Chapter 204
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 204
Chapter Title: Picky Eater
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"Heave-ho."
After wrapping up my conversation with the goddess.
I headed to the edge of the land I'd bought, to a massive boulder at the foot of the snowy mountains.
It wasn't about scouting a site for the sanctuary just yet. I wanted to try planting some [Ancient Glowing Mushrooms].
"Oppa, but why plant mushrooms under a rock?"
"I'm curious about that too."
As Kumora and I planted the mushrooms, Isera and Ri Eun-jeong came over to help and asked.
"They die in sunlight. And they need humidity."
"Aha. So what about not planting some and just keeping them in the fridge?"
"Yeah, we're testing to see if we can farm them successfully."
The humidity here was low, so unless I sprayed water on the rock constantly, it wouldn't be easy.
The temperature was a slight issue too.
But the reason I was planting them like this was because otherworld creatures had insane survivability. Compared to Earth lifeforms, it was astonishing.
In short, if they grow fine without complicated management, there's no need to take the hard road when the easy one works.
This was a test run for that.
"Heave-ho, all planted now. Guess we just watch if they farm properly."
I'd finished planting the mushroom bases and stood up. The sun had already dipped fully below the horizon. Smacking my lips, I gazed at the jagged snowy peaks in the distance.
Come to think of it, I need to snag a cliff for farming [Whispering Silver Grass] too.
Short on hands, tons to do—nothing for it now but wait. All I could do was hope the pet system rolled out soon.
"Min-jun! Eun-jeong! Kumora! Sera! Dinner's ready! Food's all done!"
Mealtime hit just like that, and we were grilling meat. Whoosh! No idea where it'd been playing, but Rangi popped up out of nowhere like a ghost, landed, and came toddling over.
"Rangi!"
「Kyaang!」
"Where've you been? No, why are you so skinny? Did our Rangi not eat properly?"
The Saintess voiced her worry, but Inope let out a deep sigh. She looked like she had a lot to say... and soon enough, the reason came clear.
「Kyaang! Meat! Meat!」
"Here, eat this. Fresh off the grill."
「This meat tastes bad. Meat!」
Rangi wildly waved its hands at the Saintess, desperately trying to convey what it wanted.
I knew exactly what it was on about at a glance.
Looks like it really took a shine to that bitch squad's rescued meat last time.
Nerara Plains bison, that was. Honestly, after eating that, not just me but the whole crew had been off our food for days. So imagine how Rangi felt.
"Even though we shoveled all the leftover bison meat to it before leaving, it polished that off too?"
"Right after you left, Owner, it scarfed it down on the spot."
Inope piped up at my mutter. Sparks flew from Shin Seo-yeon's eyes. She'd just been rooting through the fridge with Isera yelling for beef, only to come up empty.
"Is it nuts? Hey, you gonna throw a food tantrum now?!"
Shin Seo-yeon blew up, and Rangi flinched, darting behind the Saintess.
"You think hiding fixes it? Get over here! I said come!"
「Kyaang...」
In the end, Rangi got dragged out by Shin Seo-yeon and scolded, but that wasn't something scolding alone could fix.
My mistake.
The Saintess had impulsively fed it Nerara Plains bison meat, and I'd let it slide then, but who'd have thought it'd ruin its palate for good.
This'll be tricky to correct.
Sure, Rangi's antics were cute. Anyone would've caved if it suckled your finger begging for food.
"Here, meat."
「Kyaang...」
But once a habit soured, even the handler Shin Seo-yeon offering regular meat got refused outright.
Hmm.
A bit of a headache now. Couldn't just leave it... For now, emergency fix?
"Seo-yeon."
"Yeah?"
"You have the magic stones, right? Feed it one first."
"That expensive stuff?"
Mid-grade magic stones, five of them, as reward from Belシア.
Each worth 100 of the low-grade ones we got as ranking rewards. In other words, five mid-grade equaled 500 low-grade.
"We're feeding magic stones to monsters anyway."
"Why not feed them to the spirits instead?"
I shook my head. Spirits grew like us players every time we cleared trial zones—no need to feed them stones separately.
Shin Seo-yeon looked unhappy but pulled one from her subspace anyway.
Sparkle, sparkle.
Rangi, who'd been sulking and rejecting Shin Seo-yeon's meat till now, went wide-eyed and lunged into a hug.
「Kyaang...!」
Whoa, I could practically hear its affection for her shooting up.
Honestly, I could've fed it myself, but I gave it to her on purpose. No downside if Shin Seo-yeon built some rapport.
Pet system wasn't out yet, no real control. Giving her chances to boost affinity now and then was smart.
"Hey, tasty?"
"Aum!"
Crunch. Crunch.
"What the heck does it taste like that you're chowing down so hard? Amazing."
"I tried one before. Tasted like rock."
"Hah? For real? You actually ate one?"
"You get curious, right?"
Isera wasn't weird—any player had crunched a magic stone once. Tasted like utter crap, of course.
Anyway, mid-grade makes a difference, huh.
Stats jumped massively. Tasty and huge boosts—surpassed bison meat as Rangi's top snack.
Sniff sniff.
The Dracos caught the thick aroma and approached, but Rangi snatched the stone and zipped airborne to devour it solo.
