save4. Forest of Small Things
save4. Forest of Small Things
A day that started by loading a save.
Fortunately, even though I slept outdoors last night, I slept soundly inside the tent Ajim provided, so the fatigue accumulated in my body has almost completely cleared up.
"Kkeueueung, so what should I do now?"
Although I came to Chato recklessly for now, I hadn't made any concrete plans.
Though I vaguely aimed to become an adventurer or a mercenary...
"With my current level, that's completely out of the question."
Even if this world resembles a game, neither the Adventurer's Guild nor the Mercenary Guild is such an unreasonable group that they would accept a fragile woman who is only Level 1.
Of course, the empire's Adventurer's Guild and Mercenary Guild are quite unreasonable groups, but...
Even so, you have to reach at least Level 5 to be accepted as an apprentice, and reach Level 10 to advance to the next class before they accept you as a formal guild member.
"Which means I need to level up."
The method to level up is simple.
It just happens automatically as long as I hunt a lot of monsters.
I don't know about other people, but that was how I raised my level.
I even have an EXP boost, meaning I require less EXP to level up than others, so leveling up itself isn't much of a problem.
"The problem is where I should level up."
In my first playthrough, the Aurel Empire was a place I reached after already attaining a high level.
When I came to the Aurel Empire, it was after I had already raised my level quite high, so I had never visited or memorized hunting grounds for low-level players.
"Kkeung... I feel like if I wander around the vicinity, I'll find something somehow."
Even if I defeated the Demon God in my first playthrough and know the technique of how to move my body, as long as my absolute stats are lacking, I cannot hunt monsters that are vastly stronger than me.
"What I can hunt right now... Horned rabbits or mountain squirrels ranging from Level 1 to Level 3, or at best, weak slimes around Level 4?"
The monsters that a Level 1 like me can hunt are limited.
There are surely other low-level monsters besides those, but those are the ones that can be found commonly.
The problem is where the habitats of those monsters are...
"Hm? Is there a horned rabbit habitat around here? Why are you looking for that?"
"Ah, just to earn a little pocket money."
"Pocket money, huh... Indeed, the price of horned rabbit hide has been rising lately."
I sought out Ajim, from whom I had parted ways not long ago, and asked him about the habitat of the horned rabbits.
"Alright. I'll tell you the location of the horned rabbit habitat."
Ajim knew the location of the horned rabbit habitat.
What a relief.
If he had said he didn't know, there wouldn't have been anyone else I could ask.
It feels awkward saying this after having misunderstood him like that when I first met him, but...
It really would have been a disaster if I hadn't met Ajim.
I thought several times a day how truly fortunate it was that I met him.
Of course, it's only been a single day since I met him, though.
"So this is the horned rabbit habitat. Even if the region is different, they look similar."
A short while later, after leaving the city gates, the place I arrived at was a small forest located a bit far away from the city.
It wasn't a very dense forest.
A relatively bright forest where the darkness unique to dense forests didn't exist, as there was quite a wide distance between the trees.
If I had seen it in a game, it was a forest that held the exact feel of a beginner zone.
"Since I've come this far, I should save first. Save number 4."
[Saving to Save Slot 4.]
save0. ★Happy Ending [Fixed]
save1. Beginning [Fixed]
save2. Outside the Aurel Empire Gates
save3. Aurel Empire Frontier City Chato
save4. Forest of Small Things
"I can see them wandering around everywhere. Though I don't see anyone hunting them."
Compared to the number of horned rabbits wandering around, I am the only person here.
Then again, who would hunt horned rabbits ranging merely between Level 1 and Level 3, except for someone like me at Level 1?
Unlike me, who dropped into another world at age 20 at Level 1, the natives of this world naturally raise their levels as they grow up.
As I recall, even the kids wandering the streets were around Level 3 or 4.
So there's no reason for them to hunt horned rabbits like these.
Rather than coming to a place far from the city to hunt horned rabbits, hunting other Level 4 monsters is overwhelmingly more beneficial in terms of both growth and income.
"[Ice]."
However, that's strictly the story for the natives.
My situation is completely different from theirs, so I had to diligently hunt even horned rabbits.
EXP increases.
1 Memory Coin is rewarded.
"I think I needed to kill about 10 of them to get from Level 1 to Level 2?"
Hunting was a boring period of tedious grinding, devoid of emotion or excitement.
Mechanically cast magic, mechanically hit monsters.
For fallen monsters, I skin them moderately, collect only the sellable parts, and put them in the pouch (provided by Ajim).
Reached Level 2.
Name: Alice
Age: 20
Gender: Female
Class: Apprentice Mage Lv.2
Strength: 10 Agility: 10
Stamina: 10 Mana: 10
Willpower: 10 Resistance: 10
Unallocated Stats: 9
9 stat points provided as the level rose.
Natives receive 6 stat points every time they level up, but as the Hero, I receive 50% extra, getting 9 stats per level.
Instantly investing the obtained stats.
Since I decided to go with the Magic Swordsman build, let's distribute them evenly across all stats.
No, wait, since I have to act as a Mage for now, should I invest a bit more in Mana?
