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Chapter 105

 

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Translator: Cryus　Editor: Weasalopes

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We were attacked by a few small groups of Centaurs.
We managed to repel them, but took some damage.
At least I got to test out Zangetsu’s new skill, Rider Recovery [Slight].

Just like the name suggests, the recovery was really slight.
But the most important part is that it’s constant.
No matter how slight, it all adds up.

We’ve decided to defeat one more large group of Fighting Bulls.
We have plenty of MP to spare.
Adele and Irina have about half their MP remaining, and I still have over 60%.
This proves that our method of hunting monsters has been very efficient so far.
We probably would have even more MP now if we didn’t run into any Centaurs.

Helix has spotted a group of about 10 Fighting Bulls.
Alright, time to chain a large group.

We planned to get a group of 50 Fighting Bulls.
We didn’t expect there to be way more than that.
The last group we chained was much larger than we expected.
We failed.

『Keith!』

『We’re ready when you are!』

『Oh, right…』

Looks like they’ve already gotten used to it.
The mass of Fighting Bulls is really intimidating, but they don’t seem afraid at all.
There should be a few Fighting Bulls with lots of HP left, and having such a big group is pretty risky.

We’re casting our spells.
I’m going to cast another spell right after my first one.
I signal for them to execute the attack.

『Fire Wall!』

「Fire Wall!」

『Stone Wall!』

「Dark Explosion!」

After casting both spells, I’m getting ready to cast my next one.
If it’s going as I expected, then there should be more than 10 Fighting Bulls with some HP left.

It doesn’t seem like the monsters are going to get around this Stone Wall.
I’m borrowing Helix’s bird’s eye view. There are a few monsters trapped between the Fire Walls and moving back and forth in confusion.
More than half of them are already dead though.

I’m casting another spell on them.

「Light Explosion!」

I’m trying to stack as many Abnormal Statuses as I can.
I went around the Stone Wall without checking the status effects.
There are a bunch of dead monsters on the ground.
They’re sprawled out and getting in the way of the remaining monsters, stopping them from moving.
There are a lot of markers indicating the status effects the monsters are suffering from.
One of the monsters is suffering from Blindness and running around. It ended up tripping over a dead monster and falling.
Another is ramming head first into the Stone Wall while Confused.
Others are butting heads against each other.

It’s chaotic.

We took care of them just as the wall spells expired.
I Paralyzed the Fighting Bull with the highest HP to buy some time.
The only one that wasn’t suffering from a status effect came charging at me.
Without panicking, I used Gravity Bullet at point blank range.
Then I let Zangetsu trample it to death.
The blood splattering on her white hair makes it even more striking and a little horrifying.
That’s what I thought anyway.

Adele and Irina finished off some of them with the help of their Monster Summons.
There were still a lot of them remaining.
But we’re at an overwhelming advantage.

I feel bad for the Fighting Bulls. All we’re going for is their meat.

I got off Zangetsu when I approached the Fighting Bull that was suffering from Paralysis.
I grabbed it by the horns and twisted its head.
It died.
It was a tough one, considering that I couldn’t even get it below half HP after firing a few single target spells.
But status effects make it way easier.
I wish they worked all the time, since it makes it so convenient.
But it doesn’t work that way.

《【Lightning Magic】Level Up!》
《You have obtained the title【Spell Glossary】!》
《The Support Skill【Spell Effect Amplification】is now obtainable.》
《The Support Skill【Spell Range Extension】is now obtainable.》
《【Speedcasting】Level Up!》
《Your Monster Summon『Obsidian』has leveled up!》
《Please add 1 point to a desired stat.》

Nice, that’s a lot of level ups at once.
I should focus on Obsidian first, as usual.
His DEX has increased automatically.
I’m adding 1 point to his SPI.

Monster Summon　Obsidian　Owl Lv6→Lv7（↑1）
DEX　13（↑1）
AGI　20
INT　20
STR　12
VIT　12
SPI　18（↑1）

Skills
Peck　Silent Flight　Far Sight　Night Vision　Ambush　Sense Danger　Divine Hearing

That should do it.
Helix and Obsidian are both level 7 now. I’m looking forward to their next level ups.

Time to figure out what’s going on with the title I just got.
The Spell Archive title has been replaced with Spell Glossary.
It’s like an upgrade.
I’m curious about the【Spell Effect Amplification】and【Spell Range Extension】skills, but we have a mountain of Fighting Bull corpses to dewal with.

