Chapter 18: Gaining Repute (III)

Not long after, Donald emerged from a hotel room in the town and headed straight outside, where he summoned a warhorse in a secluded area. He mounted the horse and rode toward the forest.
It had to be said that Ed, the seemingly unintelligent strongest hunter, still had some skills. From him, Donald learned about certain aspects of the Green Cloak Forest.
However, Ed, recognized as the strongest hunter in Red Maple Town, had not ventured too deep into the forest. He only knew the habitats of a few level 4 or 5 magical beasts; beyond that, he knew nothing. Moreover, his claim of capturing a level 5 magical beast was exaggerated. If not for the shadow leopard getting pregnant and then being injured in a struggle for territory with other beasts, it would not have fallen into his trap and ended up in the hands of humans far weaker than itself.
But this was enough for Donald. Knowing the habitats of those level 4 or 5 magical beasts would greatly assist his hunting mission, saving him much time spent searching for their traces and allowing him to achieve his goal faster.
Riding his fast horse, Donald crossed most of the outer forest, ignoring the wild beasts and lower-level magical beasts he encountered along the way, and arrived at the border between the outer and inner forests. Magical beasts of level 3 or higher might appear here, so Donald didn’t want to alert any creatures. He carefully dismounted, took back his warhorse, and then took out the equipment he had prepared in advance from his space seal and put it on.
Compared to Jin Suo, Xiao Ming had the upper hand.
While Donald was fighting deep in the forest, in the Castle of Giant Stones, hundreds of miles away, the young lady of the Macbeth family was once again throwing a tantrum.
Ever since Miss Lina returned from the capital, she had been sullen. Although the Macbeth family was among the top nobles in the Kingdom of Celt, local nobles, despite having greater wealth and power than most capital nobles, still couldn’t match the luxurious lifestyle pursued by those in the capital. This was especially true in remote areas like the Northern County.
After visiting the capital to see her family, Miss Lina, whom some capital noble ladies secretly called a country bumpkin, had been harboring resentment since her return. Though she knew those noble ladies without real power were just jealous of her father’s and family’s control over vast territories, she still felt greatly upset.

At that moment, a resourceful maid came up with an idea for Miss Lina. The Green Cloak Forest was rich in resources, especially the deep Mount Izumo, which harbored many rare magical beasts. If she could possess a shawl made of silver fox fur, it would surely allow her to surpass those noble ladies from the capital who thought themselves superior.

As a level 5 magical beast, the silver fox had low attack power but incredible speed, making it nearly impossible for even advanced warriors to approach it. Thus, despite its beautiful silver fur, silver foxes had been rarely captured by humans throughout history.

Delighted, the viscountess rewarded the maid and summoned her father’s steward to spread word about purchasing rare magical beast furs.

Adventurers in the taverns of the towns near Giant Stone City heard the news. Lina didn’t expect to catch such a rare magical beast as a silver fox, which appeared only once in a hundred years. As long as the adventurers who took on the task could bring back some other brightly colored magical beasts, she would be satisfied.

Although the viscountess’s reward of over a hundred gold sols was tempting, if one were lucky enough to catch a silver fox fur, it could be easily exchanged for a thousand gold sols at any shop. For adventurers, this was an enormous sum they would likely never see again in their lives!

Half a day later, as groups of adventurers rushed toward the Green Cloak Forest, Donald, equipped lightly, rode out of the forest on his warhorse.

After a half-day of fighting and thanks to the information provided by hunter Ed, Donald managed to obtain a batch of level 3 and 4 magical beast cores, along with three level 5 cores. Aside from the dangerous encounter with the three level 5 magical beasts that appeared together, which required him to use many low-level cores to defeat them, the other level 3 and 4 beasts posed little challenge to him, as he had numerous summoned creatures at his disposal.

After all, the attributes of his summoned creatures were based on the game’s settings, making them stronger than ordinary wild magical beasts of the same level. Moreover, with the powers granted by the Book of Truth, based on the game’s rules and the laws of this world, it made no sense if they couldn’t handle even the less intelligent wild magical beasts!

After storing all his prey in his spatial seal and preparing to return to process them, Donald emerged from the forest only to find that the outskirts, where he rarely saw anyone before, were now filled with groups of adventurers passing by.

There were also some adventurers who wanted to join him, but Donald turned them all down. It was better for him to lead his own army of summons to raid the lairs of magical beasts than to work with these adventurers, whose strength was only at the second or third level on average! Moreover, many of his secrets couldn’t be revealed for now, and forming a team with outsiders could lead to disputes over the spoils.

Still, he found out why these adventurers and the nearby hunters had suddenly all come to the forest—it was because of a bounty issued by the viscount’s estate.

This time, Donald hunted down several magical beasts with beautiful furs, but he had no intention of going to the viscount’s castle to claim the reward. First, his Merlin family and Viscount Macbeth had an old grudge that couldn’t be easily resolved, even if it wasn’t deep-seated enmity. Second, although the bounty offered by the viscount was substantial, if he sold the beasts’ carcasses at an auction, the price of their furs alone would exceed that bounty.

The adventurers were interested in this bounty not just for the reward, but also because completing the task would earn them the favor of the northern region’s most powerful lord. For most common adventurers who wanted to improve their status and live a life of the elite, this was an opportunity even more important than getting that sum of gold sols!

Uninterrupted on his journey, aside from encountering a few more groups of adventurers, Donald successfully returned to his residence.

The entire estate was almost completely filled with building materials, leaving only a narrow passage wide enough for one person to pass through. The butler, Kord, hadn’t returned yet, so Donald had to think of another solution.

Donald couldn’t let merchants bring these building materials directly to the estate, as that would expose his ability to manifest the Book of Truth. In this world, with true gods and numerous powerful beings existing, the presence of a high-tier divine artifact might even tempt those true gods. Although the northern lands were remote and not as rich or densely populated with temples as the central and southern regions, it was still possible for information to leak. Therefore, Donald thought it was better to be cautious. Otherwise, even a high-level professional above level seven could pose a threat he couldn’t handle.

So, he spent part of his energy reserves to obtain a new space seal, increasing its internal storage capacity to ten cubic units. He then stored some of the building materials inside the seal, freeing up considerable space in the yard. This expense used up nearly one-third of the elemental crystal reserves he still had.

Fortunately, this hunting trip was very fruitful. After taking out the crystal cores and selling the monster corpses, he could quickly recoup these costs and even make a small profit. With this in mind, Donald planned to visit Giant Stone City again, to that rather tacky Goldthorn Auction House. Aside from keeping three of the finest level-5 monster pelts, he was eager to auction off the rest of the corpse materials as well, intending to sell them all directly to the auction house. With Goldthorn Auction House’s capabilities, they should be able to take on this batch of goods.