Hunt I

Gaelin and Selussa turned their heads to a group of elderly elves on a raised platform.

From their outfits, Gaelin and Selussa could tell that they were skilled rangers. It was customary for rangers to receive markings on their uniforms to indicate an achievement. Therefore, it was easy to spot an experienced ranger.

The elderly man in the front of the group stepped forward causing numerous eyes to center on his person.

He stroked his beard in a soothing manner as he looked at the new generation of elves. Their results today would decide their lot in life for the next five years.

"Welcome young ones to the first trial hunt of this year. You may call me Elder Anzu. As custom dictates the first group of challengers each year will be composed entirely of the younger generation. This is because experienced trial challengers would naturally have an advantage and also because resources will become scarcer after the first batch of challengers."

He paused before continuing.

"Therefore, I urge you to take advantage of this opportunity to display your skill. Because the next time you take this trial you will be competing with the older generation as well. As for the scoring system... it is your responsibility to determine the value of what you find. When you return, the judges will provide you a score based on the content and quality of your collection. In the event that you take down a large animal simply channel some of your nature magic into the Eye of the Forest and it will be collected by experienced rangers as soon as possible."

His words caused the crowd of young elves to feel a mixture of emotions. Some were nervous, others incomparably excited.

"Now, this old man has rambled on long enough... I will now quickly go over the rules so we can begin the hunt."

The elder then raised three of his fingers and said, "There are only three rules for this trial."

His tone turned solemn as he began, "Firstly, murder is forbidden and anyone found guilty of murder will have their soul forcibly dissipated."

The thought of soul dissipation caused the crowd shudder.

Soul dissipation was a natural phenomenon that occurred when beings possessing nature magic died. Their body would disintegrate and return to the world in the form of nature magic. However, the soul only dissipated when the individual had passed away, but forced dissipation was different.

Forced dissipation put the person through excruciating pain as their body was slowly destroyed and it was rare they died before most of their body had already disintegrated.

Gaelin didn't think much of this rule because he already knew that his people loathed senseless killing amongst the populace. Why? The reason was simple. Elves were long living creatures but they reproduced slowly, thus every individual was vital for the continuation of the race.

Even the trial was designed to help find talented people, and also, to encourage the population to hone their combat skills.

"Secondly, theft or sabotage of another competitor will not be tolerated. Cooperation is allowed but the score will be evenly divided among the party. Lastly, each of you should have received a necklace. The necklace contains a gem called, Eye of the Forest, and as long as you wear that necklace we will be able to track your location."

The elder chose not to mention that the eye also allowed them to visually monitor the wearer.

"However, the necklace has a limited range. You can judge the range by the glow of the necklace, right now it should be glowing bright green, but the further out you go the dimmer it will become. Should the necklace become completely dull gray you will have left the range of the necklace and be in violation of the last rule. The consequence is disqualification."

The elder also didn't mention that a disqualified person would be forced to do menial labor for the next five years until they could re-trial.

"That is all. If you missed anything let this be a lesson in the future that you should pay more attention. When the gong sounds the trial will begin. The Eye of the Forest will begin to flash on the final day of the trial indicating that you must return here before nightfall."

The elder folded his hands behind his back and returned to the other elders to begin preparations without allowing anyone time to ask a question.

"Do you want to go together?" a sweet voice asked.

Gaelin turned his head to Selussa and nodded.

"I will feel much better if I can keep my eye on you."

"I'm sure you will, now lets go~" she said as she began to hop ahead of him.

At the same time, a loud gong could be heard in the distance signaling the start of the hunt.

'Did she know the gong would sound at that exact moment or was it a coincidence?' Gaelin thought casually.

The pair soon disappeared into the dense forest vegetation.

______

Gaelin and Selussa traveled through the trees at a rapid pace by jumping from branch to branch. At times a vine would appear seemingly out of no where to help them clear the distance between branches. The dense brush would also move out of their path of its own volition, which allowed them to travel smoothly through the forest.

This was the power of nature magic. Anything could harness nature magic as long as it possessed a deep knowledge of the laws of nature and creation. All wood elves were required to study this subject as children.

Neither Gaelin nor Selussa spoke aloud as they traveled but they moved in perfect synchronicity.

Nature magic relied heavily upon creating subconscious suggestions within living organisms. This is why the forest moved at the will of Gaelin and Selussa. Similarly, they could use nature magic to communicate intentions between each other, but this form of communication could only transmit surface level thoughts. Complete telepathy was far beyond their capability, and could only be achieved by a handful of powerful elves who were hundreds of years old.

After a few hours of continuous travel the pair stopped at a clear pond.

Gaelin wiped the sweat from his brow and refilled his water skin in the pond. Then he waved his hand over the water skin to purify it with his magic.

He took a drink and offered the skin to Selussa.

"Do you want some?"

"Sure," she took the skin and downed the remnants easily.

Gaelin looked at the green necklace hanging around Selussa's neck and noticed that its glow had dimmed only slightly.

'It seems the distance it can record is quite large...'

"So, I sensed on the way here that you wanted to continue heading North. What is in that direction?" Selussa asked curiously.

"I overheard my father discussing his first trial with a friend one night. He said that there was a large rock in the far North called King's Rock. Apparently, many rare medicinal herbs can be found there but it is very dangerous. The rare herbs attract herbivores, which attract powerful predators. But, we should be able to find some good stuff there."

Selussa grinned, "I know what you're thinking. Most people are probably trying to avoid danger right now by collecting herbs and small animals with medicinal value, but you want to attempt to take down one of those giant forest beasts. Well, it sounds interesting and we can avoid competition."

"As usual, you know me the best. Anyways, we are still quite a distance away, we should keep moving if we want to reach the general area before nightfall," said Gaelin.

After a short break they continued their journey. As they advanced toward King's Rock, the distant roars of gigantic beasts became louder.