Translator: Cryus
The two shadows approaching us seem to be stray dogs.
I can"t【Identify】their names. Maybe it"s because there"s still some distance between us.
The only thing I see is their dog-like figures.
I think they"re the same as the Wild Dog I fought yesterday.
The red triangle markers are flashing, indicating that they"re targeting us.
There was only one of them yesterday, so I managed to win without any difficulty.
It was a tougher enemy compared to a Horn Rabbit.
There"s always the option of escaping the battle.
「Volff, we"re going to fight them. But don"t overdo it, and stay close to me.」
I confirm that I have a potion in my pocket, ready to use mid-battle.
If it"s one on one, Volff can get an easy win at the cost of some damage.
But what if it"s two on two?
I can test it out since I"m with Volff.
Volff lowers his posture to intercept their attacks.
As our enemies approach, I confirm that they"re Wild Dogs.
Volff jumps at the Wild Dog that charged first.
They stop and circle each other, waiting for the perfect chance to strike at the neck.
The Wild Dog isn"t paying any attention to me.
I thrust my rod into the Wild Dog.
I aimed my attack at the lower part of its belly.
I send it flying.
Just as the other Wild Dog charges towards me, Volff attacks its body from the side.
I thrust my rod into the belly of the fallen Wild Dog to keep it pinned onto the ground.
It takes only an instant for Volff to sink his fangs into its windpipe.
I see its HP bar decreasing at once.
The other Wild Dog is approaching.
It looks like it"s targeting Volff.
Should I prioritize finishing off the Wild Dog whose movements are restricted?
Or should I prioritize keeping the other Wild Dog in check?
I hesitate, but my body moves instinctively before I reach a decision.
I step on the fallen Wild Dog with my right leg, and turn my rod to the other Wild Dog.
I hit the side of its face while it"s charging at Volff.
It looks like it did a little bit of damage.
But that buys me enough s.p.a.ce to select a spell.
I"m going to use Force Bullet, the preset Universal Magic available to beginners.
Volff continues biting into the windpipe of the Wild Dog I"m stepping on. Its HP bar drops to zero.
Now it"s just one more left.
Perhaps seeing that it"s at a disadvantage, the remaining Wild Dog turns around in an attempt to flee.
「Force Bullet!」
An invisible magical bullet hits it from behind, causing it to stumble.
Its HP bar hasn"t decreased much.
But it leaves an opening for Volff.
He bites its hind leg and drags it, dealing damage continuously as he moves around.
I close the distance immediately and thrust my rod into its belly.
Its HP bar disappears in no time.
《Racial Level Up! Please add 1 point to a desired stat.》
A small stats screen appears in front of me. I turn my attention to it and see the stats section flashing.
Basic stats
DEX 15
AGI 15
INT 18
STR 12
VIT 15
SPI 19
How should I do this?
I would specialize in a stat or two if I had other players as party members, but I can only rely on Volff as my partner for now.
I"m probably going to hit monsters with my rod pretty often.
I stare at the STR stat.
《Do you wish to add 1 point to STR?》
The《Yes》and《No》options appear next to it.
As I fix my gaze on the《Yes》option, my STR stat increases from 12 to 13.
It"s my first step towards my character"s growth.
《2 bonus points have been added. You now have 21 bonus points in total.》
《You may learn the following Weapon Skill(s):【Club】【Two-handed Spear】【Punch】【Kick】》
《You may learn the following Support Skill(s):【Throw】》
《Do you wish to proceed to the skills selection screen?》
I choose《Yes》and take a quick look.
The main skills sections are Weapon, Defense, Magic, Production, and Support.
But there are too many options for me to choose prudently.
…It"s better to add my points after receiving some advice.
I should prioritize moving to my destination.
I made sure that my bonus points have increased from 19 to 21 before closing it.
I stick my Survival Knife into the corpse of one of the Wild Dogs, which disappears in smoke.
I didn"t get any drop items.
