Chapter 28
‘…Anyway, this is insane.’
What on earth was I supposed to do with all these logs?
It looked like a natural disaster had swept through — every tree in the area I passed lay flat on the ground.
Well, whatever. Into the inventory they go.
These would come in handy later to raise my woodworking skill.
After cramming all the spruce logs into my inventory — nearly a whole stack, about a hundred pieces —
I figured once I processed them into lumber, I’d get quite a decent yield.
Dusting off my hands, I opened up the minimap to check my location.
‘Hehehe… this status window really is handy.’
The biggest difference between me and people who didn’t have a status window
was that I could actually use the minimap.
With it, I could see where quest-related items were located.
It didn’t give precise coordinates, but it did at least show me a general area or direction —
an incredibly overpowered ability, if I was being honest.
Now, it was time to go find that Soul Mushroom —
a name that already sounded ominous the moment I heard it.
In every game I’d ever played, anything with the word “soul” in it was never a good sign.
Whether it meant “darkness” (昏), “spirit” (魂), or “confusion” (溷),
the word hon always carried bad vibes.
Still, whatever kind of “hon” it was, the task remained the same — find it and collect it.
Following the minimap’s guidance, I began walking.
‘Wow… why is it getting so dark?’
Outside the forest, daylight still poured down warmly,
but the deeper I went, the darker it became.
Good thing I’d already switched on the headlamp on my safety helmet.
It was turning out to be way more useful than expected —
moving around in the dark or at night would be much easier now.
“I think I’m almost there.”
The vines around me were so thick that taking even one more step forward was a struggle.
Zooming in on the minimap didn’t help — it didn’t give exact coordinates,
just a vague circle showing that the item was somewhere nearby.
Now it was up to me to search the area manually.
Ugh… how long would it take to find a single mushroom in this dark forest?
As I bent down, checking the bases of trees,
a deep, low rumble echoed through the woods.
Turning my head toward the sound, I saw an area so shadowed
it looked like light itself refused to enter.
Gulp.
The sound of me swallowing echoed loudly in my ears as I cautiously stepped closer.
My instincts screamed that whatever I was looking for was there.
And then — something suddenly jutted up from the soil.
A half-rotted human hand.
“KYAAAAAHHH! AAAAHHHHH! AAAAAHHHHHH!”
Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god.
It wasn’t like I’d never fought undead in games before — zombies, skeletons, you name it.
But seeing one in real life… a creature that hadn’t yet returned to the earth —
it was enough to make me lose my mind.
The thought that such a thing actually existed in reality froze me in terror,
my body refusing to run.
The creature slowly shambled toward me.
‘It’s coming for me…!’
I pulled out my gun, gripping it tight with both hands,
and in my head, drew the magic circle for split bullets.
Six bullets fired and struck its body —
but the monster only flinched for a second before continuing its slow advance.
At least it wasn’t fast.
Its sluggish movements made it easier to deal with —
honestly, compared to that lizard monster we’d eaten for dinner,
this thing was nothing.
It was slower than me.
And it didn’t even have ranged attacks —
just stumbled toward me going, “Uhhhhh…” like a broken record.
I backed away, fired, backed away again, fired again,
and after circling around the clearing for a while,
the zombie finally collapsed, leaving behind only a magic stone.
‘This one’s… purple text?’
Same shape, different color —
apparently, the magic stones varied depending on the monster type.
Nice. Now back to collecting that mushroom.
A little further ahead, I found it —
a bizarre-looking mushroom sprouting like clusters of flowers.
I wasn’t an expert,
but it looked a bit like wood ear mushrooms —
the kind used in sweet-and-sour dishes or spicy hotpot —
except these were a vivid purple.
‘That’s… the kind of color that kills you if you eat it.’
Was it poisonous? Could I even touch it barehanded?
After a brief hesitation, I pulled some random linen gear from my inventory —
a cheap shirt made of plain fabric, barely worth 10 Vine if sold.
I hadn’t sold it yet after the equipment draw yesterday,
but hey, turns out it had a use after all.
Wrapping my hands with the cloth,
I carefully collected the Soul Mushroom.
Curious about what kind of ingredient could possibly be so valuable,
I read its description.
[Soul Mushroom]
Used as medicinal material.
“…”
That only made me more uneasy.
After all, not every apothecary only made healing medicine.
Just like “a bad law is still a law,”
some believed “a poison is still a medicine.”
