Chapter Three: Plenty of Things to Do in Town
Chapter Three: Plenty of Things to Do in Town
“Is that the florist you were talking about?” Sawyer asked, noticing the shop before I could point it out to him.
“Yep. Can you see it?”
“Yes.”
As I suspected, it seemed you could enter the florist as long as you had Plant Knowledge.
“Hi, Spade.”
“Hello.”
Sawyer had no problems entering the shop either.
“Why, it’s my boy, Yuto! Welcome. I see you’ve brought company today!” Spade greeted us jovially.
“Wow, this is amazing!” Sawyer said, gazing around in wonder at the various knickknacks in the shop. As soon as he spotted the bookmarks, he ran up to them and began browsing through, comparing them one by one and nodding to himself. I decided to leave him to his own devices for now.
“I heard ya took care of Ryver’s request for him. Thanks.”
“Don’t mention it. It was no big deal.”
As I was chatting with Spade, I noticed someone emerge from the back of the shop.
“Are you the otherworldly traveler who solved my nephews’ problems?” the stranger asked me. In terms of appearance, he looked a lot like Spade and Ryver—that is, stern and rugged. Although he appeared to be smiling, his features were way too severe to put me at ease. On the other hand, his voice was soft and gentle. If I were to judge him by his voice alone, I would think him to be a refined gentleman.
“I’m Spade’s uncle, Pisco. Nice to meet you,” he introduced himself, extending his hand towards me.
“Uh, hi. Nice to meet you too,” I replied, returning the handshake. He seemed awfully friendly for someone I had just met. However, Pisco continued to chat with me, unaware of my reservations.
“Considering we’re just now making each other’s acquaintances, it may be rather presumptuous of me to ask this of you, but would you consider doing me a favor?”
A new request? This was unexpected. When I dropped by the shop this morning, nothing had happened. What changed?
“I actually run a lumber yard. Usually, I go and cut the trees myself, but...”
Having said that much, Pisco raised his right arm to show me. Now that I had a closer look at it, I could see that it was wrapped in bandages.
“As you can see, I’ve been unable to do so since I injured myself.”
“So, you want me to cut down some trees and bring them to you?”
“Exactly.”
It looked like Logging skills were essential to trigger and fulfill this quest.
Delivery Quest
Requirement: Deliver ten pieces of Wood (Miscellaneous, Sawtooth Oak).
Rewards: 400 G, brushwood crockery set.
Time Limit: Four days
One of the rewards was a set of crockery—a welcome household addition for my family of five. I didn’t have ten pieces of Sawtooth Oak, though. According to my inventory, I only had eight. Regardless, I decided to accept Pisco’s quest, confident that I could easily obtain the remaining pieces if I went to the Western Forest. Even if I took today off, I could surely complete the task within the specified time frame.
“I’ll do it,” I told Pisco.
“You will? Thank you! So, would you like to complete the quest now?” he asked me all of a sudden.
“Huh? What do you mean? I only have eight pieces of wood at the moment.”
“But you have ten between the two of you.”
As I puzzled over the meaning of his words, I realized that Sawyer and I had formed a party without being aware of it. After Ashihana left our team, our group now consisted of six people, automatically registering us as a party instead. It seemed that I had accepted Pisco’s quest as a party rather than a single player, which explained some things.
“In that case, I’ll provide two pieces,” Sawyer offered, apparently having received the “Quest Accepted” notification as well. I hadn’t noticed him leave the bookmark section; he was now standing behind me.
“You sure?” I asked.
“Of course. I have more than enough anyway. Oh, and I don’t need the reward either—you can have it.”
“Now, just a minute...”
“No, really...”
“But...”
After some discussion, it was decided that I would take the crockery set, and the monetary reward would be split evenly between us. To be honest, I didn’t even need the money as long as I got the crockery. As for Sawyer, he was more than satisfied with his discovery of the florist and lumber yard. After receiving the sawtooth oak from Sawyer, I handed them over to Pisco along with the pieces of wood I had.
“Here you go.”
“Much appreciated. That’s ten pieces of sawtooth oak, safely delivered!”
There was a Ding! and the blare of a trumpet notified us that we had completed our quest. All right, I now had some tableware! I immediately checked my inventory and selected the set that I’d just received as a reward.
“Nice, I dig it.”
The set was probably intended for special occasions, and included wooden plates, cups, knives, and forks for six people. I bet they would be great for eating stews and the like, and I looked forward to using them. In my excitement, however, I had totally forgotten that this was probably a quest chain.
“To tell the truth, I have another favor to ask of you two. Would you be willing to hear me out?”
Apparently, we had fulfilled the requirements for triggering the next quest. Much to our surprise, we received another request from Pisco.
“Thanks to you, I’ve managed to stock up on the necessary materials. However, that still leaves me with one task. I have to make some wooden crafts, but I highly doubt I can manage that in my current state.”
Our next trigger appeared to be Woodworking skills. I had both Sakura and Sawyer to thank for that.
Delivery Quest
Requirement: Deliver two pieces of tableware made from kindling with a rating of eight stars or higher.
Rewards: 500 G, one cherry blossom sapling.
Time Limit: Ten days
The reward for this quest was a sapling, and a cherry blossom tree at that! That meant I could enjoy a flower-viewing picnic with my monsters. What a dream come true! However, I wasn’t sure if we could fulfill this quest, despite the longer deadline. Would ten days be enough to make something with an eight-star rating...?
“What do you think, Sawyer?”
“Hmm. I think it’ll be pretty difficult. If we’re talking plates made from Begini Cedar, the most I can manage is four stars. Even if kindling turns out to be easier to work with, I’m not sure if eight stars is possible...”
“Gotcha. Think Ashihana could manage it?”
“Maybe. She might be able to pull it off...”
“Let’s ask her, then.”
My friends list indicated that Ashihana was still online, so I pressed the call button. Before long, she answered the phone.
“Yoo-hoo. Hi again, Yuto! What’s up?”
“Thing is, Sawyer and I just accepted a quest together, and we were wondering if you could help us out.”
“Oh? What kind of quest?”
“We’re supposed to deliver two pieces of tableware made from kindling with a rating of eight stars or higher—”
Before I could even ask her if she were capable of making such a thing, Ashihana cut me off.
“Really? I just made those,” she interjected casually. Wait, did I hear that correctly? I could’ve sworn she said she just made them.
“I’m talking about two eight-star pieces of tableware made from kindling,” I repeated.
“Like I said, just made them. I wanted to test how carvable the sawtooth oak was, so I made two plates. Since the wood had no special effects, it seems that the overall quality turned out quite high. I was surprised to get an eight-star rating right off the bat. Want these plates?”
“What? I mean, sure, if you’re willing to part with them.”
“You can have them, then!”
It seemed like there’d be no problems completing Pisco’s second quest either. Although I’d insisted on picking up the plates from Ashihana, she offered to bring them to the florist herself since she was interested in the lumber yard. While waiting, I decided to inform Pisco of our decision.
“Um, we’ll do it.”
“Splendid! I’m counting on you!”
Ten minutes later, Ashihana arrived as promised.
“Thank you! You’ve been extremely helpful!”
Once I handed Pisco the plates, our quest was completed in no time.
“Your tamed monster Olto has leveled up.”
“Your tamed monster Sakura...”
Whoa, all of my monsters had leveled up too! The XP probably came from our forest expedition and the quests we’d just completed. Not only that, but Olto had reached level 10, and learned a new skill. This skill was called Bountiful Harvest, and was incredibly useful.
Bountiful Harvest: Increases harvesting yield by 30%. Has a fixed probability of further increasing yield, up to an extra 100%.
With this skill, we’d be able to harvest more fruit from our trees. I wasn’t sure what the probability was of it doubling our yield, but chances were Olto’s Luck would play a part in it.
“You don’t mind me taking the sapling, do you?” I asked Ashihana.
