Chapter 14: I Think It’s Time to Collect Some Materials
The next zone, that is the area that is needed to cross if you want to go from Sekandill to Sadorema, is the wilderness ridden with many small swamps –– The Marshlands –– which is rich in many rare minerals.
This time around, before I decided to head into the Marshlands I gathered some basic information about the terrain, and bought a bunch of recovery items, just to be on the safe side.
「Right…… First order of business would be to verify what drops can be acquired from the monsters here.」
I wanted to fully explore this new area, but first I needed to confirm just how goblin Hatchets would fare in actual combat. I tried them out on some sand bags before, but now I was on the lookout for some Mud Frogs that would auto drop some items that were useful in item creation.
And from the item description it was almost a given that said Mud Frogs were very resistant to slash damage.
Their backs were also very resistant to piercing damage, so I guess the trick to defeating them would be to use some blunt weapon or magic, right maybe there were some other ways to do that, since I have seen that firearms were also a thing in this game.
「Nah, it should be fine. Besides, I have already confirmed that Goblin Hatchet has a blunt attribute, and it is not so sharp to begin with.」
And since I had quite a lot of them in my inventory, I could use them with my skills without having to worry that I would eventually run out of weapons to use. So it could be a perfect setting for me at the current moment.
For now, my biggest priority would be to hunt down some monsters and confirm what kind of materials can be obtained out of them. I could see a dog-like monster and a bird-like monster in the distance, but since they weren’t coming after me already I must have been outside of their agro range.
「Let’s try to get a little bit closer, just to be sure……」
I reach the edge of a small swamp and them I immediately understand the words of the NPC I asked about the area earlier. There, right in the middle of the swamp, was some kind of a rocky formation standing up from the ground, with some distinct parts to it. It must have been mineral veins that you could mine for ore. There was something else right beside it.
「Gegogo, gegogo!!」
「A frog…… At least it looks like it.」
Due to its cry and general characteristic, there is no doubt that it is the Mud Frog that I was looking for.
However, it was different from any normal frogs in such regards that its torso was longer and its limbs were more elongated and muscular. …… How should I say it? It was certainly unique.
「But still, this thing is rather huge.」
It was also accompanied by quite a few of those wild dogs. I don’t know if they have “Mud” in their names as well, but the color of their fur was the same as the color of my armor.
Now for the real test, if the Goblin Hatchets would serve as valid weapons……
「SHAAOOORRRAAAGGGHHH!!!」
「Gegogo!?」
You utter fools! Did you really think I would fight you inside of the swamp, where my movements would be severely limited!? I’m not that dumb. That way I can draw you towards me, on the land where I would have a bigger advantage and my movements wouldn’t be so limited. I then aimed my hatchets towards the frog’s eyes, but since its physique was so misaligned I missed, and I ended up hitting it to the head instead. The frog seemed to have hardly even felt that. It was also pretty agile…… for a frog.
「Haaah! Doryah!」
If I stepped into the swamp, my movements could have been very limited, but on the dry land I could utilize my full potential and maneuverability. The Mud Frog was coming after me, not letting me out of its sight even for a moment.
「How about I strike this spot!? It surely feels like it could be a weak spot!!」
「Guegigi!?」
I swing my Goblin Hatchet at the Mud Frog with all of my might, aiming towards its belly…… The hatchet goes deep inside of it, seemingly managing to strike a critical hit. There was also a bunch of polygons scattering all over the place.
「Well, for the time being I collected everything that dropped out of it…… But is it really just a Mud Frog skin? Nothing else?」
It was a material used by NPCs to create armor. It wasn’t even a rare drop. If I had to make a wild guess, I would say the skin off its back could possibly be a rare drop. But more importantly, it seems that the Goblin Hatchet was still good as a weapon, as far as Mud Frogs are concerned.
「Right, let’s just equip the Pickaxe as my weapon and let’s start digging……」
Some people use pickaxes as their main weapons because of how pointy they are and the sheer versatility of its uses. You could dig up ore with them, stab someone with it, cut some tree branches…… A player that knew how to properly utilize a pickaxe in battle was far more dangerous than any magic spell or trap.
「…… Gah…… it’s way…… heavier than it…… looks……!」
I try to hit the ore vein, but with my current Strength stat it was difficult for me to handle the pickaxe as it normally should be done. My strikes were hardly doing anything to the ore vein, and all that was happening was my stamina bar was depleted by one third of its total value.
But even so, after way more time than was worth it, I’ve managed to collect some of the ore that I wanted.
Volcano…… Village Chief…… Pickaxe…… Agh, my head.