Translator: Cryus Editor: Weasalopes
Rush hour has pa.s.sed, and we"re cleaning up now.
It"s already past 8 pm.
I got Bunraku to clean up, then changed my team.
I"m keeping Obsidian in my team.
I"ve recalled Helix and Ninetails.
I also recalled Bunraku while he was still equipped with a bow and quiver.
Alright.
Now there"s more s.p.a.ce in my《Item Box》.
Now I"m summoning Goki and Mumyo, and equipping them.
I"m summoning Jean.
I"m done forming my team.
Now that I"ve equipped my monster summons, my《Item Box》is starting to feel lighter.
Oh, right.
There"s something I should confirm before going on my night hunt.
「Are you guys coming with me to hunt monsters at night?」
「Sorry. We have something planned in real life.」
「We"re logging off for today~」
I see.
They logged out around this time yesterday too.
Though they tend to stay online until late more often than not.
「I see. See you soon then.」
「See you soon.」
「Later~」
I move out after watching them log out of the game.
There"s a lot of stuff I want to discuss.
Saki, Margrid, Helga, and Yuka are having a friendly chat.
I can sense Goki and Mumyo giving me a curious look beneath their hoods, but I"m not paying attention.
「Excuse me. There"s something else I"d like to discuss.」
「Sure, what is it?」
「It"s about the equipment for my Monster Summons.」
I gave them a warning to mentally prepare them before taking off Goki"s and Mumyo"s coats.
There"s a moment of silence, but that"s all.
「I"ve never seen this skeleton before. You want a helmet and armor for him?」
「Yeah. If possible, I"d like some armor for his arms and legs too. Do you have any good ideas?」
「You"re wearing the Lost Horse armor set, right? I could help if you had more Fighting Bull Hides.」
「So you can"t do anything?」
「I can. I have some armor with me, if you"d like to try it.」
After measuring Mumyo"s size, she quickly went to the workshop.
Hmm.
I guess I can leave it to her.
「And Margrid. Here.」
「2 Ambers… And an Amethyst.」
I showed her the gemstones I extracted from the Ancient Stones.
I wonder what she"s going to say about it.
「You can cut the Ambers if they"re just for viewing, but you should be able to use the Amethyst for sealing spells…」
Oh?
She looks troubled for some reason.
「Crystals are both simple and difficult. Even though I can use their size to my advantage when I want to cut them, they do break easily.」
「Really?」
「Yes. At this point, I wouldn"t want to process it. I have to improve my skill first.」
「That"s too bad.」
「Sorry.」
Then I should keep them for now.
I put the Ambers and Amethyst into my《Item Box》.
「Thanks for waiting!」
Saki is back. She"s taking some armors, helmets, boots, and gauntlets out of her《Item Box》.
There are 3 types for each piece of equipment.
Metal, leather, and hard leather.
The ones that are made of leather and hard leather have been reinforced with Evil Ant Sh.e.l.ls, but there are also some that I"ve never seen before.
It looks like crab sh.e.l.ls.
What"s this?
「Let"s start with the armors, shall we?」
The fashion show has started, starring Mumyo the skeleton.
「How about this one?」
The girls are starting to talk among each other.
I don"t remember anything they"re saying.
In fact, everything they"re saying is beyond my comprehension.
「Like this?」
「I think it"s a well balanced set, right?」
「What about the outer cover?」
「Just ignore it.」
From what little I can understand, there seems to be 2 different opinions.
Saki is focused on the item specs.
Margrid is more concerned about the appearance.
What about me?
I"m too scared to voice my opinion!
「Let"s just make it a whole set. How"s that for a compromise?」
「Mm… I prefer Reina"s shield, but…」
「But don"t you think a standard set looks good too?」
Besides the shield, the entire armor set is fitted with crab sh.e.l.ls.
What the h.e.l.l?
Saki has compromised, and is giving Mumyo a Crab Sh.e.l.l Shield.
Mumyo looks like a crab now.
