The Daily Life of the Late Bloomer Tamer

Chapter 59: The beginning town, I have returned!

"Aqua ball!"

"Kyukyui!"

Our attack takes down the rock ant. If it's just one or two more, we can take care of them without any problem.

By the way, we did not form a party at Akari's suggestion. Because the experience would be shared with Akari if we did. Akari agreed to assist us by cutting down the enemies' HP. She can kill all enemies in the daytime in this area with a single attack, except for the predator. She said this would not be a problem.

Three hours later, we reached the beginning town.

In the end, the escort wasn't necessary.

But Akari's presence helped me to fight at ease. With Akari behind me, I could push myself to fight aggressively. As a result, I could defeat the enemies faster with less damage on my side.

Even after hearing that explanation, Akari still looks unconvinced. She is not sure that the little work she has done gave her the right to accept my rare boss drop. She is just grateful that I am not trying to rip her off, even though I could have easily overcharged her if I wanted to.

We had already settled on a price of 6,500 G. That is one of the most expensive items that could be obtained in the 1st area. However, suppose she buys the same item from other players or shops. In that case, chances are she'd be charged over 20,000 G. The price has increased since the Sharp Ear Cats started selling the Savage Dog leg equipment recipe. Once the group officially releases the details, it would only shoot higher.

"It’s fine if you can get them but they’re usually out of stock."

Akari sighed. It would only become harder to obtain the drops from here on out.

"I’m betting you that within the next few days this place is going to be teeming with players grinding for Savage Dogs."

Aside from being lightweight and strong in defense, Savage Dog shin guards also boosted your Attack and Agility stats, reducing the damage you sustained. That description alone was already impressive. Their stats put them pretty high on any melee fighter's wish list.

"Savage Dog tails are a compound ingredient that can be used for other types of armor too. That’s what makes them so highly sought after."

"Compound ingredients?"

"They’re materials that, when added to the armor-making process, give bonuses to normal armor."

Akari broke it down for me: the Wild Dog Shirt I am wearing, for example, is made from four Wild Dog pelts and one ore-type material. Under normal circumstances, you wouldn’t be able to add any other materials to the mix. However, items called compound ingredients could be added during weapon- and armor-making processes even if they weren't included in the recipe. In the case of Savage Dog tails, you could expect a boost in attack for weapons and a boost in Agility for armor. No wonder most people want them. I don't see much use for them myself, however, since they apparently made things quite heavy.

"Lots of people want to use them for Production, even if they don’t intend on making the leg equipment."

"So that’s why the price has skyrocketed."

"Exactly. So you see, 6,500 G is actually quite cheap."

"But that’s still nearly twice as much as if you sold it to an NPC shop, right?"

"The lowest going rate if you sell it to other players is 10,000 G, though."

That being said, I'd already kept her tied up for a while, not to mention she'd given me the bigger share of the items and monster drops we obtained on the way home. Honestly speaking, I felt terrible. It wasn't as if I stood to lose anything by giving away the Savage Dog tail anyway.

"Never mind that. After all, I insisted."

"Hmm, if you say so."

We completed our deal once we arrived at the entrance to town. I handed over the Savage Dog tail and Akari the 6,500 G payment. Then she's petting my tamed monsters before setting off to see her friend.

"Oh yeah...... Let's go get some info on that Lesser Ghost before we head back to the Beastmaster's Guild."

Time to see the information broker. I headed to Alyssa-san's stall with my monsters.

"Good morning."

"Welcome. What’s new?"

 "I came across a new monster, actually."

"You did? Where?"

 "Near the entrance to the 2nd area, in the forest at the end of the Northern Plains."

"That’ll be the Fanged Forest. Did you run into some Lesser Ghosts?"

"Oh, you know them?"

She already knew about them. Maybe they are rare monsters?

When I asked them, she told me that she had already received several reports about them. Other players had already sold what I knew to Alyssa-san. Information such as that only magic attacks work against the ghosts and physical attacks don't increase their hostility towards you.

Fortunately, it was the first time she’d heard of a sighting in the Fanged Forest, so she exchanged my info for details I didn’t know yet.

Lesser Ghosts have apparently begun spawning in the 2nd area in the last few hours, and their weakness was holy magic. According to her guess, the raid boss's defeat had something to do with it.

The new features that had been unlocked apparently referred to a wider variety of enemy monsters. The management seemed to have concluded that players were getting stronger with the game’s progression and had decided to add more formidable opponents.

"That’s troublesome..."

"It does mean new items will become available, though. As a production-type player, you’ll probably be able to reap some benefits too."

"Hope so."

Pulling myself together, I headed to my next destination, the Beastmaster Guild, to buy an incubator. To begin with, that had been the whole point of my little adventure.