WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: DereKimchi
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ The Protagonist Doesn't Want to Leave the First Floor ◈
Chapter 22
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[This damn rain seriously won't stop]
Has the sky gone insane?
- It's seriously filthy here.
└?
└Crap is overflowing everywhere. It's a complete mess.
└Where the hell is crap overflowing?
└Where else? The camp.
└What are you talking about?
[Is it true that the Rabbit Field camp is flooding with sewage?]
└Don't open any posts with photos attached right now. You've been warned.
└What the hell happened?
└You know all those people who dug shallow holes and did their business? The rain turned it all to mud and basically exhumed it.
└Exhumed, lol.
The camp falling apart and turning into a refugee settlement was only the beginning. As the rainy season dragged on, even bigger problems were breaking out.
The makeshift toilets people had thrown together were overflowing.
People crowded onto even slightly higher ground, fighting ugly, childish battles over space.
More people were trying to leave and move to another field, even this late, but there was nowhere suitable to go right away.
Most people headed up the rocky mountain in the center of the Area. It was high ground, but the conditions there were poor.
It was called a rocky mountain for a reason. Grass was hard to find, and its main inhabitants were mountain goats and leopards.
Mountain goats were not Aggressive Mobs, but they had nasty temperaments. They could be standing around peacefully, then suddenly bite or ram someone with their horns because something annoyed them.
But more dangerous than those creatures, and even the spotted leopards seen from time to time, were the enormous eagles occasionally spotted overhead.
There seemed to be several kinds of them. Some people thought different kinds of hawks or falcons were mixed in with the eagles, but whatever the case, they were huge and strong enough to swoop down and carry off a fully grown mountain goat.
Naturally, they could carry off a person too, and someone had actually been taken.
They did not bring their prey back to their nests.
They carried it high into the sky, then dropped it to kill it in the fall.
Afterward, they pecked at the corpse on the ground or carried away the larger chunks of meat.
- Still, eagles can't fly around during the rainy season, so it's not too bad.
└Is that how it works?
└Yeah. Haven't seen any.
└Then should I move there too?
└But there aren't many Mobs worth hunting there.
└It's not like I can hunt anyway. I'd just be going to avoid the rain.
└For that, it's not bad. There are quite a few rock caves on the rocky mountain if you look.
└Oh.
Others headed north from Rabbit Field, toward the Giant Lake.
There were no Mobs around there apart from aquatic creatures, so as long as they set up a proper shelter, they could live quietly for a while.
Still, it was unfortunate that the lake had swollen to the point of flooding. The huts people had built around it were already underwater or had been swept away.
People drove pillars into the ground and built homes on top of them so they could withstand rising water levels, or they retreated farther back to safer ground from the start.
Everyone learned several lessons from this incident.
Of course, those who had made preparations or taken preventive measures beforehand were weathering it more easily.
Even so, the rainy season showed no sign of ending.
People became increasingly tense, and fights and bloodshed broke out everywhere.
Then news came that a boss had been killed. It was the feral dog boss in Rabbit Field.
- What? They killed it again?
└Apparently, the mud had practically turned into a swamp, so the boss Mob couldn't move properly.
└Natural disasters really can't be helped.
It seemed that they had beaten it to death as a group, much like last time. This time, though, they had succeeded with fewer people.
Naturally, the loot they split was more generous too.
The problem was the changes that came with the Area Level increasing again.
- Why are there so many rabbits?
- Is this Australia or something? There are way too many rabbits.
└Hurry up and kill them. Get them while you can.
- Aren't there way too many feral dogs too?
They already knew from the first change what would happen, but it had grown even worse. The population of Area Mobs increased, and each of their levels rose as well.
This was a place where people had joked that there were more humans than Mobs because hunting efficiency was so poor.
Now, though, people were saying there were too many feral dogs for the place to be safe.
- At least feral dogs don't chase you if you throw down some meat and run.
└Really?
└Yeah. Buy some cheap meat from the marketplace if you see it.
└All meat is expensive.
└Some cheap meat just got listed. Wolf Meat.
