“I’m going to spray my…acid, all over you,” I said at the large popsicle monster in front of me. I held my shield up as it brought down its large club made out of ice. I skidded back a little from the impact even though I had my Urus Stance on. The snow was too soft in this part. My shell exploded on its face followed by blobs of acid, the passive skill of my boots. Parts of the stupid monster was also turning green because it was poisoned by attacking me.

In no time, the monster melted. Melted figuratively; even if it was an ice monster, it had some organic parts that were left behind. Given that it received all the acid projectiles from the skill my boots gave me, it had no chance of surviving for long. If there were other monsters nearby, he would have shared the damage with them. 

Three snow apes, or whatever these fuckers were, climbed up from the side of the cliff. I speared corpse of the monster that I just killed and flung it towards the direction of the Growth Essence Justalyne laid on the ground. It didn’t get very far because of its weight.

I grumbled as I proceeded to roll it in the snow, using my spear as a lever, while abominable snowmen were punching, clawing and biting me. These were just trash mobs. Scrubs weren’t worth my attention. Their life bars plunged down as they ate reflect damage, retribution damage, poison, and acid damage.

There was no need to use [Icicle Plating], the skill I got from a completed Chilled Steel which I installed in my chest armor. My upper chest. I still didn’t buy a new peytral for my lower chest. I used up all my money buying my other armor and more bottles. I have my old one anyway so it would suffice, for now. Come to think of it, I have two rib cages. Do I also have two hearts?

“There we go,” I said as I dumped the popsicle monster corpse on the Growth Essence, adding to the fertilizer bonanza going on. The three monsters dropped dead. It was good that they followed me. Less work dragging their bodies back.

We had Growth Essence on steroids. Besides me and Justalyne, there were seven other Forager players killing monsters and feeding it to the Growth Essence. All of us split its cost and reimbursed Justalyne because she bought it from a high-level Forager who was able to make it.

Its area of effect was huge, allowing us to make a plantation wide enough to fit the real estate needs of several Foragers. The NPC Foragers were situated below our level, harvesting the crop they planted during their previous hunt. We took the upper part of the slope so the NPCs were sandwiched between us players and protected well.

I heard a loud roar. This time, a blue furry monster with large claws appeared. I smiled. I used kickstart then charged at it. Just as it climbed out of the cliff, I hit it with my spear, sending it flying over to the great beyond.

“Don’t throw them over the cliff,” Justalyne said in annoyance. She was a few meters away from me, fighting her own batch of monsters.

“Come on, it’s so much fun to throw them off the edge,” I said as I looked down the brink “There’s more of them coming out. We have an endless supply of monsters living in the side of the mountain and coming to us.”

“You don’t get experience killing them that way and we need more bodies to feed the Essence.”

“I’m just doing that ‘This is Sparta’ thing.”

“What’s that?”

“Never mind,” I said. “It’s an old movie.” I turned my attention to the crowd of blue furry monsters with horns that came to my side of the cliff.

Our horde, or herd, since we were hooved beasts, formed a battle line along a large slope on the side of the mountain. Most Hunter-Warriors, their support classes, and the Miners who didn’t really have anything to do right now held the wide path that led to the location where the NPC Foragers were going about their business.

Tons of monsters were attracted by our exodus. Maybe this was the way the monsters were set to react once the Hunt starts. I remembered that some games I used to play had mechanics based on the number of players playing, like spawning more powerful monsters when many players participate in a quest.

There were some hugeass monsters assailing our lines. Like a freaking six-legged snow rhino five times the size of a Mardukryron with horns as large as one of its legs.

Another reason we placed our plantation towards the end of the slope was for safety purposes. In case the front lines got broken through, we wouldn’t want our plants to be trampled. Better if the plants of the NPCs were trampled first.

There were sheer cliffs to our left. Many monsters have taken residence in the holes dotting the walls of the mountains and now they were coming up to us. This was a good thing because the Foragers now had a steady source of fertilizer materials.

Monsters also climbed down from the upper walls of the mountain to our right. The Pathfinders took care of them, making sure they didn’t circle around and attacked the rear of our main line of defense.

I backed up a little because the monsters might drag me down and throw me off the mountain. No matter how much armor I had, I seriously doubt I would survive tumbling down the side of the mountains and perhaps getting impaled in some sharp stones or getting trapped in deep cracks.

My formerly nearly useless skill, [Defense is the Best Offense], was slowly shining and showing its worth as my armor rating got higher due to all my new gear. Still, the added weapon damage from a percentage of my armor wasn’t that much because I didn’t have a high attack speed. Most of my damage still came from passive sources.

