Golden Experience

“From Blanc’s story, it was at… I think it’s around here.”

Normally, during this period leading up to the event, I should have been extremely busy setting the stage for retaliation against the Portree Kingdom.

Initially, I was determined to beat them up myself, because it was as if they had suddenly punched me, even though I had done nothing to them.

However, when I opened the door, I found that the other party had attacked me in retaliation for the attack by the bandits. The other party, however, was Lyra, my sister.

I hesitated to attack myself, partly because I was wary of the enemy’s artifact, but also because I was somewhat aware that I was the one who had caused Lyra trouble, and my will to kill was weakened.

Having suddenly found free time, I heard from chatting with Blanc through friend chat that there seemed to be a creature named ‘Newt’.

Thinking it might be a good opportunity to search for a dragon, I decided to take Sugaru and fly out. Literally.

“Ah, is that the river?”

At a distance where the shadows of the city began to appear in my [Demonic Eyes], I noticed a river flowing below. The river was quite wide, making it seemingly impossible for a humanoid creature to cross it alone.

The area around the river was dense with vegetation, but a bit away from the road, there were sparse plants, and rocks were exposed.

Blanc had described it as a wilderness, but it could be described as having a mild desert climate. When people think of deserts, they often imagine vast sandy landscapes, but I’ve heard that in reality, there are more rocky areas. The surroundings were lush only along the river.

Taking advantage of this, something resembling fruit trees or barley was cultivated, but now it was covered in blackened charcoal. It didn’t seem like an environment for slash-and-burn agriculture, but sometimes NPC thinking is hard to understand.

“There seems to be something in the river.”

“That seems to be the case. From the glow of LP and MP, it seems to be an insignificant monster. Is that a Newt?”

During the day, Rare covered her entire body with wings.

[Demonic Eyes] and [True Eyes] can be set to exclude oneself, and since activation is centered around oneself, it is possible to confirm the outside of the wings without any problem. On the other hand, [Magic Link] relies on the line of sight, so it cannot be activated in this state. If an attack is needed from here, I would have to rely on Sugaru.

“Alright, let’s land.”

Confirming that there was no one else around, I descended.

The surrounding towns had been destroyed by Blanc. If anyone was there, it would only be players aiming for the dungeon. The location of the dungeon is well known, and players who come all the way to the river off the main road should be few.

Having landed by the river, there was no reaction from whatever was in the water. It felt more like a dull sensation, rather than being unaware.

“Is it non-active?”

<Non-ac…?>

“Non-active. It means not active, so it’s an enemy that won’t initiate an attack on us. You don’t need to remember that word.” (T/N: in the japanese she said it in english)

Since the movement of mana in the water is different from the air, the figure is not completely invisible, but it is very difficult to see. Also, with [True Eyes], only a vague form is visible.

I tried to open my wings a little to check with those eyes, but it was still early in the day, and the sunlight reflected off the water surface was dazzling. I quickly gave up.

“Sugaru, can you bring one of them onto the land?”

<Yes, boss.>

Without hesitation, Sugaru entered the water and soon returned with one salamander in hand. Perhaps due to the presence of aquatic insects or the inclusion of crustaceans such as shrimp and crab, Sugaru’s characteristics include [Aquatic]. Characters with this can act in water without reducing performance.

The monster Sugaru pulled up was about two meters long. Rather than a salamander, it felt more like an ugly crocodile.

According to [Appraisal], it seems to be called a [Hiers Newt]. It seems that there are Newts with different names in other countries.

The Hiers Newt, brought up on land, seemed to recognize Sugaru as an enemy and repeatedly attacked with its tail skillfully. However, due to the overwhelming difference in ability, no damage was incurred. Sugaru seems to recognize this as an important sample for Rare, enduring the humiliation in silence.

“It’s really weak. Probably on par with ☆1 trash mobs. However, its epidermis seems to be thick, and it seems like it’d be impossible to cut through with a blunt blade. With this level of weakness, I wouldn’t be surprised if they were being overhunted and used as food, but I’ve seen no signs of that.”