└Ah, I can't eat that.
└I'm eating it right now, though?
└Well, if there's nothing else, you have to eat that too.
“It's selling well?”
Somehow, the Wolf Meat that usually did not sell well on the marketplace was selling quickly.
He had listed it cheaply, but he had enough left over even after eating his fill.
Besides, he no longer had to wait for the rain to let up before heading out. He had acquired quite a bit of crocodile leather during the last herding hunt.
‘It's waterproof, no less.’
Crocodile leather was waterproof.
Of course, it was not ideal for making clothes by itself. It did not stretch much, and it would probably be uncomfortable to wear.
So he mixed in other materials.
Along with plant-fiber cloth, he made active use of the enormous pile of wolf fur hides he had collected.
The result was better than expected.
The outside was made of crocodile leather to improve waterproofing, while the wolf fur hide inside was processed through several stages into a soft, warm lining.
Both Juggernaut and Vulcan were currently wearing the clothes he had made that way.
Over them, they wore hooded rain capes made from crocodile leather as well.
From above, they probably looked like two short, fat, tailless crocodiles wandering around.
Of course, wearing them did not stop wolves from becoming aggressive, nor did crocodiles mistake them for their own kind.
The herding continued.
It did not stop even when the downpour became heavy.
‘Even better.’
The rain poured down without pause.
Thanks to that, even when repeated herding hunts turned one side of the riverbank into a sea of blood, the rain quickly washed it all away.
‘There’s barely any smell, either.’
There was less chance that a tiger would catch the scent of blood and come running as it had last time. Still, he could not let his guard down, so his overhead viewpoint kept scanning the surroundings.
‘At least watching from above is better.’
Wolves and crocodiles kept dying.
He took a few hits and scratches during the herding, but whether it was because of the crocodile leather or the Nemesis effect, he barely took any damage.
‘Does the Nemesis effect apply when crocodiles fight wolves too? If that's true, it would explain why the wolves are dying so easily.’
After getting distracted for a moment, he quickly refocused and opened his Subspace.
Water dripped from Vulcan's crocodile-leather rain cape as he emerged through the Subspace Juggernaut had opened.
Vulcan had already reached Level 9.
Compared to Juggernaut, who had sometimes barely gained one level every few days, it was an incredible pace.
He had not even directed all the experience toward Vulcan. Juggernaut, Companion No. 1, and Black, who was sprawled out in a corner of the Subspace, were gaining experience too.
Black was the name he had given the Black Leopard.
It annoyed him a little to see her lying there with a full stomach, so he named her without much thought, using the first thing that came to mind.
[Black Leopard]
[Name: Black]
[Level: 6]
[Health: 400 / 400]
[Hunger Status: Full]
[Inventory: 0/3]
She had gained a level too.
She was not overeating or suffering indigestion, but she was still full.
‘She does nothing but eat, but I like that she eats Wolf Meat without complaining.’
While he caught his breath, wolves began respawning nearby.
Vulcan drank a couple cups of shake to recover his stamina, but he did not move right away. He stayed where he was.
Instead, Juggernaut, who had been resting until now, headed down.
They took turns with the herding hunts, as though they were alternating watch duty. It had become possible once Vulcan's level rose enough.
‘There are fewer crocodiles now. I should slow the pace down.’
The important thing in this herding hunt was not how many wolves he could gather at once.
It was making sure there were enough crocodiles to kill them, then controlling their numbers.
He gave Companion No. 1, who collected the items, another job as well.
Whenever Companion No. 1 went to the riverbank, he was to throw chunks of meat into the water.
It had to be meat from the Inventory that had already been looted, not the corpses lying around and beginning to vanish. Using it meant Companion No. 1 could throw the bait without drawing aggro himself.
Splash! Splash! Splash!
As they did now, new Crocodiles waiting underwater reacted to the bait.
The creatures raised their heads above the water. Only then did they catch the scent of blood and climb onto the riverbank.
What followed was naturally chaos.