I just have to stand and watch them all die as they killed themselves attacking me. Once I get my thorn armor plant to decent levels then I would also start using it; that would add to my defenses and killing power as well.

“Damn you, blue furshits,” I said as I directed the blast of my shield to the one with the lowest life. My killing speed might not be on par with a dedicated Hunter-Warrior player, but I was getting along just fine. Amazing clearing speeds was never expected from tanks. Not that I wouldn’t try to find mechanics to allow me to dish out tons of damage.

It was no good if I couldn’t kill the people who couldn’t kill me.What are we going to do then? Just stare at each other? Awkward.

More and more monsters climbed up to us. They probably had huge communities built on the sides of the mountains. A golem even showed up.

“Can poison affect a golem?” I mumbled. They didn’t have nostrils. None that I could see. I took out a simple poison cloud potion, the first one that I was able to concoct from my plant extracts. I threw the bottle to the mob of monsters headed by the golem. The bottle broke and a small green cloud started to spread.

I ran away so that all my passive damage skills wouldn’t hit them. I couldn’t exactly stop my Acid Drops unless I unequipped my boots which gave that skill.

“Hmm, it doesn’t affect the golem,” I said as I observed their life bars while running around them in circles, avoiding getting hit so that I didn’t passively hit them in return. “Or maybe the golem just had tons of regeneration to cancel out my weak poison?”

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I shrugged, cast my buffs and jumped back in the fray. I should look more into this matter. It would be really bad if I focused on poison as my main source of damage and, in the future, I would go up against something that was immune to poison.

We didn’t fight all the time. In between the waves of monsters, we harvested our crops and planted new ones. The Growth Essence, plus the fact that we were growing the plants on land energized by Lord Mirdabons, quickly sped up the harvest cycle.  

“Ah, it’s nice that we got a break,” I said as I sat down on the soil. Snow that fell on patches of land graced by the energies of the Lord Mirdabons quickly melted away. 

“Yep,” Justalyne said. She walked over to the Growth Essence to check how much time it has left. Satisfied that it didn’t needed to be change yet, she returned and sat down beside me. “You’re already a Rank Five Forager, right?”

“Yeah. A couple of days ago.”

“That’s fast. The progression gets super slow as you rank up,” she said. “You probably had multiple gardens going on at the same time? Most Foragers have a garden hidden away while they have another garden somewhere near the place where they are doing their quest. Saves time.”

“Yes, that is what I did,” I replied. There was no need to tell her that I didn’t actually hide my garden but I left it in the care of an NPC.

“You got the item for smashing seeds together?”

“Right here,” I said as I took it out of my inventory.

There were many ways to get better seeds. One way was just to hope that some of your crops yielded high-quality seeds, and then you use those. Continue for several harvests and you would have very good seeds of the same type. Once in a while, some high-quality seeds would evolve into the next tier of seeds. And so the incredibly dreary cycle begins again.

Another way was to use the item we received when we reach Rank Five as a Forager. A Seed Splicer. Mix in different types of seeds together and hopefully, you get some new seed that you wouldn’t be able to get just going by the usual route with the basic seeds provided at the Forager Lodge.

“I have a new recipe for a weird seed. I haven’t tried making a potion out of it since it’s really weak. Not sure if you’ll want this but might as well share it with you since you’re the one who kills the most monsters to fuel our Growth Essence,” she said. She pursed her lips and tilted her head. “I don’t think you have all the ingredients, though.”

I showed her the contents of my seed sack, pun intended. I always have it arranged so it was easy to examine. She cross-checked it with her recipe. At the Forager’s Lodge, other players placed some recipes they have discovered on the boards. It goes without saying that players also keep other secret recipes to themselves.

“What does it do?” I said.

“Something with decay. Weird plant, really,” she replied as she continued to scan my inventory. “The plant itself causes decay to other plants around it. My other plants died when they stood near this one. A hard lesson learned.” She shook her head. “You don’t have all the ingredients. I can loan you some of them, but you have to pay me back. They’re not cheap, those ingredients. That is if you want the recipe.”

“Have you tried making potions with it?”

“Nah, the moment I saw that it killed my other plants, I uprooted it and threw it. I was pissed because some important plants got killed,” she said with a frown. “But I thought that you might want it. You’re doing something with your poison build, right? Figured that decay might fit right in.”

I paused to think for a few seconds. “I’ll pay you for the price of the ingredients right now.” I had plenty of rings from selling my wares to our advancing horde. We couldn’t go back to the village right now because it was too far away and the NPCs would still continue the Hunt even if we left them. The only way to replenish the stock of consumables was to make them yourself or buy them for people who could make them. Like me.

