Monster Hunter: I can hear the monsters' thoughts

Chapter 373 Queen-level Guardian Stone

"I think it's okay."

"That's okay with me too."

The three exchanged glances and unanimously agreed to Yoko's suggestion.

"That being said, although we've decided on the next steps, could we perhaps slow down a bit?"

Ziyuan offered a small suggestion.

"After all, we just returned from Lokrak. Shouldn't we take a break and explore this largest city on the continent?"

You haven't had enough rest in Lockhart yet, have you?

After finishing the hunt for the dinosaur, they were idle for more than a week while waiting for the weapons to be forged. Apart from sweating it out in the training ground and coordinating relationships in the backyard, they had nothing to do and were practically rusting.

Besides, now that you've finally gotten your hands on a new weapon, don't you want to rush into the hunting grounds and experience just how powerful it really is?
Lin Lin sighed, then shook his head. Oh well, after all, sitting in the airship for two days would make one feel a little tired. He might as well rest for two days.

"Hello, may I ask which one of you is Mr. Lin Lin?"

Suddenly, a voice rang out not far away. Lin Lin looked in the direction of the voice and found that the person speaking was dressed very familiarly. The heavy security team uniform clearly indicated the person's identity.

Another guild knight.

It's unclear whether it's because guild knights, as enforcers, naturally possess a sense of oppression, but after this person entered the tavern, the hunters' clamor was reduced by eight degrees.

"I am, what's the matter?"

Lin Lin stood up, attracting the other person's attention.

He thought he could just say what he wanted directly, but he didn't expect the other party to be so insistent on showing him the Hunter's Notebook to prove his identity, refusing to say directly what they wanted from him.

That's incredibly old-fashioned...

After reluctantly handing over the Hunter's Notebook for careful examination, the guild knight immediately stood at attention, took out a small box, and handed it to Lin Lin.

"This is a reward from the Grand Elder for you. Please accept it."

It was my talisman! That was fast!
Lin Lin immediately forgot his little complaint and carefully took the box and opened it.

It's good that this guild knight is so conservative. If he weren't a little less rigid, he wouldn't have given away the item without verifying the identity. What if something went wrong? This is a Queen-level talisman!

Look at this exquisite shimmering light, like it's breathing. It's so different from the Knight-grade talisman I usually carry with me, which is enhanced with the "Heat Resistance" buff.

"Excuse me, what kind of blessing does this talisman provide?"

The guild knight, who had always been very serious and methodical, now showed a slight smile:
"This talisman is perfect for you shield-axe users, and of course, switch-axe users as well."

Unlike the Grand Elder, he didn't keep everyone in suspense; he began his introduction almost without pause:

"It can provide two enhancements. One is [high-speed deformation], which can add a weak energy field to the weapon to reduce unnecessary friction between the parts of the weapon, thereby shortening the time spent on weapon deformation."

Shion, who was listening in, asked curiously:
"It sounds like this blessing should work on all weapons that need to be folded and unfolded, right? Like my heavy crossbow, hunting bow, as well as my gunlance and spear?"

From the moment he heard the words "high-speed transformation," Lin Lin had already removed his original [Heat Resistance] talisman and replaced it with a new Queen-grade talisman, which he was admiringly playing with. Upon hearing Zi Yuan's question, he casually replied:

"But only the Charge Blade and Switch Axe need to constantly transform back and forth during battle. If you were to do that, the high-speed transformation would become the Sheath Technique, and the effect might not be as good as the original Sheath Technique."

After saying that, Lin Lin turned his expectant gaze to the guild knight in front of him:

"You just said it has two enhancements, one is [High-Speed ​​Deformation], what about the other one?"

Could it be artillery? Or perhaps enhanced defensive capabilities, like improved parrying?
"Another blessing is [Focus], which allows hunters to control their life energy more precisely, thereby accelerating the charging effect. It is said that for the Charge Blade, with the blessing of [Focus], the charged sword can absorb more energy with each attack."

"Increases charging speed? Then this blessing should be very suitable for greatswords, right?"

Bref examined the protective stone in Lin Lin's hand closely, his face filled with envy and jealousy.