We’ll have to sort out the meat first.
That said, it’s just a simple matter of sticking our Survival Knives into the dead monsters.

I didn’t expect this.
We have 3 pieces of hide.
Each of them weighs 10 units, so it’s 30 in total.
It’s heavy.
I think my《Item Box》is going to get full really quick.
But that means more things to use or trade with.

《【Disassembly】Level Up!》

That felt kind of random.
Though I suppose it’s because I was the one who got 2 pieces of hide.
But to be honest, I’d rather have gotten some sirloin.
Yummy.

「It’s a little early, but we’ll head back to the W2 area.」

「We should.」

「Are we gonna have a beef party?」

「We’ll talk about it when we’re back.」

That’s right.
The day is over only when we arrive at the village and logout.

All 3 of us are riding across the plains.
Obsidian is resting on my shoulder, while Ninetails is sitting still in front of my saddle.
2 of our Hawks are flying in midair and keeping watch.
We reached the W2 area fairly quickly.
We also went east while chaining the large group of monsters, so it’s also natural that we were closer to our destination.

A Floating Eye greeted us just as we entered the W2 area.
It was 13v1, so it ended in no time at all.

We also encountered a Raptor.
It was more resistant to our attacks, but we still slew it easily.
Pity.
It was a pity for me too, since it didn’t drop any items.

We kept fighting the same monsters on the way to the Wind Spirit Village.
We arrived just before 4 pm.
We managed to pick up 6 Crystals from Floating Eyes and 3 Ancient Stones from Raptors.
We split them evenly among us.

「There’s something inside, isn’t there?」

「Yeah. You know how to extract it, right?」

「Yes. Len-Len told me about it. I have the tools to do it too.」

Good.
Very good.
It’s the perfect task for killing time.
What’s better than hammering on something mindlessly?

I feel a sense of relief when I reach the center of the village.
I can see a crowd gathering around Fiona’s place.
Rick and company are here too.
It looks like all of their guild is here.

「Hey, you’re back.」

「Hello.」

Rick and I are greeting each other.
Margrid is chatting happily with a few guild members at the desk.
Everyone who helped me in Legias is here right now.

「We’re back from the W3 area, I have a lot of stuff to sell.」

「We have lots of meat! Clear the area!」

Everyone perks up at the mere mention of meat.
They look really excited.

It’s scary how all the meat that Adele and Irina were carrying managed to fill the entire space of 2 desks.
It’s a lot.

「Are there any more desks?」

「I think we have a few that Reina just made.」

「Could you let us use them? Keith has some meat with him. We need more space to put them. 」

Everyone is looking at Irina silently.
Mio is staring at the meat greedily while Fiona and Saki are inspecting the item grade.
Hey, I still have some meat, you know?

「This looks like the amount of meat you’d have if you Disassembled a whole bull.」

「We could open a steakhouse with these.」

「Let’s start with a barbeque beef party!」

Everyone’s chatting away happily.
As for me, I’m thinking about something else.
It’s about the new Support Skills.
【Spell Effect Amplification】and【Spell Range Extension】.

I’m reading the details.
【Spell Effect Amplification】does as its name suggests. It increases the effect of all spells.
It’ll increase the damage for offensive spells.
For Physical Enchant spells, the stat increase will be greater.
As for status effect spells like Paralyze, it’ll increase the chances of working on the enemy.
Heal spells will have their heal amount increased.
Wall spells will be tougher and last longer. The damage dealt to the enemy will also increase.
For other miscellaneous spells, the duration will be increased.

It’s similar for【Spell Range Extension】.
Single target offensive spells will have their maximum range increased.
On top of that, the time it takes for the spell to reach that extended range remains the same. That means the spell travels faster.
It also means that spells will have a slightly higher hit rate.
AOE spells simply have a wider area of effect.
Wall spells can be deployed at a distance.
The height and width of the walls can also be increased.
Other spells can also be applied from a longer distance as well.
But Dark Heal is the only spell that remains unaffected, due to its nature as a touch spell.
That’s just too bad.

As for the number of Bonus Points required to learn the skills…
It’s 10 Bonus Points for【Spell Effect Amplification】and 4 for【Spell Range Extension】.
Since I have exactly 14 Bonus Points, I can obtain both skills.
I should be able to, right?

I have 0 Bonus Points now, but what do I care?

