Vol 2 Chapter 3: The Farmer travels to Elipor City

“Alright……time to see if I succeeded or not…..again” I say this with almost no confidence since I’ve already failed twice already

Now, what did I keep failing at? The answer is that I keep failing to grow a plant, a herb plant to be exact. How hard is it to grow a herb? The answer is very, extremely, ultra hard! Why am I growing herbs if it’s so difficult? The reason is because this is a quest that I got from the Elder which is a rank A quest. Now that the questions and answer portion is over it’s time to remove the box covering a small patch of land

“………….FINALLY! KITAN! Write down the exact time that I’ve removed the cover. Make sure that you also include from when the cover was first placed till it’s removed!” I hurriedly tell this to the Beast Person that looks like an antelope beside me after seeing the precious herb start sprouting

“Yes Hyum-ahn. I have also written down the exact steps you have made in planting the herb. The time was exactly 58 hours and 43 minutes. That was when the land was first covered and until the cover was removed” The Beast person Kitan tell me this in a very calm voice.

“Good! The amount of water and the depth of where the seeds were planted are also accurate right? The soil moisture and amount of dead vegetation placed at where it was planted was also written down?” I already asked this dozens of times but since growing these herbs was so difficult, I couldn’t help but repeat the questions over and over

“Yes Hyum-ahn. Everything is accurately written down so please be at ease. You can leave everything to us. We will not fail you” Kitan answers my redundant questions without showing even the slightest bit of annoyance.

“I see good work Kitan. I’m certain that I’m leaving the place in good hands but…….haaaaa……I’m just a bit anxious since I’ll be gone for at least 6 months. Anyway thanks for your time, this will be it for today”

“It is my pleasure to be of help Hyum-ahn, I will be going now but if there is still things that you need then please do not hesitate to call” Kitan then bows and start to leave

“Haaaaa…..jeez, I kept telling them to stop with the “Hyum-ahn” thing but they just won’t listen…..Well, time to see my progress. Quest info! 16 Herbs quest!”

Quest: Plant and Grow 16 Herbs!

The Elder has asked you to grow 16 herbs that are native to Vermillion continent. These herbs are used for many things from being a food source to creating valuable cures for many kinds of diseases. Some of these herbs are very rare and can only survive on special areas and with special conditions.

Requirements: Must have the Elder’s trust. Must have successfully grown 3 or more types of plants

Rewards: The Elder will teach you a valuable Skill

Failure: Intimacy with the Elder might decrease. Your reputation will take a big hit

Quest Difficulty: A

Quest Limits: Amount of seeds is limited. If you used them all up then you will need to obtain more yourself

Herbs Planted

[quart=Vire Herb (✓),Vie Herb (✓)]Aqop Herb (✓),Sale Herb (✓)[/quart]

[quart=Dant Herb (✓),Turb Herb (✓)]Bleis (✓),Lappa Herb (X)[/quart]

[quart=Aque Herb (X),Popi Herb (X)]Rav Herb (X),Gakvo Herb (X)[/quart]

[quart=Kiop Herb (X),Caza Herb (X)]Erti Herb (X),Zesta Herb (X)[/quart]

Haaaaaa…I can’t help but sigh every time I read the word “Special” on the quest info. For me, that word is now synonymous with Hard, Harsh, Difficult, Nerve Grating, Mind Boggling, Fear inducing and near Impossible. The only saving grace for me is that I’m a Midnight Farmer, have a Divine Hoe and more importantly I have a special skill called Heart’s Understanding. If anyone else gets this quest then they would surely fail since growing these herbs needs some freaking “Special” ways.

There are herbs that need to be planted at a certain depth, require a lot or almost no water, needs abundant sunlight or cannot start sprouting in sunlight, temperature and soil humidity needs to be figured out, needs to be watered at regular intervals or not watered at all, needs dead vegetation or worse animal carcasses, will require highly nutritious soil and some would need to be moved from place to place once they start to sprout. There are even herbs that will not grow if the land is too fertile or if there are too much of a particular nutrient in the soil. Seriously, even with Nature’s Blessing these herbs would still not grow unless all the requirements are perfectly met.

