Days of Harvest

Seeing that Humar was hungry, Sun Busong hurriedly took out some roasted meat for him to eat. His loyalty wouldn't decrease, but Sun Busong would never abuse a pet.

"You've leveled up and gotten bigger, so how come you're still such a coward?"

Sun Busong was at a loss for words. He'd seen plenty, and the pets other Hunters had were always charging ahead, taking hits for their masters and drawing enemy fire.

But his pet was outright working against him. He was called Sun Busong, while Humar was a complete coward. It made him wonder whether this was because he'd cheated to get the pet, and whether it would stay this timid forever (0).

A man and his pet wandered aimlessly through the maze-like passageways, but things soon took a turn for the better.

Because he encountered the legendary volunteer!

Amy Shortline.

"Hi there! Are you here to do the Chariot Soldier trial quest?" The sudden voice gave Sun Busong a fright. When he turned around, he saw a Gnome girl waving at him from behind a streetlamp not far away.

The girl had pure white hair and a pair of pure white eyes. A beautiful pair of earrings hung from her ears. She was hiding her entire body behind the streetlamp, peeking out at him with only her head.

Phew.

Once he got a good look at her, Sun Busong let out a long breath. He was jumpy as a cat right now.

"Hey, little girl, come over here. I'm here for the Chariot Soldier trial. Don't be afraid!"

He tried to put on what he thought was his friendliest smile, hoping to put her at ease.

"Stop smiling. You look really ugly when you smile! And open your eyes and take a good look. Who're you calling a little girl? I'm a level 27 Elite Warrior and Demolition Expert, Amy Shortline!"

Sun Busong hadn't really looked at her closely before, but now he saw that she really was a level 27 Elite Professional.

"I was only smiling so you wouldn't be afraid of me!" Sun Busong explained.

Hearing that, the girl's white eyebrows shot up.

"Which of your eyes saw me being afraid of you?"

"Then why are you hiding behind the streetlamp?"

"I'm afraid of your cat! I've been following you for ages. That big cat of yours keeps appearing and disappearing, and I'm afraid it'll suddenly jump out and scare me!" As she spoke, Amy Shortline kept peeking around, searching for signs of Humar.

"A big cat?!"

Wasn't he a big cat? Level 15 Humar had grown until he was almost as tall as Sun Busong's thigh. Compared to Amy Shortline, he really was a big cat.

"Haha, you mean my pet? Don't worry. He's even more timid than you are. You don't need to be scared." She was actually worried that Humar might jump out and scare her.

Looking at Humar, who was so scared of seeing a stranger that his legs were trembling, Sun Busong could only shake his head.

"I'm not timid!" Those words immediately got a rise out of her.

"Okay, okay, I was wrong. But my pet doesn't hurt people. Since you said you've been following us for a long time, have you ever seen him bite anyone?"

"No, but what if he's mischievous and jumps out to scare me?" Amy Shortline still hid behind the streetlamp, unwilling to come out.

"Really, I'm not lying. If you don't believe me, I'll call him out right now." With that, Sun Busong kicked Humar in the rear, breaking his stealth.

"Ah! He came out!"

After that startled cry, Sun Busong saw a level 27 Elite Warrior whose hair had shot straight up in fright, and a level 15 Combat Pet whose fur was standing on end from fear!

Ten minutes later.

"Shorty, your roast meat is delicious!"

"(^w^) Meow!"

Amy Shortline sat beside Humar with a piece of bear rib in her hand. Humar had a roasted spider leg in his mouth. The two of them had hit it off in less than ten minutes.

"When I came here, Mordok told me that if I found a volunteer, I'd be able to find the boss. Do you know where the boss is?"

"Of course I do, but you have to help me kill a monster first. Otherwise, I won't take you to the boss." Amy Shortline teased Humar as she ate her bear rib.

"What kind of monster? What level?"

"You can definitely beat it. I'll take you there once I finish this rib."

After they'd finished the roast meat, Amy Shortline led Sun Busong through several hidden passages and into another area.

Gear Hall!

Honestly, if he'd had to find this place by himself, Sun Busong could've starved to death in the trial grounds.

Once he got there, Sun Busong felt much better when he saw the monsters ahead. They were the ones mentioned in Mordok's quest.

