"Squeak, squeak!"
Accompanied by a loud noise, the Multi-legged Spider Bug wailed in pain.
But deprived of the support of its insect legs, its entire body crashed to the ground.
A large amount of dark green blood emitted a foul stench, making Ogerpon retreat repeatedly.
"Ponooo~"
Ogerpon retreated to Rin's side, her face full of disgust. (It smells so bad, this guy.)
"Cough, cough, cough."
Rin also put on a pained expression.
He really wondered if such a monster truly possessed intelligence.
The monsters he had encountered in the past, their flesh and blood were edible.
Unlike the Spider Bug in front of him, which was like a biochemical weapon.
"Biochemical weapon?"
Rin once again used the Appraisal skill on the Spider Bug.
This time, Rin utilized the "Inquiry" function of the Appraisal skill.
Inquiry means to appraise the desired target. For example, if you appraise a sword, you will get the sword's attributes.
But specific data cannot be clearly known through simple Appraisal.
Through inquiry, you can know information such as the sword's thickness, length, weight, and material.
This kind of targeted Appraisal depends on what you want to know.
Targeted inquiry Appraisal is far less convenient than Rimuru's Great Sage, but some basic functions are actually not much different.
"Inquiry: Does this Spider Bug possess intelligence?"
"Report: No."
"???"
Rin's eyes widened, somewhat doubting if he had misheard. "No, didn't you just say it was a monster?! It doesn't even have intelligence, are you sure it's a monster?"
"Report: Artificial Monster, similar to a construct."
Rin pretty much understood.
Simply put, this thing was not a naturally born monster. It possessed a soul, but not a complete soul, rather a soul fragment.
Rin wasn't entirely sure how it worked.
He only knew one thing. There was no need to treat this Spider Bug as an intelligent life form.
"So it's just a brainless wild monster."
Rin frowned slightly, and he waved his hand in front of his nose. "Finish it, Ogerpon."
"Poniii!"
Ogerpon did not ask why.
As long as it was Rin's request, Ogerpon would execute it without hesitation.
"Boom!"
Thus, the thorn vine stick swung, and green energy, from dozens of meters away, smashed down fiercely.
The immense force landed on the Spider Bug's head, causing even half of its body to burst open like a watermelon, clearly dead beyond dead.
[Individual name 'Ogerpon' killed 'Multi-legged Spider Bug', gained 5 Existence Value.]
The experience acquisition prompt that came with Ogerpon informed Rin of the Existence Value the Multi-legged Spider Bug could provide.
"5 Existence Value, 2 points higher than Terror Bear's 3 points."
Rin didn't pay too much attention to the magicules obtained from killing the Spider Bug. He was more concerned with the term "Artificial Monster."
"I always feel like I've fallen into something bad."
Rin shook his head, dispelling these unnecessary worries. "Strength. As long as I become strong enough, no conspiracy or trickery will be a cause for fear."
"Ogerpon, who do you think is stronger, this Spider Bug or the Terror Bear from before?"
"Hmm..." Ogerpon thought for a moment and said, (Ogerpon feels the Spider Bug is so weak.)
Don't let Ogerpon's combat style, which involved using Grassy Terrain to confuse the Spider Bug's senses and Seed Bomb to disarm its defenses, deceive you.
These were just tactics Ogerpon specifically developed for caution.
If it came down to a direct comparison, Ogerpon could finish off the Spider Bug with one hit.
Well, the Bombing Terror Bear was the same in that regard.
(But Ogerpon still thinks the Bear is stronger!)
This was Ogerpon's intuitive feeling. She couldn't explain why, but she just felt that the Bombing Terror Bear was more threatening.
"Intuition?"
Rin believed Ogerpon's feeling was correct, and he looked down at the shattered Spider Bug. "After all, it's an artificial product. It can't compare to a genuine C-rank monster."
Of course, part of the reason was also that Ogerpon had become stronger than she was not long ago.
When she encountered the Terror Bear, Ogerpon's magicules were around 7000.
And now, in just seven days, Ogerpon's magicules had increased from the initial 6500 to 8000.
Ogerpon had been quite active along the way.
Whenever she saw a monster or beast that could provide experience points, she would give it a hit, whether it was worth it or not.
Rin treated her like a Pokémon grinding for levels.
If it was a monster, Ogerpon would try to minimize damage and quickly put it into a baby-like sleep, thereby fulfilling the "defeat" condition.
As for monsters, as long as the opponent chooses to surrender, the Growth can obtain the corresponding magicules.
In addition, Rin would also leave food for these defeated ones.
Rin, who had just awakened his past life memories not long ago, was still unable to plunder recklessly.
He gained experience points, and the other party got food.
A definite win-win!
(Ogerpon used so much magic power to fight the Terror Bear.)
(But to fight the Insect Monster, Ogerpon used this much.)
Ogerpon gestured with her two short hands, indicating lengths, which Rin couldn't understand at all.
(In short, to fight the Insect Monster, Ogerpon consumed much less magic power.)
Ever since she came to the Cardinal World, Ogerpon had found that the energy within her body had become much more abundant.
Not only had the quantity increased, but even her recovery speed had been greatly enhanced.
For example, in the past, after a battle, Ogerpon would always need to catch her breath.
But now...
Ogerpon stated that even if she had dozens of such battles consecutively, she would not feel tired.
The higher the existence value, the more magicules there were, and the amount of magic power and stamina that could be contained was directly proportional to it.
Coupled with astonishing recovery speed, and Ogerpon's unique Pokémon moves, her strength was by no means simply describable as B-class.
Rin felt that even if Ogerpon faced A-class, or even A+-level monsters, she would have a considerable chance of winning.
"Alright."
Rin didn't say much more about other things.
Artificial monsters and such were too far away from them.
The top priority now was to bury this spider Insect Monster, which had been beaten to a pulp, to prevent it from polluting the farmland.
Over the next period, while working, the two encountered three waves of Insect Monster invasions.
Rin didn't know what the situation was in this place, why there were so many Insect Monsters.
However, Ogerpon was not to be trifled with either.
Her thorn vine stick lived up to her reputation.
After adapting to Pokémon-type magic, Ogerpon's combat became even more effortless. Often, the enemy was killed before they could even make a move.
"There isn't an Insect Monster nest nearby, is there?"
Rin watched Ogerpon manipulate tree roots to drag the remaining remains underground for burial.
He held a dagger in his hand, and on the ground nearby, there were materials Rin had collected from three Insect Monsters.
Resisting the foul odor emanating from these items, Rin was clearly disgusted but still began to clean these materials, determined not to waste anything!
"Should we go investigate?"
While cleaning, Rin secretly pondered, "No, with just Ogerpon and me, even if we find an Insect Monster nest, it would waste a lot of time, and it wouldn't be worth it."
Considering that the camp had been initially built, Rin finally decided to ignore them.
There were still a few hours until the Traveler's cooldown was over. At most, by tomorrow, Rin could cross again.
The Traveler's ability to cross dimensions had a cooldown period.
The length of the cooldown period was related to the time Rin spent in the other world.
Just like last time, Rin stayed in the Pokémon World for seven days, so upon returning to the Cardinal World, there would be a seven-day cooldown.
Of course, this referred to the cooldown after returning to the Cardinal World.
If he was in another world, Rin could return at any time to avoid encountering unmanageable dangers in the new world.
"Let's just treat it as a monster spawning point."
For some reason, Rin felt that it wasn't bad to occasionally have spider Insect Monsters come to them.
This way, they wouldn't have to bother looking for monsters.
(To be continued.)