Leaving Sajji on lookout duty, Altaïr crouched down, drew his small knife, and began carving.
Although Konchu were "pests," they weren't entirely useless.
The thick fluid inside their bodies was known as "Monster Fluid," an excellent adhesive frequently used by craftsmen. The same went for their hard yet lightweight shells.
Ranger's Headgears of the Loc Lac Rangers were crafted primarily from Konchu shells.
Ah, no wonder Boss Joda was so enthusiastic about this.
Altaïr muttered to himself as he put away a freshly carved shell. He continued to wield his carving knife when, suddenly, he felt its tip strike something hard.
Prying it out, he found a blue, ore-like substance the size of a pigeon's egg.
"An Armor Sphere?" Altaïr was pleasantly surprised. "What great luck!"
He recognized the item but had never had the chance to obtain one, let alone use it.
This mineral was difficult to form naturally, and only high-level alchemists could produce it consistently. The Guild often used it as a reward to incentivize hunters who successfully completed difficult quests.
After special processing by craftsmen, this mineral could be liquefied and infused into armor, filling in the tiny pores within and greatly enhancing its strength.
He had to store this carefully. The Ranger's Armor set he was currently using didn't belong to him, so there was no need to use a precious Armor Sphere on it. As for his own Hunter's Armor, it was too low-grade and equally unworthy.
It was best to save it for now and wait until he had the opportunity to craft higher-level armor.
The discovery of the Armor Sphere boosted Altaïr's enthusiasm for carving even further. A faint smile even appeared on his usually expressionless face.
He carved something similar from the second Konchu, but its quality was much lower than the first one, and it was smaller. It could only be called an "Armor Stone."
Still, this was enough to make Altaïr happy.
Finding one might have been pure luck, but finding two in a row meant something different. It seemed that hunting Konchu was one way to obtain Armor Spheres.
No wonder there were always hunters willing to take on those troublesome quests to hunt fifteen or even twenty Konchu.
I'm sorry, Boss Joda. You really were looking out for me after all!
After finishing the carving, Altaïr and Sajji continued to wander the area, searching for both exposed ore veins to mine and more Konchu.
Both tasks went relatively smoothly, though they were time-consuming. After two days, he had collected almost enough ore, and he had even mined a decent-quality piece of Bealite Ore.
His progress in hunting Konchu, however, was slower.
Perhaps Boss Joda had been worried he would be overwhelmed by a swarm of Konchu and had specifically found him an area with fewer of them. Or maybe other hunters had already cleared this area out.
It wasn't until the afternoon of the second day that he finally found the fifth Konchu.
However, this Konchu was in a rather strange position. It was stuck firmly to the head and neck of an Apceros, like a plaster.
It looked as if the Apceros was wearing a helmet.
"This is..." Altaïr was a bit dumbfounded.
As a larger species among herbivores, Apceros were highly territorial and would proactively attack any hunter that entered their line of sight. However, they moved slowly and had simple attack patterns, posing virtually no threat to hunters.
The only thing that was slightly troublesome was their heavy armor.
The usual way to deal with them was to bypass the hard shell on their head and back and attack their less-defended neck. But now, a Konchu was stuck right on its weak spot.
Although it might affect the flexibility of its head turns to some extent, it now truly felt like an impenetrable iron slab with no opening to exploit.
Altaïr and Sajji looked at each other in dismay.
"I'll go lure the other Apceros away, meow." Sajji, the gold-grade bait, patted the back of Altaïr's hand with his small paw. "I'll leave that one to you, meow!"
With that, he ran off, bouncing around to attract the attention of the other few Apceros.
With no better option, Altaïr could only rush out from his hiding spot and block the path of the Apceros that had 'merged' with the Konchu.
The ill-tempered Apceros lowered its head and charged at the hunter before it.
Its momentum was impressive, but its speed was truly slow. Altaïr sidestepped a few paces, easily dodging the attack while simultaneously drawing his sword and slashing down on the Apceros's forehead.
The blade, forged from Iron Ore, only left a white mark on the Apceros's head. To a creature that frequently headbutted rivals for mates and status, the kinetic energy from the blade was barely a tickle.
After a couple of exchanges like this, Altaïr found a way to break the stalemate.
The Konchu was covering the back and sides of the Apceros's neck, but the throat area was still exposed. As long as he seized the right opportunity, taking down this Apceros wouldn't be difficult.
Once the Apceros fell, the Konchu clinging to it wouldn't be able to cause any trouble.
However, Altaïr suddenly decided against it.
He had been looking for a chance to properly practice his Perfect Rush and Charge.
Going to the training area to hit dummies was boring; no matter how elaborate the dummy, it could never replicate the unpredictability of a real battle. His original plan was to accept a subjugation quest and practice his moves on some Genprey.
But not only would that be risky, a regular Genprey probably couldn't withstand the damage of a few Perfect Rushes, let alone an enhanced version that incorporated Charge techniques.
It wasn't easy to find a target that was tough-skinned, suitably sized, aggressive enough not to turn and flee, but at the same time, not too dangerous.
Wasn't this the perfect meat shield right in front of him?
Altaïr flicked his wrist, flourishing his sword. "You'd better hold on, let me practice a little longer."
—--
"Did you not bring a pickaxe and decide to smash ore with this sword instead, you brat?!"
The Shopkeeper stared at the Hunter's Dagger, its blade chipped and nicked so severely that the once-straight body had become warped, and couldn't help but curse. "You're fucking forbidden from using a Sword and Shield ever again! You really should just go back to using a Hammer!"
"Can it still be repaired?" Altaïr asked with a dry laugh.
"Repair my ass! It can't be repaired! With the blade in this state, the main structure is destroyed. It can only be completely melted down and reforged!" the Shopkeeper said irritably.
"Alright then. When you reforge it, please help me add these ores to strengthen it all around." Altaïr poured the high-quality ores he had collected from his previous quest, the Machalite Ore, Dragonite Ore, and that even rarer Bealite Ore, onto the workshop counter in one go.
"And meow, I want to forge the Felyne Alloy Mail, meow, and an F Hunting Knife, meow!" Sajji also poked half his head out from the counter, pushing a bundle of ore forward.
The Shopkeeper let out a breath and inspected the ores. "The quality of the ore isn't bad, and there's enough of it, but is it necessary to separate it all? Reforging your Hunter's Dagger will leave behind quite a bit of good-quality scrap ore. Just add a couple more pieces of ore to that, and it'll be enough for the little Palico to forge a new set of gear."
"Of course, that's fine. It's not like I have a hunting partner anyway. It would be a waste to just leave the scrap ore lying around," Altaïr said, unconcerned. Sajji, on the other hand, looked rather embarrassed.
Realizing her misunderstanding, the Shopkeeper glanced at Sajji in surprise. "No hunting partner? I thought you two were already partners, completing quests together and coming to the workshop together."
Prompted by the Shopkeeper's words, Altaïr realized something and crouched down in front of Sajji. "We may only be colleagues right now, but would you like to sign a contract and become my partner?"
Looking at Altaïr's outstretched hand, Sajji was tempted. But then he remembered Altaïr saying he didn't plan on staying with the Loc Lac Rangers for long, and he resolutely shook his little head.
"I'm sorry, meow. I still want to stay with the Loc Lac Rangers, meow."