Chapter 5: Rank C Monsters

It was now the end of September, about half a year since Viscount Carnel’s visit. Today was Allen’s day off. He would normally be busy chasing monsters outside the city at this time, but today was different. Today, he was going to use the money he had saved up over ten months to buy something.

At the end of April, Sebas had called Allen to his room and told him that Mash had been pronounced a Spear User at his Appraisal Ceremony. Whereas the viscount had been glad that his daughter had been Talentless, Allen was over the moon hearing that his younger brother had a Talent. Apparently, the butler had asked the envoy from Krena Village to convey the message that Allen was doing well in Granvelle City when he returned home. When Allen heard this, he had thanked Sebas from the bottom of his heart.

Now, just as Allen was heading to the square in the middle of the city, he heard someone calling out to him.

“Hey there! Fancy bumping into you!”

“Ah, good morning, mister.”

It turned out to be a merchant that Allen had saved outside of town before. Nowadays, whenever Allen walked around the city, he would get recognized every now and again.

“Thank you again for saving my life back then.”

“I’m simply relieved to see you healthy and well, mister.”

The man lowered his head deeply. Naturally, a full-grown adult bowing to a child in the middle of the street drew attention.

After becoming a huntsman, Allen had saved quite a few merchants and travelers. The monsters grew active in spring; as a result, adventurers also grew more active. Allen had ended up saving a fair number of those adventurers too. About once a month, Hawkins found someone needing help.

Protecting the citizens from monsters was also a part of Allen’s duties as huntsman. Because of this, he became quite proactive in saving whomever he could. He even used Leaves of Life on anyone who needed it—hiding the appearance behind his hand, of course. Each leaf cost five Rank E magic stones, but he never thought using them was a waste.

“Hey, there you are, Allen.”

After Allen parted ways with the merchant, he got hailed once again. When he turned around, he saw a male adventurer with a sword on his waist, flanked on both sides by female adventurers. These were the people Allen had actually made plans to meet up with.

“Good morning, Mr. Raven, Ms. Rita, Ms. Milci.”

“All right, first order of business: food!”

“Lead the way, Mr. Raven.”

Allen promptly accepted Raven’s offer for lunch, and the group walked into a restaurant located along a major avenue.

Thinking about it, this is my very first time eating in a restaurant in town.

So far, Allen had done almost nothing else other than work or hunt during his waking moments. Naturally, that included strolling around town. Even though it had been almost a full year since he came to this city, there were plenty of stores that he did not know and places that he had never been to.

“Here ya go. You still collecting these, right?”

While waiting for the food, Raven handed Allen a jute pouch.

“Again? Are you sure about this?”

“’Course.”

It was filled with Rank E magic stones. Every time the two met, Raven gave Allen another pouch of exactly a hundred, so it was most likely the same number again this time. With this, Allen had now received five hundred in total. Thanks to Raven, he now had a rather sizable stock.

It was a little while ago that Raven had found out about Allen being someone from the Granvelle family after another adventurer that Allen had saved told him. Even so, Raven and Allen still met up casually whenever they had something to do together.

“So, why’d you call me?”

Allen had actually not yet told Raven why they were meeting up today. Several days ago, Allen had visited Raven’s inn but was told that he was out, and so asked reception to pass on the request to meet at the city’s central plaza today.

“I’m thinking of moving my hunting grounds a bit farther in. So I want to ask you about the characteristics of Rank C monsters in the area, including things like whether they roam in groups or not.”

“What?!”

As all three in Raven’s group widened their eyes in shock, a delicious-looking meat dish arrived. It probably cost several silver.

“You...understand what you’re saying, right? Even Rank C adventurers like us would die if we get unlucky.”

“That’s why I’m asking you to tell me what you can about the monsters.”

The last time they had met, Raven had told Allen that adventurers had ranks. Just like monsters, the ranking started at “E” and reached all the way to “S.” However, that did not mean an adventurer would be able to fight on equal footing with a monster of the same rank—in general, the adventurer would struggle in such a fight. Allen had asked for this information just in case, even though he was in no hurry for it, as he was considering eventually quitting his job as manservant and switching to being an adventurer.

