Translator: Charlotte Editor: Weasalopes
I killed another Carrion Bird on the way back to the Spring.
It didn"t drop anything at all.
It"s probably one of those monsters with no item drops.
The minute we arrived at the Spring of Mist, Adele and Irina took out their food.
They"re always so prepared.
They even brought my share of food.
Bunraku didn"t get to do anything this time.
I decided to pick up where I left off in the morning while Adele and Irina were logged out.
I took out all of the Ancient Stones.
Wait, I have 11 of them.
I guess I stopped counting past 10.
Oh well. It doesn"t matter.
I put 10 of them back into my《Item Box》, cast Enchanted Weapon on my stone chisel, and continued working.
Slow and steady.
I"m actually enjoying this kind of detailed work.
【Material】Amber Grade C Rarity 2 Weight 0+
Tree resin that has partially fossilized into a gemstone.
Yellowish-brown and transparent. Valued as a gemstone.
Rather soft for a gem. Rarely used as a magical item.
I"m not too sure, but the description is telling me it"s not very rare.
Oh well.
I was about to move on to the next one when Irina came back, so I stopped working.
Adele logged in soon after.
Alright.
We"re heading out.
「Keith, is it okay if I use different Monster Summons?」
「No, we"re going to fight on horseback, so stay with what you had before.」
「Understood.」
Irina is summoning her Monster Summons.
She has her Horse, Hawk, and Owl.
Adele is summoning hers now.
It"s a Horse, a Red Fox, and an Owl for her.
I"m staying with my previous team as well.
My Horse, Red Fox, Hawk, and Owl.
We"re going to spend the entire afternoon hunting monsters.
The goal is to get as much meat as we can.
Or not.
We"re up against Fighting Bulls.
The Centaurs and Lions may attack us while we"re at it, but we"ll just deal with them when that happens.
We could also run away if we don"t feel like fighting them.
We just need to keep an eye out for large groups.
「Alright. Let"s go.」
「「Okay!」」
They"re smiling, but they look a little scary.
They look like predators.
I"ve seen the same look elsewhere.
In the eyes of housewives scouring shops for discounts and sales.
It"s truly scary.
I really pity the monsters we"re about to kill.
I"ve noticed something while we"ve been hunting Fighting Bulls specifically.
They become Enraged when they"ve lost about 30% of their HP.
It gives them a slight HP regen and raises their attack power.
But on the other hand, there"s a glaring weakness.
They simply charge head on.
Dealing with them was easy.
It was also risky, of course.
And to pile on to that risk, I also tried something out.
I used a Steam Mist and wall spell combo.
That did the job.
But then I realized I was making a huge mistake.
I didn"t need to use Steam Mist.
They always charged straight ahead, even with a Fire Wall right in front of them.
I only had to cause some damage to get them Enraged, then let them hit their heads against the Fire Walls.
Then I used Root Snare.
The Fighting Bulls staggered and stepped right into the spell.
Adele and Irina were shooting arrows at them too.
We had our Monster Summons individually attack the bulls with the highest HP.
And now we have a long line of bulls.
It looks like there are about 40 or 50 of them now.
Each of them has slightly over half HP remaining.
It"s about time.
We"ll finish them off here.
『Adele will go first, and I"m next. Irina, you finish them off!』
『Alright!』
『Understood!』
We"re casting our own spells.
I wonder how many monsters we can kill using our wall and AOE spells.
We"ll find out soon enough.
『Fire Wall!』
「Fire Wall!」
「Wind Shield!」
All 3 wall spells are right in the path of the monsters.
Just behind Adele"s Fire Wall is my own Fire Wall and Wind Shield.
The Fighting Bulls are crashing into the spells and taking continuous damage.
The other monsters are following suit.
But they keep charging anyway, straight into the Wind Shield.
They slow down when they hit the third wall.
『Gravel Blast!』
We"re on the offensive now.
The Fighting Bulls are defenseless against Irina"s Earth AOE spell. They"re dying one by one.
Everything"s going according to plan so far.
Let"s see how many there are left.
Honestly, I"m surprised by how many monsters we managed to kill.
