Unfortunately, I can tell from the smell that the ice worms aren't edible, but they do have impressive fangs. Now that I know about the beast shop in the adventurer's guild I decide to collect the fangs after skinning the worms. Of course the act of skinning the worms attracts more so by the time I am done I have killed twenty-three ice worms.

All told, it only took me two hours to kill the mammoths and the ice worms. So I decide to swing west on my way back and see if I can find the giant foxes. I would like to complete all the hunts and deliver the materials to Raindrop before the captain's meeting if I can.

Since there is no quest for the foxes all I have to go on is the basic description in Raindrop's list. So all I really know is that they can be found in a certain forest in the west of the kingdom. As I head back south I eat the mammoth's heart, which is almost as big as I am.

Devour Activated! Endurance +50, Toughness +15, Fortitude +10!

Well, since mammoths are basically walking tanks the stats make sense. I keep eating the heart, even though I know devour will only activate once, just because it is tasty. With the amount of meat I got from the two mammoths I am probably going to have to stop by the meat store and get it made into jerky.

By the time I reach the forest I am looking for the sun has gone down and it is fully dark. However, that shouldn't be a problem, from what I can remember foxes should be nocturnal. I am thinking that it will take a while of searching before I find the foxes, but it doesn't.

Soon after I enter the forest I am attacked by a group of what looks like were-foxes. Whether it is because I smell of cat or they are just really hungry, I don't know. Since they are attacking with tooth and claw I respond in kind, mainly because they can't hurt me.

Between my new armor and my fortitude score at best all they can do is scratch me a little. Only after they are dead do I manage to get an accurate count, there were thirteen. The problem is I would think these would be called foxmen or something, not giant foxes.

So I head deeper into the forest to look and see if there is something different running around. As I go I eat one of the hearts but nothing happens, I guess they don't count as strong enough. When the next group attacks I draw my new swords, no point wasting time.

The disturbing thing is their bodies are very similar to mine, it makes me wonder if something like this was the origin of my body. Eventually, long after I have lost track of how many foxmen I have killed, I find a giant fox. It definitely suits the name, the thing is as big as a tank and it looks hungry.

There are also around twenty foxmen with the thing, and they work together well. The fight drags on because the foxmen keep getting in the way when I try to kill the giant fox. I finally get sick of it and focus on killing all the foxmen before fighting the giant fox.

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Doing so allows the giant fox to hit me a couple of times but I am not too worried about it. After all, I have regen now, not to mention a healing spell if I actually get low on health. I just wish the foxmen had cores like the shadow apes, then they would be worth killing.

Once the fox is dead I start skinning it, Raindrop didn't ask for it but the fur is really nice, I'm sure she can use it. When I remove the tendons I am very careful, so I don't have to waste time hunting another. Once I am done butchering the fox I turn and make my way out of the forest as I eat the heart.

Devour Activated! Agility +50, Cold Resist +10, Luck +5!

'Luck doesn't make sense, after all the fox was really unlucky since it met me.'

As soon as I am out of the forest I start running, heading back to town. I need to turn in the ice worm quest, sell off the extra monster parts, and pickup the quest for the snake monster. The streets are empty when I get to town, but it is around midnight so it's no surprise.

Luckily, the adventurer's guild is open at all times so I don't have to waste time waiting for it to open. The redemption counter seems weird since Mapleleaf isn't there but her replacement takes care of my quest turn in. Then I head to the beast shop to sell the bones, tusks, fangs, and other parts I don't need.

All in all, I make a little over five hundred gold, but all the other shops and guilds are closed so I can't spend it right now. Instead I pick up the quest for the snake monster and leave town again, this time I head south. According to the quest details the beast lives in a swamp just before the southern border.

Reaching the edge of the swamp takes me almost three hours, but I still have plenty of time before the meeting. The giant snakes are thirty to forty feet in length, but the beast for the quest is even bigger. The quest calls it a swamp drake and describes it as having a snake's body with legs and wings.

As long as it has a skin like a snake it should work, it might even be better than a normal snake skin. The main reason I am going after it is because the quest marks its lair, meaning I don't have to search. That and I want more of a challenge than just an overgrown snake.

Following the directions given in the quest details I head into the swamp. Not wanting to go wading through the swamp I climb into the trees and move that way. This allows me to avoid wasting time and keeps me from getting filthy.

Luckily, the beast's lair is on a fairly large island and the directions lead me right to it. As soon as I land in a tree near the lair the beast comes out and looks around. The description was a little off, it only has one pair of legs and they are more like arms.

The swamp drake is about fifty feet long, the arms are only about five feet from the head. It moves like a snake except it keeps the front part of its body upright and only uses the wings to stabilize itself. Looking at the placement of the single pair of wings I doubt the thing can fly.

The question is how am I going to kill this thing without damaging the skin? As soon as I drop from the tree to the ground the thing senses me and turns to face me. Its reaction and speed are what I would expect from something much smaller.

Well, I did want a challenge after all, so I draw my swords and move forward. When I am twenty feet away from the thing its head snaps forwards and it spits a stream of black liquid at me. The quest details didn't mention anything about this and there were no warning motions so it almost hits me.

The ground where the black spit lands starts bubbling and hissing making me glad I dodged. You would think an important detail like the thing spitting acid would be included in the quest information! I quickly close the distance between us before the thing can spit at me again.