Chapter Twelve #2
Rosie had eyes full of awe. “She’s so fast! And graceful! I felt like I was watching a master swordswoman dance around! But with daggers.”
“I mean, yeah, she was, but that speed and skill…”
“Lots of people have fighting experience without going into dungeons.”
“Do you really only gain experience from dungeons? Even if you kill hundreds of monsters outside of a dungeon?”
“Yep.”
“… huh.”
“Mm, Master,” Lupa said, now standing in front of me with her head lowered. “Praise me.”
“Good girl, Lupa.” I was happy to fulfill her request and made sure to pet her as well. “Seriously, that was awesome.”
“Mm.” Her tail started happily wagging.
“I was a little worried and figured we’d be carrying you, but I think you’re the one who’ll be carrying us if anything.”
“Mm.” Her tail wagged even faster. “I’m useful?”
“Extremely useful.”
“Good. Should I kill all the monsters in here?”
“I won’t say no, but… let me and Rosie get some experience too, alright? We don’t get credit if you don’t let us deal at least 10% of the damage.”
“Mm. Got it.”
I looked at Rosie. “Ready for a grinding session?”
Rosie pulled out her new mace with a smile. “Ready!”
With that, the grinding began.
17 Goblin Peons.
9 Great Hogs.
2 Elder Hogs.
That was the result of our grinding after only one hour. With Lupa there, we had nothing to worry about whatsoever, even against the elites of the dungeon—the Elder Hogs.
Rosie and I both made it to level ten, we got a nice amount of drops, and Lupa made it to level six. Her fighting against enemies who were all stronger than her, but still mostly within five levels of her, meant she got a serious boost to experience even in a party of three.
And while both me and Rosie sometimes took damage… Lupa never got hit even once. Even when there were moments where I thought she looked like she was about to get hit, she evaded the attacks as if it was second nature to her.
The bad news was that she made me feel a little incompetent.
The good news was that she fired me up to make me want to get even stronger.
But that was going to have to wait.
“Alright,” I said. “Let’s give that other party that entered a chance to get some killing done. We’ll head over to that grove we passed so I can do the gathering quests.”
“Mm. Got it,” Lupa said. Then she reached into her inventory and… pulled out one of the Goblin Ears we got.
Then she lifted it up in front of her face.
And then she bit into it.
“L—Lupa!” Rosie whined. “We can sell that! Don’t eat things we can sell!”
“Mm… but I’m hungry,” Lupa replied. “And I already bit this one.”
“Well, go ahead and finish that one, but don’t eat more! And those are ears! From goblins! You shouldn’t be eating something like those in the first place!”
“Meat is meat.”
I then asked, “Is there anything you won’t eat?”
“Feces.”
“I made that too easy. That’s on me.”
Lupa happily munched on the Goblin Ear while Rosie and I both looked away from the sight.
At least Lupa was happy. That was what mattered.
But I was never going to try one.
We made it back to the grove we passed through during our grinding session. It was a little clearing surrounded by trees that were a bit skinnier and straighter than the rest of the trees in the forest, and that meant they were the ones I was after.
Hickory trees.
The game made gathering nodes easy to spot, and it seemed like the real world did, too. It was impossible not to spot the trees amongst all the other ones that were there for the environment.
It also helped that the trees actually had a status when I looked at them unlike the rest of the trees in the forest.
[Hickory Tree]
[Level 5]
All gathering nodes started off as level 5, and they went up in increments of 5 right until endgame.
“You two can take a break,” I said to Rosie and Lupa. “Or go grind some more if you get bored. I’ll be fine here.”
Both girls looked at me like I was crazy for proposing that they leave me alone.
“You never split up in a dungeon,” Rosie said. “That’s like splitting up in a horror movie.”
Lupa nodded. “Won’t leave Master.”
“Well,” I said. “Let me know if you get bored and I’ll stop so we can go grind some more.”
While the girls did their own thing, which turned out to just be talking to each other about random things, I went ahead and took the axe out that Tabitha gave me and got to work.
Now, in the game, gathering was simple. It was a quick-time event of hitting the input when the swinging bar was perfectly lined up in the middle.
The closer to the middle, the higher damage dealt to the tree, and the rewards were better the less total strikes it took to deplete its health.
Hitting the green zone in the very middle also meant “High Quality” versions of the node’s material could drop which boosted the stats of whatever was made with them.
Was that going to be the same here? I had no idea.
With the axe held in my hands, I took a deep breath and swung!
…
The tree’s health dropped by 1%.
Even the worst possible swing in the game still did 5%.
I turned to look at the girls and asked, “Is—is this normal? I only did 1%. A bad swing should do at least 5%, and a good swing should do 25%.”
