A week has passed since we left the mountain range, and it has been a very rewarding week, although, it was a struggle at the start. Taming the monsters turned out to be very difficult at the start, with Celine failing to tame anything for the first 2 days. We had encountered a lot of Zivotinjas and Xabarils since the goblin scouts, as well as Stellar and Gewari were luring them towards us. The only problem was they were too aggressive toward Celine.
Refusing conversations and attacking her when she got close was just the start. Even if we had pinned down the monster, they would rather continue flailing about in an attempt to escape. Instead, we had to kill them and take the loot, searching for new monsters as we make our return.
Kingston, Gibing, David, Ken, and 3 other shield bearers went off on a separate journey to train themselves. Knowing they would be okay, I allowed it and said to meet up in a couple of days near the forest.
On the third day, Celine thought about luring the monsters with food and creating a pitfall trap. During the past two days, we were able to observe the diet of the monsters, and they mainly had grass or a type of wheat that grew in the valleys of hills. I originally didn't notice them because they were green, but after coming back, I start to see hints of yellow in the once emerald green ocean. I also discovered that once I pluck the wheat from the ground, I get a system message.
[ Unripe Zlatan Wheat
The Zlatan Wheat is a crop found in the Zumrut Grassland. They start off as green stalks before turning a golden color as they ripen. Once it is golden brown, they are ready for harvest.
Has a very low chance to increase Vitality by 1 when consumed after processing. ]
When I read the system message, I realize this was the method of gaining stats through food. There are other food items in the world that will give stat increases, and this wheat is just one of them. While it does say it has a very low chance, it doesn't have a limit, which means so long as I or my NPCs keep consuming the food, we will eventually earn lots of Vitality points.
However, the crop is still in an unripe form, and I'm not sure of the current method to harvest the seeds from them. Most likely, I would have to wait for these wheat plants to ripen and then harvest the tops of the plant before I can acquire the seeds, which will take god knows how long since monsters eat them unripe. Nevertheless, we still take a good handful along with us, using them as bait for the monsters.
During the third and fourth days, we baited and trapped monsters in pitfalls. During this time, Celine constantly talked to the monsters and fed them a lot of unripe wheat and grass. Before long, Celine did it, she tamed a Xabaril. With the success of taming her first monster, she went along and asked the Xabaril for help in convincing its fellow brethren to increase her tame count. Zivotinjas were eventually starting to get tamed as well, and we started to use the traps less.
I earned the Trapping Technology when we made the pitfalls and successfully trapped a monster, which felt strange since I was sure the goblins had made traps for the jackalopes before. However, I didn't think much of it and kept helping the taming efforts.
I look at the monsters that Celine had tamed to see their stats.
Name: Xabaril
Race: Beast (Boar)
Health Points (HP): 100/100
Mana Points (MP): 5/5
Strength: 30
Vitality: 50
Intelligence: 10
Dexterity: 10
Agility: 25
Luck: 5
Skill: Charge, Bulk Up
Bulk Up (Active) 5MP - Activating the skill allows the user to gain 10% Vitality and 25% Strength, but loses 50% Agility. Duration 10 minutes. Cooldown 30 minutes.
The Xabaril were larger boars than in the real world, with tusks as large as its face and pink stout. Their blackish-brown fur coat wraps around their whole body, keeping them warm and feeling very smooth to touch.
Name: Zivotinja
Race: Beast (Zebra)
Health Points (HP): 80/80
Mana Points (MP): 25/25
Strength: 25
Vitality: 40
Intelligence: 50
Dexterity: 20
Agility: 35
Luck: 5
Skill: Prismatic Barrier, Discharge, Shooting Stars, Energize
Prismatic Barrier (Active) 10MP - Create a blue translucent barrier around a target that can absorb damage equal to 50 (+ 100% INT). Duration 10 minutes. Cooldown 1 hour.
Shooting Stars (Active) 5MP - Channel lightning energy to a point, releasing them in 1-10 small stars. Each star will do damage equal to 5 (+ 20%INT). The longer the channel time, the more stars that are produced. Channel 10 - 100 seconds. Cooldown 1 minute
Energize (Active) 2MP - Charge lightning energy and store it. Can use stored lightning energy to cast spells at a faster rate. Maximum stored energy is 5 minutes worth of channeled lightning energy. If the energy is not used within 30 minutes, the energy is lost. Cooldown 1 hour.
I always knew the Zivotinja were strong monsters, since breaking through the barrier took a long time each battle, but to think that it was this powerful makes me really wonder what the stats on some monsters that we encountered were. However, with Celine slowly taming them, we will amass an army of these beasts as well.
During the course of a whole week, Celine was able to tame a total of 10 Xabaril and 5 Zivotinja before we reached the forest. There were a lot of missed opportunities since some monsters refused to be tamed. No amount of food or convincing from the other monsters seemed to make them want to go with us, resulting in their deaths. However, they weren't completely useless, since the loot from their bodies strengthened us further.