-Current Record-
Wolves: Stage 20 Nemesis effect applied
1. Impact Force increased by 100%.
2. Damage Taken reduced by 100%.
3. Critical-Hit Chance granted at a set probability.
4. Loot Drop Rate increase can be assigned.
Current: Total
-Current Distribution-
Wolf Hide: 100%
Wolf Tendon: 100%
Wolf Meat: 30%
Crocodiles: Stage 3 Nemesis effect applied
1. Impact Force increased by 15%.
2. Damage Taken reduced by 15%.
That was the result of the chaos.
The wolf Nemesis effect, which had shocked him by jumping to Stage 17, had already reached Stage 20. He quickly assigned the increased drop rate.
Wolves dropped other items too, but equipment could not be assigned in the first place, and aside from the three listed items, there was not much use for the rest.
It was not as though items never dropped if he did not assign an increase. Since he was killing so many at once, plenty of items without boosted rates still dropped.
“Let's list more meat.”
He had raised the drop rate to 100%, doubling it, so the amount of Wolf Meat that dropped was ridiculous.
Normally, he would not increase it any further. But demand on the marketplace was rising, so he was selling it in bulk for small margins.
“It doesn't seem like people are only using it as feral dog bait.”
It seemed that quite a few people were eating it too.
The conditions that made hunting difficult had probably lasted too long.
“Whether they eat it or scatter it around, that's up to the people buying it.”
He did not stop the herding.
After roughly calculating the efficiency, he seemed to be killing nearly a hundred wolves per hour. For every five wolves that died, about one crocodile died as well.
As time passed, though, the number dying increased.
That was true for both wolves and crocodiles.
It made his theory that the Nemesis effect applied to the crocodiles as well feel more likely.
The Wolves died more easily than before, and the Crocodiles seemed to be doing the same as their Nemesis effect accumulated.
As a result, it seemed that they were dying faster than they could respawn, so he had to herd farther away afterward.
“These are getting heavy.”
He changed his rain cape and clothes in the middle of the hunt because even waterproof materials could not stop rain from seeping in through gaps here and there.
Once they soaked up water and became heavy, the clothes grew harder to move in. He changed into identical clothes from the Subspace that were dry and fresh.
He had prepared more than ten sets that way.
By the time one set was completely soaked, the first set he had taken off was naturally dry again.
That was thanks to the campfire he had lit in one part of the Subspace.
He had thought it would be difficult because the Subspace, like the Inventory, preserved the condition of what was inside. But the system said that strengthening a specific function allowed separate management of different sections of the space.
So he spent some Points to add that function, separating off a section and disabling only the condition-preservation effect there.
There was no problem storing items, and he could install a stove there, light a fire, boil, burn, or dry things as he pleased.
Companion No. 1 was busy at the riverbank, so he had to take off his wet clothes and hang them on the drying rack himself.
He had built a campfire rather than using a stove because a mini stove needed small pieces of firewood added and managed frequently.
“A campfire can burn for a long time with big logs. It takes less work.”
Still, it seemed to lose some heat, so if he got the chance later, he planned to commission a large stationary stove.
‘It would be even better if it had an efficient structure for retaining heat.’
After changing into dry clothes, he ran lightly through the forest and swept away wolves.
The herding hunt continued from morning until afternoon.
He was not tired.
As he gained experience, his body grew used to it. At some point, it began to feel as though he was running an auto-program, moving along similar routes at regular intervals.
As the Nemesis effect accumulated, getting hit hurt less. Even if he lost a little focus and took some hits, the herding did not stop, and he did not fall.
The tiger did not appear all day.
It was probably because of the heavy rain.
After finishing the day's hunt and returning to the cliff, he checked the day's results.
“This is seriously insane.”
-Current Record-
Wolves: Stage 25 Nemesis effect applied
He had already seen it while checking in the middle of the hunt.
Still, it was an achievement impressive enough to make him shake his head when he looked again.
He had killed more than 2,500 wolves.
‘It's only possible because they keep respawning. At this point, I've practically devastated the whole Area.’
He was not certain, but depending on the circumstances, had he nearly driven the wolves in one Area extinct?