They both look confused again, and Rosie said, “Chopping trees down takes time.”
Right. Of course.
Chopping trees down took time. I had no idea.
…
I was pretty sure that back on Earth, a tree this thick would take nowhere near a hundred potential swings to chop down.
Was the world trying to be realistic or like a game?! Because it wasn’t doing either as far as I was concerned!
But it was too early to complain. Sure, it might have just implied it was going to take a hundred swings, but maybe trees gave way more wood as a result. They only gave four logs back in the game, sometimes five, but maybe it’d give me twenty or so to compensate me for the extra effort required.
There was only one way to find out.
I swung again.
98% left.
…
…
“My arms are on fire,” I said at the 35% mark.
“Want me to switch with you?” Rosie asked.
“I—I’ve got this. Only… only thirty-five more swings. I… can do this.”
I got back to work.
…
…
3%.
Each swing took at least ten seconds of physically and mentally preparing myself.
2%.
Two more. Just two more.
1%.
Finally, after I had no idea how long, I was right there. Just… one more chop, and then I would be rewarded for all of my effort.
I took a deep breath and swung my axe to victory.
The tree fell to the ground following a satisfying crack and then…
[Hickory Log x4 added to inventory.]
Four.
Four?
Four.
Only four.
What took only a few seconds in the game for four logs took me too long and burning arms for the same amount.
“Did… did I do something wrong?” I asked.
“Well, your form was pretty bad,” Rosie answered. “But it still takes time even with good form. That’s why most people accepting gathering quests come out with whole parties equipped with tools so they can all damage the node at once.”
“I would have bought you axes… if I had known that. And I wouldn’t have accepted… that other gathering quest. Four logs per tree… forty for the new quest… twenty for Tabitha. That’s… fourteen more trees.”
“Can… can you let me do it, please?”
I walked over to Rosie, traded her the axe, and sat down with my back against one of the environmental trees.
Lupa was the one to pet my head this time. “Good job, Master.”
“Thanks… Lupa,” I said. “I—”
Rosie swung the axe into another tree. “Ooh! I’ve gotten way stronger than I realized! I can do four a swing now!”
“How?!” I had enough energy to shout due to the unfairness of the situation, apparently.
“Well, gathering isn’t really related to the system other than needing a good enough tool.
It depends on your actual strength more than your stats and level.
” Rosie started looking pretty smug and proud of herself.
“I’m pretty strong, you know. I grew up in the countryside doing all sorts of tough work. ”
“Mm, can I try?” Lupa asked.
“Sure!”
Lupa went over to Rosie, they traded the axe, and then Lupa swung at the tree. “Mm. Two. Rosie is strong. Super strong.”
“Hehehe.” That smug pride of Rosie was frustrating.
Even Lupa did twice as much damage to the tree as me. Did that mean Lupa was twice as strong as me, and then Rosie was twice as strong as Lupa? Was that how it worked?
Or maybe it actually was a stat thing?
“Lupa, did you put any points into strength, or is it still at one?” I asked.
Lupa shook her head. “Haven’t put any points into stats yet. Don’t know what to pick.”
So, no, it wasn’t because of some numerical value.
Lupa was just that much stronger than me, and Rosie was even stronger than both of us.
“I’ll have these trees chopped down in no time!” Rosie announced. “Finally, it’s my turn to show off!”
“Lupa,” I said. “Comfort me.”
Lupa crouched down in front of me to pet my head some more. “There, there,” she said. “It’s okay. It’s natural for men to be weaker than women. Our bodies are built different.”
“Hey, Lupa, the ‘there, there,’ was cute, but everything after that did the opposite of comfort me.”
“There, there.”
“You can’t just repeat that to override everything else you said.”
“Mm. Comforting someone is hard.”
At least she tried her best.
Plus being on the receiving end of petting was pretty nice. No wonder dogs, and Lupa, liked it so much.
Rosie had all those trees down in no time at all, and she could not have looked more smug about it if she tried.
She so obviously wanted us to praise her that I almost didn’t want to.
But, I did. She deserved it.
“Good job,” I said.
“Hmhmm, more!” Rosie demanded with a cheeky smile. “Tell me how useful I am!”
“You’re super useful. The most useful woodcutter ever.”
“Good, good. That’s better, but I’m not satisfied. Tell me I’m cute!”
“You’re the cutest, strongest, most useful woodcutter ever.”
“Ooh, that’s nice, that’s nice, but I feel we could add more. Let’s see… maybe something like, ‘Oh, Rosie, you are so humble and nobody sees just how incredible you are, but I do, because I love you and can never take my eyes off of how amazing you are.’”