“You don’t really need to pay right now,” she said. “Save your rings. You might find something good to buy from one of the people around here. You can pay me next week.”

“All right,” I said. “But I also want to pay for the recipe. It’s your secret recipe. And you’ve been helping me a lot. I should pay you back.”

“You’re a huge help right now. Didn’t I say that you’re the one who kills the most monster among us Foragers?” She started a trade. “I’ll give you the ingredients you lack now. Anyway, I don’t know what to do with a plant that makes other plants die. If you can figure out what to do with it, just tell me then we’re even with regards the recipe.”

She gave me the ingredients and taught me how to make the seed.

I wanted to plant the seed but I didn’t have space. I ran the risk of killing our other crops if I planted it. Damn it. I was eager to see what it looked like when it grew. It sounded like an interesting plant

Suddenly a raging roar came from behind us. Several more roars and howls echoed all around the mountain.

“Show time,” I said. “Looks like a big wave.” We galloped to the edge of the cliff where other Forager players were poised to defend our precious plants from whatever asshole wanted some.

A large blue hand gripped the cliff and pulled up a large body. A level twenty-eight Ice Troll. Smaller frost goblins climbed up as well. The little shits were no problem. What was concerning was the Troll. We couldn’t call other players since they were dealing with their own shit. So, we have to deal with this shit ourselves.

“Justalyne,” I said. “Let’s do what we did with the crystaminds. I think I could take that guy on. But I need lots of help.”

“You’re confident you can tank him?”

“Yeah, yeah. I got a new skill,” I said. "If we don't stop him, he'll destroy our plants. We have to hold him here."

She nodded. "I bet this guy makes awesome fertilizer," she said licking her lips. Then she proceeded to instruct the other players on what to do to support me. She was the de facto leader of the Mardukryons of our batch since she was the highest rank Forager of our batch at Rank Thirteen. And, more importantly, she carried with her Growth Essences.

I strode off to meet the Ice Troll. I examined its face. Yep, it has a nose. Very good. I threw my poison bottle and watched as smoke started to cover me. It wasn’t much, but it showed everyone that I was willing to fight. Some sort of increase to moral of the troops, haha.

Then other bottles started dropping. Poison clouds and raging fire from Forager brewed Molotov cocktails blanketed the field, effectively making a barrier against the trash mobs. If they got past here, our plants would be in jeopardy. The ice troll also started to take damage but only barely. It was my duty to keep this guy here in the area of effect of all our damaging concoctions.

“Justalyne, a little support, please,” I said. “I’m dying in here as well.”

“Sorry,” she said. “Coming right up.”

The other Foragers stayed at the edge of the flames and poison smoke. They threw in various kinds of seeds that supported me. Some even threw bottles that healed me when they hit me.

“Good. Good,” I said. My life bar was fighting back and steadily went up. “Bring it on, motherfucker” I said at the Troll. I had a plan that involved the new skill I got from the completed Chilled Steel Integral Bits Set.

The Ice Troll roared and then pulled back its fist that was probably just a bit smaller than me. It moved slowly but there was no doubt in my mind that its punch was going to hurt. Then it threw a punch.

I used [Icicle Plating]. Spikes made out of ice covered me, turning me into a hedgehog. The punch of the ice troll hit me, instantly shattering my ice covering. However, due to the effects of my skill, that high damage attack was completely nullified. That was the first effect of the skill. It might only completely nullify one instance of damage, but given the right circumstances, it could become a huge advantage.

The second effect was that it had a high chance to freeze the enemy unit who attacked. I tested it and this worked even on creatures that had resistance to cold, which were most of the monsters on the mountain. The Ice Troll turned into a huge fucking iceberg.

The shattered icicles scattered and hit the frost goblins running around. This was the third effect of the skill. It only dealt a small amount of damage, but many frost goblins died because they were already low on health from all the poison and fire going on.

Foragers outside the ring of fire pelted the Ice Troll with their fire bombs made from dangerous plants.

After a few seconds, the ice thawed and the Ice Troll was back in business. Icicle Plating has a long cool down so I couldn’t use it once again. I steeled myself as the Ice Troll punched me, popping my shell and taking away a huge chunk of my life.

The Foragers immediately healed me with their potions. I also ate the health fruits in my inventory. All this time, the health of the Ice Troll kept on decreasing. Vines wrapped around its body, slowing down its movements even further. By the time it punched me again, I already had Icicle Plating up.

And thus, the cycle continued. The Ice Troll stood no chance against us.