As they continued eating, Raven revealed that he and his two companions were all Rank C adventurers. Then he told a story of how they had gotten attacked by armored ants, Rank C monsters that were dangerous due to their proclivity to travel in swarms.

However, Allen had already made up his mind about hunting where Rank C monsters roamed. Over lunch, he asked Raven all the questions about Rank C monsters that came to mind, taking detailed notes in his grimoire. There were plenty of reasons for his decision.

• He had wiped out almost all of the goblins.
• His level was now so high that it was difficult to level up on goblins alone.
• When he turned nine years old next month, the multiplier on his stats would go up again (from 0.8 to 0.9).
• He now had a large enough stock of Rank E magic stones that he would not have to worry about actively collecting more for a while.
• Strengthening had reached Lvl. 5.

Not long ago, Zenof had, over dinner, reported that the number of assault cases by goblins had more than halved over the past six months. In the vicinity between Granvelle City and the White Dragon Mountains, Allen had killed more than ten thousand of them over the span of roughly nine months. Due to this, their population had plummeted, and it was now taking longer to find them. Allen now had more Rank D magic stones than he knew what to do with, so it was about time to move on and challenge the next rank up.

After lunch, Allen went to do some shopping. For the first time after becoming a huntsman, he was finally going to buy equipment for himself. He asked Raven’s group to accompany him and give their opinion, so the four of them walked into a store together.

“Welcome,” the storekeeper said. He gave the group a funny look for bringing a child to an armorer’s, but they ignored it and went straight to checking out what was on offer.

“So, what’re you looking for?” Raven asked.

“Hmm... Something that won’t obstruct my movement.”

Raven recalled how, the first time they met, Allen had taken off so quickly he seemed to have disappeared. “Then you probably shouldn’t get armor. Look for something that’s light and tough.”

Rita suddenly interrupted Raven and Allen’s conversation, holding out a pair of shorts that she had picked up. “I think these would look great on you, Allen! Right, Milci?”

“Um...yeah.”

Rita held the pants against Allen, checking the size. She was acting like an aunt choosing clothes for her nephew.

Hm, reminds me of a uniform from kindergarten or elementary school, the ones where the students have to wear shorts even in winter.

Many of the online computer games Allen had played as Kenichi had options for characters to wear special costumes, but he had never even given them a single glance. All he needed for his armor was defense value and resistance against magic and debuffs. If the most powerful set of equipment ever was a onesie, he would have put it on without hesitation.

In this life, however, things were different. If Allen was to continue his style of hunting while staying on the move, he had to prioritize speed and ease of movement rather than defensibility in order to truly min-max his grinding. The only thing that remained the same was that he valued performance over appearance. This was a motto that had not changed since his time as Kenichi.

“How much is it?” Allen asked, checking out the price of the shorts and the effects it came with.

“Uh, two gold.”

The reason for the slightly higher price tag was because this pair of shorts was made with materials and fur from a monster.

“I want something that would be easy to move in, like these shorts, but I’m willing to go up to around five gold. Is there anything better?”

Allen was prepared to spend more than half of his savings today.

Rita whistled. “Someone’s rolling in cash!”

“Then you’d probably want either of these,” Raven said, picking out two options.

Death Spider mantle: 5 gold
Breath Damage Resistance (Minor), Increased Elemental Damage Resistance (Medium)
Light brown in color

White Bat hood: 6 gold
Breath Damage Resistance (Medium)
White in color

Hm, so these are the only ones in my price range. “Rank C monsters don’t use breath attacks, right?” Allen asked, recalling what Raven had said in the restaurant just now.

“At the very least, none of the monster species you’ll encounter on the way to the White Dragon Mountains use it. I would recommend going for the mantle, partly because it’d be handy both when you feel cold and when you camp out.”

That’s really specific and useful advice. As expected of a veteran adventurer. So, there are things I need to consider aside from the resistances alone. I should take his suggestion.