“Go ahead,” she replied. “No point in me having a tree when I don’t possess Arboriculture. I don’t need it.”
“Okay, I’ll take it then.”
I handed her the 500 G reward as payment for the plates and took the cherry blossom sapling for myself. Sawyer refused to accept any of the rewards, saying he hadn’t done anything in particular. He seemed to be more than satisfied with the amount of XP gained from this quest. Spade and Pisco appeared to be in high spirits as well.
“Ha ha! Y’all are an impressive lot!” Spade chortled. “I’ve certainly taken a liking to you. Please do visit my shop sometime. You’re welcome anytime.”
“I know. Why don’t we throw a party when the cherry blossoms are in bloom?!” Pisco suggested.
That sounded like a fantastic idea. I imagined what it’d be like to have a party with NPCs and my monsters under the cherry blossom tree I grew. Gathering around a picnic with my cuties while the soft pink cherry blossom petals scattered in the wind was a perk that could only be enjoyed in-game. I got excited just thinking about it.
“Sounds great!”
As soon as I’d said that, the following appeared.
Special Quest
Requirement: Grow a cherry blossom tree and have a flower-viewing picnic beneath it with Spade, Ryver, and Pisco.
Reward: Three bonus points.
Time Limit: None
Huh? I had triggered yet another quest which appeared to be part of the quest chain. Apparently the game had also interpreted my nod and exclamation as an affirmative, as it seemed I had already accepted it. While that was all well and good, it would take me some time to complete this task.
“Olto, Sakura. Whether we can have this picnic depends on you two. Can I count on you guys?”
“Mm!”
“...♪”
Both of them tapped their hands on their chests as if to say, “Leave it to me!” Wonderful. They really were a reliable duo.
“Chirp chirp!”
“Growl!”
“Whoa, hey there.”
Just then, Rick and Bear Bear charged at me. The two of them clung to my legs and stared up at me intently, determined not to be left out.
“Don’t worry, I know. Haven’t forgotten you guys. I’m also counting on you to help Olto and Sakura, okay?”
“Chirp chirp!”
“Growl!”
As I was patting the two of them on the head, I felt something thud against my back. This time, Olto and Sakura were clinging to me—or rather, Olto was. Sakura simply held on to the hem of my robe.
“Okay, okay. Patience, my friends.”
I took turns patting each of them on the head until they were satisfied. They really were a handful, but it was that rambunctiousness that made them so adorable.
“Right then, think I’ll head back to my farm for now...”
“I’m heading back to my shop too. Can’t wait to do more research on these bookmarks!”
“Time to head home!” Ashihana chimed in.
“Thanks for today, you two,” I told Ashihana and Sawyer.
“No problem. I made so many new discoveries today thanks to you! Do stop by my shop again sometime,” Sawyer replied.
“Of course. See you around.”
“Bye!”
“See ya!”
Having completed as much of the quest chain as I could for now, I logged out for a while before logging back in and resuming farming. The moon provided just enough light to work with, and farming at night had its own perks, what with the hundreds of stars twinkling in the night sky. Gazing at them as I worked made me feel as though I was transported to an entirely different plane of existence.
“Hnngh!” I groaned as I stretched. Although I didn’t get backaches in-game, I still couldn’t help stretching after standing back up. Funny how old habits die hard.
“I’ll obtain Selective Breeding once my Farming skill levels up another rank. Might as well keep at it a bit longer.”
At the moment, I didn’t have anything to do besides weeding, but it was little things like this that mattered. In the midst of working, a faint glimmer caught my eye.
“What’s that?”
It seemed to be coming from the patch where the trees were concentrated. I walked towards the source of light with caution.
“It’s coming from the walnut tree.”
The walnut I had planted three days ago was already about a meter tall, and one of its branches bore a single glowing yellow-green nut.
“What’s this light...?”
What had appeared at first glance to be a faintly glowing firefly, or a pebble painted with glow-in-the-dark paint, turned out to be a walnut, whose wrinkly, brain-like shell glowed bluish-white in the darkness. Because this was a game, there was no husk surrounding the nut that grew on the tree, ripe and ready to be picked. Harvesting walnuts in real life, by the way, was somewhat of an ordeal: you had to wait until the husk surrounding the nut had rotted and remove it. In this game, however, it seemed that you could skip that process. Burying walnut husks in the ground and waiting for them to rot was far too tedious anyway; it was just one of those instances where you had to suspend your disbelief.
Of course, this being a game, there were many other instances like that. It was questionable, for example, how you ended up with hide and meat in your inventory after defeating a monster when you hadn’t even butchered it.
“Don’t remember it blooming, though.”
Since I hadn’t expected to harvest anything from it so soon, I hadn’t been paying attention to the tree at all. Usually, it would take a regular player at least a week until their first harvest. In my case, however, Olto possessed Forced Cultivation EX, while Sakura had tree magic. This would have been more than twice the usual speed of growing a walnut tree, but perhaps that was possible between the two.
“Could this be a Glowing Walnut?” I wondered, remembering the story about them occasionally growing on regular walnut trees. During the day, it was impossible to tell whether they were glowing or not, and thus they could only be harvested at night. However, the forests were fairly dangerous after dark, which made them quite hard to obtain.
I hadn’t dreamed I’d be able to grow one on my farm, as they were supposed to be pretty rare. After a brief search, I found out that you could harvest nuts from walnut trees even if they hadn’t fully matured yet. In the beginning, they only bore one nut at a time, but their yield was supposed to increase as they approached maturation. How incredible was it that my first harvest was a glowing walnut? Was this due to Olto’s Luck, or had he picked a special nut for me when he first planted it? Either way, the credit was all his.
“Wonder what it’s for. Is it edible? Or do I use it for concocting stuff?”
Name: Glowing Walnut
Rarity: 3 / Quality: 5★
Effect: Ingredient. Recovers hunger status by 5% when ingested.
This was even rarer than green peaches. I made a mental note to peruse the forums later once I’d finished harvesting my crops.
“Better hurry up and get this over with.”
At least, that had been my intention. Unfortunately, the universe had other plans for me.
“...Don’t remember planting anything like this.”
I had discovered yet another mysterious crop. Something weird was going on tonight. Where there should have been medicinal herbs was a single unfamiliar red plant. It appeared to be the only strange weed of the bunch, and while it was about the same size as a medicinal herb, its leaves were an entirely different shape, so it didn’t seem like one of the herbs had just suddenly changed color.
Name: Firestarter Plant
Rarity: 2 / Quality: 1★
Effect: Ingredient.
I had never seen this plant before. Where did it come from? If this were real life, it could have come from bird droppings or something, but that was highly unlikely in this case.
“Did you plant it, Olto?” I asked him.
“Mm-mm,” he shook his head. If he hadn’t planted it, then how on earth had it ended up here?
I scoured the in-game forums and discovered that firestarter plants could be found pretty much anywhere in Zone Three. Because they were so abundant, they were generally looked upon with disdain. As for their usage, they came in handy when making torches or solid fuel. Many blacksmiths apparently mixed them into their weapons in hopes of giving them a fire attribute, although there had been no successful attempts so far. While I now knew its usage, that still didn’t solve the mystery of how it had come to be on my farm. I would have to do a bit more digging around later.
“Guess I’ll try propagating it for now.”
Even if it were a common plant later on in the game, it was still a valuable ingredient to me at this stage.
“Can I count on you, Olto?”
“Mm!”
No problems there. He immediately propagated the plant before my eyes, turning it into seeds. I decided to let him take care of the firestarter plant while I mulled over what to do with my glowing walnut. I did my research thoroughly as I didn’t want to waste such a rare item, but was overwhelmed instead by how many uses I found. Besides being edible, it could also be used for luminous paint or lights and lamps.
