The First Hunt
[A/N: Sorry for the delay guys. I often fall ill because of my weak immunity and being a noob as an author, I didn't know I was supposed to prepare chapters in advance to avoid a scenario where I fail to upload in time. Well anyways, Here's the next chapter, I hope u cuties enjoy it :3. Thank you for reading and love you all.]
The next week went by like a breeze as they were busy stocking dried food for the times of winter so that they don't suffer when the true winter along with the snow and blizzard hits. During the time of true winter when the blizzard hit the country of Lumos, that is the time of year when the death toll due to natural causes sincerely rose. Not only was it due to the fact that humans were considerably weaker or less advanced than other races but also because of the negligence of king for the poor or worker class of the kingdom.
Talking about seasons the year in this world was divided on basis of four major seasons, and all of it was Basically same, other than the names of Twelve months. Even the weeks and the days of year were same.
'Makes me wonder if Gaia is actually in third orbit of its host star as well or not.' Zephyr thought
The names of months were Chronos (January), Mystica (February), Floralia (March), Aquaro (April), Terran (May), Solaris (June), Ignis (July), Aetherius (August), Lunaris (September), Umbra (October), Draconis (November) and Stellaris (December).
As for the division of month among the season, they were divided among seasons as follows Spring consisted of three months Floralia (March), Aquaro (April), Terran (May), Summer consisted of three months too Solaris (June), Ignis (July), Aetherius (August) Autumn also had three months under its belt with Lunaris (September), Umbra (October), Draconis (November) Then finally Winter with its own three months was Stellaris (December), Chronos (January), Mystica (February).
Currently it was nearing the end of Draconis (November), and it was exactly on 30th day of the month when Zephyr decided to end his training Early and head into the forest along with the spare sword his father had gave them because it was considerably dangerous when training outside the village walls.
"Although you three need to run as fast as you can If you find yourselves in a dangerous situation, better to be safe than sorry." is what Leif said when he gave it to them.
That also reminded him the reactions he got from his sisters when they came to know that he was heading into forest.
"You are doing what!!? Mom will go nuts if she hears about this!" Bella told him.
"Well, isn't it obvious that the reason she doesn't know is exactly because of that?" Zephyr answered.
"I think mom and dad tell us for a reason to stay away from the forest, don't you remember those scary stories about monsters that live in the forest" Ava chimed in too trying to bring some reason into his head.
"Agreed I will suggest you must not head into forest." Bella nodded.
"I have already explored the forest bit by bit since last five-six months I might not have met many monsters till now, but I have memorized the pathways along the woods and where the weakest surviving monsters are." Yes, that is true, since their training started zephyr went into forest to inspect the pathways and any sort of monsters who were deemed not threatful enough to be left in the forest alive or were simply loner's outcasted from bigger groups.
"I still think it's a bad idea." Bella said with crossed hands and biting her bottom lip with worry.
"Maybe we three should enter together if you really want to head into the forest that bad Zeph" Ava added while Bella nodded in agreement.
[A/N: What in the Death flag is this behavior Bella and Ava!!?]
"No, if it is me alone, I can easily escape some monster if I face one by any chance. All I am heading into the forest is scout and check how monster's colonies work." Zephyr said crossing his fingers behind his back.
"If you put it like that... but still..." Bella said, " Mom will scold me if she finds out i allowed you to go into the forest."
"No one will tell mother anything then." Zephyr said looking at both his sisters who reluctantly nodded while looking at each other.
"Just make sure to return here before we head back home, or we will ask guards for help." Isabella spoke.
"Then its decided." Zephyr said clapping his hands "I shall be heading off", He finished as he waved his hands and slowly travelled to the path where he thought his task can be easily accomplished.
As for why Zephyr was heading in the forest was because he needed to hunt for some monsters not to scout deeper. He had heard that the hearts farmed from the bodies of high tier monsters were sold for millions of Illumis, which was the universal currency ran among all the known races. They were made by some creatures called Silverkins.