〈These creatures were found in the deepest part of the river. It might be difficult for humans to capture them.〉

If it’s difficult for humans to capture, it also means it’s a challenging place for players to attack.

So, what is the purpose of these monsters being here? The riverbed shows many clusters of LP, indicating strong reproductive power, but usually, such creatures are lower in the food chain. It’s like an invasive species that has undergone abnormal proliferation due to the absence of natural enemies.

“It’s hard to imagine someone brought them here. If so, perhaps their natural enemies are gone? For example, they went extinct due to some natural disaster, or they couldn’t come here anymore due to a change in terrain or something.”

It’s about nature, and there’s no literature somewhere to explain. But their strong reproductive ability is convenient. Let’s breed them in Liebe or Tore Forest. For them, a river flowing through a lush, large forest would be more comfortable than this wilderness.

“For now, let’s [Subordinate] the noticeable ones and take them with us. Staying here indefinitely doesn’t guarantee we won’t be found by players. After moving a certain amount to Liebe, [Summon] the rest to the World Tree Square for experiments, maybe.”

〈Before that, it might be nice to greet Lady Blanc. After all, we’ve come this close.〉

“True, let’s do that.”

＊

“What! If you were coming, you should have said so; I would have prepared something.”

“I just happened to be in the area with some free time. Besides, it’s not easy to predict when you’ll be able to come.”

It seems Blanc has decided to designate Erntal as a ☆5 dungeon.

Unlike what Rare is doing, where only the boss area is filled with powerful monsters and the rest is filled with challenging monsters to entertain players, all areas are set to ☆5 difficulty. This is an unavoidable measure taken for the Skeletal Ghidorah that can’t enter the boss area.

To bring back the dwindling number of visitors, it seems Blanc also increased the difficulty to ☆3 in the neighboring town, Altriva.

For Rare, it’s welcoming that the player base visiting this region is increasing, as the NPC managing the inn town in the nearby safety area is someone affiliated with Rare.

“If you ever encounter difficulties in dungeon management, feel free to ask me about it. Helping you is beneficial for me too.”

“Thanks! Oh, by the way! Count-senpai said we could go catch Lizardmen. Would you like to give it a try?”

Blanc will guide them to the habitat of Lizardmen.

There don’t seem to be many, and they were asked not to kill all of them, but being able to obtain reptilian-type monsters is significant.

“Rare, about that outfit…”

“I’m not good with sunlight, you see. Apparently, it’s only related to the parts of the human skin that sunlight affects. With this, I can avoid sunburn and go out without worrying about sunlight during the day.”

“…Well, as long as the person is satisfied.”

Flying with Blanc, they arrived at the source of the river, where a towering rock wall stands.

There was a small, human-passable crack in the rock wall, although large in comparison to the size of the wall. It seems the source of the river is flowing from there.

“I made that! I came out from there and flew into the city!”

“It seems like a memorable secret passage. But, something seems to be there. Could those be the Lizardmen?”

In the crack of the rock wall, several creatures resembling Lizardmen were seen fidgeting.

“Oh, you’re right! Maybe those guys can come out now that the exit has opened.”

The Lizardmen, upon closer inspection, were holding the Hiers Newts in their hands. Those were their food.

So, for some reason, they were confined within the rock wall, and as a result, the Newts, with no natural enemies, abnormally multiplied and filled the riverbed. This scenario seems plausible.

“Why were the Lizardmen confined in the rock wall?”

“I don’t know. Maybe it’s because the highland itself suddenly rose a long time ago; that’s what the story was.”

“What’s that? It rose up? Is that even possible?”

“I did say it was sudden, didn’t I?”

“That part is not important.”

In any case, there seems to have been a large-scale change in the terrain here in the past, and it happened at an observable speed.

Whether it was caused by some character for the convenience of an operation, or if such natural phenomena exist is unknown.

But at least for now, it’s a no for me to do something like that.

“…The world is vast.”

“That’s right.”

For now, I [Subordinated] the three Lizardmen near the entrance and decided to enter with them.