Going Home to Make Ointment

[Wilderness Survival LV1 (68/400)]

Compared to other beginner-level subjects, this one had a much higher starting experience value because Lance had spent this time exploring the wilderness firsthand.

Moreover, Wilderness Survival was a broad field of knowledge rather than one with exceptional depth, so the threshold for leveling it up was relatively low.

Level one required only 400 experience points.

As the experience flowed in, he felt as though his brain had suddenly grown.

Lance could clearly feel the previously vague bits of knowledge in his mind rapidly connecting.

The formerly isolated knowledge of Monster Ecology had actually begun linking up with Wilderness Survival on its own.

A flood of techniques—how to use the environment to avoid monsters' sense of smell, how to quickly build a concealed shelter in a damp rainforest, and how to tell whether a water source had been contaminated by monsters—was imprinted into his mind as naturally as instinct.

The sensation of having knowledge directly poured into his brain was downright addictive.

"If only I'd had a cheat like this when I was taking exams in school."

Lance could not help grumbling inwardly, but his steps grew lighter and more confident.

When he entered the forest and stepped onto the soft humus, his gaze remained fixed on the system panel at the corner of his vision.

The forest gave him a bad feeling today.

The entry representing the environmental state still read "Restless."

But unlike before, the originally pure green text now faintly showed a strange blue tint across half of it.

That was a sign that the state was about to change.

Clearly, while the imposing vanguard had cleared away the main threats, the tremendous disturbance they had caused had further aggravated the forest's instability.

[Current Area: Outer Region of Copper Creek Forest—Restless (blue-green gradient)]

[Restless: The fluctuation range of Environmental Stability in this area is adjusted to 10%. There is a 30% chance of obtaining additional gains while gathering. Stamina consumption increases by 10%.]

A ten percent fluctuation range.

That meant greater uncertainty in the environment.

Compared to his previous two visits to Copper Creek Forest, when he only occasionally encountered a few wandering monsters, the battles he ran into today were far more frequent.

Twng!

The bowstring trembled with a crisp snap.

A feathered arrow became a gray streak of light, cutting through layer upon layer of branches and leaves.

This was followed by a dull impact, along with the sharp crack of some sort of chitinous shell breaking.

Thick green fluid splattered out, scattering across the leaf-covered ground.

On a tree trunk twenty-five meters away, a gray-brown spider as large as an adult human's chest had been firmly nailed to the bark by the arrow.

It was a Webweaver Spider.

The monster had eight long, furry legs, which thrashed violently as it tried to pull itself free from the arrow shaft.

More and more green body fluid poured from its wound, winding down the tree trunk.

After barely a dozen seconds, the spider's struggles grew weaker. Its long legs twitched feebly a few times before finally drooping limp.

Lance did not approach immediately.

He waited quietly where he stood until he was sure there was no other movement nearby and the system gave him a prompt.

[Insect Species: Webweaver Spider. Research Progress +1]

Only after seeing that message did Lance let out a breath and stride forward.

He grabbed the arrow shaft and yanked it free from the tree trunk.

Looking at the mangled clump of flesh on the arrowhead, Lance showed a trace of regret.

"Still a little off."

According to the knowledge recorded in Monster Anatomy,

the only two valuable materials on a Webweaver Spider were its abdominal venom sac and the silk sac at its rear.

The former could be used to make paralytic poison, while the latter was an excellent material for high-tensile bowstrings and specialty ropes.

Unfortunately, although his arrow had accurately struck a vital point, it had also pierced the fragile venom sac.

Dark green venom had already seeped into the silk sac, corroding the originally snow-white spider silk into a ruined mess.

Those two materials were completely useless now.

"I still need to practice my accuracy with a bow."

Lance shook his head and wiped the arrowhead with a cloth, feeling somewhat pained.

These spiders loved hiding in the shadows of the canopy to launch ambushes.

Whenever prey passed beneath them, they would drop from above and spray extremely sticky silk to bind the prey's limbs or directly cover their eyes.

Once an adventurer panicked, they would pounce and tear into them with their venomous fangs.

For such insidious predators, the best response was to kill them with a ranged attack before they could get close.

Once dragged into close combat, their ever-present sticky spider silk became an enormous headache.

That was why the moment Lance saw Environmental Stability suddenly plummet to fifty percent, he had immediately begun searching and decisively used his bow the instant he spotted the target.

He would never give it a chance to get close.

Lance warily scanned his surroundings.

This spider was clearly not a native resident of the area.

There were no pre-woven web traps nearby. It looked more like a refugee that had just been driven out of its nest and was fleeing in panic.

"Looks like I oversimplified things."

Lance silently reviewed the situation in his mind.

He had originally thought that following behind the vanguard would let him enjoy the benefits of their clearing operation.

But he had overlooked a crucial ecological principle.

While the vanguard had flattened those obvious large monster strongholds, they had also stirred up a hornet's nest.

They could not guarantee the complete extermination of every monster, especially now that Grayrock Town lacked mage-class professionals.

The monsters that had originally lived deeper in the forest had lost their nests. To survive, they could only flee toward the outer regions like mad.

And as the follow-up forces advanced, they also took on the task of sorting through those monsters once more.

"Still not experienced enough. I misjudged the situation."

Lance glanced at his hunting record.

He had only been gathering in the mountains for a short while, yet the frequency of combat was already terrifying.

One thick-skinned Tusked Boar, three disgusting Corrosive Slimes, and five lone Goblins that had crawled out from who knew what corner.

And that was before adding the spider in front of him.

The combat intensity of this half day alone was higher than all his previous trips into the mountains combined.

Lance opened the gathering bag at his waist and took stock of today's haul.

Though the fighting had been frequent, he had already gathered enough Silverflake Grass for the commission.

And the Blood-Clotting Moss he valued most had accumulated to a considerable amount when combined with the stock he had stored at home.

Lance quickly ran the numbers in his head.

Making one small jar of Lance-Brand Special Hemostatic Ointment required roughly a quarter ounce of moss powder.

With his current material reserves, he could make around one hundred and fifty finished jars at most.

After deducting costs from the planned selling price, if this batch all sold, at a net profit of fifteen copper coins per jar,

it would bring him roughly twenty-three silver coins in profit.

Seeing that the Environmental Stability value was still fluctuating constantly, Lance did not hesitate in the slightest and decisively stopped going deeper.

Money could not all be earned.

In such chaotic circumstances, greed was often the quickest route to hell.

"Maybe another time."

Lance efficiently slung his shortbow over his back, pulled down his hood, and turned to head toward the forest's edge along the safe route he had taken in.

Time to go home and make ointment.

But!

An accident still happened!

He ran into someone who had fled back from the vanguard's front line.