Chapter 49 - 47.Custom Equipment

The party head to the nearby forest to look for monsters called large horned elk and white sock fox. Alice is really eager to try looking into the nearby dungeon but Albert and Kana bait her by saying that they try to look for an elite version of the monster that they hunt yesterday.

Albert distributes 2 more venom antidote to the frontline before the party enters the forest as some of the venomous monsters also live in there. He put his wheelchair inside his big inventory slot and hand over the backpack to Kana as traversing in the forest using the wheelchair is really not convenient.

Albert did not slow down the party too much as they need to explore more cautiously inside the forest. With trees all around them, there are many hidden spots where the monster could set up an ambush not to mention you could also accidentally walk up to a pack of monsters if you're not careful enough.

Kana warn the party to avoid 2 specific monsters which she heard from the village hunter last night in the pubs. He specifically mentions red eyes bear and silverback wolf are often seen around the forest and you should not mess with them at all.

The party meets some monsters they hunt the day before and makes quick work out of it stuffing the carcasses to their inventory. Inside the forest with many varieties of monsters sometimes you would encounter a different type of monster at the same time making it harder to fight them.

With 2 or 3 of the same monster, you could easily predict their movement and prepare a counter to it. But, fighting 2 different monsters at the same time making it harder as they have a different attacking pattern and not to mention the possibility of their pack coming to aid them.

Walking around the forest, Alice spots a water stream and one of the party targets; 3 white sock fox can be spotted drinking from the water stream. Unfortunately, the monster that they try to avoid also hanging out on the other side of the stream; The silverback wolves pack.

"How should we engage this fight?" Ask Alice eager to start the fight.

"I'll ask Luna to patrol the area around to see if there's another monster or not. Could one of you check the water depth? I'm afraid the wolves would run across if the water is shallow enough." Albert try to strategize in the middle of the forest

James sends BONE-VOYAGE to check the water depth by dipping its own body and instructs it not to go beyond the chest level. Luna comeback after round of patrol around the area and the only monster around is 2 four-eared monkey that is not aggressive.

James, Alice, and BONE-VOYAGE charge to the group of foxes right after BONE-VOYAGE back after checking the water depth. As the water is deep enough the silverback wolves pack wouldn't be able to cross it without swimming.

Although wolves species are proficient enough to swim across to ambush them; Swimming across a river with more than 2-meter depth is a whole different matter as there could be a water predator living inside the river.

True enough, The silverback wolves did not even try to swim across the river and the party hunts the pack of white sock fox with ease. James and BONE-VOYAGE struggle a bit at first as the foxes are faster compared to the usual boar or rabbit. Alice, on the other hand, is having a blast as she has higher dexterity compare to the two and can react faster than the foxes.

Finish with the foxes the party head out to the 2 monkeys Luna found about 150 meters from their current location and make quick work out of the monkeys. In the next hours and a half, the party rampaging trough the forest and hauling a bunch of monster carcasses to Mr. Theo stall for Kana's quest.

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Dropping Kana at Mr. Theo stall, the other party members then head to the only blacksmith in the village to see if they can find something useful or request a custom made one if there are none available. With 15 silver in their pocket, Albert is confident that they can afford almost anything the village offers.

"Hello, sirs. We're looking for an arm equipment pieces that have an offensive capability. Do you perhaps have one in your shop?"

Albert asks the blacksmith as the shop is empty and you could only hear the sound of metal hammering.

"You're looking for a barehanded weapon? Something like brass knuckles? I don't have that but I can make one if you want to. The price would be quite high as the brass knuckles have quite a bit of detail." The blacksmith asks Albert back as his question is not quite clear

"No, sir. An armor piece preferably similar to an armguard. My sister couldn't wield any weapon do to her traits so we're looking for different options for her. She can wear an armguard just fine cause it can be considered an armor piece but our party is lacking offensive capability so we're hoping to find a unique armor with an offensive option."

"That's quite a challenge you have there." The blacksmith stops hammering the weapon and brings a couple of chairs for Alice and James. He then sits in front of the party and speaks his idea while rubbing his chin.

"I like challenge! I could extend the armguard so it covers your entire arm and adds a bunch of spike on the armguard. The finished product would guarantee to have some offensive option but it would be hard to maintain it; The spike would break after couple of use and it would be even more brittle when you fix that."

"How about using a stronger material like steel instead of normal iron so it wouldn't be so brittle?" James chips his idea

"It wouldn't help much the problem is not within the material but the blunt force it would facing when you use it. Using a different material is a good idea tough. If you could bring me some of the more rare material like Dark Metal or Aetheryte Shard I could even forge you an UNCOMMON or even RARE grade equipment."