‘And that isn't all.’
Crocodiles: Stage 5 Nemesis effect applied
1. Impact Force increased by 25%.
2. Damage Taken reduced by 25%.
3. Critical-Hit Chance granted at a low probability.
He had killed more than five hundred crocodiles too.
No wonder the amount of leather piling up in the Subspace had seemed unusual.
‘Wolves are at Stage 25, and crocodiles are at Stage 5. The crocodile effects are the same ones I saw with wolves.’
The wolf Nemesis effect had changed at Stage 25. Aside from strengthening the existing effects, it gained another one.
5. Effect shared with similar species.
Current Shared Effect: 10%
Similar species.
It was a vague concept, but he had a rough idea what it meant.
It probably meant the Nemesis effect would apply to canine animals or Monsters too.
Naturally, that made him think of the feral dog packs roaming Rabbit Field.
Even the boss Mob there was a feral dog.
‘There's no need to go there myself.’
Wolf hunting was now far more efficient than before.
Impact Force had risen by 125%, while Damage Taken had been reduced by 125%.
‘Couldn't I kill them at about the same rate without herding them now?’
He decided to check that after the rainy season ended. For now, he organized the current situation and prepared for the future.
[Avatar Name: Juggernaut]
[Level: 12]
[Avatar Name: Vulcan]
[Level: 9]
[Werewolf]
[Name: Companion No. 1]
[Level: 5]
[Black Leopard]
[Name: Black]
[Level: 8]
Everyone's levels had risen.
Vulcan only needed one more level to reach Level 10, where leveling up would likely be blocked. He would have to use a Key to remove the lock, just as he had with Juggernaut.
The same went for Black.
She would soon reach Level 10 and need to evolve.
‘There are still enough Keys for now, but I'll get stuck at the next stage.’
At that point, he would have no choice but to kill a boss himself.
Getting Keys from the marketplace was no longer easy.
‘If I break through properly just once, even tigers will become ordinary Mobs.’
He clenched his fist as he thought that.
Then he remembered that when the Field Level increased, the boss would increase by a stage as well.
‘Hm. I'll find a way when the time comes. I'll be stronger too.’
For now, he had not even killed a Level 1 boss.
He organized the Subspace in preparation for tomorrow's hunt.
‘It might fill up faster than I can expand it.’
It would probably be fine until tomorrow.
After that, depending on the situation, he would either rest for a day or expand it by a large amount at once, even if it was not cost-effective.
It would be better for both profit and experience to expand it and herd hunt for another day than to take a day off while worrying about cost-effectiveness.
‘Rabbit Field is still loud, though.’
Someone said it was time to call Rabbit Field Feral Dog Field instead.
Then someone replied that Crap Field was more accurate, and a fight broke out.
It was difficult to dismiss it as nothing more than childish arguing. Unlike in the real world, online arguments here could easily turn into real-life confrontations where someone died.
‘There aren't any police here, either.’
He shook his head and listed more items on the marketplace, but he did not list the Waterproof Clothing he had made.
Crocodile leather had never been listed on the marketplace in the first place, and he did not particularly want to sell it.
‘Crocodile leather is piling up in the Subspace, but my processing skill hasn't reached its peak yet.’
What he was wearing now was not even truly finished. He would use up plenty more while practicing and experimenting in the future.
He could recycle some of it, but that had limits too. If he became able to make better clothes and armor, he planned to sell the old secondhand pieces then.
‘Still, the rainy season won't last until then.’
A rainy season on this scale was probably rare even for this Area.
He could tell from the former water levels of the lake and river, as well as the boundary of the forest near the riverbank.
‘It'll stop soon.’
The boss hunt would probably come after that.
He made the various methods he had thought of during the day more concrete.
Poison and traps. Lures and deception.
They did not suit a Barbarian Warrior, but he had been obsessed with his character concept from the beginning, so he was not embarrassed.
‘If I become much stronger than I am now, I could really fight it head-on, but...’
For now, attacking from the side or behind was the answer.
That was his clear-eyed assessment of himself.
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