Chapter 25

"Indeed," Sasha immediately explained, "this mission does not conflict with hunting. It doesn't require you to hunt any specific monster, so you can take it alongside a hunting mission without any issues. Additionally, the reward for this mission is much higher than that of a regular hunting mission..."

"Is that so? Then what kind of mission is it? Meow." Sasha's hesitant reaction and the mention of a higher reward immediately piqued Wendlow's interest.

"The mission is to investigate the cause of this anomaly. The reward for the mission is ten gold coins!"

"Ten gold coins? That is indeed a rare high reward for the Hunter's Guild..."

In Wendlow's mind, ten gold coins were not a lot. After all, with his knowledge of synthesis formulas, earning ten gold coins was not a difficult task, as evidenced by his previous sales of G-grade healing potions.

However, a ten-gold-coin reward was relatively rare in the Hunter's Guild's commissions, which made Wendlow a bit more cautious.

"Could this mission be quite challenging?" Wendlow asked, somewhat puzzled.

In Wendlow's usual thinking, such investigation missions were generally not too difficult. After all, investigation missions did not require you to hunt monsters; you just needed to go to where the monsters were, observe what kind of monster caused the anomaly, and then return with a report.

As if reading Wendlow's thoughts, Sasha quickly added, "Don't assume that investigation missions are simple. In fact, several hunters sent from the Mejerbolt branch to investigate have already abandoned their mission due to injuries. This is why the reward for this investigation mission has been increased from one gold coin to ten gold coins."

"Wait, you mean several hunters from Mejerbolt were injured and abandoned the investigation? Meow." Wendlow asked again.

"Yes."

"So, they were injured by an unknown monster but didn't discover its identity? Meow."

"That's right."

"Then what kind of attack injured them? Meow."

"It's not clear, as those hunters were all in a coma with severe burns."

"Burns? If that's all the information we have, it's indeed impossible to determine what kind of monster is causing this." With insufficient information, even Wendlow, who was familiar with the characteristics and appearances of various monsters, could not determine which monster it was, as there were too many monsters in the Monster Hunter world that could cause burns.

A faint sense of unease began to spread in Wendlow's heart. He knew that hunters from the big city of Mejerbolt were generally much stronger than those from Mirado Village. This was evident from the fact that Mejerbolt had a large branch of the Hunter's Guild, while Mirado Village only had a small office.

Yet, even these stronger hunters sent from the branch were burned and fell into a coma, which naturally raised Wendlow's alertness.

"Accepting such a mission without sufficient information would be unwise, especially since Catherine is still too weak to venture deep into the forest far from the village... Besides, while I am confident I can investigate this matter, the ten-gold-coin reward is not very attractive to me. So, for now, it's more practical to focus on improving Catherine's hunter level..."

After a moment of thought, Wendlow finally said, "I'm sorry, but we won't take this mission, meow."

Hearing Wendlow's response, the already nervous Catherine finally breathed a sigh of relief, while Sasha wore an expected expression.

"You're right. Such a mission is indeed dangerous, and it's too much to ask of one-star hunters like you. I was too hasty, reporting a task that even three-star hunters couldn't complete to one-star hunters like you..." Sasha said apologetically.

"That's not it. The reward for your mission is too low. Come back and tell me when the reward for this mission reaches 100 gold coins, meow!"

With that, Wendlow left with Catherine, leaving a surprised Sasha standing at the counter.

After leaving the Hunter's Guild office in Mirado Village, Wendlow took Catherine to the village's general market. However, due to the constant threat of monsters on the trade route to the big city of Mejerbolt, the merchant caravans could not pass, and the market had very few of the supplies Wendlow needed. In the end, Wendlow only bought some iron picks for mining and insect nets for catching bugs, to gather more materials during the gaps in hunting, preparing for the next stage of equipment crafting.

By the time all the preparations were complete, Wendlow and Catherine returned to their room at the Silver Dragon Inn, and it was already evening. To prepare for the next day's hunt, Wendlow and Catherine went to bed early without any other activities, ensuring they would have enough energy the next day.

The next morning, Wendlow and Catherine first went to the forge of Grandma Risa, where they had custom-ordered their equipment, to collect their new gear.

Wendlow's equipment was a set of Melynx Wild Boar Leather Armor and a pair of Light Bone Dual Blades, while Catherine's equipment was a Giant Bone Greatsword and a set of Wild Boar Leather Armor.

"Oh, this feels great! This equipment is clearly made for Melynx, but it's still in human size. Grandma Risa's craftsmanship is truly impressive, meow!"

Wearing real armor for the first time, Wendlow felt a surge of strength from within.

In the game, the strength boost from equipment was mainly reflected in the stats, and the player couldn't directly feel the difference in their body. But this time, when Wendlow really put on the equipment forged from the materials of the wild boar he had hunted, the tangible surge of strength made him immediately feel stronger.

Catherine felt the same way.

"Ah, Mr. Cat, I feel like something has entered my body, making me feel strange..."

"Meow, you idiot, don't talk like a porn actress."

"Eh? Porn actress, what's that?"

"You don't need to know. Anyway, it's the soul of the wild boar attached to the equipment. Now that it recognizes you as its master, it means it's lending you its strength. So what you're feeling is the power of the wild boar's soul entering your body."

"Really?" Catherine became excited.

"Of course. Although your only contribution in the last hunt was attracting the attack of a wild boar, it seems they have recognized you as the victor, meow." Wendlow said with a hint of mockery.

"Mr. Cat, that's really discouraging... And this time, I absolutely won't be like last time..." Thinking about the embarrassment of the last hunt, Catherine felt a bit embarrassed.

"Then follow the plan I told you. Do you remember what I said? Meow?" Wendlow asked.

"Yes." Catherine nodded confidently.

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