novelraw Chapter 22 : The Ryūju of the Frenzy Kong
Chapter 22 : The Ryūju of the Frenzy Kong
As I left the Toryū Ryōhei Guild, I remembered I'd also recovered the Monoceros Saurus horn. I must have lost it during the fight with the Tyrant Dragon Belgona. A sigh slipped out before I could stop it.
「But once the Isō Pendant is finished, this kind of thing shouldn't happen anymore.」
I consoled myself with that thought.
The next day, when I went to the Toryū Ryōhei Guild, good news was waiting. As luck would have it, taking down the Tyrant Dragon Belgona had earned me a promotion to Rank E Toryū Ryōhei. Apparently there was a rule that if a Rank F Toryū Ryōhei defeated a threat level 3 monster, they'd be promoted to Rank E.
I still didn't have Sector Alliance citizenship, so I hadn't opened an Interstellar Financial Account, but I'd made a local account with a bank on Planet Boran and was using that. That account now held 42 million Credits - the remainder from selling the Eight-Light Diameter Charged Particle Cannon combined with what I'd earned hunting.
I continued hunting in the Black Forest Belva while waiting for the pendant-type Isō Box and armor to be completed. That day too, I brought down two Monoceros Saurus and headed back. When I converted the two horns to cash at the Toryū Ryōhei Guild, they came to 2.4 million Credits. After depositing that into my local account, I headed for the guild's equipment counter.
At this equipment counter, Toryū Ryōheis could purchase and maintain their gear.
「Are the items I ordered ready?」
I asked the reception robot manning the counter.
『The Belgona Armor Set and Isō Pendant are complete.』
The cat-eared reception robot brought out the Belgona Armor Set and Isō Pendant and lined them up on the counter. The Isō Pendant, which had Isō storage functionality, came with security features - once you registered a user, no one else could access it.
I hung the Isō Pendant around my neck and stored the Belgona Armor Set inside. An armor set was something any full-fledged Toryū Ryōhei owned. I hadn't ordered it because I'd come down with some chūnibyō. That said, there probably weren't many who owned an armor set made from Tyrant Dragon Belgona hide.
And the pendant top of the Isō Pendant that now held it was shaped like a rugby ball about five centimeters long, with a storage capacity equivalent to a space measuring nineteen meters in length, width, and height. Apparently the capacity varied slightly depending on the quality of the Ryūju.
Incidentally, the reason Isō Pendants were considered to have small capacity was because proper Isō Storage devices had capacity large enough to fit small spacecraft.
I also purchased a Hover Bike for hunting. It was a small Hover Bike - nothing special except for its massive horsepower, capable of reaching speeds around 300 kilometers per hour.
I stored the Hover Bike in the Isō Pendant too and returned to my room in the Guest Tower.
「Haah, I'm beat.」
At times like this, my muttering came out in Japanese. The Black Forest Belva where I currently hunted was divided into two sections - Section One housed threat level 1 and 2 monsters, while Section Two was home to threat level 2 and 3 monsters. And I was hunting around the border between Section One and Section Two.
Planet Boran had eight hunting grounds, but among them, the western, northwestern, and southwestern grounds had rank restrictions. Only Rank C and above could hunt in the northwest restricted zone, Rank B and above in the southwest, and Rank A and above in the west.
The northwestern hunting ground in the restricted zone piqued my curiosity, so I decided to research it on the Planetary Information Net. I put on my Smart Glasses and gave voice commands to search. A massive volume of information came up, so I added conditions to narrow it down and obtained the information I was after.
The northwestern hunting ground, Gilda Canyon, was a vast canyon region. It was inhabited by spider-type monsters primarily, and at their apex sat the threat level 4 Mother Queen Spider. This Mother Queen Spider was a giant spider twenty meters long that apparently spat powerful acid from its mouth.
And according to unconfirmed information, hidden treasures left behind by the Tenjin race supposedly lay sleeping deep within Gilda Canyon. This information was rumor-level at best, so it lacked credibility. Incidentally, the fastest route to Rank C was said to be taking down five Tyrant Dragon Belgonas.
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Five months had passed since Sario departed. By then I'd started hunting not just in Belva but in the southeastern Kirimasu Mountain Range as well. During that time I'd constantly honed my Tactical Magic Techniques, and I could now activate 『Particle Strike』, 『Particle Strike: Piercing Bullet』, and 『Particle Strike: Circular Soaring Blade』 in roughly one second.
