Chapter Five: Welcome to Silver-Haired’s Farm

After Akari and I went our separate ways in the town square, I headed to my next destination. Now that Rick had reached level 10, I could raise my rank at the Magical Beasts Guild. Before that, however, I decided to pay Alyssa a visit, as I wanted to learn more about the Lesser Ghosts I had encountered on the way. This was what information brokers were for, right?

“Good morning.”

“Welcome. What’s new?”

As soon as I greeted her, Alyssa leaned forward eagerly. Sorry to burst your bubble, but I didn’t come to sell any information today.

“I came across a new monster, actually.”

“You did? Where?”

Upon hearing my answer, Alyssa’s expression turned serious.

“Near the entrance to Zone Two, in the forest at the end of the Northern Plains.”

“That’ll be the Fanged Forest. Did you run into some Lesser Ghosts?”

“Oh, you know them?”

“I sure do...”

Alyssa’s cat ears flopped downwards in obvious disappointment. Apparently, that hadn’t been news to her, and she had already received multiple sightings of the creatures. Anyhow, she couldn’t expect me to bring her fresh information every time.

“As for their characteristics...”

Other players had already sold what I knew to Alyssa, such as the fact that only magic attacks worked against the ghosts and that physical attacks didn’t increase their enmity towards you. Fortunately, it was the first time she’d heard of a sighting in the Fanged Forest, so she exchanged my info for details I didn’t know yet. Lesser Ghosts had apparently begun spawning in Zone Two in the last few hours, and their weakness was holy magic. According to her guess, the raid boss’s defeat had something to do with it. The new features that had been unlocked apparently referred to a wider variety of enemy monsters. The devs seemed to have concluded that players were getting stronger with the game’s progression and had decided to add more formidable opponents.

“That’s annoying...” I muttered.

“It does mean new items will become available, though. As a crafter-type, you’ll probably be able to reap some benefits too.”

“Hope so.”

Seriously? There’ve been nothing but disadvantages for me so far! I’d almost died too!

“Man, just when I thought I could finally enter the battlefield like everyone else...”

To think things had gotten even more difficult...

“Oh well, no use crying over spilt milk.”

Pulling myself together, I headed to my next destination, the Magical Beasts Guild, to buy an incubator. That had been the whole point of my little adventure to begin with.

“Why hello, Yuto,” Barbara greeted me.

“Hi. I’ve fulfilled the requirements for the rank-up quest,” I reported to Barbara at the counter, having come straight from Alyssa’s stall.

“Line up, everyone.”

“Mm-mm!”

“...♪”

“Chirp chirp!”

“Growl!”

“Except you, Bear Bear. Wait over here.”

“Growl...”

Once my monsters were all lined up, I had Barbara assess them.

“Mhm, mhm. You’ve certainly fulfilled the requirements!”

“Does that mean...?”

“Yes! No problems whatsoever!”

Ding-dong.

“You have completed the rank-up quest. Your guild rank has increased to rank 5.”

“All right!”

I could finally buy a new incubator now. It had been a long and arduous journey to this point. After all, I had somehow ended up fighting a field boss. I wonder why?

“Can I see the incubator list, please?!”

“Here you go.”

I checked the list of incubators, and sure enough, there were three more incubators available to me now. The Ability-Enhancing Incubator cost 15,000 G, while the Battle Skill Incubator and Crafting Skill Incubator each cost 20,000 G. The Ability-Enhancing Incubator gave you a +8 initial stat boost at random, making it the perfect incubator for raising your monster’s baseline capabilities. It was also a safe choice for when you weren’t sure what sort of monster you’d be getting. The Battle Skill Incubator granted you a +3 initial stat boost as well as a fighting skill, and the Crafting Skill Incubator granted you a random crafting skill in addition to the +3 initial stat boost.

“Hmm, this is Olto and Sakura’s egg we’re talking about.”

Therefore, it was highly likely that I’d get a humanoid-type monster—either a gnome, a tree nymph, or something else entirely. In the case of a gnome, though, I wasn’t sure if getting a Battle Skill Incubator would be a wise decision. Would it obtain fighting abilities and become a gnome that could actually fight? Or would it only gain an initial stat boost due to its peaceful temperament? While I was undeniably curious, I didn’t want to take any chances with this egg. I decided to go with the safest option, the Crafting Skill Incubator. Even if it wasn’t a unique specimen, I’d be more than happy to have a gnome specializing in crafting.

“I’ll take the Crafting Skill Incubator, please.”

“That’ll be 20,000 G.”

Welp, there goes my money again. Still, I had now successfully obtained an incubator.

“Let’s go home!”

“Mm!”

“...!”

I had intended to incubate my egg as soon as I arrived, but my plans were thwarted by a player waiting in front of my farm.

“H-Hey! A-Are you the owner of this farm?” he asked.

“Sorry?”

He wasn’t the only one either.

“Are you the person running this farm stand?”

“When will you be restocking those herbal tea leaves?”

“I’d like some herbal tea, please!”

“It’s supposed to be really good, right?”

I immediately found myself surrounded by an expectant mob.

“Huh? What the...?”

What was happening? Had I done something wrong? Their expressions were so tense I wondered if they were going to start yelling at me. Upon further questioning, however, I discovered that they bore me no ill will. Much to my surprise, they had simply come to purchase the herbal tea leaves I was selling at my farm stand.

“Go ahead, help yourselves,” I offered.

“They’re all sold out,” one of the people in the crowd replied.

“What? They are?”

“That’s what I’m telling ya,” another person chimed in.

“So please! Hurry up and restock them!”

I quickly checked my farm stand, and sure enough, all of the items had sold out. I had also made a grand total of 8,700 G.

“They’re seriously sold out?”

Amazingly, Ashihana’s prediction had come true. Well, if there was such a huge demand for them, I supposed I might as well get cracking on restocking the shelves. I’d have to make some more, though, since I didn’t have too many premade blends at the moment.

“I’ll restock the shop in a bit, so could you wait about thirty minutes?” I asked the crowd.

“Gotcha!”

“Awesome, thanks!”

“We’ll wait!”

They’re just gonna wait here? I stared agog as the players began queuing up in front of my stand. While I appreciated their patience, the pressure to deliver was immense. First, I would need to harvest some weeds, so I asked Olto and the others to go pick some herbs for me. In the meantime, I headed inside the barn to set up my incubator.

“Hang on... Maybe I should check my Alchemy recipes first. Now that I have an incubator, chances are I might’ve unlocked a new recipe.”

If I remembered correctly, you could use Alchemy skills to create incubators. I pulled up my list of recipes in the hopes that I’d be able to improve the functionality of my incubator.

“Huh... What should I do?”

I found not one, but four recipes that used an incubator. However, the problem was the other ingredients. Each recipe required a Crafting Skill Incubator and an iron ingot, plus a fire, water, earth, or wind crystal, depending on what you wanted to make. Yes, those crystals—the ones Alyssa was willing to buy for 30,000 G apiece. Thirty thousand was a lot of money, not to mention iron ingots were extremely valuable too. However, I did have four crystals; perhaps it wouldn’t hurt to spare one. After all, considering the ingredients I needed, the incubator was bound to turn out amazing.

“This is Olto and Sakura’s child we’re talking about!”

All right, let’s do it! There’d never be another opportunity like this—I made up my mind to do the best I could for their egg. That being said, it would likely take a while to get everything ready. I still had to select which attribute crystals to use.

“Might as well restock the herbal tea leaves first.”

My inventory was now full of herbs that my companions had harvested for me in the meantime. I took out the herbs and began drying them one by one. Once I’d dried a decent amount, I began mixing them together to create tea blends. At first, I thought of making the exact same ones as before, but decided at the last minute to swap out the wild strawberries for something else, since I wanted to use those in cookies. Although I only had thirty minutes, it was a process I’d done countless times already. With a practiced hand, I continued to dry and blend in the barn, and before long, I had made about fifty bags of tea leaves. I hurried back to my stand so as not to keep the others waiting.

“I’m ba— Huh?”

“Hey. How’s it going, Silver-Haired?”

“Oh, that’s Silver-Haired?”

“Yup. You saw him with a gnome, didn’t ya?”

“Wow, Filma! It’s Silver-Haired in the flesh!”

“Look, Kurumi! Isn’t that gnome adorable?!”

I wasn’t concerned that my cover had been blown; I was used to this sort of reaction by now. No, what baffled me was the number of players lined up before my stand. There had been five people when I last looked, but already three more people had joined the queue. Things were starting to get out of hand. Had someone been spreading rumors again? Nah, it couldn’t be. It was probably the result of Japanese people’s herd mentality compelling them to stand in line. I bet they had joined the queue out of pure curiosity. Yes, that had to be it.

“Okay, I’ll restock the shelves now. It’s five per person, so please don’t take any more than that.”

“Yes, sir,” the crowd replied in unison. Now that’s what I like to hear. At this rate, I’d sell out again in no time. More importantly, I only had a bit of herbal tea left for myself! This was a serious matter. Perhaps it was time I considered mass production.

“All right. Once I’ve tried out the incubator recipe, I’ll go buy some more land.”

Before that, I had an alchemy experiment to do. I double-checked the recipe, which listed an incubator, iron ingot, and attribute crystal as ingredients.

“Question is, which crystal to use?”

Typically speaking, the crystal would likely give the soon-to-be-born monster an attribute or a skill of said attribute. Currently, my party lacked wind- and fire-types.

“Hmm. Think I’ll go with a fire crystal. Seems like it’ll be more useful for farm work than wind,” I decided aloud, thinking along the lines of slash-and-burn agriculture and greenhouse farming. Once I switched to the new incubator, the monster would probably no longer learn a crafting skill. Still, considering all the valuable items I was about to use, the incubator made with Alchemy skills had to be better. Taking my chances seemed worth it. I was determined to make the best incubator possible, not just for Olto and Sakura, but for their unborn child.

