Chapter 1.3 (1/2)

Chapter 1.3

It’s a pretty far treckin’ to town…」

「Sure is.」

The next day, they cleaned up the campsite where they stayed two days, and started walking towards a town. Two whole days spent in a patch of land with no roof over their heads. Although they had enough bear belt left over to make blankets for both of them after making the bag, it was less than the careful strategy.

After their conversation, they decided that it was an awkward time of day to move camp, and Haruna requested for Hiroshi to make more potions because she wanted to see him craft the glass bottles.

In the end, Hiroshi crafted all sorts of level 2 potions, which were easier to make, until he collapsed. Although it was much easier than the first batch of special potions since he had all the equipment necessary.

It appeared that, despite the less than optimal conditions, Hiroshi didn’t fail any level 4 and below potion, thanks to his Extra Skills Brewing for the Gods and Medicine for the Gods, but Hiroshi didn’t mention it as he couldn’t verify that fact.

「Come to think of it, a Berserker Bear meant we’re pretty far from town.」

「What a weird spot to be dropped in, you and I.」

「Ya said it.」

In order to find the town from their vague memories, they kept on the small pathways that looked like people used regularly. It wasn’t paved like a main road, but more defined than a single footpath. Needless to say, Hiroshi kept an abnormal distance between him and Haruna.

Their surrounding vegetation wasn’t tall enough to call it a forest, nor short enough to call it a plateau. They agreed, judging by the landscape, types of vegetation, and wildlife, that they were near Wulls, the capital of Farlane.

The disagreement arose, however, when it came to the direction they should head in. They settled on going in the opposite direction of where the Berserker Bear came from. Backtracking the bear’s path would drive them further into the woods.

Wulls was also the starting point of the game, and the oldest location that had been implemented since Beta. Even in Beta, the entirety of Farlane was more than vast. No one traversed the entire region during the Beta period.

「Isn’t that a main road?」

「Sure looks like one. Now, which way are we goin’…?」

「No signposts that I can see…」

While it was only natural, there were no signs that showed where this little road was headed. Even Hiroshi, who remembered grinding around this area back in the day, never remembered a signpost.

Although it was five years ago, this road was often used by the neighboring people and adventurers who wanted ingredients for some medicine. The forest up ahead consisted of a similar landscape, too.

「Which was it, now…?」

Walking up to the center of the wide road, they looked around for any clues.

「You remember this place, Toudou-san?」

「Not at all. I haven’t really walked through this area in four years. I haven’t even been to Wulls in two.」

「I ain’t much better. I was a hermit out in the middle of nowhere. Up until last year, I went to Wulls a lot diggin’ for quests, but I didn’t really need to get out of the city.」

「I was based in Darl, so I don’t know my way around these parts anymore.」

They sighed in unison. If anyone else were there, they could have asked them the way, but unfortunately no one on the street. Normally, caravans and the like would be passing by, but it looks like they hit a pocket of dead time.

「All right, let’s tip a stick…」

「And what if it goes fallin’ down the middle?」

「Eeny meeny miny moe?」

「Why don’t we eeny meeny from the start?」

Haruna gave a nod to Hiroshi’s observation. While they were bantering, a silhouette appeared ahead.

「Toudou-san. Someone’s over yonder.」

「You’re right. Let’s go talk to them.」

They walked over to the approaching silhouette with the zeal of finding an alien on a new planet. With precautions for confrontation, of course.

「They don’t look all right.」

「Yeah, they’re in a hurry.」

「The one bein’ carried looks horrible.」

「…I’ll talk to them.」

Determined, Haruna approached the pair. Ready to jump in between them if need be, Hiroshi followed her, hand floating near his knife. They were aware that Haruna was much better suited for the breaking the ice with strangers.

「Excuse me…」

「My apologies. We’re in a hurry.」

「What happened to him?」

「Clawed by a Venomous Wolf. I treated the wound, but once the venom circulates, he’s done for. So, excuse me…」

The man spat out in a hurry without slowing his feet as he continued in the direction Hiroshi and Haruna came from.

「Azuma-kun, can’t we use the antidote you made for a Venomous Wolf…?」

「It should work.」

Despite feeling a tinge of uneasiness at the convenience of the situation, they still decided that letting this character die wasn’t worth one of their antidotes.

「Do you know any Antidote spells, Toudou-san?」

「Nothing that will work on a Venomous Wolf’s. It’s pretty rare to get clawed, and most people are immune anyway, so I didn’t really spend the time.」

「Yeah, that makes a lot of sense.」

Status conditions like Poison and Paralysis are less effective to, and easier to cure for players with higher resistance or immunity. Poison and Paralysis both have various causes, and requires either an antidote that matches the source, or a Cure-All potion only available to Advanced crafters, or else a spell that matches the particular status condition or a high-level healing spell.

When combating status conditions, which included over five variations of poison alone once a player was out of the introductory area, most players decided to build resistance rather than healing every time they were afflicted.

Therefore, other than players who had been healers since the approach of building resistance was popularized, not many players had an arsenal of spells that could heal physical status conditions. Hiroshi, in fact, just carries around a bunch of Cure-All potions.

In addition, his original compound of the max-level Cure-All potions can prevent all status conditions for the next six hours. Which only drove status-healing magic away from his peripheral. Of course, most players had no access to such ridiculous potions, so in high-level dungeons, the spells carried certain weight.

However, for players like Hiroshi and Haruna, who are in the middle of the curve when it comes to combat, it was just not prioritized. It was difficult to grind for (drinking less effective antidotes resulted in the resistance growing faster than the Skill Level of healing spells), which left these branches often abandoned. In fact, being poisoned on purpose and using HP healing spells to survive until it wears off was easier and more effective for building resistance.

「So, try givin’ this to him.」

「…Will it really work?」