Chapter 489 - Feeding Time
“Aaargh, beaten again by a huge margin.”
“Honestly, I’m aware I went a little too wild.”
Next up after comparing our tamed Stardust Beasts was a comparison of our acquired Relics—our scores. After this second round, I recognized the ‘gap’ between myself and a clear benchmark and was genuinely reflecting on my actions.
Tiger-bro had already fed all his spoils to his dog (Star), so it was just a self-reported ‘around this much,’ but… even so, I definitely had about ten times the number of [Stardust Relics] packed into my inventory compared to what he’d gathered.
He had apparently teamed up with an artisan acquaintance for this event, so his starting situation seemed similar to mine. Despite the difference of being in a ‘forest’ versus ‘by a lake,’ it seems both of us chose the base-building style.
Incidentally, the Tiger-bro group’s ‘tower defense’ apparently stayed on easy difficulty until the final night. He said it was at a level where they had no problems even without the ‘Great Tiger’ lifting a finger.
“I reckon the first day’s hunt—the startin’ dash—is the most important part. How much ya earn there decides the scale of the first raid, and the size of that night raid acts as the detonator that makes the next one blow up big time. And so on, and so on.”
Tiger-bro discussed this assuming the complete annihilation of the night raid hordes, showing his typical ranker mindset. However, the speed and substance of his deductions were too sharp to be dismissed as those of a ‘combat idiot’.
This guy isn’t an idiot or a fool. It’s just that some of his vibes, his sense of style, and his behavior make him a natural-born goofy tiger.
“What’s with that look? It’s pissin’ me off.”
“I’m looking at you with admiration, don’t get mad. Say thank you.”
“Thanks, then. But why?!”
In any case, it was a meaningful exchange of information all around. By considering the differences between our two groups, the still largely unknown details of the event started to come into focus a little.
Of course, what emerged most clearly was the giant blunder that I had gone beyond overdoing it and had simply overdone it.
By the way, as I expected, the ‘Zodiac series’ of Stardust Beasts was a feature of the ‘forest’ we were thrown into. I was a bit puzzled when Tiger-bro’s Tamed Beast was a dog, but it seems that in his area, non-Zodiac types appeared as well.
“So? What’re ya gonna do with that stupid mountain of pebbles?”
“What, indeed.”
As I plopped back down, my host, who was now casually accepting the affections of his dog—a Shiba Inu-like creature of starlight—steered the conversation to the crucial point.
The mountain of pebbles… in other words, what to do with the hundreds of [Stardust Relics]. Not that I have many options.
“Roughly what’s the growth rate like?”
“Well, in that regard, it’s what ya’d expect from a former enemy. My Star here, despite his cute looks, is a pretty tough cookie. His base stats are way higher than ours at Lv. 1, and the increase per stat point is huge. I wouldn’t say 1 point, but even investin’ 3 to 4 points makes a big difference.”
“Hmm… by the way, what level is your dog now?”
“12. I split the stat points half and half between STR and AGI. With that, he’s about—”
He held a finger to the nose of his adoring servant, then swung his arm as if pointing to something—and in that instant,
“Whoa…”
“Well, it’s decent for his level. High hopes for the future.”
As I voiced my admiration at the speed of the Tamed Beast that had shot off towards a distant target like a bullet, the victim’s screams soon reached my ears.
Level 12 with stats split half and half means about 60 AGI… and indeed, it would be impossible for a player to achieve that speed with the same stat.
It was, in the truest sense, on a monster’s scale.
My expectations for it becoming a reliable companion in the future began to swell—which meant the first option was to dump everything into Sapphire as ‘food’.
Well, it’s not just the ‘first’ option; all my other choices revolve around that too.
It’s just a matter of going all in at once or holding back.
The smartest, or safest, course of action would be to ‘seek guidance from above’ at the upcoming 10th Seat meeting. However, Istia’s basic stance is for each of us to get strong on our own, so for choices like this, the answer would most likely be “Do as you please.”
Goldow once said something like, “We, the rankers, are the ones who reached the top by doing as we pleased.”
For someone who says that, they all seem to be doting on me quite a bit… but well, I’m aware I’m a walking bundle of irregularities. I’m genuinely grateful.
So, what to do?
Personally, I’m a bit bothered by the fact that our shared inventory only contains the Relics I obtained…
“Hmm…”
I looked back at my enormous ‘servant,’ which cast a shadow not just over me but over the dog-and-tiger pair beside me.
With its wings neatly folded, Sapphire stretched its neck and quietly watched the distant boars, I wonder what it was thinking—then, noticing my gaze, it turned its head towards me.
It lowered its head and gently nuzzled against me. I patted its beak. Ah, so heartwarming.
No, really, looking back, I unleashed a merciless, cruel, one-minute kill on this creature, and now look at it. All sorts of emotions are welling up, but it’s no wonder I’ve grown attached so quickly.
This is undeniably a god-tier feature. The ultimate healing that is a pet is powerful—and when you can ‘interact’ with it in ways impossible in existing games, the depth of the rabbit hole is on another level.
Ah, whatever… I’ll just give it everything. That’s for the best.
“Alright, Sapphie, eat it all up. Oh, but don’t force yourself if you get full.”
Once I decided, I acted immediately. I may not be part of a certain Southern Faction tag team, but I’m not the type to agonize over my build for long either.
So, weapon switch… well, that’s obviously outside the effect range, so instead, I opened my inventory and dumped out the mountain of [Stardust Relics] in one go.
“Just as I expected, you don’t hold back—hey, Star, no. That’s not for you.”
“A little snack won’t hurt. Here, you have some too.”
After returning from its hunt, the little dog immediately ran to the mountain of ‘feasts,’ providing me with even more healing. I picked a random Relic from the pile and tossed it to Tiger-bro.
It ran over, but the fact that it didn’t just dig in shows it’s a good boy. Its tail was wagging like crazy, which was incredibly cute.
“Spoilin’ other people’s dogs. That’s just like you, Acrobat.”
“What’s that supposed to mean, Great Tiger?”
It’s fine, isn’t it? I like dogs—and yes, yes, of course I love dragons too. I’m a boy, after all. Cool, beautiful, cute, fantasy forever.
Am I overthinking it to see a hint of jealousy? With a wry smile, I endured the more insistent nuzzling and grabbed a giant-sized Relic from the top of the pile.
“I’m counting on you again, my starry shadow—please, grow up strong and healthy.”
This is a major difference from real-life pets.
The starry dragon, which clearly ‘understands’ its master’s words and intentions, plucked the [Stardust Relic] from my hand with the tip of its beak… and then, as if to say “Roger,”
It spread its great wings wide and flapped them, looking pleased.
From behind me, a complaint from one tiger blown away by the gust of wind was summarily ignored.
-------------------------------------- ◇Status / RIM◇ Name：Sapphire Lv：31 STR(Strength)：10 AGI(Agility)：200 MID(Spirit)：100 --------------------------------------
STR is just for garnish.