“I’ll go with the mantle, then.”

With this, Allen was done with his preparations for taking on Rank C monsters.

＊ ＊ ＊

October rolled around, and Allen turned nine. As always, he was waiting in front of the city gates by six in the morning. Today, he was wearing the mantle he had just bought at the armorer’s. He had asked for its length to be adjusted, so there was no worry of him tripping over it.

“Hey there, lad! Nice mantle you’re wearing!”

“Thank you, sir. I bought it the other day.”

The guard and Allen, whose relationship went all the way back to November of the previous year, chatted the way they always did.

This mantle really was a good choice. I like how easily I can put it on, and it keeps my hands free.

Allen gave his arms a shake, confirming that he could move normally.

CLANG! CLANG! CLANG!

The gates opened with the ringing of the bell, allowing Allen to run through. Whereas he used to hunt roughly a day’s walk away, his plan today was to go three days’ walk away.

Good, the mantle’s not getting in my way even when I run. Now, I didn’t get to buy a new weapon, but how would this go?

After visiting the armorer’s, Allen had also dropped by a weapons store. However, the sword that caught his eye was too expensive for him at the moment. He was the kind of person who would rather wait to buy what he actually wanted instead of compromising and buying something inferior. However, he was open to considering getting a new weapon if his Summons, short sword, and iron balls proved ineffective today.

Sebas had told him, “This month marks your one-year anniversary of joining our family. It’s a bit early, but we’ll be raising your salary as a manservant to the normal value for an adult, one gold.” Together with his salary as a huntsman, Allen now earned one gold and fifty silver every month.

Allen’s first thought when hearing this was, “It’s already been a year? Time sure flies.” He wondered if the hunting party in Krena Village had already begun this year’s hunts and thought about his family and Krena.

While running, Allen got out his grimoire to look at his stats, which had gone up again on his birthday, October 1. He never got tired of looking at his Status. He thought he could probably just stare at it for three hours straight. Five whenever his stats went up.

---

Name: Allen
Age: 9
Class: Summoner
Level: 24
HP: 553 (615) + 140
MP: 846 (940) + 200
Attack: 298 (332) + 140
Endurance: 298 (332) + 20
Agility: 560 (623) + 60
Intelligence: 855 (950) + 40
Luck: 560 (623) + 200

Skills: Summoning {4}, Creation {4}, Synthesis {4}, Strengthening {5}, Expansion {3}, Storage, Deletion, Sword Mastery {3}, Throwing {3}

XP: 194,810/600,000

Skill Levels
Summoning: 4
Creation: 4
Synthesis: 4
Strengthening: 5

Skill Experience
Creation: 291,700/1,000,000
Synthesis: 281,640/1,000,000
Strengthening: 200/10,000,000

Creatable Summons
Insect: E, F, G, H
Beast: E, F, G, H
Bird: E, F, G
Grass: E, F
Stone: E

Holder
Insect: E x 2
Beast: E x 14
Bird: E x 4
Grass: E x 20
Stone:

---

Up until now, in order to maximize his Skill XP, Allen had always spent almost all his MP, leaving only around 30, in the morning before heading out to hunt goblins. Today, however, he had not done so, leaving himself in perfect condition—after all, he had no idea what would happen. After confirming how much MP he would actually use fighting Rank C monsters, he would then gradually lower the amount he left available in the coming weeks.

Now that Strengthening had reached Lvl. 5, it buffed the Summons by +200 in the same two stats they boosted for Allen. It had been +100 in the previous level, which meant the effect had been doubled. This was one of the reasons why Allen decided to attempt challenging Rank C monsters.

Several hours of running later, Allen looked around to confirm whether he had reached where he wanted.

I’ve been running for a while now. Is this place right? Hawkins, come on out.

Four Bird Es appeared overhead, crying, “Piiii!” in unison.

Umm...there should be large ants covered in round armor called armored ants, and some piglike figures walking on two legs called orcs around here. Search as far as ten kilometers in all four directions. If you can’t find any, go further. Find me one of either kind wandering around alone by itself.