「We’ve brought some desks!」

Reina and Saki are bringing a long desk.
It’s pretty big.
Behind them, Shinohara and Fudo are bringing another of the same desk.
Fiona and Helga are bringing yet another long desk.
The other guild members are making space and helping to set up the desks.

「Adele, could you take that end of the desk?」

「Okay.」

「Mio, could you help too?」

「Aight!」

Irina is helping Adele and Mio move the desk they just set up.
I’m putting the meat from my《Item Box》on the desk where there’s space.
It’s a huge pile of meat.
The setting up went pretty smoothly, but now that I look at it, it really is a lot.
It could serve 100 people for a few days.
Actually, I don’t really know. I just imagined it to be the case.

After laying out all the meat, I’m putting out the leather pieces I have.
There are 3 pieces in total.
I barely managed to stuff them into my《Item Box》.
Is it just me, or is the desk starting to creak?

「Keith, do you have any preference for the meat?」

「I want one piece of sirloin. And one piece of thigh meat. That’s all.」

「What about you, Adele?」

「Halfsies on the sirloin with you, Irina!」

Irina responds to her with a thumbs up.
Alright.
I’m cutting a piece of sirloin with a kitchen knife for them.
We’re officially out of sirloin.
Mio looks really dejected.

「It’ll take too long to calculate the price for everything here.」

「Let’s split up the workload.」

Fiona and Rick are double checking on the calculations that are already done.
There are 3 other Merchants doing the calculations for the internal organs.
They’re all using【Appraise】on the items.

「It looks like this will take a while. If there are other things you’d like to buy from us, let us know. We’ll give you a discount.」

「Alright, thanks.」

Rick is bringing some of the items into the loghouse under Reina’s orders.
They’re probably going to make it a special sale at the stalls.
There’s a large tent at the back of the loghouse, where some of the items are being stored.
There’s yet another tent lined up next to it.
They’re making it a shop.

「Welcome! We’re not really open for business yet though!」

「Thanks. It sure looks ready for business though.」

Reina looks proud of the place.
It reminds me of Fiona’s guild.
There are a lot of items of different categories.
Woodworking, blacksmithing, leather, clothes, glassware, pottery, and many more.
I can even see a staff engraved with a gemstone.
The guild members have finished moving the goods, and are now taking a break.

「There’s gonna be workshops in each tent at the back! We only have wood and leather workshops right now though!」

「Really?」

They’re really going to sell stuff on the spot.
Nice.

「Reina, we’re bringing the hides in. Could you make some space?」

「Okay!」

Saki is standing at the entrance.
There are teams of two carrying the Fighting Bull Hides to the back.
It seems fun, so I’m going to help them.

It’s starting to look like a makeshift workshop… or an actual workshop in a tent.
There are a few barrels on the side of the tents.
There’s a large sized desk, which I suppose will be a workbench.
There are 4 pieces of Fighting Bull Hides on the desk.

「So what kind of equipment do you want to make with this?」

「Huh?」

「You guys got them while hunting, right Keith? I think each of you deserve a piece.」

「Uh, I didn’t think about that.」

「It’d be a waste if you didn’t use any of it, you know?」

Well, I really didn’t think that far ahead.
Besides, I was preoccupied with other stuff.

「Well, I recommend using what you earn from now on. I’ll do my best to fit your preference, so think about it, okay?」

「Can I discuss it with you later?」

「That’s fine. Oh right. I have some stuff to discuss too.」

I think I remember…
Oh, that’s it.
It’s about Grow Plant.
I’d forgotten about it.

By the time I got to Fiona’s place, the meat and hormones were all sorted out.
Splendid.

「We’re still in the middle of calculating the totals, but there’s something I wanna discuss.」

「What’s it about?」

「If we keep trading in game currency, we’re going to run out of money. How about we trade goods instead?」

「Could you give me an example?」

「Weapons, armor, magic items, processing fees, and food. How about it?」

Fiona looks a bit troubled.
She probably wasn’t expecting us to bring this much at once.

「Could you give me some time to think?」

「That’s fine, we’ll be done with the calculations by tomorrow anyway」

Now I’m talking to Adele and Irina.

「What should we do with the hides?」

「We’re sharing them, right?」

「We’re getting one each, but we should also make a piece of equipment with the remaining one.」

「That sounds nice.」

Yup.
We can’t just make do by sharing everything.

