Chapter 81

When I logged in, I noticed something was off.

It was my MP bar.

It wasn't fully restored.

It was just slightly short.

Maybe it's because the time between logout and login was too short?

The current time is just before 5 AM.

Come to think of it, I stayed up quite late last night.

It would be strange if it was fully restored.

If MP could recover so easily, some people might repeatedly log in and out in short intervals.

I've never heard of such a thing.

Or maybe it's just my poor information-gathering skills.

So, what should I summon next?

Actually, I haven't thought about it at all.

While pondering this, I packed up my tent and blanket.

Next, I needed to replenish the potions I didn't make last night.

I gathered water using Liquid Water.

My Dexterity was boosted by Physical Enchant Aqua.

I carefully made two potions from one Wound Grass.

Quality B potions were produced one after another.

I also made two Quality B+ Recovery Pills.

I shouldn't have to worry about recovery items for a while.

While organizing my belongings, I sorted through the potions, selecting those of Quality C or higher.

I wanted to use the older ones first.

Inventory management is all about first in, first out.

Deciding on a new summon monster is also a problem, but so is choosing a direction to go.

There are a few options.

To the north of this W2 map is the Antman's Cave.

The side tunnels that branch downward haven't been explored yet.

It's likely to be an ant nest.

A battle with those ants is inevitable.

After passing through the Antman's Cave, I could explore the N1W2 map.

I've only fought Brown Bears there.

I haven't found the area portal yet, so it would be good to look for it.

To the south of this W2 map is another cave.

It's unexplored, but it might lead to the S1W2 map.

It's important to know what's there.

I could also move to the W3 map and explore the surrounding area.

But is it really a good idea to skip ahead?

There must be some risk.

It's a tough decision.

How should I decide?

Well, in this case, it's like this.

I'll go to a place where there are monsters worth fighting.

I'll challenge the Brown Bears.

I'll head to the next map.

That means my party composition will change slightly.

With a focus on movement and exploration, I'll go with Voluf, Crescent Moon, Helix, and Obsidian.

With the ability to summon four monsters at once, the number of combinations increases significantly.

This is also a tough decision.

I also need to decide on the tenth summon.

《You have a message from a friend.》

《You have a message from a friend.》

I was just about to set out when I received a message.

The time difference suggests they received it in real life just a moment ago.

The messages were from Ilyna and Adel.

"Your summoning magic has reached level 6. You can now summon three monsters at once, increasing your combat power. The attached screenshot is of a bat called Blackwing."

The bat in the attached screenshot is hard to distinguish from Jeen.

Bats are so generic.

Ilyna's summon composition is snake, tiger, eagle, horse, golem, and bat.

There are few gaps.

While it's not perfect for exploration, combat, day and night, and terrain, it's a well-rounded party of six.

Next, Adel's message.

"My new companion is an eagle named T-chan! It's quite fierce!"

The eagle in the attached screenshot seems a bit smaller than Helix.

I can see that.

I can also imagine Ilyna trying to persuade her to stop summoning fluffy creatures.

Anyway, moving on.

Adel's summon composition will be tiger, horse, wolf, fox, owl, and eagle.

If there are no overlaps, the gaps will naturally be fewer.

How should I reply?

Creating a message is a hassle.

Since the MP cost is low, I'll use Telepathy.

I cast the spell and set Ilyna as the whisper target.

"Ilyna, can you hear me?"

"Huh? A whisper?"

"Yeah, sorry. It's Keith."

"Huh?"

"It's a Telepathy spell from the Time and Space magic."

"Oh, I see! Is it treated the same as a whisper?"

"Seems so."

Since she hadn't left the village of Regius yet, we chatted for a bit.

"Where are you, Keith?"

"I'm in W2. I plan to head to N1W2 next."

"Oh, sorry."

She paused the conversation to talk to someone else.

What's going on?

"Oh, I was talking to Fina. Where are you in W2?"

"I'm at the area portal."

"Is it a base?"

"It's more like an abandoned village."

"Fina and I plan to go through the forest maze and head there today."

"I see."

"Where is the area portal located?"

"Head straight west after exiting the skeleton cave on the wide map."

Oops.

The spell's effect is about to wear off.

"The spell's effect is about to wear off. See you later."

"Okay, got it."

I realized something.

I don't often have long conversations with Ilyna face-to-face.

