The next day when I wake up around dawn I roll around in bed, tensing my muscles and stretching my limbs at random, briefly reveling in my new strength. Then, I climb out and search through my clothes. I settle on a matched dusty gray pants and shirt that I think would be good for traveling. After a moment of thought, I grab a towel and washcloth, underwear, socks and shoes, and carry the lot out with me. When I walk through the kitchen I almost run into Dad as he enters the house. "Ah, morning. I figured I'd take a bath in the river before we head out."

"Alright. Don't take too long. We'll need to leave a fair bit before noon if we want to get home tonight." He holds the door and steps back enough for me to slip by. I run west along a small trail until I reach the bend of a river that flows north-east then north out to the ocean. I hang my clothes for the day and towel on a nearby branch, then strip before jumping into the water with an excited shout.

After a few seconds I resurface with a sigh, then stand on the riverbed. The water in this part of the river generally comes up to my shoulders at the center but flows slowly enough that I can stand in place. I spend a while swishing around and rubbing myself down with the cloth before leaning back to run my fingers through my hair along with the water.

Once I'm satisfied that my hair is clean I straighten up and stretch my arms overhead. "Suppose I should finish up? Haa." I pout, but start walking back to the shore. Before I reach the edge of the water, I feel a sudden sharp pain in my lower back. "Yeowch!"

My left hand whips back to grab the cause, taking hold of something hard and smooth. Which I jerk away from my back, then haul up to where I can see. Some kind of ugly almost bony looking fish with a spiral horn about fifteen centimeters long. My hand is gripping the horn, just under the last few centimeters. "What does a fish need a horn for?!" It spits water at me and flails around.

I walk out of the water and stab the fish's horn into a tree hard enough to embed it there, then I rub my back lightly. My fingers come away slick with a faint sheen of blood. "Little fogging bastard." I hold the damp washcloth there for a minute or so until the bleeding seems to slow, then call out a slime jelly cup and down the contents. After the healing effect wraps up I step back into the river for a second to rinse the blood away, then step out, dry off, and get dressed.

After pulling my shoes on, I glare over to the fish. "Now, what to do about you?" It flops its tail side to side and gurgles. "Uch, still alive? . . Must be a monster then." I finally focus on it properly. Feels like it's, pretty strong actually. Just a bit below the Demon Crow Tir and I killed yesterday. I pick up a large rock, then bring it down hard on the fish's head, just below where the horn connects to its head.

The fish tears away from the horn and falls to the ground spasming, but not moving with enough coordination to get back to the water. I yank the horn out of the tree and stab it through the fish's eye to finish it off. Naturally, I convert it to see what I can get. [30 units of Unicornfish Material obtained] [Unicornfish variant: Plated Unicornfish, converted. Recipes unlocked; False Unicorn Horn Spear 20 Unicornfish material and 20 any tree monster material, Fish Plate Cuirass 50(Variable) Unicornfish material]

"A spear, huh?" I take a moment to check the description. [False Unicorn Horn Spear: A spear specialized towards piercing, lacks the holy attribute of genuine unicorn horn] After that, I make the spear. It manifests as a solid pole about my height with a foot long spiral horn on one end. Can't tell how it's joined, but swinging it around and jabbing the air a few times makes it seem pretty sturdy. "Not bad at all. Feels like it's close to something I'd like more though?"

I shrug, lean the spear over my shoulder, and gather my laundry before heading back. When I walk into the house I lean the spear against the wall next to the shelf Dad leaves his gear on, then turn into the room further. Dad and Tir are sitting at the table and staring at me with a questioning look. "Ahhem. I'll explain in a second." I run into my room to put away my laundry then head back out.

I sit at the table and look around. Travel rations of salted jerky and rough looking bread, and a meat pie with a savory scent. Dad starts dishing up the pie after I sit down, cutting it into three roughly equal portions. A bit of a hearty breakfast before a trip, but looks good. It's still visibly steaming on the plates. I decide to let mine cool a bit yet. "So, while I was bathing I got attacked by an ugly fish with a horn on its head. After I killed it I made the spear with my skill. I kinda like the feel of it. So I think I'll be trying it out for a while. Maybe some other similar weapons too? If I get recipes for them."

Dad grunts in understanding, and Tir stares at the spear for a moment. Then we focus on breakfast. Once Dad finishes, he stands up to take a closer look at the spear. He doesn't swing it around like I did, though that might just be because he's inside. After a few seconds he speaks. "Unicornfish horn? Must've been a big one."

"The fish didn't have a horn as long as the spear tip. I don't think Monster Conversion really cares about stuff like that." He squints a bit, then sets it aside before starting to pack up the travel rations. When I finish eating, I grab my bag and put my half of the rations in it. We grab our respective gear, and leave the dishes for Tir as we head out.

We cut through Vestal going south. After a while following the southern road I get bored since we aren't encountering many monsters. "Where are we going anyway? I already knew Vestal didn't have any smithies, but you didn't say anything specific."

"Hmm. Right, I go every now and then so I didn't think much of it. My better arrows use metal heads after all. These treantwood ones are pretty good too though." He rattles his quiver in emphasis, then clears his throat. "We're headed to the Dungeon City Vulstus."

I furrow my eyebrows and tilt my head. "Why'd you go out of your way to call it a dungeon city? Vestal has a dungeon too."