There are only about 5 of them still standing.
We wiped out less than half of them, but those that are still alive are suffering from the Dying status effect.
Helix is attacking the 5 Fighting Bulls that are still standing.
He didn"t have to attack them too many times to take them down.
It"s going great.
We"re finishing off the Fighting Bulls that are almost dead.
We didn"t take any damage at all.
It"s an overwhelming victory.
The smell of burnt meat is permeating the air.
《Your Monster Summon『Helix』has leveled up!》
《Please add 1 point to a desired stat.》
That was an easy level up for Helix.
There"s a lot of item drops to recover, so I should decide on his stats quickly.
His INT has already increased.
I"ll add 1 point to his AGI.
Monster Summon Helix Hawk Lv6→Lv7（↑1）
DEX 12
AGI 24（↑1）
INT 21（↑1）
STR 12
VIT 12
SPI 12
Skills
Peck Flight Far Sight Wide Area Search Ambush Sense Danger Air Mobility
Time to collect the meat.
Slurp.
There"s not much of the other item drops, but at least we"re getting something.
【Material】Fighting Bull Hide Raw Material Grade C+ Rarity 3 Weight 10
The hide of a Fighting Bull. Thick and takes some time to process.
Perfect for extended use due to its superior durability, but extremely heavy.
【Material】Fighting Bull Horn Raw Material Grade C Rarity 3 Weight 1
The horn of a Fighting Bull. May be used as a material for handiwork.
What the h.e.l.l?
The skin is way too heavy.
I"ve gotten a piece of meat worth mentioning.
【Material】Fighting Bull Sirloin Raw Material Grade C+ Rarity 3 Weight 2
The sirloin of a Fighting Bull. The finest part of the meat. Soft and tasty.
Here it is.
It"ll make some good steak.
Salt and pepper will do the job.
We"ve gotten some hormones and meat from other parts of the body, but nothing can compare to this sirloin.
「That looks amazing!」
「We"re going to have a beef party today and tomorrow, right?」
「Yep.」
I concur.
We"ll have a party when we get back.
「I still have some s.p.a.ce in my《Item Box》. Wanna go for another round?」
「Yeah!」
「Let"s do it.」
We"re smiling at each other.
We"re all really happy.
But at the same time, Adele and Irina still look like predators.
There"s probably nowhere else we can get so much delicious meat.
But every goal has obstacles.
This time, there are Centaurs and Carrion Birds in our way.
The Centaurs are especially hard to deal with.
I wish they would settle down like the lions here.
All we wanted was to kill Fighting Bulls.
But we encountered a few groups of Centaurs.
Or, we may have led them here unintentionally.
A single Centaur has about half of a Fighting Bull"s VIT.
Even then, it"s a lot more trouble to deal with than a Fighting Bull.
Why?
Because it feels like Centaurs fight intelligently.
Sometimes, they target each of us individually in order to separate us.
They also spread out as much as they can in order to minimize the effects of our AOE spells.
Within each group of Centaurs, they individually divert, attack, and approach each of us accordingly.
Honestly, it"s a pain in the a.s.s.
In cases like this, it"s best to take out the leader of the group. But it"s hard to do that because it"s too agile.
Lucky for me, I have Helix and Obsidian.
With their help, I"m cutting my way into the group. I"ve found the leader.
Centaur Soldier Lv.3
Monster Enemy Target Active
It"s probably a boss monster.
It looks strong and well-equipped.
It"s using an axe instead of a bow or a lance like the other Centaurs are using.
The blade of the axe is black and shiny. It"s most likely made from Obsidian stone.
I"m casting a spell while running towards it.
But there are monsters in my way.
Centaur Fencer Lv.2
Monster Enemy Target Active
This monster is also well-equipped.
It"s brazenly wearing a leather helmet and holding a round shield.
It"s holding a club in its other hand.
Even though it may look like it"s fully equipped, its upper body is naked.
They really are barbaric.
「Gravity Bullet!」
I unleashed the spell in order to send it flying, but it"s not even budging.
It rammed straight into Zangetsu and sent her flying.
The Centaur Soldier is using that chance to attack her.