I would have given up long ago if I didn’t have Heart’s Understanding. I found out that it can be used on plants as well as seeds from the fairy-bug Midz. It was one of the few times that he was actually useful. Though even with Heart’s Understanding, I can only get vague images of how the herbs would grow and the steps necessary for their growth. The details from the images weren’t specific so a large amount of guesswork needs to be done.

There is no time limit so I can work at this at my own pace and obtaining extra seeds is difficult but not impossible. I’d normally try every several weeks but since I’ll be gone for possibly 6 months, I wanted to try and grow several more herbs. In the end I managed to successfully grow 2 other herb plants in 2 weeks. It also has been 2 weeks since the Hippo Emissary from Elipor City came to deliver the terms for trading some of their Guardian Crystals.

The terms were actually pretty simple. First was that I need to personally be there so that their leader, The Matriarch can verify if I do have one of En-Il’s legacy. Second, I can’t bring other humans (players) with me. Third, the Elder isn’t allowed to come. That was all they asked which isn’t really difficult. The first condition was something I can understand, the reason for the second and third was because according to Sorud, the Matriarch hates humans but hates the Elder more.

I would have just used Rak-ahn airlines but unfortunately Sorud pointed out something very crucial that stops that idea. This was….“What will I trade for the crystals?”. Because of this, several preparations are needed before we set out. We intend to bring as much food as possible and trade them all for Guardian Crystals. For this, the Mayor of New Beginning offered to loan us 12 large wagons along with 18 Armordilboes. 14 of them will be used to pull the wagons while the other 4 will be in reserve. Naturally this wasn’t for free and what he asked for in return was the right to issue trade permits for 20 months and that all traders would need to first pass New Beginning before going to Darsheen village. I also need to return the Armordilboes safely or to pay for them if they die. For the wagons, we just need to return what’s left and won’t have to pay for damaging them so it’s clear that they expect that several wagons will be destroyed

I agreed with what the Mayor wants since there was nothing wrong with what he asks for. The rights for the Trade Permits agreement can be renewed after 20 months but we’ll talk about that when that time comes. Now, for the past 10 days, we have been transporting most of the food we have in stock towards New Beginning with smaller wagons that was also provided by the Mayor. Travel from here to New Beginning only takes 7 days with Armordilboes since a road was made to make travel faster, safer and easier. Though I say road, it’s basically just a straight path that’s regularly patrolled by Dug-ahn’s Bear Dog clan. The transport of food is gonna be over today so I’ll be heading to New Beginning tomorrow along with several guards that will be coming along.

Sorud is already in New Beginning supervising the entire operation. Weirdly enough, Tusk will also be accompanying us for some reason. Well…….it might seem that I’ve been doing nothing but plant herbs but that isn’t the only thing I’ve been doing these past 2 weeks. I’ve been busy with replanting the entire fields along with the Beast People. The last harvest for the Hariya Beans was over so we have to cut down all the beanstalks, clear the fields and re-plant seeds. The same goes for the Golden Rice fields so I’ve been ultra busy. These things need to be done since we’re taking nearly all the food we have stored along with the stuff we just harvested.

“After hearing what the Hippo emissary said, it actually became a C rank quest….It’ll take a minimum of 3 months just to get to Elipor City…..good thing Midnight Farming’s level has increased so much so the worry for the food rotting is non-existent. Skill info! Midnight Farming”

[quart=☪Midnight Farming,level: 5]Intermediate,34.12%[/quart]Farming efficiency increases by 150%

Crops will yield increases by 40%

Farm Animals fertility increases by 50%

Prevents loss from Pests and Natural Disasters by 70%

All produce will stay at their best state for 200 days

En-Il’s Hoe of Midnight Blessing can now assume a different form

Midnight farming unlike normal farming can be done at the start of midnight and will give superior effects than normal farming. The mysterious powers when a day ends and a new one starts empowers the Midnight Farmers giving them incredible abilities to cultivate the land, grow crops and raise animals.