“Alchemy!”

“Your equipment’s level is not high enough.”

“What?”

No way. Did that mean my simple Alchemy set wasn’t good enough? Did I have to buy new equipment? Now that I thought about it, the kit I was currently using was for beginners. It made sense that it couldn’t create more advanced items.

“Maybe I should go to Alyssa’s.”

Her stall was bound to have Alchemy kits. Even if she didn’t, I could probably get a referral to a skilled Alchemist or something. Along the way, I decided to stop in at the Farming Guild as well, as it had suddenly occurred to me when I passed by to buy more land for growing herbs. Unfortunately, my guild rank wasn’t high enough, and I was only able to buy two plots of land. At my current rank, I could only own up to forty plots and twenty squares per town.

“Guess I gotta make do with what I have for now...”

Perhaps it was time I moved on to the next town. Apparently, you could warp between larger towns for a small fee, so even if I were to buy more land in another area, it wouldn’t be too difficult to take care of both farms at the same time.

“For that, I’ll need to get proper equipment.”

First, I had to make it across the playing field.

“Gotta buy a new Alchemy set too. Let’s go round each stall.”

My first stop was supposed to be Alyssa’s, but her stall wasn’t in the usual place in the square.

“Hmm. Is it her day off?”

I supposed I couldn’t very well expect her to be in the same spot all the time. When I checked my friends list, I found that she was offline. I cursed myself for not doing so before heading out. Hmm, what now? Although I’d be able to buy what I wanted at the Alchemy Guild, I didn’t feel like registering for membership just for that purpose.

“I know! I can ask Sawyer.”

Since Sawyer was an Alchemist, there was a good possibility he knew where I could buy an Alchemy kit. If anything, maybe I could ask him to make an incubator for me. This time, I checked my friends list before making a move, determined not to repeat the same mistake.

“Looks like he’s online.”

I gave him a ring first to see how he was doing.

“Hi. What’s up?” Sawyer answered immediately, his voice echoing from the other side of my status window.

“Are you free right now?” I asked.

“Sure thing. I don’t have any customers at the moment,” he replied. Excellent. No, wait, maybe that wasn’t so great for business.

“I’m actually looking for a new Alchemy set. I think I’ve outgrown the basic Alchemy set. I need the next one up. Do you know where I can buy one?”

“Didn’t know you were still using the initial kit.”

“Well, as you can see, I’m not an Alchemist.”

“Still, people usually choose to replace it immediately...”

“Huh? They do?”

According to Sawyer, anyone could buy the beginner’s kit, the level above the simple Alchemy set, at any NPC stall that specialized in such equipment. As such, regular crafter-types usually replaced their kits within the first few days. I had never visited an NPC-run Alchemy shop before, especially since the ingredients that other crafter-types usually bought I tended to gather on my own. Items like water pumice were cheaper at Alyssa’s stall. For similar reasons, I had never bothered using other NPC shops. I should probably check out the NPC shop offerings sometime, I thought to myself.

“Why the sudden interest, though?” Sawyer asked.

“Thing is, I want to make an incubator.”

“Really? Did you get a recipe for it?”

“I sure did.”

“If you bring me the necessary ingredients, I can make it for you.”

As we’d already discussed incubators before, Sawyer was quick to catch on.

“Seriously? For how much?”

“Depends on what it’s worth, but... I know, how about a trade?”

“A trade?”

“Yeah. I collected quite a few herbs with the intention of making herbal tea myself, but I can’t unless I have Cooking skills, right? As a result, I have loads left over now.”

Like Ashihana, Sawyer had also attempted to make herbal tea and failed.

“Could you dry those herbs for me? In exchange, I’ll make the incubator for you.”

I decided to entrust him with the task, as he was much more likely to do a better job with it. Besides, making herbal tea leaves was easy.

“Sure, that works. Are you at your shop now?”

“Yes.”

“Be right there.”

I hung up and immediately headed to his part of town, where I found him minding the store. As usual, there were no customers.

“Hi again.”

“Welcome. So, you want an incubator?”

“That’s right,” I answered, explaining the contents of the recipe to him.

“Didn’t know you needed an incubator in the first place. No wonder I couldn’t obtain the recipe for one.”

“Besides the incubator, you’ll need this and this,” I said, showing him the ingot and fire crystal. Sawyer gazed at them with a stern expression. Disdainful wasn’t the right word—nervous was more like it.

“Hmm.”

“What’s wrong?”

“Just nervous since they’re all really valuable ingredients.”

Gotcha. Truthfully, both materials were supposed to be incredibly rare at the moment, not to mention the incubator itself was an expensive item too. He was probably feeling nervous about messing things up, which was understandable. In this game, however, there were no chances of failure as long as you made things in Auto Mode. As such, I wasn’t worried about him accidentally wasting my ingredients.

“Well? Think you can do it?”

“Let’s see... Oh, I got the recipe. It looks like you can make it with the beginner’s kit.”

That was good to know. It all came down to how high quality an item he could make in Auto Mode now.

“I’m counting on you.”

“I’ll do my best. I have to prep the materials first, though, so it’ll take at least an hour. What will you do in the meantime?”

“Prep?”

“The crystal needs polishing, and if I heat up the ingot and hammer it, I might be able to raise its quality.”

Making herbal tea for Sawyer would take me less than ten minutes. That still left me with plenty of time.

“That’s a long wait... In that case, I’ll check out the Alchemy shop once I’ve dried your herbs. Can you tell me where it is?”

“Of course. It’s right nearby.”

Fifteen minutes later, after drying all of Sawyer’s herbal tea leaves, I arrived at the Alchemy shop he had introduced me to.

“Welcome,” the owner greeted me.

“Hi, I’d like to buy a beginner’s Alchemy kit. Do you have any?” I asked.

“Sure do. That’ll be 2,000 G apiece.”

Well, that was easy enough. I paid the wizened shop owner 2,000 G in exchange for my new Alchemy set. According to them, I’d need to register at the Alchemy Guild and raise my guild rank if I wanted a more advanced kit than this. Apparently, Ashihana had only just acquired the crafting set above this; Sawyer had yet to obtain one and was still using the beginner’s kit. With that in mind, it’d likely be ages before I could purchase a more advanced kit myself. Since I still had plenty of time left, I decided to check out the Concoctions shop and Cooking shop as well. Sure enough, they sold beginner’s Concoction kits and beginner’s Cooking kits. I purchased one of each without hesitation.

“There, that’s all the crafting kits squared away.”

Crafting was about to get ten times more exciting.

“Guess I can start heading back now.”

Having accomplished my mission, I began walking back to Sawyer’s shop. I arrived back at his stall to find that he’d already completed the incubator-making process.

“Hey, Yuto. Got what you needed?”

“Yep, all thanks to you.”

“I’m all done too.” He beamed, a look of accomplishment on his face. A cry of surprise slipped out of my mouth as I gave the incubator he handed me a once-over.

“Whoa! A four-star rarity?! That name’s a mouthful, though.”

Name: Crafting Skill Incubator with a Fire Attribute

Rarity: 4 / Quality: 5★

Effect: An incubator that grants a +4 initial stat boost at random to the monster that hatches from it. Also grants a random crafting skill to its initial skill set, as well as a fire attribute skill and fire resistance.

The incubator’s effects were truly impressive. Its initial stat boost had increased from +3 to +4, perhaps owing to its five-star quality. Plus, the skills it granted were ridiculous. If what it said was true, my monster would gain a crafting skill, fire attribute skill, and fire resistance to boot. That being said, the original incubator had cost me 20,000 G and the crystal 30,000 G. Taking the fact that iron ingots were also pretty valuable into account, I had hoped the result would be this impressive. I was also ecstatic that the crafting skill bonus had remained. Investing all those precious materials had been absolutely worth it.

“Hey, Sawyer. It doesn’t feel right to not pay you for this astounding piece of work.”

“Don’t mention it. I should be the one thanking you. I gained a ton of XP from working with these high-quality ingredients. My Alchemy level went up two levels while I was making this! It knocked my socks off.”

That was impressive. There was no way I could turn him down now.

“Well, if you insist, I gladly accept.”

“It’s all yours. Thanks for giving me a fun project to work on.”

I couldn’t wait to return to my barn and set up the incubator. Sorry to keep you waiting, little eggie! I was practically bursting with excitement as I ran all the way back to our farm.

“I’m back! And I got us an incubator!” I announced breathlessly.

“Mm-mm!”

“...♪”

“Hey, quit pulling!”

Olto and Sakura seemed unusually hyper. Did they know that this incubator was for their egg? I wondered as they grabbed onto both of my hands and jumped up and down.

“Mwa ha ha. Time for this baby’s grand reveal.”

After calming Olto and Sakura down and letting go of their hands, I took out the incubator Sawyer had made for me from my inventory.

“Mm!”

“...!”

“What do you think? Pretty dope, isn’t it?”

The Crafting Skill Incubator with a Fire Attribute—seriously, what a mouthful!—was round and red in color and looked like something out of a sci-fi movie, resembling some kind of oxygen capsule. It made the egg I placed inside look like nothing short of an alien offspring.

“Hmm, wonder what kind of monster will hatch...?”

As I stared at the egg, Sakura and Olto came closer and began stroking it lovingly. Evidently, they knew it belonged to them.

“Stay here as long as you like, ’kay?”

“Mmm.”

“...♪”

With that, I left the two proud parents to fawn over their egg and stepped outside the barn.

“Now then, what next?”

Should I experiment again? Browsing my inventory, I found another luminous moss in the mix. This wasn’t the one I’d gathered from our expedition, but one that had been harvested on our farm. Apparently, it had grown just fine in the hole Olto had dug for me. To my disappointment, however, I found no white red panther caps.

