The Daily Life of the Late Bloomer Tamer

Chapter 48: Underground Exploration

After leaving the altar, we explore the underground corridor leading to the guild.

As a dwarf with night vision, Ruin leads the way. Alyssa-san is a scout and a merchant, so she is right behind him...

The production workers (me and Maple) are in the middle. Sakura is on the rear. I let Rick roam as he pleases.

As we turn the corner for the 2nd time, Alyssa-san whispers to me.

"It's a little different from the beta version."

"What was it like in the beta version?"

"It was a straight path."

Alyssa-san told me that it was a straight path in the beta version, no monsters appeared, and there were no items to collect. However, we had already turned the corner twice. And there's one more difference from the beta version.

"Kyu."

"Rick, did you find something?"

That's right. Rick has been gathering materials for me.

It's not a lot, but it's all the same material that can be found around the beginning town: Red Tengu Mushrooms, edible Cruz mushrooms, and Shiiri Mushrooms.

And there is one other thing that is different from the beta version.

"Wait, there's a monster."

Ruin in the lead stops everyone. He has night vision, so he can see beyond the darkness.

Just as he had told us, many shadows appeared at the end of the underground corridor. As we observe the monsters moving in the darkness, we immediately see the whole thing.

"Rock Ant?"

I had never encountered these monsters before, but they appear in the southern forests and eastern plains.

Their attack power is not so great, but their defense is quite high, making them a troublesome opponent. In fact, these monsters are the second most deadly monsters after Wild Dogs. It's probably the strongest of the enemies that appear around the beginning town.

However, their magic defense is low, so you won't have much trouble if you can use magic.

This might be the first time I will play an active role!

That's what I was thinking, but...

"Nuruyaa!"

"Rock Ball!"

"Wind ball!"

The three Sharp Ears Cats finished them off in a blink of an eye. It's good that Maple and Alyssa-san can use magic. I heard a theory that says that a warrior should be able to use at least one type of magic, so it's only natural that these girls have learned magic.

But what the hell is Ruin's attack power?　He defeated a supposedly hard Rock Ant with just one blow of his mace, which is supposed to be resistant to physical attack.

I was so surprised that Ruin must have understood my reaction. He shows me his weapon and says.

"This is my masterpiece, the Mace of Great Fire. It has fire attribute."

I see. It has attribute damage, which means it can be used against Rock Ant.

Name: Mace of Great Fire

Rarity: 3 Quality: ★8 Durability: 233

Effect: Attack Strength +41, Fire Attribute -4, Agility -4

Weight: 22

A red stone is embedded in the center of the copper mace. It is completely brainless equipment. I can't lift it. This is a weapon that is suitable for the dwarves.

After that, I just waited for my chance to come, and it came quickly.

Ruin's attack didn't hit the Rock Ant coming from behind.

It seems that only Rock Ants appear in this underground corridor. They occasionally come sneaking up from the ceiling, so we can't underestimate them. Well, thanks to Rick's vigilance skill, I won't be taken by surprise.

While we are moving forward like this, Rick has picked up an interesting item.

"Kyukyu!"

"White mushroom?　I've never seen it before."

When I appraised it, it turned out to be a Red Tengu Mushroom. But it is the white variant.

Name: Red Tengu Mushroom　

Rarity: 1 Quality: ★1

Effect: Slight chance of poisoning or paralysis to the user.

Name: Red Tengu Mushroom, White Variant

Rarity: 2 Quality: ★3

Effect: Slight chance of poison and paralysis to the user. Increases mutation rate.

"Oh, is that the white variant?"

"Alyssa-san, do you know about this?"

"Yes, they are sometimes found in caves. It's like white asparagus. They say it grows in places without sunlight. Well, I don't know the details."

"I see. What is this mutation rate? The Water Guardian Tree's flower also has this effect."

"Oh, that's--."

When mixing or cultivating, there is a possibility that the item will turn into a special item that is completely different from the original item. It's called a mutation.

This is not always a good thing, as it may turn into a higher-ranked item, or it may not be what you are expecting.

If you use these white and Red Tengu Mushrooms in your mix, you will have a high probability of mutation.

The mutation rate and the rarity are low, so I shouldn't expect too much. You have to use items, tools, and skills that increase the mutation rate to get a mutation. You have to mix rare items many times before you finally get a mutation. That's true. I haven't had any mutation so far.

No, wait a minute.　 The microflame grass I got earlier. Maybe that's a mutated medicinal herb?

I asked Alyssa-san about it. It seems to be a mutation of a medicinal herb. It's not a special species like the white variant but a normal mutation that mutates into the same species with a higher rarity.

"Hmm. It's not very useful."

"Well, it's a microflame grass."

Instead, the light walnuts got a better response. They never heard of any player who could harvest these on the farm yet.

By the way, if you try to harvest walnuts in real life, you have to remove the shell that covers them, which is quite troublesome.

But in this game, walnuts without shells grow on trees. Well, as expected, planting the walnuts in the ground and removing the shells would take too much time and effort... Well, this is probably an adult consideration.

There are other adult considerations as well. I mean, when you've just defeated a monster, and you have fur and meat in your inventory without dismantling it, that's also an adult consideration.

"Is it possible to grow the white variant?　If I grow them in a place with no sunlight, will they turn white?"

I ask Maple-san about it, but she says she has no idea. It seems that some people have tried, but no one ever succeeds.

I asked Maple-san to tell me about the growing methods they have tried. Well, it's not difficult. All I have to do is dig a hole, block out the sunlight, and grow it there.

"I'll ask Orto when I get back."

"If you find a way to grow it, please sell me the information."

"Well, the professional farmers are struggling, right?　I doubt I can do it."

"No, no. I'm sure you can find a way."

"Well, I'll let you know if I find it."

When I promised that, I got one good piece of information. She told me that water is very important when growing mushrooms. Just by improving water quality, the number of mushrooms grown will increase. If I use purified water to grow them, I can harvest at least two.

That was a blind spot. Once I get home, I'll give the purified water to Orto.

I also learned how to change my inventory settings. I guess she gets frustrated when she sees me receiving items from Rick one by one.

It seems that by adding my monsters to my inventory settings, I can automatically store the materials they collect in my inventory. Besides, items collected within four hours will be marked as new in the inventory, so they won't get mixed up. That's convenient.

While chatting with Maple-san and Alyssa-san, we reached the end of the corridor. Ruin is a very quiet person, so he mostly just nods or shakes his head.

"That's a big door."

"Yeah, it's supposed to lead to the adventurer's guild basement."

"Well, it won't open now."

No matter what Ruin did, he could not open the door. My key can't open this door either. It must be made to open only from the adventurer's guild side. In the end, we have to turn back.

"Then, is this the end for today?"

"I think so."

"Thank you for your help."

"Wait, wait a minute. Take this with you."

It seems that Alyssa-san and the others are still bothered about the key, and they forced me to take the Rock Ant materials. I don't want to argue with them, so I take it without saying anything.

But even without that, I already got many things. Information about the white variant, Rock Ant materials, and experience points. I'm pretty happy with the results.

"Maybe I'll buy some logs from the Farming Guild before I go back to my farm."