“This skill was levelling like crazy with every successful harvest before but now exp gain is getting difficult. At least it’s still better than Heart’s Understanding which is still at basic level 3 and the Fairy Guardian which as at basic level 5. Divine Time is gonna hit intermediate soon as well…..but worse of all…En-Il’s Knowledge is still at basic level 1….haaaaaaa”

I can only sigh since the skill that showed the most promise before was actually the hardest one to use. I tried activating it hundreds of times but that only eats my Power of Life. There are no instructions on how to use the skill and Midz already said that he knows squat about it.

“Are you still busy?” a voice that sounds like beautiful bells ringing suddenly enters my ears

“Ah….are you done with work today Rhiasviel?” the voice naturally belongs to the Half-Vampire girl Rhiasviel. She’s wearing a helmet that covers most of her face but the attraction that I feel is still there. Of course, I now know that it literally is “Attraction” that vampires normally emit to attract others.

“Yes. Lep-ahn said that everyone that’s accompanying you tomorrow should rest early and prepare for the journey”

“If that’s the case, wanna come and have an early dinner?”

*Nods*Nods*

Seeing her nod several times, I start heading back to the house with Rhiasviel close behind. Since we’ll be travelling with large amounts of food, it was decided that 300 guards will be accompanying us. Rhiasviel and the 3 Leoparn brothers will also be coming with us but Lep-ahn will unfortunately have to stay behind. This will definitely be a hard journey so I really wanted Lep-ahn to come but sadly, the Elder said that it would be best to have Lep-ahn stay here. Well, with Rhiasviel and the 3 brothers things should still work out somehow and I can only hope that it will

“I’M HUNGRY!” Just as I open the door of my house, this was the greeting that I got from none other than my unfriendly household bug

“Haaaaa….I don’t get why you’re always hungry even though you do nothing you useless bug. Rhiasviel, take a seat somewhere and I’ll get the food ready” I then head for the kitchen without waiting for a reply

Rhiasviel regularly comes over to eat which I don’t particularly mind since it helps level my cooking skill. The amount she eats is also only half of what it was when I first met her maybe because she isn’t starving to death anymore. Feeding her has become my job as well for some reason but that’s alright because she takes her job seriously. She takes her job so seriously that she actually charges the moment she sees any monster around no matter how many there are.

“Alright, the food is ready! Let’s eat!” I finished cooking after 30 minutes and calls Rhiasviel and MIdz over. I’ve gotten pretty good at cooking vast amounts of food in just a short amount of time which is thanks to the big eater Rhiasviel

“Thank you for the food” “LET”S EAT!”

Rhiasviel, now wearing a simple black dress over her bodysuit takes a sit right in front of me. Since the wooden chairs can’t bear the weight of her armor it has to be removed. She then quietly but quickly eats the food. Midz on the other hand loudly and with speed equal to Rhiasviel is gulping down anything he touches. This scene has become fairly common now so I can only give a wry smile at them.

*ChiChiChiChi*

“Hmmm?...................Oh your back huh little rabbit. I thought that you won’t show up till later tonight so I guess you’re pretty hungry now?” I heard a sound like small teeth chattering and found the rabbit that I saved in small corner near the stairs

The rabbit shows up somewhere around noon and again at 9pm to eat and would quickly disappear afterwards so it’s a bit unusual to see her at this time. Well, now that she’s here, I might as well prepare her food. She seems to like the Bean’s pods so that’s mostly her staple diet.

“Here’s your food” I carried the rabbit and set her near the table where were eating along with her food

*SWOOOOSH!*

Suddenly, Rhiasviel moved with a speed that she’s never shown before and appeared right in front of me staring at the rabbit. It was so fast that I actually only saw a black silhouette and I was forced to move a few steps back. She then bent down and was staring intently at the rabbit. The rabbit on the other hand got scared and ran to my side.

