The truck "escorting" the Great Izuchi was handed over to the Hunter's Guild staff outside Minagarde City, who would deal with the Great Izuchi as appropriate.
Perhaps it would be directly culled and dissected for materials, perhaps sent to a training camp arena for young Hunters to practice combat, or perhaps returned to a certain mountain wilderness to balance the local ecosystem.
In any case, no matter the situation, the Hunter's Guild would provide him with additional rewards and material bonuses. All in all, it was more cost-effective than directly hunting it.
It was just that the process of capturing, transporting, and handing over was quite troublesome, so Hunters were not always willing to put in the effort.
By the time Gordon returned to the Hunter's Gathering Hall, darkness had already fallen.
The pub area at this time was the liveliest part of the day, as drunkards all liked to drink freely after nightfall.
A tall, thin male Hunter noticed that the person who pushed open the door and entered the Gathering Hall was Gordon, and immediately shouted a few times, telling the guys around him to be quiet.
Then, he raised his wine glass to Gordon, made a toasting gesture, and tilted his head, waiting to see the latter's reaction.
Everyone knew that Gordon had taken on a Three-Star emergency quest to hunt a Great Izuchi alone, so would this glass be for celebration? Or for drowning sorrows?
"Do you even need to ask?" Gordon grinned, made a gesture of tilting his head back and drinking heartily, "It's our turn to buy everyone a drink!"
Immediately, cheers, table-thumping, and whistles rose and fell, almost tearing the ceiling off the Gathering Hall.
"Woohoo~! Long live!"
"Eighteen-year-old Three-Star Hunter, Little Brother Gordon is awesome!"
"Let's drink!"
"Fill it up! Fill it up!"
Gordon found an empty seat and sat down with Zhu Pa.
"Let's drink our fill tonight!"
"Ow ow ow ow ow."
The next morning, Gordon crawled out of bed, clutching his head.
He had indeed drunk quite a lot last night. It was a celebration, so naturally, he had to drink his fill, but getting drunk on ale meant the hangover headache the next day was just as intense.
Even Zhu Pa was the same; the little guy had drunk several glasses of Hunting Cat-exclusive Matatabi sweet wine and was still curled up in his small cat bed, rolling around. He probably wouldn't be getting up before noon.
After running into the washroom for a cold shower and chugging a bellyful of water from the tap, Gordon finally felt a bit better.
Leaving a note for the bed-ridden Zhu Pa, Gordon left the cabin alone and went to the first-floor lobby.
"Hoo-ha~."
The Receptionist on duty at the counter this morning was Tiki; yawning upon meeting seemed to have become her unique way of greeting.
"Oh~, isn't this a certain newly promoted Three-Star Hunter who didn't even turn in his quest after coming back last night and just went straight to drinking until he threw up?" Tiki propped her chin, teasing with a smile.
Gordon gave a wry smile and handed over his Hunter's Notebook. "Didn't I come to make up for it first thing in the morning?"
"How was it? Were you injured?" Tiki took Gordon's notebook, processing the quest settlement while casually chatting with him.
"It started with a bit of a bump, but it was very steady later!" Gordon gave a thumbs-up and then asked, "By the way, is the Guild Master in the Gathering Hall today?"
"Yes, she is! It won't delay your official promotion~!"
Hunter rank promotion is no trivial matter; only the heads of the various Hunter's Gathering Halls can brand the star imprint on the cover of Hunters' notebooks.
After completing the quest settlement procedures and handing the reward to Gordon, Tiki left the counter and took Gordon to see the Guild Master.
Gordon's promotion was normal; he had accumulated a sufficient number of Two-Star quests and successfully completed the Three-Star emergency quest, so the promotion process naturally had no issues.
When they left the Guild Master's office, the two half-stars on the cover of Gordon's Hunter's Notebook finally became three proper stars.
From now on, he was a true Three-Star Hunter!
As a Monster Hunter, Gordon's economic income level was quite good, even when compared to the entire city of Minagarde.
But those familiar with him knew that he was someone who didn't enjoy life.
Aside from basic expenses like rent and food, he would only occasionally treat Zhu Pa to a big meal, and he hadn't even bought a new set of clothes.
This spending habit, which couldn't be called ascetic but definitely qualified as "frugal," helped him save a lot of money.
According to locals like Ted and Oshura, the money he, this groundhog, had saved was enough to buy a small apartment outside the city center.
Gordon certainly had no intention of saving money to buy a house, at least not yet.
He was just not interested in a life of debauchery; if it was a truly necessary expense, he considered himself very generous.
For example, now, he paid the Workshop Owner over twenty thousand gold in one go—that was almost the price of a toilet!
"There, your new armor is over there. Go take a look." The Dragon People Workshop Owner crossed his arms and pointed his chin towards two equipment racks, one large and one small, against the wall. His tone seemed casual, but it carried a hint of self-satisfaction.
Those were two sets of vibrant, eye-catching orange-red equipment; one set was for the Hunter, and the smaller one clearly belonged to the Hunting Cat.
"Oh, oh, oh! My Great Izuchi Set!"
"Meow!"
Gordon and Zhu Pa sprang forward together, stroking and examining their new armors.
As its name suggested, this set of equipment heavily utilized the Great Izuchi's carapace, scales, and wing membranes as primary materials, supplemented by small amounts of sub-materials like dragon bones and Velociprey hide for inner lining, providing the Hunter with excellent defensive capabilities while being very light.
In terms of style, it gave a sense of aggression, with orange-red sharp spikes on the wrists, the ends of the skirt armor, and shoulders, appearing as if a light touch would cause injury.
"As per your request, I've used a large amount of Armor Spheres to reinforce it to its limit. As for higher-grade Heavy Armor Spheres, Adamant Spheres, and such, there's no real need, and you don't have them anyway.
By the time you have the opportunity to acquire those things in large quantities, you should be switching to higher-level armor anyway." The Workshop Owner popped a wad of chewing tobacco into his mouth and grunted.
Armor Spheres were a type of special non-metallic mineral. Aside from going to try one's luck with a pickaxe, the Hunter's Guild would also reward a small amount upon successful completion of quests, making them quite valuable.
This ore could not be used directly to craft equipment; its sole purpose was "reinforcement."
After special processing by craftsmen, it could be used to fill gaps within armor materials, thereby increasing the armor's strength.
Gordon had previously owned three sets of armor: the Hunter Set, the Blue Velocidrome Set, and the Refined Ore Set.
Since these armors were low-grade, it wasn't worth spending Armor Spheres to reinforce them, so Gordon had saved up his Armor Spheres, perfectly reserving them for the Great Izuchi Set!
"Oh, oh, in that case, roughly how much will the defense increase?" Gordon asked, his eyes sparkling.
"Thirty to forty percent."
"Then, what if we use even higher-grade Heavy Armor Spheres, Adamant Spheres, Truespheres, or even Enduring Spheres? What would it be reinforced into?" Gordon asked with great curiosity.
The Workshop Owner gave him a look as if he were an idiot. "The Great Izuchi Set can't use the latter two. If you use enough Heavy Armor Spheres and Adamant Spheres, which only Upper Hunters can get their hands on, the defensive performance could probably double."
"Oh, oh!"
"'Oh' your head! That expense would be enough for you to get a set of Upper-level armor, okay?!"
--+--
T/N: While I am an inexperienced Translator, I have a Patreon! While it may seem empty as of now, webnovel will get 2 Chapters Every Day, and advanced chapters will be uploaded on Patreon.
It may not seem worth it now, but maybe in the future. Who knows!
patreon.com/Kazenova223
If you guys wanna check it out.