Homesteading in a fantasy world

I walked out of the quest hall holding only two quest slips, but with a big smile on my face. It turns out that not every quest counts the same for the quest requirement quotas. One of the quests actually gave me 6 points, so I could have just picked that one and been done for the month.

However, I picked up the second one as well because they were really close together and would give me a good opportunity to gauge two different types of opponents.

The harder quest was to exterminate a flock of birds. I was a bit surprised to learn that it was so common for different types of creatures to emerge that usually people just called them what they kind of seemed like and changed a few details.

So, these birds are called white ravens, and I could see why they would call them that. They did kind of look like ravens, although they were bigger but not by much, and of course, they had white feathers. But not just white, they also had light brown feathers mixed in.

It seems that this species has been an issue for about 10 years, but this flock was one of the biggest seen to date. The reason for that was the head of the flock, which was rank 3. There were also reportedly over 300 members in the flock, with over half of them being rank one and above.

If it wasn’t for Goose, I wouldn’t have accepted this quest. I also wouldn’t have accepted it if I hadn’t seen a lot of metal ball slingshot ammunition for sale in one of the smithies.

Me, armed with the metal balls, and Goose doing his wind manipulation, we should be able to handle the flock. As for the leader, that would be a more challenging fight, but I will purchase some better throwing knives for that fight.

Bird-type creatures usually have one big weakness: their weak constitution. They just can't take a hit, what made them dangerous was that they could usually dodge those attacks.

The other quest I had was the exact opposite. It was only worth one point, although the payout was almost the same. The reason being that these creatures' bodies were worth a lot more. More specifically, what was inside their bodies, but their defensive outer layer was also worth quite a lot.

However, taking them down is not that easy. Not only do they have incredible defenses, but they're also incredibly good earth manipulators and reportedly can attack from quite a distance.

Once again, Goose was here to save me. They could probably shoot out earth spikes, so the fight wouldn’t be like shooting fish in a barrel, but it should still be manageable. Normally, these creatures wouldn't be targeted, as they were the type of creature that, if you left them alone, they wouldn't bother you.

The small herd of five, led by a rank 3 male, was currently moving ever closer to the edge of the outer ring, and if they continued like this, they would reach civilization in five months. They would leave quite the devastation if they reached that far.

They were a mix of creature between an armadillo and a beaver: incredibly well defended and their favorite snack were trees. However, it seems that they could even eat meat if they wanted to. Their main diet was also the reason why they were so valuable.

Apparently, in their stomachs, through some natural and unnatural processes, crystals started to form from their diet. Those crystals were really valuable for crafters, as they could be used for many high-rank items.

The shopping spree was not as fun as I wanted it to be, as I didn’t have much coin. And everything I bought were basically the shittiest things on the market.

Four small mythryl coins and 45,000 cores later, I was back at the company headquarters, figuring out the placement of the spears and throwing knives so I could easily pull them out from my tattoo storage when I was in a fight. Fortunately, the metal balls came in an ammo pouch that was expanded to be larger than it seemed. That could just go on my waist.

When everything was done, there were still a few hours before sunrise, so I made myself as comfortable as possible and had a quick nap. When I woke up, I saw Goose trying to get himself through the staircase so he could join me on the 2nd floor.

"Go back down, we will be leaving soon," I told him and got an irritated yet happy feeling back from him. He seemed to truly dislike being confined in human buildings.

When I joined Goose on the ground floor, he sent me a feeling of hunger. "Not to worry, we're going hunting, and there should be plenty of meat for you to eat."

As soon as I finished saying that, he began acting like a kid at Christmas. He immediately wanted to rush out, but it took some time before we were back on top of the fort and were given permission to take off.

We were heading back up north, but our journey wouldn't be too long, especially because Goose wasn't holding back in the speed department. The snow wasn’t too thick here, but I guess it still wasn't too far into winter.

It didn’t take us long to reach our destination, and we also didn't need to search for long as our prey was kind enough to leave their nests and fly towards us. They seemed quite hungry, but I knew why there weren't any living creatures for many miles as they probably hunted anything that came too close.

My right hand went into the ammo pouch, and I pulled out a handful of metal balls that I started to infuse with energy. After activating my abilities, I threw them as strongly as I could. The metal balls multiplied as they flew, creating many energy copies. The result was that an empty spot appeared amidst the flock flying towards us. The bird noises exploded as they cried out in anger.

Goose did not appreciate that and let out his own screech. Many of the birds tried to turn around, but thanks to that, the flock leader needed to also announce its presence. It didn’t have any special characteristics, although I could see that the air around it was colder than around any of the other birds. I continued to throw the metal balls, but I never took my eyes off the leader.

Goose dived into the flock and was like a blender; anything that got too close was sliced into ribbons. Then the leader acted. It seems that it could also control air, and its control was superior to Goose's.

If Goose had been alone, he would have died in the next moment. When the flock leader took control of the air, it immediately dived towards Goose's neck. However, before it could connect, I materialized my sword and pumped enough power into it that I was not only able to stop its attack but also badly cut one of its wings.

It was a testament to its rank 3 body that I wasn’t able to cut it in half, and it had only fallen for about 20 meters before it fixed its wing with ice. It demonstrated incredibly precise control, but still, its flying capabilities were hampered, and Goose was once again able to take control of the air. Before it had a chance to recover properly, I ordered Goose to dive.

I missed the first two throwing knives. The third one was dodged with wind manipulation, and the fourth one was diverted with the wind itself. It was recovering faster than I expected, but I threw two more throwing knives.

Both of them were pumped full of energy. The first one multiplied, but it easily diverted all of them with its control over the wind. The second one, however, was a lot more special.

While the first one was truly dangerous, the second one didn't have that much damage capability, although it did have enough to truly wound the rank 3 bird. The rest of the energy was fueling a very special enhancement.

What the knife would do was act oppositely to any further manipulation of its course. So, with the wind trying to blow it one way, it spent energy to act in the opposite way, keeping it moving straight.

It was something that I had glimpsed during the war and had slowly refined since, but I had never actually used it in a proper combat setting before. I could swear I saw surprise in its eyes when the wind didn't blow the knife away.

It tried to block it by directly blowing icy wind towards it, and if it had another second to continue its defense, it would have worked, but it didn’t, and the knife sunk deep into its body. Two more knives and it was dead.

It took Goose and me a little while longer to finish off the rest of the flock, but many still escaped, which was to be expected. We only needed to bring in the body of the leader.

After I secured the leader's body and recovered a few of my throwing knives, Goose and I started to deal with the rest of the bodies. I went around and collected the more valuable feathers while Goose had himself a proper breakfast.