Monster Hunter: I can hear the monsters' thoughts

Chapter 106 Three Protective Stones
Todd's characteristic loud voice was not concealed at all, so the owner of the alchemy house became a little anxious when he heard his "bad words".

Me? Lucky?
Lin Lin pointed at himself. He never thought he was lucky. When he was playing the game, he had been playing the Sun-Destroying Bead for three days in a row in order to get an Attack Bead 2 [4], but nothing happened. This forced him to become a magician.

Now, hearing the owner of the alchemy shop say that he was lucky, although Lin Lin's first reaction was disbelief, he still couldn't help but feel a little bit of expectation in his heart.

Did I really refine some good protective stone?
The owner of the alchemy shop went back to the house. After a while, he came out with the big cloth bag that Lin Lin had brought when he first came. He untied the bag and poured it onto the counter.

There was a loud crash, and a bunch of small stones of strange shapes, emitting light of varying intensities, scattered around.

"A total of ten protective stones were refined, three of which are knight-grade. Two of them can fully activate a skill's protection. Although the protection level of the other one is relatively low, it unexpectedly formed a hole that can be embedded with an ornament."

The boss picked out the three brightest stones from the pile and introduced them one by one:

"This one's effect is [Hunger Resistance]. The name itself should give you an idea, right? It makes you more resistant to hunger... Well, that's a bit of a misnomer. To be precise, this protection works by lowering your metabolic rate, thus slowing down your energy consumption. Once you're in high-intensity combat, the effect of this protection will become quite weak."

Lin Lin's mouth twitched, and the anticipation he had just felt suddenly collapsed.

What use would he have for this skill? To become the Legendary Endurance King? After much thought, the only time this stone would be useful was when he was trapped in his camp by monsters while hunting, with no supplies and no choice but to wait for rescue. It would help him hold on a little longer, right? For example, maybe with two velociraptors or a giant scorpion...

"This one's effect is [Satisfaction], which increases your absorption efficiency when using things like potions. You only need to consume a portion to get the same effect as if you had consumed the entire thing, thus effectively saving items... However, the [Satisfaction] effect of this amulet isn't very high, so the effect is probably quite poor. However, there are holes in this amulet. If I insert two diet beads into it, it will basically work normally."

Lin Lin's face darkened, and the remaining half of his anticipation collapsed.

The level of satisfaction and excitement was still low. Would it make him break an ancient secret potion in half and eat it? Besides, this was reality, not a game. Once injured, the most important thing to do was to retreat temporarily, not take a sip of potion to fill up the health bar and continue fighting. This skill was not as useful as in the game.

"And this one..."

The boss introduced the items slowly and logically, but Lin Lin simply answered in his mind: hunger patience, satisfaction, should I eat quickly next?

"This one's effect is [Heat Resistance]. It's great for places where cold drinks are needed, like deserts and volcanoes during the day. Wearing it will greatly reduce the effects of the heat, just like the local monsters. If you pair it with a cold drink, it'll be basically the same as normal activities."

Huh?
Lin Lin raised his eyes in surprise. Compared with the previous two, the effect of this protective stone was unexpectedly quite practical?

Although it cannot directly help in combat, the heat-resistant protective stone combined with cold drinks can still exert normal combat effectiveness in extreme environments. This is actually a kind of implicit enhancement.

Finally, he had a protective stone that was still usable. Lin Lin was in a good mood. He held the protective stone, feeling the unique energy field enveloping him, and couldn't help but marvel at it.

This is different from cold drinks that, after drinking, send out a cool air from the body to fight against the heat outside. This energy field is more like acting on the outside, filtering out overly hot temperatures, so that even though there is a scorching sun above his head, Lin Lin feels like he is bathed in a spring breeze.

No wonder it is said that it can produce better effects when paired with cold drinks, one is mainly external and the other is mainly internal.

"What about the remaining seven amulets?" "The rest... um, the rest... are all soldier-level amulets, and their activation levels aren't very high. Let me think, these have [Physical Enhancement], [Stealth], [Trap Master], [Moving Master]..."

Are there any useful skills here?
Yes, but the degree of activation is too low, and it needs to be matched with corresponding beads to function normally. However, these protective stones themselves have no holes, and secondly, Lin Lin does not have the raw materials to make beads. In the end, Lin Lin could only pay 1500z for labor costs. Except for the three knight-level protective stones, he pressed the rest into the bottom of the box. He didn't know if there would be a day in the future when they would be turned out and see the light of day again.

……

On the way out of the alchemy house, Todd looked conflicted, as if he wanted to say something but hesitated.

"What's the matter, Brother Todd? Just say whatever you want to say."

Lin Lin noticed this and didn't try to guess, but pointed it out directly.

We are all hunters, what is there that cannot be discussed?
"Is my luck really that bad?"

Lin Lin choked. After all this fuss, you're just dwelling on this? I thought you were interested in the protective stone I just refined but were too embarrassed to ask for it.

For equipment such as amulets that mainly rely on luck, the guild does not have strict restrictions like armor, but allows trading. Therefore, a good amulet is often priced high.

"If it's just a single failure in refining the protective stone, I don't think it means anything."

Todd scratched the back of his head, his voice sounding a little unsure:
"The key is not just refining the protective stone. I haven't had much luck since I started as a hunter..."

Todd began to count on his fingers:

"My test to become an official hunter was to hunt five Blue Speed Dragons. I ended up encountering the Blue Speed Dragon King. When I was at two stars, I went to pick snow mountain grass and was almost eaten by a Boom Dragon. Look at my face, it's the scar from that time!"

"When I was at three stars, I went hunting for a Sand Dragon, but a Horned Dragon stumbled in. When I was at four stars, I was trying to make a set of Rock Dragon armor, but even though I had all the monster materials, I couldn't find any ore after digging for half a month. It wasn't until I teamed up with Toro to dig for protective stones that I finally found all the ore..."

Lin Lin: ...

Brother Todd, you have such an experience and you are still alive today. I think you are quite like a protagonist!

Um, wait? Snow Mountain Grass, Boom Dragon?
No way?
After carefully looking at Todd again and again, Lin Lin couldn't see any valuable information, so he could only put his doubts aside for the time being.

Lin Lin considered his words carefully and said comfortingly:

"Well, it's pretty unlucky. I encountered a dragon while picking snow mountain grass..."

(End of this chapter)