「Since it’s a good opportunity, why don’t we make a full set of armor using all 4 hides?」

「You mean, leather armor?」

「Yeah. I think we could make a full set, including a helmet, boots, and even an armguard.」

It’s better when they have more materials to work with.
It benefits both the client and the one making the goods.
I didn’t explain to them in detail though.

The equipment I got from using the Lost Horse Hides weren’t bad at all.
But the Fighting Bull Hides should make better equipment, since they’re thicker.
I’m looking forward to it.

「That’s nice.」

「I agree!」

「Let’s go back to Saki’s place after this. I’ll be selling more stuff if that’s alright.」

「Well, we do have the best part of the meat reserved for us.」

「I wanna eat some sirloin!」

I feel the same way.
I want to eat some sirloin meat too.

We’re back in Saki’s workshop. After placing an order for the leather armor set, my inventory has been cleaned out.
Adele and Irina are helping Mio with the cooking.
As for me…
I’m working on the Ancient Stones.
I’ve recalled Zangetsu.
I’m putting the saddle and reins in my《Item Box》.
I’m summoning Bunraku to do the cooking.
I’m having some stew with the Fighting Bulls’ entrails.
Bunraku is cutting the internal organs into little pieces and putting them into the stew.
I’d fail even at a simple meal like this.

I got an Amber Stone from the Ancient Stone I was working on.
I feel a little disappointed.
I’ll stop for a while and try the stew.
It’s pretty good, but lacks depth in taste.
Well, it’s hard to compare it to something that’s been cooking in a stew for years.

I’m going to do some tampering.
I’m using the Dust spell, Ageing.

《The target will age 28 days, with an addition of 5.6 days due to Spell Effect Amplification》
《Yes》《No》

Hmm.
That’s an interesting info popup.
I could reduce the number of days, but I’ll go with the max this time.

「Ageing!」

I’m holding my hands over the stew while casting the spell.
I was worried that it would burn over, but it didn’t happen.
Let’s see how it tastes.
Mm…
It tastes better.
But it’s still missing something.

I tried using the spell again, but I fumbled it.
What’s going on?

I’m looking at the description of the spell once again. It says that I can only use it once a day.
So what’s going on?
My Dust Magic is at level 4, and multiplied by 7, that gives me 28 days of ageing.
There’s another 5.6 days added on top of it.
My Spell Effect Amplification is at level 1, and it added about 20% of the total amount.

And it didn’t go as I feared it might have.
I expected the water to evaporate, or the meat to get burned, but none of that happened.
Well, I guess I can’t argue with magic.

This spell seems to follow the same basic principles as Grow Plant.
In my case, I can accelerate a plant’s growth by 35 days since my Tree Magic is at level 5.
With the aid of Spell Effect Amplification, I can expect an additional 7 days of accelerated growth.

Hm.
This is interesting.
I want to try it out some more.

「Sorry to bother you. Are you free, Saki?」

Saki is giving orders to a few players in the makeshift workshop.

「Yeah, what’s up?」

「It’s about Grow Plant. We were talking about it a while ago.」

「Oh! You’re welcome to do it! Just wait there.」

She’s giving out some more orders in a hurry.
That’s rare for her.

「I’m Hannes, a Farmer. Pleased to meet you.」

「Nice to meet you. I’m Keith, a Summoner.」

「I’ll go straight to the point. How strong is your Tree Magic, Keith?」

「It’s at level 5.」

「Wonderful.」

The Farmer is dressed plainly, but he looks really strong and sturdy.
He probably uses melee in combat.
He has a mace hanging at his waist.
He also has a round shield on his back.
He’s definitely a melee fighter.

「Right now, we have 6 players who can use Tree Magic. There are a few crops we can harvest in a single day now.」

「Really?」

「Yes. But our main crop is wheat. We can’t speed up something that takes half a year to grow into a single day.」

「I can only speed it up by 35 days. Is that fine?」

「That’s plenty. With myself, Saki, and 3 other players combined, our total Tree Magic level is at 12.」

「Um…」

Let’s do some math.
We can speed it up by 17 weeks, or 4 months, in a single day.
That means we can harvest the wheat in 2 days.

That’s an amazing boost.

「We have trees to grow too.」

「Trees?」

「Yes. We’ve started growing some of the fruit seeds you brought for us. Let me show you.」

They’ve started growing them already?
That’s fast

「Some of them would take years to mature, but if we keep it up we can have a steady supply of fruits..」

Hannes has a lot of confidence in himself.
Probably because he’s already seen the results in his vegetable crops.

