As quick as he could, Jordie grabbed the mimic by it's "neck", removed his foot from it's tail and shoved the beastie into the mimic cage. Once it was pushed in deep enough, Jordie pulled his hand back as quick as he could and latched the cage shut.
"Hiss!"
The Precious Metal Mimic began to writhe and crash against the cage, changing it's shape all the while in an attempt to break free or slip through the bars. However, no matter what it did, the cage made sure to counter and contain it.
It tried to shrink down and escape through the bars, only for the cage to turn into a sphere and shrink with it.
It tried to grow larger in order to break the cage through sheer force, but the cage turned out to be too strong for it to even try.
It even tried attacking the cage, but the cage's defenses were much too strong for it.
Eventually, the mimic stopped trying to break out and began to pant from exhaustion while laying on the cages' floor.
"When the hell did you get your hands on a cage this fancy?," George asked Jordie once he saw the cage in action.
Jordie just shrugged and made a noise.
"More importantly, did y'all bring back any meat for tonight's dinner?"
"Oh! Uhh.."
"I got it," Marianne answered for Jordie as she handed Minos back to Jordie. She began to fiddle with a brass ring that was on her left index finger. A moment later, she punched out a fist and the body of the Giant Boar from earlier materialized out of thin air and hit the ground with a thud.
"Woo! Pork for dinner tonight!"
"What the-wait...", Jordie was about to ask aloud before remembering the fact that he has the [Analyze] skill. 'Thank the heavens for cheat skills.'
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Name: Hunter's Ring - Minor
Rarity: Three Stars
Usage: Storage
Value: 100 gold
Description: A must-have items for hunters and travelers alike, a hunter's ring is able to store the body of slain monsters and keep it in perfectly preserved for either a few months or forever depending on the model. This particular make can store monster corpses up to the twentieth level and put to four tons.
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"Y'all can now sit back and relax," George told his companions as he pulled out a pair of butcher knives, "I'll get this thing dismantled and cooking real fast. Just keep an eye on the prisoners for me."
With unexpected glee, George began to skin and prepare the Giant Boar's meat, his knives working surprisingly fast.
Marianne and Jordie just sat a little away from the three prisoners, who were now just sitting chained to their cage as opposed to sitting in it due to recent events.
The two groups just sorta eyed each other, not necessarily antagonistic towards each other, but not exactly willing to be friendly towards one another.
"So...," Jordie began as to break the ice, "What you guys do to get arrested?"
Dorado, Jacobs and Sarah just stared at Jordie with blank looks.
"Just thought I'd ask."
"Mooo...," Minos grunted as he wriggled in his sleep. This action caused the three criminals to flinch a bit.
"Scared of a sleeping infant?," Marianne mildly taunted.
"Yes," the trio replied almost in-sync.
A long silence passed as the two groups returned to just staring at George dismantling the Giant Boar. At this point, George had begun to separate the organs from the bones.
"Well, dinner is gonna be soon at least."
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"Here you go! One bowl of Golden Bamboo Pork Curry, a George special!"
"Thanks."
"This smells great!"
It took George a few hours, but the end result was well worth the wait.
He had taken some of the Giant Boar meat, a bottle of Bessie's milk, some wild vegetables, some Golden Bamboo menma and a spicy blend he had made on the fly to produce a luxurious smelling curry that looked as filling as it tasted. Even the criminals got a bowl.
"Didn't think my last meal of freedom would be curry."
"If you don't want it..."
"Didn't say that."
"Shove it, I'm savoring the flavors."
Jordie was about to tuck into his own bowl of curry with a bit of traveller's bread when out of the corner of his eye, he saw Minos just sitting in front of the mimic cage.
Minos just quietly suckled from his bottle as he watched the Precious Metal Mimic trying to gnaw at it's cage in an attempt to escape. The mimic eventually gave up on biting at the cage and began to lay on the cage floor, hissing and growling all the while.
"Moo?"
Unexpectedly, Minos stopped drinking his bottle and presented it to the mimic for it to drink. The mimic lamely looked at the offered bottle for a moment before turning away. Minos looked confused at the mimic's refusal, so much so that he tried to offer his bottle again.
Jordie let out a sigh as he watched the interaction take place. He was not expecting him to offer up his precious milk bottle to a creature that just earlier today attempted to eat him whole. Granted, the mimic was probably a lot more bitter due to being swung around like a sack of balls.
"Hey George, you mind giving me another bowl?"
"Hmmm? Sure thing man, we got plenty to go around," George said as he finished taking a bite of his own curry before ladling Jordie a second bowl. Jordie took the new bowl of curry and made his way over to the sulking mimic.
"Moo?"
"Yeah, I got it Minos, no need to worry."
'Hey System, can the mimic reach for the food or nah?'
[The cage prevents the Precious Metal Mimic from being able to reach out of the cage, it does not prevent you from putting things in it though.]
'Thank you.'
As Jordie got closer and closer to the cage, the Precious Metal Mimic began to hiss and coil itself like a snake at the back of the cage, ready to attack it's encroaching captor. The mimic was not expecting Jordie to stick a spoonful of curry through the bars for it to sniff at.
"Here ya are little one. You must be rather hungry, no?"
"Hiss?"
The mimic stared at the offered spoon for a moment before sniffing at it. Not sensing anything wrong with it, the mimic gingerly flicked a tongue at the curry to get a better taste. A happy sounding purr occured as the mimic fully immersed itself in the flavors of the curry. It quickly ate the spoonful as if it was the last thing it was ever going to eat, before seeing that Jordie give it another spoonful.
Once Minos saw that the Precious Metal Mimic was eating, he let out a small snort of triumph before returning to his own bottle of milk.
'Huh...food is a universal joy ain't it?'
[The host still has the ability to contract a few monsters,] the System suddenly reminded.
'Huh...alright then.'