「How does it look?」
「It"s a full set that my guild"s Blacksmith made for fun. No one wants it, even though its stats are good.」
「Obviously no one wants it. It stands out in a bad way. It looks like a joke.」
「That"s mean!」
I"m using【Appraise】on the equipment while they"re arguing.
【Armor: Helmet】Soldier Crab Helmet Grade C+ Rarity 3
Def+5 Weight 0+ Durability 110
A helmet reinforced with Soldier Crab Sh.e.l.ls. Light and tough.
The interior has been layered with Wild Horse Hide, adding to its durability.
【Armor: Armor】Soldier Crab Armor Grade C+ Rarity 3
Def+9 Weight 3 Durability 140
A suit of armor reinforced with Soldier Crab Sh.e.l.ls. Light and tough.
The interior has been layered with Wild Horse Hide, adding to its durability.
【Armor: Sash】Soldier Crab Sash Grade C+ Rarity 3
Def+2 Weight 0+ Durability 70
A sash reinforced with Soldier Crab Sh.e.l.ls. Light and tough.
【Armor: Boots】Soldier Crab Boots Grade C+ Rarity 3
AP+1 Def+2 Weight 0+ Durability 80
A pair of boots reinforced with Soldier Crab Sh.e.l.ls. Light and tough.
The interior is layered with Wild Horse Hide, adding to its durability.
【Armor: Gauntlets】Soldier Crab Gauntlets Grade C+ Rarity 3
AP+1 Def+2 Weight 0+ Durability 90
A pair of gauntlets reinforced with Soldier Crab Sh.e.l.ls. Light and tough.
Easy to use, with no penalty applied when used against an opponent.
The interior is layered with Wild Horse Hide, adding to its durability.
【Armor: Small Shield】Soldier Crab Sh.e.l.l Shield Grade C+ Rarity 4
AP+2 Def+8 Weight 1 Durability 180
A Soldier Crab Sh.e.l.l used as a shield. Light and extremely tough.
Convenient for bashing. Despite its large size, it is treated as a small shield due to its weight.
Nice.
He"s covered in crab sh.e.l.ls from head to toe.
Having a matching set like that does look nice, in a way.
It does stand out too.
He"s like a mascot for a crab restaurant.
Most of the crab sh.e.l.ls are red, with a milky-white edge.
A player would have to be extremely thick-skinned to wear this armor set.
「This isn"t an attempt to dump your dead stock, right?」
「Don"t be rude. Besides, it has pretty good stats, don"t you think?」
They"re still at it.
I"ll leave them alone for now.
It"s true that the equipment has good stats.
And most of all, it"s really light.
The main selling point for me is that it doesn"t weigh against Mumyo"s AGI.
The one major problem is how it looks.
Hmm…
Or maybe not?
「I think this is good. I"ll go with it.」
「That"s great. You don"t need to pay for it, so go ahead and take it.」
「So you were dumping it after all.」
Saki and Margrid are starting to argue again.
Helga and Yuka are both trying to smooth things out, but it"s not working.
We"ll just have to wait for the argument to die down naturally.
「Oh, right. I think this one"s pretty good too, so you can take it.」
Saki handed me a hatchet.
【Weapon: Handaxe】Hatchet of Reverberation Grade C+ Rarity 3
AP+6 Power 3 Weight 2+ Durability 130 Throwing Range 10
Increased Hit Rate [Slight] A convenient weapon for cutting due to its weight.
The handle is made from Snow Ape Bones.
The more damage is dealt, the greater the sound from the axe.
Hmm…
This is a pretty good weapon.
「I thought the Blacksmiths still needed more Snow Ape Bones.」
「They still do. But now that we know where the Snow Apes are located, we"ve been getting the bones more often.」
Ooh.
I"ll gladly take it then.
I"ll switch it out with Goki"s Rusty Hatchet.
But I"ll still keep the Rusty Hatchet as a sub weapon.
「Alright, I"m going to do some night hunting.」
「You"re not going to see much of a difference in the new gear if you"re fighting the Mists, you know?」
「Nah, I should be fine. Besides, I can always hunt some Skeleton Raptors and Floating Eyes.」
I thank them gratefully and leave the workshop.
