The Witch's Wandering Alchemist's Diary

The former high priest was right; these brats deserve a beating.

When they're hungry, just beat them up, and those little brats will go out and find food on their own.

When they're sick, just give them a good beating, and these little brats will go out and find herbs to eat on their own.

When they're tired, you have to beat them up to get rid of their laziness.

You should hit him when he's having a fit of madness, and you should hit him even more when he's in a bad mood.

However, there are techniques to hitting. It's about knowing where to hit for the most pain and where to hit to avoid injury.

There are techniques involved in all of them.

Hard-boned knew this perfectly well, and he was very confident in his skills.

Those crazy guys stopped acting crazy after he slapped them.

Moreover, it boosted their confidence, since it could be used as stone armor.

The downside is that it's not pretty, and there are fewer fleas, so other fleas are unwilling to team up with you and catch each other's fleas to eat.

If you have less body hair, you'll have fewer fleas, and your other companions will feel like they're at a disadvantage.

Hard-hearted didn't care about this; he thought he would continue to live his comfortable life like this.

Although the adventurers in Ghostwood Town are annoying, they can't break into their own lair.

However, he sensed a unique power emerging from nowhere in the jungle around him.

As a priest, he considered himself superior to the little brats around him.

These little brats only dream of being able to eat their fill every day, but I'm different.

I'm destined for great things, I have the power!

You must pursue power!

On a sunny day, he summoned seven of his most powerful warriors from his tribe.

These seven warriors all bore traces of crystal on them to varying degrees, making them look like scoundrels. However, Hardbone thought that perhaps they could use the crystals to intimidate the enemy.

Those adventurers were unaware that there were no spell models inside these crystals.

The hidden power emanated from somewhere near the mountains, a place the kobolds had run for a whole day to reach.

They are not like humans; they can run on all fours like dogs, and are especially agile in the forest.

But at night, these kobolds dared not approach.

Instead, they found a cave at the foot of the mountain and crawled inside to use as a temporary campsite.

The Ghostwood Forest at night is too dangerous; I really don't dare to go there.

The adventurers were alright; they were moving slowly. But they were carrying a lot of supplies, so even a few kilometers took them a long time to cover.

We set off at noon and began setting up camp at dusk.

If the dungeon is real, then the number of monsters around it will increase, and all sorts of rare herbs and ores will appear.

This is common knowledge among adventurers: dungeons alter the surrounding environment, essentially making each dungeon a money-printing machine. They aren't in a rush to go to dungeons; instead, they're creating a new safe zone in the Ghostwood Forest by building camps. This will make it easier to access the dungeon area later, and even if they don't find a dungeon, they'll have a new campsite to rest in when they return to the Ghostwood Forest.

Generally, it should be a place near a water source, or a place where it is easy to find a water source.

Ghostwood Town has many adventurers, but most are lone wolves. However, there are only four or five powerful adventurer groups, equipped with complete iron armor and able to afford horses.

They carried many iron tools and plenty of food.

At night, one group keeps watch while another group sleeps.

The leader of the Thorn Vine Adventurer Group was the first middle-aged man. He had a square face, and his armor had been brushed several times and even coated with some maintenance oil.

However, numerous scratches and dents are still visible.

His hammer was lying next to him, and a dagger was hanging from his waist.

Looking at the dark iron pot in front of him, the leader of the group named Glico asked Hudson, the leader of the Red Wolf Adventurer Group, "Which blacksmith forged your adventurer group's pot?"

Hudson glanced at the stewing meat inside and casually remarked, "The blacksmith in Ghostwood."

"Of course I know it's the blacksmith from Ghostwood Town," Greg said, somewhat puzzled. "I'm trying to find out who that blacksmith is."

But Hudson just chuckled and didn't tell Glico.

"Hudson, you're supposed to be the leader of the Red Wolf Adventurer's Guild, how can you be so stingy?" Greg said. "It's just a blacksmith's name, look how stingy you are, just like your wife's name."

"Glico, you're the leader of the Thorn Vine Adventurer's Guild. You've been staring at our guild's pot the whole time, and you even wanted to ask the blacksmith's name. Are you out of your mind? It's just a pot."

Hudson punched Glico.

"But your pot is great." Glico looked at the pot. "Look at your pot, so many dents and scratches, it must have been dropped many times. But it hasn't broken after being dropped so many times, so I think it's great."

Tell me about it.

He deliberately added, "You have no idea what kind of awful the iron pot I bought was. It was so badly made. I dropped it a few times and it broke. My whole group and I ate toast for two days straight!"

"Wow, that's great! There's even bread to eat."

"Bullshit! The baked black bread is rock hard. It needs to be cut open, soaked in stream water, and then baked again. And it has to be eaten while it's hot, because that's when it's soft."

"If it cools down, it will become even harder than before, and it will be very easy to grow green mold, which is disgusting."

"Tell me, it's lucky we were coming back. If we'd encountered this situation while out there, we'd be eating black bread for two days straight and wouldn't even be able to lift a hammer. What kind of work would we be able to do?"

"That's why I envy the pot you bought, Hudson. Many people in our adventure group believe that equipment is the most important thing."

"However, I think logistics is the most important thing. Only when the troops are well-fed will they have the energy to fight. As the saying goes, enthusiasm comes first, morale second."

"Only when we eat something hot will our morale be high. And when morale is high, our fighting power is high. We're all carrying hammers, how can we do without some good food?"

"If, by some chance, a mage takes a liking to our group—and I won't say 'Master Mage,' but even a 'Mage Gentleman' or 'Lord Mage,' even if they do take a liking to our group, if they see that we eat pig swill, do you think that 'Mage Gentleman' would still join our group?"

"It's definitely not possible to join."

Grigio rambled on, "But Hudson, you're different. I've seen all the adventure groups, and yours is the best. That proves you understand this principle."

"It took me many years to understand this principle back then, but I didn't expect you to figure it out yourself."

"Let me tell you the truth, I call myself 'older brother' just because I'm older. But I can see that you're the smartest person in the whole adventurer's group."

"In the future, you might find some good stuff in the dungeon and become a mage! At that time, you won't need an adventure party anymore; you'll be living the high life."

This made Hudson extremely happy.

"It's just a pot, why are you making such a fuss?" Hudson said. "This pot was bought on the black market outside the Mage Quarter and forged by an old man in the corner. His craftsmanship, I'm not exaggerating, is superb."