Chương 14: The First Hunt.

Dawn of a new day.

Aron worked through the night inside of his space and stopped an hour before sunset. How did he perceive time without any devices? He just didn't do it at all, system informed him about time and there was a possibility of setting alarms. The only thing left was waiting for Roger to wake up, best place for this was bench outside.

"You are impatient, kid. If you didn't rest well, we cannot go to the forest. Are you ready?" Sleep deprivation caused problems with concentration and many other side effects. Having vigorous body allowed him neglecting sleep for few days without any consequences.

"I am more than ready! Let's go!" The boy wanted to finish quest from Carl, and on other hand research fauna and flora of this world. Another thing was getting many new plants to his farming space, cultivating seasonal herbs or fruits entire year was profitable as people lacked fresh things the most at winter.

Both of them prepared their equipment and set off. Journey to the forest wasn't long, place was an hour of walking from the village.

When they were approaching outskirts, Roger stopped him and said.

"What do you see?" His question caused confusion on boy's face.

"Trees? Bushes?" The old man shook his head and scolded him.

"YOU ARE FUCKIN BLIND! Look over there!" A few meters from them, there were holes in ground.

"Traces of boars?" The white-haired kid answered a question without conviction. Possessing no knowledge about the fauna of this world caused him to hesitate.

"OHH! REALLY… At least you are no completely blind…Those holes are made by boars…It was sow with piglets." Those burrows were made by mostly sow demonstrating ways of searching food in ground. You could see smaller ones made by cubs.

After few seconds of anger, he pointed at boar's shit and said.

"Using your senses is essential during hunt." It was simple lecture about senses, relying on sight and hearing wasn't enough. Smell, touch and taste could give you information about time and approximate distance of your prey.

"We don't want to mess with sow. They are really protective mothers. They will go berserk if they feel threatened. Let's search for easier prey!" Hunting boars wasn't easy and inexperienced hunter wasn't up to this task yet.

Their new target became deer as they found its traces, tracking animal from only hoofprints required high focus and patience. Half an hour of tracing allowed them to find its position, boy was ready to shoot it down. Suddenly surrounding became extremely quiet, Roger panicked and whispered.

"Crouch and don't move!" His expression became grievous, it was visible that man was afraid of something. Aron followed his instructions, it wasn't a wrong decision considering what happened next.

"ROAR!" Gigantic canine appeared while signaling its presence with a loud roar. Deer couldn't even react as its head was ripped off in split of second. Monster spotted two humans and snorted, imagine being despised by a fucking dog.

[Name: Female Black-eyed Demon Wolf.]

[Desc: Spiritual beast with demonic black eyes. They can be spotted in packs.]

[Attributes: ?]

[Traits: Accelerated regeneration, Demonic Eyes, High-density muscles, Predator, ??]

[Skills: Berserk, Charge, Highspeed running, Call for help, ???]

'It's way bigger than an ordinary wolf. Its power and speed were remarkable. You will regret your action in a future, dog!' In his mind being despised by an oversized dog was extremely humiliating.

"It's okay. We should hurry and leave the forest!" It spared them once, second encounter could end with tragedy.

"What was that?" Aron was interested in its existence. Researching evolution of such creature would allow him to get knowledge about this world.

"Ohhh, you are interested in this beast? IT WILL FUCKIN EAT RIP YOU INTO A THOUSAND PIECES BEFORE YOU EVEN THINK ABOUT ATTACKING! Engrave into the empty head of yours! Did you hear sentence 'Curiosity killed the cat'? Imagine yourself as a cat and this freaking monster as a curiosity!" The man was enraged, this boy was just too reckless.

"Let's leave. Life is more important than the success of a hunt." He said after calming down his emotions.

'It's quite regretful to come back empty handed! Let's search for prey!' Aron ignored old man's command and scanned with surrounding with his eagle's eyes. There was deer around a few hundred meters away in the west.

"KID! LET'S LEAVE!" Roger insisted on leaving.

"I have found a trail. Follow me." Expression of old farmer became irritated by the actions of this boy. It was freaking first hunt and he already stopped listening to his instructions. His behavior was simply outrageous. Roger decided to teach boy lesson after coming back to the village.

They were around 50 meters from deer, he drew his bow and shoot an animal. The boy could shoot at longer distances due to his high perception and strength, however, getting old man heart attack wasn't a smart idea.

He stood up and took a weird posture and pulled the string to its limits. Drawing little more would cause the bow to break, making bows allowed him to be aware of capability of every each his bows.

Swish! Screech! Thud! Arrow pierced the skull of an unaware animal, killing it on spot.

"Gotcha!" Boy didn't wait and signaled old man to approach his game.

"Come on, old man! It's already dead! Let's go!" Roger was still confused about current situation. Did their roles swapped or something?

A half minute later, they were already standing next to the motionless carcass of deer with a skull with an arrow.

"Kid! I don't fuckin believe…What are you? DO YOU KNOW HOW LONG IT TOOK ME TO HUNT MY FIRST PREY? FUCKIN THREE MONTHS! No, it's too much! It's fucking too much…I won't teach you anymore…" Something inside of Roger's mind snapped. Experience? Years of hard practice? All those things were worth nothing before this boy.

"How do we bring this back to the village?" Ignoring mental breakdown of his mentor, boy was thinking about a way to bring meat back.

"…Bigger games are dismantled into smaller parts. You cannot take entire corpse anyway." Roger calmed down a little and said.

"I have a better idea! Give me a few minutes!" Aron picked a couple of bigger sticks from the ground and used linen rope to build a simple stretcher. Tying corpse to his creation, feeling a little disappointed about having to drag it to the village.

"Give me a break! Can you at least do one thing like a real hunter? Don't say, you will build something to dismantle it for you? SHIT! I don't want to know." A boy tried to say something, yet man couldn't stand him anymore.

They left the forest in silence. A weird transporting device with tied deer gathered the attention of many villagers.

The first person to approach them was a greedy carpenter. Most of the hunters exchanged their meat for resources with other professions.

"I thought you retired from hunting..." After events from years ago, Roger announced about his retirement as a hunter. Appearance with big game, after coming back from forest caused an uproar. Having more hunters meant more meat to trade, that was pretty good news to the village.

Their doubts were immediately cleared by Roger's voice.

"It's the truth. I retired and I won't hunt anymore. This game was hunted by my student." They were searching for a new hunter with their eyes and ignored the existence of Aron.

"Stop fooling around! Aron is my student!" Their actions irritated old man, kid had talent in hunting and treating him like this was stupid.

'I brought back the game. I still need to get necessary herbs...' Boy's thoughts focused on finishing the quest to get more rewards.

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