Learning from Jasvinder

"Hunting a mutant beast is far more different than hunting an abnormal." Jasvinder said as we traversed through the forest.

"There are a lot of difference between the mutant beasts and the abnormals."

"First:- Mutant beasts travel in far smaller packs than abnormals. You won't ever, and I mean ever see more than 100 mutant beasts in a pack, unless they are threaten by something in which case they join together to hunt that thing down."

"Second:- A mutant beast of the same tier is usually more more powerful than their abnormal counterpart because of their high amount of muscles and their skeletal structure that is born for fighting. Of course, that only applies to mutant beasts who are of the same size or bigger. You can't expect a 1st tier mutant rabbit to go against a 1st tier abnormal."

"Third:- Low tiered mutant beasts are more intelligent than abnormals. By intelligent, I mean they know how to find and hunt on their own unlike 1st and 2nd tier abnormals who are only good enough to follow the herd and go after everything that makes a sound."

"Fourth:- They can see at night. Not us good as us when we use night vision but good enough. So don't expect to kill thousands of them at night like you did with the abnormals back there."

"Fifth:- They have better ears and nose. So if you make unnecessary sounds, they will hear you. And if you stand against the wind, they'll smell you."

"Sixth:- You won't see a pack with different type of mutant beasts in it. That means, no mutant rabbit and mutant dogs together. And if they are together, then they are being forced to stay in the same group because their is a powerful alpha controlling that pack."

"Seventh…

We moved through the forest, silent as ghost while he transferred small nuggets of wisdom to me every once in a while.

He would usually say things that might seem to be common sense. But when he put them into words, you realize that although these things might seem like common sense, you never really paid much attention to them before and made a lot of mistakes because of that.

"You may know all the rules to hunting a mutant beast. You may know all the information regarding them. You may have done all kind of preparation. But as long as you've not personally stepped on the forest and hunted on your own, you are not a hunter."

"Precious information have the tendency to become dust in real life situations."

"A lot of skilled swordsmen forget their skills when confronted by unsurmountable odds and die because they don't know what to do, when all they needed to do was climb the tree or jump in the stream next to them."

"Field is the king. And no number of study session inside a room will be a sufficient replacement for that. That is why I'm explaining this all to you as we hunt. And not chatting with you over a cup of tea." He said.

"Hn." I nodded in understanding. His words were reasonable and made sense.

From time to time, we would come across different packs of mutant beasts and every time, he would ask me to judge their danger level.

Danger level must depend on a few factors.

1. The number of mutant beasts in the group.

Never hunt a group with more than 50 mutant beasts. A group that large means that there's a alpha/high tiered mutant beast lurking nearby. And frankly, fighting that many mutant beasts is not an easy job. You're prone to make a lot of mistakes when fighting a group that large.

2. The average tier of that group.

Never attack a pack which has three or more of mutant beasts of similar tier to you. And if you do, then make sure that they are dealt with as soon as possible. They tend to pose the most danger in the pack.

3. The type of group.

Now this is where his immense knowledge about mutant beasts come through.

As said earlier, mutant beasts are much more larger than abnormals. So unlike what I previously thought, all mutant beasts have a different kind of attack pattern.

A pack of mutant dogs will react far differently to threats than a herd of mutant cows. Just like a herd of mutant cows will react differently than a group of mutant rabbits.

And you need to change your style of hunting based on how your prey reacts.

Mutant rabbits run away when they feel immense danger. Mutant squirrels climb trees. Mutant cows stand together with each other in a small circle. Mutant dogs howl for help and reinforcements. Etc, etc, etc.

In retrospect, his words were simple and reasonable.

They were things makes you say 'That was so simple! How come I never thought about it before.'

His wisdom was just like that. Simple and reasonable.

I don't think I ever seen him talk so much.

But then again, everyone has something that they excel that. And everyone wants to talk about the thing they excel at. It makes them feel proud.

And he should be proud of his knowledge and experience regarding this area.

I don't think I've met anyone which such expertise in hunting.

I don't think I'll measure up to his skills in 10 years. He's just a genius and a natural in hunting.

Just like how Rahul is a natural in leading.

Just like how I'm… oh well, one day I'll be good at something too alright.

For now, I just need to stroke Jasvinder's ego and learn his every trade secrets hehehe (evil face).

"You're very good at this." Jasvinder said all of a sudden and I realized that the surroundings were starting to become a bit brighter.

The sun was rising.

We had been hunting hours and I didn't even realize.

Wow! He's a damn good teacher.

Wasn't that a surprise of the century.

Jasvinder Grim-face is a good teacher.