Leaning against Humar, Amy Shortline pointed at the Radiation Raiders up ahead. "We have to kill those first before we can go through. I can't help you fight, so you'll have to do it yourself. Besides, Humar's only level 15, and those monsters are all level 23. He can't go either!"

Sun Busong hadn't planned on sending Humar in anyway. He'd worked hard to earn those Kill Points, and he couldn't waste them on reviving him.

The Radiation Raiders were actually spellcasters, and there was another kind of monster too: Cave Dwellers. Both types of Elite Monsters were level 23.

"Take out the spellcasters first!"

He'd picked up plenty of Green Equipment and various materials along the way, but no Blue Gear. He was still using a blue axe from his teens, but that wasn't a problem!

Sun Busong charged at a Radiation Raider. These guys were an evolved version of the Stone Jaw Monsters. Their attacks were much stronger, but they were just as ugly.

The enemy attacked with magic, using Radiation Arrow. Its attack wasn't all that strong, but it had a special effect: any target struck would spread radiation to allies within five yards, inflicting infection damage. But Sun Busong didn't have any allies, and compared to those mechanical monsters, these two types were easier to kill.

In less than a minute, Sun Busong had taken down all three monsters. He only got four silver coins, but silver was very useful to him. He'd need it to buy materials for making potions and equipment.

Amy Shortline and Humar watched from a distance without any intention of helping. But these few monsters couldn't hurt Sun Busong anyway.

Half an hour later, every monster in the entire passage had been killed, and the first task Mordok had given him was easily completed.

Next, they came to a tunnel surrounded by towering piles of rocks. This was where the monster Amy Shortline wanted him to kill lived.

"That thing's in there. It killed my friend, so you have to be careful. It has lots of helpers, including an Elite Level lizard pet."

"What kind of monsters are they? You should at least give me a heads-up."

Amy Shortline stammered for a while before finally telling him the truth. The monsters in there were called Grubis. He had a pet and more than a dozen underlings, all level 24. The underlings were only regular monsters, but Grubis and his pet hit hard.

"You're not asking me to avenge your friend. You're sending me to be Grubis's dinner! How am I supposed to take on that many monsters by myself?" Sun Busong was furious after hearing her explanation. More than a dozen level 24 monsters, plus two Elites—that was more than he could handle.

Seeing that Sun Busong was getting angry, Amy Shortline hurriedly said, "Don't get worked up! I haven't finished explaining. I planted bombs here a long time ago. All you have to do is lure them close to the bombs, and I'll trigger the mechanism. I guarantee it'll blow them all up!"

Sun Busong stared hard at her with wide eyes. "When you say you guarantee you'll blow them all up, does 'them all' include me?"

"No, no!" Amy Shortline waved her little hands back and forth.

After a detailed explanation, Sun Busong finally understood what to do.

After Amy Shortline and Humar went ahead to the spot where the mechanism was set up, Sun Busong quickly reached Grubis's lair. He swung his axe hard at the large rocks blocking the entrance a few times. Soon, sounds came from inside.

A monster as tall as Sun Busong ran out, followed by a lizard and more than a dozen ordinary Cave Attackers.

"Hey! Come over here and bite Old Man's butt!"

Sun Busong hadn't learned the Warrior taunt skill yet, but he could still provoke monsters.

The monsters saw fresh meat and their eyes lit up. Drool dripped from the corners of their mouths as they charged at Sun Busong like mad.

Sun Busong followed the planned route, carefully dodging the traps and keeping just beyond the blast radius.

One ran ahead, a whole pack chased behind, and soon the monsters were almost at the explosion point.

"Sun Busong! Hurry up! I'm about to set it off!" Amy Shortline, still far away, spotted Sun Busong and shouted.

"Okay! Set it off!" Sun Busong sped up as he ran and called back.

"Boom!"

A deafening explosion rang out, and the rocky tunnel shook. The blast was powerful, but Sun Busong had already jumped into cover.

When the dust had settled, the two of them and one pet emerged from cover and went to admire their handiwork at the blast site.

The explosion had blown the ordinary Cave Attackers to pieces. Only Grubis and his lizard had been left intact. Sun Busong leaped onto the pile of bodies and dragged out their two intact corpses, then began searching for loot.

