"Youth. If you're forced to read this letter, it means I am leaving my beloved house under your care. I know, no home or building within the whole Dominus Fortress has belonged to anyone, but keep it tidy in case I am coming back to stay in the future!"
"Listen. The reason I am writing this letter is that I am unsure will I still have the life to come back once more. I love this place, I am born here, after all. But nothing last long. Not your parent, not mine, and not me. We will die someday, but I don't want to die meaninglessly."
"I am leaving with a group of selected pioneers to explore and establish a new fortress. We don't know will this succeed or fail, but one day, humanity will claim back this piece of land, and I trust that we will. You remembered me and my sign, so in the future, when you become a pioneer like myself, you will come out and try to look for me."
"Who knows, maybe at that time, I'm one of the members from Imperial Fortress Society. But before that, you have to get stronger. Go to my house and moved the bed away from where it was. The bottom is hollow, so all you need is to use the Flying Knife is give you to slid open the gap to access the storage."
"Inside the storage is a recipe book on how to craft the Primary Stimulant Essence. By learning according to how the book tells you, it will be helpful for you in the long run because being a hunter is not all about hunting for monsters, growing your wealth, married few women and lay eggs daily!"
"As a hunter, you're humanity last hope for us to retake this earth once more. They say that before the Old World is destroyed, humans possess something they call an airplane. This thing is so humongous it can carry five hundred people flying in the air without a problem."
"They also say that in the old world, something name fuel exists. They say that by using fuel in their daily life, they can create fire anytime with a tick, and control the movement of an Old World Steel Castle. But none of this remain in our generation."
"So, as a hunter, your job is to improve and come out in the future to either become a collector, pioneer, or crafter. Do your best and keep surviving. Until we met again." that's what written in Uncle Don's letter. Filled with curiosity, he went to Uncle Don's House at night to try open that hollow storage space mentioned in the letter.
Taking out a book with a small bottle of example, he stored them inside his bag before going back to his own place. After having his cold dinner, Technos studied the book carefully to see what is this Primary Stimulant Essence is all about.
The more he studied, the more speechless he became. Out of his expectation, the material that he required to process this Primary Stimulant Essence can be obtained from many plants, namely the Ruby Fruit, Five-Pointed Nectar Tree, and Eyeball Beans.
The process to make them is simple, but not known to many people. To begins with, he will have to prepare containers for him to keep the liquid after the cooking. By allowing it to ferment for a period of time, the remaining scum and essence will be separated from each another.
But this does not mean the preparation is over. Inside the book is two pages worth of information on how to distill the collected essence to create a high-end product worth called as Primary Stimulant Essence. With this essence available, he can then follow then begin following the next step.
Strength Stimulant Vial
10 drops of Primary Stimulant Essence / 10 drops of Red Ruby Champion's Blood / 10gm Ruby Scarab's Shell (Powdered)
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Healing Stimulant Vial
10 drops of Primary Stimulant Essence / 20 drops of Red Ruby Lizard's Blood / 10gm Ruby Scarab's Shell (Powdered)
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Blood Rejuvenation Stimulant Vial
10 drops of Primary Stimulant Essence / 20 drops of Ruby Spider's Venom / 10gm Ruby Scarab's Shell (Powdered)
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"Looks like the Ruby Scarabs is extremely important for me to begin producing all these Stimulant Vials. As for now, I don't even possess the tool to make them." while reading on the required ingredients and the difficult to proceed steps, he felt weak with his own strength.
The simple requirement to produce the Primary Stimulant Essence alone can push him into a corner, and at least cost him many days to prepares them alone. But in the world he's living now, who can be trusted? While he's still bothered with the process to begin, his left wrist guard gave out a reaction.
A flash of light wrapped the book before digested it into his Left Wrist Guard Inventory. After a moment of shock, changes appeared in the inner panel of his Left Wrist Guard.
A new line of choices appeared. As the Left Wrist Guard did collect some of the Ruby Fruits, Green Crystal Powders, corpses of Ruby Scarabs and few other collectibles, the selection for the new choice is illuminated. He encountered this for the first time when it processed the body of the Red Ruby Lizard.
He swiped the panel like before, allowing four new choices to came out. Void of colors, he has no idea what to choose from. But as there's only one on the top is illuminated, he selected it without questioning anything. Looking at the loading bar increased from 1% to 100% in one minute, a new item appeared in his Right Wrist Guard.
He chose to withdraw that item to see what is this. A bottle appeared from thin air and dropped on his palm. From the outer look of it, this vial of a liquid substance is similar to the sample provided by Uncle Don. The only differences are the smell.
The one produced by his Left Wrist Guard releases a rich smell similar to the Ruby Fruit, though it stings a person sense when sniffing for too long. Furthermore, the liquid substance inside of this bottle seems to be drinkable.