The four Summons cried out once more, then scattered.

Allen’s targets for today were monsters that Raven had told him about the other day: the armored ant and the orc. There were plenty of other Rank C monsters—such as the death spider—but they were much harder to find, being significantly rarer, and much more troublesome to kill, as they used special abilities like poison and paralyzing agents.

Armored ants and orcs supposedly often roamed in groups of two to three. Allen’s instruction, however, was to look for ones that were by themselves. This seemed to be a rather strict requirement, seeing as how no Hawkins was back even after thirty minutes.

I guess it really is hard to find ones that are alone. I’ve been waiting quite a while, even though the Bird Es should be much faster than before thanks to Strengthening.

Eventually, as Allen was in the middle of his thoughts, one Hawkins finally came back. It had apparently discovered an armored ant ten kilometers away. Allen ran in the direction it indicated until he found a three-meter-tall monster with what looked like the head of an ant and the body of a pillbug.

I had expected it to be protected by a round shell—I guess “armor” would be a more fitting name?—but this was not what I had imagined. The only ant-like part is its head? I should definitely avoid the pincers. So this is the kind of monster Raven was talking about in his story.

Whereas the pincers on the monster’s jaw did indeed look very vicious, its body looked like a very sturdy salad bowl flipped over.

Now, how am I supposed to kill this thing? Its head is the only part not protected by its armor. Well, let’s start off siccing all my Tamas on it. Tamas, go!

In response to Allen’s command, fourteen saber-toothed cats appeared, surrounded the armored ant, then spammed their Ability, Claw.

They’re barely even scratching the armor. None of the attacks are getting through the head either, which means it must also be pretty tough.

Allen analyzed the fight from behind a tree. Apparently the Tamas could not harm even the monster’s sole unprotected part. The sound of claws scratching hard surfaces filled the air.

The armored ant was hardly just taking all the attacks idly. It snapped its pincers, which were more than a meter each in length, to counterattack. The Beast Es could not withstand these attacks and gradually dwindled in number. Every time that happened, Allen used his magic stones and MP to create a new one and called it out, but he soon determined this strategy to be ineffective.

All right, I gotta take another approach. Agehas, come out! Use Scale Powder.

Leaving the Beast Es to continue their attack, Allen added two Insect Es to the fight—he needed two for their Ability to be effective on a Rank C monster. These one-meter-tall butterflies flapped their wings, covering the armored ant’s head with their yellow powder. The head immediately drooped and became motionless. The monster had fallen asleep.

Nice, so it works on Rank C monsters too! Insect E’s Ability really is useful.

Allen walked up to the armored ant—giving the pincers a wide berth—and circled it to get a comprehensive look.

Hmm, there are a ton of scratches left by the Tamas’ attacks, but it’s all just surface level.

The conclusion that Allen arrived at after careful examination was that Tama really was inappropriate for killing armored ants.

Well, let’s kill this monster before it wakes up.

Allen reached down low, right where the armor barely scraped the ground. Then, with a “Hngh!” he flipped the armored ant onto its back.

That was heavy, but not as much as I’d imagined. Since this is an insect, I bet it’s all empty inside. Makes sense that armor made out of this is light.

According to Raven, the armor of an armored ant, due to being extremely sturdy and light, was very highly prized and used in many adventurers’ armor.

Allen carefully climbed over the side of the overturned shell, making sure he did not lose his balance. It turned out the rest of the monster’s body inside the shell looked like that of a normal ant, just writ large. There were six legs growing from its torso and it had a short and stout abdomen.

Without further ado, Allen scrambled to the torso and brought his sword down on the joint where the monster’s head and torso were connected, figuring this was the softest part of its body. To his surprise, however, all the strength that he plunged down with bounced right back up. A short sword worth fifty silver was apparently insufficient for harming the body of an armored ant.

Damn, that’s tough! If I keep this up, I’ll chip this sword that Dogora gave me. It’s just not sturdy nor sharp enou— Ah, it woke up.

