5 - Start of a expedition

Exactly 160 days ago… 

MoQiu decided to transform the mountain village now that he has transmigrated. When his father offered to take him hunting the next day, he was all too happy to follow. First, they hunted rabbits, with a small throwing knife. At this point, he remembered. His hand to eye coordination is barely above baseline. 

During mandatory army training, he barely survived. He is a through and through board game person. The best he can say about his athletic skills is he is capable of running, biking and swimming like most of the urban kids. Yet, this time, when he threw his knife, it accurately pierced the fox's eye, dropping it. 

Hunted a wild fox. 

Wild fox species integrated with 'search' skill. 

You can search for wild foxes in the vicinity of a kilometer. 

The text flashed above the fox. MoQiu wanted to go to the fox and lifted his leg to take a step. When he put his foot down, it was immediately next to the fox and he almost stumbled on to the fox. He could barely catch himself. He bagged it and continued to hunt. The pheasants are aplenty in the forest, and his next target is a pheasant. The words showed up as expected. 

Hunted a wild pheasant. 

Pheasant species integrated with 'search' skill. 

You can search for pheasants in the vicinity of a kilometer. 

You are now an apprentice hunter.

Passive skill map activated. 

Active talent mark activated. 

You can now see a map of all the land you have covered. 

MoQiu wiped the text away. 

"Console" he called. 

Nothing happened. 

"Status" 

Nope, no response. 

"Control interface" he tried for the heck of it. 

Well, as expected, nothing happened. 

He really wanted to access the central control of this ability. Habitually, his hand went to his neck. He had the habit of fiddling with his tie when he was distressed. However, he doesn't have a tie, but a jade pendant on a leather cord. 

Sacred artifact Hunter's space found. 

Your blessing could be bound to artifacts. Bind to the sacred jade pendant? [ Yes ] [ No ] 

MoQiu thought for a moment and chose yes. The leather cord is sturdy. It's not going away from him any time soon. He chose yes. 

Passive 'map' is bound to sacred jade pendant. 

Hunter's space unable to activate.

Host must possess space talent to activate the hunter's space. 

You are now an experienced apprentice hunter. 

Mark your prey, never miss a shot and hunt it to the end of land.

He bagged the pheasant, returned to his father with a single step. His father is staring at him in wide eyed horror. MoQiu realized how it must look to his father, he could very well have been a monster. Vanishing from one place, appearing at another. Not just to his father here, even if he were in the modern era, he would be considered a freak. 

Moqiu took a step towards his father, then stopped in hesitation. He stood there, as if waiting for the hand of judgement to fall upon him. His father walked towards him with the expression of a man who's world collapsed. 

"Son! You must never ever tell anyone what happened here. " His father whispered forcefully, his fingers digging into MoQiu's shoulders. His gaze is like he would like to open MoQiu's brain and inscribe the very words there. 

Moqiu's eyes widened in surprise and shock at the sudden crazy behavior. The grip on MoQiu's shoulders has become so tight, he felt like his bones were breaking. 

"Do you understand?" his father's eyes are bloodshot. His father looked like a crazy man, daring him to say words of disagreement upon the pain of death. 

"YES.. Yes.. yes.." MoQiu nodded his head like a chicken pecking at rice, just to escape from this asura like oppression. 

"Good.. That's good… Very good.." his father breathed out, falling to his knees in front of Moqiu. 

Just what in the world is this? MoQiu wondered as he looked at his father, who looked like he had lost all his money in a single blow. He knelt in front of his father, waiting for the man to gather himself. 

"Why, Father?" he asked tentatively, after his father recovered. 

His father just held his shoulders, and did a perimeter check first. It is very early in the morning, they are the only hunters in this area. Once has done the perimeter check, his father answered him slowly. 

"Do you remember the lessons about angels and demons?" his father asked him. 

MoQiu shook his head embarrassedly. Obviously, these are the lessons for his predecessor, he did not activate any memories. 

"The angels and demons are gods of this world. The angels give out twelve blessings every year. Blessings are great powers, falling within the realm of gods rather than men. Thus, many greedy men covet these powers. Any man can rob a blessing and take it for his own, even if such an act turns him into a demon. A demon can take any number of blessings. Once the demon within the soul is awakened, it will never be satisfied, calling disaster upon the world." 

His father talked to him seriously. While the words sounded like a prophecy in a third rate novel, thinking upon it, it's not out of the realm of possibility. A greedy man steals, then lives in fear of someone stealing from him. Someone will, no matter how much care he takes. As the paranoia increases within the men, so does the depravity of their countermeasures. It's a vicious circle. 

Never telling anyone is fine, but using it is just fine. His father took one look at him and understood what he was thinking. 

"You will not use the power again either." His father told him. 

"That, I can not promise father. I will be cautious, and limit its use, but not using a skill this useful is a sin." MoQiu told him. 

It has taken so long for him to get a system and a power. It will be silly not to use it. 

His father looked at him seriously, measuring his determination. 

Finally, he seemed to have found what he was looking for. 

His father nodded slowly, accepting MoQiu's words. 

From then on, MoQiu did not use his skill willy-nilly. 

After going home that day, MoQiu experimented with his jade pendant. 

First, he had to fiddle with it a little before understanding a simple caress on the jade pendant will activate the console. 

A little willow of the wisp kind of light blinked in the corner. 

He touched it. 

Skills 

Talents

Passives

The menu showed up, each lighted word in a lighted circle around the little light dot. 

MoQiu touched on skills. 

He went to skills. 

Teleport: an skill to teleport from one location to another instantaneously. This is an innate skill of the host. Innate skills grow with the user. More powerful the host is, the more powerful his skill. 

Note: you can associate up to ten teleportation marks with the skill. 

