It was morning and I could hear the village starting to get noisy again as people started waking up and walking about. I lazily stretched on the floor. Right, I remembered I didn’t even sleep on the bed because dead guy used to sleep there and it just didn’t make me feel very comfortable. I looked into my little pouch and saw 20 earth shards after buying the book for 4 and paying Rikurn another 4 to let me stay 3 days. Surprisingly cheap rent, the kid either only needed that much or even he felt bad for having me stay in the room of the dead.

I decided it should be a good idea to maybe get some more money and buy me some new stuff if I was going to stay in this place for any longer than a night.

“Rikurn!” I walked out to see the kid was already awake and had made some sort of gruel in a wooden bowl for us, which I was suspicious about tasting but turned out it was just a bland meal. Didn’t do anything besides fill up my stomach which broke my heart as I missed my bacon and eggs from Earth a lot more now that I couldn’t have my morning feast of kings with a bowl of cereal on the side.

I gave the kid 10 earth shards and told him to go buy better food while I stayed here as I was willing to live in the dead guys room but not eat this bland BS for breakfast. I could see why the kid wasn’t that tough to begin with. Afterwards, I simply left the house and told him I was going to go out hunting to try and see if I could get anything good.

That was my great idea, I was too broke to do anything aside from ogle at the women and sleep on the floor so I had to do something about it as soon as possible.

I headed towards the south-east gate as that was the only one I remembered and Rikurn tagged along as he was to head to the market which helped me out as my new “home” was in some twisted maze of a back alley in the south part of the city. Practically felt like I lived in the slums which bothered me but I couldn’t do much else.

As I reached out to the gate, I saw Garis and Melo the gate guards again, guess they work perennially as the doormen. Waving at them and saying the words going hunting as well as I could, I headed off as they simply nodded suspiciously. I didn’t like the odd stares they gave me but I couldn’t be bothered too much as now I needed to find some foxhorns. Phoenix had read some of the book last night and went on a whole discourse about the country we were currently in as most of the info in that book mostly related to this place.

We found ourselves in the country of Aromt, in the village of Arils. It was about a 10 day distance from the Nezit City, which was one of the largest cities in this country and that city was about two weeks away from the capital of Aromt, which was Opirum. The names bothered me a little but it couldn’t hurt to learn, I was also planning on visiting these places before possibly heading out to the desert as the book mentioned the desert having some crazy looking creatures and I really wanted to see what they were. Obviously, I wasn’t going to go head long into danger so visiting the city and the capital was a good idea to learn some more about world casters and rune casters especially as I loved the floating board thing they created and was curious what else they made with those runes. The desert was apparently a really dangerous place just like the beast forest to the east of Aromt.

Eventually about two hours into my hunting session I found some goblizards which I killed a lot easier now that I managed to be able to throw fireballs close to 5 feet away from me. It was good practice but I found these ugly little things were worthless in terms of value as they were just like finding rats in the sewers, annoying and useless.

My hunting session finally got better by the third hour I was out as I managed to walk close to the caverns I was at yesterday and found a group of 4 foxhorns just milling about. I used the dead goblizard to try and attract them with the scent of blood which worked out perfectly as I managed to sneak attack an unsuspecting foxhorn who decided to get curious but the other three noticed and rushed me which lead to me having to use my amazing spiked bat skills to smash a head in while Phoenix fired off a fireball burning another and me using an earth spike in the confusion. I took close to 5 seconds to cast and could only be done within a distance of 3 feet but when your friend catches fire and you’re distracted, it provides a great opportunity to get an earth spike up your gut.

I followed this pattern for the rest of the day and managed to get me about 15 foxhorns towards the end while only getting a few scratches on me which wasn’t a big deal. Magic was really useful at fighting these low level beasts. I eventually decided it was time to head back but I still spent another hour in the caverns again collecting more of those green stones for my defense which led to a nice little boost of 5% in my total defense, which brought me to 17% completion of this green stone defense upgrade.

I only spent close to 7 hours hunting and gathering which made me feel pretty good as compared to my first day here I felt quite content at my new ability to hunt. I was a little against the whole murdering animals at first but considering it’s my second week here and these little shits attack you regardless, you lose your patience eventually.