Not only that, but glowing walnuts were also necessary for rank-up quests in guilds such as the Bandits’ Guild. Rank-up quests were events that occurred when increasing your guild rank to rank 5, and the requirements changed depending on which guild you belonged to. In the case of the Bandits’ Guild, you needed to obtain three glowing walnuts in one night as a solo player to meet their requirements. Despite the name, the Bandits’ Guild wasn’t some type of criminal organization, but a support group for players who had chosen bandit-type character classes such as Thieves. Having to go solo made this a tough challenge, as the forests increased in difficulty at night. The requirement for the Magical Beasts Guild, on the other hand, was to bring three monsters above level 10.
“Hmm. Maybe I’ll save it for now. No telling when or if I’ll be able to obtain it again.”
Right after I stored the glowing walnut in my inventory, I was startled by the sound of a telephone ringing. It was a friend call.
“Incoming call from Alyssa, huh...? Hello?”
“Hey, Yuto. About that trip to the altar... When do you wanna go?”
“When? We’re going tonight, aren’t we?”
Alyssa had called me to ask about our trip to the altar on the next Tree Day, which I had agreed to the last time I sold her information regarding the Dryad. Now that it was past midnight, that day was today, the 12th, Tree Day—the one day of the week the Lakeside Sequoia Dryad descended upon the altar. I mentioned that I thought we had agreed to go at night, though, to avoid other people seeing us.
“That works too, but I don’t mind leaving before sunrise either. As long as it’s on the 12th and dark enough that other people don’t notice us, I’m game,” she replied. That made sense. Since she’d mentioned going when it was dark, I had assumed she meant after 8 p.m. on the 12th. Now that I thought about it, before sunrise was perfectly fine too. It wasn’t as if I was in a hurry to go anywhere, after all.
“We can leave now if you want.”
“Really? Then let’s do that. I want to verify your info as soon as possible. Also, mind if I bring a few clan members with me? It’ll be a good way to get more data on our offerings.”
“Not at all.”
I was just as curious to find out what you could get in exchange for your offering. If anything, I would have begged her if she hadn’t asked first.
“Thanks. Add two more to the party, please.”
“Got it. Shall we meet up at your stall?”
“Sure. Sounds good to me.”
If there were three of them, that meant I could only bring two monsters with me.
“Who shall I pick...? Rick and Bear Bear, you two come along.”
I needed Olto and Sakura to look after the farm, and besides, I wanted to introduce Bear Bear to Alyssa. Rick was also an obvious choice since he didn’t take up much space.
“Chirp!”
“Growl!”
Bear Bear saluted me, as did Rick, who was standing on top of their head. Seriously, as adorable as it was, where did they learn how to do that?
“Anyway, let’s go.”
Just as I was about to head off to the square with my chosen companions...
“Guh!”
...I tripped on something and fell, face-planting into the ground. If this hadn’t been a game, I would most definitely have a nosebleed right now.
“Ouch.”
Okay, it didn’t actually hurt—it was just one of those things I said reflexively. I couldn’t help saying “ow” whenever I sustained damage during battles either.
“What’s the big deal, Sakura?” I asked her, regarding the vine coiled around my leg.
“...!”
She was desperately miming something and pointing to herself.
“What is it? You wanna go too?”
“...♪”
Sakura clasped her hands in front of her chest and nodded. Come to think of it, the Dryad must be something like her mom.
“You wanna meet the Dryad?”
“...♪♪”
Sakura nodded emphatically. Bingo. Since she was intent on visiting the altar, I might as well bring her with me.
“Sorry, Bear Bear, you’re gonna have to stay.”
“Growl...”
“...”
“Growl?”
“...♪”
“Growl growl!”
Bear Bear deflated, but they seemed to cheer up once Sakura patted them on the head. She really was like a big sis to them. I was glad my monsters got along so well.
“All right, let’s go.”
“Chirp!”
“...♪”
Alyssa and her friends were already waiting for us when we arrived at the square.
“Evening,” I greeted them.
“Hey there. We’ve been waiting for you,” Alyssa replied.
“Nice seeing you two again.” I turned to address the pair of other familiar faces: Lewin, one of the members of the Quick-Eared Cats and a weapons shop owner, and Maple, the merchant who ran a farming tool shop.
“Likewise. Thanks for the invite.”
“Looking forward to it.”
“Shall we form a party, then?” I asked.
“Hang on,” Alyssa interjected. “I want to know whether we can enter the Dryad’s place separately or not, so let’s remain split up for the time being.”
Ah, so the verification process had already begun.
“Whenever you’re ready, Yuto. Lead the way.”
“Sure thing. Follow me.”
The altar wasn’t too far from where we were, and before long, we had arrived at the bridge that led us to the shrine’s entrance. However, we refrained from ducking under the bridge just yet, lest other players spot us, instead just biding our time—though I suspected that huddling together and chatting on the bridge just made us stand out even more.
“Really? Is it true you can sometimes collect stuff other than honey from beehives?”
“Apparently, yes.”
After about twenty minutes of what turned out to be fairly useful idle chitchat, our moment finally came.
“The coast is clear.”
Using her Reconnaissance skill, Alyssa confirmed that there was no one else in the vicinity besides us. Now was our chance.
“Okay, let’s go!” I announced, leading the way into the canal.
“We’re really going into the canal, huh?”
“W-Will our feet touch the bottom?”
Alyssa had a grudging look on her face, possibly reluctant to get her clothes wet. Lewin, too, stared at the canal with a stricken expression, looking even more hesitant than Alyssa. Was he afraid of the water or something?
“Don’t worry. It’s only waist high in the deepest spots,” I reassured him.
“G-Guess that’s all right, then...” he mumbled, though he only dipped his toes in, going no farther. It seemed like his fear was genuine.
“Your being a dwarf doesn’t prevent you from swimming or anything, does it?” Although a common trope in many fantasy novels, I was pretty sure that wasn’t the case in LJO.
“Probably not, but I’m hopeless at swimmin’ in real life. Dunno if I can swim in-game.”
Gotcha. If he didn’t possess Swimming skills and couldn’t swim for real, then it was likely that he wouldn’t be able to swim in-game either. Since I was somewhat able to swim even without in-game Swimming skills, your actual abilities probably played a small part in it. It hadn’t occurred to me to consider players who couldn’t swim at all. Now that I thought about it, perhaps some monsters weren’t capable of swimming either.
“Kinda worried about Bear Bear actually.”
After all, Bear Bear was practically a walking, breathing teddy bear. Although I was sure they’d be all right, they looked like they might absorb a lot of water and drown. Rick would be fine as long as he stayed curled around my neck, and Sakura was unlikely to encounter any problems in the canal given that she was about the same height as me.
“This way,” I said, leading our group.
“I’m getting goosebumps,” Alyssa whispered.
“Hey, there’s a door,” Lewin pointed out.
After making sure that everyone was safely under the bridge, I placed my hand on the hidden door. Retracing the steps in my memory, I groped for the keyhole in the darkness. When I found it, I inserted the key, and the door swung open without any resistance. Torchlight spilled from the crack, lighting up the space under the bridge and painting a faint outline of the door in the darkness.
Unfortunately, Alyssa and the others were unable to see this light, and the door still appeared closed to them. According to them, it looked as though I were simply fumbling around in the darkness. Incidentally, Alyssa and Lewin both possessed Night Vision thanks to their race-specific traits, granting them the ability to see things around us as clearly as day. I felt quite foolish.
“Guess simply tagging along won’t do the trick, huh.”
“You can see the door, right?”
“Yeah. It looks closed to us, though.”
“Let’s try forming a party then.”
“Me first.”
I did as Alyssa requested and added her to my party.
“Hey, I see it! It’s open!” she exclaimed. The door now appeared ajar to Alyssa too. Did that mean you had to join a party with a member who had the key? Next, I proceeded to add Lewin, then Maple, to my party too.
“Hey, I see it!” Lewin cried out.
“There really is a staircase,” Maple said, impressed.
“Good thing there’s light,” Alyssa commented.
“Yeah. It’s still pretty dim, though, so watch your step.”
