Ringwood Forest (1)

In the city of Henderson where Asher lived, there were currently five active rifts.

Out of these five, only one had a major settlement, while the rest served as hunting grounds.

Liam relied on Asher's limited information about the rifts in Henderson as he outlined his plan.

After cleaning the blood on the floor, he swiftly packed Asher's belongings and checked on the mother and daughter before leaving the rundown house.

Asher lived in the slum part of the city, so there were no passing vehicles. Liam had to walk for several minutes before reaching the main road.

He grabbed a taxi and used Asher's savings to pay. After a few minutes, he arrived at a place bustling with people.

If it was not just for the imposing otherworldly gate in the center of the crowd, it would be just a normal busy street because all the people wore ordinary clothes.

Walking towards the center, he gawked at the rift gate arching at five meters tall, with the width of an ordinary house.

---

Zone: Ringwood Forest

Rank: C

Status: Conquered

---

Upon reaching the gate, information about the rift was displayed before his eyes. It seems that this information was one of the benefits of conquering the rift.

Reading the detailed description, Liam confirmed that this rift was indeed similar to the Ringwood Forest he knew.

In the game, Ringwood was a large forest located on the north side of Caro Kingdom and was a popular hunting ground for players from level 5 to 25.

The forest had a circular layout as if someone had intentionally designed it with a circular shape in mind.

The forest was structured into four regional rings. Each region hosted different ranks of monsters, becoming progressively stronger as one moved toward the center.

'I'm good to go, then.'

Liam casually entered the rift, and a second later, he found himself standing on the grassy field, now wearing a rugged cloak.

The bustling sounds of the crowd faded behind him. The smells changed, and the crisp, fresh air from the forest ahead of him greeted him.

He looked back and saw a settlement the size of a village. As he walked towards the village entrance, he saw various people coming out from the village, all of them wearing fantasy outfits like him and holding different weapons.

This sight was common in IGO, so it was not a surprise to Liam.

He proceeded to enter the village and noticed that the rift gate he had seen earlier was situated at the center. Around the rift, medieval houses that looked like shops and inns could be seen. The place was lively, with people shouting for recruitment and stall vendors selling their items.

He saw people publicly displaying their levels for faster party recruitment.

From what he could see, the lowest level among the people here was level 5, while the highest was level 25.

Liam paid them a passing glance without bothering to find a party. Aside from his abysmal stats, he was an Alchemist—a noncombatant. It was obvious no one would ever want a burden in their party.

Hence, instead of wasting his time explaining his worth, he decided to enter the forest solo.

He scanned the line of stalls selling weapons, and using Asher's remaining money, he bought a bow and arrow.

Without wasting time, he exited the village and went back to the open field. After briefly indulging in the calmness brought by the fresh wind coming from the forest, Liam cautiously entered the woods.

As he traversed the outer ring of Ringwood, he strained his eyes, searching for a specific plant. After minutes of tracing the places where the said plant commonly grows, he eventually found it near a stream.

It was a fruit somewhat similar to a pineapple. Bartenders used it for juice, while some used the fruit leaves to craft shampoo or simply ate the fruit as food.

But for alchemists, the most useful part was its roots.

"Hm, it's ripe enough," Liam confirmed after seeing the yellowish color of the fruit. The riper the fruit, the more potent the toxin in its roots.

With a knife, he harvested the fruit and unearthed its roots.

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Name: Piña's Root

Type: Material

Rank: C

Description: A source of toxin

---

"Not bad. It's a C rank."

In IGO, material ranks were F, D, C, B, A, and S. Thus, obtaining a C-rank material was already considered good. C-rank was also the highest rank for Piña Roots.

Liam immediately opened his inventory and prepared his tools. He wore gloves, cleaned the roots, and crushed them using a mortar and pestle.

He poured the crushed roots into a cloth and squeezed out the sap.

The sap was collected in a metal bowl, which he then boiled with a fire mana pearl.

This time, he used a smaller pearl because the sap only needed a minute of boiling. If boiled a little longer, the toxin would gradually lose its effects.

The sap remained dark green after a minute of boiling. Liam materialized all his arrows and dipped their tips into the sap.

⟨Poison Arrow Rank increase: F >> C⟩

"Alright, this should do."

Liam ventured into the forest again. With a bow in hand, he began traversing the outer ring of the forest to hunt low-ranking monsters.

At the beginning of his game career, Liam had chosen the arduous method of acquiring alchemy materials. He obtained them with his own hands rather than buying them entirely from the market.

Although it was the hard way, it was the most cost-efficient.

Because of this, Liam had become very skilled in archery. It was the safest method for obtaining monster materials without needing to make direct contact. By combining lethal concoctions, he could hunt more efficiently.

His arrows coated with paralyzing toxin from the Pinya's root were enough to immobilize D-rank monsters in the outer ring of Ringwood forest.

So Liam's method of hunting was to fire a poison arrow, then hide, wait for the poison to take effect, and deal the final blow with his knife.

He continued this method of leisurely hunting for some time, clearing out any lone monster he encountered while also gathering additional materials along the way.

"Heukk!"

Liam brought down his knife on the head of the [Troll Berserk] as it let out a groan.

Because there were no health points displayed above the monster's head like in the game, he could only stare at it to confirm its death.

After killing 15 D-rank monsters, he saw his EXP finally reach 100%.