「Here.」

We’re at the back of the stone building that Fiona and the rest built.

「You can see the effects of Grow Plant on these. You can see for yourself as well, by casting the spell.」

「I’ll try.」

I’m selecting the Grow Plant spell.
It looks like the range applies to everything in my field of vision.
Let’s see how much these saplings will grow.
I’m casting the spell.

《The targets will have their growth accelerated by 35 days, with an additional 7 days due to Spell Effect Amplification.》
《Yes》《No》

「Grow Plant!」

I chose yes and cast the spell.
I’ve lost just a little bit of my MP.
I can see a few of them growing just slightly.
But some of them remain unchanged.
That’s a little underwhelming.

But Hannes looks pleased.
He’s even happier as he touches the saplings.

「Amazing. They’ve definitely grown by more than a month.」

「You can tell?」

「Yes. It’s my job after all. I’m both a Farmer and a Lumberjack, so I can tell the difference.」

「Oh?」

This game really does have its interesting quirks.

Now we’re headed outside the village.
THere are 2 wheat fields.
There’s a pasture here too.
And there’s 4 vegetable fields.
All of the vegetable fields are completely green, as if getting ready to bear fruit.

「We’re doing just fine on the vegetable fields, so let’s move on. I’d like your help on the wheat fields instead.」

「It’s your main crop after all.」

「Exactly. I’d also like your help on the cotton wool, camellia, and horse chestnuts, although they may look similar to you.」

「Are those test crops too?」

「Yes. There aren’t that many of them, so we’ve sorted them out. Especially the horse chestnuts. They’ll grow tall and thick, so we have to separate them.」

「Don’t you have to water the cotton wool?」

「No. Spells are really convenient.」

Of course they are.
Cotton wool needs a lot of water to grow.
If necessary, they just have to use the Liquid Water spell.

「We’ll have to get some tools for spinning textiles. After that, it’s up to the Weavers.」

「I see.」

I’m casting Grow Plant on the other crops.
Namely, the cotton wool, camellia, and horse chestnuts.

「We can extract oil from the camellia seeds. I’m really looking forward to it.」

「Aren’t you growing the olives?」

「We’re working on it. We’re aiming to grow the crops on a large scale eventually.」

「Looks like it’s going to go well.」

「It’s too early to say that. We really need manpower for the harvest. It’s going to be difficult if the NPCs don’t move here.」

Hmm.
That’s true.
The players aren’t going to stay here forever.

「Thank you for your help, Keith. Here’s something for your efforts」

「You really don’t have to thank me.」

「I think you should just accept his thanks. You could even take his vegetables if you want.」

「Yes. They’re very delicious.」

「Come on.」

I get the feeling they’re not great on their bookkeeping.
Oh well. I shouldn’t argue.

It’s evening. The other hunting parties are back in the village.
We’re having a barbeque party.
They’re all high spirited.
Wow.

I’m eating the stew Bunraku made while enjoying the barbeque.
I’m letting Mio share some of the stew, along with the rest of the meat.
Dinner was really satisfying.
It was really delicious.
But I’m stuffed.

The party kept going until about 8 pm.

Protagonist　Keith
Race　Human　Male　Racial Lv12
Job　Summoner Lv12
Bonus Points Remaining 0

Skill Sets
Staff Lv10　Punch Lv6　Kick Lv7　Joint Lock Lv6　Throw Lv6
Evade Lv7　Block Lv6　Summon Magic Lv12　Spacetime 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 Lv5（↑1）
Tree Magic Lv5　Dust Magic Lv4　Laval Magic Lv4　Steam Magic Lv4
Alchemy Lv6　Pharmacy Lv5　Glassmaking 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　Disassembly Lv5（↑1）
Physical Fortification Lv4　Mental Fortification Lv5　Speedcasting Lv7（↑1）
Spell Effect Amplification Lv1（New！）Spell Range Extension Lv1（New！）

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

Titles　Old Summoner’s Pupil, Protector of the Forest, Man of the Middle Path
Spell Glossary（New！）

Monster Summons
Volff　Gray Wolf Lv2
Zangetsu　White Horse Lv1
Helix　Hawk Lv7
Obsidian　Owl Lv6→Lv7（↑1）
DEX　13（↑1）
AGI　20
INT　20
STR　12
VIT　12
SPI　18（↑1）
Skills
Peck　Silent Flight　Far Sgiht　Night Vision　Ambush　Sense Danger　Divine Hearing
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 Lv3

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