And this wasn’t a normal-grade item, either —
not even green (rare), but blue — a unique-tier material.
That made it pretty valuable.
The lizard’s venom sac had been green — rare-tier.
By rarity alone, this mushroom was even more precious.
Of course, that lizard was gigantic and could eat humans whole,
so its venom sac sold for a high price —
but this one would fetch quite the reward too.
50,000 Vine!
Time to head back to that shady apothecary guy.
I left the forest and returned to town.
“Oh, splendid work. You found it faster than I expected.”
He still had that messy hair and sleepy eyes.
“Haha, yeah.”
All thanks to my status window. The minimap told me where to go.
He handed me a pouch with five gold coins — 50,000 Vine!
“You’re a good business partner. Let’s work together often.”
He even smiled faintly — a rare sight.
Feeling like he might actually answer me if I asked now,
I voiced the question I’d been holding back.
“By the way… what exactly is this for?”
Please don’t tell me it’s for… poison or something.
“I’m making a sleeping potion. Puts you right out.”
“Ah… I see.”
A sleeping potion, huh?
That actually sounded fairly harmless — I was just about to relax when…
“But if you take too much, you’ll die. So it must be used carefully.”
…Right. Poison after all.
Well, medicine and poison were basically two sides of the same coin.
I was about to leave the shop thinking that when—
“Wait a second, you. What’s this?”
“Huh?”
Turning back, I saw Dioscorides holding up the piece of cloth —
now stained a faint violet.
“Oh, that? I didn’t want to touch the mushroom barehanded…
and I didn’t have gloves, so I just used an old shirt. You can throw it away.”
Pretty sure that was the [Worn Linen Archer Shirt] or something…
Well, was a shirt. Past tense.
“…Smart of you. That mushroom causes rashes if it touches bare skin.
You’d have been itching for days.”
Knew it.
Leaving the apothecary, I made a firm resolution:
I needed to get proper gloves.
To skip to the conclusion — lizard meat actually wasn’t bad.
Of course, since Beth had cooked it —
and her cooking was divine — it had to taste good.
Still, there was that lingering sense of unease.
Something you could try once in a lifetime,
but not something you’d want again.
The lizard stew boosted the strength of tanks and melee fighters —
those who fought with physical power.
So, as a shooter, it wasn’t something I really needed.
Days passed in a blur after that.
My routine stayed the same:
wake up, wash up, eat breakfast,
then go out to gather or craft materials.
Sometimes, I’d take on combat requests to level up —
though those were just side quests, not main ones.
Over time, my stock of Rainbow Stones dwindled into single digits.
I’d haul the spruce logs to the workshop to process into lumber,
or smelt brass ore at the forge.
As a member of the Hero Corps, I could use the facilities for free,
but mastering the skills from scratch on my own was impossible.
So, I had to rely on the help of the facility owners.
The first to teach me was Smith — the blacksmith.
Contrary to what her name suggested, she was a woman —
a muscular, hearty woman with a loud laugh.
She agreed to teach me smelting in exchange for 30%
of the copper ingots I refined.
From there, I began learning various crafting skills,
each instructor taking 30% of the materials I produced —
wood, thread, cloth, ingots, etc.
But since I’d already mined around 200 chunks of brass ore
and cut nearly a hundred spruce trees,
that 30% was nothing to me.
“Fufufu, this is exciting!”
I swung my hands through the air, thinking about the 23 Rainbow Stones I’d gathered so far.
Of course, my hands were covered in cuts and scrapes.
I’d nicked myself with a chisel while carving wood,
and pricked myself with a needle while sewing.
At least my tailoring skill was improving fast —
probably thanks to that time in school
when I’d made shorts during home economics class.
I thought I’d forgotten everything,
but it came back surprisingly quickly compared to woodworking or smelting.
The first thing I made was a pair of work gloves.
I coated the palms so they wouldn’t slip easily.
The stitching was uneven and amateurish, but still—
‘It’s my first handmade item, hehe.’
Once I got better, I wanted to make gear for other people too —
especially Adrian.
He always wore pristine white cotton gloves,
probably because of his obsession with cleanliness.
I hoped one day I’d be skilled enough
to gift him a pair I’d made myself.
“Ah, Tenner’s waiting! I’d better hurry.”
Today, I was supposed to learn leathercraft from Tenner,
so I rushed toward the tannery workshop.
