Little Collector, Hidden Fortune
Lua felt the gentle movements of Liora on her arm as the little girl watched the entire spread of materials scattered around them with intense focus. Her eyes darted from one place to another with such determination that it seemed like she was holding herself back from running over and grabbing every shiny object in sight.
"Do you want to collect them?" Lua asked calmly, her soft voice contrasting with the girl's concentrated gaze.
"Yes… My grandma used to say it's always better to gather everything that looks useful. That way, we don't have to go out when we really need it," Liora replied, her eyes never leaving a cluster of half-buried crystals that glowed with a faint bluish light.
That serious look made the corner of Lua's lips curve ever so slightly into a small smile. Without another word, she gently set Liora down and pulled a reinforced cloth bag out of her own.
"This bag has much more space inside than it looks. You can put everything in here, and later we'll calmly sort through what's actually useful," Lua explained as she held the bag open.
Liora took it with trembling hands, as if she had just been handed a treasure. Without wasting a second, she ran off, her small figure moving back and forth as she picked up every object that caught her attention. She didn't just collect the intended loot, but anything that sparkled—even fragments of crystals wedged among the roots. Lua simply watched her without interrupting.
"Boss," Sia's robotic voice suddenly called in her ear, pulling her attention away.
"What is it?" Lua asked, her gaze still following Liora as she struggled with a crystalline rock.
"The system's energy reserves just filled up significantly. It happened when you killed the bisons," Sia explained, her tone sounding oddly excited.
"Did the players kill the ants?" Lua asked, narrowing her eyes slightly.
"No… Well, it looks like they're still working on it. But I think it's because you were in a party with the little one. I can confirm that 10% of the generated energy was absorbed instead of the usual 20%," Sia said quickly.
"Hmm." That was Lua's only response as she watched Liora pulling with all her strength on a crystal nearly as big as her torso. She finally managed to yank it out but fell backwards, raising a small puff of dust.
"How much energy did we recover?" Lua asked without moving from where she stood.
"You just replenished all the energy I spent on linking to Liora," Sia answered, her voice filled with satisfaction.
"I see." Lua nodded slowly before approaching Liora, who was still sitting on the ground, clutching the crystal with both hands.
The girl looked up when she sensed her presence and held out the bag to her with a bright, proud expression.
"You can keep it," Lua said gently, her voice losing for a moment the distant tone it usually carried. "But how about we go hunt more beasts? I'll help you level up a bit, and I'll give you part of the drops."
"Re… really?" Liora asked, her eyes shining with an excitement that seemed to eclipse any memory of the fear she'd felt when she saw the starving dogs.
"Yes."
Liora glanced down at the bag, amazed that although she had stuffed dozens of things inside, it didn't even look bulky. Then she looked again at the crystals scattered across the ground with the same eager fascination as before.
"I'll help you pull out all the stones here," Lua added, letting a small smile show as she saw how much the sparkling objects delighted the girl.
"Yes!" Liora replied in a clear, happy voice.
….
"Muahahaha! That was easy… too easy!" Joe shouted, standing triumphantly on top of the giant ant's corpse, one arm raised as if he were posing for a heroic portrait.
"Uncle, get down already. You only showed up when it had one hit left," Sig said with a sigh, covering her face as a wave of secondhand embarrassment washed over her.
Bert, meanwhile, was too absorbed in reading the floating notification in front of his eyes.
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[You have killed Fire Ant]
[The party has gained 1,000 EXP]
[EXP has been distributed evenly among the 7 members + Affinity Bonus (0.7)]
[You have received 242 EXP]
──────────────────────────────
"It's really great…" Bert murmured, studying the numbers with satisfaction. "It's like killing five horned rabbits… Although, of course, one of these could bite your leg clean off. Anyway… let's check the drop." He lifted his gaze, face turning serious. "Loli, you're up."
"Okay," Loli said with a mischievous smile, walking over to the ant and activating the collection function. At that same moment, Joe lost his balance and crashed to the ground with a metallic thud.