It"s the same with the other Wild Dog. That"s too bad.
I"m heading further west.
I"m at the hill I saw while wandering around yesterday. The view from the top is spectacular.
I see a few parties wandering around while hunting monsters.
There are barely any monsters left to hunt.
But that also means that I can continue west with less of a risk.
I continue on the path with my eyes focused on my destination, which is the forest in the distance.
It seems that Horn Rabbits are popular monsters that appear around the town.
I hunted some yesterday, but after putting up a good fight just now, it"s an easy win for me even if I go solo.
I wouldn"t say that I"ll get out of it without a scratch.
Thanks to Volff, I managed to defeat five Horn Rabbits individually without taking any damage.
I【Appraise】the item drops, which turned out to be two pieces of skin and three pieces of meat. I also picked up three horns.
【Material】Wild Rabbit Skin Raw Material Grade C Rarity 1 Weight 1
The skin of a Horn Rabbit. Untanned, small piece of skin normally in circulation.
【Material】Wild Rabbit Meat Raw Material Grade C Rarity 1 Weight 1
The meat of a Horn Rabbit. Thick, but known for its overwhelming pastoral taste.
【Material】Wild Rabbit Horn Raw Material Grade C- Rarity1 Weight 0+
The horn of a Horn Rabbit. The tip is sharp.
I"ve been relying item drops such as these to exchange for money.
Horn Rabbits and Wild Dogs don"t drop any money at all.
After defeating the third Horn Rabbit and confirming that the item drop was a piece of meat, the following information appeared.
《Job Level Up!》
《You may learn the following Support Skill(s):【Disa.s.semble】》
《Staff Level Up!》
《Appraise Level Up!》
《Summon Monster 『Volff』 Level Up!》
Oh.
Nice.
《Please add 1 point to a desired stat.》
Oh.
It looks like I can increase a desired stat for Monster Summons too.
A small stats screen appears, just like when my Racial level increased.
The stats section flashes as I look at it.
Monster Summon Volff Wolf Lv1→Lv2
DEX 8
AGI 25 (↑1)
INT 12
STR 10
VIT 15
SPI 10
That was quick.
His AGI has already increased by 1.
It was flashing when I saw it.
《This stat has already been increased from the current level up. You may not increase it any further.》
Oh well.
It looks like there"s a 2 point increase in stats, but I can only a.s.sign 1 point to my liking.
I regret not having thought about this earlier.
It"s frustrating.
What do I want from Volff right now?
I think I want to strengthen his physical attacks. It will help in close combat.
I fix my gaze on the STR stat.
《Do you wish to add 1 point into STR?》
The 《Yes》 and 《No》 options appear next to it.
I focus on the 《Yes》 option, and his STR increases from 10 to 11.
Maybe it"s just my imagination, but Volff looks happy.
Maybe I should give him a reward.
I wonder if Volff will eat the Wild Rabbit Meat?
I bring up the menu screen and insert the keywords『Summon』『Monster』『Feed』on the search bar.
A section explaining the details of Summon Magic appears on a new window.
《Summoned monsters do not require food regardless of their type.》
《HP and MP recovery will occur in a similar fashion to players.》
《When dismissed, HP and MP will recover according to the length of the cooldown.》
Oops.
I was just about to skip the relevant sections.
It"s a bad habit of mine to stop halfway when I try to read carefully.
It"s convenient that summons don"t need food.
But I doubt there"s going to be any penalty if I feed them anyway.
「You wanna eat?」
I can just try it on the spot to see if he"ll eat it or not.
I give a Wild Rabbit Meat to Volff, who happily chews on it.
Oh.
So he can eat it after all.
I place my hand on Volff"s back, enjoying the sensation of his fur while waiting for him to finish his food.
He"s gobbling it all down.
The Wild Rabbit Meat eventually turned into bones.
「Are you satisfied?」
I whisper to Volff, who"s licking his chops.
He"s wagging his tail in satisfaction.
