12. First Battle.
12. First Battle.
Asagi's wooden sword swung through the air. Ranma might have seen it, but since it was night and dark, and I'm a guy who's only ever done staring contests and chicken fights, I couldn't really tell how many times she swung. I just confirmed that the skeleton holding a bow in front of Asagi had its whole body shattered and collapsed.
I should never mess with her.
While I was thinking that, Ranma was also cooking the last remaining skeleton. The skeleton's movements were smooth, probably thanks to the reality-correction. I'm sure I'd lose if I fought one. But Ranma was different. Watching YouTube back in the day, I only ever saw Chinese martial arts being less effective in real combat and getting beaten up by MMA fighters, but the martial arts Ranma used were different. A roundhouse kick landed on its chin, and the skeleton's skull rotated, detached from its neck bone, and rolled on the ground. Naturally, the skeleton hit by Ranma also turned into light and dropped items.
Items! It's items!
"I'll loot!"
"Take your time."
Ranma said with a relaxed smile. This isn't the time to be relaxed, Ranma. The reason monsters aren't spawning right now is because I'm here. Once I go back to the original spot where the dirt block was, monsters will start spawning. In Minecraft, the total number of monsters that spawn in one chunk—that is, one area—is 70. Since there isn't a single monster in the Sky Block we're currently on, if I move 23m away from here, it means up to 70 monsters could spawn at the same time. I couldn't let my guard down for a second. Furthermore, the moment a Creeper appears, consider the hunt over.
I collected the items first. From the 2 skeletons Ranma caught, I got 3 bones and 2 arrows. The skeleton Asagi caught dropped one bone, one bow, and one arrow. It dropped them evenly like that.
In the end, I got 4 bones, 1 bow, and 3 arrows.
"Looting finished! I'm going back to my spot! Keep a good eye on what monsters spawn! If a Creeper comes out, you have to run away no matter what!"
"Got it, just go already."
I clearly shouted at Ranma, but Asagi waved her hand at me as if I were annoying. Right? A regular person shouldn't be in a dangerous place like this. I didn't ignore Asagi's consideration (?) and obediently followed. I was the only one crossing the 24m long bridge. Monsters didn't pop out from the dirt block.
"I've arrived, get ready!"
"Got it!"
When I shouted after returning to my original spot, I heard Ranma yelling from the Monster Farm side. I sat down and focused on the Monster Farm. It was a relief, though. I hadn't even thought of this, but it seemed like a good idea to experiment while I was at it. It was fortunate that I had built the spawn location exactly 24m away. If I move my position just a little and enter within 24m, monsters won't spawn, and if I move more than 24m away, monsters spawn. If I really am the only one recognized as a player, it meant that Asagi and Ranma could wait at the spawn area, the Monster Farm, and fight while controlling the number of monsters spawning based on my movements.
"Spider spawned! Two of them!"
"Got it! I'm coming!"
At Ranma's shout, I quickly jumped up and ran toward the Monster Farm. In the pitch-black darkness, I could see the spider's characteristic glowing red eyes. Because they died instantly to Asagi and Ranma who were waiting, the red light went out in an instant, but it was certain that items would remain.
And I could be sure. Here, in this Sky Block, I am the only one recognized as a player. Asagi and Ranma are judged as non-player characters. If that's the case, the early Monster Farm was a success among successes. I just have to pray that no Creepers appear.
When I arrived at the Monster Farm, the spiders were already gone, and I could see 2 spider webs and one spider eye dropped. I quickly picked up the spider webs and threw the spider eye into the void to discard it. That's not a very useful item. It is possible to consume it. However, if you eat it, you get poisoned. In game terms, it causes poison that makes 2 hearts disappear, but here, it's a harmful item that no one knows what will happen if you eat it.
Naturally, it was better to throw it away.
"It's too easy, isn't it?"
As I was about to move again, Ranma said with a cheerful laugh. I laughed too. The situation was good, maybe too good. Controlling monster spawns was a killer advantage in the early stages of this Sky Block. After a lot of time passes and we're properly set up, it's not a very useful method. Actually, it would become a method you should absolutely never do, but not right now.
"Still, be careful. I've looted, so I'm going back to my spot."
"Just trust us!"
Ranma said that and thumped his chest. I thought to myself that after seeing you two fight earlier, I couldn't not trust you. If it weren't for Ranma and Asagi, there might have been a disaster where I had to fight those monsters alone.
"Now there are 10 spider webs left. Let's put in a little more effort."
"Got it."
I said to Ranma and returned to my spot. From now on, it's farming time. If I could just finish farming the spider webs, it was clear that it could perform the functions of a Monster Farm, even if it was a bit clumsy.
ㅡㅡㅡㅡㅡ
Saotome Ranma. Successor of the Anything-Goes School of Martial Arts. A boy cursed to turn into a girl when he touches cold water because he fell into the Spring of Drowned Girl.
As soon as Byeong-sun returned to his spot, black smoke billowed up in the plaza he had built. Ranma clenched his fists and took a stance, ready to jump out and react at any moment. The monsters didn't look as strong as Byeong-sun had worried about. As long as he was careful about the guy called a Creeper, whom Byeong-sun had warned him to watch out for, the monsters that appeared here weren't much of a problem.
This time, there were quite a few. 4 of them, corpses covered in rotten flesh. Ranma felt goosebumps. He knew Byeong-sun had played this game for a long time. A game where you collect items by catching such gross monsters. It made him doubt Byeong-sun's taste, but since the monsters had appeared, it was right to report it.
"4 Zombies!"
"Got it!"