We descended the stairs and made our way to the altar. Upon reaching the fork in the road, we took the one on the right. Alyssa peered around the corner, seemingly interested in the path on the left.
“Wonder what’s on the other side?”
“There’s a staircase that goes farther underground. I haven’t been down it, though, so I dunno where it leads.”
Lewin, on the other hand, seemed to have an idea.
“Probably leads to the Adventurers’ Guild,” he said. That made sense. Now that he mentioned it, I recalled hearing something about an event that allowed you to enter the altar from the guild.
“I’m curious, though. Who knows, it might have changed since the beta test,” Alyssa murmured.
“Do you wanna check out what’s downstairs after we’ve visited the altar?” I suggested.
“You don’t mind?”
“It’s not as if I have any plans or anything. Just don’t expect me to fight.”
“We’re ex-beta testers, remember? You can count on us.”
Even though it seemed like they were in town most of the time, they apparently swapped out with other clan members now and then to make progress in the game. It should have come as no surprise that their base levels were all much higher than mine. Before we knew it, we had arrived at the entrance to the altar room.
“Is this where the altar is?”
“Yup. Ready?”
The door gave way without much effort. I peered inside the room cautiously to find it much the same as before. Just like the last time, the altar was surrounded by the Lakeside Sequoia’s enormous, sprawling roots.
“Wow. This is it, eh?” Alyssa whistled.
“Hmm. Looks just like the video,” Lewin commented.
“It really does,” Maple chimed in, the three of them looking over my shoulder into the room. They half shoved me as I stepped inside and made my way to the altar. At the moment, there were still no noticeable changes.
“Where could the Dryad be?”
“Um, Miss Dryad? You there?” I called out. Instantly, a beautiful woman bathed in light emerged from the altar, just like on my first visit. I knew her right away—I’d recognize that long, green hair and sensual outfit anywhere—it was the Sequoia Dryad.
“We meet again, adventurer.” She greeted me in a calm manner, smiling serenely at us.
“Um, hi. Been a week since we last met.”
Having observed our exchange, the three Quick-Eared Cats members began squealing and taking screenshots in a frenzy. I had done the exact same thing, so it was totally understandable.
“Whoa, an actual Dryad.”
“She’s gorgeous.”
“We can see her too.”
Although momentarily captivated, Alyssa, Lewin, and Maple immediately recalled their purpose and asked the Dryad if they could make offerings as well.
“Yes, you may. Anyone who was led to this place by the key may make an offering,” she answered. It looked like it wouldn’t be an issue for them.
“Um, what about my tamed monsters?” I asked.
“I’m sorry, child, but I can only offer blessings to people.”
Oh well, I expected as much. If my tamed monsters could make offerings as well, that’d give Tamers way too much of an advantage.
“All right, I’ll go first!”
First up was Alyssa, who placed some kind of scale on the altar. According to my Appraisal skill, it was a Lesser Rex Plate.
“It’s one of the rarest monster items you can currently get, being a rare drop from a Zone Three field boss and all.”
True to her word, the item had a three-star rarity, not to mention it was extremely high quality.
“Are you sure you wanna give up something that valuable?” I asked. It had to be a pretty rare item, even for a high-ranking clan such as the Quick-Eared Cats. However, Alyssa remained unfazed.
“It’s for research.”
Information brokers were truly something else...! They were apparently willing to go the extra mile in exchange for information.
“Very well. Take this blessing, my child,” the Dryad said, bestowing an item upon Alyssa.
“Could this be...an iron ingot?”
Name: Iron Ingot
Rarity: 3 / Quality: 6★
Effect: An ingot made from iron.
Was that it? Really? The powerful-looking monster’s scale had been exchanged for a measly iron ingot. Even though both items had the same rarity, I’d much rather own a Lesser Rex Plate. However, I seemed to be the only one who felt that way.
“Th-This is amazing!” Alyssa yelped.
“Huh? How so?”
“Excuse me?! Don’t you know anything about iron ingots? Only a handful of top blacksmith players have succeeded in creating these, and low-quality ones at that! And here I have one that’s six stars! People would kill to have this!”
“Whoa! This is gettin’ good!” Lewin, who was usually a man of few words, yelled excitedly. The ingot turned out to be far more valuable than I thought.
“At the moment, it’s all mainly bronze and copper, so iron’s still pretty rare. If word gets out that ya can get iron ingots here, I’ll betcha a lot of people will want to come. After all, it ain’t somethin’ ya can just shell out for!”
According to Lewin and Alyssa, Lesser Rex Plates couldn’t be used to make items on their own, nor were they an intermediary item. In short, although they were rare, they weren’t very useful. Iron ingots, on the other hand, could be used to make items, and when combined with other ingots, they created high-quality weapons and armor. Therefore, they were incredibly useful as a standalone item. Unfortunately, the iron ores they were made from could only be obtained from rare monster drops in Zone Three, which rendered them highly unattainable at present.
“Aight, I’m next!” Lewin exclaimed, approaching the altar with gusto. “This is my offerin’.”
The item Lewin placed on the altar was an ordinary bronze ore, which he’d probably just dug up and brought along for the trip. It wasn’t even an ingot. Surely he had something better than that to offer...?
“Really? Are you sure?”
Why wasn’t he aiming for an iron ingot? According to him, however, this was also part of the verification process.
“Gotta find out what’s the very least ya can get,” he explained. That was a valid point. I, too, was curious to see what he would get in return. Unfortunately, Lewin failed to receive any items.
“This is for you.”
“Hm?”
The Dryad waved her hand over Lewin, making his body glow for a brief instant. He immediately opened his status window, only to discover that he had received a buff that prevented his hunger status from decreasing for the next twelve hours.
“Well, guess you wouldn’t get much in exchange for shitty items,” Alyssa declared.
“S’pose that’s true,” Lewin sighed.
Imagine waiting eight whole weeks to receive a blessing, only to get a measly buff like that. Thank goodness I had gotten a Lakeside Sequoia Fruit. If I hadn’t had premium fertilizer on me at the time, I might have ended up just like Lewin. Neither he nor the others seemed particularly upset, though. Regardless of the results, they seemed happy to have gained new information.
“My turn next,” Maple chirped as she approached the altar, ignoring the other two who were still heatedly discussing what types of offerings would yield similar results as Lewin’s. She struck me as the sort of person who enjoyed doing things at her own speed.
“Here you go.”
Maple had offered the same item that I had: premium fertilizer. I supposed she was trying to find out whether offering the same item would yield the same results or not. Instead of the Lakeside Sequoia Fruit that I got, Maple received a different item—a pretty pink flower petal.
Name: Lakeside Sequoia Petal
Rarity: 3 / Quality: 7★
Effect: Raises the quality of the original item by 1 ★ when fused together. Max. 7★. Boosts mutation rate.
“Looks like yours was a onetime-only bonus, Yuto,” Alyssa remarked.
“This is also pretty dang good, though.” Lewin sounded awestruck.
“Well, well, isn’t this something?” Maple marveled.
It certainly sounded intriguing, as raising an item’s quality through fusing became increasingly difficult the higher the quality was. With this item, though, you could cut down on the necessary number of materials for crafting significantly.
I was surprised to learn that the Lakeside Sequoia Fruit with a rarity of eight I had received was a first-time-only reward. Had I really done the right thing by propagating and planting it on my farm? I had gotten Sakura as a result, though, so I supposed it had been for the best. That’s right, Sakura. I had forgotten that she’d wanted to meet the Dryad.
“Go on, Sakura.”
“...”
“What’s wrong?”
For some reason, Sakura hid behind me. I craned my neck to see her fidgeting, cheeks flushed pink, evidently embarrassed.
“You wanted to meet the Dryad, didn’t you?”
“...”
“Go on, you can do it.”
I stepped aside and placed my hand on her back reassuringly. Now that I was out of the way, I could tell that Sakura and the Dryad had made eye contact.