I"ll give him a reward, if only once in a while.
As I"m about to continue moving, I see Volff holding something in his mouth.
The Wild Rabbit Meat has been reduced to a Wild Rabbit Bone.
【Material】Wild Rabbit BoneRaw MaterialGrade ERarity 0+Weight 0+
The bone of a Horn Rabbit. The only edible portion is the bone marrow now.
I used【Appraise】on it, but I doubt it has any use or value.
「Do we need it?」
Volff seems unwilling to part with the remains, so I take it from him and put it into my rucksack.
Is it really just my imagination that he seems satisfied?
「Let"s hurry on then.」
We continued on the path for a while.
I saw other parties hunting on the way as well.
Many of them are hunting Horn Rabbits because of the item drops.
Hm?
There"s a party battling a bird of some sort.
I"m trying to【Identify】it, but the distance is too much.
No, wait.
I"ve closed the distance enough to use【Identify】.
Steppe Hawk Lv.1
Monster Enemy Target
The red triangle marker on its head isn"t flashing.
That"s because it isn"t attacking me.
It looks like this hawk is targeting the magic user at the rear of the party.
No, that"s a little inaccurate.
It"s targeting something that belongs to the magic user.
It"s following the magic user persistently.
It"s a party of five. They"ve been attacking it continuously, but their attacks keep missing.
They must be hesitating because they"re afraid of hitting the magic user.
The bird that"s trying to peck the magic user"s head grabs something with its talons and flies up.
It"s a piece of meat.
I don"t know if I"m using【Identify】or【Appraise】, but when I look at it, a small window appears, showing me that it"s a Wild Rabbit Meat.
The magic user regains his footing and fires a bolt of magic, but misses.
「Argh!!! Gimme back my meat!!!」
The female bow user screamed.
Well, I understand how they feel.
They"ve had their item drop taken away from them.
I guess these things happen. I"ll have to be careful too.
《Identify Level Up!》
Oh?
I didn"t partic.i.p.ate in the battle, but my skill leveled up.
I didn"t know it worked this way.
I continue on the path heading west.
I still don"t see the tower that"s supposed to be a landmark.
I"ve been seeing fewer parties along the road as well.
It"s times like these when I don"t encounter any monsters, even though I wish I did.
I run into a monster eventually.
I found a Horn Rabbit standing next to the path.
The red triangle marker on its head flashes as it approaches.
I【Identify】 it, and see that it is indeed a Horn Rabbit.
Horned Rabbit Lv.1
Monster Enemy Target Active
Huh?
There"s more information displayed now.
Maybe it"s because my Identify skill has leveled up.
「Alright, let"s go, Volff.」
I wonder if saying it made him slightly stronger?
The battle is dragging on.
This is weird.
This rabbit is somewhat tough.
Having Volff with me should give me more of an advantage in battle, but we haven"t defeated it yet.
We"ve only managed to reduce its HP to about half. Why is it so tough?
Why?
It seems that I"ve made a single mistake.
The horn on this rabbit isn"t straight. It"s bent slightly backwards.
Is it a different monster altogether?
I【Identify】it once again.
Horned Rabbit Lv.1
Monster Enemy Target Active・Enraged
Um.
Horn『ed』Rabbit?
d.a.m.n you game devs, why the h.e.l.l would you use such confusing names for monsters? (I mean it as a compliment)
Personally, I like the fact that they"re having fun with this.
But I should pay attention to more urgent things.
What does Enraged mean?
At first, this rabbit looked not too different from an ordinary Horn Rabbit.
But that"s changed.
Its horn is bending back even further.
Its body has gotten slightly bigger as well, and part of its brown fur has been turning darker and gaining stripes.
Its front teeth are turning into sharp fangs too.
I have a really bad feeling about this.
Its eyes are bloodshot now.
The next instant.
Something approaches me, and disappears right after that.
The howls of two beasts are resounding.
From what I could tell, Volff attacked the rabbit while it was hopping towards me.
