Satio, who seemed to be a bit injured himself, cursed. He raised his hand, and some magic circles appeared, requiring him to use a complex spell to take the ring off.

It took a good portion of his mana. This brat was lucky it was he who fetched him. Most other mages wouldn't be able to take this off on time.

The power soon dissipated, leaving Frago's hand with what seemed like a large bruise. If he had been a couple of seconds late, the young man might've lost his finger.

"You just spent a good portion of what you gathered. What a waste," Satio said, shaking his head and eyes full of dissatisfaction. He then whistled again, this time the monster—who had eaten his meat—did return.

Satio pondered whether to kill it. It wasn't like it wasn't well-fed, why did it act like that?

He narrowed his eyes. Was there something he was missing?

He wasn't able to ponder too long, however.

"UNCLE! I'm in pain!!" The shrill scream of a spoiled brat entered his ears, pulling him back to the present, and Satio could only sigh.

Frago had immense talent. He had A-class Physique. However, he was too arrogant, and he wasted a lot of resources on this mission.

Satio shook his head. Let his brother and sister handle this.

He carried the young man on his shoulder as if he were a sack and jumped on the beast, leaving the damned forest behind.

…

Finn peeked out of the safety of his cave, whistling as he saw the damage in front of him.

A strong wind had blown him into this gap and had been stuck there for a couple of minutes. It was fortunate he was wearing decent leather armor; otherwise, he might have been very injured by those sharp rocks he hit.

Who'd have thought that a bit of his essence food could summon this chaos?

When he emerged, his eyebrows rose at what he saw. Basically, hundreds and hundreds of the Brootrats were all either dead or very injured.

"Whoa…"

Earlier, after his second round of battle, he decided to take another rest. He wanted to cause more chaos amidst the rats though, particularly to keep them from climbing to him so quickly, so he decided to throw out some of the lunch he packed for himself.

At the time, he just hoped that a few dozen would get injured from the manic hunting for essence meat, and to make his job easier later on. He didn't know they'd go that wild. It even attracted a beast flying overhead!

Anyway, what came after was really powerful. He had seen the older man use his fire to burn a good portion of the beasts. Considering how he killed them, he must be a few ranks higher than they were.

On the other hand, it was that younger man who was a monster and created the storm. Sadly, he was thrown into the cave before he could see what happened after that.

Anyway, it also literally slapped his face about the power levels outside the safety of his inn. He had gotten a glimpse of Syl's power, sure, but it was different to witness it outside, especially when used by threats.

That said… if those powerful people decided to take his inn… would he be able to defend it?

Immediately, the interest in his heart turned to dread, and he turned to the monsters on the ground. Many were dead, but many were also alive.

None of them could move fast at all, as if each one had at least one broken bone, and those that survived were just shaking as they struggled to move.

Finn knew an opportunity when he saw one, and he happily took it.

He quickly jumped down with his weapon, stabbing and swinging as quickly as he could. He doused himself with diluted beast repellent, hoping to do this as peacefully as he could.

[Killed! Brootrat (Awakened)]

[Killed! Brootrat (Awakened)]

[...]

He farmed them well. They were literally lying there, weak, ready to be harvested. And there were also those who died but had cores. In those cases, he'd just treat them as free cores.

[Killed! Brootrat (Awakened)]

[Killed! Brootrat (Awakened)]

[...]

He managed to kill at least a hundred of the rats in this single run (most of the rats were dead already). The problem was…would he need to find the cores manually? Using his skills would use mana, after all, and it simply wasn't practical to use it on non-combat skills at this time.

So, when he was performing his massacre, he made sure to stab at the heart, at an angle, so he would have a better idea of which ones had cores, but it wasn't completely foolproof.

Still, with this, he got 8 essence cores.

That said, when the monsters were piled up densely, he allowed himself to use [Appraisal] skill because it felt worth it, because he'd be able to see more at once.

With this skill, he got another 17 cores! Mwahahaha!

He took that, happily placing them in his space, before running back to his cave to take a rest.

[Status]

Name: Finnick Altheus Solthar

Race: Human

Class: Innkeeper, Chef

Level: Awakened Tier 2

Awakening Type: Physical

Affinity: Fire, Earth, Wind

…

VITALS

HP: 260/400

Mana: 290/400

Stamina: 254/400

Wallet: 42 Gold

Hearth Points: 3050 Points

…

Skills:

Active: [Ingredient Scan] [Dish Analysis][Heated Arc] [Farming] [Assesment] [Feather Step] [Sticky Soil]

Passive: [Blade Proficiency - Growth Type (Lv 2)] [Monster Instinct] [Foraging]

[Strong Stomach] [Improved Palate] [Fire Resistance]

Condition: Tired, -1 Stamina per hour]

He looked at his mission status.

[Active Mission (Flexible): Kill Brootrat mobs]

Information: A large mob of Brootrat mobs had escaped from an Eastern dungeon. Their fecundity is strong, and they multiply rapidly in warm zones. If left unchecked, certain sectors may become too difficult to pass for the typical adventurer.

Kill: 1000 Brootrats.

Progress: 396/1000

Time Limit: 71:33:21

Reward: 5,000 Hearth Points

Punishment: Suction of Barrier Energy for 5 days.]

Hmn. Not that bad.

He wondered if there was another monster wind that'd come and assist him again? He really needed them!

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