The Hunter's Guide to Monsters

Krow and Velinel said their goodbyes quietly, sharing grilled skewers from a market stall set up by a village hunter.

Windrat meat, marinated to tenderness and heavily spiced, was delicious.

Thinking of the different meats in his Inventory, Krow asked after the spice mix.

The hunter, laughing and flattered, told them it was ordinary spices and didn't hold back on his opinion of different monster meats and appropriate sauces.

Apparently the bigger the monster, the more parts were tossed out as inedible. But with the right spices and prep, many of the cuts that people toss out can be as appetizing.

Hm, could the Butcher subclass also separate those 'hunter cuts'?

Probably not in Redlands.

Krow wandered the market after that enlightening breakfast, Velinel pointing out some spices that he knew from previous lives but had a new education in what tasted good to draculkar.

Peppercorns, cloves, dried seaweed flakes, half a dozen different salts, several powdered metals, another half dozen types of hot chillies, plus ten different kinds of spice mixes and sauces that could still be blended with other stuff to make new flavors.

They parted afterwards, Velinel having chores and Krow seeing that the village shops were starting to open for business.

He watched her wave and skip away, his first friend in this fake-Zushkenar.

It was a bit sad to part ways so soon, he mused as he took the steps to the shopping levels.

Abruptly, he wondered if the AI behind her character would keep this few days of data or just delete their interactions after a certain period of no contact; and Krow would be forgotten in Gremut.

That was a bit depressing, actually.

But even Reputation degraded after a while as a part of the game mechanics.

Come to think of it, how much player data did RSI store and retain? The game user contracts stated a definite respect of personal privacy but were the interactions with the numerous Redlands AIs considered private or public data?

Every player essentially went through virtual life in Redlands with a video recorder and biomedical monitors attached at all times, their brainwaves, heart-rates, and other physical and mental responses to virtual stimuli stored in some databank.

The social media privacy laws honed over the last half-century of the age of connectivity were intricate and complex.

Biomedical data was legally private, but he'd been a corporate wage-zombie long enough to know how much leeway there could be between the lines of rule and law.

That was even more depressing.

How did he get on this line of thought again?

Krow shook his head and entered the travel shop.

It was technically a general merchandise store, with sacks of dried grains and legumes next to leather bags next to weatherproof cloaks next to pots and pans, everything that a person needed when planning on an extended camping trip.

There were several items he'd learned, from transmigrator gossip in Zushkenar, were inaccessible after leaving a starting village. One of those was the Starseeker Traveler Pack – or, basically anything with the name Starseeker on it.

He only remembered after he saw one of the packs in the shop.

So he made a large order with the proprietor, who likely believed he was crazy by now.

He'd come to collect.

Two hundred-item crates of Starseeker Traveler Coats, again two crates of Starseeker Traveler Boots, ten crates of Starseeker Extended Travel Kits, and of course two crates of the traveler packs.

The Starseeker Travel Kits, he bought more of because it was the only way to get a decent toothbrush in Zushkenar. Each kit also contained a Starseeker Pied Pipe-Whistle for calling animals that could be tamed as mounts; an item that could be acquired nowhere else in Redlands or Zushkenar.

The entire order swallowed nearly ten thousand drax but Krow didn't mind. He'd gain the money back a thousand times over once he leveled his Enchanting class high enough.

Cheerfully paying, he also replenished his supply of the surprisingly useful grapple-hooks and bought several coils of rope taller and wider than a man.

Janggi was just unlocking her doors when he bounded up to the shop level. She only arched brows at him. "There exists such a thing as too punctual."

Krow deflated. The clothes weren't done yet? "I'll come back later, if you want."

She looked offended. "Did you think tying Remend and Allclean enchants with Durability was difficult? Though I struggle to understand why you'd want them on such poor materials."

Krow grinned. "Maybe I'm sentimental?"

"Don't be absurd," the tailor stated crisply, tossing a glance at him, then her eyes widened as she got a better glimpse of his clothes. "What in the name of the Divinities are you wearing and why are you wearing it?"

He looked down at himself, pulled at the knee-length tunic. He wore a thin but soft pair of baggy trousers with it, and leather-soled canvas slippers on his feet.

He didn't think they looked that bad?

They were actually comfortable.

"Condorowl encounter," he partly answered. He pulled last night's gloves out of a pocket, showing her the shredded palm and finger area. "The gloves were a lost cause, even with the Durability enchants."

She took them, shaking her head.

"Condorowls. At least you didn't wake them after moonset or you'd have gained the full brunt of their attention." She saw something in his face, because her back straightened rigidly. She shook the gloves at him, disbelieving. "You actually went out after moonset?"

"I wasn't planning on approaching the things last night," he insisted, at the lecturing tilt of her brows. He'd really been planning to just scout the nests. The plan was to sneak into them tonight.

She could sense no lie in his words, so she just let out a scolding hum and muttered, "Save me from reckless youngsters. Be grateful your only casualties were the gloves."

The gloves, the ropes, and more grapple-hooks than Krow expected, really.

"You have no idea how grateful," he sighed.

She nodded, tossed the torn gloves onto the counter. "I don't have any material that will hold up to greater Enchantment, not if we want the gloves thin and flexible enough to allow the range of sensation and movement you specified."

"That's fine. A few more of the same type will do for now."

When Krow discussed the kind of gloves he wanted, Janggi was the one to suggest modifying [Plague Doctor's Gloves], which were made of the intestines of various monsters. They already had waterproofing and an enchant supporting the natural resistance of the intestines against acids and venoms.

She added bone armoring to certain areas of the back and anchored the added Durability-Remend-Allclean enchant combination there. The new glove created was named [Plague Doctor's Gauntlets].