He definitely can't hunt for high tier monsters obviously even if he wanted to. He wasn't conceited enough to think that he can hunt the creatures that even experienced soldiers were struggling against and were scared to enter the forest due to the same reason.
No, what he was currently looking for was lone imps that were separated from their larger colonies.
Imps were pathetic tier I monsters, barely able to reach human Knee in height. They were extremely weak creatures who can be kicked away like a football and who's only redeeming quality was that they teeth that can easily cut into flesh of even Zhu major ranked humans.
Although they were miserable creatures, in their colonies where they often numbered into hundreds of their kinds their threat went from a mere Tier I to Tier II. Because of their numbers they were able to overpower even large group of soldiers.
While thinking along these lines Zephyr Spotted a Little creature with blue skin, A face like an egg was kept laterally and two dark circles were drawn on it with a small mouth of a single line going below its round button nose.
'These guys look kind of cute' Zephyr thought.
This was what Zephyr was looking for and it was exactly this cute looking monster that was called an Imp.
The little monster meandered among the trees, halting as a rustling in the bushes caught its attention; it sniffed the air, alert.
Zephyr, having successfully diverted the imp's attention by tossing a pebble to the opposite side of his hiding spot, now hoisted a large rock. He watched as the imp turned away.
A soft grunt slipped out as he hurled the rock towards the imp. The creature swiveled its head towards the incoming threat too late; instead of the assailant, it saw a rock, half as large as its own head, soaring towards it.
Striking the imp squarely in the chest, the rock knocked it off its feet and slammed it against a tree trunk.
Zephyr emerged from behind the bushes, landing in front of the imp, which opened its mouth to reveal sharp, white, triangular teeth and emitted a ragged screech. It was clearly displeased at being struck by a stone from out of the blue.
Before it can do anything though Zephyr quickly ran forward from his landing position to the imp was slammed against and quickly stabbed its chest with his sword.
The imp opened its mouth as if to scream, yet no sound emerged; instead, blood gurgled forth. Zephyr observed the light fading from its large, dark, dot-like eyes while blue blood dripped from its teeth, now stained with a blue hue.
"Well...that turned out to be quite anticlimactic." Zephyr said as he looked the body of Imp which was lying beneath him.
Then he wiped the blood off the sword on the imp's body.
"It's a pity You can't be eaten." Zephyr shook his head as he turned away from the Dead imp and focused to open his scroll.
Soon the scroll appeared out of the thin air.
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| SCROLL |
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Name: Zephyr
True Name: [Unnamed]
Race: Human
Rank: Unranked
Heart: Phase I (Dormant)
Class: [Chakra bearer] [Swordsman]
Affinity: Wind
Shards: ----
Boon: ----
Curse: {Fated Condemnation}
History
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"So, A new tab of history does gets added" Zephyr thought out loud as he remembered his mother's words about how a history tab was supposed to be added on the first scroll activity
Zephyr focused on the History tab and watched as the scroll swirled into a whirlpool of ink and wrote the following words.
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| SCROLL |
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History
[You have slain a Dormant Phase-I ,Tier I Beast, Imp.]
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Zephyr nodded to himself in satisfaction as he saw the notification regarding the Imp, but soon frowned as he saw the Shard tab still empty.
"Well, I guess If it was that easy to get a Shard from a monster, father would have found countless shards after hunting and killing along so many of them with his team." Zephyr spoke to himself as though convincing himself that he should be happy with his progress.
As he pondered these thoughts, a slight rustling sound came from behind. He swiftly turned and concealed himself in the bushes where he had been hiding before, waiting with bated breath and eyes narrowed, ensuring that nothing could ensnare him unexpectedly.
As he waited, his eyes gradually widened in horror when he noticed a black pointed stinger rising above the bushes, accompanied by the sound of rustling. The stinger was ominously advancing towards the small clearing where he had killed the Imp earlier.