| Credits | |
| Translators | Caudyr, WhiteSamurai |
| Editors | Miraclegrass, Caudyr, WhiteSamurai |
Day 153
Today I’m currently far from the Royal Capital, observing it from a fairly high place it kind of looks like a little speck. Looks pretty surreal with the morning sun illuminating it from this distance. Well anyway, taking advantage of yesterday’s event where I actually got a new ability when it shouldn’t have been possible, I ended up consuming a huge amount of Wyvern meat.
Though I had eaten some with Female Samurai and the Gladiator King in the Colosseum, there was still a sufficient amount left over. There was easily enough to feed over a dozen people for a day.
However, I didn’t end up gaining any new abilities even after I ate all of it. So, because that happened, I reluctantly decided to lead everyone over to the Jadar Mountain range to secure some more fresh meat. I made up my mind in the evening yesterday and for the next several hours, the Skeleton Carriage rocked as we traveled at high speeds.
The hazards on the road were either dealt with using the Skeleton Carriage itself or the several of my clones as we eventually arrived on a hillside within the danger zone of the Jadar Mountains. If one looked close enough, the peaks even had snow piled atop them.
Soon after our arrival, we began our hunt for Jadar Wyverns and other monsters that inhabited the area. Well, even though the Jadar Mountains are famous for being the birthplace of the Jadar Wyverns, there are still quite a few other monsters that live here as well.
For example, there’s the Cockatrice that lives here. It’s body is as big as a human’s with a large snake-like tail covered in scales. It has magical eyes and a beak that carries the petrification attribute. It also has dangerous poison claws that will immobilize you with so much as a single graze. The meat is said to be delicious once it’s been trimmed and prepared just right.
It seems that it’s one of the dishes served during the Royal Family’s parties, with fried Cockatrice seeming to be one of the Princess’ favorite foods. However, it’s because the Cockatrice is actually a genuinely powerful monster class, it is not a meat that will often appear on the market place.
The second example is the Naga. The Naga are a species of demonic women with the lower half of their bodies being that of a serpent. Many of them are beautiful women that possess a similar nature to the Dryad and Succubus in which they will seduce men of other species in their attempt to squeeze out their life energy until they’ve completely dried up and wither.
The fools drawn in by their beauty are strangled to death and swallowed whole once the dirty deed is complete and their vitality extinguished. Because they’re a form of demi-human, they have the capacity for having heightened thought capacity. Since they pertain to the same family of snake as the Night Viper, they in particular pertain to a considerably troublesome class.
However, it’s a given that their nests often contain certain materials that fetch for a really good price. As such, many reckless merchants may make unfavorable trades just for the sake of opening one of the nests.
Now, the third example that we encountered were the Bearbees. The Bearbees are magical beast class of insect. It’s an actual bear that has six legs like a bee, 2 sets of 4 wings, venomous spines and a partial exoskeleton. It possesses strong armor, a powerful stinger with an even more vicious poison, as well as the ability to fly that leaves it just as alert and agile as a bee.
In all honesty, it’s actually quite the frightening opponent. However, though it possesses a number of traits that makes it similar to that of a bee, it has a relatively low population in comparison to it’s counterpart.
One could say that this is a relief, but it does seem that their hives actually hold a quite decent number of them at any given time, so that’s most likely just a hollow feeling of relief…
Even with those mentioned, there’s still quite a significant number of other monsters in the area as well. The Jadar Mountain Range is a treasure trove of ingredients and monsters that I haven’t eaten yet. All of which are high level and will grant everyone a large amount of experience. I decided to do as I pleased and moved independent of the main group, leaving the command of the rest of the group to Kanami-chan.
Since the Tomboy Princess and the Boy Knight actually forced us to bring them along, I made it expressly clear to Kanami-chan to ensure their safety.
They’ll probably even be safe, even in the case of a Jade Wyvern attack, there’s still the Gladiator King and Female Samurai that joined a few days ago. Since they were deemed equal to a boss-class Jadar Wyvern, there shouldn’t be a problem regardless of however many normal Wyverns appear.
If it actually becomes hopeless, a simple message can be sent through the ear cuffs and I can arrive to bail them out. After deciding on that, I started hunting on my own. There wasn’t much time available today, so I activated【Phased Array Radar】and【Sense Area】simultaneously for an even greater effect. With this, I was able to perceive quite a large area around me, making my search quite easy.
There were several reactions nearby, and I disregarded any smaller ones in order to search for the monsters mentioned previously. I made sure to erase my presence as I ran through the mountains in search for my prey. In the end, it only took a few minutes to find the target I desired the most.
The first thing I discovered was a Bearbee hive. From the looks of it, it’s already a form of fortress since it’s built into the bare rock face of a sheer cliff. I’m uncertain as to how they managed to make it, but the ashen hive was approximately 100 meters in size. From the outside it looks like a large hemisphere, giving me an unpleasant feeling as I was looking at it.
The Bearbees that were flying around nearby seemed to each have a designated role. There were Bearbees working to capture monsters for food. Other Bearbees were charged with caring to the young within the hive.
Flying the surroundings of the hive were Soldier Bearbees wrapped in an especially large and quite robust exoskeleton that covered their whole body to guard against invaders. In the depths of the hive, there was a sole Bearbee in idle slumber. However, as a whole, the population definitely seemed to be low for such a massive hive.
All put together, there were only around 80 of them at most. This number even included the Bearbee children, putting the total fighting force to only around 50, or at the very most 60. I was surprised to learn that there were only around 80 of them for a den that’s well around 100 meters in size, though it could just be possible that the size is necessary for their large bodies.
