Chapter 4

Owen slowed down as he approached the clearing. He perched himself onto a branch overlooking the meadow and saw his target. It was a stag completely black, with red antlers and eyes. It was grazing while trying to fit in with an average herd of deer. Though it stood out, the deer seemed to feel comfortable with it around. "It must be the alpha of the herd," thought Owen as he tried to stay as still as possible not to alert the deer.

"I will give you another technique. It is called Eagle Strike. It's created for long-range cultivators, and it'll enhance your arrow and help you strike true. This is one of my creations, so it has ten levels. The first level shouldn't be too difficult for you, so give it a shot." Eagle said, bragging a little bit.

Owen then felt information flood his mind as Eagle transferred another technique. As Owen looked over the information for the first rank, he noticed he didn't need to be so efficient for this technique. It just required him to infuse his arrow and eyes with spiritual energy to increase accuracy and power.

Owen drew an arrow and started to concentrate. The demon stag was around a hundred meters away. Usually, it would have been a tough shot. He was especially considering that it's an unranked monster and may not go down unless it's a critical hit. Owen trusted his new Master, and he didn't have a choice since his other Master hasn't taught him jack.

Gathering spiritual energy into his eyes, Owen was able to see the demon stag so clearly, it almost caught him off guard. He was able to see the steam come out of its nostrils as it chewed on the flowers in the meadow. He was able to hear its heart beating while he was hyper-focused and decided on his target. After infusing his arrow, Owen held his breath and fired! The arrow flew faster than Owen expected, leaving behind an azure streak of energy. The arrow struck the demon stag right in the heart! It let out a wail as it struggled to run away. It managed a couple of steps before falling and stopped moving. The rest of the herd bolted as soon as they heard the wail, and the clearing became still.

"Nice shot," commended Eagle in Owens mind as he hopped down from his perch. Owen made his way to the demon stag and pulled out his knife in case he had to finish the job. As he approached, he saw that that would not be the case. The arrow had embedded itself almost to the feathers!

"Now the monster core, it should be in its brain. It is a messy business, but you'll get used to it."

"Uh, what?"

"You'll have to use the knife in your hand to get the monster core! Do I have to spell it out!"

"No, sorry Master, I was just shocked. Nobody ever mentioned getting monster cores would be so...gorey."

Having hunted most of his life, Owen was no stranger to gore. The only thing was he usually tried his best to preserve the animal while breaking it down. This would be the first time he'd have to dig into an animal's brain.

Having gotten over the shock, he decided to keep the meat since monster meat is another way to increase spiritual energy, though not as efficient as the cores. After draining the blood and skinning the stag, he broke down what he could and got the monster core.

"Now your mission for the Bounty Hunters guild is complete, but before we go back, we should get some more training in and gather more cores for me. I don't know how long I was trapped in that hole, but my spiritual energy is almost depleted," said Eagle

Owen agreed and spent the rest of the day searching for unranked monsters. Now that he knew he could instakill them if he was careful, Owen had a lot more confidence. Owen also continued to practice Eagle Wind and Strike while hunting and gathered three more cores that Eagle gladly "ate" before it got too dark.

With the night approaching, Owen decided to sleep in the branches of a tall tree to keep from getting attacked by a monster since he was relatively deep in the forest. After finding a sufficient branch, he laid down for the night after meditating.

He was worried he might have to meditate naked again, but Eagle assured him that the body only does that when a cultivator ranks up. Since Owen was the equivalent of an unranked monster before cultivation, now that he was rank one, he won't have to worry about black slime until he reaches rank two.

As Owen was falling asleep, he thought about the bandits and wondered if they had a bounty on their head and if he should go after them. He asked Eagle, who responded with, "If you want to court death, that's up to you. If they have a bounty, they must at least be rank three, and that's way above what you can handle currently."

Slightly disappointed for not being able to get revenge Owen lets sleep take him.