“Guess it ain’t that easy.”

Whatever, I had all the time in the world. At least now I knew that I’d have no trouble obtaining luminous moss.

“Should I try concocting something with it?”

Not that I expected much, given that luminous moss was a weed. While pondering my next move in front of the barn, I thought I heard someone call out to me.

“Huh? Did you call me?”

“Chirp?”

“Growl?”

Bear Bear and Rick looked at me questioningly. If it wasn’t them, then who could it be?

“...ey. Hey!”

The voice seemed to be coming from outside our farm. I turned my gaze towards the source and noticed someone waving at me.

“Uh, did you want something?” I asked them.

“As a matter of fact, I do. You’re the owner of this farm, aren’t ya?” they replied.

“I am, yes.”

“The name’s Tagosack. Been wantin’ to greet ya, neighbor.”

“Neighbor?”

“Yep. That’s my farm,” Tagosack replied, pointing at the plot of land closest to our farm. It was the plot with the mysterious crops that had seemingly appeared out of nowhere. So this was my neighbor.

“Um, Miss Tagosack?” I faltered. There was something I was dying to confirm before we got any further.

“Just call me Tagosack. Don’t gotta be so formal!”

“Uh, you are a woman, right?”

That’s right. From what I could see, Tagosack was most definitely a woman. She was much taller than me—at least 170 centimeters. I took a step towards her and found myself having to crane my neck to look her in the eye. She had long, straight, black hair and a pretty face, and wore some type of jumpsuit. Between her looks and her gruff way of speaking she put me in mind of a biker chick.

Although she talked like a dude, she looked like a woman. Which was it? Was she secretly a guy who had tweaked his appearance to look more feminine? If that was the case, I wasn’t sure if I wanted to be friends...

“Yep, obviously. Oh, did the name throw ya off? Don’t sweat the small stuff, dude. This is just for fun!”

Phew. So she was a woman after all. I wasn’t sure if she was talking like this as some kind of rolep-lay or if it was just her usual way of speaking, but judging from the way the words rolled off her tongue, it was likely the latter. It didn’t really bother me, though, so I set the question aside

“Whoops, where are my manners? I’m Yuto, by the way.”

Since we weren’t friends in-game, we raised our hands at each other in lieu of a handshake.

“Pleased to meet ya. Farmers are still a rare breed, so I’m glad to get to know someone new.”

“Guess there aren’t many of us, huh?”

“Nope. Even fewer who manage to maintain a farm of this size.”

“In my case, I’m not actually a Farmer, though.”

I was still a Tamer, even if I had raised my rank at the Farming Guild first. That was a title I wasn’t willing to relinquish.

“Figured. You’re Silver-Haired, aren’t ya?”

“Ugh.”

Hearing my notorious moniker, I couldn’t help making a face. Tagosack immediately apologized, looking flustered.

“Oops, my bad. Should I not have mentioned that?”

“...How did you find out?”

“It’s actually a well-known fact among Farmers that this farm belongs to ya. Everyone’s dyin’ to know how ya do it despite not actually being a Farmer.”

I supposed it made sense that people who were Farmers by trade would be interested in my farm. Alyssa did mention that Arboriculture was a pretty rare skill, and no doubt all these trees made my farm stick out a mile. Anyone who had even a shred of information about me would likely be able to guess who owned this place by taking one look at Olto.

“Since ya happened to be around, I thought I’d say hi and ask ya a few questions. Like how ya grow trees, for example.”

“I don’t mind, but I doubt you’ll be able to copy me.”

After all, she’d have to start with searching for and taming a gnome, and I hadn’t heard of anybody encountering one just yet. She’d have much better luck raising her own Farming skill instead of trying to level up a gnome until it learned Arboriculture.

“Something to do with your gnome?”

“You got it.”

“Well, I didn’t wanna rule out other possibilities, y’know? One of the theories circulating online was that ya hired an NPC with Arboriculture.”

“You can hire NPCs?”

“Sure can, once your guild rank reaches 6.”

I had only just raised my rank to 5 recently. Tagosack’s remark piqued my interest, though—I hadn’t known hiring NPCs was an option. Having an NPC with Arboriculture help out on the farm did seem like it would make work easier. Unfortunately, it turned out that the NPCs for hire weren’t the specialists I imagined them to be.

“That being said, the NPCs ya can hire at the beginnin’ only have the bare minimum skills, so they aren’t very useful,” Tagosack added.

“Then why’d you think I had an NPC working for me?”

“C’mon, you’re the Silver-Haired. How could I be so sure ya hadn’t hired a high-level NPC through some kind of secret method? Course I don’t buy that theory anymore after observin’ this place for the past few days.”

“What sort of person do you think I am, anyway?”

“Good question. Someone who enjoys playing differently than others and makes lotsa interestin’ discoveries along the way, I guess?”

Oh? That wasn’t too bad. I’d expected something much worse, like being considered a weirdo for farming despite being a Tamer. Upon voicing my thoughts, Tagosack burst out laughing.

“D’ah ha ha ha! Quit bein’ paranoid. Most Farmers have positive opinions of ya, mate.”

“Huh? They do?”

“Yep! Like, That’s Silver-Haired for ya! and, Silver-Haired’s the bomb.”

That was encouraging. I supposed Farmers were just a special lot, though. They probably felt a sense of camaraderie towards me as someone in the same line of business as them.

“That reminds me. Can I ask ya one more thing?” Tagosack asked.

“Go ahead,” I replied.

“About that tree over there. Never seen it before. Is it a special type of tree?”

I followed Tagosack’s gaze to see her pointing at my lakeside tree. I almost forgot that you couldn’t use your Appraisal skill on other people’s home bases. Now that she mentioned it, it was tricky to tell what kind of tree it was without being able to assess it.

“That’s a lakeside tree.”

“What? Lakeside as in the Lakeside Sequoia?”

Tagosack’s reaction was understandable. After all, the lakeside tree on my farm looked totally different from the Lakeside Sequoia in the East District.

“Yup. I happened to obtain a Lakeside Sequoia fruit in an event a while back. Olto propagated it for me, so I’ve been growing it ever since.”

“Th-That’s amazing, dude. Ya manage to harvest anything from it?”

“No, not yet.”

“Gotcha. How much do you reckon it’ll grow, by the way?” Tagosack wondered out loud, comparing the lakeside tree with the Lakeside Sequoia in the distance. We were apparently thinking the same thing.

“...It won’t grow that big, will it?” I asked her worriedly, hoping against hope that, as a professional Farmer, she might have some sort of answer. Unfortunately, she was none the wiser.

“Who knows? I sure don’t. Anyway, you should continue takin’ good care of it and let me know how things turn out.”

“Figured as much.”

Please don’t grow too big, I prayed.

“Guess that means I gotta raise my Farming skill if I wanna obtain Arboriculture, huh?”

“Good luck.”

“Thanks for the valuable info, Yuto. Here, take this. Consider it payment for sharing the deets with me.”

“Seedlings? Hey, this is a mana plant seedling! And this one’s an antidote plant! You sure about this?”

I was genuinely ecstatic to receive the mana plant, as it was one of the ingredients for mana potions, one that I’d been dying to get my hands on. Antidote plants were likewise unobtainable in Zone One.

“Yep. Those are both crops I grow on a regular basis. Will they do? I don’t think ya have them yet, d’ya?”

“I’m more than happy to have these! Was that information really worth it, though?”

“Consider them a sign of our new friendship. Besides, I got to see your sick farm too.”

Never in a million years did I expect a Farmer like Tagosack to show interest in my farm...

“My farm’s decent, then?”

“Decent? That’s an understatement, especially for someone who’s not even a real Farmer. It’s freakin’ impressive, man.”

Hearing that made me feel a bit guilty, though. None of this was due to my own efforts.

“My gnome—his name’s Olto, by the way—had Arboriculture from the start, thanks to his initial bonus. It lets him grow green peaches and walnuts too. It’s all him, not me.”

That’s why I don’t deserve that kind of praise, I explained to her. To my surprise, Tagosack looked a bit miffed.

“Bull. Sure, ya have your gnome to thank for. But guess what? You’re the one who chose how to use his powers.”

“Maybe, but...”

“It probably took ya a lot of courage to buy a farm despite not being a Farmer, amirite?”

“W-Well...”

“You’re the one who decided to plow the fields and plant all these trees. The reason you’re the person ya are today is because of your own efforts. Ya may have gotten titles and made new discoveries along the way, but that ain’t all sheer dumb luck. It’s because ya took the road less traveled, and that’s somethin’ to be proud of.”

She seemed to know a lot about me. I guessed it was only fair since my name had popped up a few times in the forums. She also appeared to be aware that I had more than one title. I had to say, though, encouragement from an older sister-type character like Tagosack carried a lot of weight. I was starting to feel a little more confident about myself. Although I had failed to get a head start, and had gotten off on the wrong foot, I was now content with the way things had turned out. I was doing pretty well as a Farmer: perhaps not the best out there, but certainly one-of-a-kind. My goal was to become a top Tamer who could also farm! Even though I was sure my playstyle was pretty uniquely half-assed.

“Aw, shucks. Thanks. I feel a bit more confident now.”

“Don’t mention it. Hold yer head high, dude. Ya may not be number one, but you’re seriously killin’ it! This is a game, after all. That’s what’s most important, yeah?”

“Yeah, you’re right.”

“Heh heh. That kinda cheesy huh?”

“Actually, it was pretty cool.”

“C’mon, surely there are other ways of praisin’ a gal.”

“Can’t really think of a better way to say it...”

The word gorgeous did cross my mind for a split second, but I had a feeling that would piss her off, not to mention it could be interpreted as sexual harassment. Tagosack seemed happy to be called cool, though.

