It's still at a low level since I barely have chances to use and level it up that is why I can only do this at the moment. However, if we get to a higher level, I can create more advanced buildings easily, and maybe if I was in max level, maybe I can also slowly renovate the mansion all by myself!" Lina proudly revealed.

A construction skill. Although it's not something you can easily use, this skill is pretty useful due to the fact that you can easily create houses, infrastructures, and other things without any problem compared to others who don't have it. Lina didn't have this skill in the past timeline so I was too surprised to see it.

"When did you get it?" I asked since I don't remember her getting it during the time I checked her stats after we finished the class-ups.

"Just a while ago after we killed a few monsters and when I leveled up, I gained a chance to get a random skill. It was this skill that I managed to win. Although this is not related to maid duties, this is pretty useful in campings and other stuff related to outdoor stays and renovations."

I was at a loss for real. For Lina to gain a random skill after defeating a monster, that means she received the skill crystal randomizer as a reward. It's a pretty rare drop and for someone like me who has countless skills I needed to learn with a limited amount of resources, an item like that would be a blessing. However, it's not something I can just ask since that thing has an abysmal rate to drop and if it ever drops, it cannot be used by anyone other than the one who received it.

"Are you angry, Master?" Lina looked at me with guilty eyes.

"Nah, but you should tell me sooner so that we can develop that further. It is a pretty useful skill so it's something that needed to be used many times to level up and gaining a level on it will greatly benefit anyone of us."

After the hut was created, Atlas and I created the two merfolk inside the hut, and using Lina's skills, she created a wooden bathtub easily, allowing us to let the two soak in seawater, that way, they can recover.

"Ahhh, isn't this quite a bliss? I didn't know camping like this can really relax my mind out of all the things that I have experienced these past few days," Tina happily sits down on a small rocking chair that Lina also created.

"Right? Lina, that skill is pretty amazing! I wish I also have that so that I can be useful to Master in some way other than fighting," Lucia grumbled.

"I'm sorry, Lucia-san. I don't really know how but I just randomly received this skill so I don't know how to do it and I can't share it since I am still pretty low leveled and I don't know the exact fundamentals behind it."

"Eh, no worries. I am not mad, I am just a bit jealous but don't worry. Everything is okay. Anyways, Atlas, how are the two? Are they already showing signs of waking up soon?" Lucia asked.

Atlas who was guarding the two while reading a book that I let him borrow looked again at the two.

"Ah..."

The three then know something is up. As for me, I am currently outside and fishing.

"Damn it, the fishes are still not biting," I grumbled as the bait I tossed out in the sea with my homemade fishing rod had been snatched by fishes.

I am still oblivious to what is currently happening inside the house until much later after I returned from fishing.