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Chapter 237: Land of the Black Rocks

Alright, today’s agenda is searching for the black outcrops that Pal told me about. She also vaguely said that it’s southeast from my house.

But, it should be within the peninsula, or maybe part of the ocean if it’s southeast of my house. I think the range Pal is talking about must be within the scope of the map that I got from the deities, so it’s probably the area just before you reach Es.

A safe place to explore and get lots of soil — with that consideration, I decided to go to the west side of Es. It’s a desert and there’s not a single soul living here after all!

I started asking the spirits living there if they know of any black ledges in the area. It’s really hot today, so I prepared a hooded coat with cooling magic circles on the lining. It’s comfortable, but the amount of magic stones I needed to consume…It’s super hard cooling a piece of leather compared to cooling the interior of a tower that is surrounded by stones. Yeah, I totally understand.

I have to look for leather with great insulation properties. Dan-chan the stove is also hard at work during winter, after all.

I【Teleport】repeatedly bit by bit while asking the spirits until I finally reached my destination.

Black boulders peek out from the pale yellow sand. There were only a few of them visible at first, gradually growing into a huge hill. Eventually, the number of hardened black stones increased. The sand seemed to have been blown away in this area, leaving the thing I’m stepping on. Actually, the conditions make it seem like there might be a huge volcano here.

There are lots of holes in the rocky outcrops. Are these pumice? Will it be alright smashing these rocks?

「Whoa! 」
Sea anemones!?

No, monsters! I thought it’s a boulder, only to find out that it’s a camouflaged monster sticking to the rocks. Sea anemone-looking monsters crawl out of the numerous holes, and they have gaping mouths lined with fangs smack in the middle of the top of their head.

Flustered, I hastily threw a fire ball at them. They just flinched slightly. Ah, I just noticed, these wriggly things are short, huh.

I take X-Stick out, aim at the mouth and strike it hard. Does this monster camouflage itself so it can catch the lizards climbing up the walls? These creatures don’t look like they’re capable of reasoning.

A closer look reveals lots of them sticking on the rocks, and they seem pretty resistant to fire and heat. They also have hard outer rock-like shells, and they’re also resistant to wind. I think I can defeat them by fire with some effort, but I might end up melting some of the things around here.

I like to keep the impact to the environment as minimal as possible, even if there’s no people in the place.

And so, I do my best poking them with X-Stick to make them open their mouths and crushing them while avoiding the others that are crawling towards me. Whenever I poke these sea anemone-like creatures, they twine their ‘tentacles’ instead of drawing back in, but because they’re short, they can’t do anything against X-Stick.

Sea anemones are generally venomous. When I inspect the monsters, I find some stingers that look like fine, almost transparent needles on their tentacles.

Are they cnidarian monsters? Ah, they don’t have any horns, so I’m guessing they’re just normal creatures? At any rate, cnidarians have stingers, which would pop out and secrete venom from their tips when the creatures are stimulated.

As I thought, these guys will probably have venom too. I shut down 【Search】, quietly observed them and searched for their presence. Yup, I’m doing actual practice!…. Uh, it’s scary so I turn on 【Search】again.

Oh there it is, I thought I couldn’t find the horns but there it is. A part of the fangs in their mouth turns out to be a horn. I’ve been hacking them off!

I insert my knife between the monster and the rock it’s attached to and yank it off. That’s how the abalone-like shells are removed; they easily get detached.

I’m on the fence picking which part to take home, so I just tossed everything into 【Storage 】without dismantling them. Let’s ask Retze about this later.

I made my way slowly like this. The rocky walls flanking me are getting higher and higher with each step I take. The valley is complicatedly warped*; I’m not sure if it’s because of wind erosion, or if it’s already like this from the start.

There are multi-colored coral-looking things and a cluster of even bigger sea anemones ahead of me. It’s a breathtaking sight, but their tentacles are all out — does that mean they’re ready for battle?

As soon as that thought flashes through my mind, the coral things start hurtling pink round balls at me. They hit the rocks when I dodge them, exploding on contact and splashing liquid around it. White fumes rise from the spot it spills on.

Acid?

I didn’t have the time to check if I’m right, since the balls rained on me in droves. Yes, I learned a lot from this experience.

「Wind Shield. 」
A thin dome-shaped membrane of wind covers my surroundings. It’s made of a gale that’s blowing at an incredible speed, and not only does it protect me, it also repels and shreds anything that makes contact with it. Wind Shield might be less solid than Earth Shield, but it’s very, very convenient. Ah, but it ruins the materials so I’ll probably get scolded for using it.

Since it also completely covers the ground, I pour more mana into it and wish for the help of the spirits.

As I step forward bit by bit, the monsters ahead of me get crushed along with the rocks and a smooth path is paved.

That’s it, doesn’t it look like it’s mowed by a grasscutter? No, more like ice cream scooped out with a spoon, huh. The monsters seem unable to leave the spot they’re in, so a path has been created after me.

I tear off the suitable looking monsters from both sides and chuck them into 【Storage】. Ah, I don’t have to tear them off and can just toss them into 【Storage】after defeating them.

About the rocky outcrop — I wonder which part can I take with me? At any rate, I should avoid taking earth from here since this place is gorgeous notwithstanding the monsters. And so, I skip on battling, only slaying the monsters that block my way as I look for a nice rock outcrop to take with me.

I eventually find a few places, crush the rocks with magic and chuck them into 【Storage】. Yeah, I know the overall composition doesn’t differ that much, but it’s in the mood, the mood alright.

***

I got about two to three hills worth of rocks so time to go now. I delivered some peach compote to Retze and promptly asked him how to dismantle the monsters I found and which parts are usable.

「Hey, where the heck did you go!? I’ve never seen that before!! 」
「Ehhh!? 」
When I laid a sheet on the table on the first floor and lined them up, I got told he had never seen them before.