“Why, you must be my progeny. How wonderful of you to give birth to a tree nymph. Come here, my child,” the Dryad said, chuckling.
“...♪”
Beckoned by the Dryad’s smile, Sakura stepped forward hesitantly, which earned her a pat on the head.
“Good girl.”
“...♪♪”
Phew, thank goodness they both looked happy, especially Sakura. If anything, she seemed happier than when I patted her on the head. While that made me slightly jealous, I soon got over myself after seeing her contented smile. Being doted on by the Dryad, Sakura actually looked her age. While she made a good older sister to her siblings, it was cute to see this childish side of her too. I waited in anticipation for some sort of event to occur, given that this was basically a mother-meets-daughter type of thing, but nothing special happened.
“Please come again, and bring that child with you.” The Dryad spoke to me with a satisfied look on her face.
“Uh...”
“You will come, won’t you?”
“O-Of course.”
That was it; their meeting didn’t trigger any sort of special event or quest. It turned out that Sakura had simply wanted to meet the Dryad. Oh well, I guessed it was worth the trip, seeing as Sakura was still beaming. Alyssa turned to ask the Dryad, who had returned to the top of the altar, a question.
“Um, can I ask you something? Can anyone visit you as long as they go to Yuto who has the key to this place?”
“That’s right.” The Dryad nodded in response.
“That’s pretty incredible, don’t you think? You could turn that into a business.”
Of course, she would suggest that—she was a merchant, after all. I had to take my hat off to her ingenuity. However, I doubted I’d be able to run that sort of business. It wasn’t really my cup of tea, not to mention it’d take up a lot of my free time. I was here to enjoy the game, not to spend the rest of my days making countless trips between this underground room and town. However, Alyssa’s plan turned out to have a major flaw in it, as evidenced by the Dryad’s next words.
“Don’t forget that you can only register up to five people excluding the owner on one key.”
“Huh? Register?”
“Precisely.”
Prompted by her words, I took the key out of my inventory and assessed it. There, I discovered that after the words “Owner: Yuto” were the names of the people registered to the key, i.e., Alyssa, Lewin, and Maple.
“All of your names are listed... Can you not remove someone’s name once they’ve been registered?”
“I’m afraid you can’t. However, you may register their names to multiple keys, although that doesn’t change the number of blessings they can receive.”
“That means I can only add two more people to this key.”
To be honest, it hardly mattered, seeing as I barely had any friends or other people in mind I planned to bring here. I was just glad that I’d been able to bring the Quick-Eared Cats members to this place.
The Dryad bid us farewell. “Until next time, I await your visit, adventurers.”
“Uh, sure thing. Thanks a bunch.”
Alyssa and the others remained quiet as I waved the Dryad goodbye, stunned expressions on their faces. The next instant, they all bowed their heads in apology.
“Sorry, Yuto!”
“Didn’t expect things to turn out like this...!”
“I’m so sorry!”
They looked like they were on the verge of getting down on their knees.
“A-Alyssa? What the...?”
“Let me pay you!”
“No, really, there’s no need for that.”
That was the honest-to-god truth, but Alyssa remained adamant.
“I insist. Not only did you give us information, but you suffered a loss on top of that. As an information broker, I can’t let that slide.”
“But you’ve already paid me the remaining 4,000 G for the info.”
“That’s hardly enough!”
“Er, okay...?”
After discussing the matter, I ended up receiving the Lakeside Sequoia petal and iron ingot as additional payment.
“A-Are you sure?”
“Absolutely. You’ve earned it.”
Well, it wasn’t as if I didn’t want them, so I decided to gratefully accept the items. I felt like I had gained far more than I’d lost.
“If you say so. Thanks. Now that we’ve visited the altar, do you wanna go check out what’s downstairs?”
“Definitely! Can’t wait to find out what’s down there!”
Like we had discussed beforehand, our next mission was to explore the underground tunnel that likely led to the Adventurers’ Guild. Lewin, equipped with Night Vision, led the way, along with Alyssa, who served as a scout in addition to being a merchant. Maple and I were next, and Sakura brought up the rear. Rick was free to roam around. At the bottom of the stairs, a stretch of road awaited us, one which branched off to the right again after some distance.
“Let’s go.” Alyssa set her jaw.
“Okay,” I replied.
“This is slightly different from the beta test,” Alyssa muttered after we’d turned a second corner.
“What was it like in beta?”
“It was just one long path leading straight to the guild.”
According to Alyssa, there had been no forks in the road during the beta test, nor any monsters or items. However, we had already rounded two corners. That wasn’t the only change either.
“Chirp.”
“Found something, Rick?”
In addition, Rick had collected some items for us along the way. There weren’t many of them, and they were mostly items that you could get near the Town of Beginnings, like red panther caps and edible cruzshrooms and sirishrooms, but there was no doubt that there was a gathering node somewhere in here.
There was one more thing that differed from the beta, which was...
“Hold up. There’s a monster.” Lewin held out his hand to stop us. His Night Vision granted him the ability to see what the rest of us couldn’t in the darkness up ahead. Just as he reported it, several shadows suddenly emerged from the underground passage. They soon came into full view—I traced the outlines of the creatures wriggling their way towards us.
“Rock Ants, eh?”
Although this was my first time encountering them, I had heard they usually appeared in the Southern Forest and Eastern Plains. While they didn’t deal much damage, they had pretty high defense, proving to be formidable opponents when attacking in herds. In fact, they were the second leading cause of death for beginners after Wild Dogs, which made them one of the stronger enemies around the Town of Beginnings. Still, they didn’t have much resistance to magic, giving magic users an easier time to deal with them. This could be my first-ever chance to shine! Time to unleash my Aqua Ball! Or so I thought...
“Hiyah!”
“Rock Ball!”
“Wind Ball!”
Before I could so much as utter a word, the three clan members had already disposed of the ants. Okay, so it was understandable that Maple and Alyssa could use magic. The standard view was that you should be able to use at least one type of magic even if you were a warrior, so naturally, that was to be expected.
What the hell was up with Lewin, though?! Rock Ants were supposed to have a tough exterior and possess resistance to physical blows, and yet he had defeated them in one fell swoop of his mace. Did he have superhuman strength or something? Surely a dwarf couldn’t be that strong. Noticing the incredulous look on my face, he seemed to deduce what was on my mind and showed me his weapon.
“This here inferno mace is my ultimate creation. It has a fire attribute.”
Ah, good old attribute damage. So that was why it worked as well as it did on Rock Ants.
Name: Inferno Mace+
Rarity: 3 / Quality: 8★ / Durability: 233
Effect: Attack +41, minor fire attribute, Agility -4.
Weight: 22
A red stone was embedded in the center of the copper mace. It was clearly a weapon designed for meatheads—I couldn’t even lift it off the ground. I supposed you could say it was very dwarf-like. If it was simply a matter of the amount of damage it dealt, there were others that outmatched it, but thanks to its fire attribute, this mace was capable of additional damage. In terms of efficiency, it was probably more effective than other weapons.
“Seems pretty powerful.”
“Bah ha ha! Right?”
Was I going to have to sit this one out?
“Nah, it’s too early to give up just yet.”
I’d likely have a chance to fight too, if more Rock Ants appeared. However, it was only because I was with this OP trio that I dared to dream of such a thing—it would’ve been quite the opposite had I been alone. It didn’t take long for an opportunity to come my way.
“Three in front, one behind us!” Alyssa yelled.
It’d been a one-way street so far; when had this ant snuck around to the back? No, it had to be a new one that had just spawned in—which meant that even places we’d already passed through couldn’t be considered safe. Now was my chance to shine!
“...!”
“Chirp chirp!”
“Ah...”
Sakura! Rick! Not you too!
“...?”
“I mean, well done...”
“...♪”
“Chirp!”