“Ha ha, ya got that right!” she guffawed, trying to slap me on the back and being promptly repealed by the harassment block. Once her laughter had subsided, I received a friend request from her.

“Huh? Did you send me your friend code?”

“You don’t mind, do ya? We can exchange interestin’ tidbits of information if anythin’ comes up.”

“Thanks, that’d be great.”

Tagosack was a far more experienced Farmer than I was and most likely more knowledgeable in every other area except trees. I now had an excellent companion to turn to for advice. She was a good person, and if she hadn’t sent me a friend request first, I would have proposed it either way.

“See ya!” she waved.

“See you around. Thanks for the mana plant!” I waved back.

After her dashing figure retreated into the distance, as I watched Olto plant the mana plant seedling, an idea occurred to me. I’d already given him his juice for the day, but what if I gave him another glass? I hadn’t read anything about not feeding your tamed monsters more than once, only that they had to be fed at least once a day. If I fed him multiple times, say, once every hour, would he continue working in a superpowered state? This was something I had to put to the test.

“Here, Olto. You can drink this.”

“Mm?”

“Drink it, bud. Down the hatch.”

“Mm-mm!”

At my urging, Olto happily downed his juice in one go. My hunch was correct—I could feed him as many times as I wanted to.

“Now that’s news!”

As I rejoiced in my discovery, I felt a set of eyes on me. I whirled around to find Bear Bear and Rick staring at me from the shadows. Seeing them peek out from behind a tree painted a picture of furry friends coming to play from the forest. If not for the reproachful look in their eyes it would have been pretty darn adorable.

“Growl.”

“Chirp.”

“H-Hey, don’t look at me like that. I-I haven’t forgotten you, you know. Your food’s right here.”

Bear Bear and Rick came running immediately as I pulled out their food from my inventory in a hurry.

“Growl!”

“Chirp chirp!”

Phew, that was close. I totally had forgotten about them.

“Mm-mm-mmm!”

“Wh-What’s wrong, Olto?”

What now? Was he upset about something? Olto stood there with downcast eyes, clenching his fists and groaning. His body was glowing slightly.

“A-Are you okay, buddy?”

Was it okay to touch him? What was I supposed to do here?!

“Mm-mm... Mm!”

“Whoa! What is it?!”

Olto had suddenly raised his right arm towards the sky. That was close! I had just narrowly avoided receiving an uppercut to my face.

“Mm-mm!” he muttered as his right palm continued to glow more intensely. Light began concentrating into a beam on his outstretched palm.

“I-Is he seriously gonna shoot something?!”

Or could it be that he was about to summon a legendary sword? As I stood rooted to the spot, panicking, a particularly intense beam of light shot forth from Olto’s hand.

“Mm-mm.”

“Y-You okay, Olto?” I called out to him tentatively.

“Mm!”

I didn’t notice any notable changes in appearance. He didn’t seem particularly tired either, although he pretended to wipe the sweat from his forehead.

“Mm!”

Sensing my puzzlement, Olto stuck out his right hand towards me and slowly opened his fist to reveal a beautiful stone in his palm. It was a white, translucent gem that resembled the beam of light that had just radiated from his hand, crystallized.

“Mm.”

“For me?”

“Mmm.”

The gem appeared to be a gift.

Name: Tamed Monster’s Heart (Olto)

Rarity: 1 / Quality: 10★

Effect: A tamed monster’s heart in crystallized form. Can’t be sold or given away.

What on earth was this? I’d never heard of such an item before. The fact that it had a ten-star rating was also mighty impressive. I couldn’t sell or give it away, which meant I was to use it myself. There was no doubting this was a pretty amazing item.

“Can I use it for something, or is it some kind of collectible? Let’s check my recipes and find out.”

Sure enough, I discovered a new Alchemy recipe that required a tamed monster’s heart.

“Looks like I’ll need a tamed monster’s heart plus a gem...”

Since this item couldn’t be given away, I couldn’t rely on Sawyer to make this recipe for me. I’d have to take matters into my own hands this time.

“Do I have any gems, though?”

The first thing that came to mind was attribute crystals, which weren’t considered gems, but part of the magicite category. It looked like I had no choice but to buy one somewhere...

“No, hang on. Let’s sort through the items in my inventory first.”

I did a quick search in my inventory by selecting the category Gems, and lo and behold, I found exactly one item that matched the criteria.

Name: Marble

Rarity: 2 / Quality: 1★

Effect: Ingredient. For decorative purposes.

The marble turned out to be an item drop from a Lesser Ghost, along with an ingredient called soul powder, whose purpose remained unknown for now.

“All right, I’ve got both ingredients now. Just gotta put them together... Hm?”

For some reason, even though I had all the necessary ingredients, the ???? column didn’t turn white, nor could I select it in Auto Mode. Could I not make this recipe with my beginner’s Alchemy kit then? No, that couldn’t be it. Although my equipment’s level hadn’t been high enough when I attempted to make the incubator, the item itself had been indicated in white letters, which showed that it was possible to make. There had to be some other requirement that I hadn’t unlocked yet. Alyssa’s stall was closed today, though...

“Hmm, who else can I ask?”

I listed several possibilities off the top of my head: Sawyer, Tagosack, Akari, other Tamers, and the Magical Beasts Guild. I decided to ask at the guild first, then log out and scour the forums if that didn’t yield any results. Having settled my course of action, I headed to the Magical Beasts Guild, where Barbara greeted me again with a cheerful smile.

“Hi there,” I greeted her.

“Welcome. What brings you here today?” she replied.

“I’d like you to take a look at this.”

“Why, that’s a tamed monster’s heart.”

As I suspected, Barbara seemed to know what it was.

“I’d like to know more about this item. Care to enlighten me?”

“Very well. Before that, though, how about completing this quest?”

At Barbara’s suggestion, a quest window popped up, accompanied by the sound of a notification bell.

Special Quest

Requirement: Show Barbara a Tamed Monster’s Heart.

Reward: 2,000 G, one randomly selected gem.

Time Limit: None

“Didn’t know there was a quest like this. Of course, I’ll accept.”

“Excellent. Here’s your reward for completing the quest.”

As I’d already shown Barbara my tamed monster’s heart, the quest was completed the moment I accepted it.

“You have received 2,000 G and a Green Jade.”

Name: Green Jade

Rarity: 4 / Quality: 5★

Effect: Ingredient. For decorative purposes.

Four stars, eh? That was pretty dang good! This was the perfect item to pair with Olto’s tamed monster’s heart.

“So, how exactly do I use this tamed monster’s heart?”

“Sorry. I can’t tell you the details.”

Not Barbara withholding information after coming this far! Oh well, it did seem like a pretty important item. I bet it contained some sort of valuable secret.

“However, I will give you a hint,” she continued.

Heck yeah! You’re the best, Barbara!

“Try raising your Magical Beasts Guild rank to 7.”

“...Is that it?”

“Yes.”

Hmm, it didn’t seem like she was going to divulge any further details. She did make it very clear to raise my guild rank, however, so I supposed I might as well put in the effort. In order to raise my rank, I’d have to complete as many quests as possible, but unfortunately, there weren’t many I could fulfill at the moment. All things considered, it was probably best to take on persistent quests. While persistent quests only gave you one contribution point, they could be attempted as many times as you like. Once completed, regular quests either disappeared or granted you zero contribution points from the next time onwards, but persistent quests granted you contribution points each time. The persistent quest for Tamers entailed taming specific monsters and delivering them to the guild.

There was some debate in the forums as to whether attempting this quest too many times came with any penalties, especially since it involved selling your tamed monsters. That was a valid concern. If you thought about it, selling the monsters you tamed seemed like a pretty crappy thing to do. People were concerned that doing so would be thought of as mistreating tamed monsters or affect their favorability score with their own monsters. However, I didn’t think there were any downsides to this quest. To begin with, the persistent quests for other jobs rarely had any disadvantages, as they mostly involved gathering specific items. If the quest for Tamers alone came with a critical downside, the game balance would be seriously skewed.

Additionally, in order to raise your Tame skill level, you obviously had to use the skill over and over again, which resulted in many Tamers complaining about having too many tamed monsters. That could cause issues down the road, as you could potentially have to give up taming monsters you actually wanted due to not having enough slots. As harsh as it may sound, you could say that selling unnecessary monsters at the guild was the basic MO for Tamers. If your favorability score went down every time you sold a monster, no one would be able to level up their Tame skill. Some players did attempt leveling up by shooting their shot at untameable bosses, although that was pretty uncommon. At the very least, I could never do that. Also, taming would always result in failure when your tameable slots were full. While you could continue to use Tame as long as your MP lasted, the overall XP you would receive would be reduced by half.

“Considering my Tame skill level’s still pretty low, I might as well grind this one.”

With a single quest, I could get contribution points, XP for my Tame skill, and money from selling monsters. It was like killing three birds with one stone. The only downside was that the reward was pretty small, which would most likely be a turnoff for ordinary players. Not me, though—I had my farm, after all.

“Let’s see, today’s target is...Gray Squirrels! Today’s my lucky day!”

In the beginning, they had been incredibly formidable foes, but not anymore.

“All right! Time to go squirrel hunting!”

Let’s tame lots of squirrels and raise that guild rank, baby! No time like the present.

After thanking Barbara for her time, I rushed out of the Magical Beasts Guild back to our farm, where I quickly confirmed my companions’ availability.

“Guys! We’re going to the Western Forest. Are you free now?”

Here, my tamed monsters’ work took precedence over my own plans. If they still had some farming to do, it was more important to get that out of the way first.

“Mm!” Olto flexed his biceps, showing that he was pumped and ready to go.

“Olto’s free. How about the rest of you?”

“...!”

