The Return of the Genius Ranker’s Myth Warehouse - Chapter 6

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 6
Chapter 6
West Gate of Starting City.
Hans, the NPC Guard Captain stationed here, had been facing considerable difficulties lately.
“The slimes have multiplied so much. If we don’t deal with them soon, the land could become desolate.”
The Western Gate had always suffered from a chronic slime problem.
Since the gate itself was an ideal habitat for slimes, no matter how many were defeated, they would inevitably resurface as time passed.
Still, there had been no major issues until now.
That was because the City of Beginnings was always overflowing with new adventurers.
By requesting their assistance and offering only modest compensation, slimes posed no real threat.
However, problems had begun to emerge recently.
“The number of new adventurers has decreased so much.”
The influx of new adventurers had started to dwindle.
Two years ago, this place had been flooded with newcomers like a waterfall.
But as time progressed, the number of new adventurers arriving at the city had gradually declined.
New adventurers still came, but their numbers were markedly fewer than two years prior.
The situation had reached a point where it was becoming difficult to manage the ever-growing slime population.
Which made moments like these all the more precious.
“Guard Captain.”
“Oh, a new adventurer! Perfect timing. The slimes in front of the Western Gate have multiplied so much it’s become a real problem!”
Hans found the new adventurer’s greeting far more welcome than usual.
“Just defeat twenty Red Slimes for me! Bring me twenty slime cores, and I’ll reward you with a modest amount of gold!”
“Understood.”
Twenty slimes.
Not a large number, but it would still provide some relief.
For now, I was managing to reduce the slime population by requesting help from visiting adventurers, but at this rate, I wouldn’t be able to keep up with their reproduction rate.
I was thinking that tonight I should visit the Guard Captain and suggest establishing a dedicated slime extermination squad rather than continuing to rely on new adventurers.
“I’ve defeated them all.”
“…Huh? Aren’t you the new adventurer who just accepted the request?”
“Yes.”
Hans saw the adventurer he had just met return once more.
An absurdly fast speed.
However, having served as a guard here for over two years and witnessed countless new adventurers, Hans could roughly understand the situation.
“You must have misunderstood! It’s not two—it’s twenty! Twenty slimes!”
They must have mistaken twenty for two.
Otherwise, the speed would be impossible.
Even if they had hunted just two slimes, it would be remarkably fast for a new adventurer.
But then…
“Yes, twenty slimes. I’ve also collected all the slime cores.”
“Wh…what?”
The novice adventurer produced twenty slime cores.
I had truly completed Hans’s commission in full.
But then again, who was Hans!
Having dealt with countless novice adventurers over the years, I could read their schemes as clearly as fire.
“Haha, looks like you hunted the slimes beforehand! Well done, thank you. The order may differ, but I’ll pay the commission fee normally.”
The novice adventurer had learned the details of Hans’s commission in advance, hunted the slimes beforehand, and gathered the cores.
That made sense.
In fact, from a certain point onward, many people had begun hunting based on advance knowledge of commissions.
So Hans responded calmly.
“Next, could you defeat twenty Yellow Slimes for me? Bring me their cores as well.”
“Of course.”
“Be careful. Yellow Slimes are stronger than Green Slimes, so underestimating them could result in serious injury.”
“Yes.”
After Green Slimes came Yellow Slimes.
Their body slam—hardening their surface temporarily and bouncing forward like a ball to crash into you—was far more powerful than one might expect.
Against such Yellow Slimes, one couldn’t defeat them easily….
“Twenty Yellow Slime cores. Here they are.”
“Don’t tell me you hunted Yellow Slimes in advance too? You’re remarkably thorough!”
“No? That’s not it….”
“You didn’t prepare Red Slime cores in advance too, did you!”
“No, of course not.”
“Then I’ll ask you to hunt twenty Red Slimes! Ah, Red Slimes have extremely high acidity, so defeating them is quite tricky—be especially careful!”
“Yes.”
…or so I thought.
Seeing the novice adventurer return with cores so quickly, it seemed they had prepared those in advance as well.
But from now on, that wouldn’t be the case.
Since they claimed to have no Red Slime cores, they wouldn’t be able to obtain them immediately.
Yet something about the novice adventurer’s gaze troubled me.
A confident gleam in their eyes.
It was the look of someone who would return shortly with the goods.
Could it be that they had deceived me and prepared in advance?
Hans despised lies.
Suspecting the novice adventurer might be trying to trick me, I quietly tailed them.
‘They’re heading straight to the Red Slime Habitat.’
Was this not a lie after all?
But the novice adventurer’s pace was remarkably swift.
Typically, novice adventurers don’t know where Red Slimes are located or the geography of the hunting grounds, so they wander about aimlessly.
Yet this adventurer was heading directly to the Red Slime Habitat as if they already knew the way.
That was curious enough, but their raw speed was extraordinary.
For a novice adventurer, they moved with astonishing swiftness.
Hans was barely able to keep up.
And so we arrived at the Red Slime Habitat.
Bounce, bounce.
Red Slimes.
True to their name, crimson slimes bounced playfully between the bushes.
If ordinary slimes moved sluggishly as omnivorous monsters, consuming whatever debris fell into their gelatinous bodies.
Then Red Slimes were closer to carnivorous monsters—they hunted by ramming enemies for impact and attacking with acidic corrosion.