At Ranma's shout, he heard Byeong-sun yelling. Ranma immediately took a stance. Asagi spoke up from the side.
"Let's take 2 each. That okay?"
"Yeah!"
Ranma nodded and rushed in. Sure enough, as Byeong-sun said, a zombie is a zombie; they didn't have such irregular and hard-to-read attacks. With Ranma's skills, it was hard for monsters of this level to even touch his body.
It felt like he could win easily.
Ranma got into the arms of one zombie and used his shoulder to strike the zombie's solar plexus. He could feel the zombie's solar plexus cave in. Ranma's right foot curved like a crescent moon toward the head of the zombie, which was slightly lifted into the air due to the force of Ranma's shoulder push. The high kick succeeded in accurately twisting the zombie's chin. It was the same as with the skeletons. The flesh and muscles were already rotten and hard to support. The zombie's head, unable to withstand the force of Ranma's kick, made the choice to separate the cervical spine from the skull. The neck, which had been spinning around on the torn-off neck, dropped to the floor with a thud. He could see the zombie collapsing.
The zombie rushing from the side wasn't that fast either. The zombie walking unsteadily was so slow that Ranma could just stand there and wait for it. Ranma felt like the wind had been taken out of his sails.
'He told me to be so careful about the monsters, but there aren't any strong guys?'
Thinking that, Ranma ran in reverse toward the zombie slowly approaching him and performed a flying side kick. As expected of a stupid zombie, it couldn't even resist and was blown away by the kick, never to get up again. Soon, the zombie turned into light and disappeared, and an item had been generated on the floor.
"That is fascinating no matter how much I look at it, isn't it?"
"What are you talking about?"
"That thing, the item."
Ranma said to Asagi, pointing at the item. While Ranma was killing 2 zombies, Asagi had already killed 2 and was watching Ranma's fight. Asagi's combat power was certainly high, too. Ranma actually wanted to spar with Asagi more than fight monsters.
"Asagi-ssi. If a bed is made after today, would you like to spar once?"
"Spar?"
"Yes. Spar. It's good, right?"
"I'll think about it."
Asagi hesitated for a moment at Ranma's suggestion, then nodded. Ranma was cheerful. Asagi's movements were so incredibly fast that even he could barely see them properly. If he sparred with Asagi, he felt like he could become a little stronger too.
Before he knew it, Byeong-sun had run over, quickly grabbed the item the zombie dropped, gave a thumbs up, and ran away.
"That guy is really not reliable."
"Still, he's the most important person since we need to go back."
"That's the most regrettable part. If he weren't such an important figure, I might have killed him."
"Ahaha..."
Ranma broke into a cold sweat at Asagi's words. Unlike the world he lived in, it seemed Asagi came from a world where people fought and killed each other. She had no qualms about killing people. Because there was a huge gap with the place Ranma lived, Ranma couldn't understand Asagi, who easily spouted words about killing people like that.
"Monsters will come out again now, right?"
"Since that guy disappeared, that would be the case."
Ranma changed the subject. Asagi also noticed that Ranma felt uncomfortable with the conversation about killing people. Judging that it would be better not to talk about murder when talking to Ranma, Asagi readily agreed when Ranma changed the topic.
Whether Byeong-sun had returned to his spot, black mist billowed up again. It meant monsters were appearing. Ranma took his stance again. Since he didn't know what would pop out, it was important not to let his guard down at least when monsters appeared.
A foot came out of the mist. It looked exactly like a pig's foot, but the color looked like green and light green mixed roughly. The monster that appeared now was yet another monster he was seeing for the first time. Inside the mist, 3 of the same monster and 2 skeletons appeared. The skeletons weren't a problem. But the 2 newly popped-out monsters looked similar to the monster Byeong-sun had drawn for him to be wary of.
'Byeong-sun was pretty good at drawing!'
Ranma thought, surprised. Creeper. It's a Creeper. It looked very similar to the shape Byeong-sun had drawn on the floor with his finger. The skeletons weren't the problem. Ranma immediately shouted loudly.
"Creeper! A Creeper appeared!"
"Run away! Get out of there!"
Byeong-sun's response was the fastest it had ever been. Ranma immediately met eyes with Asagi and started running to where Byeong-sun was. This time, because Byeong-sun hadn't moved his position, the Monster Farm he had built kept billowing black mist. He could see monsters spawning in huge numbers from behind.
'They appear in such large numbers?'
Ranma revised his judgment. Doable? It's not a doable game at all. The monsters that started appearing one by one in an instant were over 20 even if he counted them roughly by eye. Since Byeong-sun wasn't moving, the monsters that started multiplying in an instant were a quantity that even Ranma didn't dare to rush into. He also saw one monster that Byeong-sun hadn't explained. Ranma quickly engraved the appearance of that monster in his mind and ran. At the entrance of the bridge, which was only 24m long, Byeong-sun was waiting with oak planks.
"Hurry up and come!"
"We're here!"
Ranma and Asagi jumped onto the dirt block where they had originally been staying. Confirming they had arrived, Byeong-sun quickly stacked the planks up to 3 levels to block the entrance of the bridge. This way, the Creeper would never be able to come. It wouldn't be able to find the 3 people here, so it wouldn't explode either. Ranma guessed that the current situation wasn't flowing in a very good atmosphere. Looking at Byeong-sun's facial expression, it seemed his prediction was correct.
"Damn it..."
Byeong-sun was making a face as if he was really annoyed. In his hand, spider webs were held. 2 of them.
The first spider web harvest of the Monster Farm, which he had to give up on because a Creeper appeared, might have to end with just 2.