Will I End Up As a Hero or a Demon King (WN)

Chapter 137

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Chapter 137 – Paradise

“(Wow, this hunting ground is the best. No wonder it’s so popular. Or rather, there are too many people here.)”

It’s lunchtime on the first day at the lake.

I stopped hunting for a moment, and while biting into the freshly caught mud crabs by the lake, I muttered to myself.

“(The crabs are delicious, and all the monsters have excellent skills… but is that just my problem? How does frog taste?)”

There was a bonfire in front of me.

The legs of an amber frog were roasting on a branch.

This guy is also edible.

When I was in Japan, I would never have thought of eating frogs, but when you are in Rome, do as the Romans do.

If people in this world like to eat them, I should at least try them.

With that in mind, I bit into a 30-centimeter-long leg that was crispy brown and nothing like fried chicken.

“Wow! It’s just like a chicken, which is what I remember it being used as an example of, but is it really that rich…?”

The first thing I thought of was the huge chicken butt.

When I put it on the fire, the oil was dripping, and it gave a different impression than the light and refreshing taste I had imagined.

Of course, this was in a good way.

This young body craves oil, so on the one hand, I have a raw crab.

On the other hand, I have a huge grilled chicken-like skewer that looks like it has a good quality of oil on it, and I almost start to think that this is a slightly upscale izakaya.

“(Yeah, I definitely need to get some salt from tomorrow. I’d also like to take home an amber frog as a souvenir, but I have to grill it first, so I’m wondering what I should do…)”

While I was thinking about this, I was approached by a guy who looked like a cross between a young man and an old man.

“Hey, kid, can I talk to you for a minute?”

“Yeah… mmm… what is it?”

“Don’t you want those monsters lying around there?”

I looked around and saw the amber frogs and mud crabs I had defeated lying around.

It had been two hours since I started hunting here, and it was getting pretty crowded, but everyone seemed to be wondering if they could touch these dead monsters.

At first, I thought that if they were abandoned, they could just take them, but I guess it’s to avoid unnecessary trouble between hunters.

Despite their rough appearance, they seem to strictly adhere to the rule of not touching other people’s prey, which is admirable.

“If you don’t mind not having the magic stone and proof of subjugation, you can do whatever you want.”

“R-really? Thank you very much!”

As soon as they heard my reply, the party members all scattered to the discarded monsters.

They collected the corpses and shoved them into the basket in the middle of the party, so the basket was quickly filled.

“(I wonder if they’ll get less reward than usual because they don’t have the magic stone and proof of subjugation?)”

Even though I thought that in my heart, they all looked happy as they thanked me with beaming faces and left.

Then there’s no need to say anything unnecessary.

There are some things that are better left unknown.

“Hey, can we join in too?”

“Sure, come on in!”

“C-can I join too?”

“Of course!”

After that, a group of young people who were a little bigger than me also called me and picked up the monster corpses, as did a group of middle-aged men in their 30s, but as you might expect, there were also groups who didn’t pick up the corpses because they were worried about the cost, so there were all kinds of different mindsets.

And then.

“(So the parties who filled their baskets are all going in the same direction… then… is the entrance to this hunting ground over there?)”

Since I didn’t enter by the regular route, I don’t know where the entrance is that everyone reaches by walking, as in the rulebook.

But if three parties are all going in the same direction, I think it’s safe to say that’s the confirmed entrance.

So…

“(If I go in the opposite direction while killing the monsters around the lake, that means there won’t be any people, right?)”

There are at least 15 or more hunting parties in this open area.

I’ve seen the amber frogs come up from the lake onto the land, but it would be far too inefficient to wait for them while hunting.

Then there are the open areas.

To put it in extreme terms, the best thing to do is to move to the other side of the lake, which is the general entrance.

If that’s the case, I’ll have to somehow reach the goal on the other side of the lake today.

That’s my first goal.

And once I’ve done a little flying during the day to get an idea of where I’m going to land, I’ll use my night vision to hunt my prey until it gets dark, and then I’ll come up after dark so that no one can see me.

Since the time of sunset is getting earlier and earlier, even if I leave here at sunset, I should still be able to make it back in time for dinner.

And even the morning after tomorrow, if it’s like today, there shouldn’t be anyone there even when I land.

The busiest time is between 9 and 10 in the morning, watch time.

If it were me, I’d be there by 7:30 and already hunting, so there’s no way a normal walking party could get here this early, especially on the other side of the entrance.

“Well then…”

For the time being, I also called out to the party that didn’t pick up the monster that was lying around, just because it was a waste.

“The party that didn’t pick it up earlier can do whatever they want with it! I’ll put out the fire because it’s dangerous, but you can eat it here or do whatever you want!”

The remaining party members looked at the discarded monster with a “Seriously?” expression, gathered around it, and each of them started to eat.

“Fufufu, the preparation is finished and the second half has begun. Everyone is so engrossed in their food that they probably don’t even know where I’m going, right?)”

I grinned and started to sneak to the other side of the lake.

▽ ▼ ▽ ▼ ▽

Flight.

It was about 17:30 when it started to get a little dark.

I began to return a little early because of my physical limitations.

If there had been anyone nearby, they might have been able to see the mysterious child with the basket on his back ascending into the sky, but as expected, there was not a single person on the other side of the lake, and it was the opposite, the lake was teeming with monsters.

To put it mildly, it’s the perfect hunting ground for me.

It took me about five hours to get to the other side of the lake, so there was no way any hunters would walk to the hunting grounds in a place like this.

It would be different if there was a town on the other side, but there are small hills and no sign of people living there, so starting tomorrow, I’ll be able to move around as I please in my own hunting ground.

Then, while flying, I open the status screen and look back at the day’s results.

