Golden Experience

Monkichi is a baboon. It looks like a giant mandrill.

From the moment they appeared, Snow Baboons are already larger than humans. In the case of baboons, their forward-leaning posture might even be around three meters. They can win against ice wolves in battles, which is only natural.

For now, they are an unfamiliar race, and, well, it’s better to be strong, so I decided to give Monkichi a Philosopher’s Stone.

《Your subordinate has fulfilled the reincarnation conditions》

《Do you allow the reincarnation to “Shoujou” by consuming 100 of your experience points?》

Shoujou might mean orangutan. Well, if that’s what it is, then I’ll just accept it.

When I actually reincarnated him, Monkichi turned into a muscular mandrill. It looks like they just fattened up the baboon with muscles.

Speaking of Shoujou, it generally refers to orangutans. Or in terms of legendary beings, this one is said to be a heavy drinker, living in the sea, or a sage of the forest, but none of these associations fit the handsome gorilla in front of me.

“But the INT is quite high. Maybe because he’s a forest sage? STR is also higher than expected. This is pretty accurate.”

The experience points paid were not significant, but it can be roughly said to be on par with a queen-class in terms of strength. There is also the accumulation of leading a group as a baboon for a long time, and it’s unknown which race is superior.

“Now, for now, this should be fine. If we have been dominating this forest until Hakuma’s return, we should be able to continue without further enhancement.

So, in the end, why did you guys come and where did you come from?”

According to them, Monkichi and the others came from a forest much further west from here. It might be Pearl.

The reason for coming to Wells was the same as Hakuma, driven out of the forest by people entering.

Speaking of Pearl, it’s a country with many beastmen. Just as the elves consume a lot of fruits compared to humans, I’ve heard that beastmen prefer meat. That’s why they buy livestock and wood from Wells.

“If the beastmen came into the forest, would they just be hunting, or did they intend to eat Monkichi and the others?”

I thought while saying it.

There’s a psychological barrier to eating a species close to human like monkeys, but first and foremost, there’s their strength.

Snow Baboons are large. Their STR and VIT are high accordingly, and especially NPCs that haven’t undergone much training would likely not be able to defeat them. Even if you surround them with numbers, the opponent is also a species that forms groups. It’s not realistic to surround one in the forest.

If their goal wasn’t to hunt Snow Baboons, what could it be?

It’s possible that it was for the resources of the forest rich in underground resources, like the Liebe Great Forest. But would they cut through a forest infested with monsters for that?

Even if the goal was the wood itself, there are still doubts. Pearl buys livestock and wood from Wells, and if they can produce wood themselves, they wouldn’t need to buy it. Even if they were trading, it would likely only be through certain cities, and it’s possible they were conducting forest clearing in an unrelated area. Perhaps it was the forest where Monkichi and the others were.

Or maybe they had some conflict with the Snow Baboons. From Monkichi’s recollection, there doesn’t seem to be any such thing, but it doesn’t necessarily mean the same for the other party.

NPC beastmen tend to be impulsive or easily angered, and even if they were fighting at the level of monkeys, it wouldn’t be surprising.

“If there’s a chance to go to Pearl, I’ll investigate. I also need to look into the Mythical Beast King.”

Once things settle in Wells, the next destination is Pearl.

The most mysterious thing right now is the Mythical Beast King. I haven’t heard any information about it dying from the Count, so it might still be somewhere in the world. If the destination of the beastmen is the Mythical Beast King, it might be faster to create it than to search for it.

It’s okay to reincarnate Kerry and the others, but at the moment, I don’t know the conditions for their reincarnation. Kerry and the others reincarnated from cat beastmen to other beastmen, but it’s unclear if they are on the same level as High Elves or Noble Humans, or if they simply shifted horizontally. At least, they didn’t acquire the ability to [Command] as a racial trait.

If I can learn about such things, or if I can learn about the current nobility and royalty of Pearl, I might get hints for the reincarnation of higher races.