It"s important to test any new gear that I get.
I"m still hunting Haunted Mists for the most part though.
They"re pretty weak, so it"s probably going to be hard to tell the difference.
But I guess I"ll just have to see for myself.
Time to go to the world of the night.
There are a few parties on standby outside the Wind Spirit Village.
They"re probably here to guard the village.
They"ll get some good items too if they keep hunting wisely.
I hope they do.
Alright.
Time to call some monsters.
The first thing I"m doing is confirming the changes.
Specifically, the effectiveness of the new equipment against Skeleton Raptors.
I used Call Monster on a Skeleton Raptor, and made all of my Monster Summons attack it.
Goki and Mumyo sustained some damage, but the new equipment seems to be working better.
That"s a good thing for Mumyo.
I can easily recover what little HP he lost, but now at least I don"t have to worry about his HP dropping to 0.
Actually, I was impressed by the fact that he blocked the Skeleton Raptor"s tail with his shield.
He did get pushed back a little though.
Goki also managed to hit it a few times with his new hatchet.
It seems to be really useful.
I heard a clear, high-pitched sound just once. It was probably a critical.
I saw the results from the damage dealt too.
That"s a player friendly sound effect.
For further testing, I made them fight 2 more Skeleton Raptors.
Now that I"m sure about the increase in their combat power, it"s time for the real challenge.
I"m calling a Haunted Mist.
But this time, things are a little different compared to yesterday.
It"s the groups of Haunted Mists.
They"re no longer in large groups like they were.
I think they were in groups of 100 yesterday, but now they"re in groups of less than half of that size.
I think I overdid it.
Did I hunt too many of them yesterday?
Or did the GMs decrease their numbers?
Well, I guess it doesn"t matter.
What matters is that we take them down.
《【Earth Magic】Level Up!》
It leveled up after we crushed a group of Haunted Mists.
I didn"t use any Earth spells.
The only thing I used was Enchanted Weapon.
I know that the EXP is being distributed across my Magic Skills, but it still feels incredible.
Well, as long as it works.
I think I have the new equipment to thank for the difference, no matter how slight.
Mumyo has gotten a few more hits with each attack.
Plus, his MP isn"t getting drained as much by the Haunted Mists.
In other words, the Haunted Mists are wasting their special attacks.
Without the help of Enchanted Weapon, we wouldn"t be doing much damage in close combat.
Since I have a reliable tank now, I can cast spells at ease while observing any changes.
I wonder how well【Spell Effect Amplification】is working.
I can"t really tell.
In the first place, I can"t even tell the difference for the duration of Enchanted Weapon.
Even if I wanted to.
But I get the feeling that it does last longer.
I"ll probably see more of a difference when it levels up.
For now, I"ll just have to believe it works.
I obtained 2 Manastones before wondering what to do from now on.
I could just keep grinding for EXP.
But it"s going to be monotonous and boring.
So I"ve decided to head north.
I remember fighting Evil Ants and Branch Golems in the forest near Legias.
I guess I"ll find out what monsters will appear at night.
But just traveling there is going to take a very long time.
I"ll most likely reach the forest at around 11 pm.
That"s not even counting the monsters that"ll attack me on the way.
I probably won"t be able to spend much time fighting monsters there at night.
The monsters are still coming at me.
The Haunted Mists are still a pain to deal with, but at least they"re still coming in small groups.
Each group has about 30 of them at most.
I feel conflicted since Enchanted Weapon still hasn"t expired, and I don"t want it to go to waste.
This poverty mindset of mine is getting in the way of my plan to move north.
I want to use Call Monster so badly.
What a waste.
I had to suppress that urge and force myself to go north instead.
《Your Monster Summon『Mumyo』has leveled up!》
《Please add 1 point to a desired stat.》
Mumyo leveled up after we finished off 3 Floating Eyes.
That"s really fast.
Well, I guess I"ve been using him a lot.
His STR has already been increased.
I"ll add 1 point to VIT.
