“Guruuuuuuuuu!”
Seto let out a loud, resonant cry.
His voice echoed through the clear, blue autumn sky. Below, the road leading back to the City of Gilm was visible, winding through a landscape of lush forests and sprawling meadows.
After collecting his reward at the guild and letting Seto play with the local children for a while, Rei had finally headed out of the city. His objective was to strip materials from the monsters they had defeated—and, more importantly, to perform Magic Stone Absorption.
“Seto, head toward that spot where we processed magic stones before.”
Rei spoke while stroking Seto’s head. The Gryphon was flapping its wings in high spirits as Rei sat firmly on its back.
“Guru!”
Giving a short cry of affirmation, Seto skillfully changed direction in mid-air. He headed toward a clearing in the center of a grove that looked like a natural plaza. About forty minutes later, their destination came into view.
“...Hm? That felt unusually fast.”
Rei hadn’t been timing the flight, so he didn’t know the exact duration, but Seto had shortened a trip that previously took an hour down to about forty minutes. This was undoubtedly further proof of the growth Seto had achieved within the dungeon.
“Guru!”
Seto gave a small cry from the back of his throat and flapped his wings as he touched down in the clearing.
“Whew. Good work, Seto. You’re as fast as ever.”
Rei thanked him while stroking his back, spending a few minutes enjoying the feel of his silk-like coat.
“Now then... I’d love to just take a slow break here, but our goal today is material stripping. And above all, the magic stones. We have quite a few to get through, so let’s get a move on.”
As he muttered this, he brought up a mental list of the monsters he had acquired during the expedition.
“Actually, the quantities are high, but there aren't that many different species.”
He couldn't help but let out a small sigh.
The most numerous entry on his mental list was, unsurprisingly, the Water Monkeys that had attacked in a massive swarm in the forest on B4F. Because they had been set upon by such a large pack, he hadn't collected every single one, but the number still easily exceeded fifty.
Furthermore, according to the knowledge of Beast Magic he had inherited from Zephyle, both Seto and the Death Scythe could only learn a skill from a specific species once. Since Seto had already absorbed a Water Monkey’s magic stone and failed to learn a skill, absorbing any more would be useless for skill acquisition. In that sense, the fifty-plus Water Monkey corpses stored within the Misty Ring were just extra weight as far as Beast Magic was concerned.
Of course, that was only from the perspective of his unique magic; the magic stones and materials themselves could still be sold normally at the guild or to various shops.
The real reason his enthusiasm had dipped slightly was the fact that since Seto had failed to learn anything from a Water Monkey, he could only pin his hopes on the Death Scythe.
“Let’s start with a normal Lizardman first.”
He made his selection. In the next instant, a Lizardman corpse appeared on the ground before him.
“The Proof of Subjugation Part was the tip of the tail, right?”
Muttering to himself, he used a dismantling knife to cut off the tail tip and stored it in the Misty Ring. After that, he carefully peeled back the skin to avoid damaging the scales, stripping the valuable materials while consulting his stripping manual as he usually did.
In the case of a Lizardman, the scaled skin served as armor material. Several types of internal organs were used as ingredients for alchemy or recovery medicine like potions, and the eyes could be sold as materials for alchemical magic items. Following the book's instructions, he placed the eyeballs into specialized bottles, removed the sellable organs, and stored the meat in the Misty Ring. The remaining head and useless guts were tossed into a deep hole he had dug nearby.
And then...
“Seto!”
Rei tossed the magic stone he had removed from the heart to Seto, who caught and swallowed it in a single gulp. However, no announcement of a new skill echoed in Rei's mind.
“Guru...”
Seto hung his head in disappointment. Ordinarily, Rei would have comforted him, but the sheer volume of work today was daunting. To process as many monsters as possible, he pulled out another Lizardman and the Death Scythe from the Misty Ring. He processed the corpse the same way, took the magic stone from the heart, and...
“What about the Death Scythe? Let's see!”
He threw the stone into the air and swiftly sliced it with the Death Scythe.
“...No luck here either, huh.”
When no announcement played in his head, Rei let out a heavy sigh.
He continued the assembly-line process, stripping the Lizardman Proof of Subjugation Parts, materials, and magic stones. The meat went into the Misty Ring, and the discarded guts went into the hole. It took nearly an hour of constant work before he finally finished processing every last Lizardman.
“Next is the Lizardman General. Since this is a High-ranking Species, I should be able to expect something from the stone... Tsk, it's not in the manual. I guess I’ll just treat the materials the same as a regular Lizardman.”
Tilting his head, he tried to press the tip of his knife into the scaled skin. However...
Clink!
The blade failed to penetrate. As expected of a Lizardman General, its scales were hard enough to chip the tip of his knife.
“Even for a cheap knife, that was unexpected.”
With a sigh, he drew the Mithril Knife from the scabbard at his waist and flowed magic power into it. The blade, now reinforced by Rei's magic, sank into the flesh with almost no resistance, easily peeling away the Lizardman General's scaled skin.
He then cut off the tail tip, preserved the eyeballs, and removed the internal organs. The magic stone taken from the heart was, fitting for a High-ranking Species, slightly larger than the others.
“Now then, the question is whether to use this on the Death Scythe or Seto... What do you think?”
“Guruuu.”
Seto shook his head slightly at Rei's question. His round eyes clearly pleaded for Rei to use it on the Death Scythe instead. Rei couldn't help but smile at the selfless gesture and gave Seto's head an affectionate scratch.
“Sorry about that. I'll take you up on your kindness, then.”
“Guru!”
Seto gave a loud cry of approval. Hearing that, Rei tossed the Lizardman General's magic stone into the air.
“Hah!”
The Death Scythe sliced it in two. The stone vanished like smoke, and...
