novelhk Chapter 291: Blue Lake Hunt
Chapter 291: Blue Lake Hunt
With a local guide leading the way, Gauss and his group quickly found an inn near the docks.The room had an excellent view, allowing them to take in the entire lake scenery at a glance.
Perhaps due to the Lakefest Competition, the town's inns were almost fully booked, with tourists and competitors in various attire coming and going, forming a stark contrast to the desolation of Gold-Silver Town.
It was just past noon, and the sunlight was perfect.
Gauss and the others had no intention of resting further at the inn.
After a quick wash and changing into comfortable everyday clothes, they casually strolled onto the bustling main street, intending to personally experience this rare festive atmosphere.
The moment they stepped onto the street, a wave of noise washed over them.
Both sides of the street were lined with various stalls, the air filled with the aroma of grilled fish and meat, along with the fresh moisture brought by the lake breeze.
"So lively!"
Aria's eyes sparkled.
Her gaze moved back and forth between the various stalls.
She stopped at a stall selling small accessories like shells, picked up a wind chime-like ornament, gently shook it, and listened to the crisp, pleasant clinking sound it made.
Besides food, the street vendors sold exquisite little souvenirs.
"Why didn't you buy it?"
Gauss asked curiously when he saw Aria return empty-handed.
"Too expensive, that vendor thought I was a fool, asking for two silver coins for a small wind chime." Aria shook her head.
Although she wasn't short of money, she wasn't willing to be cheated.
The asking price was so outrageous that she didn't even bother haggling.
Gauss shook his head.
The group purchased some supplies on the street.
They only returned to the inn to rest as dusk approached.
Night.
Gauss walked alone on the streets.
After exploring and inquiring during the day, he had gained some understanding of the local situation.
He specifically asked about the distribution of monsters in the surrounding areas and incidentally learned the origin of this "Five-Town Joint Lakefest Competition."
The reason for this festival was originally because the livelihoods of the five towns around Blue Lake heavily depended on this vast body of water.
To compete for the best fishing grounds, treasures in the lake, and even to pray for the lake god's favor, the relationships between the five towns were not harmonious, with constant friction.
Later, someone proposed holding a similar competition to promote exchanges between the towns and use the opportunity to worship the lake god, praying for favorable weather and abundant catches.
Thus, the "Five-Town Joint Lakefest Competition" came into being.
Over time, the scale of this event grew larger, the prizes became more generous, and it turned into a grand festival held every few years, becoming an important platform for promoting relations between the five towns, attracting tourists, and stimulating trade.
Moreover, choosing this timing had deeper considerations.
At the transition between summer and autumn, when the weather is hot and dry, it's precisely when monsters are most active.
The lively celebration activities and the concentrated scent of large crowds themselves can drive away many weaker monsters.
Simultaneously, the towns can use this opportunity to coordinate patrols, share information, and even organize joint extermination operations against powerful monsters.
Many adventurers attracted by the festival's reputation can also help clear monsters from the surrounding waters.
"Total monsters killed: 7611"
The trip to Gold-Silver Town had allowed Gauss to accumulate over a thousand more kills in his total count, now just a step away from 8000.
Coincidentally, Gauss felt that he had been feeding the Red Drake Hephaestus too many goblins recently, noticing it seemed to be getting tired of them, so they could come to Blue Lake to eat some "freshwater delicacies" for a change of taste.
He, Gauss, wasn't an unreasonable person.
Eating things that run on land, swim in water, and fly in the sky ensures balanced nutrition.
Besides...
Gauss played with a special crystal in his hand.
This was a prop for one of the core events of the Lakefest Competition, the "Blue Lake Hunting Competition."
Although unclear about the exact principle, after successfully hunting monsters, you could bring this crystal close to the deceased target, and it would record the corresponding competition points.
Gauss hadn't really intended to participate in this Lakefest Competition initially.
But thinking that even without signing up, he would be going out hunting anyway, and it was convenient, he accepted it.
He might even achieve a decent ranking.
After leaving Lakeside Town, he used the Fly spell for a distance until sure no one was around, then released the Red Drake from the Living Bag.
"Roar—"
The Red Drake yawned.
Although it had been "locked" in the Living Bag for the past few days, it didn't feel particularly irritable.
On the contrary, it greatly enjoyed these rare peaceful days.
This made it feel like it had returned to its carefree past.
