When the three of them got out early, the Oni Uncle felt puzzled. "You done hunting for today? That was quick. Did you really hunt the boss again?" He asked, curious.
"Nope! We just filled our bags with loot, so we have to return!" Cassy answered without delay. "We'll be back after dropping all our loot at the guild!"
"Is that so?" The uncle scratched his chin. "Then I'll wait for you three to return. No need to pay another entree fee!"
The fee was, after all, on a per-entry basis!
"Really? That's nice of you, Mr. Gatekeeper!"
"Haha! I'm sure you all will become regulars anyway, so consider it my investment in your future!"
After Cassy spoke with him casually, their party went for the guild in a straight line. Of course, the bag was carried by Aster, as it was a little weird to let girls do the heavy job, even though they were higher-leveled and had higher physical stats than him.
When they reached the guild, Aster's face was already covered with sweat!
*BAM!*
"Shit, I didn't think slime cores could be this heavy...!" He cursed while panting hard after slamming the bag over at the counter.
"This is...?"
Of course, since it was barely an hour or two after they left for the morning, Zenearith was confused. "You're done with hunting already? That was fast!" She commented before checking the bag's contents.
"...!"
And when she saw what was inside it, she almost lost her voice in shock. "Slime Cores! And this many?!"
A moment later, she realized what she had inadvertently done and covered her mouth. However, it was already too late. Most of the adventurers currently present in the hall heard her outburst!
"Slime cores? That super hard-to-come-by rare item?"
"Since Zena's this surprised, there must be tons of it!"
"Do they know a way to extract slime cores efficiently?"
In an instant, greedy eyes turned to the three. After all, if there's a stable way to earn big bucks while taking it easy, then who wouldn't want to try it? Aster and Cassy felt weirded out by their gazes, but Kali merely scoffed and crossed her arms across her chest, ignoring them.
"Appraisal is over. There are 55 pristine slime cores here, so your total would be 275 thousand Tels. I've already transferred the amount, so please double-check!"
Aster quickly pulled out his adventurer card and checked. As she said, his balance increased by roughly 90 thousand Tels!
"Yes, I've confirmed the transfer. Thanks, Miss Zena." Aster smiled before turning around to leave.
They still have a part of the morning and the entire afternoon available to hunt, after all.
After walking for another 30 minutes, the trio returned to the dungeon's entrance. The Oni Uncle was smiling while looking at them, but before they could move, Kali pulled Aster's collar.
"We're being followed." She declared. "Must be those no-lifes at the guild, wanting to figure out how you got all those slime cores."
"Really?"
Aster doubted at first, but after looking behind him inconspicuously, he did notice a few familiar faces a short distance away.
"It's true, Star. I also noticed them from the start." Even Cassy said so, further solidifying Kali's words.
"What should we do?"
Aster's method wasn't a secret, per se, but it was still something he worked hard to figure out. As the one performing it, he could more or less tell that it could be replicated using technology, so he was reluctant to let some random mob watch them and "steal" the method.
"Let's change hunting grounds."
"Huh?"
Kali's sudden suggestion made Aster and Cassy stare at her in doubt. After all, changing hunting grounds meant changing enemies. And the next weakest enemy after the slimes are the goblins.
With Kali's strength, they should more or less be able to breeze through even the goblin area, but...
"I'm planning to level up today, you know?" Aster asked, scratching his head. "I haven't fought a goblin before, so I'm sure it'll take time before I can successfully hunt one."
Hearing this, Kali sighed exaggeratedly before whispering. "... Useless."
"Hah?! You picking a fight?!" Aster flared up immediately.
Cassy, who was between the two, quickly mediated and tried to appease Aster, pushing him back. "Woah, woah! Calm down, Star! You too, K, please stop using mocking words on us. We're partymates, remember?"
"I'm just saying the truth. If it hurts you, then that means you know it's true."
"Bitch...! I'm weak, but I'm not useless!" Aster growled. "That's why I want to level up quickly, to graduate from being weak!"
"Yeah, yeah, whatever. Then, Mr. Weakling will hunt slimes until you level up, ignoring the loot, before we move to the goblin camp. Can you do that?"
"I'm not...! Argh!"
Although he wanted to refute her words again, he did claim he was "weak" earlier. Furthermore, her proposition did seem sound, so he couldn't help but nod his head, calming down a little.
"Alright... Let's go with that."
"Good. Then, follow me."
After their discussion, the three finally entered the dungeon.
Kali was at the lead, pointing out to Aster the location and number of slimes. Without a doubt, her scouting level was higher than Cassy's!
"HAAAP!"
Her directions were so precise that Aster's surprise attack hadn't failed yet, letting him kill at least one slime every ten seconds.
"Sho... short break... Haaaa... Haaaa..."
It was going so fast, he was already out of breath from running around! In just five minutes, he managed to slay 20 slimes. It was an unbelievable pace compared to when it was just him and Cassy!
'Although her attitude's shit, I can't deny I appreciate her strength and knowledge.' Aster mused while drinking water. 'Is she acting like this because she's a cat-beastwoman? Or is it just her normal attitude?'
After a two-minute break, Aster continued to hunt. For the next five minutes, he killed as many slimes as he could possibly do before taking another break. Then, finally, after killing the fifth slime after his rest, it happened.
"Level up!"
Aster's body flashed with a golden light for a brief moment, indicating that his level had increased. Without delay, he picked up his card and tapped on the Constitution, distributing the free point he gained there. The value increased by 50%!
[
Name: Aster Mistral
Age: 2518
Race: Human
Purity: 100%
Level: 2
Party Members: Cassandra Bright, Kali Norma (Empty) (Empty) (Empty) (Empty) (Empty)
]
[
Strength: 5
Dexterity: 10
Constitution: 3
Intelligence: 15
Wisdom: 16
Charisma: 12
Luck: 0
]
Aster opened and closed his palm, confirming the change in his status. Although he was out of breath just a bit earlier, he was now feeling relaxed!
"So this is the effect of increasing my stats!" He rejoiced.
However, his cheer didn't last for long.
"Are you done? Then let's move to the next hunting ground."
Their next objective: goblin slaying!