Chapter 61

The forest looks no different from the Great Palmera Forest at first glance.

Standing at its entrance, I ask Lady Reia, who guided me here:

"Is this the Lulub Forest, Lady Reia?"

"It's fine. Country and town names often change, but the names of the land don't change so easily, so I won't get it wrong."

"…That's a statement befitting a goddess who has observed the world."

She has probably seen countless countries rise and fall, and witnessed the prosperity and decline of each era.

The time I spend acting with her is probably just a fleeting memory to a goddess, but as a man, I must still uphold the minimum standards.

She is much stronger than me and can even [Divide], but I think that's what a gentleman should be.

"Then, Lady Reia, I'll start the hunt. Please follow me. This is my first time hunting here, so I'm not sure what will happen… but if any monsters come near you, I'll prioritize defeating them."

"…Understood."

"Ah, and you want to see the monster-specific skills, right?"

"Yeah. I want to know what abilities they have."

"Then I'll use [Charge] actively—just to confirm, [Divine Eye] can also reveal the skills that monsters possess, right?"

"Probably? I've only tried it on Feelir, so I don't know."

"Got it. If you notice any skills that you don't know, please let me know. I'll tell you if I acquire any skills."

"Understood, thank you."

After this brief discussion, we entered the Lulub Forest.

Since it's the first day, we didn't move quickly, but rather walked slowly and cautiously.

(I'll keep [Presence Detection] and [Scout] active… the problem is which monster to target with [Scout].)

There are three types of monsters in the Lulub Forest.

I quickly think about which one is currently the most troublesome.

(Should it be the Rig Spider? The Orc is large, so it would be obvious even without [Scout], and the Small Wolf wouldn't cause fatal injuries even if it attacked. So, the Rig Spider, which can wrap you up in silk and is the smallest, should be the one to watch out for…)

Before we even entered the forest for three minutes, [Scout] detected a Rig Spider.

"Lady Reia, I've detected a Rig Spider. We'll head towards it. Please check its skills for me."

"Understood."

While heading towards it, I quickly checked the status screen.

When we were about 10 meters away, I spotted the Rig Spider.

(The experience is 22%. Oh, wow…)

It has a look that would make most girls, or 99.9% of Earthlings, recoil…

Even a 3 cm spider that I occasionally see in Japan is hard to look at directly, but the spider hanging in front of me is about 50 cm long.

It's shiny black, and even with my toughened mind, I don't want to get close.

Moreover—

"It's on a tree. My sword can't reach it, and it's a bit troublesome…"

While muttering, I glanced at Lady Reia, who nodded and provided the information I needed.

"[Night Vision] Level 1 and [Sticky Silk] Level 1. [Sticky Silk] is a skill we don't have."

"I see, [Sticky Silk]. That's a skill that looks like it would be useful."

If I were to obtain such a skill, how could I use it?

Would I be able to spit silk from my mouth?

Just thinking about it makes me feel quite uncomfortable, but I need to defeat five to reach Level 1.

So, I need to focus on the monster in front of me.

It's my first time, and I think I can defeat it by casting [Wind Magic] at its body, but to conserve mana, I approach it.

*Pshh!*

(If I get within 5 meters, it will spit silk. The speed isn't too fast, so as long as I'm careful, I won't get hit… the problem is what happens after that.)

The Rig Spider is hanging from a branch about 5 meters high.

Even if it drops a bit from the branch, it's still out of reach of my sword.

So, whether it will come down after spitting silk—

*Pshh! Pshh!*

(Ugh! It just keeps spitting silk and won't come down! It's a good strategy if you want to produce a lot of silk, but it's just annoying when you want to defeat it quickly!)

I understand why Jink-kun wanted a bow.

Maybe he heard from a senior hunter that a ranged attack is necessary.

So, there's no choice.

(Since I need to defeat a number of them, I want to conserve mana. I'll use a weak wind magic that consumes 2-3 mana.)

"Wind, cut."

A bluish-purple mist briefly enveloped my hand, which I shaped like a hand knife, and an invisible wind blade headed towards the silk supporting the Rig Spider—

(No good…)

It only shook the Rig Spider a bit but didn't cut the silk.

So, I need to either increase mana consumption or use a different method. Since I need to defeat a number of them, I'll use this next.

"Fire, fly."

Without hesitation, I shaped my hand like a gun and launched a small fireball, suppressing mana consumption.

I thought that if it has sticky silk and high physical durability, it might have a weakness to fire.

(Oh, this is the right move!)

My guess was spot on, and the silk supporting the Rig Spider was cut, causing it to fall to the ground.

Now it's just a target.

I stabbed it in the abdomen, avoiding the parts that would be used for the trophy, and finally defeated the first one.

I immediately started to disassemble it while slightly opening the status screen to check the experience bar.

(23%. If each one gives about 1% experience, it's quite a good deal. How many times more than the Locker Plain?)

While thinking about this, Lady Reia spoke to me.

"How's it going? Can you do it?"

"There's no problem with defeating them. It's just a bit troublesome to bring them down to a position where my sword can reach them using magic."

"You could just hit them directly."

"That would consume a lot of mana, and I wouldn't be able to defeat many."

"Hmm, it must be tough with so little mana."

"Please don't compare me to a goddess! I'm trying to think about efficiency in the long run, even though I'm weak!"

I couldn't help but retort, and Lady Reia chuckled.

"Hey… maybe this is the first time I've seen you laugh…"

"–!? Show me [Charge] quickly!"

"Haha, it's not possible with a spider. I'll do it when an Orc appears, so please wait."

While saying this, I finished the disassembly and collected the silk scattered around as a reference—what a hassle!

The sticky nature of the silk made it hard to cut with a knife, and it stuck to the knife, wasting time.

(Ugh… what a stressful monster…)

I managed to collect as much silk as I could from the trees and ground, regained my composure, and continued deeper into the forest to find the next target.

(Hmm, that's strange? I was about to say that her smiling face is cuter, but I suddenly felt embarrassed. Am I okay?)

While thinking about this, I was relieved that I was a [Divide] and my thoughts couldn't be read.