He snorts to hold back a laugh. "Vestal has one, small dungeon. That only has relatively weak monsters. Vulstus has three dungeons, two that produce useful materials and one that has monsters over the limit in its deeper floors. Which makes it good for training once you pass level fifty, or uh, C Rank if you wanna account for people without Vestria's Blessing. As for the first two, one is the best source of iron and copper in Engale, and the other has alchemic herbs growing throughout and edible monsters."

I hum thoughtfully, but don't have anything else to say about that. Before I can think of something else to ask about, I hear a shifting noise off to the side of the road, in some bushes. We both snap to look for the source. Before I can get a feel for the danger, something comes into sight. A massive nearly black gray spider with a slight shine to its exoskeleton, its front pair of legs end in curved blades. I tense up, and for a moment it feels like my blood runs cold.

My next heartbeat sends a feeling like fire through my veins. My grip on my spear shifts, I lift it over my shoulder and step forward with the opposite foot, then throw it. The spear sparks off of the top of the spider's head, leaving a small notch, before flying past it into the undergrowth.

The spider shrieks, and lunges onto the road ahead. I fall to my knees and freeze completely. Then suddenly, arrows sprout from its two largest eyes and it falls to the cobbled road with an audible clanging noise. After a few seconds I manage to draw a deep shuddering breath, but can't tear my gaze away from the spider.

I feel a heavy hand settle on my right shoulder and squeeze slightly. "Can't handle giant spiders eh? Your Mother was the other way around with rats. Wouldn't flinch at a monstrous rat the size of a large dog. But the moment she laid eyes on a mouse no bigger than my thumb she'd be climbing the furniture and yelling for help."

His hand starts to lift away, but I lunge to grab it and finally turn to look at him. "D-don't tell Tir! He'd never let me live it down." He chuckles and places his hand on my head to ruffle my hair. My face flushes and I growl slightly. "I'm not kidding!"

"Well, he'd find out eventually if you keep partying up. Giant spiders aren't exactly rare monsters." I sigh and shove his hand away before standing up awkwardly. I feel a little unsteady on my feet, and still feel a rush of fear when I look at the monster's corpse. "Now, what to do about this? It's too big to carry the whole thing. . . Hmm, cut off the legs and use your skill on the rest?"

"I guess? . . You do that. I'm gonna go get my spear back." He chuckles again, and I skirt well around the spider to dive into the brush after the spear. I end up going clear through the patch of bushes without finding it. Looking past the bushes though, I spot it on the other side, embedded several centimeters into a boulder. "Damn, how tough was that thing?"

I yank the spear out and head back to the road. Dad has already cut the legs off and tied them up in a bundle slung over his shoulder. I stare at the rest of the corpse with a slight frown. Then I convert it. [40 units of Iron Spider Material obtained] [Recipes unlocked; Web Net Capsule 5 units any spider Material, Black Spider Shield 100 units Iron Spider Material, -Unknown-, and -Unknown-, Dark Guandao 400 Iron Spider Material]

"Huh? I dunno what to make of the names, but apparently that thing was an Iron Spider. Gimme a sec to check the more interesting ones." [Black Spider Shield: Description unavailable] [Dark Guandao: A bladed polearm that bonds to an individual wielder and draws upon their power to grow stronger. Modeled after the weapon of a legendary warrior] "That, actually sounds kinda cool." I rub the back of my neck. "But, I'd need ten times as much material to make it."

"Found something you like? Well, you can treat that as a long term goal then. Give you a good excuse to work towards getting over your fear." I fidget slightly, then nod. "Alright good. For now, let's get moving. Still too early to stop for lunch." The rest of the trip to Vulstus is fairly uneventful, though I did at least get a little more slime material.

Like Vestal, Vulstus has a wall, however, the wall only surrounds the central area of the city, which is larger than Vestal on its own. The rest of the sprawling city has lesser, but still sturdy looking defenses. We head for a workshop near the walled portion of the city. The workshop is rather open, probably to cool the workspace. Dad walks in rather casually, so I simply follow along.

He approaches one of the several men working in the shop, someone about his age with nearly bleached blond hair wearing a partially burned leather apron and a dark glass visor. No one says anything until the man finishes shaping the breastplate he's working on. Once he's done with that, he raises the visor speaks up first. His eyes are red. "Already ruin all of your arrowheads Tiruse?" Dad chuckles and shakes his head. The man's gaze wanders over to me. "Blue? Right. You must be Aradain. Your dad used to gush over how cute his kids were. Calmed down in the last few years though."

"C'mon Calaide. No need to bring that up." Dad actually looks a little flustered. He shakes his head and holds out the bundle of metallic spider legs. "Anyway, I'm here to get a nice steel hunting knife she can use for carving up monsters for quests and the like. With a coating so it'll last longer, of course. Think we can cut a deal with these iron spider legs?"

Calaide briefly looks over the legs before nodding. "The metal from the regular legs should be around a silver each, but the blade legs are worth four each, since the blades can be turned into weapons as is with only a little work." Monster parts are already sometimes used as weapons? Maybe my skill won't stand out too much after all.

Dad grins broadly. "That's better than I expected. Aradain, I'll go ahead and cover the full cost. So save your money for something else." Calaide waves a younger man, maybe twenty or so, to deal with the spider legs.

I think a moment, then shake my spear handle a bit. "Maybe I can get some lessons on fighting with a spear?" Dad sighs softly as if he didn't expect me to go with that idea.

Chaos_Sinner777

Took a while for me to get back into this. Woops. Sorry, I've been reading looooots~ Mostly Dungeon Builder type stories. Love those. My favorites from my recent reading binge are the Crafter's Dungeon series and the Elemental Dungeon series.