Strength: 11 Agility: 11
Stamina: 11 Mana: 14
Willpower: 11 Resistance: 11
"Done."
Even looking at it myself, it's a truly hopeless stat build.
If I were planning to go for a proper Mage build, I would have concentrated stats into Mana and Willpower.
Deciding to go for a half-baked class like Magic Swordsman...
Even with the same stat points, it turned into quite a trashy setup.
"Eueu, if I do that, I won't be able to keep up later...♥"
Although I spat out words of worry, inside I felt a thrilling chill, picturing the defeat I would suffer because of this.
Due to my ambiguous stats, when fighting a warrior, I'll be pushed back in strength; when fighting a rogue, I'll be outmatched in agility; and when fighting a normal mage, I'll be overwhelmed in firepower.
Just imagining it was so thrilling that my nipples unintentionally went hard.
"Eueung...♥ I can't masturbate here, though... This is bad..."
The heat switch that turned on all by itself.
This body, truly uselessly lewd, goes into heat so easily.
Its sensitivity is strangely high too, so even if my nipples just brush against my clothes, they instantly get hard.
'I can't masturbate here♥ Doing that in a place with monsters, no matter how weak they are...'
Even though it's a forest filled with nothing but horned rabbits whose only skill is charging and goring with their horns, they aren't harmless enough for me to be fine while masturbating.
"I should hunt quickly, go back, enter the Recollection Room, and masturbate."
Today's goal is reaching Level 4.
Since Level 4 will be achieved after hunting about 100 horned rabbits, enough Memory Coins to watch a recollection once will accumulate as well.
Then, I can experience that thrilling recollection again, come from masturbating, and refreshingly wrap up today.
"[Ice] [Ice] [Ice]."
I repeatedly cast Ice in an inorganic voice.
As I repeatedly use the same magic over and over, my understanding of the spell gradually deepens.
[Skill]
Mana Affinity Lv.3
Basic Magic Lv.2
As expected of the early game, skill proficiency rises quickly too.
As the skill level of Mana Affinity rises, all actions using mana become faster, and as the skill level of Basic Magic rises, the types and power of magic I can use become stronger.
"[Ice]."
Even so, the only spell I use is [Ice].
It's not that I'm repeatedly using the spell I used just because I'm lazy.
Obtained [Basic Ice Magic] through repeated mastery.
Obtained Trait [Mana Trait: Ice].
Just as expected, the message rings out.
[Trait]
Mana Trait: Ice
[Skill]
Mana Affinity Lv.3
Basic Magic Lv.2
Basic Ice Magic Lv.1
A new Basic Ice Magic skill appeared in the skill slot of the status window, and at the same time, the trait slot opened and a new trait was added.
The reason I repeatedly used magic of a single attribute was all for this.
They said if you repeatedly use magic of one attribute prior to class change, you can obtain specialized magic skills and mana properties like this.
The newly acquired skill [Basic Ice Magic] was similar in nature to [Basic Magic], but it was a skill that increased the variety of ice magic I could handle and its utility.
Using [Ice] with the existing [Basic Magic], I could only attack with a fixed size and fixed power.
However, casting [Ice] using [Basic Ice Magic] allowed detailed adjustments from the amount of mana consumed to the size and speed of the ice created, making it a skill that provided a huge advantage to a mage.
The [Mana Trait: Ice] created in traits is a trait that makes my mana itself possess the properties of ice.
Due to this, the efficiency and power of ice attribute magic increase considerably, but other attribute magic suffers a proportional reduction in power and an increase in consumption cost.
True to its name, a trait that turns one into an ice attribute specialist.
"With this, did I become ice attribute? Hehe."
If I set my mind to it, I could have obtained other attribute specializations, but there was a good reason for choosing the ice attribute.
"Fire attribute has too much firepower. Lightning attribute is too strong. Water attribute looks too weak."
Excessive firepower and strength are of no help whatsoever to my defeat-humiliation life.
If I mess up even slightly, the opponent will die, so how on earth am I supposed to lose with that?
Among opponents, there are also those with a so-called 'desperation pattern' that only shows up when their HP drops to a certain level.
For a defeat via desperation pattern, it is important to injure the opponent enough that they don't die, while avoiding damage that leads to disability or death.
And what suits this best is ice magic.
It's not for nothing that the heroines in defeat-humiliation works have the ice attribute.
Dropping their guard thinking they defeated her, only for the enemy to break through the ice and counter-attack/overpower her—that development is practically a cliche.
Then why didn't I choose the water attribute? If asked, the reason is also simple.
Originally, in defeat-humiliation works, the heroine has to be reasonably strong.
A blatantly weak heroine being overwhelmingly defeated by a strong opponent isn't defeat-humiliation; it's just humiliation.
Of course, humiliation isn't bad either, but...
In my personal taste, defeat-humiliation was more to my liking, so I chose the ice magic specialization, the symbol of defeat-humiliation heroines.
Of course, there was also the fact that Magic Swordsman itself matches well with ice magic.
Since that only influenced about 4% of my choice, it wasn't particularly important.
"Now then, I should get back to leveling up. It'd be great if I could hit Level 5 today."