Competition Closed

"Damn, I hope this is enough! Look at all that... Honestly, it's kinda disgusting, don't you think?"

I glanced at Paci for a brief moment before looking towards Victor, who snorted as he shook his head, the muscular man saying "We might've eked out first, but only because we got lucky... and these are proof of our luck and skill."

"I know that, muscle brain! Doesn't mean I think it ain't disgusting, y'know?! I mean... that's nearly a hundred and a quarter ears! A hundred and a quarter! All in a pile! Then there's the Ogre tusks, the Blade Stag antlers, the pelts and the bones... Eugh..."

Paci shivered as she looked over the various materials we had gathered, all of which would fetch us a pretty copper back at the Supply Depot, where we would hopefully be able to get some better gear for ourselves on our own coin, though we were all hoping to have that done on Alessia's and Trania's coin...

"Well... we also have the maps, which are nice. We found those three Dens and signs of a Lair, as well as a few caves that might have some ore veins inside them? That should add up some more value to our haul, no?"

Inga nodded, the Aviankin holding all of the papers that had the maps on them for us, each of which was drawn out by her own hand; honestly, they might be worth more than the materials, and I was a bit happy that one part of the System that had remained was my map, and that it had roughly 25 feet of 'radar' that pinged any points of interest for me.

So long as I could see them and understand what they might be, which helped find some of the more hidden Dens and caves...

"The others though... they hunted a LOT of Goblins, huh? I mean... I think we've killed more than a Horde at this point."

Paci's words made us all look around at the other teams, who were putting out their own hauls as they prepared for the two Talonmaster's to come around and grade our performances, and we could see that some of the piles were looking a little more abundant than our own.

Some had a bunch more ears, others had pelts and bones that stacked quite high, whilst one had a rare herb that was used in a very important and expensive ritual, which the Young Master of Qingrad might desire; a ritual to help infuse more mana into your bones and strengthen your flesh with the blood of a stronger monster.

It was an archaic ritual, but it had survived to this point because it not only worked, but had little downsides to it besides needing some rare ingredients; in fact, I had used it in Battle of Eden on one of my characters to infuse them with the mana and toughness of a Dragon, creating one hell of a Tank who had a fire resistance so high it bordered on immunity.

Which... let me wear an enchanted amulet that would gather Fire Mana and upon activation, explode with enough force and heat to level a small town; nothing a few potions, skills, a thick shield and some good old fashioned determination couldn't withstand.

I... did in fact level multiple small towns with that build, and one of them was a player built town... they pissed me off a lot, so I just... wiped their town off the map...

Something I wouldn't do now though since they had then made it their life's purpose to hunt me down and kill me, and although I had a record of 30-4 against them, all it took sometimes was anger mixing with creative ingenuity to let that weaker person use the power of spite to kill me.

Anyways, I focused on the here and now as I said "Well, yes, they have a lot more stuff than us, but the maps and implications of the things we found are important. Dens are valuable troves of natural resources usually thanks to monster's emitting a lot more mana into the area, whilst the Lair is important for finding the 'crux' of this monster problem. Then the caves..."

The others nodded, with Paci taking a deep breath and crossing her fingers as she muttered "Please let it be us! I want a new spear so~ badly! Please please please!" whilst bouncing on her heels.

"Alright! Step back and prepare to let us inspect! Remember, winners get the funds for new weapons on us, plus their earnings here! Before I begin though, I have to say this..."

Stepping in front of us all, Alessia looked around and nodded, the blonde Dogkin grinning as she shouted "You lot did a damn good job! Lot's of kills on these monsters that have become too damn abundant! Information aplenty! Materials of all kinds - ores, herbs, animal parts, monster parts, enough to make Quartermaster Hu giddy and jump for joy! All of you did fantastic, and because of your efforts, our upcoming raid on Yngrave'll go all the more smoothly! Now, let's see who brought back the most goodies, hmm~?"

Rubbing her hands together, Alessia continued to grin as she approached the group on our right, her and Trania perusing the pile and listening as they told them the numbers; numbers that all of us had double checked to ensure no cheating or miscounting.

"Not bad! 154 kills, 7 assorted pelts, around 40 pounds of assorted bones, 4 bundles of herbs, and 12 pounds of ore! No maps though, but... well, you guys hunted a lot, huh? Most of our meals came from you, which counts as well! Good, strong first showing!"

Moving over to us, they began to grade our haul as well, with Trania taking the maps from Inga and looking them over despite having seen them before, while Alessia evaluated our various physical goods.

"122 kills, 4 assorted pelts, roughly 30 pounds of bones, 8 bundles of herbs, and the maps... A damn strong showing here! Especially the locations of the Monster Dens? Pushes things even further in your favor~! Though, who knows~?"

Alessia grinned at us, before making her way over to the next, Trania handing the maps back and following her as they continued to grade everyone else's hauls; it fluctuated on the numbers, but pretty much all of us had kills, pelts, bones, and herbs to show, with a few having ores as well.

Another group had a map of the surrounding area, deciding to do work on where the outpost could expand to with relative ease, which was also important, earning them some points, but...

"All in all, I have to say I'm surprised! You all blew my expectations out of the waters, and I'm happy to say that! You managed to clear out the fringes of Yngrave and help prepare this upcoming raid with these contributions. The winner though, the group who provided the most both though the materials and with their maps, is..."

Everyone smiled wryly as Alessia trailed off for dramatic effect, even though everyone had already begun to turn towards us with smiles, congratulating us silently as the Dogkin said "Paci, Victor, Inga and Kira~! Those maps are what made this an easy choice after all~! Congratulations, and don't go crazy with those weapons, hm~?"