"Don't worry, no goblins today."
Gauss patted the dragon's head.
Two deep red, rounded little horns had already sprouted on its head.
They looked somewhat cute.
Learning this good news, the Red Drake Hephaestus felt slightly reassured.
"Take off."
Gauss flipped onto the dragon's back.
As the dragon beat its wings, their altitude rapidly increased.
Gauss put on the Eagle Eye Monocle, and his vision instantly became clear.
The flat, open land was densely covered with rivers and ponds of various sizes, along with the vast, sea-like Blue Lake occupying most of the view.
After some exploration, he began directing Hephaestus to fly toward a certain wide river.
As they approached, the figures on the riverbank gradually became clear.
About twenty Small Fishmen, half human height, were dragging two dead wild goats toward the water under the moonlight.
These Small Fishmen held tridents, with some doing the dragging while others vigilantly looked around, preventing attacks from beasts or monsters attracted by the scent of blood.
"Boom!"
But while they were busy watching their surroundings, they forgot danger could also come from above.
With a dull thunderous sound, the Red Drake Hephaestus descended from the sky like a meteor, instantly crushing several Small Fishmen under its rear.
"Wala! Shaga!"
The surviving Small Fishmen let out frightened, shrill shrieks, immediately thrown into chaos.
Before they could react to this sudden disaster from the sky, Hephaestus's thick dragon tail swept fiercely across!
"Thump!"
Like swatting away a bunch of puppets, the Small Fishmen were sent flying by Hephaestus's tail attack.
Hephaestus's size was small only compared to adult dragons.
Compared to most wild monsters, it was a behemoth.
Not something these low-tier minions could resist.
A few Small Fishmen positioned further out were lucky, surviving both attacks, screaming desperately as they ran toward the river, attempting to escape into the water.
But the flickering firelight on the dragon's back soon extinguished their last hope.
Gauss quickly used Fire Bolts to eliminate the remaining Small Fishmen.
Then he jumped down from the dragon's back.
He placed the crystal for recording points near the Small Fishmen corpses.
Then the numbers on it began to change.
1, 2, 3...
The points finally stopped at 23.
One point per Small Fishman?
Gauss now understood.
Although he hadn't taken it seriously at first, after signing up, he couldn't help but feel a bit competitive.
Hunting monsters was his specialty.
If possible, he didn't want to see his ranking look too bad.
"Eat up."
The Red Drake Hephaestus approached the Small Fishmen corpses, sniffed them, smelled the strong, unpleasant fishy odor, and showed disdain.
It blew two bursts of dragon breath fire, briefly cooking the fishmen, then ate them clean in a few bites.
"Let's continue searching for targets."
It was a long night, and they still had plenty to do.
In the pitch-black night, the dragon continuously took off and landed, leaving behind bloody cleansing wherever it went.
The most numerous creatures in the surrounding waters were Water Ghosts and Small Fishmen.
During the continuous hunting, the monster kill count quietly reached 7823.
Without much fanfare, another two hundred monsters.
This area was indeed more abundant than Gold-Silver Town, both in natural resources and monster resources.
"Killed Ball Algae Monster *5"
When he unlocked another common monster type.
Gauss glanced at the encyclopedia and found the number of common monster types had quietly reached 47.
Meaning, only 3 more were needed to qualify for a new racial talent draw.
Unconsciously.
He hadn't been specifically keeping track of this, but it was almost at 50 types.
Although he wanted to push forward in one go, he checked the sky.
He and the already full Hephaestus had been busy for a long time, and it was getting late;most time was spent searching for monsters.
Additionally, neither the kill count nor the remaining types could be accumulated fully in one night.
So he didn't force it.
"Let's head back."
...
Lakeside Town Adventurers Guild was crowded.
Gauss first showed his hunting crystal at the front desk to sync the data.
While the staff operated, he observed the local guild environment.
"You went out and killed 212 monsters last night?"
Although Aria knew Gauss had the habit of going out to hunt monsters at night, she didn't realize he was this diligent.
Night wasn't a good time for hunting monsters, with limited visibility, and many monsters resting at night.
"Mm."
Gauss nodded.
His eyes looked toward a certain area in the hall.
Herbert: 761
Koman: 615
Angela: 599
...
The hunting activity had already been going for several days, and the leaderboard had begun to show gaps.
Gauss shook his head.
