I made my way out of the village after saying bye to mom, who waved for minutes as I left for the grasslands.
It took me what felt like at least two hours until I reached the wide open field and I pulled out my notebook to check mom’s notes.
They were immediately helpful and I managed to orient myself in the area, mom’s notes contained a lot of detail.
Now I had to find the cave entrance that was supposedly northwest from me.
I began walking.
The grass went up to my knees and I had to put in a few detours to not disturb a small herd of Anceros, as they were grazing near some tall trees peacefully.
Disturbing a herd with younger animals could become dangerous as Anceros parents could be truly ferocious until their young offspring could leave to mate.
One of the adult ones noticed me, its head swiveling towards my direction, but continued to eat leaves from a tree, while the younglings only ate grass.
Another hour later, I came towards a different group of trees, but didn’t see any cave entrance.
When I got closer, I saw it, a hole leading underground.
I squeezed through it and lit my small oil lantern.
The hole was narrow and went steep downhill.
“Oof what a bother,” I complained, my voice echoing a tiny bit.
I crouched along the lamp illuminated darkness for what felt like an eternity, but soon came towards a wide open cave.
In the light of the oil lamp I could make out streams of water running down some of the cave walls.
As I moved further in, I came to a turn.
There was the first spot my mother’s notes mentioned, the small underground lake.
The small lake, I actually rather call it a pond, glowed thanks to swarms of bioluminescent fish, bathing the cave into light blues.
A few tree roots with lots of mushrooms on them grew down near the pond.
With purposeful steps, I got to the roots and found my first midnight cup mushrooms.
I cut them off the roots, careful to not damage the mushroom stems.
That made three of the needed materials at the first stop.
I turned and followed the cave down the other way, further downwards to another open cave.
The ceiling was caved in and allowed the daylight to bathe the cave into almost ethereal light.
Sadly, there were absolutely no mushrooms here and instead I found an abandoned drake nest with quite a few bones strewn around.
I just had to check it out.
When I got close, I noticed most of the bones were broken and had cracks, but lucky me found one hard looking wyvern bone among them.
I wasn’t sure what wyvern it used to be, but the 1.5 meter long bone went into my backpack.
Even if not much, if it actually was a wyverns thigh bone, it would fetch me a few Zenny.
The way back up was strenuous, the small cave I had to go through forced me to crouch my way up.
As I reached the opening, the sun was already beginning to set.
Still, I couldn’t go back yet, as I needed 13 more mushrooms and had a time limit.
I used my elbow to swipe away some sweat from my brow and jogged towards the next cave.
The sun sunk even deeper when I reached it, a massive hole in the ground, leading into a truly dark void.
Holding up my lamp, I chose every step down with care.
It felt like the cave was breathing, sending shivers up my spine.
Still, I need those mushrooms.
I took a breath to calm myself and continued on, quickly reaching a wall.
In the glimmer of my oil lamp I found five more midnight cup mushrooms.
Lucky!
‚If I have any more luck the next day, I’ll be able to finish this quest in no time!’ I thought and got out of this dark cave.
A few last rays of sun colored the grasslands into a deep orange.
When I came home from my first day on a quest, I didn’t need to use the base camp, as it was just a short walk anyways, only mother was home.
“I’m baaack!” Mom turned to look up from cooking on the hearth, “welcome back sweetie, are you done with your quest already?” “No, but I got 8 midnight mushrooms in one go!” I happily told her and sat down at the hearth next to her.
“If I check the other places from your notes, I bet I’ll be done tomorrow evening.” I stole a piece of carrot from the pile mom had prepared for tonight’s meal and tossed it into my mouth.
“Those are for dinner, Aria,” mom admonished me with a face that told me she was okay with my snacking.
I threw another piece into my mouth, moving my whole upper body to catch it with my mouth, making my mom sigh with exasperation.
She then threw the carrots together with quite a few other vegetables into the hot deep pan on the hearth, but left a few raw carrots for me to snack on.
Without my father at home, the evening went by pretty quiet and soon the next day came.
I woke up at sunrise and after checking my gear, the backpack and refilling my lamp oil and water skin, I now stood on the plains again.
Having never been this early on the grasslands, everything still glistened with morning dew, letting the lush green glass shine.
I made my way towards the eastern cave, a place I haven’t checked before.
Moving around a small hill, I found the entrance.
Inside, there was a small underground river, almost looking tranquil and I followed it until the cave split off.
According to my notes I had to take the left way.
I noticed a few old claw marks at least 5 centimeters deep.
Sure I’ve trained with Rune and my parents to learn how to be a huntress, but I haven’t killed any monsters yet.
A bit nervous and my left on my sword hilt, I continued on.
The cave wound deep with stalagmites and stalactites restricting my moves.
A few of them were broken by bigger claws, making me more cautious.
I took my time and after more than an hour in darkness, I found an underground spring.
A few mushrooms grew at the edge of the cave, illuminated by some luminescent moss.
Sadly there were only Kelpy heads and long Anemior mushrooms.
Back in-game the first one was used to make healing potions and the latter could be combined into coatings to induce stronger bleeding on attacks.
The way out took just as long and I heard what sounded like a few raptor cries up ahead.
Scratching noises drew nearer and suddenly the cave was bathed in silence.
My oil lamp allowed me to see maybe 10 meters far, less when I mounted it to my belt, but I holstered it and readied my stance.
With my shield lifted, I focused and a 1 meter long raptor jumped into the light.
The raptor, a Zenrade with ochre scales launching into a savage attack.
I smashed my shield right at it, my arm got a bit numb as I pushed through and parried the monster’s attack.
My sword drew a close arc upwards, slicing the Zenrade vertically from belly to throat.
It screeched terribly wounded as it slammed into a stalagmite.
I used the momentum and stepped back, giving myself some space.
Not even a heartbeat later a second Zenrade flew past, missing me by a hair’s breadth, diving back into darkness.
Claws clacked, moving around me towards my back.
I spun around just as the second one dove at me, claws pushed forward and its maw wide open.
I took a step to the right and followed through with a spinning slash, aiming for the neck.
It hit, but only superficially and the raptor-like beast snapped right at me, trying to get me for lunch.
My right fist smashed into the side of its head, avoiding being bitten.
A diagonal arc followed, my blade slicing deep into its rump.
The monster tried to speed away, but its left hind leg gave in and it couldn’t stand anymore.
I went in for the kill, dealing a finishing blow and the cave was quieter again.
I took a deep labored breath, trying to calm myself and shouldered the Zenrade carcasses.
With heavy steps and two dead monsters slung over my back, I soon reached the fork again and decided to check the other side out too, but it only led up and back out.
I stuck my head out of the cave, checking my surroundings for any monsters.
It was midday now and of course groups of Anceros grazed again.
Out in broad daylight, I put down the carcasses and carved them like my father showed me.
Of course it was different from the game and unlike the game mechanics, it was very bloody.
I pushed the skin into a separate compartment in my backpack and the fangs and claws onto a smaller one.
The rest would go back to nature, as Zenrade didn’t have any special organs to harvest and their meat wasn’t any usable.
I had no luck for the rest of the day, cursing the fast respawn times they had back in-game and how long it took for them to actually grow.
On my way back I made another detour to sell the surprise materials from my first actual monster kill to the guild.
As my armor was sticky, I walked towards the baths inside the guild hall.
Inside was a spacious area to change and an older huntress greeted me with a nod.
I unbuckled my leather armor, feeling gross with all the dried blood on it.
I peeled off my leather pants, which of course had blood stains on them too and the worst of all?
Zenrade blood seriously stinks.