The ant seemed to have woken up from Allen’s attack. It started flailing its barbed legs furiously. Allen continued cutting away at the joint he thought was a weak point while taking care that none of the legs got him.

More than ten minutes later, the short sword finally stabbed deep and the monster’s previously frenzied flailing slowed down until it stopped altogether.

<You have defeated 1 armored ant. You have earned 3,000 XP.>

It’s finally dead. Yep, this monster is a total nope. Killing it takes way too long!

It had taken more than two hours to find this armored ant and kill it. Doing the math, its hourly rate was only 1,500 XP.

God, that took ages. Okay, time to retrieve the magic stone.

While muttering grumpily to himself, Allen struck the torso with his sword.

Clang!

A “Huh?” unconsciously slipped Allen’s lips. The torso had only gotten a little dented instead of being penetrated. He tried a few more times, but to no visible effect.

Uh-oh, is this short sword not good enough to even butcher an armored ant?!

Although this fifty-silver sword did eventually bisect a joint, it was apparently incapable of cutting through the torso. Allen gave up, partly because he did not want to waste any more time here, and partly because he was afraid he would chip his sword.

In exchange for the Summons that I lost and the magic stones I had to expend to replace them, I learned that killing armored ants is extremely inefficient and that I can’t even take out their magic stones. This is definitely a monster that you’re supposed to use magic against, not physical attacks. If anyone’s going the physical route, they’d have to use something like a great sword for more power.

After concluding that the armored ant was an enemy that was beyond his current abilities and equipment, Allen looked up into the sky and found three Hawkins back from scouting.

Hawkins, armored ants are no good. Come on down if you found a single orc by itself.

One Bird E came down obediently. Allen followed it to where an orc should be waiting. Sure enough, after twenty minutes of running, he came upon a monster with its back against a tree trunk taking an afternoon nap. It was wearing very ragged clothing and had a face like a pig’s. Its actual height was unclear as it was sitting, but there was little doubt it towered above the large majority of adult human males. There was a large spear on the ground next to the monster’s limp hand. This was Allen’s second time seeing an orc—the first was when he was looking for Cecil when she got lost close to a lake.

Monsters sleep too? Oh, wait, I just saw Ageha’s Ability work on the armored ant, so that question’s moot. Well, works out great for me that the orc is already asleep. Tamas, come out!

Allen called out fourteen Beast Es while once again peeking from behind a tree.

“Grrrrrr!”

The Beast Es, all fully Strengthened, surrounded the orc and started spamming Claw.

“Oiiiink!”

The orc screamed as fresh blood stained the brown fallen leaves on the ground.

Nice, the 250 Attack is paying off! So, Claw definitely works against orcs.

The fourteen-versus-one fight clearly did not need Allen to get directly involved. While watching on from a distance, he thought back to arm wrestling with Rodin and Gerda. Back then, he had beaten Gerda but lost to Rodin. At the time, his Attack had been a little under 300, leading him to guess that Rodin’s must have been between 300 to 350. Whenever Rodin would deal the finishing blow to a great boar, he always made sure to use his spear. In other words, he needed his Attack stat and the weapon to kill a great boar.

I see. I’m glad I did the arm wrestling.

Even while Allen was wrapped up in his thoughts, the Beast Es continued their assault. Soon enough, the orc fell to the ground, causing a small rumble.

<You have defeated 1 orc. You have earned 1,500 XP.>

The Rank E Summons had successfully hurt—and even killed—an orc, a Rank C monster equal to the great boar.

This is confirmation that I do possess the means to kill Rank C monsters. Based on the results of the arm wrestling back then and the state of this orc, I’m guessing that Claw deals 1.5 times normal damage.

One of Allen’s main goals for today was to confirm whether the Beast E Summons, which were specced exceptionally high in Attack, could be relied on as his main damage dealers. Their Attack, after being Strengthened, was 250, which was not all that high when compared to Rodin or the other members of Krena Village’s hunting party. It was true that orcs had much lower defense than great boars, but Allen had still worried whether his Summons’ attacks could actually be effective. If it had not worked on either armored ants or orcs, then he was planning on going back to hunting goblins.