Only after scarfing even the low-grade ranking reward stones did Rangi descend.
About 300 of the devoured magic stones had converted to stats.
Total stats over 500 now. Purely on numbers, evolution conditions seem met.
Companion monsters could only get two abilities pre-evolution, so time to gather evolution items.
Normally easy from high-end shop owners.
But paths blocked now—had to hunt them down. Not hard though; time would sort it. No rush.
「Kyaaang! Meat!」
Affinity up with Shin Seo-yeon now—Rangi tugged her clothes, begging for meat. Of course, refused regular meat again.
「That tastes bad!」
Still, less resistance than before. After the treat, some bison illusions shattered.
In other words, shake up its palate a few more times, and it'd correct.
But magic stones are tapped out.
Hmm, what now.
"Rangi, gotta eat. Starve like this and you're in trouble."
「Kyaang! That tastes bad! Meat! Meat!」
The Saintess offered meat, but it threw a kid-level fit.
Burger! Pizza! Chicken! vibes. Saintess looked stumped—then it hit me how to fix it.
I pulled an item from my pocket.
"Huh? What's that?"
"...Suckable yogurt?"
"Jackpot, Oppa, where'd you get that!"
"Sera, what's yogurt?"
It was the goddess's gift: Prolific Egg-Laying Potion.
'[Our pets love it!]' it said.
Might be hype, but worth testing since we'd feed it anyway. I popped it open and shoved it in Rangi's mouth.
「?」
Squeezed from bottom up—contents flowed in. Licking its beak, Rangi's eyes flashed wide.
「Kya, kyaang?!」
Shocked face. No teaching needed—it suckled away. Whole face screaming 'Yum!' like some cooking manga.
「Kyaang!」
Then Rangi bolted to the grill, wolfing meat frantically.
"Huh? Hey, what'd you do?"
"Oppa, what magic was that?"
"Rangi's suddenly eating nicely!"
Monsters same as us humans. Body needs something, appetite surges, drives gorging on necessities.
Shortens laying cycle, storms of eggs—needs tons of energy.
So forced hunger for eggs, scarfing everything. Maybe laying tonight.
I tugged Rangi over, squeezed a teat. Milky spray like a mister. As expected—bingeing for laying.
Whew, dodged a hassle.
Pets need more upkeep than you'd think.
Even on Earth—fish tank, dog, cat: all demanding.
Monsters smarter, need finer care. Pros made bank specializing.
Just fixing bad habits raked in cash.
Too advanced for me though, zero experience there.
Could've been a job, but survival knowledge and training came first—had to pass.
In short, second round or not, not omnipotent.
Cleared this time, but more rough patches ahead.
Next goddess meet, snag more related items.
Of course, means causing incidents for meetings... but I planned frequent chaos anyway.
Anyway, now Rangi lays eggs awhile, covers its keep.
Monster eggs fetch good prices.
Sell to [Monster Farm Girl Merrill], cover Dracos feed too.
"Thanks for the meal!"
"So, what's next?"
"Heading out today?"
Meaning outside? I shook my head.
"Outside tomorrow. Rest up today, do what you want."
"Okay!"
Girls clustered up.
"Eun-jeong! Got something to show in my room!"
"Hey, Rangi. You follow me. Special training time."
「Kyaang...?」
"So-hee, read some books?"
"Sounds good."
Everyone scattered for leisure.
"......"
Alone, I entered the dim, quiet lakeside building and descended to the basement.
Step. Step. Opened the heavily sealed door, stood before the two carefully laid-out corpses.
Hummm—
All materials gathered at last. Time to raise the long-awaited Death Knight. I quietly drew the Seal of Immortality.
Death Knight.
Alongside the Lich, the strongest undead housing death in a human vessel.
Immortal body that won't die, overwhelming power, lifetime experience combined—top-tier even among monsters.
Of course, combat power varies hugely by vessel's pre-death quality, so Death Knights appear steadily from early to late trials. Sometimes elite mobs, sometimes raid bosses.
Shh.
And now, I was about to make one.
Used the Seal of Immortality.
Ensured peak combat without flaws.
Impressive stats too.
Haran raid bosses—no contest on power. Plus, reason I chose these two specifically.
They were sailors.
Heavy casualties in future navigation trials.
Pure luck-based hellhole, prep essential.
No matter transcendent abilities, bad luck could doom you.
And unavoidable—mandatory for all.
Then, their vast experience and skills guide us. Perfect shield on the deadly sea route that claims countless lives.
Survivor testimonies from Varkus interview: veteran of perilous voyages.
Patriot knight and ace captain—no finer [Death Knight] vessel.
And finally, last material secured.
Just place the [Seal of Immortality] on these two bodies. Wuuum—it trembled, eager to reach them.
But I denied it. Instead, sealed the coffins tight with cords, unopenable, then set the seal atop.
Kudang!
The seal latched like finding prey, wriggling over each coffin. But they held firm.
Then it drew thread-like purple energy, seeping into the coffin cracks.
Two ways to use the Seal of Immortality.
Most slap it direct on a body. It burrows to the heart. Problem: violent, high damage risk.
This way? Zero damage to body. Plus other big perks.
Done for now.
I turned, left the room, locked the door. By morning, results as desired.