Mumyo Skeleton Lv3→Lv4 (↑1)
DEX 15
AGI 15
INT 11
STR 12 (↑1)
VIT 12 (↑1)
SPI 11
Skills
Hammer Small Shield Block Physical Resistance [Slight] Self-Repair [Medium] Dark Attribute
《Your Monster Summon『Goki』has leveled up!》
《Please add 1 point to a desired stat.》
Goki leveled up at the same time.
He seems to have become quite the fighter.
He used to specialize in the rear, but now he"s on the front lines more often.
He"s been using a bow and arrow against Floating Eyes, but I"ve barely noticed.
Oops. I should focus on his stats.
His DEX has been increased.
I"ll add 1 point to his INT.
Goki Demon Lv5→Lv6 (↑1)
DEX 19 (↑1)
AGI 14
INT 12 (↑1)
STR 18
VIT 18
SPI 11
Skills
Bow Handaxe Small Shield Block Evade Hide
Everything looks good.
But now his stats are uneven.
We got attacked a few times, but we managed to keep moving while fighting them off.
Since Mumyo didn"t need any healing, I got to save on MP and potions.
By the time we reached the forest, my MP was over 70%.
That"s more than enough.
It"s time to hunt now.
What should be the first monster we kill?
I"ve already decided.
I"m going to take a few Golden Pheasant Eggs in the nest that"s sitting in a tree.
I already have lots of meat and vegetables.
I want the eggs to make some sukiyaki.
Naturally there"s a Golden Pheasant (F) in the nest, so I push it onto the ground and fight it.
Golden Pheasants (F) are a lot stronger than Wild Pheasants (F).
They"re probably about as strong as 4 Wild Pheasants (M) combined together.
But now, I don"t think it"s really that strong anymore.
I"ve gotten a lot stronger myself.
But I"m still not going to let my guard down.
After s.n.a.t.c.hing 2 eggs from the nest, I join in the fray against the Golden Pheasant (F).
Well, I only managed one kick.
After repeating this process a few times, it"s finally here.
The male.
Golden Pheasant (M) Lv.5
Monster Enemy Target Enraged
It"s angry.
Of course it would be.
Same with the Wild Pheasants, there are a lot fewer male pheasants than females.
Is this pheasant angry because I disturbed its harem?
I"m sorry if that"s the case.
I thought about retreating, but I"m not going to.
I"m already prepared to fight.
Mumyo"s HP suddenly decreased by 20%.
Its pecking attacks are sharp, but it"s exactly the same as the Wild Pheasants (M).
That"s what I thought at first, but I"ve just changed my mind.
It kicked me in the stomach all of a sudden.
That was fast.
And heavy.
This monster is bigger than a chicken, although smaller than a human.
Yet it still has this much power.
It almost dislodged my body.
My HP has decreased by about 20%.
「Geh!」
Goki shot an arrow and hit the monster straight on.
The monster stopped for a moment.
I"m going after it.
I let go of my rod and grip its neck while pushing it onto the ground.
That didn"t work too well.
This one is really strong and wild.
I need to change my plans.
I"m using concealed weapons in both hands.
I"m holding the Snow Leopard Bagh Nakh in my left hand.
And in my right hand, I have the Gale Tiger Push Daggers.
I launched a counterattack while the pheasant tried to attack me.
Obsidian and Jean are trying to divert its attention, but the pheasant is dodging more than half of their attacks.
Goki"s arrows aren"t hitting it half the time either.
But we"re slowly getting the upper hand.
Its movements are getting dull.
There"s a small marker layered on top of the red marker on its head.
It"s suffering from the abnormal status caused by the Snow Leopard Bagh Nakh.
「Delay!」
I cast the Ice spell on it.
Now its movements are slowing down even more.
My Monster Summons are starting to hit it more often too.
I doubt it can regain the upper hand.
But it"s still running amok.
The Golden Pheasant is even wilder than its counterpart.
I"m close to finishing it off, yet it"s still attacking me.
It"s trying to peck my eyes out.
What the h.e.l.l is wrong with this guy?
It"s really scary.
But at the same time, I want to commend it.
I didn"t think it would put up this much of a fight.
After killing it, I got a wing from it.
