Chapter 34: The Status Screen

Even so, those "wasted" hours had always been his favorite part of a game.

Qiu Nuoya decided that he would avoid looking at his status screen as much as possible from now on.

If he kept staring at those overwhelmingly powerful stats, he was afraid he would begin believing he was some invincible being.

He did not want to become that kind of person.

Those abilities were gifts from the Gods.

They were not powers he had earned through his own efforts.

Relying on them completely felt as though it would destroy something important within him.

For that reason, Qiu Nuoya decided to seal away his status screen.

That said, he still intended to make practical use of the abilities available to him.

After all, there was one thing he had been wondering ever since he started gathering medicinal herbs.

What if Appraisal Skill could make it easier to find them?

Normally, Viktor would help him identify the herbs as they gathered them together.

Qiu Nuoya had become much better at recognizing them himself, but he still made mistakes from time to time.

This seemed like the perfect opportunity to use Appraisal.

He focused on the grassland before him.

The moment he activated the skill, countless status windows spread across the landscape once again, making the world look as though it had glitched. ℴ

"...This really is a cheat ability."

As he looked across the field, he could instantly identify every medicinal herb that should be picked.

It was unbelievably convenient.

Qiu Nuoya still did not like relying on overpowered abilities.

However, gathering medicinal herbs was currently the foundation of his livelihood.

He decided on a simple rule for himself.

Most of the time, he would search for herbs using his own knowledge and effort.

Only when it was truly helpful would he rely on Appraisal.

Having settled on that approach, Qiu Nuoya began another day of gathering medicinal herbs.

Qiu Nuoya continued gathering grass as he did every day.

The medicinal herbs he collected would later be brewed and processed into potions that restored adventurers’ stamina and magic power.

Even though it was the lowest ranked job, he could not afford to treat it carelessly.

If he properly memorized the different types of medicinal herbs, he could brew them himself in an emergency.

Even simply chewing on them could provide some degree of stamina and magic recovery.

In that sense, Qiu Nuoya believed this job would eventually benefit him as well.

Perhaps that was why gathering medicinal herbs was assigned as the very first task for newly registered adventurers.

It was a job that helped them learn the basics while also being useful in the future.

People often said that good medicine tasted bitter, but the flowers of Sunrise Flower were actually delicious.

There were also many other edible plants growing naturally in the area and learning about those plants was another enjoyable part of the work.

"You. How long are you planning to keep doing nothing but that kind of mission?"

Whenever Qiu Nuoya gathered medicinal herbs, there was one person who almost always appeared in front of him.

It was Warren, the young swordsman who had become openly hostile toward him ever since the adventurer registration test.

The other mage, Rita, only appeared occasionally. But Warren showed up almost every day, making it seem like he was intentionally seeking Qiu Nuoya out.

"Good morning, Warren. Looks like you’ve been working hard defeating slimes again today."

Being approached with such an aggressive attitude had already become a normal occurrence.

Getting angry every time would only be exhausting, so Qiu Nuoya simply greeted him normally.

"Even when I defeat them, they just keep coming back! The slimes around here never disappear! You should help me!"

"You’re right. Every day, they split apart almost as soon as you defeat them. I always think it looks like a lot of work."

Qiu Nuoya looked over at the slimes bouncing around the grassland.

He honestly did feel a little sympathy for Warren.

No matter how many he defeated, the slimes continued multiplying.

However, he also wondered why Warren continued doing it every day while complaining about it.

After all, Qiu Nuoya had never asked him to defeat the slimes.

He was simply gathering herbs nearby.

Warren clicked his tongue loudly.

"But when slimes split, they become smaller. And when they become smaller, it seems like they eat less, so it’s not completely pointless. If they ate all the medicinal herbs, that would cause problems for me too."

"Despite saying that, you always keep slimes around you."

"Because aren’t slimes cute?"

The small slime that hopped onto Qiu Nuoya’s lap was probably the same one that had recently started bouncing around him often.

All slimes looked almost identical, making them difficult to tell apart.

However, among the pale blue slimes, this one had a slightly greenish tint, so Qiu Nuoya could recognize it somehow.

"Even so, slimes are still monsters."

"Yeah, I know."

But when something became attached to him, it was hard not to feel happy about it.

He did not bring the slime back with him because if he took it away and it was attacked by other slimes, that would be a problem.

Still, Qiu Nuoya hoped this little one would live a long life.

"By the way, aren’t you with those people today?"

"Those people? You mean Viktor and Igor?"

"Yeah. Actually, what are you to those two?! You’re just a low rank adventurer, yet you’re following two high rank adventurers around like a shadow. Think about how annoying that must be for them!"

Oh.

So that was how it looked from the outside.

In reality, Viktor and Igor were the ones who had been following Qiu Nuoya around most of the time. But from another person’s perspective, it probably made more sense that Qiu Nuoya was the one clinging to them.

After all, those two were famous adventurers.

Meanwhile, Qiu Nuoya was just an unknown low rank adventurer.

"I’m Viktor’s disciple now."

"What?"

"I’m learning about magic from him as his apprentice."