Kyle ran through the forest east of Starkhold.
'Sure hope I'm not going to meet any hunters. I really don't want to deal with that.'
Kyle had already met up with the client, who had given him all of the details.
Apparently, they were after some kind of big chicken.
These chickens laid eggs that could be consumed by normal people to gain Ether, making it a lucrative source of Ether.
Compared to chickens on Earth, these chickens didn't lay eggs once a day but only once every couple of months.
One of these eggs could turn an Initial Adept into a Mid Adept, which was crazy.
'30 Ether Pebbles per egg,' Kyle thought. 'But you also gotta feed these chickens and keep them contained.'
'There's some profit to be made with these chickens, but not that much. The dude said that they lay like four eggs every three months, which means they get 1.3 eggs per month.'
'Just based on economics, I would think they get like ten Ether Pebbles of profit per month.'
Naturally, since Kyle had had his own business on Earth, even if it was just a shady drop shipping business, he knew quite a bit about how business worked.
'The fact that the hunters want ten Ether Stones for one of these chickens is crazy. Assuming everything works out perfectly, that still means you need like eight years to make a return on your investment.'
'And that's considering ideal circumstances. Sometimes, shit happens, and your chicken dies.'
'Oh well, more money for me.'
The reward Kyle would get for the mission was one Ether Stone, which meant that the client probably paid three Ether Stones in total.
'Seems like a fair price. Assuming ideal circumstances, they only need 2.5 years to get a positive return.'
"Have you ever seen a Bristle Chicken?" Kyle asked Theodor.
"No," Theodor answered.
"Have you heard of it?"
"No," Theodor answered with annoyance. "I don't care about such weak beasts. If I wanted one, I could've just captured a Monster."
"But weren't you weak before? You know, like me," Kyle asked.
"Yes, but I spent all of my time in the Royal Artificer Academy. I only needed to get my own resources when I was already a Late Artificer," Theodor explained.
"Oh, you had a silver spoon," Kyle commented.
"I didn't," Theodor answered with a mix of annoyance and confusion. "How is a silver spoon related to my academic life?"
"It's a phrase," Kyle said. "It means-"
"I don't care," Theodor interrupted. "Keep your phrases to yourself. I don't want to clutter my limited information storage with trash."
Kyle just rolled his eyes as he kept running through the forest.
After a while, Kyle's instincts started to warn him, and he jumped into one of the bushes.
Something dangerous was approaching, but Kyle couldn't be sure where it came from.
'Well, just gotta wait until the danger passes,' he thought.
But then, the feeling of danger became stronger and stronger.
Yet, Kyle still couldn't tell where the danger was.
At that moment, something lightly touched Kyle's leg.
BANG!
Kyle immediately jumped out of the bush and looked back, his hammer ready.
"Meow."
A black cat casually strolled out of the bush.
'A cat?' Kyle thought.
Sure enough, it looked like a normal housecat, except that it was almost a meter tall.
As soon as Kyle saw the cat, he realized that the danger came from it.
"A Majestica," Theodor commented. "They're harmless as long as you aren't rude to them."
"Majestica?" Kyle asked, watching as the cat walked closer.
"It's a popular but expensive pet," Theodor explained. "They-"
"Hey!" someone suddenly shouted, interrupting Theodor.
The next moment, a person jumped down from the trees.
"Oh, it's you!" Kyle said, recognizing the person. "Jim, right?"
"Yep," the man said. "You're Kyle, if I remember correctly."
Kyle nodded.
He remembered Jim.
He was the guy who got that one mission from the "landlady".
At that moment, Kyle also remembered another mission he had seen on the board.
"Lady Whiskers?" he asked, looking at the cat.
"Yep, that's Lady Whiskers," Jim answered with a bitter laugh. "I accepted that one mission to protect her during her evening stroll."
"As you can see, she doesn't really need my protection. She is capable of taking care of herself. I guess I'm just here to give her company so that she isn't alone."
Lady Whiskers walked around Kyle's legs, sniffing his armor from time to time.
"Crazy," Kyle said, looking at the cat. "I didn't feel her approach at all."
"She's really good at escaping and sneaking," Jim said. "Keeping track of her is not easy."
"You're also not bad," Kyle answered with a chuckle. "I didn't feel your presence until you said something."
"Am I?" Jim asked as he fell into thought. "You know, I've never been good at sneaking, but I guess I got better."
"I'm usually the one who accepts all of these low-reward missions. I've escorted Lady Whiskers eight times by now, and I think I probably just picked up a thing or two about sneaking while watching her," Jim said, rubbing the back of his head.
Kyle scratched his chin as he looked at the cat, which seemed to have grown bored of him.
"Think that might also work for me?" Kyle asked.
Jim shrugged. "I dunno. You would have to try for yourself."
"Maybe I will," Kyle said.
Jim noticed that Lady Whiskers was vanishing into another bush.
"Gotta go," Jim said, silently jumping onto a tree above the bush.
"Hey!" Kyle shouted. "Do you know where I can find a Bristle Chicken?"
"You're too far south!" Jim shouted as he jumped onto another tree. "Go more north!"
"Thanks!" Kyle shouted.
Kyle waited a bit before moving towards the north.
"Majestica?" Kyle asked.
"Yes, many nobles have them as pets," Theodor answered. "They can be quite protective of you if they like you, but most of the time, they will run away at the first sign of danger. Many nobles gift Majesticas to their young children to protect them since Majesticas like children a lot."
"A Majestica of this level will probably cost you 75 to 100 Ether Stones."
'100 Ether Stones for a fucking cat,' Kyle thought. 'Rich people are crazy.'
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