That was close.
Volff is biting into the rabbit"s neck, trying to swing it around.
The rabbit is hopping around, ignoring the damage it"s doing to itself.
The beasts are shaving off each other"s lives.
I prepare a Force Bullet to shoot it, but I can"t grasp the opportunity to fire the spell.
I don"t want to risk hitting Volff until he lets go.
As if he read my thoughts, Volff releases as soon as the rabbit hops again.
Now.
I fire it at the rabbit in midair.
「Force Bullet!」
My magic hits it, but doesn"t decrease its HP much.
But the rabbit is blown away and lands on its back, leaving a wide opening.
Volff attacks it again.
He bites its hind leg.
He continues swinging it around, thrashing it on the ground.
Again.
And again.
I didn"t get to do anything after that.
「You did a great job.」
It wasn"t so bad that Volff lost half his HP, but he did lose about 30%.
I take out the potion I stored in my pocket, and pour it on his back.
It"s not a full recovery, but this should be fine.
I was grazed a few times, so I"ve lost about 10% of my HP.
I won"t use a potion on myself yet.
My HP will recover as time pa.s.ses, even if it"s minimal.
I stick my Survival Knife into the Horn『ed』Rabbit, which disappears after dropping three items.
There"s meat and a horn, as well as some treasure.
【Material】Striped Wild Rabbit Meat Raw Material Grade C- Rarity 3 Weight 1
The meat of a Horned Rabbit. The power of the wilderness dwells within it. Too hard to chew on.
【Material】Striped Wild Rabbit Horn Raw Material Grade B- Rarity 4 Weight 0+
The horn of a Horned Rabbit. The tip is sharp. The horn itself is bent backwards.
【Treasure】Magic Stone Magic Item Grade E+ Rarity 2 Weight 0+
Magical energy that dwells within monsters and turns into a core when gathered.
Leaving the item grades aside, the rarity of the drops has increased slightly.
I wonder what the rare monster was in the first area. This one was stronger than I expected.
I wonder if a strong party of six will have no problem taking it down.
We"re heading further west.
I"m proceeding while hunting Horn Rabbits along the path.
I"m beginning to see the forest in the distance.
《Summon Magic Level Up!》
Huh?
It leveled up while I was moving?
It"s the Summon Magic skill that leveled up.
I"m not really using Summon Magic though.
Wait.
I can gain experience just by traveling with Volff after summoning him?
I should read the details for the Magic Skill one more time.
【Magic Skill】Summon Magic Lv2
A magic skill that summons monsters.
Stronger monsters may be summoned upon Lv up.
Summoned monsters count as party members, and will grow stronger as they Lv up.
※The longer a summoned monster is accompanying you, the faster the rate of growth.
※Monster summoning may be restricted depending on the location.
※Summoned monsters will not be permanently lost upon death. However, they will lose experience points, and there will be a countdown before resummoning.
Yeah, it"s written here alright.
It"s true that Summon Magic isn"t a skill that gives me too many spells, and I"ve only just started using it.
I"ve decided to resign myself to the fact that level ups are weird in this game.
Protagonist???
Race Human Male Racial Lv2 (↑1)
Job Summoner Lv2 (↑1)
Bonus Points Remaining 21 (↑2)
Skills
Staff Lv2 (↑1) Summon Magic Lv2 (↑1) Wind Magic Lv1 Alchemy Lv1
Cooperate Lv1 Appraise Lv2 (↑1) Identify Lv2 (↑1)
Equipment Beginner"s Rod Simple Clothes Cloth Shoes Rucksack
Items Survival Knife Map to Old Summoner"s Hut
Base Stats
DEX 15
AGI 15
INT 18
STR 13 (↑1)
VIT 15
SPI 19
Monster Summons
Volff Wolf Lv2 (↑1)
DEX 8
AGI 25 (↑1)
INT 12
STR 11 (↑1)
VIT 15
SPI 10