30. The Magical Beasts and Difficulty Level Up
088 – The Magical Beasts and Difficulty Level Up #1
━ What’s going on? Why do you look so worn out? Did you strike out on your hunt?
Leaf tilted his head, making a curious sound.
I silently shoved him aside and collapsed into the soft pile of grass in the treehouse.
‘That was a solid half-day that felt like four weeks.’
I managed to defeat that wicked Snake Witch, but my whole body was so drained that I had no energy left to move.
I barely opened my mouth to ask Leaf.
━ Got anything to eat in the house?
━ I’ve got some fruit left that I got from the Monkeys.
━ Just peel one and put it in my mouth.
I went “Ah,” and opened my mouth wide. I felt too lazy to lift a finger, wishing someone would just feed me.
━ What are you doing? Hurry up and put it in!
━ Okay, okay. Just wait a sec!
At my urging, Leaf hurriedly started peeling the fruit with his front claws. Then he began popping the pieces into my mouth one by one.
All I had to do was chew and swallow the fruit that came my way.
━ This is tasty. Give me some of that Yingyi too.
I snatched Yingyi, who Leaf was cuddling, and propped him behind my head like a pillow.
━ Gyuuiing. Yiing.
It made some strange sounds, but as I rested my head on the fluffy and cool pillow, sleepiness was creeping in.
When I finally woke up, I stretched lazily and yawned.
Looking around, I realized Yingyi and Leaf were gone, likely off for a stroll outside the treehouse.
As my throat became dry, I shook a small water bottle inside the house.
When I poured it into my mouth, barely a sip of water trickled in.
‘Looks like I need to fetch more water.’
Shaking off the sleep, I stepped out of the treehouse. In the makeshift yard, I spotted Leaf wrestling with something.
━ What are you doing over there?
━ I thought I could make it easier to grab your thorns a bit.
As I got closer, I saw Leaf holding onto one of the long thorns that had grown from my back, struggling with a wooden log.
I watched intently as he worked on my thorn.
Leaf inserted the thorn into a small, flat piece of wood that would fit into one hand.
He seemed to be making a handle to make it easier to grip the thin thorn. Soon enough, Leaf completed a small skewer, like a sharp pointy stick.
━ Perfect fit for your hand. With this, you shouldn’t have too much trouble holding on tight.
With a flourish, he swung the thorn around, pretending to stab at random things.
Watching the fencing raccoon, I couldn’t help but chuckle a few times.
‘A weapon, huh? That would be nice to have.’
I realized that soon enough, I would have to face off against who-knew-what weird creatures, including those Divine Beings of the forest.
‘It’s wise to be prepared ahead of time.’
I brainstormed what kind of weapons I could make with my existing knowledge.
Given that my materials were limited to wood and my thorns, it was likely whatever I could make would be primitive and limited.
‘Maybe a ranged weapon would be good.’
I could handle close combat easily enough with my claws or tail.
But after so many battles, I had wished for a way to deal with enemies from a distance.
━ Hey, can you make something like this?
I started drawing on the ground with my front claw as I explained.
━ Like this, connect an elastic thread to a curved branch, and then… when you pull this other branch back…
━ The thread returns to its original state and sends this branch flying forward, right?
I nodded at Leaf’s question.
━ Exactly, quick learner! So, can you make something like that?
━ What do you want to sh**t a branch for?
Leaf tilted his head, still getting the idea of the tool but not quite grasping its purpose.
━ To attack enemies from far away. Think about it: if I attach my thorn to that branch, I can make a weapon. Just like Belger shooting thorns!
━ But then you could just throw your thorns.
━ Hey, use your head!
━ Look.
Suddenly, Leaf plucked a thorn right off my back.
I was about to ask what he was doing, but before I knew it, he hurled the thorn with a flick of his wrist.
Just like a dart, the thorn zipped across the air and lodged itself into a tree, spearing a horrid bug crawling on it.
‘Wow, impressive! How’d he do that?’
I recalled hearing a funny story about some highly trained special forces agents being able to throw chopsticks and pin them into objects.
‘Now that I think about it, this raccoon Leaf was also good at throwing rocks.’
I began to wonder if Leaf’s talent for “handiness” might be even more remarkable than we imagined.
━ Anyway, you should make it. There’s a limit to what you can throw with just your front paw. Like distance and all.
━ Hmmm.
Leaf gazed at the bow design I had drawn in the dirt, deep in thought.
He seemed to be pondering how to actually make this device when he finally spoke up again.
━ I think we could use a branch from the toothpaste tree for the body. For the elastic thread, I guess we could use the leftover spider silk you brought last time.
━ Good, then hurry up and make it!
Leaf used the sword he had “borrowed” from the Monkeys to fashion the branches. With a swift swipe here and there, he eventually created a decent-looking bow body.
━ But the body isn’t curved?
When I pointed that out, Leaf simply said, “Just wait.”
He then strung the spider silk through the notches at the top and bottom of the branches. To my surprise, the branch bent just like the bow in my memory, creating something that looked pretty convincing.
━ I made a rough prototype for now, but is this right?