In terms of combat power or abilities alone, reincarnation is certainly more efficient with stat increases. However, if I give them experience points and let them grow in their current race, they will still become stronger. In that sense, there’s no need to force reincarnation.

Especially for humanoid characters, this tendency is prominent.

For example, if they gain wings like Ubel and can fly, or if they get additional breath attacks, it would be a different story, but if there’s no significant change in physical appearance due to reincarnation, it’s essentially the same. Eventually, it’s the same if I invest experience points and acquire skills. Some individuals may not fit into that framework.

Therefore, I had thought until now that it’s fine to leave them as they are. But if the race itself is a condition, then it’s a different story.

I’ll look to obtain information about higher races of beastmen, and use that information to strengthen Kerry and the others.

“If that’s the case, then the next target is the Dwarves’ country, Shape. If Lyra can handle Portree’s reins well, I wouldn’t mind leaving it to her, but the Spirit Lord should be suitable for the Dwarves, considering the previous Spirit Lord.”

However, thinking about the previous Spirit Lord, strengthening the Dwarves might lead to the production of strange items or scattered items again, which could be troublesome. Like the Holy King, the Spirit Lord is particularly vulnerable to rare items. Handling them requires caution.

It would be better to place the Spirit Lord in an environment where monitoring is easy in some form. In that sense, Portree, essentially sealed off by Hiers and Aural, is just right. On the other hand, Shape is the farthest country from Hiers. There might be concerns about it being hard to keep an eye on.

“If it’s the Dwarves, they have a stubborn image, and it’s okay to destroy them like Hiers. Investigate roughly what kind of country it is until the next event or so, and if it seems troublesome, we can hunt down just their leaders again.”

Dwarves and Elves, with their long lifespans, are relatively strong entities among NPCs. It might be suitable for them to serve as a stage for the activities of Warrior Skulls and Giant Corpses. If using real undead, it might be good to ask Blanc if we can borrow Skeletal Ghidorah. In the meantime, Erntal’s defense can be handled by lending out Ubel.

<Alright then, Boss. We’ll casually cause havoc in the eastern part of this country.>

“Sure, go ahead. Then, Ginka, you can handle the western part.”

<Yes, understood.>

On social media, they seem to be recognized as wandering-type special boss monsters, or something like that. If they enjoy it, then it’s worth sending them out as rare creatures. Although their numbers have increased significantly, it shouldn’t be a big problem. Having more is probably better.

After sending out the wolves, I summoned Queen Vespoid to create a base for Wells in the underground of the coniferous forest. However, the response was not favorable. It seems that it’s too cold here. The Queen has acquired magic of all attributes and has resistance skills for each attribute, but the engineers don’t count as combatants, so they don’t have resistance skills. In other words, it’s difficult for ants, who are weak to cold, to create a secret base in the underground of this place.

My faction covers all production-related tasks with the craftsmen of the ants and Rifure. This also applies to facilities and buildings. If ants can’t be used, there are only human craftsmen left, but thinking calmly, ordinary humans not involved in combat are not necessarily resistant to the cold. If ants are hit with [Ice Magic], they will die and respawn, but hitting human craftsmen with magic will usually result in actual death.

In other words, there are no suitable personnel in hand to perform productive work in such an extremely cold place.

“I thought it could be a base for Wells. Well, there’s no need to make one in the forest. If they have business, they can come, and we can make the operating base in the underground of Wells’ Holy Church Cathedral. The main focus of activities in Wells is the strengthening of NPC royalty.”

There was no reason to deliberately create a base in the forest.

Actually, there’s no need to force the creation of a base in the first place. Wells’ capital is not as cold as here, and if ants are quietly called, they can dig a basement. After that, call construction craftsmen from Rifure and have them make rooms. It’s inconceivable that they would be refused, but just to be sure, they decided to fly to Mare, the head of Wells, to get permission from the Archbishop of Wells.