Chapter 6 - First Hunt in the Forest Alone

A huge silver moon is currently shining brightly in the sky, covering one side of the world with its soft light.

Thus, this light also covered a small village located southeast of a huge forest.

The night was so peaceful in the village. Other people are sleeping while some are just drinking liquor while lying on the ground.

But inside a house located within the borders of the village, a young man is currently lying on the roof, watching the bright moon in its full glory and beauty.

"I want to become stronger, but what should I do to become stronger?" Ronald said as he sighed.

Ronald relied on his uncle for everything except for trivial things such as bathing, eating, and some things he can do on his own. His uncle even taught him about swordsmanship, but he didn't teach him how to earn money.

This is currently his major problem.

'Maybe, I should just hunt some beast and sell it... But uncle said that I shouldn't go inside the forest unless he is with me or when I reach level 2.'

Ronald thought as he was thinking about what he should do to earn money. Though, as a level 1, he can start hunting those weak level 1 beast, but if accidents happen, then no one could save him. Although he had read many books about many beasts and their characteristics, sometimes beasts acted differently from what was written, especially when their life is at risk.

'Sigh... Whatever... I'll just try hunting some horned-rabbits tomorrow. I need to be careful, though, as no one will protect me if I met something that I can't deal with.'

Ronald thought to himself as he closed his eyes and slowly entered the world of dreams.

***

The morning quickly came, and the sun slowly revealed itself and hit Ronald with its bright rays of light, causing him to wake up slowly.

Stretching his arms up in the sky, Ronald then jumped out of the roof and landed in the backyard, and he then went to his room to get his sword and started practicing swordsmanship for an hour.

After he finished his practice, Ronald went back inside the house to eat.

Seeing the lonely and silent interior of the house, Ronald felt sad. He then slapped his cheeks and remembered what his mother and uncle told him. Also, as his uncle said, he wasn't gone, he was still alive inside his heart.

Ronald thought some memories he has with his uncle, as he started preparing some food that was left yesterday and started heating it.

As Ronald was eating his breakfast, a knocking sound was heard at the door of the shop.

Ronald wondered who would it be and how would he interact with him/her. It was written in his uncle's letter that all the people in the village, except Hannah, would forget all the interactions and relations he had with his uncle.

'Would they think that I am a thief? I hope not...' Ronald thought as he remembered the scary woman who lives in the house beside his uncle's shop. There was even one time that she saw a robber in her house and reacted quickly to stop the robber. Although the robber got out, the robber didn't get out safely, as all the robber's limb was bent on the wrong way, also the worse thing that happened to that robber was not that he was caught and thrown to the prison, but the worse thing that happened to him is that he has no future, his balls were cracked.

While Ronald was thinking, he came to the door and opened it. But after he opened the door, a fast shadow directly hugged him.

"Ronald, it's okay. I am still here, don't do anything stupid and follow your uncle. I am still here, I will take care of you. So, don't be sad, okay?" Hannah, who was the fast shadow that hugged him, said as she gently patted his back while still hugging him.

"Uhmm... Auntie, I'm fine now, but thank you for worrying about me... By the way, Auntie, how did you know that uncle Jack died? I was planning to pass by your house this morning and tell you about my uncle's death," Ronald replied to her as he gently separated himself from Hannah's embrace.

"Uhmm... It was easy, I also set the same skill to the people in the village. So, when Jack's skill activated, I also felt its activation," Hannah said as she caressed Ronald's hair. After caressing Ronald's black hair for a while, she continued, "You have really grown up. If I remember correctly, at the time when you knew that your mother left you, you cried a whole day, and then after crying, you suddenly ran out of the village and fell to a pit trap that was set by the hunters. Thankfully there was no spike at the bottom of the trap. You have been trapped there until evening, as we had a hard time finding you. (*sigh) Time really flies so fast."

"Yeah, at that time, after uncle Jack found me, he tied me to a tree in the backyard and patiently explained somethings to me. By the way, Auntie, have you eaten breakfast?"

"Yeah, I have, but if you invite me to eat, then I wouldn't deny your offer. By the way, what is your plan now?"

"I plan to follow, uncle Jack's advice and strive to become stronger. As for my plan for today, I will try to hunt on the outskirts of the forest by myself and earn some money for my daily living."

