Danma: Danganronpa, but Monster Hunter!

"Unrelated? Blaze, don't you want to go to the Monster Festival? It's going to be incredibly lively, with tons of people coming, even from outside the city."

"Well, to be honest, I don't really want to go. For me, it's more suitable to focus on training than to visit the monster festival."

"Eh... how come it's like this... it was so interesting."

Tiona drew out her words, her tone tinged with regret, but she didn't press the matter. Instead, she looked at Ais on the other side and asked, "What about Ais? Ais, you're probably going to the Monster Festival, right? Tione and I are going too. Let's go together, and bring Lefia along. The four of us can have a good time together, how about that?"

"My words..." Ais paused slightly, then secretly glanced in the direction of the flames.

To be honest, she didn't really want to go to the Monster Festival. It was too noisy for her. She preferred quieter places, like the central courtyard in the morning or the walls of Orario.

Moreover, there is now another reason.

A cross-world hunting commission from the Blazing Flame.

Most importantly, we don't know when this will appear.

If a request comes in while she's visiting the Monster Festival, and she's not nearby, then the flames of the Monster Festival might lead her to find someone else in her familia to complete the request... and as far as she knows, people in the familia don't go to the Monster Festival.

There are many.

Going to the Monster Festival might mean you won't be able to get hunting quests.

Having mentally equated the two, Ais immediately made up her mind.

"As for me, it's probably unlikely I'll go, because I might have a request from Blaze, and I don't want to miss it." Ais lowered her eyebrows and spoke softly, a hint of apology appearing on her cool and beautiful face.

However, she didn't say everything.

"However, if nothing happens on Lieyan's side, I might go too."

"Oh, I see. It's alright!"

Although one of her friends refused to visit and the other could be considered to have refused, Tiona was not discouraged at all. After all, there were still a few days before the Monster Festival actually started, and it was unknown whether Ais and Flame would change their minds in those few days.

For now, let's focus on getting used to this brand new weapon.

"Great, let's continue!"

With a spirited shout, Tiona charged into the encircling horde of monsters, brandishing her double-headed spear.

With a flash of light, the sharp, massive blade, almost half the length of a person, easily cleaved the large monster [Berg Bear] in two from head to tail, demonstrating the weapon's superior performance while also showcasing the girl's brute strength, which was completely inconsistent with her slender appearance.

It's no longer just about using the Insect Glaive; it's completely transformed into my own style, Tiona's style...

But it doesn't matter. This is only the second day since Diona got the Insect Glaive. Once she masters aerial dodging, dancing jumps, and a series of other maneuvers, she'll probably start to have a lot of fun.

With a sigh, Lieyan unleashed a string of notes from his hunting horn, applying small buffs to the two women in front of him, increasing their attack and defense. The moment the buffs touched them, Tiona and Ais tensed up involuntarily, but after sensing the effects of the notes, they relaxed again and fought even more fiercely.

As if testing the effects of musical notes, Tiona and Ais exerted all their strength, hacking the surrounding monsters to pieces as if in a contest.

Whenever the buffs on the two were about to expire, Flame would wave his hunting horn to reapply them.

However, Flame soon regretted his decision.

As for the reason, it's quite simple.

Because of the hunting horn's buff, it lasted until the agreed-upon afternoon time for the sparring battle!

Looking at Ais, who was also covered in musical note buffs and seemed eager to try, Flame gave a somewhat bitter smile.

This... could be considered reaping what you sow...

Chapter 71: What serious hunter plays the flute?

Midday on the moon.

The bright moon casts a cool and ethereal silvery glow, draping the vast天地 (heaven and earth) in a hazy silver veil.

"I never expected to train until this point... I've used up all my recovery potions, even while wearing armor. I've even run out of spare secret and ancient potions..." Flame sighed softly, carrying the coffin bag that had gone from being full of potions to being full of magic stones.

"Did I go too far? I'm sorry..."

Ais lowered her eyebrows and apologized again.

Although she is one of the most powerful adventurers in the city, once you get to know her, you'll find that she is actually a very delicate, soft-hearted, and sensitive person, and also a bit naive and silly.

It's just that her naturally expressionless, pretty face makes her seem aloof.

"It's not your problem; rather, it's exactly the effect I want to achieve."

Flame reached out and ruffled Ais's golden hair. Although her black hair had been washed with sweat countless times that afternoon, it still stood stiffly as if it had been sprayed with hair gel, casting shadows that covered her eyes.

Thanks to the groundwork laid earlier and the buff from the hunting horn, this afternoon's training far surpassed the morning's grueling session in both duration and intensity. It was now the ultimate, super-limit N.0PLUS version of the ultimate grueling training.

This can be seen from the consumption of medicine.

During the morning training session, Flame only drank a recovery potion after the training was over.

During this dungeon trip, Lieyan almost completely used up over a hundred bottles of recovery potions, and even consumed two spare secret potions. The fact that he was able to emerge from the dungeon still intact was thanks to the ancient secret potions.

Furthermore, it's important to know that the G-grade recovery potions produced by Monster Hunter are significantly more effective than the regular recovery potions available in dungeons. They can even rival the Panacea in a short period of time. Moreover, the effects of Secret Potions and Ancient Secret Potions surpass even the Panacea, almost capable of reviving the dead and restoring flesh to bones.

The fact that such a potent medicine, which shines brightly even during clan expeditions, is being used in training demonstrates just how Spartan this training is.

