After yesterday’s nightmare, Aeron expected a good night’s sleep, which he got. He woke up early in the morning and proceeded with his feeding routine, each time he would observe his pets thinking about the new discoveries he might see. This was something he had wanted to do in the past world, but the universities around him didn’t offer any animal-related courses, and so he was forced to find another course because the scholarship that he was able to get, was only limited to a few universities, none of which offered any course that he actually liked. Lastly, he fed the woman who was healing well, unfortunately, Aeron still had no clue when she’ll wake up, it was all up to her and her body’s state.
“Well, let’s hope we get to hunt more Mid-Grade Wolves today.”
Aeron said as he got ready for another hunt, yesterday was void of Mid-Grade Wolves. The forest was big so it might just be that the wolves were hunting out of his reach.
“This time let’s go west Arthur.”
Aeron said as they departed, the trees flashed by as they traveled west. The first prey was another vine snake, clueless about its situation, it was hanging on a tree mimicking a vine, unaware of its impending doom.
Aeron nocked his arrow and aimed, his action had become smoother and smoother. Then, he released.
Twang! Thud!
The arrow traveled straight and nailed the vine snake’s head unto the near tree. Its body slithered down as it wiggled for some time before truly dying, its body slumped down unmoving which signified its death. Aeron felt the mana rush inside his body but nowhere near what he got from Mid-Grade Wolves.
“Master, Richie has some news.”
Arthur suddenly said beside him, along with Richie who suddenly appeared unnoticed.
“Is there a Mid-Grade Wolf?”
Aeron asked expectantly.
“Yes master, but it isn’t just one, but three Mid-Grade Wolves. Richie said that three packs entered the southern part of the forest before separating, Rambo, Bruno, and Erick are currently tailing each pack.”
Arthur answered, his answer made Aeron excited, three packs meant he could kill two today, the problem was what to do with the remaining Mid-Grade Wolf.
‘What to do.’
Aeron thought, but he was suddenly reminded that Arthur could subdue wolves and turn them to his allies.
“Good! Have the black monkeys keep track of each pack, we’ll get them one by one.”
Aeron said, there was a possibility that these wolves were searching for the other wolf pack, but at this point, Aeron was already too much in a hurry to level up. He needed to level up to hide his pets from the woman before she wakes up, and to also test his theory on whether his nightmares could at least be lessened with his soul sublimation.
“Yes Master.”
Arthur said before Richie disappeared from Aeron’s sight. Arthur and Aeron quickly made their way towards the first pack. The scenery blurred as Aeron hopped on Arthur’s back. Whilst having Aeron on his back, Arthur was also carrying a large vine weaved bag containing all the monkey’s weapons. This was so Aeron could unsummon the other monkeys while Arthur could carry the bags and make use of his true speed inside the Endless Forest. Arthur’s figure blurred as he jumped from tree to tree leaving golden silhouettes behind him.
“Master, we’re here.”
Aeron got down from Arthur’s back, he tried to keep his eyes open while they were traveling but all he saw was a blur, which made him a bit dizzy upon their arrival. Aeron gathered himself before looking down the tree, underneath them was an ongoing hunt, a large bear was surrounded and being chased by wolves. Each wolf was at least a level 4 Low-Grade Beast, and some were even level 5, the Mid-Grade Wolf was behind them, it seemed that it was letting the other wolves do the hunting and was treating this as some sort of training.
Roar!!
The large brown bear stood up and towered over the wolves, but the bear was only a level 5 beast, the same as the other wolves in the pack.
Grrr!
The wolves growled at the bear as they slowly surrounded the outnumbered bear. One wolf suddenly dashed at the enormous bear, but the bear was already waiting, one of its arms suddenly blurred as it smashed the wolf away. Another wolf took the chance and bit the Brown Bear’s foot. Its teeth seemed to glow a bit as it took a nasty bite, and bit off a large chunk of meat.
Roar!
The brown bear roared in pain and anger, meanwhile, the first wolf that got smashed away stood up unsteadily, both it and the bear was the same level, thus its small body was resilient enough to endure the attack, although another attack would probably injure it severely.
Graar!