Deep in the Kirimasu Mountain Range where I currently hunted, vicious apes had taken up residence. Among them, the Frenzy Kong - measuring five meters in total length - was known for its monstrous strength.
「Uwaah!」
That day, my luck ran out and I got caught by a Frenzy Kong. Its massive right hand seized my torso and hurled me toward a giant tree. I spun through the air and slammed back-first into the trunk, shaking the tree violently before dropping to the ground with a thud.
「Ugh, it hurts. It hurts like hell.」
At times like this, I found myself wondering what the hell I was doing. The Particle Armor kept me alive, but without it I'd be dead.
I looked toward the Frenzy Kong - it was closing in with thunderous footfalls. I aimed at the Frenzy Kong and launched a Particle Circular Soaring Blade. The Particle Circular Soaring Blade, formed into a ring from Bosoru particles overflowing from my body, flew at Mach 7 and severed the Frenzy Kong's head. The headless body collapsed with an earth-shaking crash.
I let out the breath I'd been holding.
「That was close. When I was younger, I never would've screwed up like that. Maybe I should seriously consider the Longevity Treatment.」
The Longevity Treatment that extended lifespan to three hundred years cost 2 billion Credits. If I worked hard, it wasn't an unreachable sum.
I recovered the Frenzy Kong's head and extracted the Ryūju - about two centimeters in diameter - from its forehead. This green Ryūju apparently became a component for control brains, and converting it to cash at the guild would net 50 million Credits. This was my third Frenzy Kong, so a total of 150 million Credits would be deposited into my account.
Life-threatening as it was, the monster hunting lifestyle was fun. Hunting like this was a form of gambling. You wagered your life, defeated a monster, and sometimes walked away with a fortune. When that happened, massive amounts of a pleasure chemical called dopamine were produced and released in the brain. That gave you a pleasant rush of excitement and euphoria.
It was a state similar to gambling addiction, but hunting also involved injuries and near-death experiences, and those served as a brake that made me act more cautiously.
Incidentally, I'd been hospitalized twice for injuries. During those stays, I'd replaced the 『Antibody Immunity Nanomachines』 and 『Internal Adjustment Nanomachines』 that had been flagged as inferior products with what were called standard types. The two together cost 12 million Credits. I thought that was too expensive, but apparently if you went with high-performance models instead of standard types, the price jumped into the hundreds of millions of Credits.
The Frenzy Kong's corpse had value only in its Ryūju, so I left the rest. The wild animals and insects inhabiting this mountain range had voracious appetites - a carcass this size would be devoured completely in about three days.
I rode my Hover Bike to a branch of the Toryū Ryōhei Guild and converted the Ryūju to cash at the purchasing counter. Then the Center Head summoned me. Information from the purchasing counter must have reached the Center Head. When I went to the office, Center Head Dessero was waiting.
「Congratulations. As of today, you're Rank D.」
Rank D in about half a year since becoming Rank E. By standard measures that was far too fast, but taking down Frenzy Kongs in rapid succession must have earned recognition.
「Thank you. But is it really okay for it to be this fast?」
「I think it's too fast myself. I think you should gain more experience, but you're off the charts, nyai.」
「Off the charts - what do you mean?」
「You've taken down multiple threat level 3 monsters using only 『Particle Strike』, 『Particle Strike: Piercing Bullet』, and 『Particle Strike: Circular Soaring Blade』. Normally that shouldn't be possible.」
「Why not? I've heard that if the three basic techniques have sufficient power, they can defeat monsters up to threat level 3.」
「The average mage can only defeat up to threat level 1 Monoceros Saurus with the three basics. To defeat monsters beyond that, they don't rely on the basics - they learn more advanced Tactical Magic Techniques.」
I was interested in these more advanced Tactical Magic Techniques. But the fact that the average mage could only defeat up to threat level 1 monsters with the three basics was probably due to issues with Tenshiryoku control.
I'd been taught the fundamentals of Tenshiryoku control by Zorofiēnu of the Rikageru Tenjin race. That was where I differed from the average mage.
「I think if you train your Tenshiryoku control, the power changes too. More importantly, does being Rank D mean I get citizenship?」
Center Head Dessero nodded.
「Of course. I'll process it right away.」
That day, I obtained Sector Alliance citizenship. This made me an official citizen of the Sector Alliance and allowed me to open an Interstellar Financial Account. Naturally, I opened an Interstellar Financial Account immediately and transferred the balance from my local account to the new one.