Evolution Theory of the Hunter - Chapter 75

Evolution Theory of the Hunter (ETH)
Volume 1 Chapter 75

After thoroughly washing myself with soap, I went to light a bonfire. Even though it was well into Summer, this new land was weirdly still fairly chilly.

I heated my meal as I dried myself off.

“It’s nice that we don’t have to feed the dog real food. And it probably doesn’t poop either.”

“Almost the perfect pet, wouldn’t you say?”

Han Joonseok laughed as he spoke aloud.

As soon as the battle had ended, Kelby had returned to its normal size and was now fast asleep within Yeonkyoung’s arms.

Speaking of Yeonkyoung, it seems as though she really loves dogs. She never took her eye off the thing from the moment it appeared.

Though she didn’t talk a lot to start with, since the dog appeared, she’s only talked with Kelby.

Well…she didn’t really talk with Kelby so much as have one-sided conversations. But since Kelby could understand human speech, it wasn’t entirely crazy.

After we finished eating, I brought out all the items again. Since I was the only one who could see the stats via my manual, I had to explain them to everyone one by one.

I first applied all the ores to my upgrade.

The items were as follows:

Escape (0) 5 sheets: Takes the user directly outside the dungeon

Light Wounds Healing Potion (0) 5 bottles: To heal light wounds

Redemption Necklace (3): Can share the ability of one object with another. Effect disappears if too far apart.

Professional Cane (3): Raises spell by 1 level.

***

The Professional Cane obviously went to Manager Kim.

“Please return the other one. Since you purchased the Amplification Cane, you can keep that one but we will be selling the Floodplain cane.”

“I mean, I could use all three.”

“That’s your greed talking. How are you going to wield all three at one time? Are you really planning on holding one in your mouth during battle?”

“Are you crazy? I just thought I’d duct tape them all together or something.”

“Well, do whatever you want. Just make sure you don’t end up dropping one and running away because things get dangerous. Now, we have the Redemption Necklace left…”

***

Sooah raised her hand with the quickness. Everyone else quietly averted their eyes to avoid eye contact with me.

Its ability was a pretty good one so I had expected there to be a bit of a squabble over it.

“Did you guys all talk and plan to give it to Sooah or something? She’s more a porter than a hunter so raising her ability wouldn’t really do the team any good.”

“Sunbeh Oppa. Did you already forget how I killed that roach last time? If I just have the right items, I could be a great hunter too.”

“You have a point…”

“But how is it that no one else wants it? If you stick with me, it should bring your abilities up significantly.”

“Are you asking because you don’t know?”

Manager Kim asked.

Hm….I guess it’s because of the design.

The Redemption Necklace, put simply, looked like a dog collar.

It was a black band with a silver pendant that looked like a name tag, and it was just big enough to fit snugly around the neck.

Anyway, I guess no one wanted to put something like that around their necks – no matter how great it was. I briefly imagined Manager Kim with this around his neck before I shook it out from memory.

In the end, the Redemption Pendant went to Sooah. I was hoping that Yeonkyoung would take it as a Range Dealer, but since Sooah was support to the Range Dealers…it wasn’t a bad idea to have her wear it as well.

“What ability are you going to use?”

“Hm…I was thinking about strength, but since I already have something for that…I thought about copying your reflex instead.”

She already had the garter belt that raised her strength by 30 percent.

“I agree with that decision. It’ll help you in surprise situations.”

You don’t need to be crazy powerful. My opinion was that she needed to be just a bit strong for real battle since her main role was not killing monsters.

She was support for the party members dealing long range damage from the back. In order for her to help the archers and Manager Kim, who did not specialize in close combat, it was imperative for her to be able to react quickly to surprises.

After divvying up the items in that way, we set up the tent we brought in our car. Thinking this was better than sleeping in the car or out in the open, we had made this purchase the last time we were at Manripo.

Even though there was still time before the sun would set, since we were planning to spend the night here, we decided to pitch it early.

We had purchased a tent that was big enough for 10 people, so there was more than enough room for all of us in the party.

While everyone else was finishing pitching up the tent, I asked Yeonkyoung to pass Kelby over to me.

I thought I needed to learn a bit more about this dog, so I started going through my tutorial.

While looking up any topics related to Kelby, I only saw a simple explanation.

Cerberus was a growth type item – it increases its ability by absorbing/eating other items.

This was something I already knew. But there was a new tidbit.

In the case that Cerberus consumed a fully intact item, it would absorb the abilities of that items as well. While if Cerberus consumed the shattered remains of an item, it would only raise its proficiency.

Additionally, Cerberus can increase its size during battle, according to its proficiency – the higher the number, the larger it can grow.

Based on this point, it was very similar to a monster. Because monsters were usually bigger in size the higher their levels.

Anyway, since it could understand human language and was pretty obedient, I didn’t think we would have too many issues with it.

Except one point.

Chomp chomp chomp!

“Stop.”

Gnash Gnash.

The dog ignored my order and continued chomping at the level 1 sword.

This stupid mutt.

I take back what I said about being obedient. Cancel.

I took away the sword that Kelby was chewing at.

Kelby started whining a bit until I lightly flicked its nose – to which it became silent. Man, it really does act like a dog though.

Kelby, who didn’t even give a speck of interest to any of our food, immediately perked up at the sight of items.

The reason I had brought out the sword in the first place was to train it.

If Kelby continued to eat every item it saw on the ground without listening to any commands, it would end up costing us a lot.

If possible, I wanted to be able to selectively give items to Kelby. Because if an item we really needed ended up in Kelby’s stomach…that would really suck.

“Whimper.”

Kelby gave a slight whimper and looked up at me with big puppy dog eyes. Seeing its lifeless tail, it was obvious that it wanted the item back.

When I slowly started to put the sword back down, it raced for the item.

“Wait.”

I lightly pushed back on Kelby’s head so that it couldn’t reach the sword.

It tried with all its might to grab at the sword but, in its small puppy form, it couldn’t win against my strength.

Of course it wouldn’t be able to win against me in terms of power even in its larger form. But supposing that it could, my reflexes would still make it all but impossible to take the sword from me.

“Eat.”

Nom!

As soon as I moved my hand, Kelby rushed in and ate the broken item. Seeing it chomp so happily on the sword was enough to almost make me hungry.

And after doing this for about 20 minutes, dinner was finally ready.

As soon as I handed Kelby back over to Yeonkyoung, she immediately began to pet and coo at the dog as if I had put it through some horrible ordeal. And Kelby began rubbing its head into her large breasts.

I don’t know why but that kind of made me angry. Feeling my stare, Yeonkyoung spoke.

“Why are you looking at Kelby with such a scary expression?”

“Well….I don’t think I was making a scary expression exactly…”

“You looked about ready to eat the poor thing.”

“No. I was just looking at it because it wasn’t listening.”

I muttered and shrugged.

I couldn’t say what I was really thinking or else she would think I was a pervert so I kept silent.

Since I was an adult, I needed to be able to have some kind of self control. I could do that much.

Rub rub.

Rub rub.

Rub rub.

That mutt!