Chapter 216: The Journey to Snow Bear Territory |
As for why Snow Bear Territory was called Snow Bear Territory, Fran still did not know. But judging by the name alone, she had assumed one of two things.
Either there were many monsters called “snow bears” in Snow Bear Territory, or the snow here was especially heavy and bear-type monsters were particularly common, which was why the land had ended up with that name.
What Fran had never expected, however, was that the reason it was called Snow Bear Territory was so simple, and had absolutely nothing to do with what kinds of monsters lived there.
“Our lord’s family name before he became the lord here was Snow Bear. Of course it’s called Snow Bear Territory.”
That was the only answer she got when she asked a villager in a settlement she passed on the way.
It was rather different from the explanation she had imagined, where the place had been named after some kind of monster.
Setting aside the true origin of Snow Bear Territory’s name, there actually were not many bear-type monsters in the territory at all.
Unlike the area around the Northern Society, where there were practically no monsters left, the monsters in Snow Bear Territory were still highly diverse.
That was because the Northern Society’s furnaces were simply too warm. Many monsters wanted to draw closer to the Northern Society, but in the end, they were hunted down by the people living there.
Snow Bear Territory was different. Whether because the pressure of survival around the Northern Society was too great or for some other reason, the monsters here were extremely active.
By the time Fran reached this small village, she had already encountered three different monsters.
There were wolves, rabbits, and leopards, all sorts of creatures unique to the Northern Frontier.
Once those monsters crossed paths with Fran, she did not care whether they intended to attack or not. She struck first regardless.
After all, the Hunt Medals granted by her Demon Hunter class still amounted to only a pitiful handful of small medals. She had been worrying about not having enough time to collect them.
In this other world, the easy-to-find monsters had long since been exterminated by those who came before, and what remained were the ones that were difficult to locate.
So whenever she encountered monsters like these, she simply hurled a single Fireball at them and killed them on the spot.
Although she had collected three new medals by now, her attributes had not improved by much.
Part of the reason was that the monsters she had been collecting medals from were all below the formal ranks, and part of it was that her current attributes were already so high.
In the past, gathering five medals had been enough to raise her Physique by a small amount. Now, however, it took at least ten medals just to increase it by a single point.
Fran had no particularly good solution to that. Perhaps if she devoted herself to hunting monsters for a while, she could accumulate more medals and gain a little more in attributes.
But compared to that path, the other route she had chosen was far faster.
All she had to do was publish a few papers and write down some of her new insights, and her skills would gain a huge amount of proficiency.
If not for the fact that her attributes were already so high, she felt that Fireball at the Extraordinary rank alone might have been enough to raise her Mental Power by a point.
Because of that, having Fran specifically go out of her way to hunt monsters simply was not cost-effective.
On top of that, she was still badly short on Battle Merits to exchange for some of the Battle Mage’s skills.
【Forced Fusion】 alone had already won her over. Its damage was high, and in the hands of a mage like her, with such immense Mental Power, its might was even more astonishing.
After leaving that small village, Fran kept walking toward the place where the lord of Snow Bear Territory resided—Snow Bear City.
Snow Bear City was located at the center of Snow Bear Territory, and it was also the main hub of most of the roads within the territory. If one intended to follow the roads, then passing through Snow Bear City was unavoidable.
Fran had another reason for going there as well: she intended to rest for the night.
Her true destination was the mine in Snow Bear Territory, which lay at the far end of the territory. To get there, she would almost certainly have to pass through Snow Bear City.
And since Snow Bear City was not far from that mine, the round trip would take only about a day.
That meant she could rest in Snow Bear City tonight and head to the mine tomorrow to carry out the mission.
On the road to Snow Bear City, she deliberately moved deeper off the side of the road for a while, making use of her spare time to see whether any other monsters might come to her on their own.
That really did help her find many different kinds of monsters. She killed them one by one with her own hands and turned them into medals of her own.
When she hunted down the tenth kind of monster, she suddenly felt a change occur in her body.
In her mind, the personal space unique to Demon Hunters began to emerge. Thanks to Fran’s efforts over the past few days, the number of medals there had already reached double digits.
A thin layer of frost now covered the edges of the ten medals Fran had just obtained.
And beneath that row of medals was a line of writing Fran did not recognize, though she was still able to understand it.
【You have hunted ten monsters from the Northern Frontier. They will become your strength and deepen your understanding of frost.】
【Continue hunting! Your next reward will come when you reach fifty medals.】
Fran stroked her chin and felt the affinity for frost within her body.
According to the understanding of the Elemental School, this was a weak Ice Elemental Affinity.
This affinity was roughly similar to the Wind Elemental Affinity granted by the trait she had obtained when she first learned the Swift Wind Breathing Method.
Later, after she gained the Gale Swordsman class and raised the Swift Wind Breathing Method to the Extraordinary rank, her Wind Elemental Affinity rose sharply.
She felt that this kind of affinity probably had four levels. The Ice Elemental Affinity she had just obtained was at the first level.
And once her Swift Wind Breathing Method had reached the proficient level, her Wind Elemental Affinity had reached the second level, which was much stronger than before.
If she had possessed only the Gale Swordsman class by itself, or had pushed the Swift Wind Breathing Method to the Extraordinary rank on its own, then it would probably have reached the third level.
It was only because the two were combined that she had attained a fourth-level Wind Elemental Affinity.
As for the Ice Elemental Affinity she now possessed, it was somewhat underwhelming.
She drew her longsword. A trace of frost clung to its surface, and when it struck an enemy, it would inflict Ice elemental damage.
But...
She then took out the purple dagger. The runes she had carved onto it could already produce power roughly equivalent to a third-level Ice Elemental Affinity.
So the Ice Elemental Affinity she had just obtained was of no real use to her at the moment. Unless she hunted even more monsters, it would not amount to much.
Still, this matter also taught her something: the Demon Hunter class could grant elemental affinities as well.
If she ever found herself lacking an affinity for a particular element in the future, she could obtain one through this class.
After that, Fran’s luck was not particularly good. Most of the monsters she encountered were ones she had seen before, which meant they could not form new medals.
By the time she reached the gates of Snow Bear City, she had added only three more medals.