Sakura’s tree magic and Rick’s attack had subdued the Rock Ant, the former restraining the monster’s movements and the latter dealing a fatal blow along with Sakura’s whip. Although unable to finish off their target in one blow, their excellent teamwork made it possible for them to defeat the opponent. Getting mad at them for stealing my thunder would only make me an asshole, though, so I offered them praise despite my inner turmoil. Sakura and Rick were positively overjoyed, looking even more determined than before.
“...!”
Yikes. I really had to pull my socks up if I wanted to have my moment of glory.
“Th-Third time’s the charm...!”
We were attacked several more times after that, and at long last, I was able to join the battle, though my only contribution was to ram an Aqua Ball into a Rock Ant that was already on the brink of death thanks to Rick and Sakura. It may have been overkill, but no matter.
Given that we hadn’t encountered any other monsters so far, we could assume that Rock Ants were the only monsters that appeared in this underground passage. We couldn’t let our guard down for fear of ambush from above, but Rick’s Vigilance protected us from that. He deserved an award for all his contributions in battle—not to mention his foraging efforts, which had now yielded a highly fascinating item.
“Chirp chirp!”
“A white mushroom? Never seen that before.”
I assessed the mushroom to discover that it was, in fact, a red panther cap. However, it appeared to be a white variation, and its rarity and effects were slightly different from the standard variety.
Name: Red Panther Cap
Rarity: 1 / Quality: 1★
Effect: Slight chance of poisoning or paralysis when ingested.
Name: Red Panther Cap (White)
Rarity: 2 / Quality: 3★
Effect: Slight chance of poisoning or paralysis when ingested. Boost in mutation rate.
Whilst I was staring at the white red panther cap in my hand, Alyssa called out to me.
“Hey, is that a white variation?”
“You know about it, Alyssa?”
“Yep. You can sometimes find them in caves. They’re said to grow in places that don’t receive much sunlight—kinda like white asparagus. Not much is known about them, though.”
“What’s this mutation rate, by the way? The Lakeside Sequoia petal had the same effect.”
“Oh, that’s...”
Alyssa then proceeded to explain to me that occasionally, you could get special items that deviated from the standard variety during concoction or cultivation. The resulting product was called a mutation, which was what this white mushroom was. While items sometimes mutated into better versions than their original counterparts, they occasionally turned into entirely different objects, so the changes weren’t always positive.
“That means there’s a high chance of mutation if you use this red panther cap in your concoctions.”
“I see. Sounds fun.”
Alyssa also told me not to get my hopes up, since the chances of mutation were fairly weak when the item had a low rarity. In order to get a mutation, you needed to use items, tools, or skills that raised the mutation rate, and concoct high-rarity items over and over again. Come to think of it, I had never once gotten my hands on a mutated item up until now.
Wait a second. That firestarter plant I harvested earlier... Could that have been a mutated medicinal herb? Lo and behold, my hunch turned out to be correct when I asked Alyssa about it. Unlike the white red panther cap, which was a special mutation, the firestarter plant had undergone a regular mutation, which was the same species but one rank higher.
“Hmm. That’s not very impressive.”
“Well, it is a firestarter plant.”
While regular mutations were the most likely to occur, the chances of them becoming superior items were low.
“Any other interesting harvests?” Alyssa asked me.
“Hmm, lemme think...”
Had I harvested anything of interest lately? I would have said honey if I’d been able to get some, but...
“Oh. How about this?” I said, pulling out my walnut.
“Wait, is that a glowing walnut? You got this from your farm? Not from the forest?” Alyssa asked bewilderedly.
“No way! That’s amazing!” Maple gushed. The two women assessed the item in my hand, looking at it in awe, the mutated firestarter plant totally forgotten. According to Maple, she hadn’t heard of any players who had succeeded at harvesting glowing walnuts on their farm yet. No wonder she was so surprised.
“Wow,” she murmured.
“You don’t happen to know how to grow white mutations, do you?” Alyssa asked.
“Not a clue. I’d never even seen one until today,” I replied.
“Figured as much.”
“Actually, can’t you grow them yourself? Won’t they turn white if you keep them out of the sun or something?” I asked Maple. Unfortunately, she was clueless.
“Well...I’ve heard of people trying, but no one’s succeeded so far.”
Regardless of its success rate, Maple taught me how some players were attempting to grow those elusive white varieties. The process required minimal effort: all you had to do was dig a hole and plant the item in it, making sure to block it from the sun. Players had experimented with the depth of the hole and fertilizer as well, but without much success.
“I’ll ask Olto to help me when I get back.”
“Please sell me the deets once you figure it out,” Maple trilled.
“C’mon, even pro Farmers are having a hard time, right? I doubt I’ll have better luck than them.”
“Oh, but I have faith in you.”
“Well, you’ll be the first to know if I succeed,” I promised her. She then gave me one useful piece of advice, which was to pay attention to the quality of water when growing mushrooms. Apparently, water was a crucial element, and using high-quality water increased their yield—purified water always yielded at least two mushrooms per log. That had been a blind spot of mine. I made a mental note to give Olto some purified water once I got home.
Maple also taught me how to change the settings of my inventory, as she had apparently become miffed seeing me accept items one by one from Rick each time he returned with something. I hadn’t known this, but apparently, if you linked your tamed monster via your settings, the items they gathered would automatically be saved to your inventory. Not only that, but any items obtained within the past four hours would be marked as new, which prevented them from getting mixed up with other items already in your arsenal. How convenient was that?!
Time flew by as I chatted with Maple and Alyssa, and before I knew it, we had arrived at our destination. Lewin, being the reserved guy that he was, had been acting as lookout for us the whole time. I felt a stab of guilt at having let him do all the work.
“What a huge door,” I remarked.
“Indeed. It should lead us to the basement of the Adventurers’ Guild,” Alyssa commented.
“Seems like it’s closed for now, though,” Lewin said as he tried to open the door, only to be repelled by an invisible wall. He couldn’t even touch it; it probably only opened during events. Our only choice was to turn back.
“Guess that’s it for today, then.”
“Yep,” Lewin agreed.
“Good work, everyone,” Maple added.
“Hold on. Take this with you,” Alyssa reminded me, pressing the item drops from the Rock Ants into my hands. She still seemed to feel bad about the key. I decided to accept them gratefully, as I wasn’t in the mood to argue with her again. Still, it had been an incredibly fruitful day. I had learned about white mutations and obtained item drops from Rock Ants, as well as gained tons of XP. What more could I ask for?
Online Forum [Famous Players Megathread] Players Currently Rising to Fame, Part 3
This is a thread that discusses players who are already becoming household names due to all the ruckus they’ve been making.
441: Dog Who Prefers Cats
Parties made up of famous players sure stand out, don’t they? Take Bomber, Red Cow, and Mermaid’s party, for example.
442: Poof
You’re talking about Rikyu, Kurumi, and Filma, right?
Apparently, Rikyu only teams up with people she’s friends with in real life. You all know how shy she is.
443: Quagsire
Oh, those three XD
Aka, the hot but disappointing trio.
444: Knocker
We got Rikyu, an explosives master with massive social anxiety.
Then we have Kurumi, a cow-human hybrid with the red fro and a hammer for a weapon.
And finally, the mermaid, Filma, who’s been seen swimming in the lake countless times for reasons unknown.
They definitely leave an impression, for better or worse!
445: Quagsire
Speaking of trios, what if those three titleholders formed a party?
446: Dog Who Prefers Cats
You mean the Silver-Haired Pioneer, Ruby Red Explorer, and Purple-Haired Adventurer?
Nuh-uh, not happening. They’re all solo players anyway.
447: Quagsire
But see? Doesn’t it make more sense for them to team up at some point because they play solo?
448: Knocker
Nah, they’re too different. I doubt it’ll work out.
It’s not that I think they’re incapable of working together, but I don’t imagine their personalities will mesh.
449: Anonymous
Guys, I just spotted a highly unusual party!
450: Quagsire
>448
Fair enough.