Others weren't slow either.
Over seven hundred points, excluding elite monsters, equated to killing over seven hundred common minions.
As for elite monster points, Gauss inquired with the staff;they ranged roughly from 10 to 100.
A 100-point elite monster was already at challenge level 5, equivalent to one hundred common monsters.
There were still 6 days left.
Gauss wasn't too anxious.
Although his current points were just over two hundred, it had only taken a few hours.
Once he really started putting in effort, the point numbers would skyrocket like a rocket.
After the staff finished registering, the erected crystal board refreshed.
His ranking wasn't high for now.
212 points only placed him over a hundredth in the five-town joint ranking, not attracting anyone's attention.
Because the one to two hundred point range was crowded with many adventurers who had signed up for the hunting activity.
Some low-tier adventurers, pushing hard and pooling their team's strength, could also accumulate one to two hundred points over the past four days.
"Herbert's points are rising too fast, he just passed five hundred yesterday."
"I heard he accepted a large commission."
"Remember he didn't sign up on the first day;feels like he's probably going to be the champion."
...
The onlookers watching the leaderboard weren't just Gauss's group.
"Let's go see if there are any suitable commissions?" Aria said proactively after finding Gauss's ranking.
"We need to help Gauss push his ranking up."
Although it was a fun competition, since Gauss had signed up, they wanted to help contribute.
After explaining the situation to the counter staff, the group was quickly invited to a special VIP Room.
Even without mentioning Gauss's combat power far exceeding his level, this team was considered top-tier strength for any town.
In the VIP Room, Gauss carefully selected this time.
Considering the need for both quantity and quality, plus new monster types.
He eventually chose a suitable commission.
"Exterminate the Giant Crab Tribe."
"We'll take this one." After discussing with his teammates, Gauss confirmed and turned to the female staff member responsible for reception.
This commission required clearing a Ironclaw Giant Crab tribe active near a waterside area called "Shattershell Shallows."
The tribe's leader was an elite Ironclaw Giant Crab Chieftain with a massive body like a millstone, its giant pincers capable of easily breaking stones, with a hard shell, dominating the shallow waters, seriously threatening fishermen and passing small boats.
The commission reward was 80 gold coins, with a note stating "must clear the nest, confirm threat elimination."
Considering this was a monster type he hadn't killed before, guaranteeing at least 1 common encyclopedia entry and 1 elite encyclopedia entry, plus the distance wasn't too far, Gauss decided on it.
Of course, it wasn't too close either.
Many nearby commissions had already been taken by adventurers who arrived early.
Fortunately, Gauss had the Red Drake;once in the wild, he could ride it to quickly transport himself and his teammates to the commission location.
"Shattershell Shallows has complex terrain, please be careful." The staff member routinely reminded.
"Okay." Gauss nodded.
"Then I wish you successful hunting in advance." After the reminder, the staff member said no more.
After leaving the guild, the team immediately began action.
Arriving at a hidden spot outside town.
They opened the Living Bag and summoned the Red Drake Hephaestus.
The four quickly climbed onto the dragon's back, finding seats.
There was enough space.
But with the weight of four people, especially after Albenia boarded, Hephaestus's body noticeably sank.
Its molten gold vertical pupils rapidly contracted.
"Roar—"
So heavy!
Gauss placed his hand on its head, understanding its meaning.
It was complaining.
Not that it couldn't fly, but carrying so many people made it feel like it was doing hard labor.
It was just a child, yet bearing weight it shouldn't at its age.
"After we finish these busy days, I'll find you some cattle and sheep for a change of taste."
Only after Gauss made this promise did Hephaestus reluctantly agree.
"Depart!"
At Gauss's command.
The Red Drake slowly beat its wings, struggling for several flaps to lift itself into the air, then paused for a while before flying toward the distance.
"Woo!!!"
Aria shouted excitedly.
This was her first time riding a dragon;although it was thanks to Gauss, it still excited her greatly.
From now on, she was a druid who had ridden a dragon.
Although Albenia and Serlandul made no sound, their expressions showed their current excitement.
Gauss watched his teammates' reactions and smiled slightly.
This was only possible because Hephaestus was a drake, and during their time together, he had established absolute authority in its mind, making it subconsciously not resist him.
If it were a true dragon, forget cattle and sheep;even with other delicacies, rare treasures, you couldn't make a proud dragon submit.