“T-that’s a Jewelled R-Rabbit r-right?” Rhiasviel stuttering a bit was still intently looking at the rabbit which I picked up like she wants to bore a hole on the rabbit or something

“Jewelled Rabbit? It has a gem on its forehead so that’s what this rabbit is called?”

“Yes! Please sell that Jewelled Rabbit to me!” Rhiasviel then abruptly stands up and approaches me and the rabbit with eyes like that of a predator eyeing her prey

“S-sell the rabbit you say….First off…..how do you intend to pay exactly? You said that you’re practically broke so…..” Rhiasviel was slowly moving closer and closer with a crazed look while I continue to back away with the rabbit. Fortunately, she stopped right after hearing my words

“………………….I’ll……….I’ll pay you with my body so please sell that Jewelled Rabbit to me!” Now, it was her words that rooted me on the spot

P-pay with her body?! Does she mean that I’ll be free to do this and that?! It’s known that Virtual Se* is allowed in Royal Road so long as both parties agree with it by sending and accepting a private request to each other. If that’s the case…..then I can ask to bathe with her…have her wash my back…..and I’ll wash her back and “accidentally” fondle her breasts……….and….and…… at the end to…..finally move on to…..

“I’ll work here for as long as it takes! Y-you can even lessen the amount of food I’ll eat and I’ll give half of the loots from the monsters……so please sell that Jewelled Rabbit to me!” and her next words pour cold water on my raging hot imaginations

“…………………..”

Haaaaaaaa…..so that’s what she meant by pay with her body.....Does she understand that “pay with my body” can mean something entirely different? For a while now, I’m thinking that she’s an “airhead” or something but that can’t be right?

“Oh right! So that’s what it’s called. No wonder it feels like I should know what that rabbit was. A Jewelled Rabbit part of the “Phantom” race. I’ve heard that the humans have hunted them to near extinction so it’s amazing to see one alive” Midz says this after eating all he could. It seemed that he was listening from the start but apparently eating was more important so he only talked after stuffing himself till he’s full

“………..How come you never gave any hint that you know something? Haaaaaa, never mind, Midz tell me all that you know and Rhiasviel move away and stop looking at the rabbit like that” Rhiasviel then reluctantly returns back to her seat on the table so I let the rabbit down so she could continue eating

“It’s not my fault stupid farmer, I’ve never seen a real one before and all I know about them was from the stories and pictures etched on a stone wall back at the Fairy Lands. These Jewelled Rabbits are said to able to teleport anywhere in the world and that their “Liver” can cure anything. The “Jewel” on its forehead stores vast amount of magic energy as well so humans hunted them till there’s almost none left”

“Teleport anywhere in the world? So that’s why we can’t find her no matter what. Anyway, if they’re able to do that then how come they were hunted to near extinction?” Hearing Midz’s explanation, I finally understand that the rabbit probably wasn’t even in the house or maybe in this continent so searching for her was silly from the start

“I don’t know…….Humans are nasty creatures capable of anything….They even started killing Dragons and other Sacred Beasts so their deviousness can’t be measured. Anyway according to the knowledge given to the Fairy Queen by the Great God En-Il, Jewelled Rabbits only appear to beings with a good nature but I guess that’s not true since it showed itself to a nasty farmer like you”

*Smack!* “AWWWWWWW!”

“Seriously, I kept telling you to watch what you say…..So the Fairy Queen obtained some of En-Il’s Knowledge on a Jewelled Rabbit huh?”

En-Il’s Knowledge has been used on the Jewelled Rabbit

Collection of information on the Phantom Beast race “Jewelled Rabbit” will be done in….

59 Days, 23 hours and 59 minutes…

“Eh?”

