Finally, though, they were attacked by a magical monster. It was a gigantic worm of Level Two, almost Level Three! The upper part of its body was a massive mouth with countless teeth as sharp as diamonds. Using powerful earth magic, it concealed itself in the ground and launched surprise attacks from below! The group couldn't inflict any serious damage and was quickly forced to retreat. The monstrous creature, however, wouldn't stop pursuing them, and soon everyone was covered in countless wounds.
"We have to think of something, or we risk someone being dragged underground, and then we won't be able to do anything!" Petra cried out desperately.
"Could we head toward the river and then maybe to a rockier hill?" Zevan suggested.
"There are no rocky hills nearby, Zevan, and the river won't stop it. It's quite shallow, and the monster is huge. It will slow us down far more than it slows the worm."
The group kept running. At that moment, Lora stumbled and fell to the ground. She had missed a nearly invisible root hidden among the leaves of some low bushes.
Titus immediately rushed to help her, but the monster burst out of the earth and bit her! Emilia screamed in horror, while Varis frantically began striking it with his axes.
Fortunately for them, the monster had clamped down on one of the stronger sections of Lora's armor, and what's more, she had managed to stab her spear into its mouth. It had snapped the spear in two, but the broken shaft was jammed in its maw, preventing it from closing its jaws completely.
Everyone rushed to help, knowing the monster was moments away from shattering the spear for good, biting Lora, and dragging her into the earth.
A desperate Titus struck it with his sword, dealing heavy wounds. The creature, however, would not give up its prey, and its hide was exceptionally tough. Its regeneration was strong; some of the shallower wounds had already begun to heal right before their eyes.
Emilia moved closer to the terrified Lora. Fear was etched on the woman's face as she struggled with all her might to free herself from the monster's tongue. At that moment, the ground shook violently and slowly began to become unstable. The monster had clearly activated its earth magic and was attempting to drag them all down into the depths of the earth.
Emilia suddenly reached into her backpack and grabbed an entire bundle of magical talismans. She tied them together with a long silver thread, careful to make sure the thread passed through every single talisman. Finally, she moved closer and hurled the talismans directly into the monster's mouth! She waited for a moment and then activated her magic.
The silver thread could conduct mana, and she often used it in formations as the foundation for some of the lines.
This time, however, it wouldn't be so simple, as there were no additional mana-rich materials around the silver, such as the blood from monster hearts.
Perhaps if the thread had been short, it wouldn't have been a problem, but Emilia had to send a significant amount of mana over a great distance, and then touch each of the talismans with her mana and activate it.
Emilia used all her skills. She guided the silver's aura, trying to clear every tiny obstacle, to sense every unevenness, every crack, or small gap in the structure of the silver.
Immediately following the aura was the mana, which she pushed with all her strength, straining her energy channels terribly. This all happened in seconds, and the monster was close to swallowing Lora. But Emilia kept pushing her mana along the line, and finally, it reached the talismans! Emilia quickly distributed her mana, touching them with her aura!
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A moment passed—one that felt like an eternity in the heart of the exhausted Emilia—and just as she was about to cry out in despair, a powerful explosion sounded, and the monster's entire body shook. A fountain of blood erupted from its mouth, splashing the trapped Lora. Titus finally managed to rush to help and severed the monster's tongue with several strikes.
All the while, Varis continued to land blows with his axes, with each subsequent strike hitting the exact same spot. The wound grew deeper and blood flowed heavily from it.
Suddenly, the monster moved again.
"It can't be! But those were a full forty talismans! Eight hundred silver coins! That was all my savings!" Emilia cried and lunged with her small spear.
Varis roared with all his might and activated a mysterious skill. His body suddenly swelled with blood, and his muscles visibly grew larger. He gripped his axes in a particular way and delivered seven extremely powerful strikes in three seconds, all enriched by his mana and the axes' enchantments.
Aimed by the mysterious skill, every single blow landed on the spot of the previous one, and the wounded and weakened monster was quickly sliced in half!
Emilia, however, didn't notice this. She rushed forward and frantically began to attack the carcass with her spear. Tears were visible in her eyes, and her hair whipped wildly in the wind!
After about a minute, Varis approached and tried to calm the little girl.
"Emilia, it's dead now, don't break your spear."
"But Uncle Varis... I... I haven't been able to save any money for two years... I just saw myself with a lot of money when I was in my grandma’s village, and I had to buy brushes and inks... that's why I came here, to collect blood, to save money... and now... now... all my combat talismans are gone!"
"What are you talking about, Emilia? The profit from this creature is more than eight hundred silver!" interjected Boss Titus, who had walked over from somewhere.
"What?"
"Emilia, how much money do you think our group makes?"
"I'm not completely sure."
"Let me explain. A monster like a wild boar, for example, has at least 100 lbs of usable material. The meat alone is worth 100 silver coins. Plus, there's a core for 40 silver and some other parts for at least another 30-35 silver. If we include the herbs and some rare valuable treasures, that makes about 200-220 silver per Level One monster. If the monster is small and has no meat, or the meat is cheap, it might be 100 silver. If there is a lot of damage while hunting, it can be significantly less. But a huge monster, like the one we just killed, has an enormous amount of meat. Furthermore, its meat is more expensive. Also, its Level Two core alone is worth 120-150 silver coins."
"That much?" Emilia wondered, sniffing and wiping away a lingering tear.
"Not only that, but these teeth and some other parts will be worth at least 100 or 200 silver coins. So, the core and the other parts alone are between 250 and 350 coins. If we add the monster's meat, bones, and hide, the total sum might be around 900 silver coins."
"But... but... that's an awful lot. You must be incredibly rich!"
"Ha-ha-ha... I wish it were that simple."
Emilia looked at him, puzzled, and Boss Titus quickly began to elaborate. He pulled out a document and showed it to her:
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?? Basic income and productivity
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Average hunt: 1 magical beast every 3 days
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Average magical beast yields ~200 lbs of usable material
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Half is meat at 1 silver/lb = 100 silver
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The rest (hide, claws, glands, mana core, etc.) sells for 80–120 silver depending on rarity
-
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Total gross income: ~200 silver per beast (This figure reflects the payout to the hunters, not the much higher market price.)
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That’s 200 silver every 3 days, or 2,000 silver/month if hunting every day
?? Deductions and expenses
Guild + Town cut (20%) – Licensing, appraisal, legal rights
Kingdom taxes (10%) – General trade & safety
Healing potions/repairs (~33/mo) – Averaged
Downtime (~10 days/mo) – Lose ~? of income
Maintenance (20/mo) – Weapons & armor
Supplies (300/mo) – Food, bait, arrows
?? Effective take-home pay
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Gross: 2,000 silver/month
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Minus taxes (30%): 1,400 silver
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Minus repairs/potions (33): 1,367 silver
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Minus supplies (300): 1,067 silver
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Minus downtime (?):700 silver/month total
Split between 6 hunters → 115 silver/month per person
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"This... this... How does so much turn into so little?"
Titus leaned in and whispered softly into Emilia's ear:
"Well, maybe we “slightly” reduced some values to pay a little less in taxes, and we haven't included the rare chance of finding an earth treasure or other rare occurrences, such as Abyssal mushrooms, but then again, we also haven't included the other dangers — maiming or even death!"
Emilia thought about this for a long time.
"Don't worry about the talismans, Emilia. You don't think Petra's arrows are cheap, do you? Some are even more expensive than your talismans. They're a shared expense and don't come out of her pocket. When we sell the monster parts, you will get your 800 silver back. No one will make a profit, and we'll have to stop our hunt early, but at least we survived. And that's something."