First Hunt

Out on the plains, we spot my first prey. Like the Bunnicorn I first encountered, it is also a large bunny. Unlike the Bunnicorn, this one only comes up to my knees and instead of a horn, it has a rounded nub protruding from its head.

Seeing it, I nod in satisfaction. 'Just as I envisioned.' I try to *Identify* it, and for a moment I feel like the skill is straining against something. Then the Basher Bunny's information pops up along with a notification.

*Basher Bunny

Race: Monster

L.V: 3

Health: 130

Mana: 100*

*Congratulations! You have advanced Identify to level 2!

XP gained: 20

Since this is the first skill to have advanced a level, it gets a bonus!

Identify Lv 2: Extract information of people and monsters. More details may be revealed as the skill levels.

Bonus: Long Range. With nothing else impacting the skill, the range of Identify is 20 ft. With Long Range this is increased to 50 ft.

There is now a small chance of Identifying a title if the target has one.*

"Huh. Neat."

"Hmm?" Tesk makes a questioning sound but I wave it off.

"So, anything I should know about them? Weaknesses, strengths and what not?"

"Well, they tend to launch themselves at their opponents. The nub on their head is sturdier than stone, so even those in plate need to be careful of them. At least when it isn't enchanted."

Hearing about enchanted armor, my mind immediately goes to the question gamers have asked for eternity: How does less armor equal more protection? Now I have the answer. It's enchanted!

Shaking my head, I get serious about the task at hand. 'A wind blade should be enough to deal with it. But since I'm so far I should make sure it has enough mana to reach it.'

I put words into action and launch a wind blade at the Basher. The monster looks up before it reaches it, apparently sensing something even if it's uncertain what. But by that point it's too late. The blade cleanly slices it in two.

And then it keeps going.

It doesn't start to fade until the one-hundred foot mark, and even then it goes for another twenty feet before dissipating entirely.

*Congratulations! You have slain: Bunny Basher L.V 3.

XP gained: 38*

For a moment, it's silent. Then the Basher's left and right sides fall apart with a *squelch*.

That seems to knock Tesk out of her shock. "What the hell was that!? You used so much mana ona weak E-Rank monster! What happened to the finesse and control you had when you did the assessment!?"

I look to the side while checking my mana. *340/440* Only one-hundred mana to one-shot one-thirty hp!? Maybe I should just focus on my magic…

"Honestly, how do you expect to continue hunting if you use half of your mana on a single attack. What if it had dodged it?"

Oh yeah, most people have less than half of my mana at my current level. Welp. Nothing to do but be honest with her.

"Um, well. You see…" I fidget nervously. "I've never actually… hunted, per se? So I was nervous and used more mana since I didn't know how hard it would be to kill it. I'm sorry!" I shout while clapping my hands in front of me and bowing my head a bit.

Tesk stares at me for another moment before clicking her tongue and looking away.

"...Since it was your first time, I guess it's fine. Just make sure to keep a good control over the mana you put into your spells. We don't need a wildfire if you lose control of a fireball."

"That's fair." I nod my head. I send a glance back at the bisected Basher. "Anything we can still profit from?"

Her response is to look at me like I'm dumb. Then she sighs. "Right, first time. I'll walk you through what you can get from Bashers, but you'll have to do the disassembly yourself."

"Oh, no. I wasn't planning to disassemble it myself, just toss it into my storage for the guild to deal with. I was just curious if I should bother with this one."

She looks at me with her eye twitching. She takes a deep breath before letting it out slowly. "The meat is still good, and they'll be able to find some use for the pelt, especially since the cut is so clean. Though the blood seeping into it will likely lower the value of both. The main interest from Bashers is their nub though, and since that got cut in half you'll likely get far less than people would typically get."

I nod along with her analysis of my kill. 'Makes sense. Meat is meat after all. Heh, hashtag allmeatmaters. But how much will I actually get paid for them? And do they have something like mana crystals?'

"So how much would I get for this one, compared to the average? Oh, and I heard about something called mana crystals before. Do you get those from monsters or something?" All true, I just didn't mention that I heard about them while reading in my previous life. No way will I share that easily.

Tesk taps a finger to her chin as she considers my questions. "As for the price, I would say the average for Bashers is about… a silver. Though the horn is a sizable part of that income, so for this one I would say it's closer to a half-copper. Maybe a bit less if you don't hurry and put it in your storage container," she prompts me with a raised brow.

At that I recall what I've read about how much blood can impact the quality of the meat, and so I hurry over to the corpse, using just a dash of body reinforcement magic to hurry myself along.

As I do so, she answers my question about mana crystals. "In regards to mana crystals, well, I'm surprised you know about them. Typically they only grow within the bodies of C-Ranked monsters and above, so they are quite valuable."

She fixes me with a stern glare. "But do not let yourself be blinded by greed and false confidence. C-Rank is when things are taken to the next level of danger. The guild loses many brash hopefuls when they wrongly believe they can handle one such beast."

I gulp at the seriousness in her tone and nod, careful to impart that I understand. After another moment of her stare, her face relaxes and she smiles. "Good. Now then, let us see if we can't find more monsters. You need combat experience after all."