The Mid-Grade Wolf growled as the injured wolf stepped back, bears were very defensive in nature, they made use of their large size to outdo many beasts in nature, but their size was also their weakness. They were very slow, and only with their skill [Accelerated Strike] could they fight back faster more agile enemies, the first wolf was inexperienced thus almost charging to its death, it luckily didn’t smash into a tree, otherwise, the damage would’ve been more severe. And another point of weakness bears had, was their stamina, such a large body needed more energy to move, bears being lazy in nature because their primary food in Gaia were fruits didn’t help, which probably affected their evolution as a species, the skills they used were measured as to not exhaust themselves. Ursa was an exception to this, with its missing limb, it had to work harder to survive.
The Brown Bear’s leg bled profusely as the wound started to show effects, but the bear’s legs were thick, the damage wasn’t as severe but it did do some damage. This time around, the wolves started showing their intelligence. The Mid-Grade Wolf growled an order as the wolves tightened the circle, some wolves would fake their lunge making the brown bear miss its swing.
Graar!
Another chunk of meat was carved off the brown bear’s legs, turning the wound into a more severe injury.
Thud!
The brown bear was unable to support its body in a standing position so it was forced into a crouch, its wounds bled more as it tried to stubbornly support itself.
Roar!
It roared in futility as it tried to deter its attackers, but it wasn’t effective, its whole body was peppered with wounds of varying sizes and depth. The wolves were even crueler as they used the brown bear as their training subject.
Aeron wanted to try and save the brown bear, or at least end its suffering faster, contrary to his latest activities, he didn’t enjoy animal cruelty. He had to do what he had to do, but he always made sure to have the beast that he hunted die in the quickest way possible, sure he trained his skills while doing the deed, but he never purposely prolonged a beast’s suffering.
In truth, all this time that he was hunting beasts, took a bit of Aeron’s self, but his circumstances offered him no choice, this was the way of life in this new world that he lived in. In the past, his heart would bleed just by seeing injured and pitiful dogs or cats, thus, he would usually donate what he could spare to animal welfare centers. This was also the reason why Aeron had left behind animals that were pregnant or had any offspring, this was the only thing that Aeron could do to at least calm his heart.
But as much as Aeron had that sort of outlook, he also knew that pity was something that only the strong could afford in this world, it was the same in his past world. Humans were only able to pity animals when humans had full control. At those times when animals hunted humans, nobody cared about animal welfare, humans only cared about the food that could be acquired from animals.
Right now, Aeron wanted to hunt the wolves, but he needed to do so without allowing any of the wolves to howl and warn their allies. As such, he needed to let Arthur and the monkeys prepare while the brown bear suffered. Aeron closed his eyes before taking a deep breath to calm himself down. He could only let Arthur and the monkeys hurry up. Aeron felt his soul connection to Arthur move, this was the signal. The Brown Bear was barely alive and its whole body was painted in crimson. Aeron nocked an arrow in his bow as he pulled the bowstring back into a perfect crescent and aimed.
‘Now!’
Aeron ordered Arthur through his soul command, Arthur lunged at the Mid-Grade Wolf’s back as he grabbed its snout shut before cutting off its legs with his metal blades, he raised the Mid-Grade Wolf’s head revealing its neck.
“Fire!”
Twang!
Aeron ordered as he released the arrow from his bow, the other monkeys who already marked their targets, fired together as the whole area rained with arrows. A chorus of whimpers followed the rain of arrows as each and every wolf died.
Arthur dropped the Mid-Grade Wolf’s head, an arrow was stuck within its neck, the blood quickly clogged its throat causing its death. Arthur quickly went towards Aeron, he knew he had to take his master back to the base quickly.
“Kill the bear before we leave!”
Aeron said as he struggled to keep his mind calm through the pain. Arthur, although confused, still followed his master’s orders, Arthur took Aeron on one arm before he threw a metal blade and pierced through the brown bear’s head. The brown bear slumped down as it finally died. It was already too late for Aeron to save it unless he tamed the bear which he won’t. Although he pitied the bear, his skills were set after he tamed a beast, he could improve his [Accelerated Strike] if he tamed another brown bear, but numbers were not something he currently needed, having two bears would only be a waste as he already had an army of monkeys behind him. If it were the other bear he saw the other day, he would probably consider doing so, but this one was just a normal bear. Arthur reminded the other monkey to bring back the Mid-Grade Wolf corpse, the meat could be given to Agila, and it might be another peak Mid-Grade Wolf.