But this conversation is getting long.

Is it easier to talk without seeing each other face-to-face?

But more importantly.

If someone who can make good food is coming, I welcome them with open arms.

I have high hopes for that.

*licks lips*

I head north from the Wind Spirit village to the Antman's Cave.

I wanted to hurry, but as usual, Turtles and Raptors attacked.

With my current party, one Turtle is no longer a threat.

Even two Turtles can be handled.

Raptors are a bit tougher, but one is manageable.

Voluf, Crescent Moon, and I can handle them with our mobility, and Helix and Obsidian in the air provide even more security.

What about two or more?

It would be easier with Rig, but it seems doable.

In the forest, I cast Forest Walk on Crescent Moon.

Even so, Voluf's marching speed is fast.

Crescent Moon is also pretty fast.

I moved quickly through the forest, deliberately avoiding the aggressive Kinkey (female).

Obsidian, with its passive detection, led the way.

What a great guide!

I was a bit worried about the cave.

It's best to switch my summon monsters here.

I returned Crescent Moon and Helix.

I summoned War Ghost and Rig.

They should be enough to handle the Antmen.

The battle with the Antmen.

I only fought Pawns, but I managed to win three battles.

I already knew the battle patterns, so it was a bit easier.

Breaking their formation and bringing the fight to close quarters was effective.

The terrain was especially advantageous for Voluf.

He used the walls and even the ceiling to attack the ants' blind spots.

Speed allows for many possibilities.

War Ghost and Rig have become quite accustomed to fighting as a pair.

Rig mainly covers War Ghost's back, focusing on defense.

It might seem like he's slacking, but it's enough for War Ghost.

He was literally devastating without worrying about his back.

The cave was cleared easily.

I obtained wax and honey.

I haven't felt the benefits of the Dissection skill yet.

But that's okay.

I think I cleared it at a good pace.

Well done.

I gave the right to lick the honey to the others.

Obsidian passed, but the other three seemed to enjoy it.

In Rig's case, a single drop of honey made his whole body tremble.

Is this a sign of happiness?

I'll take it as such.

After the cave, it should be a forest for a while.

I continued without changing my party.

Come on, Brown Bear.

I was thinking that, but I encountered a strange monster first.

Stub Butterfly Level 3

Monster Target Active

It's a butterfly.

Well, a butterfly, but...

The strange patterns on its wings are more unsettling than beautiful.

It feels like a Rorschach test.

Or a color blindness test.

I don't even want to look at it.

No.

That's strange.

I can't look away from those patterns?

This is bad.

I need to...

Focus.

Indeed.

I must.

The monster's attack hit me directly.

I saw a long, needle-like mouth part, I think.

It was heading for my forehead.

Probably.

It was the last thing I saw before dying.

It was a sensation I had never experienced before.

So, this is what it feels like to respawn.

What time is it?

Around 9:30 AM.

What about my summon monsters?

I selected and cast the Summon Monster spell.

The summon list has nine entries.

I tried summoning Voluf, and there were no issues.

But what about my status?

Respawning should cause status abnormalities.

Status

Dexterity 16 (-11)

Agility 16 (-11)

Intelligence 20 (-14)

Strength 16 (-11)

Vitality 15 (-11)

Spirit 20 (-14)

This is bad.

I shouldn't go on long trips for a while.

It's much worse than when I took a big hit from a Snow Ape.

This is depressing.

That butterfly.

It seems to have inflicted a status abnormality, and its mouth part pierced my forehead.

There are no marks on my helmet.

This helmet doesn't fully cover my head.

It must have found a gap.

Are there any other penalties?

My equipment seems fine.

No, the gold I had seems to have decreased.

I don't remember how much I had, but it's clearly less.

Maybe 30% less.

Is this a death penalty?

Damn.

I want to get revenge right away, but I can't in this state.

Even with free time, I don't feel like doing production activities.

What a dilemma.

Maybe I'll take a nap.

I returned Voluf and set up a tent in an abandoned house.

Because of the low status, I couldn't set up the tent as smoothly as usual.

After setting up the tent, I covered myself with a blanket and took a nap.

I logged out as well.

I logged back in after a short while.

There's nothing to do in the real world.

This place is more comfortable.

The status abnormalities should be gone after a nap, but I felt like I was wasting time.

It's become a habit.

I logged out for about 30 minutes.