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[You have obtained x1 Mana Stone]
[You have obtained x4 Mana Stone Fragments]
[You have obtained x1 Ant Carapace]
[You have obtained x2 Giant Fire Ant Fangs]
[You have obtained x3 Copper Ore]
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"Woa…" Loli exclaimed, her eyes wide with interest as she looked at the mana stone and fragments. Up until now, the most they'd ever gotten from a horned rabbit was two fragments, and here they had the equivalent of fifteen—three times more, from a single enemy.
"Seems like it is profitable… as long as we don't use more than four talismans per ant," Bert said quickly, a satisfied grin crossing his face.
"And it also gave us copper ore—exactly what we needed for the quest," Sig added, almost bouncing with excitement.
"I don't understand anything you're all talking about, but… we're going to look for another one, right?" Joe chimed in, already recovered and brimming with enthusiasm.
Bert looked up at the sky, where the sunset had started to tint the clouds orange.
"We can kill one more. After that, it'll be night," he said in a more serious tone.
"So what? We'll just set up a few torches," Joe replied, completely unconcerned.
"No… The beasts get more aggressive at night. And their numbers grow," Bert explained, shaking his head.
"But the drops and experience also increase by two hundred percent," Edward reminded them calmly. So far, he was the only one who had dared to hunt after dark.
"It's not the same as hunting rabbits. The ants can tear your arm off if you're careless," Bert insisted, glancing at the few remaining slime clones still slowly duplicating as they devoured whatever was left around them.
"This time… it's better to be cautious," Edward said, studying the bushes around them as shadows began to deepen.
…
Lua sheathed her sword with a calm movement as Liora came running out from behind her, with the same boundless energy as before. The little girl darted toward the loot left by the fallen bisons and began gathering everything with genuine joy, as if it were all part of a game. Her focused, happy expression made her look like a little worker ant, scurrying back and forth tirelessly, stuffing horns, hides, crystals, and anything she could find into her storage bag.
Lua lifted her gaze while Liora ran to the next spot to keep collecting, and she noticed that the sunlight had already started to turn reddish between the treetops. It was time to stop for the day.
She approached slowly and, with patient movements, began helping her pick up the last pieces. From time to time, her eyes drifted over all the loot Liora had managed to gather. She couldn't help but feel a curious sensation, as if the girl were somehow bringing luck in a way that defied the logic of the system.
"Why do so many things keep appearing if she's not the one who accepts the drops?" Lua asked as she examined a crystal fragment that seemed to shine a little more brightly than the others.
"I don't know, boss… Maybe her luck is something that can be shared," Sia replied in a voice that sounded a bit uncertain, as if she herself couldn't find a clear explanation.
When they finished collecting everything, a soft rumble came from Liora's stomach. The girl placed her hands over her belly, her expression puzzled.
"But… I have the nutritional connector attached," she said in a small voice, as if she thought the device must be malfunctioning.
"Your body in this place also needs real food," Lua explained with a faint smile that barely softened her face. "Come on… It's time to go back and look over everything we've gathered."
She lifted Liora gently into her arms. This time, she didn't leap high as before. Instead, she gave a measured push that carried them to the top of a nearby tree. From there, she moved with agile jumps from branch to branch while Liora gazed out over the landscape with wide eyes.
From that height, the forest seemed even vaster and stranger. All around them stretched zones of trees covered in crystals of every color, glowing with a soft radiance. Further on, rows of trees with violet bark exhaled a translucent gas into the air. And in the distance, an entire sector burned with perpetual flames, while another appeared blanketed in frost that sparkled like a sea of diamonds. It was as if all the ecosystems had been mixed together in one place, disregarding any natural law.
Suddenly, Liora's eyes grew huge as she saw a flash followed by an explosion that sent a black cloud rising kilometers away.
"It's a fight over territory," Lua said, feeling the fluctuations of energy spreading even to where they were.
"Territory?" Liora asked curiously.
"Mm… They want to make their home bigger," Lua explained, though she wasn't sure that was the best way to put it.