What a haul!

Two pieces of Blue Gear. One was called Grubis's Claw (Blue Gear): Item Level 23. Gloves. Plate Armor. 144 Armor. +7 Strength. +5 Agility. +10 Stamina. Required Level 23.

The other was called Boosted Battle Axe (Blue Gear): Item Level 24. Two-Handed. Axe. 19–39 damage. Speed 3.6 (16.8 Damage Per Second). Equip: Chance on Hit to shock the target, inflicting 140 Nature Damage! (Nature Damage is poison damage.) Required Level 23.

Both items were great, but he wasn't high enough level to use them. Since he couldn't gain experience here, he put them in his backpack.

"Hey, Shortline, are there any more monsters like that? Bring me a few more! Haha, this guy had great loot!" Sun Busong grinned from ear to ear.

"There are, but whether they drop loot depends on your luck!"

"Really!" Sun Busong's grin nearly reached his ears. He took a step toward Amy Shortline and leaned his head toward her.

"Back off, you big-headed shorty!"

"Hahaha, are there really more monsters?" Seeing how much she disliked the gesture, Sun Busong pulled his head back.

"Just outside this tunnel is a huge factory called Gear Hall. There's an Elemental Monster inside called Viscous Radiation Dust. It'll drop Blue Gear too."

"What are we waiting for? Let's go!" With that, he picked Amy Shortline up and rushed off.

Gear Hall!

This place was enormous. In the enclosed hall, which was over a hundred meters high, seven or eight huge gears hung overhead. Each gear was the size of a house, and massive connecting rods linked them together.

At the very bottom of the hall, Sun Busong spotted the monster Amy Shortline had mentioned.

It was more than five meters tall, and its body was made entirely of water, like a five-meter-high wave. But it had a head, eyes, and hands, and the streams of water spraying from its body were like blades that could easily slice through a person.

"Be careful. It's poisonous. Don't let the arrows it sprays get in your mouth or eyes, or you're done for."

"Hahaha, same as before. You and Humar stay here while I go down and take care of it. I'll bring the loot back."

Sun Busong didn't care how powerful its arrows were. Could they really knock off tens of thousands of his health?

On the way down to the lowest level of the hall, he encountered some Water Elementals smaller than Viscous Radiation Dust. He casually killed them all.

Five minutes later, he reached the lowest level, panting. As soon as he entered the hall, he saw the huge Water Elemental. It hadn't seemed all that fierce from a distance, but up close it looked terrifying.

Its body and eyes were green. When it opened its mouth, it was nearly a meter wide—big enough to swallow Sun Busong whole. And as soon as Sun Busong entered the hall, the monster spotted him.

Like a five-meter-high wave, it surged toward him.

At Sun Busong's current attack power, each swing should take 360 Health Points from Viscous Radiation Dust, while the boss dealt only 98 damage per second to him.

Sun Busong wasn't worried about trading blows. Ten seconds later, the boss's health bar had dropped by 10%, which meant the Water Elemental had less than forty thousand Health Points.

Sun Busong's own health bar had barely budged. He might not be a professional yet, but all his basic skills were already maxed out.

In less than three minutes, Viscous Radiation Dust collapsed into a puddle of green slime. Sun Busong had successfully killed another powerful monster.

It was time to collect the loot. Sun Busong put away his axe and prepared to search the corpse, but first there was another task to complete: collecting the radiation dust from the source.

This Water Elemental was the source of the radiation. He hadn't expected to complete the second task so easily too, and Sun Busong was delighted.

After collecting the radiation dust in a special bottle, a Blue Gear weapon appeared in Sun Busong's hand.

Water Vine (Blue Gear):

Item Level 36.

Two-Handed Staff 59–90

Damage Speed 2.80

(26.6 Damage Per Second)

+15 Frost Resistance

Equip: Allows you to breathe underwater.

Required Level 23.

Thank you to all the readers for your generous support, especially my old friends [The Protagonist's Background Board] and [I Can't Believe I Actually Paid for This]. Thank you so much for following the story! It would be even better if you could invest for free. This book only has five investors right now, so please consider it!