I"m thrusting my rod at the Centaur Soldier.
I hit it straight in the wrist.
The Centaur Soldier has dropped its axe.
But I"ve dropped my rod too.
Now that we"re both unarmed, we"re going at each other face to face.
I grab its arm while it"s trying to punch me, and trap it in a reverse joint lock.
I"ve been aware of the Centaur Fencer that"s coming from behind me.
I"m trying to keep the Centaur Soldier from escaping the painful joint lock.
And now I"m making them ram head first into each other.
I"m using an arm reversal.
It"s a technique that"s useful in getting out of a disadvantageous position against multiple opponents.
Normally, no one would use such a technique on horseback.
Oh well. It worked anyway.
I"m going to twist its arm away from its body now.
I grab its wrist and twist it all the way.
At the instant it lowered its head, I wrap my wrist around its head and began to strangle it.
Its helmet is obstructing me, but I"m not letting it get to me.
I"m grabbing the helmet and twisting it with the head.
Its head is now upside down.
That takes care of the Centaur Soldier.
The lower half of its body may be tough, but the upper half is no problem to me. Just a random thought.
Even though it"s a strong opponent, it doesn"t seem to have much experience in unarmed combat, so its movements are too obvious.
To be honest, it"s way too easy.
I wonder if the Centaur Fencer is any different.
Its wooden shield is now broken in half.
It"s due to the impact I caused while making them crash into each other.
That was a pretty powerful impact.
It"s still in a daze, so I twist its wrist to make it drop its club, then go for a choke while locking its arms.
I"m using a single wing strangle.
Its lower body is moving convulsively in its attempt to escape, but that ends up helping me.
I"m strangling it more intensely now.
The Centaur Fencer"s HP is decreasing gradually.
This one seems a little tougher, so I"m slitting its throat using my Snow Leopard Bagh Nakh.
I managed to finish it off.
It looks like there"s still about 30 Centaurs.
But having lost their leader, they"re now fleeing for their lives.
Helix pecked a few of them to death though.
More than half of them managed to escape.
At least we repelled them.
『Should we pursue them?』
『No, forget them. They"re not worth it anyway.』
Yup.
These Centaurs didn"t drop any items at all.
The only things we managed to get were the Obsidian Spear, Obsidian Axe, and a few Fighting Bull Bone Arrows.
There"s no point in picking up the Cursed Bow at all.
I extract the Obsidian Stones from the weapons and put them in my《Item Box》.
I"ll let Adele and Irina pick up the arrows.
There"s just too many arrows scattered across the field. It"s going to be a pain to collect them.
After Adele and I finished burning all of the bows, we went back to hunting.
I really don"t want to run into any more Centaurs.
Once again, we rode out to chase the Fighting Bulls.
Or rather, we let them chase us.
We stacked some damage slowly and steadily, until they were all enraged.
We took control once we gathered about 50 of them.
This time, we tried a different lineup.
『Fire Wall!』
「Fire Wall!」
『Stone Wall!』
We saved the Stone Wall for last.
Since we had a longer Fire Wall, we could cause more damage to the monsters.
That"s what we had in mind.
We were surprised when the Stone Wall was showing a few cracks. It looked like it was going to break.
But it managed to hold up.
「Dark Explosion!」
I used an AOE damage spell on the monsters grouped up on the other side of the wall.
I was trying to blind a few of them.
Not all of them.
I just wanted to disrupt them, even if just a little.
Putting myself at a safe distance from the Fighting Bulls across the wall, I took a peek at them from the side.
Even though they kept charging at us, none of them managed to reach us.
Helix kept attacking them from midair.
It became a torturous ma.s.sacre.
I was sure there were a still a few Fighting Bulls.
As long as we could take them out safely, taking risks was unnecessary.
But none of them came.
About 40 of them lay dead.
We killed the others that were Dying.
《Your Monster Summon『Ninetails』has leveled up!》
《Please add 1 point to a desired stat.》
He leveled up already?
That was fast.
These Fighting Bulls are great for EXP.
His VIT has increased automatically.
I"ll add 1 point to his STR.