Damn it! We agreed to go to the volcano together to dig for charms, but I don't even have a decent charm yet. How did you get such a good charm?!
"In fact, if it weren't for the fact that its [Concentration] activation level is not high, even with the [High-Speed ​​Transformation] skill which is not very versatile, this talisman should have been applied for by the greatsword users long ago."

Bref's eyes lit up. "Wait, apply?! So, besides mining and alchemy ourselves, we can also apply for talismans from the guild?"

Is there really such a good thing?!

"Of course you can, but you need to make enough contributions before you can apply."

A good talisman can greatly enhance a hunter's strength, and Yoko has always been interested in becoming stronger.
"So how do we define a contribution? Does simply completing a task normally count?"

There are many ways to make a contribution.

The four of them looked at the guild knight, but he didn't move his mouth. So they lowered their gaze slightly and saw a thin, small old dragonman with a pipe in his hand walk out from behind the guild knight. It was the old dragonman who had just said those words.

"Manager."

Upon recognizing the old dragonman, the guild knight immediately bowed respectfully.

Lin Lin and his two companions were completely bewildered. Where did this manager come from? Who was this extraordinary person?
Having actually spent some time in East Doruma, Shion lowered her voice and began to introduce herself to the three:
"This old man, like the mustachioed guild leader of Lokrak, is essentially a branch guild leader. However, to distinguish him from the Grand Elder, who is the guild leader of the entire Hunter's Guild, everyone calls him the Guild Supervisor." I get it. So, this guy is in charge of the tavern, the Grand Elder is in charge of the Grand Hall, and this guy, like the guild leaders of other regions, is under the jurisdiction of the Grand Hall?

Lin Lin nodded knowingly, and quietly observed the old dragonman who seemed to be dozing off with his eyes half-closed. If the dragonmen shrank to varying degrees depending on their age, then the guild leader in front of him should be among the oldest. Compared to him, the mustachioed guild leader of Lokrak could be considered young.

"Alright, you can go back now. I'll take care of the rest."

The guild leader whispered something to the guild knight, who then saluted and quickly left without saying another word.

As soon as he left, the noise that had been suppressed in the tavern immediately rose again.

"Hehe, the hunters are used to being carefree, they don't feel comfortable with that child here."

The old dragon shook his head, found a table, jumped up and sat down so that he could look Lin Lin and the others in the eye:
"Where were we? Oh right, completing a commission certainly counts as a contribution, but ordinary commissions have a lower weight in the calculation."

Before Lin Lin and the others could ask further questions, he lightly tapped his pipe and took a deep drag:
"As for higher contribution calculations... emergency missions with critical situations, special missions under special circumstances, and assigned missions that only high-ranking hunters receive all have higher weight in the calculation."

“Besides that, there are many other ways to make contributions, like this child. The information he provided was very important, so it is certainly an important contribution.”

"Also, if you find some high-quality talismans that you don't need, you can hand them over to the guild in exchange for items of equal value, or have them counted towards your contribution points to apply for the talismans you need, and so on..."

Ye Zi and the other two all turned their gazes to Lin Lin. So, he obtained this protective stone because he provided important information? But weren't they basically always together? What important information could he possibly not know?

"Huh~"

The guild leader chuckled twice, and perhaps because he had spent so much time with the Grand Elder, his laughter sounded quite similar to the Grand Elder's.

He walked up to Lin Lin and patted his arm hard:
"Young man, the Grand Elder has high hopes for you. Keep up the good work!"

After leaving those words, the guild leader walked back to the counter with his hands behind his back, found a corner to sit comfortably, and immediately started to doze off.

After the guild leader left, Lin Lin, the four others, and the cat resumed their seating arrangement around the table.

Yoko's expression was strange:
"Brother Lin Lin, what exactly did you say? How did you provide such important information?"

Lin Lin was still admiring the new protective stone in his hand when he heard this, and he felt a little confused. "I provided important information?"
Oh right, although the Grand Elder called it a reward, it was indeed because I provided the information.

"It's nothing, just some speculations about this thing."

Lin Lin held the protective stone in one hand and took out the bond stone in the other. Comparing the two, the azure glow of the bond stone seemed to be much stronger than that of the protective stone.