We gained 2 Charge skill books, 1 Light Steps skill book, 1 Stealth skill book as well as meat, 5 small Zivotinja horns, 3 Xabaril tusks, 7 Crinzanna claws, 5 Crinzanna fangs, 10 batches of Ombidia leather, and 10 Ijagu fangs. I gave the light steps to Gewari while taking Stealth and Charge for myself. I plan to give the other Charge to Ken once that group comes back. I had messaged Kingston offline, and he told me they will arrive at our location tomorrow.
While waiting for them to come, I took out the Badge of Russians. Since the hint was to use it away from the main base, I have decided to use it here. I had already searched online about the Krepost and found out it was an ancient fortress used to protect troops or government officials. Using this knowledge, I safely deduce that using this item will create a small building or fortress that might have a defensive feature.
Holding the Badge, I can see a small blue square on the ground, symbolizing the location of the building once I place it down. I find a wide-open space that was not too far away from the slope and ordered everyone to move away while I use the badge. I place the badge on the ground and a pop-up message appears.
[ Are you sure about the placement? You can NOT change it afterward ]
"Yes" - Ian
Once I said yes, the badge melts into the ground. A black line appears around the perimeter, and slowly a black gel fills the area. It slowly congeals, morphing into a shape of a building upward. A 2-story wooden building with dark brown wooden planks and 2 black cone-like roofs bursts out of the black gel, covered in black smoke. I wait for the smoke to clear and see that it has a wooden door at the front with two circles cut out from the sides as windows on the front.
Compared to the Ikanda, this building looks more homey and comfortable. Walking around to the other side, I see another 2 windows on the second story, each below the cone roofs. I walk back to the front, to see the surprised faces of the NPCs. I calm them down, saying this was just a building, while Nina walks up to me.
"Is this an item you got from an ancient ruin? It's amazing…" - Nina
"Yep, I got a similar item before, so I wasn't too surprised seeing it form." - Ian
"What does it do?" - Nina
"About to find out." - Ian
I walk to the front of the house and place my hand on the door. As expected, a message is displayed telling me about the new building.
[ Krepost
A defensive building used by the Russians when they expanded. It is a unique building belonging to the Russians. Troops inside the building will recover their HP and MP faster. Troops within a 50-meter radius will gain a 10% increase in all their stats. The building provides a defensive attack every 10 seconds if there are monsters or enemies and does 100 damage.
Toggle for Closest, Furthest, Weakest, Strongest target. ]
"I see, that's why the hint was to make it further from the main base because this can become the first line of defense." - Ian
"Let me see too… Oh, like a defense tower but with buffs." - Nina
"Yeah. Celine! Come here." - Ian
"Hmm? Coming!" - Celine
Celine stops petting the Zivotinja and jogs over to me.
"What's wrong?" - Celine
"This place is going to be your new home. I will be leaving people here as well, but I want you to stay here and continue taming and breeding the monsters." - Ian
"Huh? What? WHAT?" - Celine
"Is something wrong?" - Ian
"Wait… This… I don't deserve such a vital role. I barely did anything other than help make the monsters more friendly towards us." - Celine
" But that is your role. Without you, I don't even know if we could tame one of these monsters. Plus, I feel like you enjoy being with them. This place feels like home to you, doesn't it?" - Ian
"I can't deny that… Ever since we started roaming the grassland, I felt like I was home. I don't know where I was before I was a slave or who my parents are, but maybe they resided in grasslands. You are right about being with the monsters. I do like it, but I don't know." - Celine
"Don't worry. I know you will do a good job and I will be visiting from time to time from HavenFall." - Ian
"Alright. If you think I will do a good job, I will stay here." - Celine
"Good. The building will help defend against monsters, but do not rely on it. Anyone injured should stay inside the building and rest up until they are fully healed. You will need to start off by furnishing the building. It is currently empty. After that, you will need to build some buildings for the monsters.
I know they can live in the wild, but making a building with a roof over their heads will make them more at home, or at least that is what I think. Make a wall as well, just to give you more protection against any monsters. I'll be leaving all the shield-bearers here, as well as Yor to direct the construction. Belle and Razor will also stay to help in the protection. I will bring all the material back to HavenFall.
I will visit you again in a while after I sort out everything in HavenFall. During that time, focus on construction, taming, and breeding if possible." - Ian
"Got it! I'll do my best!" - Celine
Celine heads off to inform the shield-bearers of their new duty, and Nina approaches me after I finish instructing Celine.
"You seem to have everything thought out. What are Lynn and my role?" - Nina
"To be honest, your role will be like Kingston's. Fight and never stop since we are players. However, I will give Lynn an opportunity to not fight. You did say she preferred not to fight, but I wasn't sure if that was because she was injured or if she just doesn't want to fight." - Ian
"I see. Thank you for considering Lynn. I will ask her what she wants, as for me, you are right. We are players, and we need to fight eventually." - Nina
Nina wanders away, going to Lynn. I take another look at the Krepost and close the door, walking back to the main group as they prepare for dinner. In the distance, I see Kingston's group walking toward us. Almost time to go home.
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