Feeling the least bit refreshed, I wake up to find that the chest is still shut. Thank you! I was so tired that I went all in, spending all my chips thinking that the monster was so AGI focused that it couldn't possibly have had the STR to open or break the chest from within it. It also had Fish to eat, so it probably couldn't complain. That might just be my inner Cat speaking though. Err... My outer Cat speaking?
Noticing that I had woken, Goblin Village Wheat Farmer Sama started preparing the fire. Using this time, I started to get dressed. It takes considerably more effort to get dressed now. I'm thankful for the stats, but I genuinely wish that I didn't need to have so many pieces of clothing and accessories to obtain them. After last nights festivities, I probably have enough MP to comfortably aim for level 15 clothes. But I feel like I've been making clothes for almost a week. It hasn't been that long, but it feels like it. I know I did various fun things yesterday, but I need more of a break! This overly relaxing lifestyle could be the end of me! Any day now, I'll become a shriveled old Cat... like Goblin Village Wheat Farmer Sama!
The Goblin Village is great and all, but I need more in life. I need to resume my journey. As far as I can tell, the ecosystem around here is fine. I really should check into the newfound critter race situation first though. I can't forget about my responsibility to try and ensure this ecosystem is balanced. As of yet, this new critter is something unexplained for me. I don't know what this guy does to survive, and I don't know what; if anything... Hunts it. It's important for me to learn the eating and living habits of the other monsters around here in case anything goes wrong. That way, I'll know how to solve it.
Who knows? Maybe this guy is an invasive species not from around here, like me? I myself am probably quite harmful to this ecosystem, but I'd like to think that I've struck a balance on it by going for Fish which were otherwise barely eaten. I think the Bears eat the Fish as well, but I'm pretty sure that they also hunt other monsters. Regardless, I'm not a permanent inhabitant of this ecosystem. I'm not constantly draining it all the time or anything because I have the intent of exploring the continent. Albeit slowly, I have already begun making trips out of the Lost Kingdom. During my trips, there is free time for the Fish to recoup from my wrath... Or for the bears to retake the spot which I had been occupying. That's how I see it.
So, I removed my black ninja belt and cautiously opened the chest. Grabbing the critter rather brutishly, I tied my ninja belt onto the critter in a way that I could now walk it on a leash. I'm short enough, so it's actually not uncomfortable for me to walk it. Now, with my Clansmen emitting haki nearby; I speak very clearly to the critter. I have [Language Comprehension], so I think it can understand me. I'm not entirely sure, but I basically asked it to show me where it lives. I promised not to kill it or its family, and even promised to give it some extra Fish if it takes me there.
Like that, I wound up being led by the critter. I'm a little grumpy because I needed to skip my meet and feast, but Village Wheat Sama cooked me some Fish for my trip. Besties for life, I say. While eating, I'm currently sprinting to keep up with the fast paced critter. This is going to deal some serious damage to my SP. I might ruin my sleeping schedule from this. It can't be helped, the leash won't reach far enough for me to be able to fly, so I need to run. None of my Clansmen could probably carry this leash comfortably. My Crows are not fast enough to adjust to this guy's sudden turns.
There's something seriously wrong with the way this guy runs. It's like he thinks that it makes sense to just randomly jump slightly backwards in order to get better footing on a different branch. As if that speeds the travel up, at all. He's probably a scatter brain with a lot going on up there. I try not to mind it, but my SP is being reduced rapidly from these wasteful movement patterns. Can we just move in a straight direction? Please? No? Well, fine. I guess?
I needed to take several breaks to recover SP by sitting down, but after an hour and a half; we managed to make it. All of the random turns have made it quite disorienting for me to understand exactly where we are now, so I had to get an aerial view. We're currently towards the east of the swamp lands just south of the Prairies in the Lost Kingdom. Really, we're northeast of the Chasm. There's a fairly sized tree with absolutely no leaves, towering above the rest. Beneath the roots of it, there's a dug out space containing several of these critters. They're all white, but only a few have the blue pattern added on. If I look beneath the roots, it seems that the ground beneath is quite spacious. Cute.