But there was also another item drop.
I don"t really know what this is about.
【Material】Brilliant Golden Pheasant Wing Raw Material Grade C+ Rarity 3 Weight 1
A wing from a Wild Pheasant (M). Often processed into arrow feathers.
Also used as decorative material due to its brilliant color.
【Material】Male Golden Pheasant Thigh Meat Raw Material Grade C Rarity 3 Weight 1
The thigh meat of a Golden Pheasant (M). Possesses less hard fat than thigh meat from females. A healthy choice.
A healthy choice, it says.
Well, at least it"s edible.
I"m using potions to heal Obsidian and myself.
Obsidian is fully healed, but I"m not.
I"ll just wait until the cooldown is over before drinking another.
Jean is also fully healed, even though he suffered some damage just now.
He probably sucked a lot of blood from the monster.
It"s really useful, but also kind of scary.
Mumyo is healing himself slowly.
His rate of healing is definitely faster than Jericho"s.
I won"t need to use a potion on him.
Well, I doubt a potion would work on him anyway.
Alright.
I want to keep looking around.
But I already have 7 Golden Pheasant Eggs.
All this from 4 Golden Pheasant nests.
I"m getting the other item drops from the Golden Pheasants (F).
Just when I finished getting the item drops from the last one…
Obsidian and Jean are reacting to something.
Something is coming.
Is it a new monster?
No, it"s not.
I"ve seen this one before.
But never here.
These things probably came from the cave.
Antmen.
They"re a pain to deal with when they come crawling from the cave walls, but I wonder if they"re any different out here in the forest.
It"ll be good if it"s easier out here.
Nope. They"re climbing the trees.
Some of them are moving on the tree branches.
The ones on the ground weren"t the only ones.
This is going to be a pain.
To make things worse, they"re coming in really fast on us.
「Forest Walk!」
This"ll increase my mobility here.
My plan is to improve my freedom of movement.
But I only barely manage to avoid the trails of Antmen.
I was going to cast the same spell on Goki, but he already climbed the tree with his hatchet in his hand, and is now killing the Antmen on the trees.
I guess I"ll leave the ones on top to him.
「Forest Walk!」
I cast the spell on Mumyo while a.s.sessing the situation.
we"re almost surrounded.
But Obsidian and Jean are flying around them.
I need to finish the Antmen off while they"re getting distracted.
Mumyo is killing them one by one.
I let go of my rod and twist their necks one after another.
I just noticed something.
These Antmen are just p.a.w.ns.
That helps a lot.
But the trees are in the way.
It"s hard when they"re blocking my view.
I think we managed to kill about half of them before Jean alerted me to another group coming in.
They"re really annoying.
They"re converging on us.
But this group is being bombarded by Antman corpses.
It"s Goki.
Now he"s jumping right into the middle of the new group.
He"s sticking his hatchet into their bodies while blocking their attacks with his shield.
The Antmen aren"t having much luck with their spears.
They"re definitely Confused.
I"m focusing my attacks on the Antmen"s heads while approaching them.
All I"m doing is grabbing and twisting their heads.
Unlike Evil Ants, I"m having trouble using cross locks on them.
It"s because of their size.
Instead, I"m pinning them to the tree trunks and delivering elbow and knee strikes to their bodies.
This is good.
I"m having an easier time breaking their joints.
But even then, they still take a while to die.
Especially because just like insects, the Antmen have 6 legs.
Ugh.
Now I"m feeling sick thinking about it!
I"m using my shortcut spells in order.
I have a lot of MP to spare.
I shouldn"t be stingy.
I"m using spells I don"t use often, such as Volcanic Shot and Steam Shot.
Some of them are surprisingly effective, while others not so much.
Things are starting to calm down now that their numbers are dwindling.
And we kept fighting.
I should really focus next time.
《【Punch】Level Up!》
《Your Monster Summon『Jean』has leveled up!》
《Please add 1 point to a desired stat.》
Jean has reached level 7.
I"ll be looking forward to his next level up.
Jean"s AGI has already been increased.
I"m going to add 1 point to his STR.