Maybe only a few players can relate to this, but for me, the moment of checking the results is simply irresistible.

“(The skills possessed by the hall plant are Presence Detection Level 2 and Photosynthesis Level 2, the skills possessed by the mud crab are Physical Defense Up Level 2 and Hardening Level 1, and the skills possessed by the amber frog are Water Magic Level 1 and Jump Level 1. I think that’s it.)”

Except for Presence Detection, the other skills are ones I haven’t acquired yet, and even Presence Detection is a useful skill that I want to increase as much as possible.

Unlike the Corado Forest, where I only got Shed Skin, I feel that the Lake Voice area is a real jackpot.

What’s more, the other skills in the “Other” category―Photosynthesis, Hardening, and Physical Defense Up―were all written in white, indicating that they could be used even though they were exclusive to monsters.

I’d only glanced at them while hunting, so when I looked at the descriptions more closely, I saw that Photosynthesis slightly increased the amount of natural healing and magic recovery when exposed to sunlight.

Although there are time restrictions, basic hunting is done while it is still light, so even if it is only a slight increase, it is definitely a skill worth having.

What’s more, Photosynthesis is the first passive skill among the monster-only skills.

Since this skill is always active without consuming any magic power, it will be a great help to me as long as I continue to hunt in such an open place.

Why it works for me, who has no leaves, will probably remain a mystery until the day I die.

The downside is that it doesn’t seem to work in places like caves, like the ant nest’s B-rank hunting ground, the big hole of devour…

Well, that’s that, and that’s this.

When it’s a place like that, where light can’t come in, there’s no choice but to accept it.

And Hardening is that glowing defense skill that the mud crab used.

The detailed explanation was written like this.

Hardening Lv2: Temporarily hardens the body, increasing defense by 7 times for the duration of the effect. Duration: 1 second. Magic Power Consumption: 7

Incidentally, when the skill level was 1, the defense value was multiplied by 6, but the magic power consumption was only 5.

It seems that as the level increases, the magic power consumption increases, and the multiplier also increases.

If it works well, I think the time it takes to harden will also increase a bit, just like the Stick Technique skill.

It will become an emergency skill that is so effective that it is beyond description, but the point of this skill is that it is originally only for monsters.

In other words, since it can’t be obtained by humans, even if I get into a fight with a really evil person, there’s a possibility that I can get out of my predicament by using this skill that the other person doesn’t know about.

Of course, it might also be useful if I use it in a B-rank hunting ground.

Then there’s the Physical Defense Up skill that the same mud crab possessed.

This one is pretty self-explanatory.

When I first acquired it, I thought it was for humans, but it turned out to be a skill for monsters since it’s in the “Other” skill slot.

And when I saw the detailed explanation for the first time, I couldn’t help but freeze.

Physical Defense Up Lv3: Increases defense by 9%. Always active. Magic Power Consumption: 0

It’s a passive skill that you can use without worrying about it, just like Photosynthesis, and what’s more, it increases as a percentage.

This is probably the best skill there is.

To be honest, I don’t think it’s that important right now because it only increases by 3% every time you level up, but…

There’s no doubt that it will become a skill that has a significant impact in the second half.

The defense-boosting skill Vajra, which is set for human use, is a fixed increase type, and each level increase increases defense by 5.

Of course, I know it’s better to have it than not to have it, but if my defense were to increase to 1000, even if it was only a level 1 increase, the Physical Defense Up skill would increase my defense by 30, so to be honest, it’s not even comparable.

Aside from the question of whether I can get it up to level 10, it has the potential to increase my defense by 30%, so if I keep going like this, I might end up becoming some kind of Iron Man in the future.

On top of that, now that I have this skill, I can’t help but get excited at the thought of there being other monster-specific passive skills that increase Strength, Agility, and so on.

Oh, no, no, no.

I’ve also acquired the skill I was hoping for, which will be useful for hunting.

It’s Water Magic!

I don’t need a water bottle anymore!

I was expecting this at first, but the other skills are even better than I thought, so I’d almost forgotten about it.

When I mutter “Create Water Ball” with a magic power consumption of 1, a cup full of fresh water is created in front of me, so I don’t have to waste magic power like crazy, and I can immediately see that this is a skill that is quite useful in everyday life.

On the other hand, I’m not sure how to use it to attack, and I’m a little worried that the water generated is at room temperature.

Well, I feel that Wind Magic is useful for offensive spells, and Earth Magic is useful for defensive spells, so I think as long as I use Water Magic as an alternative to a water bottle, there shouldn’t be any problems.

Oh, and the Jump ability I got as a bonus, I already have Flight, so I don’t think I’ll be using it.

Since the bonus ability was Strength, I’d like to make good use of it.

At this point, Photosynthesis is at least level 4.

Presence Detection will probably also automatically increase to level 4, but the next level, level 5, requires a somewhat painful amount of effort, namely killing almost 500 monsters, so that is undecided for now.

If I set my goal to reach level 4 for the other skills as well, the number of monsters to kill for each skill will be a safe 145, so I should be able to complete it in 2-3 days.

After that, I’ll think about whether or not to aim for even higher levels.

“(Well, I can see Malta now…)”

It took about 25 minutes.

I checked the forest from the sky using Night Vision, and then I landed there slowly and quietly.

I thought to myself that if it was night, I could have landed on the roof of the inn, but I’ll have to be a little more careful before I can be that relaxed.

I have no idea how good a hunter I am right now.

But I do know that there are many people who are more skilled than I am.

So, for now, I’ll be as careful as I can.

With that in mind, I returned to the city of Malta with a large amount of magic stones and evidence of submission in my basket, and two mud crabs hanging from each hand.

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