Chapter 77

Logging in at 5:30 AM, earlier than usual.

There are many things I can do.

No, there are many things I want to do.

But being too engrossed is a problem.

I've always been good at concentrating and completing tasks.

However, I'm not good at handling multiple projects simultaneously.

It's a bit of a dilemma.

I put on my equipment and organize my belongings.

I placed the broken reed rod on the desk.

There, the carapace and stinger of a Quality X evil ant are also there.

This is still a challenge.

There are things I can do and things I want to do, but there are also things I haven't finished.

Well, it's not work, so I'll go at my own pace.

I put the unprocessed reed wood in the Item Box.

If I have spare time, I'll make a spare rod.

What's today's task?

To buy equipment for multi-day stays.

I'll go to the town of Remto to buy a tent.

I might as well stop by the Adventurer's Guild.

I feel like it should be the other way around.

The monsters I summon are arranged for mobility.

The crescent moon horse, the helix hawk, and the obsidian owl.

There's a spell I want to try.

It's the Forest Walk spell from Wood Magic.

From the master's house to the main road, there are only animal paths in the forest.

On such paths, the crescent moon can only move at a walking pace.

It's perfect for testing the effects of the Forest Walk spell.

When I tried it, the effect was dramatic.

It's not as fast as sprinting on a plain, but it's comparable to cruising speed.

It's fast.

The branches of trees lightly hit me, but that's a small price to pay.

This is pretty good.

Even for me, it seems promising, though not as much as the crescent moon.

Once on the main road, the benefits of Forest Walk are gone.

It was just to test the spell, but I couldn't shake the feeling of having lost something.

Through the helix, I can see other parties hunting along the road to Remto.

They're quite active even early in the morning.

There are many parties.

Maybe the number of players is increasing.

I arrived in Remto without encountering any monsters.

I found a stall and secured a meal.

I couldn't find a place to sit, so I ate at the end of an alley.

It's busy, but there's no choice.

The old building of the Adventurer's Guild is still standing.

It seems the contents haven't been fully moved yet.

The windows and the request boards on the walls haven't changed.

However, there are fewer staff members.

Maybe they're short-handed due to the relocation work?

I asked the familiar middle-aged female staff member at the counter about the guild master's whereabouts.

The guild master has gone to the new building and rarely shows up here.

I have no choice but to go there, right?

The new guild building is familiar.

Inside, there are more craftsmen than adventurers.

The interior isn't finished yet.

Yeah.

If they said the relocation was complete, it would be fraud.

The archery range is now a storage area.

More than half of the training ground, which was used for tournaments, has been cleared.

There's a familiar figure in the training ground.

It's my master.

And the guild master is there too.

I can tell from their backs.

The red ogres are moving stone slabs that were used as temporary seating.

They're incredibly powerful.

The slabs are quite large, but they look like they're carrying tatami mats.

The contrast is strange.

My master and the guild master seem to be talking quietly.

But I can tell.

They're not talking.

They're just pulling each other's beards.

"Good morning."

That's all I said.

Their reaction was comical.

Contrary to my expectations, they weren't pulling each other's beards.

They were clawing at each other's mouths.

What are you doing, grandpas?

"Mumble, mumble, mumble."

"Grumble, grumble, grumble."

Is this a hearing test?

More like a quiz.

What are they saying? Think about it!

I can't understand.

They stopped clawing at each other and panted for a while.

After a few deep breaths, they finally calmed down.

Were they almost asphyxiated?

"O-Oh, you came, Keith."

"W-We, disciple, it's been a while."

They're not calm.

I wait for them to calm down.

Don't overdo it.

"We'll settle this later."

"That's my line."

"What are you still doing?"

Here comes the middle-aged staff member.

According to Nils, his job is to make the guild master work.

"Let's end the verbal sparring."

"Aye."

"Please, let's end it."

I can feel the pressure in his pauses.

He's scary.

It's almost rude, but polite.

"The cleanup after the tournament is almost done. What kind of request do you have for Keith?"

"U-Um, yes. Oren, what do you think?"

"I-I'll leave it to you."

"But you might need to find your own purpose soon?"

When my master says this, he looks at me.

The guild master looks at me too.

I can't see the expression of the staff member standing behind me, but I can feel his gaze.

"So, is there anything you want to do on your own?"

My master asks.

There are many options in this game.

There's a big difference between what I can do and what I want to do.

But my answer is this.

"Well, I'd like to see landscapes I haven't seen before for now."

The guild master looks satisfied with this answer.

My master's expression doesn't change.

"Sure, that's fine."

"Ah."

"This old man might have his own problems. Come back to the guild after a long trip."

"Yes."

"Didn't I keep this for you?"

They were about to grapple again, but they stopped immediately.

