24 Daily Grind

As it was getting late, I decided to stay with Rocky since I wanted to actually sleep for several hours straight and not on a tree branch where I'd definitely fall from. A 30-minute nap in between fleeing Aure City was different from catching up on some sleep.

The following day, I decided to do some grinding while heading to Crown City after some thinking.

My AI partner clarified that the spoils I get from fights are basically auto-looted and that it did not count toward my Inventory after I settled down with Rocky, who gave me some edible roots to go along with my elven jerky (basically the local equivalent to dried tempeh). It was his way of looking out for me since the furs and other bits of the wolf can be sold or traded in Gaellia. And being the one to disassemble things was his contribution, though I think him wanting me to focus on improving myself martially was definitely a factor too.

But, mostly, it was since I brought up Magic Language again because Rocky spoke a dialect of it and 37 confirmed my suspicion that it was just a method to shape energy through spells to get an effect. It wasn't a requirement to actually use magic.

My inner nerd had a bunch of ideas; reading fiction does have its uses.

It didn't really change my path, honestly. The elven territory must have a barrier in combination with their patrols, since I've been encountering "monsters" nearly every 200-meters ever since leaving it.

Speaking of, as a person from the city, I discussed the necessity of 'hunting' with 37. A large reason I felt no hesitation in deciding to farm some EXP was what the AI told me about my first kill. Otherwise, I was more of a let-live kind of person.

Aurean wolves didn't normally have glowing eyes or were hyper-aggressive enough to attack so near an elemental spirit. It was suffering from 'Mana Madness' which was a concentrated build-up of mana in the brain. In the 1st stage, which the wolf I killed was suffering from, it was only affecting the hypothalamus—enlarging it.

Basically, instead of calling them "magic mutants" or "magical rabies" infected creatures, I just decided to be lazy and label them "monsters." Because that was basically what these animals infested with mutations and tumors basically were; it was magical cancer (free radicals and all that).

(I had been dubious upon realization and asked if I were at risk, considering the energy I could now feel that is my "MP." The AI had assured me that one is only liable to get it with tainted energy, and he only uses the purest and most sterile form.)

[Nori. A pack of Aurean wolves seems to be following us. They seem to be the former pack of the one last night.]

"Oh?" I hummed as I grimaced when I walked up to the dead boar and kicked it just to make sure it was really down (despite nailing it in the heart and the brain through the eye with another arrow). After a mad wild boar, a pack of wolves sounded like a walk in the park, to be honest. "Can this thing be eaten?"

I was usually not too picky about food as long as it wasn't drenched in grease, but some carnitas tacos sounded great right now. Or some ribs. Ribs would be awesome.

After that thing made me take 20% damage to my shields with a single bum-rush? Yeah, I call it fair about eating it if I could; it would have eaten me if it could, after all.

Ugh. Wild fucking boars—I was going to have nightmares starring its slavering face and glowing red eyes.

[The boar was in 2nd Stage Magical Madness, so the endocrine glands have been infected. 100 kilograms of it is edible. The blood, bones, and organs are only usable by apothecaries.]

Watching the carcass disappear, I was just glad 37 took it upon himself to do the disassembling and storage.

Now, the quicker I could test out my theories on magic, the higher an opportunity for me to replace archery with magic. Archery was messy even if 37 took the used arrows back and removed the fluids in the process.

Plus, I was running low on arrows despite having a hundred stacked at the start. Monster hide was tough because of the rudimentary mana overlaying their skin.

Other than that, I was hoping to cheat with ways to make traveling easier. The elves were able to move like that because of a 'Blessing' but I wanted to see if I could mimic it. I could probably try now, at Level 4, but I wanted to secure another way of offense before—I was restraining myself and putting learning a movement technique as a "reward" for grinding to Level 5.

[The pack seems neutral. There are no hostile intentions.]

Oh?