Chapter 63: As a tamer
When I saw Orto planting the magic power plant, which is the mana potion's main ingredient, I suddenly got an idea.
I already gave him juice today. Can't I give him a second glass? As I recall, it stated that tame monsters must be fed once a day, but no statement said I must not give them more than once a day.
If I give him a meal once an hour, would he keep working at double speed?
"Let's try to give him more. Orto, here."
"Mu?"
"Oh, yeah. You can have it."
"Mumu!"
When I offer him a glass of juice, he drinks it happily. It seems I can feed him as many times as I want. This is a great discovery.
"Kuma."
"Kyu."
"Ki, Kids. Don't look at me like that. Of course I didn't forget about you kids. Here, your portions are here."
"Kumaa!"
"Kyukkyuu!"
That was close. I completely forgot about them.
"Mumumu~!"
"What, what's up Orto?"
What's now? Orto stands there while looking down, clenching his fists and groaning. His body is glowing slightly.
It feels as if he is going to shout, "You mean Krillin!" (*refer to Dragon Ball manga famous scene)
"Mumuu...... Mu!!"
"Uwaa! What's wrong!"
Orto suddenly raises his right arm toward the sky. An even stronger light gathered in Orto's palm.
"I, I seriously think you're going to fire something!"
Orto extended his right hand towards me and slowly opened his fist to reveal a beautiful stone in his palm. It is a white, translucent gem that resembled the beam of light that had just radiated from his hand, crystallized.
"What, what the hell is that?"
"Mu."
As I sit back in amazement, Orto hands me the gemstone in his hand.
"For me?"
"Muu."
Name: Tamed Monster’s Heart (Orto)
Rarity: 1 / Quality: 10★
Effect: A tamed monster's heart in crystallized form. It can't be sold or given away.
Hou. What's this? I've never heard of this item. The fact that the quality is 10★ is also amazing. It cannot be sold or transferred, meaning it is only for self-use, right? What a meaningful name.
"Hmmm, let's check the recipe."
Then, among the alchemy recipes, I found one that uses a tamed monster's heart.
"The material is gemstone with the tamed monster's heart......."
The tamed monster's heart is non-transferable. That means I can't give it to Sawyer-kun and have him process it for me.
"Do I have any gems?"
Crystals are not gems but in the category of magic stones. Would I have to buy them somewhere else?
"No, wait. I'm pretty sure there's one ......"
I remember something and look in my inventory. Then I discover only one item in the gems category.
Name: Marble
Rarity: 2 / Quality: 1★
Effect: Ingredient. For decorative purposes.
It is the drop of the Lesser Ghosts. They dropped it along with an ingredient called soul powder, whose purpose remains unknown.
"All right, I’ve got both ingredients now. Just need to put them together... Are?"
For some reason, even though I have all the necessary ingredients, the '????' column didn’t turn white, nor could I select it in Auto Mode.
Does that mean I can make this recipe with the beginner's Alchemy set? No, that couldn't be the issue. Although my equipment's level was not high enough when I attempted to make the incubator, the item was written in white letters, which showed that it was possible to make.
There has to be some other requirement that I haven't unlocked yet.
Alyssa’s stall is closed today, though...
"Hmm, who else can I ask?"
I list several possibilities off the top of my head: Sawyer, Tagosack, Akari, other Tamers, and the Magical Beasts Guild. I decided to ask at the guild first, then log out and scour the forums if that doesn’t yield any results. Having settled my course of action, I headed to the Magical Beasts Guild, where Barbara greeted me with a cheerful smile.
"Hi there."
"Welcome. What brings you here today?"
"I'd like you to take a look at this."
"Why, that’s a tamed monster’s heart."
As I expected, Barbara seems to know what it is.
"I’d like to know more about this item. Care to enlighten me?"
"Very well. Before that, though, how about completing this quest?"
A quest window popped up at Barbara's suggestion, accompanied by the sound of a notification bell.
Special Quest
Requirement: Show Barbara a Tamed Monster’s Heart.
Reward: 2,000 G, one randomly selected gem.
Time Limit: None
"Didn’t know there was a quest like this. Of course, I’ll accept."
"Excellent. Here’s your reward for completing the quest."
As I have already shown Barbara my tamed monster’s heart, the quest is completed the moment I accept it.
"You have received 2,000 G and a Green Jade."
Name: Green Jade
Rarity: 4 / Quality: 5★
Effect: Ingredient. For decorative purposes.
Four stars, eh? That was pretty dang good! This is the perfect item to pair with Orto’s tamed monster’s heart.
"So, how exactly do I use this tamed monster’s heart?"
"Sorry. I can’t tell you the details."
Eeh! After I came this far, that's not fair! Well, it seems to be a very important item.
"But I'll give you a hint."
"Eh, are you serious?"
"Try raising your rank in the Beastmaster's Guild to 7."
"... Is that all?"
"Yes."
Hmm, it doesn't seem like she will reveal any further details. However, she did make it very clear to raise my guild rank, so I supposed I might as well put in the effort.
To raise my rank, I must complete as many quests as possible. Unfortunately, there aren't many I can complete at the moment. It is probably best to take on persistent quests.
While persistent quests only give you one contribution point, they can be attempted as often as you like. Once completed, regular quests disappear or grant you zero contribution points from the next time onwards. Still, persistent quests give you contribution points each time.
The persistent quest for Tamers entailed taming specific monsters and delivering them to the guild.
There was some debate in the forums about whether attempting this quest too many times came with any penalties, especially since it involved selling your tamed monsters.
That is a valid concern. If you think about it, selling the monsters you tamed seems like a pretty crappy thing to do. People are concerned that doing so would be considered mistreating tamed monsters or affect their favorability score with their own monsters. However, I don't think there are any downsides to this quest. To begin with, the persistent quests for other jobs rarely have any disadvantages, as they mostly involve gathering specific items. If the quest for Tamers alone has a critical downside, the game balance would be very bad.
Additionally, you obviously have to use the skill repeatedly to raise your taming skill level. As a result, many Tamers complain about having too many tamed monsters. That will cause issues down the road, as you have to give up the tamed monsters you actually wanted because your monster slot is not enough.
As harsh as it may sound, you could say that selling unnecessary monsters at the guild is the basic MO for Tamers. If your favorability score goes down every time you sell a monster, no one would be able to level up their Taming skill.
Some players attempted leveling up by taming untameable bosses, although that was unusual.
At the very least, I could never do that. Also, taming will always fail when your monster slots are full. While you can continue to use Tame as long as your MP lasts, the overall XP you would receive would be reduced by half.
"Considering my Taming skill level is still pretty low, I might as well grind it."
With a single quest, I could get contribution points, XP for my Taming skill, and money from selling monsters. It is like killing three birds with one stone.
The only downside is that the reward is pretty small.
'Well, today's target is..... Lucky! It's a gray squirrel!"
In the beginning, it was a super strong enemy that I could not win, but now I have no problem with it.
"All right! Today we are hunting squirrels!"
***NEW The Late Bloomer Tamer IMAGE GALLERY
Announcement
Because this novel translation project did not receive enough backing, I am forced to put it on hold.
Thank you so much for your comments and encouragement so far. Please read and support my other novel translations.
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TanboHiro - chapter 1 episode 1
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Thanks for the double update!
ReplyDeleteDang, the translation is being dropped? I really looked forward to the slow progression/slice of life chapters in this story. :(