"I see," the girl replied, nodding seriously.
She was smart. She just needed a little more information to understand everything.
They reached the village shortly after. Lua looked around for Loli, expecting to see a fire already burning or to catch the scent of food drifting in the air. But instead, she found Ganfall sitting calmly by the well, cleaning fruits and vegetables with patient hands.
"Well… It looks like there's a new bond forming. And it's quite lovely," Ganfall remarked with a serene smile, his youthful appearance contrasting with the old man's tone he always used.
Liora quickly noticed that this man didn't look nearly as old as he sounded.
"The others?" Lua asked as she set the girl down.
"They haven't come back yet," Ganfall replied as he wiped something that looked like a blue-skinned tomato with a cloth. With a kind gesture, he held it out to Liora. "Here, for you."
The little girl looked at the fruit, then at Lua, as if she needed permission.
"You can eat it," Lua said calmly.
"Thank you…" Liora whispered before taking a bite. Instantly, her face lit up in surprise. "It's delicious!"
But right away, her expression shifted to visible worry.
"But… my grandma said that if I ate solid food, it would make me vomit. My body is used to nutritional connectors…" she explained, her voice trembling a little.
Hearing that, Ganfall's face grew serious. He set the fruit he was cleaning aside and looked at her attentively.
"Indeed… If you use nutritional connectors for a long time, your body forgets how to process real food. Many end up vomiting the first time they eat something solid again. To get used to it, it's best to start with light soups," he explained with the calm of someone who had seen this problem many times before.
"You won't vomit here," Lua interjected, watching her with the same stoic expression as always.
"Ah… right…" Liora replied, suddenly remembering what Lua had told her before. Then she lowered her gaze, saying nothing more.
Ganfall noticed that small gesture, but instead of commenting, he simply smiled kindly.
"Come on, let's go find our cook," Lua said as she picked her up again.
…
"Muahahaha!"
"Are you going to do that every single time?" Sig shouted, glaring daggers at her cow uncle, who stood on top of the freshly defeated ant with his arms raised. "Loli, just get the drop so we can go back to base…" she added with a tired sigh, rubbing her temples.
Loli covered her mouth, trying not to laugh.
"Yes…" she said as she walked toward the ant's corpse. But before she could activate the drop, a sudden impact shook the ground, freezing everyone in place.
Lua dropped from the sky with her usual composure, holding a little girl in one arm. In a single smooth motion, she grabbed Loli with her other free arm.
"Lua? Did a new player join?" Loli asked, still processing the scene. "Wait… Lua? Aaaah!"
But there was no time to react. Lua bent her knees and leapt upward again, vanishing in an instant with Loli and Liora in her arms.
For a few moments, silence took over the clearing. Everyone looked at each other, unsure what to do.
"So… do we take the drop ourselves?" Joe asked, a greedy gleam in his eyes.
"No," Sig answered with utter seriousness. "Loli's luck is what guarantees us something good. If we do it, we'll probably only get the antennas."
"Then what do we do?" Edward asked, staring at the enormous dead ant.
Without answering, they all kept staring at the corpse and, a moment later, resigned themselves to waiting.
…
"If you wanted me to hurry up and cook, you just had to say so," Loli said as she took out the vegetables Ganfall had prepared. A playful smile appeared on her face as she began washing them in a container.
"It's faster," Lua replied in her neutral voice, her expression as unchanging as ever.
Meanwhile, Liora was crouched beside Ganfall, watching closely as he sorted fruits and vegetables into different baskets. For a moment, she looked thoughtful, as if an idea had crossed her mind.
Her eyes moved to the blanket Lua used as the base of her tent, spread out not far away. She walked over, and with some effort, dumped the entire contents of her bag onto the fabric.
Then she began organizing everything into neat little piles, separating crystals, fragments, hides, and minerals with a seriousness that made Lua watch her with a soft smile.
She walked over slowly and crouched down beside her, studying everything she had gathered.
"You've done very well," Lua said as the girl looked up at her with a quiet, proud expression.