Chapter 8

Well, even if we talk about defeating regular creatures to gain experience, we first need to find the regular creatures to hunt. And I also had an idea based on the fact that Saya's throwing skill was used to throw me into the air just now.

"Hey Saya, can you throw me up into the air again?"

"Sure, but why?"

"Last time it was sudden, so I didn't have time to prepare, but if I know in advance, can't we at least do some reconnaissance of the surroundings?"

"Oh, that's a good idea!"

Since we're playing together, let's cooperate fully!

...Anyway, to prevent hitting the ground, I'll prepare a number of clusters for internal movement. I don't think there will be any damage, but I still don't want to hit the ground.

Saya throws me, who has moved to a moss-covered rock, up into the air. Oh, I can see a herd of animals in an open area of the forest! The cursor is green, so they must be regular creatures. At first glance, they look like deer or something similar.

Alright, I've returned to the ground safely. Yeah, this reconnaissance method works.

"How was it?"

"There's an open area straight ahead from here. There's probably a herd of regular deer there."

"A herd, huh. Is it too much to try and take them all down at once?"

"Probably not. Let's take them down one by one for sure."

"Right, let's do that."

To be cautious, Saya moves forward on all fours, trying not to make any noise. I move to a moss-covered rock, which Saya carries in her mouth. Thinking about it, I'm being carried by a girl. Thinking even more, it's just a bear carrying a rock to hunt prey.

We've come close enough to see the herd of deer. It's a somewhat open area, but the surroundings are still a dense forest. Of course, there are also mosses growing everywhere.

Saya puts down the rock she was carrying, stands up from her four-legged stance, and picks up the rock again.

"Kei, are you ready?"

"I'm ready, but one thing."

"What is it?"

"Although our main target is to take down one for sure, if we can immobilize them, we might be able to take down more depending on the situation."

"Ah, that's true. It might be possible depending on how we do it."

"Yeah, it depends on how quickly Saya can take them down."

"Right. Then, let's take down one for sure and pursue the others if they can't escape."

"Sounds good."

Our main goal is to take down one for sure. But there's no reason we can't aim for more. It depends on Saya's attack power and a bit of luck, but if we fail, we can learn from it. It's a game, after all.

While thinking about this, Saya starts preparing to throw. It's a throw from the dense forest, so it's hard to aim straight. So, the target is a spot in the sky where the branches break and the sky is visible, and the throw will be at an angle.

"Here I go."

"Alright!"

At the same time as Saya's words, the rock I'm on is thrown. The momentum isn't great. It just needs to hit one of the deer. What's needed is not power but accurate throwing. It flies over the forest for a moment and heads towards the herd of deer.

Good, it looks like it will hit one of the deer. They haven't noticed the rock being thrown from above!

<Consumed 1 action point to activate 'Mild Poison Generation Lv1'> Action Points 9/10

Wrapped in mild poison, I charge at the deer. The deer that was hit by the rock is paralyzed for a moment, and the herd immediately realizes something is wrong and starts to flee.

"Not so fast."

The deer, slightly slowed by the mild poison, is now Saya's responsibility. Saya is also running towards me with great speed. The deer are trying to escape in a panic. But their panicked actions are exactly what we aimed for!

<Consumed 1 action point to activate 'Clusterization Lv1'> Action Points 8/10

I start to clusterize the moss in the direction the deer are fleeing. Of course, the deer don't all flee in the same direction, so it's a bit inevitable. It's all about timing!

"Alright, now!"

<Consumed 1 action point to activate 'Slip Lv1'> Action Points 7/10

<Consumed 1 action point to activate 'Slip Lv1'> Action Points 6/10

Two deer are standing on the clusterized moss, and I use Slip on them. The deer, fleeing in a panic from the bear, lose their balance and fall due to my Slip. The two deer behind them also trip and fall.

"Hehehe, mission accomplished! How about you, Saya?"

"I'm just about to finish it off! 'Claw Strike'!"

It seems the moment to take down the first deer that was hit by the mild poison has arrived. The deer, receiving Saya's fatal blow, dies. The scene is like polygons shattering, and the dead deer's form disappears. This is a game-like element.

"Damn, they're getting away!"

<Consumed 1 action point to activate 'Slip Lv1'> Action Points 5/10

I use Slip again to trip the deer that are trying to stand and escape. Hehehe, bad luck. As long as there's moss underfoot, my advantage won't change! Crawl, my experience points!

"You seem to be thinking about something trivial."

Ugh!? How did she know!? I didn't say it out loud or show any expression!?

While I keep the deer immobilized, Saya takes down the remaining four fallen deer.

<Obtained 2 Enhancement Evolution Points>

<Kei has leveled up to Lv2. Various stats have increased.>

<Obtained 1 Enhancement Evolution Point, 1 Fusion Evolution Point, and 1 Survival Evolution Point due to level up.>

<Obtained 5 deer meat and 2 deer hides.>

After the battle, my level has increased, and I've obtained various points. The meat is probably for the hunger value of animal-type monsters. What are the hides for? This wasn't in the offline version, right?

Putting that aside, how much have my stats increased? Let's check.

[Status]

Name: Kei

Race: Moss

Affiliation: Gray Cluster

Level 1 → 2

Evolution Stage: Larva

Cluster Count 336/500 → 336/600

Action Points 1/10 → 11/11

Attack 1 → 2

Defense 5 → 7

Agility 1 → 2

Knowledge 1 → 3

Dexterity 5 → 7

Hmm, they've increased, but what does this mean? Honestly, as moss, I can't really feel the benefits of the stats. The increase in cluster count and action point limit is definitely a good thing, though.

"Kei, how about you?"

"My level has increased, but I don't really understand the stats."

"Yeah, that's true."

"What about you, Saya?"

"My level has increased, and I've been strengthened! My attack and agility have improved."

"Nice, that's great."

"How about the points?"

"I have 3 Enhancement and 1 each of the others."

"I have 6 Enhancement and 1 each of the others. Probably the difference from directly taking them down, right?"

"I'm not sure, but I got all the points at once after the battle."

"Really? I got them one by one. 3 for the first deer, 2 for the second, and none for the rest."

"Seriously? Maybe the conditions for obtaining points are different between direct takedowns and support?"

"We need to verify this."

"Yeah."

We still don't have enough data to confirm anything. We need to take down more things. Besides, we can't verify anything unless we can take them down on our own!

"It's a good discovery that we get 1 point each when our main body levels up."

"Yeah, that's true. It's good to get points for sure."

Anyway, this time our plan worked well, and we had some gains. The strategy of one immobilizing and the other attacking worked well.

"What's next?"

"Let's keep leveling up."

"Right. It seems to be a good combination, so let's gain experience while we can!"

"Ah, but if we rely too much on this method, we might have problems later, so let's try the normal way next?"

"True. We can't always play together, so let's do that."

So, I was carried by Saya again to continue hunting regular creatures and gaining experience. For now, we'll seal the reconnaissance method and search normally.

Still, this method of being carried doesn't increase the proficiency of clusterization or internal movement. I'll work on that when I play solo. For that, I want to acquire attack skills that work solo. Just wait, attack skills!