I took the bow from Leaf’s hand and nodded with satisfaction. When I plucked the string, it went “deeing,” producing a melodious sound.
━ Gyuuiing.
Yingyi, who was resting on my neck, made a cute noise in response to the sound of the string. When I plucked the string again, “deeing,” this time, it chimed and made Yingyi squawk again.
━ What’s this? Does it think it recognizes its own species’ call?
I recalled how the Witch Eve and Yingyi had exchanged chirps like they were having a conversation.
━ Anyway, great! Now we just need to craft the arrows to sh**t from it.
━ I’ve already made a few of those.
Leaf presented a straight stick to me. On the front, my short thorn was fastened like an arrowhead.
━ Excellent!
I was genuinely impressed with Leaf’s preparedness and initiative. Maybe proud of receiving praise, Leaf rubbed his nose with a front paw.
━ Hehe, this, this is nothing special.
━ So now go stand over there. Put an apple on your head.
━ Huh? Why?
━ You need a target to practice hitting.
━ H-hey!
Understanding my words, Leaf trembled a little. I teased him by saying, “Just kidding,” as I affectionately ruffled his head with my front paw.
━ You did pretty well for a rough job. You’re skillful.
━ R-really? Th-thank you.
With Leaf blushing next to me, I nocked an arrow into the bowstring.
‘It’s been a while since I wasted 5,000 won at an archery café. Here we go again!’
I focused on the tree pillar about 20 meters away, targeting a small scorpion crawling on top.
‘Is this how I should aim?’
I shut one eye and lined the tip of the arrow up with the scorpion.
While I knew how to aim a rifle, I had no idea how to hold an ancient bow without any sights, so all I could do was sh**t generally.
‘It should hit.’
I decided to go with my instincts and relaxed my grip on the front paw.
With a whoosh that split the wind, the arrow shot forth and embedded itself in the tree.
━ Wow! I hit a frog! It flies really fast!
Leaf was making a fuss like it was his triumph. I shrugged, realizing that I didn’t hit the scorpion after all, but the arrow had landed a few meters away, missing my intended mark.
‘Did I miss? Is the bow faulty?’
I handed the bow back to Leaf.
━ You try. You see that black scorpion on that tree? Aim to hit it.
I pointed toward the distant tree with my front paw. Leaf looked at me and asked again.
━ Hit its head? Or its tail? Or the body?
━ Hit anywhere.
━ Then I’ll aim for the tail.
Leaf nocked the twig arrow into the bow. Without a moment’s hesitation or taking time to aim, he yanked it back and fired.
The arrow shot straight and pierced the scorpion on the tree I had pointed at.
━ Zzzzz!
The scorpion screamed loudly. I approached it and lifted the tail-less creature with my front paw.
━ Impressive skills! With this, you could catch most beasts.
━ It’s definitely a fantastic tool we made. Is this a weapon used by the humans in that city you lived in?
━ Well, yes. With this, we can go hunting together at night now!
━ W-what!?
Leaf squeaked, clearly startled. I playfully scratched at my ear with my pinky claw and casually said.
━ We’re going hunting at night now. I can’t just wander around during the day catching horned rabbits after making such an awesome tool.
During the day, I was the unchallenged king of the forest, free to frolic and hunt without worrying about human hunters showing up.
But while it was peaceful and all, the chances of encountering strong critters were also slim, which meant fewer opportunities to gain experience points.
‘From my experience, the stronger beasts were tastier, and I leveled up quickly.’
It was merely a hunch I had, but I didn’t think I could level up much by catching horned rabbits during the day anymore.
‘I need to get stronger faster.’
Thus, my conclusion was to challenge the nights of this forest.
If my life until now had been on beginner mode, it was now time for some high-stakes adventures to claim higher and more valuable loot.
Leaf bristled up, as if facing a ferocious beast.
━ Y-you’re planning to roam in the forest at night? That’s way too reckless!
━ Sure, you might think it’s reckless. That’s why I made this weapon! Just the two of us can handle it, can’t we? You don’t trust my strength?
I dramatically cracked my front paw, making a bone-cracking sound.
Leaf squinted at the bow in his hands and his eyes widened slightly.
━ It’s definitely a great tool. But still, it won’t be easy to survive in the night forest with just this. I know you’re strong, but brute strength alone isn’t enough to survive the night.
━ Exactly, that’s why I want to gain that survival experience! You can’t learn to survive in the night without doing it!
Kind of reminded me of the catchphrase, “your company desires experienced new talent.”
Leaf paused in thought, seemingly contemplating the implications. I let out a tiny sigh and shrugged.
━ Fine, even if you’re not going with me, I’m going to figure out how to explore the night forest alone. If you’re that scared, there’s nothing I can do about it.
Spending the last few days with Leaf, I thought I had developed a sense of camaraderie and maybe even friendship, so it was a bit bittersweet and disappointing.
Still, I figured it was time to prioritize my plans over Leaf’s feelings.
‘Though it would be nice to build a team that could support each other, there are certain advantages to going solo. It’s great for stealth and all.’
Leaf stared at me with wide, worried eyes.
━ When will you start going out at night?
━ Tonight!