“Chirp!”

“Growl!”

Good, everyone was available.

“To the Western Forest!”

“Mm-mm!”

As usual, Olto took the lead, perhaps feeling he should as the OG of the bunch.

“Funny, even though you’re the weakest.”

“Mm?”

“I said, do your best, bud.”

“Mm-mm!”

With Olto leading the way, we presently arrived at the entrance of the Western Forest. While Gray Squirrels could be found in the Southern Forest as well, there you were also more likely to encounter Wild Dogs and Snakes from the get-go. On the other hand, the area near the entrance of the Western Forest was home to mostly Fanged Rats and Gray Squirrels, with only the occasional Wild Dog in the mix.

“Grinding here is way more efficient.”

The items here might have been of lower quality than those of the Southern Forest, but no matter. Our foremost priority was Gray Squirrels.

“Come out, come out, wherever you are, little squirrels.”

“Chirp!”

“Not you, Rick.”

“Chirp?”

You’re doing this on purpose, aren’t you, Rick? I sighed inwardly. Unfortunately, it was a well-known fact that the more you sought something in a game, the less likely you were to get it. At the moment, our last four battles had been with Fanged Rats, with not a single squirrel in sight. Actually, we had encountered one at the very beginning, but I’d failed to Hold Back and accidentally defeated it.

“Hmm... Hey, there’s one! Finally! Everyone, get ready to attack!”

“Chirp chirp!”

“Don’t kill it, okay?!”

“Growl growl!”

Bear Bear charged at the Gray Squirrel that appeared before us like some kind of bloodthirsty beast.

“Growl...?”

Bear Bear blinked as the Gray Squirrel’s tiny body disintegrated, their first blow having demolished its life meter.

“Way to go, buddy...”

I knew that Bear Bear hadn’t done it on purpose, but seriously, they could’ve at least held back from delivering a critical hit.

“G-Growl...”

“What’s done is done. ...Time to move on.”

“Growl.”

However, our latter attempts were just as unfruitful. While I succeeded in reducing a Gray Squirrel’s HP with my Hold Back attack, it escaped before I could actually tame it.

“Y-Yikes. I’ve already used up half of my MP, and I haven’t tamed a single squirrel yet.”

I had at least managed to increase my Tame skill by three levels, but it would be really nice to tame something sooner than later.

Ding-dong.

“Ah, must be the daily report.”

I had been so focused on hunting squirrels that I’d lost track of time completely. I hadn’t realized it was already noon.

“The gate’s nearby. Let’s return to town for a bit.”

“Mm-mm.”

There was a wide-open space with benches in front of the gate connecting the town and playing field. We chose one as our resting spot, where I fed my monsters while I scanned today’s report. Obviously, the data that most concerned me was the Titles section.

“Cool. Looks like there are way more titleholders now.”

There were now fifty-eight players with one title. I was still the only player with more than two, though. Now people were bound to find out that I had four titles. There were a few more players who had obtained Plant Knowledge, making us a total of seven. Two of them were Ashihana and Sawyer, of course, bringing us to more than twice as many people as yesterday.

“Let’s check the Tamer-related stats.”

There were more than ten players whose max tameable slots exceeded ten. That was impressive, as it meant their Command and Monster Taming abilities were over level 20 by now. Although I was practically a part-time Farmer at this point, I still felt a twinge of frustration at being so far behind.

“Got some catching up to do.”

As the saying goes, a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. Raising my guild rank like I was doing right now was the closest shortcut to becoming a top Tamer.

“Aight, let’s go, guys!”

“Growl!”

“Go easy on the attacking, okay, Bear Bear?”

“Growl?”

Our afternoon was spent roaming around the entrance of the Western Forest in search of Gray Squirrels. Ideally, I would have liked to venture deeper inside the forest where monsters spawned at a higher rate, but that would have been less efficient. Since I only had one tameable slot left, I had to return to town as soon as I’d tamed a squirrel and sell it before I could tame another one. To deliver three squirrels to the guild, I’d have to make three trips in total. All things considered, it’d be way too much of a hassle if I went all the way inside the forest. Our luck finally turned around as we ran into not one, but three Gray Squirrels.

“Finally, about time you showed up! Get ’em, Rick, Bear Bear! Sakura, restrain those bad boys!”

I kept an eye on them, and after a while, Sakura succeeded at catching one of the squirrels with her whip. Given their small frame and swift movements, Gray Squirrels were notoriously hard to catch, but not this time.

“All right, make sure it doesn’t get away, Sakura! Hold Back! Aqua Ball!”

“Chirp!”

“Heh heh heh, I’ve got you now.”

“Ch-Chirp...”

“No use looking at me with those puppy-dog eyes! Tame!”

No matter how I worded it, I sounded like a bad guy. To an outsider, I was sure it looked as though we were ganging up on a poor, terrified little squirrel.

“...No point thinking about that. Anyway, Tame! Tame! Tame!”

Obtaining this squirrel was our top priority. Everything else was of secondary importance.

“Tame— All right, I did it!”

“Chirp chirp!”

“Chirp!”

The Gray Squirrel I just caught was already frolicking about with Rick, a sure sign that I had managed to tame it. As with Bear Bear, I had to name it since it didn’t have a name yet, but... Seeing that I was going to give it away anyway, I didn’t see the need for a well-thought-out name.

“Hmm... Let’s go with Skippy, then.”

Skippy was already at level 4 from the start, the same as Rick had been when I first tamed him. The difference between Skippy, a regular Gray Squirrel, and Rick, a unique specimen, was apparent by comparing both of their stats side by side.

Name: Skippy / Race: Gray Squirrel / Base Level: Lv. 4

Master: Yuto

HP: 15/15 / MP: 9/9

Strength: 3 / Endurance: 5 / Agility: 12

Dexterity: 5 / Intelligence: 4 / Sanity: 4

Skills: Vigilance, Collect, Jump, Climb, Cheek Pouch, Incisor Attack

Equipment: None

Name: Rick / Race: Gray Squirrel / Base Level: Lv. 4

Master: Yuto

HP: 18/18 / MP: 10/10

Strength: 4 / Endurance: 6 / Agility: 14

Dexterity: 6 / Intelligence: 5 / Sanity: 6

Skills: Vigilance, Collect, Pruning, Jump, Climb, Cheek Pouch, Incisor Attack

Equipment: None

As illustrated, unique specimens were clearly more powerful. The total of Rick’s initial stats was eight points higher than that of Skippy’s, as were his HP and MP. He also had Pruning, a skill Skippy didn’t possess.

“You’re actually more impressive than I thought, Rick.”

“Chirp chirp.”

He looked at me smugly, and rightly so. I now knew for sure not to take unique specimens for granted. With my mission accomplished, it was time to return to the Magical Beasts Guild.

“Welcome!” The receptionist at the guild greeted me.

“I’m here to report my progress on a quest,” I replied.

“Understood. I assume you’re referring to the Gray Squirrel quest, correct? Would you like to deliver these two squirrels?”

“Two?”

Whoops. The receptionist thought I was giving away Rick as well.

“Just this one, please.”

Definitely no second thoughts there! After all, Rick was a rare, unique specimen! Seriously, I wouldn’t give him away for all the world—unless I was truly desperate.

“Very well. I’ll be taking just the one, then. That’s two more to go.”

Well, that was easy enough. When I was younger, there had been a monster-hunting game that guilt-tripped you whenever you tried to dismiss your cat companion, and as a result, I’d been unable to let go of a single one. Fortunately, Skippy neither gazed into my eyes nor shed a tear as I walked away. Thank goodness the monsters in this game weren’t raring to turn on the waterworks. If a single tear had glistened in Skippy’s eyes, I might not have been able to let go of them. Feeling a pang of guilt, I glanced at my companions to gauge their reactions, but they didn’t seem any different. As I had speculated, selling my tamed monsters didn’t negatively affect my favorability score.

“Seeing as there are no problems, let’s go catch squirrel number two, shall we?”

The question was, where to next...? Battling was easier in the Western Forest, but it didn’t exactly give you the best bang for your buck. The Southern Forest, by contrast, offered a wider variety of items and more enemy spawns. The stakes were higher, but there would most likely be Gray Squirrels in the mix too.

“I’ll have to work on other quests too if I want those contribution points.”

The Southern Forest it was. There, I could fulfill item-gathering quests along the way. I set off for the Southern Forest with my companions in tow, checking my stats as we strolled through town. My Tame level had already increased to level 5, which was a huge improvement. I was basically doing the equivalent of texting while walking, but whenever I was about to collide with another player, Sakura and Olto pushed and pulled me out of the way.

“Mm-mm!”

“...!”

“Whoa. Thanks, you two.”

“Mm-mm!”

Obviously, I didn’t tell Olto that I at some points purposely pretended to walk into a wall simply because I found his pushing and tugging adorable. While we walked down the streets leading to the Southern Gate, I made a valuable discovery.

“Holy...!”

“Mm?”

“Chirp?”

“...!”

“Growl?”

My companions came to a halt and looked up at me curiously, shocked by my sudden outburst.

“Sorry. Don’t mind me.”

“Mm?”

“Just realized something important, that’s all.”

I patted Olto on the head reassuringly and double-checked my status.

Tamed Monsters (4/6): Gnome, Tree Nymph, Gray Squirrel, Honey Bear

That’s right. My Command ability had leveled up to 10 yesterday, meaning I could now tame up to six monsters! While I could only keep five by my side, I could still tame one extra, even if my party was full. Tamed monsters that didn’t fit in your party were automatically sent to a facility known as the Ranch. Monsters at the Ranch could be swapped out anytime at the Magical Beasts Guild, which meant I didn’t have to return to the guild each time I tamed another Gray Squirrel.

“Totally didn’t realize that.”