I'm afraid to turn around.

What does the middle-aged male staff member look like behind me?

I'm too scared to check.

He must look like an ogre.

At least, that's how I imagine it.

"O-Oh, yes. That might be fine. What do you think, Oren?"

"U-Um. Lugran, get ready to leave after finishing here. I'll leave the rest to you."

The old men's behavior was still strange, but they went in different directions.

They're weak.

Or maybe the staff member is too strong in this case?

Finally, I can turn to the staff member.

He looks the same as usual.

I feel a bit relieved.

"As an adventurer's guild, we'd like to mediate requests, but there are no urgent ones at the moment."

"Ah."

"If you could take any of the posted requests, that would be great."

"Got it. I'll take a look."

Yeah.

I should leave here.

I think it's strange for an adventurer not to take guild requests, but I want to go on a long trip.

I don't want to take requests with deadlines I can't meet.

I'll prepare my equipment and head out to explore.

I lead the crescent moon through the town of Remto.

I enter the largest general store to look for a tent.

There are large tents for groups, but I don't need that size.

I just need one for myself.

I ask the overly friendly female clerk for the smallest one.

It's still big enough for three people.

The poles are collapsible and tied with ropes.

It comes with fixing ropes.

The spare ropes are sold separately.

The price seems reasonable.

After a bit of negotiation, I got three blankets at a discount.

My funds were significantly reduced due to the crafting requests I made to Margrid, but I managed to stay within my budget.

However, it will use 6 units of weight.

It might slightly compress the Item Box's capacity.

But this is necessary equipment, so I'm satisfied.

Next, I buy portable food from a stall.

I get 9 meals for 3 days, plus 1 extra, making it 10 meals.

Actually, they gave me one meal as a service.

The meals might be simple during the stay, but that can't be helped.

I leave the town of Remto and head towards the western forest.

The crescent moon is very helpful.

I want to try using Forest Walk to get through the forest maze.

It's a waste to keep summoning and returning.

The cave with skeletons should be manageable.

On the road, I encounter parallel raccoons, and in the forest, I easily scatter the raging silver pheasants (female) and head towards the forest maze.

With Forest Walk, the movement is much faster.

It feels like I could have reached the village of Legias by now.

Several parties are already progressing through the forest maze.

In the large rooms where monsters appear, some parties are waiting.

They're grinding for experience.

I hope they do well.

The monsters are clearing the way for me.

I only encountered three mushrooms during the maze.

Stripped shiitake mushrooms are valuable food.

I'm a bit happy.

I thought the skeletons in the cave would be tough, but I was wrong.

The crescent moon is strong.

The attacks are heavier than the skeletons.

The human souls, which are the cores of the skeletons, are crushed along with the bones.

The way they were eliminated was ruthless.

I barely had to do anything.

When I reach the W2 map, I return the obsidian and summon Rig.

There are two types of monsters on this map, confirmed.

They are cranes and raptors.

There are probably others, but these two only have physical attacks.

So, is Rig invincible?

At least, the risk of being defeated is low.

Rig crawls behind me and secures its position.

Good.

Let's move.

Previously, I didn't encounter any monsters until I reached the village of the wind spirits.

But now, there's a raptor right in front of me.

It seems monsters appear normally throughout the area.

How to fight the raptor?

It's good that there's only one.

Without spell support, the crescent moon's mobility is superior.

While dodging the monster's attacks a few times, the helix launched a surprise attack from the sky.

Distracted by the attack, the monster stopped moving, and the crescent moon charged.

The monster was blown away by the crescent moon's body slam.

Rig jumped from the crescent moon.

What?

It jumped?

Yes, it did jump.

It looks like a trembling kudzu bun.

Rig attached itself to the monster and spread out quickly.

It's not in the kudzu bun state anymore.

It looks like a moving liquid.

Rig moves to envelop the monster's head.

The monster tries to shake it off, but it's ineffective.

Even when it rolls over, it has no effect.

The monster finally stands up.

But the crescent moon's body slam is waiting.

This happens several times.

When the monster's HP bar is about 30% left, a significant change occurs.

The HP bar disappears suddenly.

What happened?

Looking at the monster's corpse, Rig's body crawls out of the monster's mouth.

Hey.

What were you doing inside?

What?

Let's imagine.

The internal organs were dissolved from the inside.

Did it not dissolve in the stomach acid?

It's fine since it's safe.

Still, it's a terrifying creature.

Its stats are low and it has no mobility, but it's very reliable when used properly.

In this battle, I didn't use any spells at all.

It's a stroke of luck.

Well.

I stabbed the monster with the skinning knife, but nothing happened.

I didn't get anything before.

Nothing this time either.

Admin, come on.

I head further west.