As it turned out, although the armored ant was indeed too difficult, the orc could indeed be brought down with normal attacks and Claw.

Three Tamas got done in. But if I use Ageha and personally get involved, I think I can prevent any more from being wiped out.

Allen approached the orc corpse to retrieve its magic stone. Now that he could take a closer look, he realized the monster was about two and a half meters in height. Unlike the armored ant, his short sword plunged into the orc’s chest with little resistance. Out came a purple magic stone about the size of a ping-pong ball.

Wow, I’ve become capable of hunting Rank C monsters within a year.

This was a memorable moment for Allen. He had managed to kill a monster at the same rank as a great boar by himself. What was more, he had not relied on traps like he did for white deer. This was the result of his year of hunting goblins, raising his level, and diligently gathering Skill XP.

Hold on, what am I thinking? I still have a long, long way to go.

Allen caught himself just as he was starting to feel moved. Half a year ago, he had lost against Mihai so completely he could not even lift a finger. The eight years he spent raising his level and skills had been easily surpassed by Mihai developing his Talent at Academy City for a single year. The two months that he had devoted to dungeon delving had given him more growth than Allen’s eight years combined. During the practice match, Allen had truly felt the vast chasm between the growth rate of Normal Mode and Hell Mode.

In this world, I can assume those who attend Academy City are particularly powerful.

Mihai had been forthcoming with details about the Academy. In short, being Talented or Talentless was not the only determinant of strength in this world.

• Strongest: Have a Talent and are graduates of the Academy
• 2nd Strongest: Have a Talent but did not graduate from the Academy
• 3rd Strongest: Talentless but are blessed in terms of physical build and stats
• Weakest: Talentless and not blessed in build or stats

Fewer than one percent of people fit into the first category. Categories one and two together made up less than ten percent. The Academy had a strict entrance exam and cost tuition. To graduate, students had to clear several assignments, and those who failed were expelled. It only made sense that those who actually managed to graduate had very impressive Statuses.

The chivalric orders were generally composed of a mix of those in the second and third tiers, with those of the first tier serving as officers or at least officer candidates. Zenof and Leibrand both belonged to this category.

When Allen heard all this, he thought back to when the five-year-old Krena completely overwhelmed Leibrand in a fight. Leibrand was apparently much stronger than Mihai, but Allen had difficulty understanding this within the context of what he had seen. Was Krena actually that strong, or did the vice-captain go easy on her?

The large majority of adventurers were in the third category. This made sense, as most people with Talents would enter government service or become employed in more professional roles. According to Raven, adventurers in the second group could expect to go up to Rank B; if in the first group, then perhaps even Rank A.

So there are still differences within Normal Mode. Well then, it’s time for little old me in Hell Mode to continue hunting. Let’s try attacking two orcs together. Hawkins, find me a pair of orcs within three kilometers.

Allen switched gears and drew his mind back to hunting. The day’s hunting had only just begun. In response to his command, the four Bird Es flew off into the distance.

Four hours later, Allen tallied his kill count for the day: one armored ant and fifteen orcs. That worked out to a total of 25,500 XP.

Ageha’s Ability had worked on the orcs too, but not as effectively as it had on goblins. Whereas the chance of success for goblins had been around eighty percent, it was only sixty percent for orcs. However, Allen had confirmed that he could handle groups of up to three orcs together with limited casualties when he backed up the Beast Es with Insect Es, his iron balls, and his own direct participation.

All right, it’s about time to go home.

Allen decided to break things up earlier than usual as he had come further away today, plus he still had to catch a few beasts to bring back for eating. He looked up at the sun in the sky, one of the very limited ways to check time in this world with no clocks.

Hm, when it was goblins, I had to work hard to get up to 25,000 XP. If I spend an entire day focusing on orcs, I might be able to get around 50,000. I should set my quota to forty orcs, then.

Ultimately, Allen concluded that hunting orcs was entirely viable at his current specs. This day, the target of Allen’s level grinding officially shifted from the Rank D goblin to the Rank C orc.