Walking back carry foxhorn pelts and a strap of 15 horns made from plant vines, Garis and Melo were shocked to see I was even capable of getting so many. I nodded at them and they nodded back with some more respect in their eyes which made me grin a little once I got past them. It felt good getting some recognition even if it’s the gate guards, it was nice.

“Jupiter! When are you going to get me better stuff to eat!” Phoenix whined like a little child as we were walking into the village, I had to admit that Phoenix hadn’t gotten to absorb much and I don’t even think it can eat anything aside from what it absorbs so I could understand the craving.

“Don’t worry Phoenix, I’ll try looking into something good at the general store once we sell off these horns and pelts.” I could only reassure the slime overlord for its needs must be met and I’d hate to see what a hungry slime would do in my head. My relationship with Phoenix was pretty good but I still couldn’t get over the fact that I had a deep fear that if ever Phoenix threw a tantrum, I would get some level of brain damage in that scenario, it wiggles around my brain on a noticeable fucking level when its happy, imagining the consequences when its mad just scares me.

Walking into the general store again, I hear that classic “ding” at the entrance which gave way to nostalgia as even alien planets corner store needs a bell at the door. I notice a few people already in the store who started looking at me and whispering which made me feel a little awkward as I could only start looking for Namba.

“Ah, what have you got here today?” Namba already noticed and walked over to me while eyeing my possessions with that greedy look again. I smirked internally when I saw that. ‘Think you going to get a great deal off me again? Ha! Think again fool!’ I declared in my mind as I still remembered selling my horns a shard cheaper than needed.

“Hey Namba, I came to sell some fur and horns again.”

“I see, I see. Well drop them on the counter and let’s get this going.” He smiles again which just keeps me apprehensive of his schemes.

“Namba, 15 horns and 10 good pelts. How much?” I eyed him with a look that clearly started “ Do not rip me off you old goat.” I practiced this look many times back on Earth especially when haggling at the flea markets. If this were a game, I’d get the skill “ Stare of Death” or something, that’s how confident I was.

Namba noticed my look but just kept his professional smile while remaining nonchalant.

“Pelts are decent quality but the cutting was done a little poorly, so I’ll take them for 2.5 earth shards each and the horns are a lot better than the ones you gave me yesterday but they aren’t from fully matured foxhorns so best I can do is 4,5 earth shards each.” He mentioned it as he took out a horn that was close to an extra 10 cm longer and was overall thicker than the ones I had.

I was still suspicious that the horn came from some alpha level foxhorn or some rare one but I still got a better deal and the pelts were pretty poorly cut so I couldn’t complain.

“deal”

Namba smiled again at me while fetching another pouch which I counted carefully, he generously gave me 93 earth shards which he acted like it was a huge favor but I still knew the guy was ripping me off somehow, I just didn’t know how yet. It was my experience in the business of online trading and dealing with merchants that gave me this hunch. Yes, I was an online merchant but phone calls, auctions and special events were still things one had to attend if they wanted to get some good deals on the special items which are where I met my usual Big 3 or at least they’re lower end lackeys as what I usually bought and sold never got more than a few hundred to a few thousand dollars.

“Namba, you have any good items that are beneficial for the body for strengthening?”

“Hmm, I would have a few items but they’re efficiency isn’t that great, I’d recommend you visit Alfur, he’s a good friend of mine that is known to create strengthening concoctions for the guards and certain hunters.”

I was interested in finding out more about this Alfur guy, especially since he sounded like he alchemist type which could prove to be useful especially when I’m travelling. I wanted to see a sky shard but since I was going to go buy a bunch of things anyways, I had to rein in my curiosity. With the trade having gone through, I bought new bedding so that I don’t have to sleep on the floor anymore, I was surprised I even slept on the floor last night after almost 2 weeks without a proper bed but that was going to end today. I also got some weird plant that survived in darker places but smelled really nice for the house and another book about the animals found near the village of Arils. This brought me down to about 60 earth shards but I bought the cheapest stuff so I figured it wouldn’t cost me too much.

After thanking Namba with a suspicious glare, I left to find this Alfur.