Suddenly, the all important En-Il’s Knowledge was activated which left me staring at the notice window. Rhiasviel was quietly eating while sending me pleading looks and Midz was flying away from my reach

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It’s been 20 days since the Hippo emissary came and I’m now at the town of New Beginning. This place sure has changed quite a bit since the last time I was here. Pretty much like Darsheen village, the people living in this place no longer spends all their time searching for food and so they put their free time into other things instead. The Beast People and players are now improving the town’s culture, technology and commerce. Dozens of shops have been made along with Forges for blacksmiths; Tailoring and Weaving Centers can also be found. The markets are now also filled with Beast People peddlers showcasing tons of varying products from small odd critters, different kinds of gems and lots of different kinds of plants and animals.

I’m very interested in the seeds of those plants that they were selling and I do want to try and growing them when I have the chance. It might take a while before I could try though since I already have others that I wish to try growing first. There are 3 on top of my list and these are “Saint Wheat”, “Passionate Fruits” and the legendary “Platinum Corn” said to be an Illusionary grain. All 3 are native to Vermillion and so far, I’ve yet to obtain even 1 seed but this is something I’ll work my heart out to achieve!

I can only see the outer parts of the market area so there could be many more things that I’ve never seen before being sold in there. Sadly, I don’t have any time to waste since we intend to start heading for Elipor City the moment me and my group meets up with Sorud. The ones who’s with me at this point is Rhiasviel who’s still sulking since I didn’t sell her the Jewelled Rabbit, Midz who’s tied up since he didn’t want to come along, 80 Beast warriors consisting of 60 Barvoons and 20 Gorzillas. The Jewelled Rabbit is also gonna be accompanying me since she didn’t want to be left behind is what the rabbit told me when I used Heart’s Understanding on her.

“You sure took your time to come here Riyen” Sorud tells me this in a not so happy voice alongside him was a smiling person wearing a white suit

“Now, now Sorud I’m sure Riyen was pretty busy as well so cut him some slack” The person wearing a white suit tells this to Sorud while still retaining a smile in his face. I’m quite familiar with this person since I’ve met him several times already and he’s…..

“Mayor Penniless thanks for loaning us the wagons and the Armordilboes. I’ll try to return at least half of them back or maybe at least 1…..”

Yes, this was the Mayor of New Beginning and no, his name isn’t Penniless. It’s just what he told me before when I first talked to him when I returned here after getting attacked by the damn ants.

“Hahahaha, please stop teasing me like that Riyen. It would be troubling to if only 1 return but if you return with more Guardian Crystals then I guess it’ll be worth it. Anyway, I don’t wish to keep you here so good luck with your journey to Elipor City. You’ll be accompanied by several others up to halfway so it should be somewhat easier till then” and with that the Mayor leaves

“Accompanied?” I looked around and saw several other Beast People traders a little bit away along with several mercenaries. I recognized some of them as Bum 1 to 10 and they gave me a nod when I looked at them.

“Riyen, you can check on the wagons if you like, I will talk to the other traders and tell them that we are almost ready to leave”

I gave Sorud a nod and he then headed to a group of Beast People. I intend to check the wagons first but people might be wondering, what are wagons? Most would have a basic idea of what a wagon is but I’ll give a summary of what the wagons that we're gonna be using looks like. These wagons have 6 large wheels, about 12 feet in height and 7 feet wide. They’re actually bigger than the ones the Gnues traders brought before.

Normal wagons possess 12 “slots” where you put items in. You can stack up to 20 of the same type of item on each slot. The wagons we are using got 48 slots and you can stack up to 100 on each slot. Now what’s the inside like? Once an item is put in a slot that type of item will be visible inside the wagon and only the top item can be seen per slot but you can shift which part of the stack can be put at the top. These wagons can also carry up to 35 tonnes. How? Please don’t ask me since I also have no idea. The Armordilboes that will be pulling the wagons are also very large and can each pull 20 tonnes by themselves. Again, some would probably ask how? Maybe because they’re very strong or something since they’re about 8 feet in length, about 5 feet in height with 8 legs and each weighing a ton.

