Chapter 324: They’re Almost Goats

Kalli’s words proved to be nearly prophetic in their accuracy.

Only two of the groups found Goblins. But five of the groups found other monsters in the woods, or on the other side of them, and somehow, Reggie and Yara’s team managed to bring back no fewer than six baby armoured boars alive.

Plus one dead.

They had clearly been paying attention when Kalli mentioned that it would be great to get some more livestock for the city, though trying to keep armoured boars under control when they were fully grown enough to be having piglets was going to be problematic.

She might just have to make them a nice armoured pen outside the city, and have them raised there.

However, the big news for the day was not that they had managed to obtain piglets, or "Bacon Seeds" as Vinnie insisted on calling them.

No, the big news was that Goblins dropped loot from the System, even outside the dungeon.

Not much of it, but loot.

They had managed to collect a few cheap stone and copper weapons from the bodies, but one Uncommon Grade dagger had dropped for the tank of one of the groups. It was ragged and crude looking, but it was a magical weapon, just like the ones they got from the dungeon.

That new knowledge gave them all hope for what came next. If they could get items from the system outside the dungeons, then they could supply themselves from higher level threats that came at the city.

They wouldn’t be stuck with just what they had, and what they could buy from Kalli’s store.

With the world changing, they were getting more magical powers, and the technological advantages of the weapons were fading. A level fifteen mage could do nearly as much damage as a Pulse Cannon.

So what would it be like when the mage was level thirty? Or level sixty?

Unless Kalli’s store started to sell proper magical weapons, and not just upgraded technological weapons, it was going to become more of a beginners market. The place where everyone got the things that they needed to begin their careers, and where you got everything that wasn’t for combat.

However, Kalli’s store DID sell magical weapons. It was just that they were so unreliable that nobody bought them.

Sure, you could buy a Rare Grade sword for five credits.

But you didn’t choose what abilities it would come with, or even what level it would be created at. Sometimes it was powerful, sometimes it was not. However, it was never more powerful than you were.

Now, what they were going to need was something that would help their most powerful members level up, without being such a major threat that the city was in danger.

However, for today, there was celebration at clearing out the Goblins near the city and protecting the fields, as well as talk of stationing teams at the outposts for patrols, as well as guard duty. Putting them at the outpost to start with would save them over an hour in the morning getting to the areas where the real dangers were.

When the work quest was four hours, nobody wanted to do too much overtime.

At least, not when there was no reward.

If there did happen to be a constant stream of threats in the wilderness, that would be a different matter. Many would volunteer themselves for longer patrols, hoping to come across something that was worth fighting.

In fact, they might even go beg Kalli to let them take speeder teams to go looking for a fight.

It wasn’t like the city demanded that they only play defence, and they got quite a bit of experience from the Frost Giant raid. That was much further from home than any of them were planning to go looking for targets this time.

Thought, this time they wouldn’t be targeting groups that were still in the trials, but the random monsters that might help them level up, or provide good food for the city.

Hunting expeditions, with a twist.

And the details that the current scouting teams were sending back supported the fact that they were likely going to get to do a lot of hunting.

Everywhere that they went, monsters were appearing. Most were beasts, empowered versions of wild animals. Others were bipedal monsters, like the Goblins, the Ogres, or that odd bunch of Trolls who had waved happily at the speeders.

Those ones might not count as monsters, no matter what they looked like.

There was a "Troll King Larry" on the leaderboard, after all. And the Trolls were not making hostile gestures toward the speeders, it was clearly friendly, as they cheered when the humans waved back.

The scouts hadn’t stopped to visit, that seemed like it might be a bit too much of a risk, but they hadn’t attacked, and hadn’t overflown the Trolls’ village.

If they were’t enemies, there was no need to antagonize them.

Kalli read the reports that they had prepared, and smiled as they described the Trolls waving with both hands when more humans waved back at them. They seemed like a fun bunch, and she wondered if the System would translate for them, so that the humans could understand them the way that they could the Ogres and Giants.

Presumably, the answer was yes.

But setting up a diplomatic meeting with a group of Trolls was going to have to wait until they had a full idea of what was out there to face, and what else they might need to do to prepare for the end of the Trial.

Then, the scouts found goats.

They were wandering in the wilderness, many kilometres from anything else, near what looked like an abandoned village. Kalli’s guess was that it was a faction that had been decimated but not quite eliminated, so their city ruins remained.

But they hadn’t taken their livestock with them.

So, every utility speeder they had was sent out to collect the herd, and within hours, nearly three hundred goats now called Marimgar home.

Well, if you could call them goats.

They looked a bit off, and they had nature magic, but they were mostly like goats, and they were happy to run up the near vertical interior walls of the city. So, the consensus was that they were some form of goat.

They didn’t seem to want to escape, they just wanted to explore, the residents soon realized.

While they ran up the walls, they didn’t jump over them, and they were happy to see people most of the time. They head butted some, but that seemed like normal goat behaviour. So, they were left to roam the city, and feed was put out for them.

Which was apparently enough to buy their loyalty.