Monster Summon Jean Bat Lv6→Lv7 (↑1)
DEX 15
AGI 19 (↑1)
INT 12
STR 12 (↑1)
VIT 11
SPI 12
Skills
Bite Flight Echolocation Evade Ambush Suck Blood
Alright.
Next thing.
Jean took some damage too, and has lost 10% of his HP.
Looks like Suck Blood didn"t work on the Antmen too well.
I thought about using a potion on him, but it"s already way past 11 pm.
I"ll use a healing spell on him later.
I"ll just get all the item drops and use Return Home.
I managed to get 3 beeswax.
I don"t really know if this is good or bad.
I should stop here for today.
I"m casting the spell while staying on guard.
「Return Home!」
I can fight more Antmen tomorrow.
I feel good, not just from getting the EXP from the Haunted Mists, but also from beating the monsters to a pulp.
Though it"s also kind of sickening.
I also need to start thinking about getting my revenge on the b.u.t.terfly outside the cave.
Fighting it is inevitable anyway.
Protagonist Keith
Race Human Male Racial Lv12
Job Summoner Lv12
Bonus Points Remaining 0
Skill Sets
Staff Lv10 Punch Lv7 (↑1)Kick Lv7 Joint Lock Lv6 Throw Lv6
Evade Lv7 Block Lv6 Monster Summon Lv12 s.p.a.cetime Magic Lv5
Light Magic Lv6 Wind Magic Lv7 Earth Magic Lv7 (↑1)Water Magic Lv6
Fire Magic Lv6 Dark Magic Lv6 Ice Magic Lv4 Lightning Magic Lv5
Tree Magic Lv5 Dust Magic Lv4 Lava Magic Lv4 Steam Magic Lv4
Alchemy Lv6 Pharmacy Lv5 Gla.s.smaking Lv3 Woodworking Lv4
Synergy Lv9 Appraise Lv9 Identify Lv9 Discern Lv3 Cold Ressistance Lv5
Grab Lv7 Horsemnaship Lv7 Precise Manipulation Lv9 Jump Lv4
Heat Resistance Lv4 Climb Lv4 Dual Wield Lv6 Disa.s.sembly Lv5
Physical Fortification Lv4 Mental Fortification Lv5 Speedcasting Lv7
Spell Effect Amplification Lv1 Spell Range Extension Lv1
Equipment Kaya Wood Rod ×1 Kaya Wood Tonfa ×2 Enraged Pickaxe+×2
Silver Necklace+ Snow Leopard Push Dagger ×1 Gale Tiger Push Dagger ×2
Snow Leopard Bagh Nakh ×1
Wild Horse Leather Armor+ Snow Ape Armguard Wild Horse Boots+
Snow Ape Leather Helmet Wild Horse Belt+ Rucksack Item Box ×2
Items Survival Knife Woodworking Toolkit
t.i.tles Old Summoner"s Pupil, Guardian of the Forest, Man of the Middle Path
Spell Archive
Monster Summons
Volff Gray Wolf Lv2
Zangetsu White Horse Lv1
Helix Hawk Lv7
Obsidian Owl Lv7
Jean Bat Lv6→Lv7 (↑1)
DEX 15
AGI 19 (↑1)
INT 12
STR 12 (↑1)
VIT 11
SPI 12
Skills
Bite Flight Echolocation Evade Ambush Suck Blood
Jericho Wood Golem Lv5
Goki Demon Lv5→Lv6 (↑1)
DEX 19 (↑1)
AGI 14
INT 12 (↑1)
STR 18
VIT 18
SPI 11
Skills
Bow Handaxe Small Shield Block Evade Hide
Senki Beast Ape Lv6
Rig Slime Lv4
Bunraku Wood Puppet Lv4
Mumyo Skeleton Lv3→Lv4 (↑1)
DEX 15
AGI 15
INT 11
STR 12 (↑1)
VIT 12 (↑1)
SPI 11
Skills
Hammer Small Shield Block Physical Resistance [Slight] Self-Repair [Medium] Dark Attribute
Ninetails Red Fox Lv3