Now that the wagon’s description is done, I’ll now give an explanation on how we assume this journey will go and who’s going to travelling with me. First is Sorud, the 3 Leparn Brothers, Tusk and Rhiasviel. Other than that we have 60 Elipans, 40 Gorzillas, 30 Raks, 120 Barvoons and 50 Beast People that looks like an Antelope called the Impalax. Impalax are warriors that mainly use Bows but are also adept at using Daggers. Impalax are some of the early Beast People who migrated to Darsheen but these warriors are pretty new, Lep-ahn assured that they can be trusted so it’s fine to bring them along.

The Raks will have an important role for this journey so we’ve asked Rak-ahn to lend us some of their warriors. Rak-ahn who wants to have a better influence on the village sent his number 2 guy Valur with us. Thankfully, Valur is an upstanding bird that even Sorud has nothing bad to say about. There are also 20 other Beast People that will be coming with us that are tasked with support duties. It's already expected that we'll be swarmed by monsters so only the best warriors were picked for this journey. The support crew knows basic healing techniques and will also help Tusk maintain the weapons and armors.

The Hippo Emissary is already long gone and we already told him that we will be taking 1 other “hyumen” that will act as my personal guard. Hopefully there won’t be any problems once we arrived at Elipor City with Rhiasviel.

“Riyen are you done cheking the wagons? If so, I would wish to hear if you wish to change anything in our plan” Sorud who’s done talking with the merchants calmly asks me this once he saw me got off a wagon

“Hmmmm…..Sorud, I’m guessing that Lep-ahn already told you that I’m supposed to lead the caravan?”

“Yes, it is something we all agreed upon”

“All......shouldn’t there be other people fit for this? Harun is level headed or maybe Valur since he’s got plenty of experience leading others”

“………..Harun is normally calm but he easily losses his composure once his brothers starts taunting him. Valur is indeed a good leader but……because of Rak-ahn’s…..reputation the other warriors may not be so willing to follow him. I have no knowledge of combat so that leaves only you. You are known and respected by everyone in the village so even if you tell them to die fighting…..they will do it”

“Haaaaaaaa……Die fighting…..we can’t have that. Harun and Valur will be my lieutenants so I can consult them if there’s any problem I can’t handle. There will be no other changes to what we planned for the trip so let’s get ready to move out” Seeing Sorud’s eyes without a glimmer of hesitation, I can only resolve myself to do my very best so that we don’t get wiped out

“Understood….…You’ve already heard from the Mayor that there will be others accompanying us halfway to Elipor City so we should be fine until then” Sorud then gave a wave to several Beast People and they all start heading for their respective groups

