The strength went right out of Weed’s shoulders. Even so, he altered 10 sculptures in a day. However, there was no change in the purification value of the River of Lamentation.
“I need to recover my levels first.”
Weed engaged in desperate hunt to recover the levels he had lost by giving life to his sculptures! He repaired 13 sculptures daily, and led Yellowy and the Five Phoenix Brothers to battle.
If they went too far away from the River of Lamentation, the levels of the monsters leapt drastically.
Boars of Hell.
He estimated the Wild Black Boars to be slightly under level 400. Of course, he ascertained this fact through Death Knight.
“They can fight Death Knight neck and neck — they’re quite delicious prey.”
He didn’t even glance at the Caltrops anymore, since stronger monsters yielded more experience and items.
“I should leave the Caltrops to the Five Phoenix Brothers. Phoenixes.”
“Yes, Master.”
“Hunt the Caltrops. Be careful not to melt the items.”
“Yes, Master. Understood.”
The Phoenixes were handy for being able to be ordered to do various things.
It was similar to Military Discipline Training of new enlisted recruits in the army received! How well they performed in this training enormously influenced their army life.
For the sculptures as well, it was good to establish the hierarchy immediately after their birth, but there was no need to give them this mental training separately.
The Phoenixes had realized something while watching Yellowy.
‘Ah, we’re stuck with a really dirty Master.’
‘What rotten luck.’
The outstandingly intelligent Phoenixes became obedient.
They were Phoenixes who didn’t die easily and were incomparably tenacious! They dove with their outstretched wings to avoid lightning attacks unleashed by the Caltrops.
And the flame attack they discharged! The damage was weak, but the flames spread over a wide area. The heat wasn’t enough to melt the rocky mountain, but it was still quite hot.
They didn’t even die from area of effect attack skills, and they were quick on chasing land monsters, not giving them a chance to run away. As long as he cautioned them not to burn the japtem dropped by the Caltrops, there were no problems with the hunt.
While the Phoenixes hunted the Caltrops, Weed went with Yellowy to deal with the Black Wild Boars.
The Wild Boars ran through the uneven rocky mountains!
Moooooooo!
Weed hunted them while riding Yellowy. Together with Yellowy, he defeated the Wild Boars one by one.
Weed’s Moonlight Sculpting Blade and Sword Mastery skill proficiency were increasing rapidly.
“This method of fighting isn’t bad.”
Weed was pleased because the hunting speed was decent. Thanks to Yellowy, Stamina consumption was reduced and damage was doubled.
Sword Mastery did not accumulate uniformly by just swinging a sword. The proficiency rose when consecutively hunting monsters stronger than himself.
Weed’s Sword Mastery was currently at Intermediate Level 8!
It couldn’t be compared to the SwordNoobs, but it was much higher than normal users.
He had also modified a total of 262 sculptures in the basin of the River of Lamentation.
You have altered “Snakehead Fish Going Belly-up and Dying”, a sculpture of the Matallost Church.
You have purified 262 River of Lamentation sculptures.
Purification of the River of Lamentation: -98%
A hopeless purification level!
He was gradually reducing the level, but the point where he could bring the level to normal was still distant.
“This might not be the method to end this.”
Weed thought deeply. He had raised his level by 2 while hunting for a week in real time, proof that it wasn’t a bad hunting ground. Since monsters stronger than Weed were all around, he didn’t need to go looking for them.
It was also the perfect hunting ground to raise Yellowy and the Phoenixes! Even considering the time he spent on mending the sculptures, they were growing extremely quickly.
His level had fallen frequently from granting life to sculptures. Since his combat-related proficiency remained the same, it was gradually accumulating.
“The problem was purifying the River of Lamentation. It will take too long…”
His brilliant judgement emerged every time there was a crisis!
Normally, it would have materialized earlier, but his declaration was delayed because he was grinding. As long as stats and skills definitely increased, he could repeat the same grinding for hundreds of days.
After all, he had the experience of carrying bricks and going up to the 20th floor while others were still going to high school.
“There’s no wage as fixed as the one for a construction site!”
When he returned home in the evening, he received crisp cash as his daily pay.
“Grinding has never lied!”
On the other hand, sewing in plushie eyes and beards was calculated by unit.
A fixed job gave a more definite income. Grinding was boring and difficult work, but the reward had an exhaustive aspect.
Weed had trained in dozens of kinds of grinding, but the task this time was really hopeless.
“There’s at least ten thousand sculptures. Doing them one by one like this isn’t the answer. It’s a hopeless task that I don’t know when it’ll end.”
Weed carefully observed the sculptures he had to change in advance. He found out how much and what he had to modify! He meticulously examined and recorded the size, weight, and how much he had to match the balance of the body.
Then he made the necessary sculptures whenever he took a break while hunting. He utilized the division of labor method of taking sculptures made separately and attaching them!
As his method improved, he became capable of modifying 17 sculptures a day. He could fix an additional 4 sculptures, and the time he could spend focused on hunting also increased.
However, the purification level was still changing slowly.
“This still won’t do.”
While surveying the area around the River of Lamentation, Weed found a swamp. There were a few trees and clay.
“This is it!”
Using the clay greatly shortened the time it took to make sculptures. It became possible for him to modify about 45 sculptures a day.
Every cloud has a silver lining.
Weed increased his work efficiency like an incarnation of grinding!
– The work of purifying the River of Lamentation basin with sculptures, a great accomplishment of Sculpting, has progressed by 11%.
Weed was struggling alone to achieve a great accomplishment. While doing so, an idea suddenly came to mind.
‘Altering all these sculptures would really be an enormous achievement.”