"You can do it, good luck," Hannah said as she raised her small fist in front of Ronald, to encourage him.

***

Near the outer area of the Everlast forest where bodies of dead beasts scattered everywhere as far as the eyes can see and where blood is continuously flowing out of these bodies, dyeing the ground in red.

Devastation can be seen anywhere, there is no place in this land that was left untouched. The trees were brought down, the rocks were crushed into dust, even a small river at the side died down and stopped flowing as all the water on it had vanished into thin air and as the channel was not good enough to let water flow on it.

But at a small corner of this red colored land, a man was currently laying on a fallen tree trunk, panting and breathing heavily with deep wounds that were still gushing blood all over his body.

"ARGHHHH... This mission is so damn risky... I'll not do any mission of this kind again. The risk isn't on par with the rewards, but I have no choice. In any case, I had finally killed him. I can finally feel at ease that no one could ever get that position away from me... HAHAHA."

This man was Cyre, also known as the crazy elf.

Due to him laughing hard enjoying his success while his body was severely wounded, he started coughing blood.

"cough...cough...cough..."

"ARGH... These wounds are so grievous, he really can hit damn hard. He even used the power of the tree. Sigh...I should have known that he can use that power as a member of the queen's shadow guard... Careless... Truly careless... Next time, I'll be more careful when dealing with them..."

Cyre stopped talking as he fell into a deep slumber to recover his wounds.

Sleeping in the forest is dangerous, but due to the leftover aura released by Jack's last attack, all beasts near the area had run away.

***

Traversing the forest carefully, hiding behind bushes, climbing on trees, and avoiding many beasts, Ronald finally found a lone horned rabbit eating some sweet berries.

-----

Horned rabbit

Lvl: 1

Hp: 575/575

Mp: 130/130

-----

Seeing it's Hp and Mp and estimating its stats, Ronald finally determined that he could fight this rabbit.

Recalling what he had done the other day, he quietly hid behind a bush, preparing to ambush the horned rabbit.

Although what he needed to do is just the same as what he had done the other day, the cost of failing is different. Yesterday, if he failed, then that's it, he failed. The rabbit would just run away or face him, and he would just need to fight the rabbit then kill it.

But today, if he failed, then the rabbit would also run away or face him. But this time, there is the risk of attracting other beasts in the area that is much more stronger than him, as his uncle wasn't there to release his aura and scare the other beasts away.

'Ronald, you got this. You had already done it yesterday. So, you can surely do it today.'

Ronald encouraged himself as he slowly crept in the right position.

Holding his sword with both hands, Ronald jumped out of the bushes and attacked the rabbit, targetting the back of its neck.

But due to his nervousness, the rabbit noticed his movements and made a small jump to the right, evading his attack.

It then looked at Ronald and attacked him by its horn, jumping with its full strength.

Seeing his ambush failed, Ronald hastily blocked its attack with his sword, then shifting its attack to the right before counter-attacking and slashed his sword on its neck.

- 21 Hp

Blood gushed out of its wound as its hp slowly went down, but the rabbit doesn't want to give up.

Its eyes started turning red, signifying that it has become crazy. After being affected by its wound for a moment, it crazily rushed to Ronald and continue attacking him.

Ronald's tactic was to defend and let its hp drain until it dies, just like what he did yesterday. Although yesterday he had successfully impaled its neck and raise its body away from the ground so that even if it became crazy, it couldn't do anything and just flail around with its hands and feet.

Also, not removing his sword on its neck would quicken the drain on its health. But the situation is different now. He needs to defend as the rabbit slowly bleed itself to death.

Although he can attack it if he wanted to, however, he did not. He remembered what his uncle taught him about always preserving your energy when you are in the forest, as you wouldn't know what may happen there. And defending took much lesser energy than attacking. In any case, the rabbit's attack isn't difficult to defend, as its attacks are very simple and monotonous.

And although the rabbit had amazing skills, the chance that it would use it is close to zero. They may use it for eating, but they rarely use it for fighting.

After 5 minutes of defending, the rabbit finally lost its last hp and died.

After seeing the rabbit die, Ronald became happy.

But he forgot that the forest was not a safe place. It was not only a place where easy-to-kill rabbits live but also a place where meat lover hunters thrive.