Noticing the existing of a scarab shell selection in the Left Wrist Guard, Technos selected that. When he finishes with all the swiping, a large pile of Ruby Scarab's Shell Powder existed and piled inside of his Right Wrist Guard.
Without anything else to do, Technos get his rest in case his next day class comes with some weird task like today. But his expectation did not come true. For the next ten days, he was taught with some knowledge related to somewhere further from the two hours traveling proximity outside the Dominus Fortress.
And in the name mentioned by the teachers, one of them caught his attention. Due to their sector is located facing the west, most of the name the teacher mentioned is related to what they will see by traveling out from this direction.
This place is known as the Holy Tree of Champions, where it was densely populated by an enormous school of Red Ruby Champions. If one is lucky when walking pass this location, they may only be met with two to three champions in their go and return trip. But if they were unlucky, it won't be lesser than twenty to thirty champions.
Worst of all there is a rumor a few Ruby Lizard Lords is building their nest here. Stronger than the Ruby Broodmother, the Ruby Lizard Lord is the third evolution of a Red Ruby Lizard. At this stage, their diet is no longer on the Ruby Fruits, but on other living monsters.
This is also why the location is listed as one of the five most dangerous places listed on the Mission Board. Of course, Technos show his interest in this location is not because he's looking forward to challenging a Ruby Lizard Lord, but because that location is filled with Red Ruby Champion.
To craft one of the Strength Stimulant Vial, he needed ten drops of blood from the Red Ruby Champion, and this means an increase in his strength steadily. All he hopes is that the Strength Stimulant Vial can be used simultaneously without a limit.
"Alright. For the next two days, you guys are going to complete another mission. From the report that came in yesterday, a massive nest is found in Zone 4 area, which you may already know, it is densely populated by Ruby Spiders." The teacher started to explain the next task they needed to complete for their next two days.
"The scout hunter reported this finding says, there is at least two Ruby Broodmothers and also over six hundred Ruby Spiders roaming there! The three of us will not give you all too much pressure but in this 48 hours starting from now, you're required to bring back 20 pounds of Ruby Spider Silk!" the target of this task is unexpectedly the silk from the spider.
"Oh my Fortress... I cannot believe our second task is going to collect the Ruby Spider Silk! I heard from my father that the Ruby Spider will get very aggressive when they're milked! And worst of all, we have to harvest the silk before they harden due to the death of the spider!" one of the students complained.
"Not only that... My father hunts for the silk before, he said that among the ten party members in his group, three dead from their fangs that can inject poison into your flesh. Once you're paralyzed, they will come to bring you back to become their food." another student complained.
"No... My mother says that the Ruby Spider is different. Because they're too small to produce large egg sac to hold their eggs, they choose to use the human body as an alternative for them to expand their numbers. She says when the hatching spider crawls out, the human will receive tormenting pain until all the egg hatches."
"No! No more words about the Ruby Spider, please!" the girls were so scared they gathered at one side and closed their ears. This announcement from their teacher scared most of them except those in the top ten. And following from that, their teacher continued.
"Of course, I did not say you cannot team up with the others to hunt. You're allowed to create a 5-member team to capture the Ruby Spiders together, but your mission will increase by 10 pounds per person." the teacher added.
Although teaming up to hunt the monsters assure their safety much more, they come with a downside. With an addition of 10 pounds per person in a team, a 5 man team will have to bring back 150 pounds of Ruby Spider Silk. This downside not only increase the load for them to bring back but it also endangers them if they're surrounded.
"Alright. If you're ready, you may start now. Class dismisses." the teacher left them to do their own stuff. Unwilling to form a team with people that weren't friendly to him, Technos left. In fact, none of them in the top ten join any party.
Technos knows his own game and how to play with it. As he got nothing much to repair or prepare, he went straight out from the Dominus Fortress and headed to a different direction this time. Reason? It was because he used to focus on hunting at Zone 1 which populated with Red Ruby Lizards and Zone 2, the area he kills a large number of Ruby Scarabs.
And this time, it's Zone 4 he's heading towards. So instead of going down, he has to go up to the upper part, and entered the forest! It was covered with spider webs all over the place, with the sound made by the Ruby Spiders creating discomfort all over his body.
"This is not fun at all." Technos Left Wrist Guard gave out a pulse to scan for the collectibles surrounding him, and the results are only three different things. One Green Crystal Herb, One Medan Stone, and 65 Ruby Spiders surrounding him.
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[Author's Note]
The Ruby Fruit look similar to dragon fruit, the Five-Pointed Nectar Tree is actually Maple Tree people used their sap to make maple syrup and eyeball beans actually come from oversized barley in my imaginative creation. So at the end of this chap, can you guess what is that Primary Stimulant Essence?