Ninetails Red Fox Lv2→Lv3（↑1）
DEX 9
AGI 20
INT 19
STR 9（↑1）
VIT 9（↑1）
SPI 18
Skills
Bite Evade Dash Sense Danger MP Regeneration［Slight］ Light Attribute
「I think we did better this time.」
「Yay!」
「Yup. Alright then, let"s go ahead and get the item drops.」
It"s definitely more efficient.
We"ll stick with this strategy next time.
Can I do it alone?
No, I wouldn"t be able to cast that many spells at once.
Even if Adele and Irina paired together, they wouldn"t be fast enough.
We only managed to defeat them without taking damage because there were 3 of us.
Also, it feels like we have a good synergy going.
It"s going well.
I guess we expected this, but we managed to get a lot of meat.
We also managed to get a piece of hide.
We didn"t get any meat from other parts of the body, but we collected a lot of hormones.
Seriously, we may be able to open a store that sells grilled meat.
「By the way, how much s.p.a.ce do you have in your《Item Boxes》?」
「It"s starting to get full.」
「One more round until it"s full, I guess?」
「I thought so.」
The meats are just too big.
It"s no wonder our《Item Boxes》are getting full so quickly.
I still have one more《Item Box》. It has a lot of s.p.a.ce because of my Racial Level and the Wild Horse Belt"s item effects.
To be honest, my《Item Box》is bigger than theirs combined.
But that"s also because I"m carrying some items with me.
I think we can manage this for another 2 times.
「Let"s go for 2 more rounds of Fighting Bulls.」
「Can we carry all of that?」
「We"ll manage somehow.」
It"s not even 2 pm yet.
I want to stay here and hunt as much as I can.
We were a little greedy on the next one, chaining about 60 of them before finishing them off.
Because of that, there were about 3 Fighting Bulls that had over half HP remaining, even after the 3 Wall Spells we put up.
Greed isn"t good for us.
I managed to finish them off by spamming Gravity Bullet, but it cost me a lot of MP.
I regret it a little.
《Your Monster Summon『Zangetsu』has leveled up!》
《Please add 1 point to a desired stat.》
At least there"s some good news.
Zangetsu has finally reached level 8.
I"m too excited. I need to calm down.
Her STR has increased already.
I"m going to increase her AGI.
Monster Summon Zangetsu Horse Lv7→Lv8（↑1）
DEX 7
AGI 25（↑1）
INT 7
STR 24（↑1）
VIT 24
SPI 7
Skills
Trample Dash Endurance Run Wild Gallop Stampede Kick
《Your Monster Summon『Zangetsu』has met the requirements for a Cla.s.s Change!》
《Please open the Cla.s.s Change menu in a separate window.》
「Sorry. Go ahead and pick up the item drops.」
「Huh?」
「Hmm? Okay…」
I feel bad for leaving them clueless, but I should take care of Zangetsu first.
I"m keeping a screenshot of Zangetsu"s current stats for future reference.
Now it"s time to look at the Cla.s.s Change options.
Cla.s.s Change Options
Battle Horse
White Horse
There are only 2 options, unlike with Volff.
I"ll take a look at the changes for each option first.
The first option is the Battle Horse.
It"s the one that Master has been using.
Monster Summon Zangetsu Horse Lv8 → Battle Horse Lv1（New！）
DEX 7
AGI 25
INT 8（↑1）
STR 26（↑2）
VIT 26（↑2）
SPI 8（↑1）
Skills
Trample Dash Endurance Run Wild Gallop Stampede Kick Heavy Equipment（New！）
【Battle Horse】Monster Summon Battle Position: Ground
A military horse trained for combat.
Its main avenues of attack are charging and trampling. Can equip armor.
Larger in size and more suited for combat. Less likely to be agitated.
《Do you wish to conduct the Cla.s.s Change?》
《Yes》《No》
Hmm…
It seems like a pretty good upgrade.
I"ll save a screenshot of its stats and skills for now.
I"ll take a look at the other option.