Better sooner rather than later, though. If I had found this out later, I would have ended up wasting a lot of time.

Two hours later...

“All right! Another one in the bag!”

“Chirp.”

Though their slower spawn rates were making things take longer than expected, I had now managed to tame the third squirrel I needed. This time, the squirrel I tamed started sparkling before fading into thin air, a sign that it had been sent to the Ranch.

“Please name your tamed monster.”

“Hmm, what should I name it?”

I had named the first one Skippy and the next one Slappy, but I was running out of ideas. It didn’t make sense to give them fancy names when they were fated to be sold.

“Let’s go with Squirrel One.”

The one after that could be Squirrel Two. This way, I wouldn’t run out of ideas for names. It reminded me of how I used to name some of my Mokémon HM and Surf as a kid.

“Looks like my Water Magic has reached level 10 too, which means I get a new move.”

At the moment, I could use two types of water magic: Aqua Ball and Aqua Lung. Aqua Lung was a skill that enabled me to breathe underwater. I had tried it out once, but really had hardly any opportunities to use it. The skill I had just learned was called Aqua Shield, which increased my defenses and water-damage resistance for a certain amount of time.

“All right, let’s return to the guild so we can complete this quest.”

Unfortunately, as was usually the case, the worse I wanted something, the less the game rewarded me. In the end, I only managed to fulfill one quest that day. It was going to take me forever to raise my rank at this rate.

“Gotta keep grinding!”

The following day, I logged in at sunrise again in order to get a head start on the persistent quest. That being said, the details of the persistent quest varied each day. Until I visited the guild, I would have no idea which monster I was supposed to catch.

“Hope it’s one of the easier targets.”

It’d be great if Fanged Rats were on the list today. I really hoped it wasn’t Wild Dogs, or I’d have a hard time. As much as I wanted to rush to the Magical Beasts Guild to find out today’s wanted list, I needed to take care of my daily chores first.

“I’ll leave the farm to the monster crew. Need to get my concocting in.”

As I made my way to my farm thinking of today’s schedule, I noticed a large crowd of players in front of it.

“What the? What’s with all these people?”

The sight reminded me of the incident with Mirei.

“Not again...?”

I immediately returned the way I came from and ducked behind a house, taking care not to be noticed as I observed the crowd from the shadows.

“They seem pretty calm.”

At the very least, they didn’t appear hostile. While I did sense a sort of buzz in the air, most players seemed to be chatting amongst themselves amicably. On top of that, the crowd appeared almost orderly, as if they were lining up for something. The scene reminded me of people queuing outside a shop to get their hands on the latest smartphone. That ruled out the possibility of a riot.

“Where’s the front of the queue...?”

Upon closer observation, I discovered that they were queuing in front of my farm stand. The people at the very front had even brought their own chairs. They weren’t those small foldable stools either, but the kind of armchairs you’d put in your living room—a power move made possible by their inventories. I gingerly approached the line.

“Whoa!”

The crowd stirred briefly before collectively settling their gaze on me. I couldn’t help tensing up despite knowing they weren’t my enemies.

“Finally, you’ve come to restock...”

“I want herbal tea...”

“Today’s the day I get to try...”

If I were to believe what I’d just heard, these people were queuing up to buy herbal tea. I ran inside my farm before someone had the chance to talk to me.

“Mm.”

“Hey, Olto. Morning.”

“Mm-mm.”

I know, I should ask my companions. Perhaps they could shed light on the situation, even if they couldn’t talk.

“Hey, do you remember how long those people have been queuing there?”

“Mm?”

“Chirp?”

“Growl?”

My three tamed monsters all cocked their heads to the side at the same angle in response to my question. As adorable as that was, they didn’t seem to remember. I could almost see a question mark floating above their heads. Fortunately, Sakura, ever the big sis, seemed to remember. She put up all five fingers on her right hand and pointed at the crowd with her left.

“Five fingers... You mean to say they’ve been here for five hours?”

“...♪”

No way. Enthusiastic much? Even after seeing me, the crowd remained perfectly calm and simply moved to the side of the road, still lined neatly in a row. That was Japanese people for you. I didn’t mean to judge or anything, but was the tea really that good? As much as I enjoyed drinking coffee and herbal tea over water in real life, to my knowledge, there were a good many people who weren’t fond of the taste of herbs. Sure, the in-game herbal tea tasted great, and I’d had a feeling that it would appeal to a wide audience, but I didn’t think it would be this popular. Regardless, there was currently a long line of people waiting for me to restock.

“...Better make some more herbal tea.”

The tea blends I made yesterday had sold out almost instantly, so I decided to set a limit of three per person today. I’d also have to increase my production if I wanted to meet the crowd’s demand.

“Potions can wait. First, we gotta sort out those tea leaves.”

I instructed my tamed monsters to prioritize harvesting more herbs while I got to work drying the ones that were already in my inventory, making use of Auto Mode to mass-produce tea leaves.

“We’ve been making nothing but herbs the past few days.”

Thanks to that, I had gotten incredibly efficient at drying tea leaves. I was now able to produce roughly a hundred bags in thirty minutes. As I headed to the stand armed with my fresh batch of tea leaves, I noticed even more people had joined the line. Alerted by my presence, the crowd turned to stare at me, urging me to hurry up. While their lack of complaining might make it seem like they were polite, being stared at wordlessly was equally intimidating. It was true that people’s gazes bore a lot of weight—I felt it with my entire being. I quickly restocked the farm stand and left as fast as I could. Behind me, I could sense the players already latching onto the bags of tea I had just stocked.

“Phew... That should do it.”

With that taken care of, I could finally move on to concocting medicine and potions. I had also managed to harvest the mana plant and antidote plant seedlings that I had received from Tagosack, which meant I should be able to concoct mana potions and antidotes now. There was one item I didn’t recognize among the crops in my inventory, though. Upon closer examination, it appeared to be called Bitter Grass.

“Don’t remember planting anything like this. Doesn’t seem to be a weed either.”

Name: Bitter Grass

Rarity: 2 / Quality: 1★

Effect: A crop and type of ingredient made from Selective Breeding. Extremely bitter.

“Cool, so that’s what the mysterious seed turned out to be!”

Being made from ultra-bitter weed water and spinach, which was equally bitter in foods, the crop was aptly named Bitter Grass. No doubt it was agonizingly bitter. To my surprise, however, I had a recipe that used this grass.

“Looks like that’s the only thing I can make with it right now.”

The recipe required just two ingredients: three bitter grass and water.

“Gotta say, though, with all these crops we have going on, our farm’s getting pretty cramped.”

Was downsizing my weed patch my only choice? That would mean fewer herbs for herbal tea, though. Seeing how well they sold, it seemed a shame to do that.

“Hmm...”

Just then, I heard a knock on my barn door. It looked like I had a visitor. Since they had managed to trespass on my home, they had to be one of my friends.

“Who is it?” I called out.

“Hey, Yuto! Mornin’!” a brisk woman’s voice replied from outside the barn.

“Hey, Tagosack.”

I stepped outside the barn to welcome her. Tagosack had also apparently been farming since morning, as her overalls were covered in dirt.

“Morning,” I greeted her.

“Mornin’. Business is boomin’, eh?”

“You can say that again.”

I glanced at my farm stand to see that the line had gotten even longer. At this rate, the tea would sell out before long, even with the three-per-person purchase limit.

“I actually wanted to ask ya a favor,” Tagosack started.

“A favor? Depends on what it is...”

“Well, actually...”

According to Tagosack, she frequently posted in the Farmers’ Megathread and exchanged information there. It seemed I was a hot topic of discussion. Not that I minded, though, since apparently no one was bad-mouthing me. As for her “favor,” she wanted my permission to post about what I told her yesterday. Apparently, the whole reason she bought the farm next to mine was because her curiosity was piqued by the people in the thread wanting to learn about my farm.

“I know it was kinda dishonest of me, but I was hopin’ it’d serve as a conversation starter...”

She bought a farm just so she could talk to me? Jeez, girl, wasn’t that going a bit too far?

“I don’t really see why you’d need to ask for my permission for that, though.”

All I mentioned was that I didn’t have an NPC working for me and that Olto deserved all the credit. I didn’t see any harm in that story spreading. People could easily find out that I had a gnome, and that said gnome was a farmer-type monster, so that was hardly news. Information about the Lakeside Tree was also bound to spread eventually since I’d sold the details to Alyssa. However, that seemed to be beside the point.

“Just wanted to set things straight, especially now that I know you’re a much nicer dude than I thought. I don’t like feelin’ like I’m somehow deceivin’ ya... Didn’t wanna keep any secrets from ya now that we’re friends and all, y’know?”

And the upstanding citizen award goes to...Tagosack! I seriously felt like calling her Big Mama.

“Sure, I don’t mind.”

“Really? Thanks.”

“In return, I’d like some advice from you.”

“Sure thing. Ask away.”

Though she was fully clothed, I couldn’t help noticing her voluptuous breasts jiggle as she thumped her chest. Damn it! Manly, badass, and extremely well-proportioned?! She has it all!

“Somethin’ wrong?”

“N-Nothing. Don’t mind me. A-Anyway, I wanted to ask you about the farms in the town in Zone Three.”

“Ah, ya thinkin’ ’bout finally expandin’ your farm?”

“Considering it. I wanna know what the soil quality’s like and how much land costs over there.”

“No problem, I’ll tell ya everythin’ ya needa know.”

According to Tagosack, the quality of the soil was roughly the same as in the Town of Beginnings. However, the upper limit was also one rank higher, meaning you could grow up to six-star crops on your farm. The price of those plots was also 1,000 G more expensive than the ones in the Town of Beginnings, but it seemed worth it considering the higher level cap. Unfortunately, the transportation device that allowed you to teleport instantaneously between towns cost 2,000 G per person each time. This resulted in pretty hefty commuting expenses, made all the more so by the fact that you had to pay for your tamed monsters as well. Even if I only brought Olto and Sakura with me, it would still cost me 4,000 G per trip.