Although Lin Lin hadn't specifically taken this out to explain it to his teammates before, he hadn't deliberately hidden it either. Now that the topic came up, Lin Lin simply repeated what he had told the Grand Elder before—of course, only the content related to the Heartfelt Words and the Bond Stone, and he didn't attribute everything to the Bond Stone, and the Grand Elder had specifically instructed him to keep the taboo matters strictly confidential.

"I was wondering how you managed to snatch Tiaotiao away so easily. I always thought I was just unlucky and couldn't find my own Tiaotiao!"

"Brave complained with a disappointed look on his face."

"No wonder you can communicate with them so easily, Brother Lin..."

Ye Zi tried to put on an expression of sudden realization, but after a long period of contact, she had already guessed seven or eight parts of it in her heart. At this moment, when Lin Lin said it was solid evidence, she was not surprised at all.

Only Shion had a look on her face that said, "Who am I? Where am I? What am I supposed to do?"

Why? Because she was the last to join the team and didn't have much time to get to know Lin Lin.
After talking about a whole bunch of random things, it was already evening, and time for dinner.

Since the group had been chatting and hadn't engaged in any strenuous physical activity, they weren't feeling hungry. They casually ordered a few snacks to tide them over, then packed up several large pieces of raw meat and returned to Ziyuan's residence.

After being cooped up on the airship for two days, the surrounding environment changed drastically upon landing. The familiar desert had completely disappeared, replaced by various blue tiles and stone bricks. Jump was fine, having already adapted to it; it was simply a new territory. But Guga was somewhat uneasy.

At first, with Lin Lin by its side, it was able to calm down. Later, with familiar people like Ye Zi around, it was able to keep its emotions in check. But when they finished packing up and went to the meeting place to register, leaving only it and Tiao Tiao at home, anxiety began to creep in.

Fortunately, the villa that Ziyuan bought was relatively remote, and few people passed by. No one noticed that there were two large monsters hiding behind the villa's courtyard wall. Without external stimulation, the anxiety did not escalate into any accident. The dragon and the worm lived in peace until Lin Lin and his group returned.

Sensing the two big guys' emotions, Lin Lin quickly comforted them and took out the raw meat he had just brought back so they could fill their stomachs.

The villa's attached courtyard was quite spacious, easily accommodating two large monsters. Lin Lin simply set up a barbecue grill in the yard, and Jump Jump's favorite was naturally its medium-rare grilled meat.

Guga's preferences are somewhat unusual. It's unclear whether this is a common hobby among beetles, but they prefer to treat corpses with a corrosive liquid and then suck out the decomposing juices. This smell is quite different from the stench of naturally fermented carcasses. Although it is slightly pungent, after smelling it for a while, it inexplicably gives you a kind of intoxicating feeling.

This reminded Lin Lin of a special ingredient called "Jug-marinated Raw Meat" from the New World, which is made by marinating "meat chunks" in a secret sauce.

The "meat chunks" are emergency food made by the Odogaron, a fanged dragon monster living in the Miasma Valley, and have a special putrid smell that attracts carnivorous creatures.

Since Chef Ogre's secret recipes can be transformed into ingredients for delicious cat food, is it possible that the juice made from Axe Beetle's Corpse Dissolving Water could also be used to develop new ways to eat it?

Lin Lin sniffed hard, and couldn't help but sneeze because of the peculiar smell.

Forget it, that's a bit too much. He doesn't have the unparalleled creativity of those scholars from the New World, nor does he have such a strong adventurous spirit... Hmm, speaking of adventurous spirit, maybe Shion would like to give it a try?
After feeding his two little friends a good meal and watching them fall asleep peacefully, Lin Lin put away the barbecue grill and went into the villa.

The villa gate wasn't big enough, so the two of them could only have a courtyard. But the courtyard offered neither wind nor rain protection, so they'd have to make some minor modifications, at least to build a shed.

Back in the room he had reserved for himself, Lin Lin reached out and stroked the newly acquired protective stone, already planning his next move.

With new weapons and talismans, who should I go to test my strength next?
(End of this chapter)