Before reaching the village of the wind spirits, I defeated two angry cranes and three raptors.

Thanks to Rig, I defeated the raptors without taking any damage.

The cranes were tougher opponents.

The cranes left their beaks intact.

What's going on?

I quickly reached the village of the wind spirits.

Helix's exploration didn't detect any monsters around the village.

There were no signs of monsters in the village either.

There are a few buildings where I could stay, but it's still early.

I'll explore this map further.

North or south?

I saw a bit of the S1W2 map yesterday.

It might be good to check if it's the same landscape.

The first prey after leaving the village of the wind spirits was a raptor.

Easy?

No, there were two.

Still, the battle was much easier thanks to Rig.

I left one to Rig and fought the other with Physical Enchantment Earth.

I took some hits, but it's not a problem.

It's within the range of healing with a potion.

And I got an item from the raptor for the first time.

[Material Item] Ancient Stone Quality C Rarity 3 Weight 2

A stone passed down from ancient times. Something is sealed inside.

Sealed inside?

I got a strange item.

It looks like a regular stone.

I'm hesitant to mess with it right away.

I'll put it in the Item Box.

I should move forward.

In front of me is a narrow river.

The opposite bank is a cliff.

The terrain extends as far as I can see.

It doesn't seem passable.

Can I climb the cliff?

I don't have that much confidence.

There's also a clear hint.

Holes.

But there are many holes.

They're scattered all over the cliff.

Even if one of them leads south, I don't want to explore them all.

I move upstream a bit.

The direction is east.

There's a rugged rock mountain.

It doesn't seem passable either.

This time, I head downstream.

I hunt a few raptors along the way.

They're not a problem since they're one at a time.

However, I don't get any items.

[Your victory in this battle has leveled up your [Identification]!]

It's probably due to the accumulation of identifying monsters before battles.

It leveled up.

If I had to face many rock worms like yesterday, I wouldn't even want to identify them.

But there's nothing like that today.

Small things add up.

I move further downstream.

The river widens, and there's a larger cave on the opposite bank.

It's clear.

But I'll avoid exploring it.

I've roughly seen the southern side of the W2 map.

I seem to have reached the position where the W3 map starts if I move a bit further west.

Since I've seen this much, I want to take a quick look at the northern side.

When I change my course to the north, Helix seems to have found something.

There's a monster on the path.

Or rather, it's flying low.

I wait to see what it is.

The monster has a bizarre appearance.

It's an eyeball.

An eyeball with bat-like wings.

To be honest, this is what I expect from monsters or creatures.

There's an overwhelming sense of otherness compared to ordinary plants and animals.

Oh.

I should identify it.

Float Eye Level 1

Monster Target Active

A floating eyeball, apparently.

It's hard to judge what kind of monster it is from its appearance.

What will happen?

Protagonist Keith

Race Human Male Race Level 9

Occupation Summoner (Summoner) Level 8

Bonus Points Remaining 9

Set Skills

Staff Level 7 Strike Level 5 Kick Level 5 Joint Techniques Level 4 Throw Techniques Level 4

Dodge Level 5 Block Level 4 Summoning Magic Level 9 Time-Space Magic Level 2

Light Magic Level 4 Wind Magic Level 5 Earth Magic Level 5 Water Magic Level 5

Fire Magic Level 4 Dark Magic Level 4 Ice Magic Level 3 Lightning Magic Level 2

Wood Magic Level 3 Dust Magic Level 2 Melt Magic Level 2 Burn Magic Level 2

Alchemy Level 5 Pharmacist Level 4 Glassworking Level 3 Carpentry Level 4

Coordination Level 6 Appraisal Level 6 Identification Level 7 (↑1) Insight Level 2 Cold Resistance Level 3

Grapple Level 6 Horse Riding Level 6 Precision Operation Level 6 Jump Level 3

Heat Resistance Level 4 Climbing Level 3 Dual Wielding Level 4

Body Strengthening Level 2 Mind Strengthening Level 4 Fast Chanting Level 4

Equipment Reed Rod x2 Reed Tonfa x2 Snow Leopard Hidden Claws x3

Wild Horse Leather Armor+ Snow Monkey Arm Guards Wild Horse Boots+

Snow Monkey Leather Helmet Rampaging Horse Belt+ Backpack Item Box x2

Items Skinning Knife Carpentry Tools

Titles Disciple of the Old Summoner, Proof of Forest Guardian, Seeker of Moderation

Spell Catalog

Summoned Monsters

Volf Wolf Level 7

Crescent Moon Horse Level 5

Helix Hawk Level 5

Obsidian Owl Level 4

Jean Bat Level 4

Jerrick Wood Golem Level 3

Guardian Oni Level 3

War Oni Beast Ape Level 3

Rig Slime Level 3