【Death Scythe has learned the skill 『Flying Slash Lv. 2』】
The announcement of skill acquisition echoed in his mind.
“Flying Slash Lv. 2, huh. Well, it was a General, so I suppose that’s appropriate... though it’s a bit different from what I expected. Since it was a Lizardman, I thought for sure it would be a water-related skill.”
Muttering to himself, he leveled the Death Scythe and swung it toward the surrounding trees.
“Flying Slash!”
With his shout, the Death Scythe flashed. A single shockwave was launched from the blade, just like with Lv. 1. The difference, however, was the sheer power.
Where Lv. 1 would have left a large, deep gash in a tree trunk, the shockwave released now sliced through the entire trunk cleanly.
“I see. The power has certainly increased. But...”
“Guru?”
What's wrong? Seto tilted his head. Rei stroked the Gryphon's head as he thought.
(The power is definitely there. But conversely, there’s a risk of it being too strong. If I want to use a weaker Flying Slash to hold back... No, for now, I should focus on the materials and magic stones. As for the output, I’ll just have to adjust it through practice later. This, too, requires training.)
“No, it's nothing. Anyway, we were lucky to learn a skill from the Lizardman General. Next up...”
He pulled the next monster out of the Misty Ring.
What appeared next was a Giant Spider. This was the monster that had attacked alongside the Lizardman General, but due to Rei’s flame magic, half of its body and its magic stone had been charred to nothing.
“...What a waste. Since it's a spider, Seto might have gotten a thread-based skill if we had the stone.”
Rei sighed as he stripped the materials according to the manual. However, since more than half of it was burnt, there was very little to salvage.
“First, the claws at the tips of the legs. The silk-producing organ is... no good. The fangs are also ruined. The internal organs are a total loss. Well, I should consider it lucky that I got any claws at all.”
“Guruuu.”
Seto rubbed his head against Rei as if to comfort him.
“Yeah, I'm fine. I didn't expect to get a magic stone or much in the way of materials from this Giant Spider anyway. Getting a few claws is a lucky break. ...By the way, Seto. Do you actually want to eat this thing?”
“Guru?”
“Ah—me? Spiders are a bit much for me. If it were an Orc or something, I wouldn't have much of a problem even if it’s humanoid.”
“Guru!”
Seto gave a loud cry, as if saying I'll eat it!
“...Well, if you're going to eat it, that's fine. I think I remember reading in a survival manga that they’re supposed to taste like chocolate or something...”
In truth, Rei would have preferred to toss it into the hole with the Lizardman guts, but if Seto wanted to eat it, he couldn't refuse. He stored the remains back in the Misty Ring.
“All right, let's move on. ...A Water Monkey. Well, there are dozens of these, but I'll just pull out one for now.”
Since Seto had already absorbed a Water Monkey stone in the dungeon, Rei pulled out a single corpse for the Death Scythe. The body appeared with water still clinging to its fur, a testament to the Misty Ring's preservation capabilities.
Having butchered plenty of them inside the dungeon, he didn't hesitate. He used his normal knife to cut off the Right Ear—the Proof of Subjugation Part—then stripped the pelt. He removed the head and tossed it into the hole with the guts, then held the magic stone from the heart in his palm.
“Since the name is Water Monkey, any skill I get would probably be water-based...”
He tossed it into the air and slashed it. It split in two and vanished, just like the General's stone.
“...No luck. Is it because I specialize in flame magic that the compatibility is bad? No, Seto couldn't learn a skill from one in the dungeon either, so it's probably not that... Besides, Seto already has the Water Ball skill anyway.”
With a sigh, he stored the meat in the Misty Ring and moved on.
“Next is the Rare Species Water Monkey. Being a Rare Species, the chances of a skill should be high.”
He pulled the corpse from the Misty Ring.
Its size was far greater than the roughly one-meter-tall standard Water Monkeys, making it clear why it had been classified as a Rare Species.
However, the anatomy was fundamentally the same, and the dismantling procedure didn't change. He cut off the Right Ear, peeled the skin, and followed the same steps. Finally, he removed the magic stone.
“Seto!”
He tossed the stone, which was a full size larger than a normal one, toward Seto.
“Guru!”
Seto caught it in his beak and swallowed. And then...
【Seto has learned the skill 『Water Ball Lv. 2』】
The familiar announcement echoed in Rei's mind.
“Phew. As expected of a Rare Species. Skill acquisition really is more consistent with them. ...Seto, try using Water Ball right away.”
“Guruuuuu!”
Seto nodded and activated the skill. With his roar, two spheres of water about thirty centimeters in diameter manifested in front of him.
“At Lv. 1, they were about twenty centimeters, so they've definitely grown. And the number increased to two. ...Seto, fire them at that tree over there.”
“Guru!”
At Rei’s command, Seto cried out, and the two water balls flew toward a distant tree trunk.
Snap!
The spheres burst against the bark with a sharp sound. While the power of each individual sphere had only increased slightly, the fact that there were now two meant the skill could cover a much wider range.
“The individual power aside, the utility has gone up. Good job, Seto.”
“Guruuu.”
Rei stroked Seto’s head as he praised him, and Seto let out a pleased purr from deep in his throat.
【Seto】 『Water Ball Lv. 2』 (New), 『Fire Breath Lv. 2』, 『Wind Arrow Lv. 1』, 『King's Intimidation Lv. 1』, 『Poison Claw Lv. 1』
【Death Scythe】 『Corrosion Lv. 1』, 『Flying Slash Lv. 2』 (New), 『Magic Shield Lv. 1』
Flying Slash Lv. 2: Increased power compared to Lv. 1.
Water Ball Lv. 2: Slight increase in power compared to Lv. 1. The number of water balls that can be manipulated has increased to two.