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Path to Prosperity - B1 Chapter 15
🕑 Added 2024-06-29 12:04:45 +0000 UTCPercy tried controlling his mana like before. It came naturally to him to infuse the orb in the Guildhall with mana, and it hadn’t been too difficult to stir his mana before, either. However, Percy felt a slight challenge infusing mana into the iron dagger.
Grow stronger and sharper!
He screamed in his mind but didn’t know if that would be enough. Percy tapped into the stream of mana coursing through him and stirred it. Nothing happened at first, but the situation changed drastically once the mana submitted to his command. It flushed through his arms and entered the iron dagger through his fingers.
His mana was sucked dry, but the iron dagger responded as intended. It glowed dimly and began vibrating violently, forcing Percy to grasp the dagger tighter than before. The white of his knuckles was visible as he clutched the handle as tightly as possible.
It hurt, and he felt cold.
It was odd, but Percy flashed a smile.
The Hill Hog arrived before him, putting Percy in danger. He jumped to the side and rolled over the ground, suppressing a pained groan as a twig pierced his back. Percy finished rolling over the ground and got up smoothly without wasting any time, ready to assault the Hill Hog mother. However, before he could strike the beast, Percy’s eyes narrowed to tiny slits.
Slow. Its neck is still restrained, but it slowed down, knowing I would jump to the side, even though it was still in the eternal rage mode.
That was annoying, but it wasn’t as bad as Percy had feared. The Hill Hog mother might have noticed his movement pattern, but it was too slow to change its trajectory or come to a halt instantaneously. The monster’s neck was the biggest issue, blocking it from moving in ways that changed the fate of the battle. That was Percy’s greatest advantage and the reason he managed to keep his cool as he appeared beside the massive creature.
His violently vibrating dagger lunged forward, piercing the Hill Hog’s tough hide. However, this time, it pierced much deeper. The entire blade disappeared in the Hill Hog’s neck.
The Hill Hog didn’t squeal in pain. It barely noticed Percy piercing into its neck in its fury. Instead of reacting to the blade stuck in its neck, the Hill Hog mother continued moving. Unable to see Percy, it threw a fit, the rage of losing its piglet filling the monster to the brim.
It continued moving and thrashed while Percy desperately held onto the iron dagger. That was all it took to deal severe damage to the Hill Hog mother.
Its violent movements and actions worsened the injury. Percy’s wrist hurt like hell, and he could vividly imagine his wrist breaking when he held onto the dagger handle, but he didn’t let go. He was unwilling to leave the Hill Hog behind like this. Instead, he kept holding onto the iron dagger and watched the dagger being pulled through the Hill Hog’s body as the mother continued moving around.
Using the Hill Hog’s momentum and fury against it was the most efficient way for someone like Percy to kill it. Yet, the rage was also the reason the massive gash along its neck and the side remained unnoticed.
The dagger blade cut even deeper into the Hill Hog mother’s neck, and it didn’t take long before a frightening sound rang out. Percy’s eyes widened as the blade cut through the Hill Hog’s side, leaving behind a massive gash in its side. It looked like a dam full of blood broke as streams of blood poured out of the creature.
However, even Percy couldn’t pay much attention to the gash anymore. His attention flickered to the iron dagger and the tiny crack in its blade.
You are not allowed to break yet!
Percy twisted the blade inside the Hill Hog before pulling out. He shuddered at the sight unfolding before him but didn’t dare to think of himself as the winner. The Hill Hog was not dead just yet. It turned to him and charged as if nothing had happened. Percy, controlling the dimly glowing blade, executed a sudden lung before diving to the other side. He tried stabbing the Hill Hog’s throat as he disappeared underneath the monster but missed his target by a hair’s breadth.
He jumped up and sliced the Hill Hog’s side, inflicting another deep gash.
The glow shrouding the dagger grew dimmer as the infused mana was consumed rapidly. Percy knew he had only a few more seconds left before his dagger wouldn’t be able to pierce the Hill Hog’s hide anymore. Thus, he risked more to inflict more severe wounds on the enraged Hill Hog.
He jumped left and right, ignoring the twigs piercing into his back or the bushes in his path. His body was riddled with cuts from tiny yet spiky thorns, and his clothes were drenched in a mixture of cold sweat and blood. The wounds inflicted by the Berserk Rabbits were bleeding, his stamina was slowly but surely reaching its limit as well, yet Percy didn’t slow down.
Percy managed to inflict close to five deep gashes all across the Hill Hog’s body, with the first being the worst of all before the iron dagger stopped glowing. The infused mana was used up.
But Percy wasn’t the only one left exhausted. The Hill Hog was exhausted, small puddles of blood forming all around it. The Hill Hog mother could barely move at this point. It grunted in fury but was unable to charge at Percy. It could see the murderer of its little piglet, yet its body didn’t want to move anymore.