“I’m sure you’d be able to get your money’s worth in no time, though.”

“I suppose...”

It looked like I had no choice but to visit the town in Zone Three. As I was chatting with Tagosack, I noticed a crowd had formed in front of my farm stand. What happened to the neat queue...?

“Did somethin’ happen?” Tagosack wondered out loud.

“Not sure. I’ll go have a look,” I replied.

“I’ll go with ya.”

My questions were answered once I got close enough. The players who hadn’t been able to buy any herbal tea were picking a fight with the player right before them.

“Why’d you have to go and buy the whole stock?!”

“Think about the rest of us, you inconsiderate fool!”

“Hey! I was well within my limits!”

The player who’d managed to nab the last bag of herbal tea was being yelled at by the people behind them. Give me a break. Why’d things have to turn out like this? Tagosack tapped me on the shoulder as if sensing my frustration.

“I was curious ’bout the herbal tea too. Like where you were gettin’ them from, for example. I didn’t ask, though, since I thought it’d be kinda inconsiderate...”

“Huh? You didn’t know?”

“Nope.”

If a Farmer as skilled as Tagosack didn’t know how to make herbal tea, then there was probably far less of it on the market than I expected.

“You can bet things’ll be like this for a while due to the hype.” Tagosack sighed.

“No way.”

The first player to drink the tea had apparently hyped it up to the max in the forums, saying it was the best thing they’d ever had, that they felt sorry for people who hadn’t tried it yet, and that it could only be bought here. Players who came to buy the tea only to find it sold out began to create a fuss, attracting a bunch of others who wanted to see what all the hype was about. As a result, my herbal tea had achieved premium status in a matter of three days.

“That’s scary AF.”

“I think they’re takin’ it way too seriously too.”

“Chirp chirp.”

Rick climbed onto my shoulder as though sensing my exasperation. Although I knew that he simply liked to perch there, and wasn’t necessarily doing it to cheer me up, just the feeling of his fluffy tail was enough to soothe me.

“Aah, smells like sunshine.” I sighed contentedly, huffing his fur.

“Don’t mean to judge, but ya kinda sound like a pervert, dude.”

“...”

“Chirp?”

Wordlessly, I let go of Rick’s tail. Now that I thought about it, sniffing a squirrel’s tail wrapped around my neck, clearly enraptured, was definitely not a great look. As the two of us stood side by side, observing the commotion, the players who appeared to be the center of it seemed to notice me and stomped over. Since they couldn’t enter my home, however, they had no choice but to yell at me from outside of my farm.

“Hey! Sell us some of that so-called herbal tea!”

“You can make more, can’t you?!”

“Actually, why dontcha tell us how to make it?! Quit hogging it all to yourself!”

Ugh, here they come. This was awful. I hated idiots like these; I’d already experienced more than my fair share of them during the Mirei incident. Not only were they stubborn and abusive, but they tried to be intimidating by calling you all sorts of names. Although I didn’t want anything to do with them, I was afraid of what they might write about me in the forums.

“Um...”

However, someone stepped between the aggressive thugs and me before I could say anything.

“Yo! Chuckleheads! Whatcha shootin’ your mouths off for?! Y’all should be thankful this dude’s sellin’ the herbal tea leaves he found!” Tagosack said in my defense. Marry me, Big Mama!

“Y-You stay out of this! In that case, he oughta sell them cheaper! He clearly has other motives if he’s selling them at such a high price!”

“You should be thankful that he even decided to sell them at all.”

“What, you want me to thank him for selling them?! They’re just tea leaves! Quit getting all high and mighty!”

What a load of hooey coming from someone getting their panties in a knot over said tea leaves. Tagosack seemed to be thinking the same thing.

“If they’re just tea leaves, ya don’t need them, d’ya? They’re just tea leaves, after all. Why dontcha give up and go home?”

“Don’t you get that I’m a customer?! The customer is king! Be grateful that I came all the way to buy these!”

Ah, so they were those kinds of people. Some people like to believe that the customer is king, but that’s a lie. Customers were just that—customers, not some kind of monarch or deity. While workers in the service industry were meant to provide the best hospitality they could within bounds, they weren’t expected to do more than that. The only places that still believed in the old “customer is king” mantra were shops run by corporate dropouts who had the wrong idea, or old-timey businesses operating on outdated logic. That, or the hotel industry, which depended on making customers happy. Of course, that phrase did slip out occasionally, but there were times when one needed to pay lip service. Still, some stupid Karens and Kens accepted this bullshit without question and liked to unironically spout garbage like, “I’m a customer! I’m a god!” Please, a god? Don’t make me laugh. If anything, they were more like pests—oops, I got a little carried away there. Old wounds... Right now, I had to deal with these complainers.

“Why not make some now if you’re out of stock? You have the ingredients, dontcha?!”

“These idiots don’t know the first thing about craftin’, do they?” Tagosack sighed, a look of pure disdain on her face.

“What did you say?! Better watch your mouth, crafter!”

“I’ll have you know that we’re frontliners!”

“Wow.”

I couldn’t help but sigh in admiration at that brilliantly stupid response.

“Why are you impressed?” Tagosack asked.

“It’s just that I’ve never seen someone act all high and mighty using such a clichéd, textbook phrase before. Didn’t know these people actually existed.”

“Wh-Why you! You makin’ fun of us?!”

Crap, me and my big mouth. I hadn’t intended to aggravate them. The next instant, the players around me began shouting at the idiots, looking highly incensed. There were about thirty players altogether against five of the troublemakers. Most of them were of the opinion that crafters had every right to keep their findings to themselves and criticized the idiots for their arrogant behavior. Some even mentioned that they had never seen these people before on the frontlines. Wow, so they weren’t even actual frontliners. Ouch.

“What if Silver-Haired stops selling herbal tea because of you guys, huh?!”

“Exactly! Don’t you feel sorry for Silver-Haired?!”

Ah, so they did know who I was. Not that I was trying to keep my identity a secret anymore, though. Besides, I hadn’t expected so many people to take my side. Touched by their kindness, I unwittingly found myself tearing up a little. Once again, Tagosack growled at the troublemakers, who were now quaking under the weight of the abuse from everyone else.

“Yo, you knuckleheads made fun of us crafter-types just now, didn’t ya? Better not underestimate the power of our network.”

Ooh, that sounded like a real threat. From what I heard later on, crafter-type players apparently had a blacklist circulating among them, which banned quite a few players from using player-run shops. There were currently thirty-odd names on this list, namely players who had tried to scam others, players who complained and were a frequent nuisance, and players who looked down on crafters and tried to extort items from them. Whether they were aware of this or not, the idiots backed away, seemingly intimidated by Tagosack’s intensity.

“D-Damn it! We’re never buying your herbal tea again, you hear me?!”

“Better not regret it! We’ll let other players know that it tasted terrible!”

Actually, that would be a great relief. Please do so and contribute to extinguishing these rumors. I doubted they’d get very far, however, since the other players had already reported them to the devs. Even if their accounts didn’t get deleted, they would most likely get suspended for a while.

“Mm-mm!”

“Growl!”

“Chirp!”

“...!”

My companions had snuck up behind me and were all blowing raspberries at the troublemakers running off into the distance. The gesture was very becoming on Olto, ever the cheeky little boy. The others looked adorable too. I did hope Sakura would refrain from such unladylike behavior in the future, though.

“Um, thanks, everyone.” I patted Sakura on the head as I bowed to the players who had defended me.

“Don’t mind idiots like them! We’re on your side, okay?”

“Keep doing you!”

I was pleasantly surprised to receive such support. Even the few people who hadn’t managed to buy tea leaves didn’t so much as grumble. What an understanding crowd.

“Hey, will you sell us herbal tea leaves again tomorrow?” someone asked.

“Huh? Yeah, that’s the plan.”

“Any plans on selling something else until then?”

“Um, what do you mean by that?” I replied, not understanding their question.

“Well, you’re all sold out of herbal tea, right? So right now, you don’t have anything in your farm stand. I was wondering if you planned on selling something else in the meantime while we wait for you to restock tomorrow.”

That was a revelation. Come to think of it, they were perfectly right. It seemed a waste to leave my shop empty for that long. What could I sell, though? It’d have to be something that I had a decent supply of, so that ruled out potions. What other items were related to my farm...? I flipped open the farm stand’s settings page while I rummaged around in my inventory for items I could sell. There, I found a mountain of wooden crafts—several different types of crockery—that I hadn’t known existed. When did Sakura make all these? There had to be at least fifty of them altogether.

“Plates, cups, coffee mugs...”

She had even made spoons, forks, and chopsticks. Since they were for practicing her Woodworking skills, the quality and rarity were low, but at least there were enough of them to go around. How was I able to sell wooden crafts at my farm stand, though? I thought I could only sell crops that were grown on my farm or items that were made from said crops. It would make sense if one of the ingredients was from my farm, but these plates were made by simply carving wood, right? The whole thing was a mystery to me.

“Well, might as well sell them if I can.”

“Restockin’ the shop?”

“Hey, Tagosack. I found some plates and stuff from Woodworking practice, so I figured maybe I could sell them.”

“Plates, eh...? What are they like?”

“Like these,” I said, handing her a coffee cup and spoon.

“Oho.”

Tagosack examined the items from different angles, sniffing them and rapping her knuckles on them.

“What do you think?”

“Not bad. Nice chic color too. They’ll likely appeal to all genders.”

