Surprising Discovery

As Raven and Rita wondered why Allen had used such a precious herb for their sake, the boy said, "Well, it looks like you're both fine now. What about you, Ms. Milci? Are you hurt?"

Although she did not have any obvious external wounds, Allen did have one last Leaf of Life, so he offered it just in case.

"N-No, I'm fine!" Milci replied, thrusting out both hands in a fluster and shaking them vigorously, seemingly to demonstrate how healthy she was.

"I'm glad to hear it. Can you guys get back on your own? Granvelle City's that way."

Because he always hunted until the last available minute, Allen was now very practiced at deriving the direction to Granvelle City based on the location of the sun.

"Huh? Uhhh, yeeaaah. We're good. If I'm not injured, I can easily take care of goblins," Raven responded.

When Raven stood up, he realized that he was unarmed. The group had probably been attacked quite a distance away, which was when he had lost his sword and gotten hurt. So he walked over and picked up one of the rusty swords dropped by a goblin.

"Well then, my work here is done," Allen said, turning to leave. "You guys take care."

"No, wait!" Raven protested before stopping himself. Now that he was no longer on the verge of death, he finally had the composure to take a good look at Allen. "Huh? Aren't you the kid I met at the Guild?"

"Yes, I am. Why?" Allen replied curtly, an annoyed look on his face. 'If you can get back by yourselves, then do it already. I really want to get back to hunting.'

This whole incident had cost Allen about an hour. This was his precious day off. He was already itching to get going.

"Please let us thank you."

"Your gratitude is enough, thanks."

However, Raven stopped him once again. From Raven's point of view, Allen had saved his party from certain death and even used two precious Flowers of Muellerze on them, an item that cost several gold per pop. It would eat at his conscience to not return that favor in some way.

'I still have sixty goblins to go for my quota for the day. Let me go already!'

Of course, Raven had no idea what Allen was thinking, "Can't we thank you in some way?" as he asked one more time.

Seeing how persistent Raven was, Allen gave it some thought, then said, "In that case... Mr. Raven, right? You're an adventurer?"

Raven spread his arms. "I am, as you can see. Why?"

"I'm in a hurry today. But when we meet again next time, tell me a lot more about adventurers."

"Sure."

Raven waited for Allen to continue.

'Why does he look like he— Bro, that's all. I'm done. What else do you want me to say? Ah, I do have one more thing.'

"Also, don't tell anyone about me."

"Of course. I won't tell anyone."

Milci and Rita also nodded. Then Raven waited once again for Allen to continue.

"Nothing else really comes to mi— Oh, right, can I have all these goblins' magic stones? Oh! Speaking of magic stones!"

Finally, something substantial came to Allen's mind. Once, when he visited a magic tool shop in Granvelle City to check out items that he might need while adventuring, he had also asked the store owner if he had Rank E magic stones for sale. The owner replied that he only bought them and was not selling any. Now, the idea to have Raven and his group gather some came to Allen's mind.

"What? Did you think of something?"

"So, I'm gathering Rank E magic stones."

"Okay."

"So, if you really want to thank me, let me have these goblins' magic stones, then also get me a hundred Rank E ones."

"A-Are you sure that's all you want?"

Allen replied in the affirmative then asked, "Are you based in Granvelle City?"

"Yep, we're staying long-term at an inn in the city."

"I see... Where is it? I'll drop by to pick the magic stones up in person.

Please leave them with the reception and tell them to expect someone named Allen to come for them. By the way, how long would it take you?"

According to Raven, they could gather that number in a week. Although he still seemed somewhat unconvinced that this was enough as a reward, he finally backed down.

Allen wasted no time in cutting out the magic stones from the goblins' bodies. "Well, I won't see you off. I hope you get back to the city safely."

"Thank you for everything once again."

"Thank you."

"Thanks!"

The three adventures expressed their gratitude to Allen once again, as Allen took off into the forest, not even sparing a single backward glance. He stopped only after having gotten quite far away.

'Damn, I lost so much time from that. But, well, I did gain a hundred Rank E magic stones in exchange, so I guess I can consider it a wash... Hm, what should I do now? Should I get back to hunting, or should I sit down to go over what I just learned?'

Allen decided on the latter.

'First, this Leaf of Life... Now I know for sure it recovers HP. I honestly never thought this would be how I'd end up testing it.'