Hunter's Mark: a skill to mark a target and track it through that particular mark. This skill evolves with the host as the host becomes a more proficient hunter. 

Current marks you can use : 1/0

MoQiu touched the circle saying talents gently. 

Track Mark: Can be integrated with maps. will show where your marked target is in the map and your current location. Functions only with in the the map explored by user. 

MoQiu removed his finger, and touched upon passives. 

Map: a talent to be able to see the map of the area surrounded by host's teleport points. Once activated, a passive does not change, though it's functionality can be upgraded by using it with a talent. 

This is but the generic functionality of a game system. 

MoQiu loved explorer games. He never liked fighting much, he never had any talent for it. This body does seem to have a talent for fighting, but he is more of an explorer than a hunter. 

Fortunately, their house is by the mountain side where no one comes around. 

First thing he did after going home was to prepare a mask and camouflage fabric. His mother loved the pattern, and his father understood the purpose easily. He nodded his head in approval. Thus, he made himself a camouflage hunter's uniform. With proper coats & boots. 

If he has to say, he looked pretty smart with the clothes, though they are a bit oversized. 

He decided to not quibble about this part, for he is a growing boy. Unlike modern time, clothes have to be stitched by hand now, he by no means wants to put his mother through the ordeal of making clothes for him every six months. It looked very laborious and annoying…. 

His mother is too pretty to be wasting her time away on such things.. 

He was not idle meanwhile. 

He explored the forest whenever he can. 

You must already know there are three mountain ranges in this area… 

He hiked all the way to the top of the heavenly dragon mountain the second day. He drew a circle on the ground and marked the inside with his feet. it's a circle with two foot drawn inside. From now on, this will be his teleportation mark. He wrote '1' in the circle symbolically. This will mark the beginning of his grand expedition. 

He looked out from the dragon mountain's peak. 

The scenery is incredible. 

He could see his home, half way down the mountain. He could see the other ten villages dotted on mountain path twisting downwards from heavenly dragon mountain. 

The dragon mountain range begins from here, thus heavenly dragon is the first mountain in it. The forest underneath spread out in vast valleys and mountains. Monkey mountains spread out here, making the area underneath them hilly, but traversable. He could vaguely hear the roars of giant beasts.. There is no wind this high on the mountain, so it's only silence all the way around him. 

He decided to explore the forest with his new skill, since moving in the villages, there is indeed a chance of someone seeing him. 

He moved to the next tallest peak, a pillar kind of mountain which looked like a roughly made spin top. It's lower part is a long pillar, along with it's flat head, it looked like a giant nail stuck in the earth, with some dirt on top. it is on to this dirt mountain MoQiu teleported. 

'Hiss...' 

The sound reverberated around him. 

What he thought was a dirt mountain is actually a snake nest. 

The flat head is full of snakes sunning themselves. 

FXXX!!! He grossly underestimated the quantity of life in the forest. 

a snake jumped towards his throat, it's fangs glinting in the sunlight. MoQiu instinctively swung his hand, piercing it with his dagger. 

In the same move, he walked a step, landing on his beloved teleportation mark on heavenly dragon mountain. 

Whew...! 

for a moment there, he thought his neck will be ripped out. 

The snake on his dagger is still twitching.

Hunted a rock snake. 

Rock snake species added to 'search' skill. 

You can search for Rock snakes in the vicinity of a kilometer. 

he did a search just for the heck of it. There is a rock snake nest atop every single one of eagle mountain range. the dots are packed so densely on the map, they colored the whole mountain tops red. MoQiu gave up the hunt for the day, returned home. 

His mother bit off his head for venturing into the deep forest. He wanted to tell her he did not go all the way. In the next gap between the scolding, he did inform her so. However, all that has gotten him is longer scolding. 

"Fa Mo Qiu !? have you gone crazy? .. Yes, you must have gone crazy. If you are not kicked in the head, why would you go to a rock snake nest? If you are not crazy, why would you use your blessing in broad daylight? Do you think forest is without eyes? Do you think men are the only thing that can steal blessings? Do you think just because you have a blessing you won't be bitten, beaten or squashed to death? Why do you think no one ventures deep into the dragon forest? heavenly beasts live there, you idiot boy!..blah.. Blah.. blah.. BLAH .. Blah.." 

He was lectured till his both ears were ringing. 

His mother is a gentle and pretty woman. 

Even when he burned down her kitchen trying to cook, she did not say anything. 

All she said is .. 'Honey, rebuild the kitchen.' 

when he sawed of the pillar supporting half their house, making half the house crash.. all she has done is call the carpenter to let him build whatever he wants. 

All the village kids are envious of him, for having such a nice mother. 

if it were any of the other women in the village, he is sure his butt will be swollen for a month. 

Even he himself understood the stupidity of what he has done. rock snakes are a predator. They do not swallow their prey, but they break the prey's neck like a lion or wolf, then rip off the meat to eat the animal. it's venom is mildly poisonous, but there is never a time you are bitten by only one rock snake. They are fiercely social creatures, and they only ever live in groups. So, you get to a rock snake nest, you die of paralysis, then they will rip you into pieces alive to eat. it's a horrible way to die. 

He promised he will be extra careful. 

However, despite all the scolding and grounding, his mother did cook rock snake stew. it's delicious. his father promised him 

He was grounded from that day onwards for at least a month to practice writing. 

It is good in it's own way, for he did not remember traditional script at all. He has learned a little, for he is in accounts and it's especially important for business men to know these details, but it by no means compares to the ridiculously long character list his mother has him practicing. 

MoQiu later went to the town without the knowledge of his parents. 

He negotiated a deal with one of the restaurants for delivering rock snakes regularly. 

He had no idea the kind of disaster he called upon themselves with this move.