After lunch, Field carried his heavy hammer and set out with Chi-Chi to complete their tasks outside the city. They hitched a ride with a farmer on their way back to the village. The farmer was truly kind-hearted, giving Field a lift for twenty miles without asking for a single coin.
Throughout the journey, Chi-Chi, having eaten and rested well, transformed into a chatty little cat, meowing in Field's ear.
"Big guy, which task should we do first, meow?"
"Please call me Field... Oh well, as long as you're happy."
"I've always been happy, meow. So, which task?"
"Let's see which target we encounter first. There are three targets for this mission: the Iron-tailed Lizard, the Fang Wild Boar, and the Crimson Velvet Beehive."
"Okay, meow. Do you want me to scout ahead?"
"No need. It's just the two of us, so it's best to stick together."
"Okay, meow~"
Upon reaching the forest, they bid farewell to the farmer and ventured into the woods as the daylight dimmed. Nighttime in the forest was when monsters were most active, making it the most dangerous time. However, this posed no problem for Field. He had spent his childhood honing his skills in the mountains, so he felt more at ease in the wilderness than in the city. The dim light of night did not hinder his sharp senses. As for Chi-Chi, her feline agility and keen night vision made her an ideal companion.
Strangely, their movements through the forest were almost completely silent. Chi-Chi's agility could be understood, given the nimbleness of cats, but Field, with his large physique, moved with an eerie lightness, almost soundlessly, and even faster than Chi-Chi.
"They're here." Field suddenly whispered, raising his hand. Chi-Chi immediately stopped, and the two of them concealed themselves in the undergrowth.
Before long, a group of wild boars emerged from the bushes, grunting as they trotted along. There were sixteen Fang Wild Boars in total, with three of them being silver-tier. One of them was particularly large, likely reaching the higher ranks of the silver-tier, possibly even Silver 6-star.
Without bothering with stealthy assassination, Field charged forward with his two hammers and directly knocked down the largest wild boar.
These heavy hammers were capable of felling even Wolf Demons, let alone mere silver-tier wild boars.
The startled wild boars immediately scattered and fled, and this was where Chi-Chi's role came into play.
Using her Wind Spirit skill, Chi-Chi's speed skyrocketed. With a leap, she landed on the head of one of the silver-tier wild boars and swiftly stabbed its eye with her short sword.
This particular boar might have just reached the silver-tier, and with the sword piercing its eye and entering its brain, Chi-Chi twisted her hand, instantly killing the boar.
"Not bad," Field nodded in approval. He had invited Chi-Chi to join him not just because she was cute, but also because of her considerable talent. Her ability to narrowly escape death multiple times from Wolf Demon attacks and return home safely was a testament to her combat aptitude. Without such talent, she would have been killed by the Wolf Demons and never made it back.
Field believed that this little catgirl had great potential. With a little training... he coughed, conditioning, she would surely excel.
"Hehe, mission accomplished, meow~"
"Should we head back now, meow?" Chi-Chi shook her cat ears and asked.
"Of course not. It's too time-consuming to return after completing each task. Efficiency is crucial in the mercenary business, so we'll finish all three tasks in one go before heading back," Field said.
"Oh, okay!" Chi-Chi nodded, indicating that she understood.
Throughout the entire night, Field and Chi-Chi roamed the mountains, searching for suitable prey. By the time dawn broke, all three tasks had been completed.
"All right, let's head back!" Field said, then carried the massive boar skin towards the direction of Haitu.
Inside the boar skin, there were two large jars of honey, as well as a pile of scales from the Iron-tailed Lizard.
Though these items added up to hundreds of kilograms, Field carried them effortlessly on his shoulders. And nestled on top of the bulging boar skin was a little cat girl.
"I feel so uncomfortable, meow..." Chi-Chi said weakly.
Field didn't mind much, as he had been hunting all night and was used to it, but Chi-Chi was exhausted. What made it worse was when she was extracting the honey, Chi-Chi accidentally got stung on the back of her hand by a Crimson Velvet Bee. Now, her left hand was swollen like a steamed bun, causing her great discomfort.