He stared closely at the last remaining piece in his hand. By all appearances, it looked like a perilla leaf from his previous world. He now however knew that it could be used by pressing directly against a wound.

'There are two kinds of recovery items. This is most likely the fixed amount kind.'

Items that could be used to replenish health were called recovery items, and these fell into two large classifications.

___

Ones that healed by percentage of max HP

Ones that healed a fixed amount of HP

___

For the former, if someone had maximum 1,000 HP and used an item that replenished 30% health, that would work out to a recovery of 300 HP.

For the latter, if the item healed a flat value of 500, then it would just heal 500 HP regardless of the user's max HP value.

In light of this, the way Rodin and Raven each recovered made for an interesting contrast.

After using a Flower of Muellerze, it had taken Rodin another full month before he could walk again. On the other hand, after using a Leaf of Life, Raven had become fully conscious, had no trouble standing up, and had even gone to pick up a goblin's sword.

'The obvious conclusion to draw is that the former is percentage-based and the latter is a fixed number.'

If Leaf of Life was percentage-based, then it would be 100%. That was far too good to be true, especially considering it was an item generated from a mere Rank E Summon. Raven's max HP was probably still low, which was why one Leaf of Life had brought him back to perfect health.

'Well, that's enough about Leaf of Life. Next thing to check is the log on my grimoire.'

<You have defeated 1 goblin. You have earned 160 XP.>

<You have defeated 1 goblin. You have earned 160 XP.>

<You have defeated 1 goblin. You have earned 160 XP.>

The last three lines were from the goblins that Allen had killed as a joint effort.

'This amount of XP is only 80% of what I normally get when I fight alone.

'The people present during the fight were me and three other adventurers, but only Rita and I actually fought. But if I got 80% because of that... Hmm, that means XP distribution is not divided by the number of fighters. It's probably more along the lines of receiving 80% when fighting as part of a group.'

Allen remembered how in some of the games he played in his previous life, the XP from hunting a monster together in a group would get distributed in a percentage-based rule inversely proportional to the number of participants in the hunt.

'The great boars gave me 400 XP. If that was 80%, then it means one great boar gives 500 XP in total. But there's no way a Rank C monster gives only 2.5 times what a goblin does. It would make more sense for it to give something along the lines of 1,000 XP.'

Based on what he had experienced firsthand and learned about combat in this world, Allen deduced what he thought were two rules about XP distribution from fighting in a group.

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Fighting as a group of 2 to 4: Each person gains 80%

Fighting as a group of 20 to 40: Each person gains 40%

___

'Yep, I think that's more like it.'

Allen made sure to make proper notes in his grimoire about what he had just figured out regarding Leaf of Life and XP distribution.

'Now, the most important thing. Hawkins, come on out.'

A Bird E appeared. As they were now in an open area, Allen would have normally Summoned it up in the air. This time, however, he purposely Summoned it on the ground, right in front of him.

"Why did you disobey my orders?"

The bird hung its head as if to convey how sorry it felt.

"What were my orders? 'Find me a group of five or more goblins within three kilometers that I can reach in a straight line without bumping into adventurers.' Right?"

The bird hung its head even lower.

"Is it because you wanted to save those adventurers?"

The bird bobbed its head once. The sight left Allen struggling quite a while for a response.

"In other words, you...have an ego. You're self-aware."

The bird tilted its head, puzzled either by the concept, the terms, or both.

"I see, so you're not intelligent enough for that kind of thinking. But, hm... So the Summons possess consciousness."

Up until now, Allen had thought of his Summons as mechanical existences that only moved as he told them to, rather like androids or computer programs. However, that was apparently not the case. Hawkins had chosen to prioritize its own will above a direct instruction from Allen and instead led him toward a group of adventurers who were about to die. In other words, Summons were sentient and could think for themselves.

'So, these are the Summons created by the gods above.'

If it was really the God of Creation who had created humans and this world, then it was probably a piece of cake for him to create Summons with egos.

When Allen reached forward to rub Hawkins's head to offset his strict tone from earlier, the bird's expression immediately turned into one of delight.

"All right, I'll change up the instruction next time onward. Make sure to follow them, okay?"

"Pii!" Hawkins cried loudly and spread its wings, a gesture that Allen interpreted as "Okay!"