There were 4 other groups besides us each with 30 mercenary players added to the 20 or so guards that they originally have. If we add together all the guards then there are over 500 and a lot of them are veterans so hopefully the first part of our journey will be a bit peaceful. The real challenge will most likely start once we part ways with the other groups so until then, I’ll have to learn commanding a large group to make sure we can get to Elipor City………intact

~~~~~~~~~48 Days later~~~~~~~~~~

It’s been 48 days since we started our journey and 2 groups have already parted with us. There were lots of battles but it’s safe to say that the journey so far has been relatively good. I’ve been talking to Valur, Harun and Derrick aka Bum 1 on how to properly lead a large group to prepare once the rest of the traders part ways with us. Sorud has also been sharing several important matters that I should know about Elipor City and its leader the Matriarch.

First is why the Matriarch hates the Elder. The reason for this was because a long time ago the Matriarch and the Elder were candidates to become an “Elder”. Obviously, the Matriarch wasn’t chosen so she held a grudge. I’ve also found out that the Matriarch is one of the only 6 Beast People that holds the title “ahn” in this part of Vermillion. These are Turth-ahn, Dug-ahn, Lep-ahn, Rak-ahn, Elip-ahn (Matriarch), and Dir-ahn. Now, these weren't their original names but some sort of title given only to the leaders of their respective clans. There could be hundreds of different clans from the same species and each of those clans can have someone claim the title “ahn” corresponding to their species. If two Beast People with the title “ahn” and are from the same species meets then they’ll automatically fight to the death. Why? Because once they take the title “ahn” they’ll forget their former names and if they meet others who calls themselves the leader of the species naturally they won’t accept that and the only way to remove their title is to kill them.

There are several ways to obtain the title “ahn” and the most common method is to be chosen by your entire clan. Another method is to become the strongest warrior within your clan and the least common is to kill the one who bears the title and claim it for yourself. This is the least common mainly because the one who bears the title normally means that He or She is the strongest or most respected and if you somehow kill them, it won’t guarantee that you’ll be accepted as the leader of your clan.

Now about Elipor City, this city holds a large number of Beast People comprising of Elipans, Hippomus, Buvfalos as the majority. There are also several others species but these 3 are the ones who hold the most power within the city. The entire population is somewhere from 80000 to 90000 and the range of their Guardian Crystal is a mind blowing 5Km.This range is in all directions starting from where the Guardian Crystals are placed. This would mean that its range from one end to the other is freaking 10Km! With that much land safe from the ants you would think that they have a large supply of food right? That would be wrong.

The reason for this is something called “CALAMITY POOP” which is obviously droppings of those shitty ants. I’ve found out that Calamity Ant Poop is highly toxic and would poison the land for miles and miles and would spread like cancer for over 20 years! This was something I only learned when I first used Eyes of En-Il. I saw that there were weird things blocking the flow of life energy on the ground and that using En-Il’s Hoe purifies them. Now, how did I know it was ant poop? There is a very long and complicated story about that involving the Elder, Lep-ahn and Sorud but I prefer not to talk about it since its pretty disgusting……yeah really disgusting. The Calamity Poop also affects Beast People giving them diseases and lowers their birth rate and even shortens their lifespan if not treated properly

“Little boss, I’m afraid we will be parting ways here since we need to head east from this point on” I’ve been talking to Sorud about the path we’re gonna take when Derrick rides his Kairiri close to us

”I see. Haaaaaaa……..so it’s finally that time huh? Thanks for all your help Derrick and good luck on your job”

“Hahahahah, its fine to call me Bum 1 like before little boss, also, it’s you guys that’ll be needing all the luck so I hope you stay safe and remember the things I’ve told you about. I’ve said all that I needed to say so this will be goodbye little boss” after saying this, Derrick turns his Kairiri back and slowly rides away giving a wave

“Yeah, we’ll meet at New Beginning one way or another” and with this we are now officially on our own

~~~~~~~~~~~2 Days later~~~~~~~~~~~

“Sorud…..do we really have to take such a long detour? It’ll be faster if we just go straight through Dragon Tomb Mountain” at this point I’m once again talking to Sorud about the path we decided to take

“It is indeed quicker if we go straight and travel close to Dragon Tomb Mountain but that is something we must avoid at all cost. There are ants in that area and worse of all Black Ants have been known to frequent that place”

“I don’t get it. Why would there be ants staying on an area without any food?”

This was the part that I don’t really get. I’ve heard from the Elder before that a Dragon was once killed by the Vermillion Ants at this place thousands of years ago. But that’s the thing; it was thousands of years ago so why would ants still be there?

“That is something we do not know Riyen since we do not venture there. The reason is just as you said, no food can be found there. We also do not have the time or energy to spare in investigating such a dangerous area”

“Haaaaaaa….god I wish I could nuke them with insecticides it’ll definitely be a blessing to the wor----“

“Riyen! The Scouts have spotted a large group of monsters directly ahead of us!” Valur suddenly flies down close to me and reports on what the scouting Raks saw

“I see…..they waited 2 days to make sure we’re really by ourselves huh. ALRIGHT EVERYBODY BATTLE FORMATIONS! EYES OF EN-IL!” I immediately give the order for the warriors to prepare for battle while activating a Divine Skill

“Wrahahahah, finally they have shown themselves!”