I don't know what they hunt, but they're probably not invasive if they live over here on this side of the Lost Kingdom. I honestly haven't been over here that much. Okay. From here on out, I'm calling this the White Squirbbit Hollow. They remind me of Squirrel-Rabbits, so that's their new name in my book. Looking closer at them, I can't capture them as Clansmen. Also, I'm quite certain that the blue ones are Tier 3 monsters. After all, the ones without markings come in two different sizes. In my opinion, Tier 3 monsters are safe in the Lost Kingdom ecosystem. Besides that, I'm pretty sure that these little fellows don't hold the STR required to actually take out any big predators. They're small, and can probably escape any predator... But they probably can't kill any predator either. It's safe even if they are invasive.
Feeling determined that these cute yet troublingly evasive creatures are no threat, I decided to return to the Goblin Village after making sure to feed my furry little friend some Fish. See ya~ Told you that I wouldn't massacre you! On my way back from the Squirrbit Hollow, nothing eventful happened whatsoever. Yep. Everything's good in the third world! When I arrived back at the Chiefs Hut, thankfully he was still around. I started to tell him about the little creature I had found and called Squirrbit. He says that he didn't know what it was, so maybe it was actually invasive after all? Did I make a mistake or something?
Well, I think they're cute. I've never actually witnessed one taking out another monster. I've honestly only ever witnessed one twice in the wild, most likely due to me being a night Cat and how they can't see at night. Is what I thought, but why hadn't the Village Chief ever witnessed them? They are quite fast, if you weren't looking up into the trees; you could very well miss them. Whenever I find them, it's actually near the River. So they might be Fishers, like me. Maybe the Bears don't actually come to the river for Fish, but it's for Squirrbits? It makes sense.
When I first came here though, I was totally Fishing during the daytime. It doesn't make sense if I didn't notice them at that point, so I'm either more aware of my surroundings now; or they only entered the Lost Kingdom after I had switched to my night schedule. If they live in that tree, there's a chance that they had come in from the Forest of the Fae, from the Demon Kingdom, or from that Chasm. FUAAAH!!! The more I think about it, the more I feel like I need to keep a closer eye on them after all!
The Demon Kingdom is a literal jungle where I know the monsters to be well regulated in terms of population. Nothing over there seemed much more dangerous than the Lost Kingdom. But the Forest of the Fae is an entirely different ballgame! That place is sealed deeper than Davy Jones' Locker! Who knows just what monsters are holed up in there, desperately trying to get out?!
During the night, those critters all seem to go home to that Hollow. It would be best if i observe them from dawn as they exit the Hollow, and see what the majority of them do. Okay. It's decided. I'm going to camp out near the Hollow tonight and see what they do in the morning. I'm going to a friend's place, no I won't be back for dinner. I'm just going to do stuff, mom! I'm totally not going to show up uninvited and sleep outside their house like a stalker and watch them do their everyday activities! GOD!
I grabbed my 5 buckets of Candy and went on my way. I'm not taking any chances. There are like 30 of those things, at least. If they're out here avidly killing off dozens of Bears everyday or something, I need to cull their numbers; fast. I don't think they can actually kill Bears, but I also haven't witnessed them ever out in the wild together. I'm hoping that they're herbivores.
After reaching the Hollow, they're all still inside. Okay, now I'm sitting on a very old tree in the nearby swamp lands. Setting my Candy to be hanging on one of the branches, I'm also removing my clothes to do the same. It's probably a peculiar sight to see a child in a rotting tree, hanging their clothing on it in peculiar ways; but it can't be helped. I just need a place to sleep while also not being endangered by swamp monsters. As far as I know, only Crows and the weird Slimes live around these parts. Those, and the Squirrbits.
A while ago, I learned that I can sleep during the night while having my Clansmen out to protect me. I intend to try that now. With my Clansmen standing and flying nearby, I am now ready to sleep. I've returned to my Cat form, and instructed my Clansmen to wake me if the Squirrbits start to leave their Hollow; or before dawn. Whichever comes first is fine, thanks.
***********
Waking to the sound of the roaring Scarecrow was actually not all too pleasant. I still feel tired, I had a hard time falling asleep in a tree. Scrambling to my senses and trying to get dressed as fast as possible without letting my clothes fall into the mud below, proved to be quite the challenge. I took 5 minutes to get dressed, but there's no point in fussing over the details! [Daily Candy]!
