By the end of the first week, the fields around the starter village contained almost no wild monsters.
Too many adventurers had remained in one region.
They could travel farther, join organized hunts, accept work inside instances, or compete over what remained. Most chose the last option until competition stopped being profitable.
Local hunters responded before Max did. They marked breeding grounds, closed two paths used by farm animals, and refused to guide parties that attacked every creature they encountered. A group could ignore those restrictions outside protected land, but doing so damaged their reputation with the people who knew where worthwhile hunting grounds existed.
Several adventurers learned that killing one additional monster was a poor trade for losing every local guide willing to work with them.
The creatures returned at different rates.