451: Anonymous
Believe it or not, I saw Silver-Haired, the Woodworking Goddess, and Bookmaker together!
I mean, I guess it’s not that weird that they know each other since they’re all crafter-types, but... I had a good mind to follow them.
452: Knocker
Interesting. More big names teaming up with each other, huh?
453: Poof
Ahem. In case you guys forgot, Silver-Haired is a Tamer, not a Farmer.
454: Quagsire
He’s pretty much one at this point, isn’t he? Have you seen his farm? Puts other Farmers to shame.
Ain’t no one gonna believe he’s not a real Farmer after seeing that lol
455: Poof
By the way, I finally got the Woodworking Goddess, aka Ashihana, to make me a staff.
Couldn’t tell what material it was made from, though—it simply said Unknown. It’s probably something with a rarity of three stars or higher.
456: Dog Who Prefers Cats
Wow! There are only two types of wood that fit the bill so far, right?
457: Poof
Not necessarily. I should’ve been able to assess it in that case since I’ve seen both kinds already.
458: Knocker
Must be a new type of wood, then. That’s Ashihana for you.
Wonder where she got it from? Could she have found it during her expedition with Silver-Haired?
We might be able to pinpoint the location then.
459: Anonymous
Sorry to burst your bubble, but I doubt it.
460: Poof
What makes you say that?
461: Anonymous
I saw them near the entrance of the Western Forest. No way you’ll find wood with a three-star rarity there, right?
462: Knocker
True
463: Quagsire
Guess it’s a mystery, then.
464: Dog Who Prefers Cats
Well, there’s not much info to go on.
465: Poof
Gotta say, though—Silver-Haired, the Woodworking Goddess, and Bookmaker make an amazing trio.
I’m jealous of Ashihana. I want to be waited on by a pretty elf boy and cute monsters too!
466: Quagsire
You forgot to include Silver-Haired.
467: Knocker
Lmao can’t have any monsters without him y’know
468: Anonymous
Not to mention he had a new monster with him.
469: Dog Who Prefers Cats
What kind of monster? Bet it was another cute one.
470: Anonymous
You got that right lol
It looked like a yellow teddy bear.
471: Poof
No way! I wanna see it! Over and out!
472: Quagsire
So far, Silver-Haired’s got a one hundred percent success rate of getting a cute monster...
473: Knocker
Well, this is Silver-Haired we’re talking about lol
“Think I’ll buy a mushroom log at the Farming Guild before I head home.”
After parting ways with Alyssa, Lewin, and Maple, I decided to stop by the guildhall to buy a mushroom log so that I could attempt growing the white red panther cap I’d obtained. Upon arriving, I purchased three logs and some premium fertilizer, which had been recently restocked. While there, I scanned the list of quests to see what was available and found several that could be completed immediately.
The first quest entailed delivering three types of mushrooms. Since I had obtained a number of mushrooms from our underground expedition, I figured I could afford to spare one each. There was also a special quest that required you to show the receptionist a mutated variety—a quest highly similar to the one at the Magical Beasts Guild that involved showing a unique monster to Barbara. For this task, I showed the old man the white red panther cap Rick had discovered.
There was also a quest that entailed showing off a mutated crop from your farm, but unfortunately, I’d already propagated the firestarter plant. Bummer. I made a mental note to visit the guild again the next time one of my crops mutated. Fortunately, those two quests had been enough to fulfill the requirements for raising my guild rank, as evidenced by the new mission the old man receptionist was presenting to me.
“Wanna accept this quest to raise your guild rank?” he asked.
I was almost at rank 5; there was no way around it if I wanted to raise my rank. If I recalled correctly, the rank-up quest for the Magical Beasts Guild required you to bring three level 10 monsters of varying species to the guild. Rank-up quests were supposed to be fairly difficult, regardless of which guild you belonged to. I waited apprehensively to see what sort of challenge I’d be given here.
Special Quest
Requirement: Deliver four types of crops grown on your farm with a three-star rating or higher.
Reward: Raise your guild rank to rank 5.
Time Limit: None
Huh? That’s it? That was way easier than I’d expected—if anything, I could complete this quest right then if I wanted to. Was it supposed to be difficult to grow high-quality crops under normal circumstances? My ability to easily grow five-star crops thanks to Olto warped my perception of these things.
“Will these do?” I asked the old man.
“Brilliant!” He nodded.
And just like that, with one more special quest under my belt, I was another rank higher. I was a Tamer, wasn’t I? And yet here I was, a rank 5 Farmer before anything else...
“What’s up, sonny? Why the long face?”
“N-Nothing, don’t mind me. So, can I like, buy more items now that my guild rank’s higher?”
“Absolutely. You can buy higher-ranking farming tools than before, as well as a wider variety of seedlings and seeds.”
The old man showed me my list of options, which now included seeds of plants that were obtainable from the playing field, namely medicinal herbs and paralyzing plants. I could also buy three-star edible grass—a slight improvement from the baseline one-star variety that had previously been my only option. Additionally, I could now purchase up to five sacks of premium fertilizer a week.
“You can also set up an honor system farm stand if ya like,” the old man informed me.
“An honor system farm stand?” I echoed.
“Yep.”
According to Gramps, it was a system that enabled you to sell items you harvested, or processed goods made from said crops. The main difference between regular stalls and farm stands was that you could only sell items you registered at the stand. Players with a guild rank of 5 could register up to five products. While it was possible to switch out products from time to time, unlike stalls, there was a limit on the types and quantities of items you could sell. At farm stands, you could only sell products related to your farm, which ruled out weapons or monster materials. However, you were free to sell potions made from medicinal herbs grown on your land or wooden crafts made from wood gathered from the trees on your farm. In short, a farm stand was like a vending machine of sorts.
“Does it cost money to use this system?” I asked.
“Nope, no extra fees. Just need to set up the stand in front of yer farm.”
What a bargain. It sounded like fun too.
“If I apply for one, can I use it right away?”
“Should be all set and ready to go by the time ya return home.”
That settled it: I was going to run a stand. The whole application process was delightfully simple and painless.
“Thanks for all your help.”
“Don’t mention it!”
And done—my stand had apparently already been set up. Looks like someone isn’t fond of hard work!
I returned to my farm in high spirits to find a wooden stall facing the road in front of my first farm plot. It looked exactly like one of the vegetable stands I was used to seeing in real life.
“Wow. So, I just need to... Ah, looks like I can tweak the settings by touching it.”
Accessing the settings allowed me to choose what to sell and set prices for each product. The question was, what did I want to sell? Although I had plenty of food rations and vegetables to spare, I doubted regular players would want to buy them. Potions and medicine seemed like my best bet. I supposed I could sell the potions I usually sold to Alyssa at my stand instead...
Currently, I could prepare five-star low-grade potions, poison, paralyzing potions, hemorrhaging potions, and crushers. While I assumed there was a demand for these, I wasn’t entirely certain. Perhaps it was best to ask someone for their opinion. I glanced at my friends list to find Ashihana online, so I figured I would call her for advice. I didn’t have to wait long, as she answered the phone within a couple of rings.
“Hello? What’s up, Yuto? I’m afraid you’re gonna have to wait a bit longer for the beehive.”
“Uh, that’s not why I’m calling. I wanted to ask you about something else,” I replied, explaining the farm stand situation. Surprisingly enough, her advice was pretty solid. Turned out she was more than just some crazy bear-lover.
“You might have a hard time selling your potions,” she answered.
“How so?”
“They’re five stars, right? I doubt many people in the Town of Beginnings would need something that high quality. Most players who are still in town are crafter-types or beginners who had a late start.”
“I see your point.”
“They’ll probably sell like hotcakes once you get to Zone Three, though.”
Seemed like potions were a no go for players in this area.
“Think vegetables would be better, then?”
“Speaking of, why don’t you sell herbal tea leaves?!”
“Who’d want to buy them?”
“I do! I already used up all the leaves you gave me yesterday.”
