Fantasy Realm [One Piece] [Harry Potter] [Naruto] - [Progression] [LitRPG]

Chapter 85: Strange Birds and Even Stranger Mushrooms

Alex decides to carefully skim through the catalog before doing anything else. The "facilities" this village of monsters has to offer mean nothing to him. He's already prepared, having packed enough food along with a small tent and sleeping bag in his generic inventory. As long as the village itself is secure, with no threat of monster or beast attacks, he's perfectly fine sleeping outside. The other players don't worry him at all, either. The only thing he truly needs is the 100 tokens required for the ticket. He feels lucky that he "only" needs 100 instead of the 150 tokens that level-4 players have to gather.

Unlike the other players, who are already crowding around the small stall selling tickets and other items, Alex has a different approach. He intends to study the catalog first and then scout the area surrounding the village immediately. This way, he can be among the first to grab materials before anyone else depletes the supply. He suspects that the farther he ventures from the village, the greater the danger will be, but also the better the resources.

The catalog lists many strange materials, all seemingly rare and clearly valued by these monsters. There are entries for bark from unusual trees, unique tree sap, special honey, dozens of medicinal herbs, mushrooms, fruits, berries, leaves, insects, birds, eggs, gems, peculiar stones, ores, and monster parts. All of it looks like a list from a fantasy book, which doesn't surprise Alex one bit. The catalog is packed with peculiar entries and a wide range of requested materials.

Thanks to his high INT stat and Basic Concentration lvl 3, Alex manages to memorize most of the catalog entries in under 30 minutes. He also finds a very tattered, old map tucked within the catalog's pages, which helps him roughly determine his location within the Mimbo Republic. From it, he gathers that the village is situated deep within a vast forest, with no human settlements nearby. Given that they only have until January 4th to complete this quest and the Hunter Exam starts on January 7th, Alex deduces they'll need several days to reach the exam site after finishing the task here.

Judging by the light, he guesses it's midday right now. With less than four days to gather the necessary tokens, he knows he has to hurry. He'll only feel comfortable once he's collected a decent amount of tokens, enough to secure his spot. He's unsure if the Hunter x Hunter world operates on the same 24-hour cycle as Earth but assumes it does for simplicity's sake. He isn't even sure if this world is on a planet at all or if some other bizarre structure is at work here. Deciding not to dwell on the complex lore of this place, he shifts his focus to what matters most, his own survival.

With that mindset, Alex darts outside the village, carrying his trusty 13 grenades in his inventory. He knows they won't last long, as they'll disappear after a day, and making new ones isn't always feasible. He decides to hunt one of the listed monsters, figuring that using grenades might diminish its value but will be the quickest and safest way to secure a kill without wasting time.

He's fully aware of the risks in this unfamiliar forest. Rushing straight in would be reckless, especially with trees five times larger than normal towering around him, it's an unsettling thought, making him wonder what else could be five times larger than he's used to.

To balance safety with risk, Alex moves quickly away from the village, assuming that resources close by will have already been picked clean by other players. At the same time, he stays away from the thick, dense areas of the forest. He decides to explore the northern part of the village first, noticing that the forest in that direction is much thinner than the other three areas. A thinner forest, he reasons, will mean better visibility of any monsters and fewer surprises lurking in the shadows.