Chapter 19: (Trying to) Defend the Inn!

BANG!

ROAAAR!!

[-1 Defense Point!]

If it weren’t for these sounds, he probably would have consumed all his mana to study the ingredients around him.

Now, these monsters looked more like eyesores than ever.

He gripped his pitiable sword and looked at them. He really needed to take care of them soon if he didn’t want to attract more monsters.

One more time, he used the skill, this time focusing on the monsters.

Other than the most obvious red marks, there were lighter (or pink) ones all over, and it varied from monster to monster. One monster, in particular, had more than others.

For example, there was very, very faint pink on the head of a few, while one of them had more pronounced marks on the head as well as the side of his body.

It wasn’t much, but it was different from the norm, so he took note of it. For one… the marks on the head were probably from the monster bumping its head on the barrier so manically.

The marks on the side of its body, on the other hand, were a bit of a mystery at first.

The only one that had this was the first one that attacked him (he had a good eye for ingredients). Finn then caught sight of a sap tree on his left, and then he was reminded of what it could be.

When he was luring this particular monster away from his sword, it bumped into a few of those sappy trees. Looking closer, there really were still some traces of the sap on its skin.

He looked at his own hand. By now, it seemed to be red, but that was because he held onto the sword so tightly. In terms of the numbness from accidentally touching the sap before, he didn’t feel that anymore, probably because he had washed it off quickly.

What could’ve happened if he just let it be?

Using the remaining time of the skill, he shifted his attention to the nearest sap tree.

[Sapsurge Tree: A relatively common tree that produces a special numbing, muscle-softening sap whenever pressure is applied on its trunk. The effect builds rapidly within the first few minutes of contact before the sap evaporates, at which point the scent is strongest. This aroma is known to irritate and possibly ward off some monsters.]

“Oh?!”

So that was why there were areas with fewer monsters when he was looking around for this place.

At this, he looked around the scope of the barrier. His barrier seemed to cover the entire area of the inn. He confirmed this by going to the [ROOM] tab, wherein the necessary blocks and the area of effect of each room was shown.

By this time, he felt his stomach gurgling. It was overshadowing the stinging and numbness he was feeling in his tired body.

He was really getting hungry. He had to finish this. Quick. If starvation was added on top of this unholy body pain, then he might really die.

To sate his hunger, even if just a little, he grabbed a few sunberries and ate them, along with some other non-poisonous leaves. While he did so, he walked around his scope and saw there were plenty of trees and plants covered by the barrier, and this included a few of those sapsurge trees.

He took a relatively flat rock to the trunk and scraped it from bottom up, letting some sap flow out.

He took out a wet handkerchief that had been stuck in his pocket and let it absorb the sap, ignoring the monsters outside for now.

ROAAARR!

[-1 Defense Point!]

He approached the barrier and stabbed his weapon on the weak spots he could hit (like the eyes), and then used his other hand to smack at the monsters’ weaknesses, and then targeted them again with his bone sword.

It was sad but, even if he was already targeting the monster’s weakness, he still could not kill it so quickly. Still, it made them bleed, and that was enough to make him hopeful.

ROAAARR!

However, his weak body—from being dormant and due to overexertion—was having a hard time handling the recoil of his own hits, whether it was by the sword or by the sap-kerchief.

Worse, he vaguely felt that if this went on, perhaps his weapon might not last long enough for him to get a new weapon!

A weapon!

He whipped his head to the Panda. “Is there a way I can get a ranked weapon here?”

“Uh-huh. The fastest way for the current you will be through the Hearth Market, la. The Beast Repellants are available there, too, sometimes. You look like you’ll need it.”

Finn blinked, curious. “This…”

Hearth Market? It sounded familiar.

Then he remembered one of the missions, the one where the reward was the activation of the so-called Hearth Market!

He looked at the [Quest] tab to review, and it was one of the first missions he would have to accomplish, but so many things were happening that he hadn’t been able to put much thought into it.

And what was the mission, one would ask?

[Active Mission: Welcome your first paying guest!]

[Information: Complete a check-in and check-out process for one paying guest!

Reward: 500 Hearth Points, Activation of Hearth Market]

He had to complete an entire transaction with a customer.

Finn couldn’t help but look around. He looked at the vast skies… and then at the large forest with dollops of man-eating beasts sprinkled all over the place.

“…” Yeah, a customer.

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