Slash!
Krchh!
Stab!
The sound of Trudy's sword going through the wolves' flesh resounded clearly over the rushing of the waterfall.
The moment the wolf died, I deactivated my telekinesis spell on it and caused the creature to collapse to the ground.
Splash!
As Trudy was slaying the monsters, I sat by the water and pulled out any fish I saw using telekinesis.
Thud!
Thud!
While swinging my feet back and forth through the water, I flew out dozens of fishes from beneath the surface and laid them on the ground behind me, causing them to squirm and jump around for water.
Slash!
Whimper…
Once the fishes were gathered into a big pile, Trudy slayed the final wolf, the giant one.
"I'm done, Serafina! What should we do n--Huh? What's this?"
Something suddenly caught Trudy's attention.
I walked up to her as she crouched by the giant wolf's mouth.
"Take a look at this! It felt out of the monster's jaw!"
Trudy said while holding up a shining blue stone. The object was radiating with magical energy.
"I knew it. The giant wolf was carrying an elemental stone after all."
I said while taking the stone from her.
"Elemental stone?"
"It's an important material for enchantment and crafting. Back home, even a poor quality rock like this would worth half a year of your salary as a maid."
"H-half a year?! So this is a rare item, then?!"
"Indeed. This is a water elemental stone. So we should try to gather the other stones as well and stockpiling them."
Now we had a way of acquiring elemental stones, I could begin making enchantment stones that could help us in battle.
We could also use the stones as an extra material for weapons to imbue them with supporting attributes.
Honestly, the elemental stones had many uses.
Considering how much we needed them, there was no way we would have too much elemental stones.
"Clearly we need to bring the stone back. But what do we do with the monsters?"
Trudy asked.
She probably wondered if she should cut off their meats and bring them back to the lobby.
It had been a while since we last ate meat after all.
"Including their meats, we do have some uses for their furs, fangs, and claws. So it'd be a waste to just leave them here to rot."
I said to Trudy.
"Really?"
"Yes. Their body parts are key ingredients in some potions. So we would need them."
"Then I'll get to work!"
Trudy said while pulling her dagger.
"You know how to butcher?"
"My father was one. I learned a few things from him before I left home and became a maid."
"Then I'll leave you to it."
Trudy then immediately began draining the wolves' blood and skinning them one by one.
As she dismembered the monsters, I walked down the river and checked up on Gerrits.
He had gathered quite a lot of clays, as well as iron sand and some fishes. He also collected the river water I asked.
Having finished getting what he needed, the two of us walked back to the portal.
We then found Pauline pouring in the wheats she gathered from the field into the dimensional portal. Apparently she found several piles of corns as well during her harvest.
We soon saw Tarran climbing up from the side of the cliff.
The basket on his back was full with Dara flowers. There had to be at least three hundred of them judging from how they heavily filled the basket.
Using telekinesis, I helped the others pour the materials they gathered into the portal.
I also threw in the elemental stone we acquired.
A barrage of notification windows soon appeared.
['Serafina (★★★★)' has collected Basic Water Elemental Stone (D-)!]
['Pauline (★)' has collected wheat x40!]
['Serafina (★★★★)' has collected fish x7!]
['Serafina (★★★★)' has collected wheat x80!]
['Tarran (★)' has collected Dara flower x30!]
['Gerrits (★★★)' has collected clay x20!]
['Serafina (★★★★)' has collected Dara flower x100!]
['Serafina (★★★★)' has collected...]
Once finished, I told them about the wolves Trudy was butchering by the waterfall.
We then made our way back to her.
By the time we got to the waterfall, Trudy had done cutting up the monsters.
The slicing on the hide, meat, fangs, and claws were not that clean and precise. But she managed to separate them all for transport.
"Sorry. It's been a while since I did this much butchering."
Trudy said, acknowledging the quality of her work.
"It's alright. You're not a hunter. It's already well that you're able to do this much."
I told her.
Trudy suddenly put a solemn smile on her face. Her gaze turned distant.
"Cecily was a hunter. She would be perfect for this job."
It was a shame that Cecily died in the fifth floor.
Other than the fact that we could use her expertise to gather food for us now that we had access to this dungeon, Party 1 also lost an archer which was valuable in our formation.
Gerson could be replaced by Trudy again who had been fighting with us before.
But we did not have another capable archer like Cecily back in the lobby.
We would definitely need to find her replacement as soon as possible.
[00:06:17]
Seeing that we had little time left, the five of us rushed to get the meats and the wolves' parts into the dimensional portal.
We also made sure to pick up the fishes I pulled from the water.
Once the timer ran out, we had finished storing the last item.
Another window soon appeared.
[Mission Complete!]
[The heroes will return to the lobby!]
[Items Obtained:]
[Basic Water Elemental Stone (D-) x1]
[Dara Flower x327]
[Wheat x589]
[Iron sand…]
A familiar bluish-white light soon engulfed us and in a matter of seconds we found ourselves back to the mirrored chamber. The baskets and the gathering tools we brought also returned with us.
I noticed the mission window referred to us as 'heroes.'
Perhaps that was how I should refer the people here.
After all, we were all chosen by the voice to come to the forged land, or rather, lobby as what the fairy would call the place.
And the voice did tell me I would be joining master's army of 'heroes.'
We then stepped out of the mirrored room and got out to the square.
Even from afar, we could see into the storage's ajar door that the place was now filled with new crates that were not there before.
Those were definitely the materials we collected.
As expected, once poured into the dimensional portal, the items would be repackaged properly.
Just as we were about to disperse, the fairy appeared in the square.
[Jonah, Shanny, Giacomo, Linnie, Wesley! Come to the square!]
Another party was summoned.
"Are they going to the same place we went?"
Pauline asked.
"I would think so."
I replied.
Considering the party composition, they were likely called to gather materials as well. Since Giacomo and Linnie worked in the kitchen and then Wesley in the tannery.
We walked by them as we were making our way back.
"What did you guys do in there?"
Shanny asked us.
"It wasn't a trial. We were just collecting things."
Trudy said.
"Mind though, you might encounter a few monsters inside. Wolves. You and Jonah need to stay on guard and protect the others."
I told the two.
"Understood. Anything else?"
Jonah asked.
"Try hunting down a big wolf, the one which size is way larger than the others. That kind of monster will drop a rare elemental stone out of its mouth once killed. We need that stone."
"We'll keep a lookout then."
"And gather the red flowers blooming by the side of the cliff. You'll know when you see it. Gather them as much as you can. And collect the water from the river too. I would need all of them to make potions."
"As you wish."
Other than the instructions on those two, Pauline also told her fellow cooks about the wheat and corn field she found.
Gerrits also mentioned to Wesley a few useful materials that he could find inside.
We passed along a few more details about the gathering mission, exchanged the gathering tools, and separated from them.
Jonah's gathering party soon entered the rift of space-time.