With last night as a test, it looked like it had a weakness against physical damage.

Krow would find better gloves for hunting sooner or later. He couldn't deny that the Gauntlets were a great addition to a Butcher's gear.

"I must speak to you about the boots you brought." Janggi ushered him to the back room. "Fit the boots one last time, if you would."

Krow obediently exchanged the borrowed slippers he was wearing for one of the two pairs of Starseeker Traveler Boots he'd taken to Janggi once he discovered them.

"Comfortable still?"

Krow nodded.

"Remend isn't usually advised for footwear, as I told you before, especially workwear. The enchant uses the item material to fix damage. These boots already have Weatherproofing and Durability – standard travel-item enchantments. Travel boots, for dragons' sake. Even if you just like the…design, just a few days of knowing you, I can already tell these boots will not be worn in a life of leisure."

Krow nodded again. Over time, the Remend enchant weakened the material of the item, so it necessitated addition of extra material to specific parts of the enchanted object.

Janggi's problem was that she didn't have the material used to create the Starseeker items, but Krow still insisted on the Remend.

Needless to say, she was slightly irritated.

There would be no calls for apprenticeship from this tailor enchanter, that's for certain.

"Have you heard of starweave?" Krow asked, out of the blue. There were a few mentions of recipes to make starweave cloth on the old Redlands crafter forums for years.

"An old myth," Janggi started idly folding Krow's clothes into a Starseeker Travel Pack, also brought to her to be enchanted. "If such a cloth existed, its creation has been lost to time, along with pterano leather, Arieskar woolcloth, and dragonscale armor."

Krow made a note to find out what those were, specifically.

A whole recipe for the ancient secret potion that made ordinary cloth into starweave cloth was completed some weeks after the craft upgrade, in his last life, by one of the old craftmasters.

Right now, people only held partial recipes.

Since a starweave potion recipe could be recreated whole from numerous partial mentions in various places as part of various quests, why can't the creation of other useful ancient materials be revived in the same way?

He sighed. Would he have time to flit around the map looking for hidden ancient recipes and forgotten enchanting materials?

Janggi shoved a coat into his hands. "There is enough clothing here that you can afford to bin those…things you're wearing. I must change the display near the east window; it is too exposed to the sunlight."

The door to the front room closed behind her.

Krow smiled down at the coat he held. The [Starseeker Traveler Coat], made of the 'lost' starweave cloth – the same cloth used in the starting gear clothing, the [Starfall Shirt] and [Starfall Trousers].

An advantage given exclusively to new players, even if most didn't know right now.

To hide something like this solely in the starting villages, Norge and his game developer team were optimistic assholes, weren't they.

He quickly changed, putting on his now-enchanted starting gear, the Starseeker boots and coat, and a new pair of gauntlets.

The coat was long enough that he didn't need a cloak to hide his revolver. Not to mention, who wore a cloak with a longcoat?

"I'm heading to Nyurajke today," Krow stated to Janggi as he walked to the counter and paid, clad in new clothes, Travel Pack already strapped to his back.

Another thousand drax lost. Whoa, enchantment was so expensive.

The sight of much gold shelled out just for clothes was a great motivating experience for leveling his crafter class.

One day, he'd gouge out people's wallets like this too.

"Thank you, for putting up with my requests. It's been a great experience, almost seeing a master at work."

He'd pestered her with more than a few questions over the last few days, really, even if she didn't allow him to see her process.

Janggi laughed a bit, her expression softening. "You've given me much to think about. We are even, I believe."

"Don't miss me and my inspiring self too much."

"Out."

Krow laughed and slid out the door with a wave, causing the chimes to sound beautifully.

He went directly to the mending shop, got his and Sein's clothes back, and dropped off the borrowed clothes with instructions to return to the visiting-house proprietor.

Dhunancholke the barman said Nyurajke was three hours east. Krow assumed that meant by caravan, which was slower than a person on foot.

By himself, Krow expected a two-hour journey.

It was approaching midmorning, which meant there would be caravans on the road, so lower chances of banditry.

The amount of armed people traveling on the road didn't mean complete safety from attack, though.

He remembered, as a swordsbearer, having no quests after leaving his starting village and not invited to a guild, there were a lot of bandits in the game.

Take a turn in the road, what do you find? Bandits blocking the road. Go into the woods to piss, bandits. Join a traveling group for safety in numbers, bandits. Get hired as part of a caravan's protection on a journey, bandit gang. Explore the unknown forest, bandit camp. Enter a city tavern to drink away your woes, bandit king.

It was a wonder that people in Redlands still went anywhere without being robbed naked.

"Are you Krow?"

The softly voiced question brought him out of his internal griping.

There was a young woman in front of his visiting-house door. And a mountain of a man looming behind her, full beard braided into a thick tail that ended at the center of his sternum.

No starting gear, or armor, or weapons. Not players.

Their eyes were covered by headgear, a hat for the man, a veil for the young woman. But what skin showed was a rich mahogany dark.

"…Garvan Clan?"

The girl smiled sharply. "Well met, Ilas Krow, traveler. We are here for Seinalt."

Less than a quarter-hour later, Krow sat on a padded floormat inside one of the Garvan Clan covered wagons, sipping sweet hot tea, with several plates of sweetmeats on the low table before him, and watching the stone and crystal towers of the village of Gremut grow further away.

He was still slightly confused how he got there, but didn't really care all that much.

The man sitting across him put down his teacup, barely a clink sounding.

"So," the beard-braided man sighed, his gentle voice a stark contrast to his broad muscled frame. Inside the caravan, he'd removed his hat to show green eyes swirling like a galaxy. "You are the person who claims to have saved my nephew."

*

Chapter End

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