Fortunately, although the Crimson Velvet Bee's sting was venomous, it wasn't dangerous if it was just one sting. Moreover, seeing Chi-Chi's swollen hand, Field couldn't help but find it strangely cute, giving him a feeling of tender kitten paw pads.
"Chi-Chi, use your stung hand to slap me lightly," Field said.
"Why, meow?" Chi-Chi was puzzled by this strange request.
"Just give it a try," Field grinned.
"Oh..." Though puzzled, Chi-Chi complied. She lay on the boar skin, raised her swollen little hand, and gently patted Field's cheek.
And then...
"Meow!" Chi-Chi grabbed her left wrist in pain, sucking in a sharp breath, while Field just smiled.
You know what? It felt quite nice to be touched by a little kitty.
"One more time?" Field teased.
"No, meow, it hurts..." Chi-Chi said plaintively.
Field chuckled and stopped teasing her, handing her a bottle of healing potion.
Chi-Chi looked at it and said, "Can I not drink it, meow? This potion is expensive, I want to save it for later use, meow~"
"Suit yourself," Field said nonchalantly, humming a tune.
After all, the sting would be fine in a day or two.
Soon, they returned to the tavern.
When not directly contacting the client, they could deliver the mission materials directly to the tavern.
So when Field walked in with the bulging boar skin, many mercenaries were drawn to his sight.
"Boss, mission completion," Field called out to Evelyn.
"Follow me," Evelyn led Field to the back of the tavern, where there was a spacious area for decomposition, unloading, loading, etc., all well-equipped.
Field lifted Chi-Chi, who was playing dead on the boar skin, and then opened the bag, pouring out the materials for Evelyn's people to confirm.
"No mistakes, mission accomplished," the assistant nodded to Evelyn, who then took out three bags of coins, obviously prepared in advance.
"Five hundred gold for each of the two tasks, six hundred gold for the honey task, totaling one thousand six hundred gold."
Field took the bag of coins without even counting and hung it around his waist, then picked up Chi-Chi and walked out. "I need a room, and bring two seafood combo meals and three roasted lamb legs."
"Oh, and bring a healing potion for treating the Crimson Velvet Bee sting as well."
Although he hadn't visited many times, Field acted like a regular customer, making Evelyn laugh, but she quickly arranged everything for him.
Inside the room.
Field had finished his meal, but Chi-Chi, having to eat with only one hand, was slower.
At this moment, with one hand eating and the other placed in Field's palm, Field was applying medicine to it.
Despite his large size, his movements were surprisingly gentle.
"Does it hurt?" he asked.
"Not at all, meow~" Chi-Chi smiled, revealing her sharp little fangs, which were very cute.
"Big guy, you're really gentle, meow~"
"Hehehe, you wouldn't say that if you were my enemy," Field said as he applied the medicine.
"But I'm not, meow, I'm your comrade-in-arms!" the little catgirl said.
"You're not qualified yet, little kitty. If you want to be my comrade-in-arms, at least don't scratch a beehive while trying to catch birds, swelling your hand like a steamed bun and unable to hold a weapon," Field said.
"Wuwu... I won't do it next time, meow..."
"All right." Field put away the medicine bottle, rubbed Chi-Chi's head, and then said, "I'm going to take a nap later. If you don't sleep, remember to wake me up when the sun sets."
"I want to sleep too, meow~"
"Then go ask the boss for another room." With that, Field closed his eyes.
Chi-Chi looked at him, her cat ears twitching, then she flipped over and sat on Field's stomach.
Field raised an eyebrow and looked at her, "What's up?"
"Two rooms would be a waste, meow~" Chi-Chi said with a distant look in her eyes.
Field looked puzzled for a moment, but then he didn't bother thinking about it too much. He simply lay back and said, "Then go take a few tasks first, pick the ones in the forest with materials, and we'll do them together later for faster leveling."
"Okay, meow!"
When he woke up, it was already evening.