I got Tagosack’s stamp of approval! All right, restock was a go. After seeing her off, I tweaked the farm stand’s settings so I could register my crockery. At 200 to 300 G apiece, they were relatively cheap. Not much I could do about it, though, seeing as they were made from kindling. Unlike herbal tea, which was made from a blend of tea leaves, there wasn’t much room for improvement. These, too, had a purchase limit of three per person, set at the highest price possible. If they sold, great. If not, I could rethink my strategy then. Before I knew it, a crowd had formed around the farm stand while I registered my wooden crockery. What now? I hoped they didn’t have the wrong idea.

“Uh, these aren’t tea leaves, by the way.”

“Oh, we know that. Please, continue.”

So they were aware of that.

“Don’t mind us.”

“Go ahead and restock the shop.”

The crowd motioned to me to hurry up and restock the stand, their movements almost comically choreographed. They had apparently stuck around instead of heading home, thinking that I might restock the shop with new items. As happy as I was that they were that invested in my stall, surely they had better things to do...? Once I’d restocked my shop and stepped away, the crowd immediately opened up their purchase screens.

“Hey, what’s on sale?”

“Wooden crafts. Plates and stuff.”

“I want a mug so I can drink my herbal tea.”

“Why’d you buy tea when you don’t even own a mug?!”

“’Cause I felt like it?”

“Wasn’t there a monster that dropped cups in Zone Two?”

“Wimpy Goblins drop broken cups.”

“They’re super dirty, though, aren’t they?”

“I know an NPC shop that sells teacups.”

“Really? I’ve been using a broken cup this whole time.”

It looked like they were satisfied with what I had to offer, so that was good.

“Now then, time to do a little research. Are you free, Sakura?”

“...?”

I decided to ask Sakura to show me her Woodworking process, as it might shed light on why I was able to sell her crafts at my stand. Sakura went to the toolbox in the barn and brought out some wood and a simple Woodworking kit. That I could understand, but what was that small bucket for? I assessed the item, and to my amazement, it turned out to be a bucket full of weed water. Was she going to use that too? Sakura dragged a chair to her side, then patted it, gazing up at me. Sit, she appeared to be saying.

“Thanks.”

“...♪”

Once I sat down, Sakura pulled up a chair next to me and perched on it before she set to work, humming as she carved the wood. The wood changed drastically in shape, right before my eyes. From the looks of it, she appeared to be making a teacup. Halfway through the process, she used tree magic to strengthen the wood, presumably to prevent the slim teacup handle from breaking. Five minutes later, a plain-looking, unvarnished wooden teacup was nestled between Sakura’s hands.

“Is that it?”

“...♪” Sakura shook her head to and fro. Apparently, she still had some work left. What else is there to do, though? I wondered, returning the cup to her. The next instant, she dunked the teacup in the bucket of weed water and left it there.

“Huh? S-Sakura? Are you sure this is okay?”

“...?”

“Wouldn’t your drink taste bitter if you soak the cup in weed water that long?”

“...♪”

Sakura just smiled in response. This was the ultra-bitter weed water we were talking about. Despite my worries, however, she nodded reassuringly. But why was she doing this?

After ten minutes had passed, Sakura removed the teacup from the bucket of weed water and began washing it with water from the well. Unfortunately, the teacup was stained brown from the weed water.

“I feel like any tea you drink from this would just taste like weeds.”

Sakura then carried the cup outside the barn. I wasn’t sure what she was doing until she placed it on a small table, also presumably made by her, to dry.

“Are you gonna let it dry in the sun?”

“...”

“Mind if I dry it with Alchemy?”

“...♪”

It didn’t seem to matter as long as it dried. I decided to speed up the process by applying an Alchemy art.

“Dry!”

“...♪”

That appeared to be it. Sakura held the finished teacup high above her head and smiled at me expectantly. Don’t worry, I know what you’re driving at.

“Good job.”

As I patted her on the head, Sakura smiled shyly, her cheeks flushing pink. Man, she was too adorable for words! I had to watch out for pedophiles. No way was I going to let anyone else have her!

I examined the teacup Sakura had made from various angles. Now that it was dry, the color seemed to have faded a bit, seeming more muted. I see, so the whole point of dunking it in weed water was to add some color. The brown teacup certainly looked more chic and expensive than its unvarnished counterpart.

“Let’s try it out.”

I poured some water into the newly made teacup and took a sip.

“...Hmm, doesn’t smell or taste any different.”

There appeared to be no problems using weed water as a dyeing agent. Phew. Glad to know I wouldn’t receive any complaints from the people who’d bought my crockery earlier. That was a relief. And who knew, if things went well, maybe we’d be able to draw or paint patterns on them. When I suggested the idea to Sakura, she clapped her hands and nodded in agreement. I was looking forward to seeing what kind of patterns she would come up with. That also solved the mystery of the farm stand. Because the weed water was made from weeds that we’d pulled up from the plot, the tableware was also considered to be made from ingredients harvested from my farm.

“Right... Although we ran into some trouble this morning, everything’s taken care of now. Let’s go to the Magical Beasts Guild.”

Online Forum [Gather ’Round Tamers, Part 2] LJO Tamer Megathread

Share the deets on new tamed monsters, show off your companions, etc.—this thread is for everyone!

Bad-mouthing other Tamers is not permitted.

Screenshots gladly accepted.

Avoid double-posting.

Be mindful of what you post.

---

334: Ursula

So you can still make summoning beads—it’s just that the recipe’s changed since beta?

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335: KingOysterMushroom

Apparently, you need an item called a tamed monster’s heart. Not only that, but your guild rank also needs to be above 7.

I got this from Amimin’s page, so it’s most likely true.

---

336: Ursula

My rank’s high enough, but... Wah, I shouldn’t have wasted that crystal! It was my most prized possession, and I had to practically get down on my knees and beg my friend for it! It cost me 40,000 G too!

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337: Ivan

I can vividly imagine you prostrated by grief...

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338: KingOysterMushroom

It’s your fault for not checking the recipe first. You’ve only got yourself to blame. Why didn’t you consider the possibility that things might be different from the beta test?

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339: Ursula

*sob* I was so eager to get a summoning bead, I didn’t think twice!

How do you obtain a tamed monster’s heart, though? Never heard of it.

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340: Amelia

I have one.

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341: Ivan

I don’t. Go on, enlighten us.

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342: Amelia

Hmm... I’m actually not clear on the details either.

I got mine when I was brushing my Bun Bun. There was a sudden flash of light, and the next thing I knew, Bun Bun had a pretty gemstone in their mouth, which they then gave to me.

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343: Ivan

So that’s a tamed monster’s heart?

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344: Amelia

Yep. Mine was named “Tamed Monster’s Heart (Bun Bun).”

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345: Ursula

Judging from the name and the timing you got it, perhaps it had something to do with your favorability score maxing out?

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346: Eulenspiegel

I say you hit the nail on the head. My tamed monster suddenly started glowing too, when I was feeding them their favorite barbecue. After that, they gave me an item called a tamed monster’s heart.

I was seriously freaked out at first since I had no idea what was going on.

---

347: KingOysterMushroom

I guess your favorability score does matter a lot. What am I doing wrong, though? I feed my tamed monster his favorite food every day, and I do my best to give him affection.

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348: Ivan

What kind of affection are we talking about?

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349: KingOysterMushroom

I feed my Caterpillar, Alexander, honey every day. We even take naps together. His skin is super soft and smooth, like a baby’s bottom.

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350: Eulenspiegel

I’m not sure where to begin with that, but you do you. Do you really think naps will raise your favorability score, though? Shouldn’t you be brushing him or something?

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351: Ursula

Personally, I don’t think it’s a bad idea. Maybe it’s a matter of food he likes versus food he loves. They might each give you different amounts of points.

Some monsters might also be easier to raise your favorability score with than others.

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352: Ivan

Yeah, I suppose you’re right. I’ve only given my monster honey dumplings before... Better find out what they like.

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353: Eulenspiegel

By the way, here’s something else I heard about favorability scores. Or rather, I figured they might have something to do with it, based on what I’ve read so far.

I recently found out that my Wild Dog gained a new evolution form. It’s probably due to my favorability score.

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354: Amelia

Huh? What do you mean? Spill the beans, please!

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355: Eulenspiegel

Normally, Wild Dogs can only evolve into War Dogs or Wolves, right?

But after my Wild Dog gave me their tamed monster’s heart, I noticed a new evolution option called Guard Dog. Don’t you think my favorability score has something to do with it?

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356: Amelia

Hey, good point! Does that mean my Bun Bun might be able to evolve too?

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357: KingOysterMushroom

It’s possible. At the moment, Rabbits are confirmed to evolve into White Rabbits and Black Rabbits for regular specimens and Translucent Rabbits for unique specimens.

Anything other than that is a new evolved form.

---

358: Amelia

Well I’m psyched! I’m going to start leveling up Bun Bun right away! Mark my words, I’ll make sure they evolve today! For maximum efficiency, we’ll fight together, just the two of us!

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359: KingOysterMushroom

Don’t push yourself too hard. Also, make sure to share the evolution deets with us later.

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360: Ursula

I’m going to go pamper my tamed monster! I’ll feed them as much honey as they want and snuggle with them all day!

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361: Ivan

There can still be too much of a good thing, you know? Also, you probably shouldn’t overfeed them.

Feeding them as much honey as they like sounds like a sticky situation...

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362: Eulenspiegel

Moderation is key. Overdoing it will probably affect your score negatively.

>358

I reckon it’s more efficient to fight a powerful opponent as a group than reduce the number of members in your party.

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363: KingOysterMushroom

...I doubt they’re still reading this.

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364: Ivan

I have a feeling they’re going to come crying to us later, saying they’ve messed up.

Let’s take things at our own pace.

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365: Eulenspiegel

Agreed.

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366: KingOysterMushroom

Ditto.