Chapter 20

To combat my money problems, I set my traps again. With ninja movement, I can move through the trees much faster, but it still takes me a while. I decide to use 20lb of hare meat in the traps so I only get the good animals from them. I want to get some wolves so I can use my tailor skill to make things. With a single pound of iron and some leather, I might be able to make some nice knives.

I decide not to mine today, and I instead look for more monsters like the Black Mountain Snakes that I can kill. With a demon arrow out in my Steel Bow, I move without making a sound. I see a bear, and I can kill it in one shot. I know this, so I switch to iron arrows. If I close a demon arrow, it would be like losing 10 iron arrows. I easily kill the bear with one arrow, and I continue on my way.

There is nothing in this forest. It begins to get dark out, and I decide to return to the house. I can travel at night with night vision, and I have heat vision on too, so I don't have to worry about any animals or monsters surprising me. I explored the forest all day, and I only found one bear. I have to leave this forest soon if I want to earn more credits.

I should visit the town tomorrow and see if any other dungeons are nearby.

On the 25th day, I check the traps and head to town. I skipped a few days setting traps, and I was happy to see a bear and seven wolves. With this, I think I am going to completely stop my trapping. I don't want to over-hunt the forest, and I think I have enough for now. With two dead bears and seven dead wolves, I head to the town 60 miles from here.

It takes all day, and I don't see any bears, but I kill another five wolves, bringing my total to 12. Each wolf is worth 50 credits, and each bear is worth 100 credits, so I work out that I have 800 credits from killing animals. At the town, I pay for a room at the tavern for 20 credits. Now I have 780.

In the morning on the 26th day, I head to the general goods store. From the woman working there I learn that there is another town just 30 miles south. We are currently in the area known as the Gray Forest, and the mountain range I live so close to is Black Mountain. Even further into the mountain range are the Obsidian Peaks, and among them is the holy sword of Nordas. Apparently, Nordas was an ancient warrior who threw his sword through a big bad guy and never collected it. A few hundred years later, someone found the sword and said it belonged to Nordas. Nobody was able to pick the sword up, so now it is a holy site inside the mountains.

While in town, I sell the bear meat for 400 credits, the tanned hides for 200 credits, the wolf hides for 480 credits, and 100 credits for all but 10 lbs of the fat from the black bears. That puts me at 1180 credits for things sold, and 780 credits that I already have, making it 1960 total. I need 2000 for the Intermediate magic books or basic lightning magic, so I'm going to save up.

Instead of waiting the night in the town, I decide to see how much my seven pounds of iron are worth. They are only worth 10 credits for each pound, so I keep them and head to the next town. I will have to remember to make my iron into something before the shop day so I can see how much my own fabricated tools sell for. I travel all night long to reach the next town by road, and now that I have the next town on my minimap I will be able to walk straight from town to town.