Basically, it can be said that Lieyan truly embodied the saying, "If you can't train to death, train until you die."

Moreover, because Flame was wearing armor, Ais showed no mercy.

Because the substitute rapier was ineffective, she even abandoned it altogether, instead maximizing her LV5 adventurer's superhuman abilities. She sent Flame flying through the dungeon like a cannonball, crashing into walls and the ground, causing massive damage.

"Ah, Ais is so cunning! I want a fiery head pat too!"

"Okay, okay, everyone gets a share."

He reached out his other hand and stroked the Amazonian girl's black hair, as if dealing with an overly clingy daughter, and the fiery father smiled helplessly.

"Speaking of which, I've wanted to ask you for a long time, Lieyan, what exactly is that thing you're using? It seems really powerful."

After enjoying the head pats, Diona pulled away, then tossed her hair, looking curious.

"That's a hunting horn, which can enhance certain aspects of a hunter for a certain period of time. This hunting horn can slightly enhance a hunter's attack and defense, and also has a slight healing effect. However, I'm not very clear about the specific principle behind it. It may be due to its special structure, or it may be due to the power of the materials."

Flame shrugged as he spoke; he admitted that his understanding of the hunting flute was indeed only superficial.

However, in the Monster Hunter world, no one cares about the workings of the hunting horn.

There aren't even many people who play the flute.

Everyone dreams of having a horn-wielding master in their party who can provide wide-area coverage and all sorts of buffs, but how many serious hunters actually use horns?

People either play with cool weapons like the katana, switch axe, or dual swords, or with shield-equipped weapons that allow them to survive, such as the spear or shield axe, or they choose ranged weapons like the light bowgun, heavy bowgun, or bow.

If you choose a hunting horn right away... then you're basically cut off from solo monster hunting.

Even among hunter teams with established routines, hunting horns are rarely used; at least, almost none of the hunter teams Flame knows of use them.

Currently, the only three hunters that Blaze knows who can use a hunting horn are her own unassuming Fire Sprout Water Cloud, and the instructor who is proficient in all weapons...

"Oh, by the way, can we use this hunting horn? It feels like the expedition would be much easier with this."

"I think so."

Tiona and Ais both expressed their opinions on the hunting horn, clearly indicating that the extra-long endurance buff they had today had given them something to think about.

"Our clan's adventurers should be able to use it too, even without a very high level. But to be honest, this thing is really bulky. I myself only chose the hunting horn as my weapon temporarily because I wanted to train my strength and endurance."

And don't just look at how easily I use it; my example is not universally applicable.

If low-level adventurers take this, they basically won't be able to carry anything else. If high-level adventurers carry this thing, it's better to just let them go into battle.

Moreover, the melody of the hunting horn can only cover a limited number of people and its duration is not long, only about ninety seconds. To achieve the desired effect, it must be used continuously.

If applied to an expeditionary force, it should still be somewhat effective, but compared to the costs involved, that effectiveness isn't as significant.

Blazing Flame gently shook his head, then said:

"If I were to make a recommendation, I would suggest that everyone try out the light and heavy crossbows, which are easy to operate. You can aim and pull the trigger, and that's it. My army uses light and heavy crossbows and bows for military-style hunting."

However, if the clansmen were to use both light and heavy crossbows, ammunition supply would become a major problem.

The ammunition in Monster Hunter World isn't mass-produced; all the ammunition materials are purely natural, making them incredibly difficult to collect.

After Flame's explanation, Ais and Tiona understood that hunting horns were indeed not something that the Loki Familia could readily use at present.

Furthermore, the light and heavy crossbows that Blaze mentioned later are not something that the current Loki Familia can handle.

There are just too many obstacles...

Chapter 72: Ais's Special Training Experience

"Forget it, let's not talk about this anymore. None of us are good at thinking, so why bother with this? Let Finn handle the thinking."

"That's right..."

"..."

Flame smiled, ending the topic of weapons. Tiona and Ais also felt that what Flame said made a lot of sense.

For a long time, the major affairs of the clan have been controlled by Finn, the external brain recognized by the entire clan and even the whole of Orario. Although there is a saying that three cobblers are equal to one Zhuge Liang, none of the three cobblers thought they could outwit Finn.

Because Finn has a cheat code.

His "golden touch" is incredibly effective, just like how some southerners can predict rain with 100% accuracy; his "golden touch" is no less impressive.

Although there seems to be no movement yet, given Finn's personality, Flame is fully confident that once the right opportunity arises, Finn might just pull out a whole set of contingency plans and execute them.

After all, Flamefire Village has never hidden anything from its allies; its main principle is sincerity.

"I never imagined it would be this late."

"Yeah, it's so late, the cafeteria must be closed by now. I'm so hungry, I really want to eat lots and lots of meat..."

Looking up at the moon overhead, Lie Yan did some mental calculations, then sighed.

At this time, Rivera will probably have to skip her classes.

Before I knew it, I was forced into training. I was planning to ask Loki to update my stats when I got back tonight, but it looks like I'll have to wait until tomorrow. I wonder how much my endurance and strength will improve after undergoing this kind of grueling training.

Blazing Flame felt a pang of regret.

As soon as Flame spoke of time, Ais's body trembled instantly, and her eyes suddenly became somewhat vacant.

Speaking of time... wouldn't I be going to the dungeon until late at night again, just like before? If that happens, what about Rivera...?