From this point forward, I needed to exercise extreme caution.
Red Slimes were the first creatures that could truly be called ‘monsters.’
Especially dangerous when facing them alone.
Then.
Whoosh.
‘A bow?’
The novice adventurer drew out a concealed weapon.
Black flames seemed to flicker briefly, but it was probably just my imagination.
Before transitioning to an archer, handling a bow was incredibly difficult, so Hans held no great expectations.
But then.
Thunk!
“Gasp!”
The arrow the novice adventurer fired struck the Red Slime’s core with perfect accuracy.
Its powerful body slam, its corrosive acidity—
The Red Slime displayed none of these before its core shattered and dissolved.
Was it coincidence?
No.
Thunk, thunk, thunk!
Arrow after arrow from the novice adventurer found the Red Slime’s core.
Not a single miss.
Perfect accuracy, every shot.
The novice adventurer’s arrows struck the Red Slime’s core with such precision, it was as if they possessed eyes of their own.
“This can’t be real!”
Witnessing this impossible spectacle, Hans forgot he was even tailing the novice adventurer and leaped to his feet, unable to contain his astonishment.
* * *
At first, I wielded my sword ordinarily.
With such elevated stats, even casual swings caused slimes to burst apart.
Beyond that, with my control, I was confident I could strike a slime’s core without fail.
But.
‘It’s too slow.’
The pace dissatisfied me.
Running back and forth just to hunt mere slimes felt tedious.
So I retrieved the item I had in mind.
“Luke, bring out the highest-grade bow that matches my level.”
– Understood, Master.
“Oh, and the quiver and arrows too.”
Whoosh.
This was it.
[ Gentle Breeze Bow ]
( Non-Tradeable )
Type: Bow
Grade: Rare
Requirements: Level 1 or higher, Agility 15 or higher
Description: A modest bow imbued with the power of a cool, gentle breeze.
The Gentle Breeze Bow.
Despite its unassuming appearance, it was the finest bow available at level one.
The quiver was also a matching set item called the “Gentle Breeze Quiver,” and it came fully stocked with arrows.
This bow specialized in attack speed among all bows.
Whoosh whoosh!
I could fire arrows at incredible velocity.
Though I didn’t yet possess any archery-related skills.
“Ugh….”
Hitting a slime’s core was child’s play.
Even with skill assistance, my archery back in First had been capable of ultra-long-range sniping with a bow.
Thanks to the Gentle Breeze Bow’s rapid attack speed and the advantage of a ranged weapon requiring no repositioning, I managed to hunt twenty slimes in mere moments.
Normally, I would need to search through the fallen slimes and collect the dropped items.
But I had no such need.
“Luke.”
– Yes, Master.
“It’s time for a meal.”
– I shall partake gratefully.
The moment I gave permission.
Whoosh!
The monster corpses became engulfed in black flames and began to burn.
[ Luke has consumed a ‘Green Slime’. ]
[ Luke’s stats have increased by 5. ]
System messages materialized before my eyes.
Right.
This was Luke’s ability.
Devouring the corpses of monsters my contractor defeated.
Through this, Luke’s stats would increase, and later I could use Black Incineration to add those stats to my own.
When I saw that my items from First had transferred over, I wondered if Luke’s accumulated stats might have remained as well, but unfortunately, it seemed the stats had not carried forward.
Next was.
[Green Slime Core]
I had obtained twenty cores of the slimes required for the quest objective.
Luke didn’t incinerate monster corpses to make them disappear; instead, he could absorb their stats and acquire the remaining items on my behalf.
It was no coincidence that I had brought the Contract of Black Flame as a returner’s benefit.
“I’ve defeated them all.”
[You have completed the linked quest ‘Slime Hunting 1’.]
[Your level has increased.]
I brought the slime cores to the Guard Captain and reported to complete the quest.
My level rose, and I gained gold.
There was a reason to undertake quests.
But this was only the beginning.
I received a second quest in succession from the Guard Captain.
[You have completed the linked quest ‘Slime Hunting 2’.]
[Your level has increased.]
I resolved it immediately.
My archery skill, a rare-grade bow, and Luke’s item recovery ability combined.
With these three factors working together, traveling to where the slimes were took longer than actually hunting them and collecting their cores.
[The linked quest ‘Slime Hunting 3’ has been created.]
Rank: Intermediate
Description: The West Gate of Starting City is struggling due to the ever-increasing number of slimes.
Objective: Hunt Red Slimes and bring twenty ‘Red Slime Cores’ to the Guard Captain.
The third quest I received in this manner.
I moved according to my memory and found the Red Slimes.
Fortunately, the path was no different from when I was at First, so I was able to locate the Red Slimes quickly.
Splorch!
I began hunting the Red Slimes.
Red Slimes or otherwise, my stats had already surged far beyond the beginner level thanks to the returner’s benefits and the elixir I had consumed.
With such stats, I was striking the Red Slime cores with perfect accuracy.
It was only natural that Red Slimes fell in a single hit.
Once I had gathered twenty Red Slime cores this time as well.
“This can’t be!”
“…?”
A familiar voice came from behind me.
The Guard Captain of the Western Gate.
Why had this NPC followed me all the way here?
I wasn’t sure of the reason.
“As you can see, I’ve completed this mission as well. Could I receive the next assignment right away?”
Shortening the quest route was something to welcome.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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