Aeron quickly meditated, this time his heart was a bit disturbed when he saw the brown bear suffering its wounds through the wolves’ cruelty. He tried his best to steady his mind as he felt the pain worsen, but he still tried his best to convert the foreign mana into his own. Arthur and Agila looked worried towards their master, none too concerned about anything else.
The other monkeys finally arrived bringing with them the Mid-Grade Wolf’s carcass, the wolf was quite sizable and would be a good source of meat. The other monkeys hurried back Veins bulged as Aeron went through a more painful process of purifying
“Huuu”
Aeron breathed out in relief as he finished five hours of a grueling purification process.
“Are you okay master?”
Arthur suddenly asked, he had been worried about what happened to Aeron, Aeron’s reaction this time had been more severe than in the past.
“I’m fine Arthur.”
Aeron said, he didn’t ask anything about the brown bear as he knew Arthur would listen to his every order. Aeron closed his eyes and relaxed his body, he felt fatigued after what transpired earlier, having a disturbed mind while doing a strenuous task in meditation was not advisable. Aeron knew this too well, often times, when he had a nightmare, his mental condition would be a bit unwell, thus he had his fair amount of experience plowing through such disturbance on his mental state. After finally stabilizing himself, Aeron opened his eyes.
“Arthur, did the two packs stay?”
Aeron asked, he could still hunt another Mid-Grade Wolf, while Arthur could subdue the other one.
“Yes Master, Richie, and his team has been reporting their whereabouts constantly.”
Arthur answered, since his master didn’t mind what happened earlier anymore then he shouldn’t brood too much about it.
“Alright, first we’ll let you subdue the other Mid-Grade Wolf, then we’ll hunt the other.”
Aeron said as they departed again. Aeron made time to eat and feed the other pets, in reality, his pets could have just picked fruits in their base and eat by themselves, but Aeron made it a routine to personally feed his pets. This was to make a stronger and closer bond with them, many low-level Tamers neglect this point because they had absolute control over their pets, but Tamers who had High-Grade Beasts as pets knew that having such a bond more than made it easier for them to direct their pets, but also take care of their mental health, as well as the pets. It was a breath of fresh air to have some time to bond and relax with their pets in this vast and cruel world.
“Alright, let’s go!”
Aeron said as Arthur carried him along with the weapons, Wolves wouldn’t just capitulate without a show of power. Aeron finally saw the wolf pack, another preparation for an ambush was set. A rain of arrows later, the Mid-Grade Wolf lay slumped on the ground with no way to retaliate, Arthur used his skill as he started glowing in a golden hue, the golden light covered the helpless wolf as Arthur acquired another silver wolf.
“Good! You’ll be called Arden from now on.”
Aeron said before unsummoning Arden to heal his injuries, this time Arthur didn’t injure it severely like last time as he was already imposing enough to intimidate the Mid-Grade Wolf to submission.
“On to the next one!”
Aeron said as they traveled through the trees towards the furthest pack, it seemed like this pack was the one tasked mainly for searching. Richie reported them as “Roaming around”, the other two packs hunted while this one didn’t.
‘Hopefully, no powerful High-Grade Wolf would come here.’
Aeron thought worriedly, the High-Grade Wolf leader of this pack would probably notice after several Mid-Grade Wolves went missing. But Aeron needed to hunt 15 Mid-Grade Wolves which he hopefully wanted to finish within seven more days after today, which meant, he had to find at least two Mid-Grade Wolf each day to reach peak level 5 before he starts meditating towards a breakthrough, the Family’s records had been abundant enough for him to know the process.
‘I’ll have to mobilize every monkey available except the silver monkeys to do the scouting after this.’
Aeron thought, the silver monkeys didn’t look normal and exuded a more powerful presence, the brown monkeys were perfect for doing the scouting as the area around them was a forest, of course, if Aeron had another batch of black monkeys who were more adept in stealth and boasted more speed and agility, it would’ve been more perfect. If they were on the plains, then Agila could’ve done a better job.