Monster Summon Zangetsu Horse Lv8 → White Horse Lv1（New！）
DEX 7
AGI 25
INT 7
STR 24
VIT 24
SPI 7
Skills
Trample Dash Endurance Run Wild Gallop Trample Kick
Rider Regeneration [Slight]（New！）Magic Resistance［Slight］（New！）
【White Horse】Monster Summon Battle Position: Ground
A horse that possesses spiritual power. Has distinctive white hair.
Its main avenues of attack are charging and trampling.
Possesses the power to heal its rider.
《Do you wish to conduct the Cla.s.s Change?》
《Yes》《No》
This option has no increase in stats.
But its skills are noteworthy.
Rider Recovery [Slight] and Magic Resistance [Slight]. They seem amazing.
I"ll save a screenshot of this too.
But I think I"ve pretty much decided already.
I"ll make her a White Horse.
She"s changed in a moment"s notice.
Her hair is all white.
Only her hooves are black.
But it"s just her appearance that"s changed.
The sensation when I touch her neck is still the same.
「Hmm?」
「Oh, she"s all white and adorable!」
Irina and Adele have taken notice.
We"re still in a『Union』after all.
I show them the screenshots I took earlier before going for the rest of the item drops.
Adele…
Stop touching her hair. It"s all the same.
「Did you choose this cla.s.s because of the skills, Keith?」
「Yup.」
「The stat increase on the Battle Horse seems pretty good too.」
「What would you have gone for, Irina?」
「Maybe the Battle Horse. You would"ve chosen the White Horse, right, Adele?」
「Yup, I really like it!」
Well, to each their own I guess.
But do people really make their choices based on looks?
I got another hide.
It"s heavy.
After getting all of the meat, Adele"s and Irina"s《Item Boxes》became nearly full.
MY first《Item Box》is getting full too.
We didn"t get any sirloin meat this time, but the turnout is still pretty satisfactory.
We should head back to the Wind Spirit Village after fighting one more group.
Protagonist Keith
Race Human Male Racial Lv12
Job Summoner Lv12
Bonus Points Remaining 14
Skill Sets
Staff Lv10 Punch Lv6 Kick Lv7 Joint Lock Lv6 Throw Lv6
Evade Lv7 Block Lv6 Summon Magic Lv12 s.p.a.cetime Magic Lv5
Light Magic Lv6 Wind Magic Lv7 Earth Magic Lv6 Water Magic Lv6
Fire Magic Lv6 Dark Magic Lv6 Ice Magic Lv4 Lightning Magic Lv4
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 Resistance Lv5
Grab Lv7 Horsemanship Lv7 Precise Manipulation Lv9 Jump Lv4
Heat Resistance Lv4 Climb Lv4 Dual Wield Lv6 Disa.s.sembly Lv4
Physical Fortification Lv4 Mental Fortification Lv5 Speedcasting Lv6
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 Rabid Horse Belt+ Rucksack Item Box ×2
Items Survival Knife Woodworking Toolkit
t.i.tles Old Summoner"s Pupil, Protector of the Forest, Man of the Middle Path
Spell Archive
Monster Summons
Volff Gray Wolf Lv2
Zangetsu Horse Lv8 → White Horse Lv1（New！）
DEX 7
AGI 25
INT 7
STR 24
VIT 24
SPI 7
Skills
Trample Dash Endurance Run Wild Gallop Stampede Kick
Rider Recovery [Slight]（New！）Magic Resistance［Slight］（New！）
Helix Hawk Lv6→Lv7（↑1）
DEX 12
AGI 24（↑1）
INT 21（↑1）
STR 12
VIT 12
SPI 12
Skills
Peck Flight Far Sight Wide Area Search Ambush Sense Danger Air Mobility
Obsidian Owl Lv6
Jean Bat Lv6
Jericho Wood Golem Lv5
Goki Demon Lv5
Senki Beast Ape Lv6
Rig Slime Lv4
Bunraku Wood Puppet Lv4
Mumyo Skeleton Lv3
Ninetails Red Fox Lv2→Lv3（↑1）
DEX 9
AGI 20
INT 19
STR 9（↑1）
VIT 9（↑1）
SPI 18
Skills
Bite Evade Dash Sense Danger MP Regeneration [Slight] Light Attribute
Companions Adele & Irina