I checked my status values in the virtual window.

Status

Dexterity 16 (-10)

Agility 16 (-10)

Intelligence 20 (-12)

Strength 16 (-10)

Vitality 15 (-10)

Spirit 20 (-12)

I'm still far from fully recovered.

What should I do?

Production activities won't yield good quality.

The only thing to do is to decide on a new summon monster.

I spent time aimlessly looking at the summon list.

No good.

I decided to filter out the unsummoned monsters.

Wood Puppet

Red Fox

Tiger

Viper

Skeleton

Mist

This reduced my indecision a bit.

I looked at the descriptions, but it was boring.

Deciding is boring.

So, I stopped thinking and decided on this one.

"Summon Monster!"

The tenth entry on the summon list was filled.

I gave it a name fitting for a monster.

The newly summoned monster is as follows.

Bunraku Wood Puppet Level 1 (New!)

Dexterity 24

Agility 8

Intelligence 18

Strength 12

Vitality 12

Spirit 6

Skills

[ ] [ ] Magic Resistance [Minor] Self-Repair [Minor]

Oh.

It seems I can specify skills.

This is also a tough decision.

However, for the empty skill slots, the only option is a production skill.

Indeed, the puppet-type summon monsters my master uses are not used in combat.

The high Dexterity makes sense.

I had time to think, but I decided without much hesitation.

There was a very attractive option.

As a result, the skill composition is as follows.

Bunraku Wood Puppet Level 1 (New!)

Dexterity 24

Agility 8

Intelligence 18

Strength 12

Vitality 12

Spirit 6

Skills

Bow Cooking Magic Resistance [Minor] Self-Repair [Minor]

Cooking!

Yes, cooking.

The skill I need most right now.

It's cooking.

I finally have the cooking skill!

Technically, it's not me, but still.

This Wood Puppet has exceptionally high Dexterity and relatively high Intelligence.

The skill composition doesn't seem combat-oriented, so how it will grow is a concern.

Maybe I'll use it as an assistant in production activities.

But right now, I want to try something.

Cooking.

However, I don't have many ingredients.

That's fine.

Let's see what it can do.

The ingredients are just a Brown Bear's paw and a Wound Grass.

The rest is water and portable food.

Oops.

I don't have any spices.

Still, it seems to have managed to make something.

The result is as follows.

[Food Item] Steamed Brown Bear's Paw

Fullness +10%

Quality D+

Rarity 2

Weight 1

A dish made by steaming a Brown Bear's paw and Wound Grass.

Portable food was used for seasoning.

The quality is low, but it's fine.

The taste is a bit bland, but it's not too bad.

The portable food and the dish combined to satisfy my hunger.

After cleaning up, I was bored again.

My status abnormalities haven't fully recovered, so I decided to rest under the blanket.

I instructed Bunraku to tidy up the abandoned house.

When finished, just wait.

This should be fine.

The time is around 11 AM.

I checked my status again.

Status

Dexterity 16 (-8)

Agility 16 (-8)

Intelligence 20 (-10)

Strength 16 (-8)

Vitality 15 (-8)

Spirit 20 (-10)

It's still bad.

I also checked the description of the Thunder magic spells I hadn't checked yesterday.

Resist Thunder (Thunder Magic)

Magnetic Force (Thunder Magic)

Thunder Arrow (Thunder Magic)

But they were too predictable and quickly became boring.

I knew the Resist spells would have the same description.

The other two spells were also easy to guess from their names.

A spell that attracts metal with magnetism.

A single-target lightning attack spell.

I'm not in a position to test spells right now.

It's boring.

Getting a death penalty is really boring!

Since there's nothing else to do, I decided to browse the bulletin board.

I didn't have the energy to post anything.

I also checked the real-world news from external links to pass the time.

How lazy.

But sometimes this is good.

Main Character: Keith

Race: Human, Male, Race Level 10

Class: Summoner (Summoner) Level 9

Bonus Points Remaining: 8

Set Skills

Staff Level 8

Striking Level 5

Kicking Level 5

Joint Techniques Level 5

Throwing Techniques Level 4

Evasion Level 5

Blocking Level 4

Summoning Magic Level 10

Time and Space Magic Level 2

Light Magic Level 5

Wind Magic Level 5

Earth Magic Level 5

Water Magic Level 5

Fire Magic