“I was getting bored doing nothing so this should be a good workout!”

“That is quite right. There has been too little opportunity for us to fight before so we should let loose a bit”

The 3 Leoparn warriors were quickly getting ready to charge at the incoming monsters. This was understandable since they barely fought when the mercenaries were around so they probably accumulated some stress. There was also one other who’s been giving me looks saying she wants to go ahead first.

“We should head out first!” “Yeah!” “Let us see who can kill the most this time” the 3 Leoparn brothers growing more excited by the minute is just about ready to dash for the monsters

“Riyen….I’ll quickly get rid of the monsters so let me hold the Jewelled Rabbit later alright?” and now Rhiasviel is telling me to reward her after the fight and is about to charge in as well

“WAIT! Jeez…….impatient little kids………Harin and Harun lead 100 Barvoons and 30 Gorzillas then attack the monsters in front of us. Valur take 20 Raks and provide support for them” After surveying the area for life energies, I then give the order that seemed most appropriate since there were more than 1 group of monsters

“Yahoo!” “This will be fun” “I understand Riyen” Harin, Harun and Valur then sorts out the warriors they’ll take and then heads for the incoming monsters

“Wrahhhh! Riyen! I want to fight as well!”

“........I want to pet the rabbit…..”

“Haaaaaa…..seriously…….Those aren’t the only monsters coming for us so get a grip. Tusk! Lead the Elipans 20 feet away to our right and get ready to use Ground Slam! There are monsters underground so flush them out at my command! Rhiasviel, Haran both of you get ready to kill the monsters once they’re forced to surface! The rest of the warriors get ready as well, there seems to be a lot of them underground!”

“Wrahahahah, you should have said so from the start!” “You’ll let me pet the bunny afterwards right?”

“Haaaaa…..fine….just get ready…..............Alright Tusk in 3, 2, and 1 NOW!”

*BOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!*

The moment Tusk and the Elipans used their skills dozens of monsters were forced to surface. As expected there were lots of BergWorms and a bit further away, GroundVipers, VileScorpions and GiantTermites also got forced to surface. Normally these monsters would kill and eat one another but maybe because there was an abundant food source nearby they didn’t bother with killing each other. This abundant food source is of course US. Unfortunately for them we won’t be giving them away for free and the cost for even trying to get a bite will be their lives. With that said Rhiasviel and Haran along with the other warriors were killing them with ease. The Impalax who I decided to always keep close by since they’re the only range support are sniping any monster that manages to get close while giving support fire to the frontline warriors.

“Hmmmm, things are looking good. Harin, Harun and Valur’s group seem to be also doing well. Make sure to kill every single one then get ready to charge at the monsters in front of us!”

*CROAAAAAAR!*

“Eh!?”

Skuld suddenly gave a loud cry, made a 180 turn and started running……straight towards several monsters. I chose to take Skuld rather than Ollie since this trip will definitely be dangerous and both of his mates already laid 3 eggs each which was awesome but that story will be for later.

It seemed that I made a small blunder in not checking behind since the Raks didn’t report anything but fortunately there were only a few monsters and their levels only ranged from 170-200. Skuld’s level is at 348 and his fighting ability is actually better than mine so there shouldn’t be any problems. The proof of this is that he’s now trampling the little bug monsters and shredding them to pieces.

“Haaaaaaa…..your pride got hurt because these little insects didn’t fear you huh Skuld? I guess I should also fight every now and then though…….there is one BUG that I really want to squash but like always, he’s already hiding somewhere the moment he senses any danger…….So I’ll just squash these guys instead! THE GREAT STRIKE!”

On top of Skuld, I start bashing the Centripids and small VileScorpions that probably also got forced to surface by the vibrations from Ground Slam. There were a dozen or so of them but Skuld easily and mercilessly attacks them while I hit the ones on either side. This will be the real start of our journey and I wish things will stay as easy as this but for some reason…….I have a feeling that my wish won't be granted.…….

To be continued………