"Enough about me, what happened while I was gone?"
Seeing everyone go silent after his reply, Kai decided to take the lead and ask.
"After you left… let me think. We hunted down a whole tribe of Goblins and found a Silver Chest. From that chest, we got a powerful Grade 4 Hawk Bow. Unfortunately, no one uses bows and arrows, so now Sophia is practicing to become an Archer.
After that, we ran into a group of Trolls. Tony was badly beaten, and almost all of our savings were spent on buying Self-Healing Bandages."
Oliver began recounting the events that happened after Kai left the Candy Complex.
"Don't worry, Self-Healing Bandages are reusable. They can be used again and again."
Seeing Oliver's slightly pained expression when he mentioned the Self-Healing Bandages, Kai tried to reassure him. From what Kai had read in books, Self-Healing Bandages are classified as Grade 4 items and typically cost around 100–150 gold coins—more than two years' worth of Kai's salary.
"We know. Otherwise, we wouldn't have spent so much money."
This time, Omar responded. Only he knew how much they had to sacrifice to get those bandages. They had cost 170 gold coins.
Aside from using all their savings, they also had to sell some equipment—only then were they able to afford the Self-Healing Bandages.
After buying them, there wasn't even enough money left for food. Omar had to go an entire day without eating.
"After the Tony incident, we didn't venture too deep into the forest and instead hunted some monsters on the outskirts. Today, we went deeper into the forest and managed to hunt a few Blood Bunnies.
However, tonight a Monster Tide will occur, so we'll have to go back to exploring the outskirts again."
Oliver didn't tell Kai that the real reason they had been hunting on the outskirts for so long was due to a lack of proper equipment.
Only after buying decent gear were they able to venture deeper into the forest and secure a good harvest.
Unfortunately, with the upcoming Monster Tide tonight, they'd have to return to hunting in the safer zones on the outskirts.
"You lazy bums! Are you just going to sit there, or are you going to help?"
Sophia spotted Eric, Omar, Oliver, Henry, and Kai lounging around and called them over to assist.
"No, ma'am! I'm coming right now!"
Omar quickly got up and started helping with the preparations.
"We should help too," Eric and Oliver said, exchanging glances.
They were clearly tired and couldn't muster the strength to move. Seeing this weak attempt at volunteering, Kai stepped in.
"You and Henry go help. We're still tired," Oliver added, encouraging Kai and Henry to go help—without moving an inch.
"Whatever," Kai muttered, then went over to help prepare the food.
After all, he knew their nature. Unless they were on the verge of starvation, they wouldn't even think about going near the kitchen.
As for Henry, about two hours ago, he had an intense battle—in bed—from which he was still recovering.
Half an hour later, the food was ready, and everyone enjoyed a good meal.
After the meal, Kai, Eric, Oliver, and Henry stood up and left the Candy Complex.
Kai and Eric were heading to the Cherry Inn to collect Kai's belongings, Oliver went to buy supplies for tomorrow, and as for Henry—he was obviously off to meet one of his girlfriends.
After half an hour of walking, Kai and Eric arrived at the Cherry Inn.
Kai went straight to his room while Eric waited for him in the lobby.
Returning to his room, Kai looked around and got lost in thought.
The reason he returned to the Candy Complex today was because Sophia had asked him to—and he wanted to see how everyone was doing.
But after arriving, seeing everyone again, the little bit of resistance he had left faded, and he decided to stay.
Remembering everyone's happy faces upon seeing him, Kai resolved in his heart to do everything in his power to make sure another tragedy never happens again.
Kai packed all his things and stored them in his storage bag.
With everything packed, Kai returned to the lobby and walked over to the reception.
"I would like to check out," he said, handing over his residency card to the fairy at the reception.
After all, he didn't want the inn to keep charging him unnecessarily.
About two months ago, a man stayed at the inn because it was too late to return to his housing complex. The next morning, without informing the management, he left. A month later, a group of fairies showed up at his door and demanded payment for a full month's rent.
This story has been circulating widely in Blue Wing Town—and most importantly, Kai wanted to make sure he got his remaining money back.
After receiving his salary, he had paid a full month's rent in advance.
"You still have a balance of 7 silver and 50 copper coins left on your card. Would you like to convert them into Cherry Points?"
After checking Kai's residency card, the fairy at the reception asked politely.
"No, I don't want to convert my balance into Cherry Points," Kai replied. Since this was the first time he had heard of Cherry Points, he decided to decline.
"As you wish," the fairy said. "However, I am obligated to inform you that Cherry Points can be used at any Cherry Inn in the world—whether in human territory or that of foreign races."
Seeing that the human still wasn't interested, the fairy used his Soul Power to open a drawer and placed one 5-silver coin, one 2-silver coin, and a single 50-copper coin on the desk.
After handing over the money, the fairy used her Soul Powers to copy all the information from Kai's residency card and upload it to the inn's database.
After that, she erased all the information from the human's residency card.
Picking up the money, Kai counted it and put it into his wallet. Then he and Eric left the Cherry Inn.
"Having a storage bag is neat."
The only reason Eric had come with Kai was to help him carry his stuff. However, since Kai had a storage bag, he wasn't needed.
"It really comes in handy."
Touching the storage bag, Kai felt grateful to Master Stardew. Not only had he taught him alchemy, but he had also gifted him the storage bag.
Unfortunately, Master Stardew had been in retreat for the past two months, and Kai hadn't even seen him.
Perhaps, if he weren't in retreat, he might have helped Kai acquire a Knowledge Sea.
After all, just before going into retreat, Master Stardew had officially accepted Kai as his disciple.