That was when Percy sensed his opportunity. He was also tired, but his body obeyed his will. He charged forward, crossed the remaining distance to the Hill Hog mother, and thrust his dagger deep into the monster’s eyes.
He groaned as the Hill Hog’s tusk smashed into his ribs in a futile final attempt to eliminate Percy and twisted the blade in the Hill Hog’s eye while trying to shove it deeper inside.
The Hill Hog mother squeaked weakly and stared at Percy one last time with its remaining eyes before the life inside it dispersed. The faint glow in its remaining eye died down, and the massive creature collapsed to the ground.
[Hill Hog – Mature – 194 Prosperity]
Percy collapsed to the ground next to the Hill Hog as the interface popped up. He couldn’t even read what was written in the interface before he found himself lying on the ground, panting heavily.
That was…close…
He didn’t want to acknowledge it, but the fight with the Hill Hog was close. Lifting his trembling hand, Percy looked at his dagger.
[Iron Dagger – Damaged/Average Quality – 36(76) Prosperity]
The blade was coated in the Hill Hog’s blood, but that was not enough to hide the thin cobweb-like cracks spreading across the blade’s bottom.
It was at 76 Prosperity after I used 30 Prosperity to upgrade its sharpness. Maybe it’s still usable to hunt Berserk Rabbits, but it won’t survive another Hill Hog. In the first place, I only managed to kill it because I infused the dagger with mana. Iron daggers are not very good mana conductors.
Percy didn’t know a lot about weapons, but he understood that some materials, including monster parts and metals, were better mana conductors than others. That was also why the Berserk Rabbit’s eyes were more valuable than other parts. To Alchemists, at least.
Iron was not the worst mana conductor, but the iron dagger didn’t seem grateful for his miserable attempt to strengthen it in such a clumsy way.
I need to learn how to control mana more precisely. And…I need another dagger. Even if it’s a dull one, it should work. As long as I can enhance its sharpness with my Ego, that should be fine. A highly mana-conductive, durable dagger…But I don’t have much money…
Percy pushed beyond his limit and got up from the ground. He was exhausted, and his entire body ached. There was no mana left to soothe his sore body either. Traces of the surrounding mana were absorbed by his body, but it would take a while before he was full of mana. Until then, he would have to deal with the soreness and pain.
“The blood will attract predators,” Percy mumbled, recalling things he’d read in one of the books today.
It was common knowledge, but there were still a bunch of Adventurers who would forget about predators. Some thought that nobody would attack them once their fight was over. However, that was foolish. Percy realized that first-hand today.
It is too heavy. I cannot carry its corpse back to Raewood.
Percy groaned. The Prosperity displayed in the interface was rather high, but that wasn’t unexpected. Lots of the Hill Hog’s hide was left intact. The tusks and reinforced bones were worth a lot as well. Even its intestines were rich in nutrients. The monster’s meat might not be as delicious as the Berserk Rabbits’ but it was large and heavy. Many citizens would purchase Hill Hog meat at a reasonably high price since it was suitable for children’s growth. Some even say that Hill Hog meat helped children develop a gift.
Percy could make a fortune, probably earning him more than four silver as long as he managed to bring the Hill Hog’s body back to Raewood in the next few hours.
But that was not feasible. Carrying the Hill Hog was impossible. It was too heavy. Even if Percy could barely pull it across the ground, he would have to defend himself against Berserk Rabbits, which were probably already on his trail. Percy was certain that the Berserk Rabbits, with their exceptional smell, had already detected something.
Thus, rather than leaving the Hill Hog's corpse behind, Percy chose to use his Ego.
He approached the corpse and used [Consume] with his hands stretched out.
Similar to the first time Percy had used [Consume], eerie darkness burst out of his palm. However, this time, the darkness was faster… and deadlier.
A humongous maw filled with rows of razor-sharp teeth shrouded by the darkness emerged from his palm and devoured the Hill Hog’s corpse.
[Mature Hill Hog has been consumed. 194 Prosperity has been added.]
Percy shuddered as the darkness retracted, and he diverted his attention away from the grotesque effects of his Ego’s power. He checked his interface instead.
『Percy 』
[Ego – Coin of Prosperity]
[Tier] – [Mortal-2]
—
[Empty]
『Coin of Prosperity』
Prosperity: 197
➛Consume
It would have been a shame to leave the Hill Hog corpse behind. Using my Ego to turn heavy corpses into Prosperity is probably the best thing I can do while I don’t have a spatial bag or the like. The next time, I can remove the valuable parts of a larger monster and bring them back to Raewood while turning the rest into Prosperity to upgrade my equipment and Tier.
Percy smiled through his exhaustion and left the woods. He was still bleeding and didn’t want to challenge his luck. The only detour was to collect the Berserk Rabbit corpses. Once that was done, Percy returned to Raewood with hurried steps.