Looking at the orange sky outside the window, Field gave himself a thumbs up for his internal clock.
Being able to wake up whenever he wanted was quite comfortable.
Then he got up and took a look.
Sure enough, Chi-Chi was curled up again, hugging her big tail and lying on his stomach.
Do all cats sleep like this?
In his previous life, the hacker in the team also had a cat, and it was the same. Every time he woke up, it was either lying on his chest or on his stomach. Sometimes, it even dared to lie directly on his face.
Sometimes it made him feel like he was being suffocated in his sleep, thinking he was being suffocated by someone.
Fortunately, with his physique maxed out, having a little kitty weighing less than a hundred pounds lying on his stomach didn't feel like much.
He pinched the back of the little kitty's vest and lifted her up. She was still sleeping soundly, not even waking up from this.
Field rubbed his chin.
As a scout, having such low vigilance was unacceptable. It seemed like he needed to train her more in this aspect.
Little did he know, Chi-Chi only behaved like this when sleeping on Field.
It was because she felt completely safe and warm.
"Wake up, little kitty, time for missions," he said.
"Meow~" Chi-Chi let out a soft, sleepy meow and opened her eyes.
After packing up their equipment, they went downstairs.
The nightlife in Hai Du was still bustling.
Unlike other cities, where curfew was around eight or nine at night, the gates were still open, the streets bustling with people, and even the taverns were lively. Such cities were usually considered crazy cities.
It was the atmosphere that Field liked.
"Awake?" Seeing Field downstairs, the landlady leaned seductively against the bar, flicking her hand, and a silver mercenary identity card flew towards Field.
"Don't forget to draw blood," she reminded him.
Field caught the card with two fingers, drew blood, and put it away with a smile. "Is the tavern never closed?"
"As long as the Mercenary Guild is still open, the tavern will never close," Evelyn smiled.
"You're really dedicated," Field chuckled, then ordered a glass of rum and four lamb legs for the road. With Chi-Chi, he headed out.
As they walked, he said, "Landlady, keep an eye on my things."
His bag was still in the room.
"Got it," Evelyn replied, then leaned against the bar, propping her cheek with her hand, watching Chi-Chi bouncing behind Field, her lips curling slightly.
She remembered, didn't they book only one room?
"Big guy, can this little kitty handle it..." she muttered to herself.
...
For the rest of the night, Field and Chi-Chi collected materials. There were magical beasts, herbs, and even some bugs. It wasn't very difficult, just a bit troublesome.
But even so, they managed to finish everything before dawn.
Chi-Chi completed six bronze-level material collection tasks, while Field completed four silver-level material collection tasks, all of them finished.
Looking at the basin-sized scorpions in the cage, Field looked at Chi-Chi somewhat helplessly.
At this moment, Chi-Chi sat on the ground with drooping ears, one slender leg resting on a stone, with a wound on her calf, red and swollen.
Field couldn't help but wonder if the little kitty had some kind of bad luck attribute.
In the previous mission, while catching birds, she accidentally slapped into a Crimson Velvet Bee hive hidden in the bushes. The hive was quite hidden, and Field couldn't find it even after searching for a long time. But this girl just happened to slap it out.
Then her hand got stung, turning into a bun.
And this time, while Field was flipping rocks on the ground, looking for the target of the mission, the Crimson-Tailed Scorpion, Chi-Chi was playing around, chasing fireflies.
Whenever she was with Field, she seemed to be very relaxed, with low vigilance.
As a result, just as they passed a fallen hollow tree, a Crimson-Tailed Scorpion hiding inside stung her on the calf as she passed by.
If Field hadn't been prepared and brought the corresponding antidote, and dealt with it promptly, Chi-Chi's leg would have been useless.
Although the Crimson-Tailed Scorpion was only a bronze-level magical beast and not very powerful, Field could easily step on it with one foot. But its venom was extremely potent. The poison and venom dosage of an adult Crimson-Tailed Scorpion could even paralyze a silver-level Lacerating Fang Boar.
That's why it was a silver-level mission.