Arlo felt a sharp pain on his scalp and quickly begged for mercy. "Alright, Caiyi, I promise I won't swear anymore!"
"Hmph! If Master swears again, I won't talk to you anymore," Caiyi pouted in mock anger.
Arlo hurriedly assured her, "I'll never swear again. But seriously, the drop rate of these man-eating flowers is ridiculously low. Are there any other monsters nearby with better loot?"
"Let me take a look," Caiyi said, flapping her wings as she flew up to survey the area. After a moment, she returned. "Master, to the southwest, there's a herd of Level 2 mountain goats. Not only do they provide more experience than the man-eating flowers, but you can also process their corpses for goat hide and meat."
"Goat hide and meat?" Arlo's mouth began to water. "If I could take those to the real world, they'd sell for a fortune!"
Nowadays, goat meat cost around 35 USD per pound wholesale, and up to 40 USD retail. Goat hides weren't as valuable, fetching just a few dozen USD each.
"35 USD a pound! I'm coming for you!" Arlo dashed toward the goat herd with a gleam in his eye.
He soon encountered a mountain goat. It looked sturdy, weighing at least 50 to 60 pounds. Arlo couldn't help but salivate as he charged forward, yelling, "Meat! Here I come!"
Thud!
His punch landed squarely on the goat, and a damage number, -15, appeared above its head.
"What?!" Arlo couldn't believe his eyes. After reaching Level 2, his attack power had increased to 40. How could this goat only take 15 damage? Its defense must be 25!
As Arlo hesitated, the goat let out a bleating cry and rammed him with its horns.
-16 damage appeared above Arlo's head.
With a defense stat of 14, this meant the goat's attack power was around 30. Luckily, Arlo now had 180 HP.
"I can handle this!" Arlo regained his composure and began pummeling the goat with punches and kicks. After five hits, the goat let out a final bleat and collapsed, dropping a single coin.
"Are you kidding me?" Arlo muttered, picking up the lone coin. He searched the goat's body but found nothing else.
"Cheap goat!" he grumbled. Remembering Caiyi had mentioned the corpses could be processed, he brightened. "Caiyi, how do I process the body? I don't have a knife."
"Master, there's a small stream ahead. You can look for a sharp stone to cut it, or you could wait to loot a blade or sword from monsters in the future," Caiyi replied.
"Ugh!" Arlo gave the goat's head a frustrated knock. "That's such a waste of time..."
Then a thought occurred to him. "Wait, can I store the goat's body in my inventory and deal with it in the real world?"
"Of course!" Caiyi said, her cheerful response reigniting Arlo's enthusiasm. "Since the goat was killed by Master, its corpse belongs to you. You can take it anywhere, and it won't decay while in your inventory."
"Really?" Excited, Arlo hoisted the goat and dropped it into his inventory. Sure enough, a goat carcass appeared in his inventory list.
"Awesome! Goat meat, here I come!" Arlo charged toward the next goat.
Despite their Level 2 status, each goat only gave 1% experience per kill. The difficulty of leveling up was staggering.
Over the next two hours, Arlo slaughtered the entire herd, killing over 200 goats and reaching Level 3. However, the goats were stingy with money, dropping just over 200 coins in total. Combined with his earlier earnings, Arlo now had 563 USD.
What excited him most, though, was finally looting his first piece of equipment.
Goat Horn: White-tier two-handed weapon
Attack: +5
Arlo nearly cried. The drop rate was abysmal—three hours of grinding had yielded nothing but a measly +5 attack goat horn. Thankfully, he also obtained four small potions—two red and two blue—to offset the disappointment.
"Master, your fatigue level is very high. I recommend taking a rest," Caiyi gently reminded him.
Now that she mentioned it, Arlo suddenly felt his limbs ache and realized how drained he was. Three hours of constant battling was indeed more exhausting than running a marathon. Wiping the sweat from his brow, he asked, "Caiyi, how do I return to the real world?"
"Master only needs to think 'Return,' and you'll be back," she explained.
"That simple, huh?" Arlo was about to give the command when he hesitated. "Wait, what about you? What happens to you when I leave?"
"Me?" Caiyi giggled. "I'm your guiding fairy, so I can't leave the Dream Realm. When Master returns, I'll go into hibernation and wake up when you come back."
"I see. That's a relief." Arlo playfully brushed her cheek with his finger. "Caiyi, I'll head back now, but I promise to return soon."
"Ah! Men and women shouldn't touch so casually!" Caiyi exclaimed, her cheeks turning crimson as she fluttered away.
Arlo laughed heartily and thought, Return. In the next moment, his vision blurred, and darkness engulfed him.
As Caiyi gazed at the spot where Arlo had vanished, the old con artist suddenly appeared behind her. "So, what do you think? The kid's got potential, doesn't he?"