“What? But I must’ve given you at least five sachets.”
“Couldn’t help myself—they taste too good. Not to mention they’re the perfect accompaniment while working. Even better if you sold them with cookies!”
Herbal teas, huh? While I wasn’t against the idea itself, I couldn’t expect to make much of a profit from it either. At most, I could only sell herbal tea leaves for roughly 200 G—products sold at honor system farm stands could only be up to five times more expensive than the item’s base cost, no matter how much demand there was for the product. Base costs were determined by the system, based on the item’s worth and quality.
Herbs were only worth about 10 to 40 G per variety to begin with, being considered weeds. All it took to make herbal teas was drying said herbs, which meant the only manufacturing costs involved were the cost of ingredients. If I were to sell herbal tea blends, I might be able to bump up the price to around 400 to 600 G, as these included several ingredients. However, that seemed far too expensive for a treat that didn’t even have any effects. Besides, these were weeds we were talking about.
“If you want more tea leaves, I’d be happy to give you some. Wait a minute, though. You and Sawyer both have Plant Knowledge now, so why not make tea yourselves? Sawyer’s an Alchemist, so he should be able to dehydrate stuff, right?”
“We tried to, but we couldn’t!”
Ashihana apparently possessed Alchemy skills too, and had already attempted drying herbs herself. Unfortunately, both she and Sawyer had been unable to make herbal tea leaves; no matter how many times they tried, they only ended up with trash.
“Why’s that?” I asked, perplexed. Sawyer and Ashihana’s Alchemy levels had to be much higher than mine. I couldn’t see how they could fail.
“This is just my guess, but I think we need Cooking skills,” Ashihana answered. It seemed like the tea-making process had a prerequisite.
“Well, why don’t you obtain Cooking, then?”
“As much as I’d like to make herbal tea, I don’t want to waste my precious bonus points.”
So that was why she wanted to buy herbal tea from me.
“Fine, I’ll register herbal tea leaves in the shop, then.”
“Thanks!”
“Don’t expect any cookies, though. I can’t make enough to sell.”
“Pity. Suppose that is what it is, though.”
“I’ll prepare a few herbal tea blends instead.”
I could experiment with a few combinations to see how the smell and taste would differ.
“Let me know which blend you liked best.”
“Roger. Will do!”
After hanging up, I registered the herbs I already had to my farm stand. Not having much else to sell at the moment, I figured I might as well stock the shop with herbal teas. I set the price arbitrarily at 100 G per bag.
“Now that that’s done, these are for you, Olto.”
“Mm-mm!”
After setting up my stand, I handed Olto the mushroom logs and premium fertilizer that I had bought from the Farming Guild.
“Got you two sacks of premium fertilizer. I want you to use them on the green peaches and walnuts.”
“Mmm.”
“And here are the mushrooms I want you to grow,” I said, handing him the cruzshroom and sirishroom.
“Mm-mm, mm-mm,” Olto muttered. Instantly, the mushrooms disappeared, leaving a small trace of powder in his palm. I couldn’t help feeling doubtful each time he propagated a mushroom, but he worked cheerfully, humming a tune whilst sprinkling the powder on the log. I supposed that would do it for the edible mushrooms.
“Now, about this last log. I wanna try something different with it.”
“Mm?”
“I wanna grow it in the shade out of the sun’s reach. Can you dig a hole and place the log inside it?”
Olto thumped his chest and nodded in reply, brimming with confidence. Using his hoe and earth magic, he began digging immediately.
“Mm-mm-mm-mm.”
The hole grew deeper and deeper at an astonishing pace. That’s my man, Olto!
“Mm-mm-mmm!”
“Good luck.”
Leaving the digging to Olto, I spread out the prized items we had found in the underground tunnel on the barn table. Red panther caps, cruzshrooms, and sirishrooms were all common items that could be purchased in the Town of Beginnings. Red panther caps, once rare, could now be found at stalls regularly, and though they were not very effective while raw, cruzshrooms and sirishrooms apparently recovered your hunger status significantly once cooked. They resembled shimeji mushrooms and shiitake mushrooms, respectively. I wondered what they tasted like, though?
“Let’s fry ’em a bit,” I said, browning them lightly in my pan.
Name: Grilled Cruzshroom
Rarity: 1 / Quality: 1★
Effect: Recovers hunger status by 8%.
Name: Grilled Sirishroom
Rarity: 1 / Quality: 1★
Effect: Recovers hunger status by 8%.
Simply frying them had increased their hunger status recovery rate by five percent! They tasted exactly how they looked, too—cruzshrooms like shimeji mushrooms and sirishrooms like shiitake. I bet they would taste great in soups.
I took out the remaining items and laid them out on the table whilst I munched on the grilled mushrooms. Some of our finds included item drops from the Rock Ants. The item we had the most of was ant shells, followed by ant jaws, and lastly, two vials of formic acid, which were rare drops. At first, I didn’t think I would have any use for these items, but upon further research, I discovered that they could be used for woodworking. Additionally, you could also sell them for a reasonable price, given that they were the best kind of armor materials you could get near the Town of Beginnings. I beckoned Sakura over, handing her the items so she could improve her Woodworking skills. I could always sell anything that didn’t get used.
“Think you can use these, Sakura?” I asked her.
“...♪” She nodded, gazing at the Rock Ant materials with delight.
“Question is, what do I do with these...?” I muttered, looking at the white red panther cap and luminous moss, both items I had never encountered before. I hadn’t even realized the luminous moss was in my inventory; Rick had most likely brought it back when I wasn’t paying attention.
Name: Luminous Moss
Rarity: 1 / Quality: 3★
Effect: None. For decorative purposes only.
To my disappointment, the moss turned out to be nothing more than a weed. It didn’t even have any effects.
“What a shame. It’s so pretty too...”
The glow of the moss was plainly obvious, even in broad daylight. It was hard to believe that something this special had no particular usage. Perhaps I could use it as a lamp, given how bright it was.
“What else can I do with it...? Make a moss ball maybe? Bet it’ll look extra pretty.”
“...♪”
“You think so too, Sakura?” I saw her nodding enthusiastically in reply. Perhaps her sense of beauty was similar to that of humans. Regardless of its usefulness, it would be nice to have more of these. I made up my mind to give Olto the moss along with the white mushroom once he was done digging.
One hour after being assigned his task, Olto called on me as I was making some herbal tea blends.
“Hey, buddy. Don’t tell me you’ve finished digging the hole already?”
“Mm!”
“That was fast.”
“Mm-mm!”
“Okay, okay. No need to pull so hard.”
Despite my feeble protests, Olto refused to let go of my robe and dragged me to the farm, where a great, slanting hole awaited me. It was much deeper than I’d expected, extending far beneath the surface, out of the sun’s reach. It looked like some sort of air-raid shelter. That was video-game logic for you—only in games could you dig a hole this deep in an hour or so...
“Mm?”
“Oops, my bad. Mind setting this up for me?”
“Mm!” Olto placed the mushroom log in the hole without any difficulty. Next, I handed him the luminous moss—there seemed to be no problems growing that either. After propagating it, he planted the seeds on the roof of the hole. Since we’d found the moss underground, it made sense that it could only grow in dark places. It looked like I’d made the right choice asking Olto to dig a hole.
Unfortunately, there were also downsides to this decision. First, the hole occupied a three-by-three grid, i.e., nine squares in total. However, the usable width of the hole was only about three squares. On top of that, I couldn’t plant any crops above the hole either. Taking up nine squares worth of space but only having three active slots was highly inefficient; it would be unwise to dig any more holes.
“Can you get another white mutation if you propagate this white mushroom?”
“Mmm?”
“You don’t know?”
“Mm-mm.”
Even Olto seemed clueless. Oh well. For now, all I could do was wait patiently for my regular red panther caps to grow and hope for another mutation to occur.
“Look after this patch for me too.”
“Mm!”