At any rate, being able to discover one of the Bearbee hives right off the bat is a good sign. That’s because the Bearbee honey is a high quality ingredient that’s extremely rare on the marketplace. The young will also eat it, similar to bee larva.
Though Bearbees will kill monsters and carry the bodies back to the hive to eat, the majority of them have seeds of a certain magical flower implanted within them. Their bodies act as flower nurseries so that the beautiful flowers can bloom. It’s these flowers that store the honey that they generate. I did actually feel a slight sense of admiration towards the Bearbees that went through such an extensive process to cultivate their own food sources.
Well, rethinking my initial plan of action, I did initially want to do beekeeping near our base. As a result, my plans changed and I turned the Bearbee Queen and the young into Familiars. The procedure was easy, I just burned some of my paralysis poison, turning it into paralyzing smoke. I then manipulated the flow of the air, filling it with the poison.
I then just had to wait for a bit until I could confirm that those within the hive couldn’t move anymore. Afterwards, I entered into the depths of the hive and turned the one’s inside into Familiars. As a result of this venture, I picked up the Bearbee Queen that boasted nearly twice the normal size of a Bearbee, 5 youths roughly the size of a goblin, 10 workers to build their new hive and finally 6 warriors to defend the hive.
After gathering the ones I wanted, I killed and ate the rest while they were nice and fresh. Though the meat was good in itself, their unique habits caused the flavor of honey to permeate into their limbs. I specifically enjoyed those.
【Ability learned: Beekeeper】
【Ability learned: Bee Sting】
It’s probably a good sign that an ability related to beekeeping was gained. Moreover, given that I was able to secure a large quantity of the valuable slightly red honey, I considered these events as a good thing. When I sampled a mouthful of it, I unintentionally shouted because of how it overwhelmed my senses. In addition, I felt a sudden rush of power overflowing from the core of my body.
As for this honey, once I have established the beekeeping at the settlement, I want this placed on our dining table by any means necessary. Though the taste is quite strong, it makes fatigue vanish and you get a sudden surge of energy. It also seems like it would be a product that the Elves would die to trade for.
After collecting the monster materials from the huge hive, I roughly cut up and dismantled the hive. Since the room of my item box is nearly unlimited for storing similar items, I could put the entire hive into my item box. I collected it because I thought there might be something it could be used for. The outer walls of the hive were quite strong.
Afterwards when I had resumed my search, a group of Vorpal Bunny attacked. They seemed to just be the next-rank of the Blade Rabbit species with a sharp blade drawn in a gradual arc from their forehead. Something of a whip grows for their tail.
Well, they certainly turned out to be a troublesome species because they can approach silently and attack their prey with tail whips and attacks from their bladed heads. Because they were a hindrance, I slaughtered them quickly. Though I didn’t gain anything, I did enjoy filling my stomach with some tasty rabbit skewers. The head’s blade in particular had a nice crunch similar to a rice cracker.
Next, I encountered a Rock Golem. In order to eat the rabbit skewers, I sat on a nice rock for the remote location I was in. Turns out, it was a Rock Golem that had buried more than half of it’s body into the soil.
Fundamentally, Golems are creatures that certain humans that possess a specific job can create through a supply of magic power and a ritual.
They also exist in remote places like the Jadar Mountains too where the land is full of vitality and the Magical power flows strongly throughout the land.
Wherever the right materials and circumstances occur, a Golem can be formed. At any rate, that’s the case for Golems that are created by humans. Golems that form in nature are almost always strong embodiments of the characteristics of the land they are birthed from.
When they’re created, if a volcano is nearby, then they form a Lava Golem, if a glacier is nearby, then it’s an Ice Golem, if it’s a desert, then a Desert Golem, and so on so forth.
The common traits for the Golem species is that they can live for a very long time and can easily repair themselves through the materials of their environment, such as soil and stone.
They’re a famous monster that wanders human-made dungeons. Of course, there are also many within the ≪Age of the Gods≫ dungeons, which were created by the gods during the ancient times, each drawing from their respective powers and the dungeons that they are derived from.
These Golems are typically far stronger than the usual natural or human-made Golems. This isn’t just because of them being reinforced by the dungeon's “Monster Reinforcement” trait, but also because the Golems have suitable bodies that match the high level environment.
Anyways, the Rock Golem was approximately five meters tall which puts them eye level to the average Troll. Trolls seem to slightly surpass Rock Golems in terms of agility, but given that Rock Golems don’t feel any pain and both offense and defense is higher, they are still quite strong. They are made from stone after all.
The Rock Golem’s general attack was a large swing, it would be painful even for me if one managed to hit, though not close enough to be fatal though. Since it was a hindrance to my meal, I viciously and quickly smashed it into pieces to collect it’s magic core that forms the body around it. Similar to a slime, the magic core is the vital part to Golems. If I break or remove the core, the Golem is destroyed.
If I wanted, I think I could reuse the magic core, but I just tossed it into my mouth this time around. I savored it in my mouth like a piece of candy after finishing the skewers as I wandered around for more prey.
In this way, I continued hunting for the rest of the day, gathering a considerable amount of materials from other monsters. My goal, the Jadar Wyverns, of which I managed to conquer around ten of them. Unfortunately, I didn’t gain any new abilities.
It’s not a problem though since I was able to secure enough materials to investigate why I was able to learn an ability from the aged Jadar Wyvern’s meat, even though it was already several days old.
For the time being I just need to wait around four days before I can check on this theory. Ah, by the way, the Tomboy Princess also seemed like she had plenty of fun and was delighted on our way home. To note, I already had the Bearbee familiars leave for the base with one of the Skeleton Carriages as their guide. I came to the conclusion that I wouldn’t be able to enter the Royal Capital with them.