Having the Crows lead me in the direction that they went, we sped through the skies. I think Mr Scarecrow and White Wolf Lady returned to Halloween because there's no way that they can keep up with us right now. Sorry~ The Squirrbits start their day about an hour and a half before dawn technically arrives. It works well with my schedule, so I'm not complaining. It took us about 3 minutes to catch up with the majority of the Squirrbits. They genuinely do seem to split up for their hunts. I say that, but a lot of them still stay together. The Tier 3 ones go alone, while the Tier 1 and Tier 2 stick to a pack system.
I understand that the Tier 3 can probably fare well on their own, but I feel somewhat bad for the Tier 1 and Tier 2 who get left behind to take care of themselves. After following the weaker Squirrbits for about 3 minutes, I learned that the stupidly evasive strategy known to the Tier 3 Squirrbits is in fact, exclusive to the Tier 3 Squirrbits. The weaker ones don't do that weird jump back thing, so they are much less stressful to follow. I'm thankful for this blessing. About 15 minutes later, we arrived at a rather shocking location. No. No! How did this happen?!
The weaker Squirrbits hunt Prairie Slime monsters. The same ones that Tier 1 and sometimes Tier 2 Goblins hunt. The same ones that we just massacred at our festival. Yikes. I hope the Slime birth rate is going to be okay. I'm sorry for assuming that you were uneaten prey unrelated to the ecosystem. It's honestly quite cute to watch the tiny Squirrbits rush off to war with the tiny Slime monsters though. It feels so dramatic to imagine being in their place. Every morning at the crack of dawn, they run off together to go subjugate the evil Slime monsters. Every day, the evil Slime monsters lie in wait while savagely eating Prairie grass and jumping around a whole lot for no apparent reason. The Slime monsters have that in common with the Tier 3 Squirrbits. They both jump around a whole lot for no apparent reason.
Okay. Case closed. Do I think the Squirrbits need to be culled? Maybe. I'm not entirely sure yet. I need to see how the local Slime monster population growth fairs with the average daily kill count committed by the Squirrbits. On the bright side, the Squirrbits didn't come out of the battle unscathed. A few Squirrbits gave their lives for the cause. It's not an unfair case to say that this may be an okay arrangement. The Squirrbits seemed to eat the Slime Monsters after having killed them. It's probably fine. I honestly don't know what the Tier 3 Squirrbits do to survive, but it might be killing the swamp Slime monsters or hunting Fish. The swamp ones are more challenging, so it's probably the case. The swamp ones don't have as high of a birth rate as these ones though, so that would explain the additional need to Fish.
Yep, the case has been closed. Feeling content with the conclusion, I returned to the Goblin Village. I say that, but I was actually basically already there. At the hut, everyone else is asleep except for Goblin Viking. Even though they Evolved into Tier 3 monsters, they still behave the same as they did before. I wanted to see how they would act when on equal strength, but it's just the same? Well, I admire your loyalty to serve your elder. After arriving, I decided to make use of my newfound maximum MP and create clothes. Right now? I'm creating the cheapest grade of clothes. I have no intentions of trying to get better clothes right now because I want to resume my journey and I don't mind using the MP which I would otherwise be wasting, so I'm making clothes for the Villagers.
The clothes I'm making aren't actually good enough for armor, but they should help add a little bit more individuality to each of the Villagers. A fair few of them now have at least one piece of unique clothes or an accessory of some kind. I want them to have their own outfits though, and this is just a small step towards that goal. It costs 4 MP to create a level 1 piece, so I can currently create 120 for free without needing to spend any Candy. So, that's what I did. I managed to make more than 120 though because of my MP regenerating as I was doing it. By the time that I finished, it was probably almost noon. I'm extremely tired at this point, so I'm going to sleep.
Tomorrow, I will set off on my journey. I have 6 buckets of Candy right now, so I'm feeling pretty confident. I want to finally venture into the Beastkin Kingdom, see if I can make any friends among the local Cat Beastkin and rescue the enslaved Scarecrows. You can feed and pay my Clansmen to work in your fields, but I will not have you forcing them to be there against their will... Beastkin Kingdom! Scarecrows, this one is coming for you!