I was hoping it would be fine and crispy. But no! The world decided to drop a 'fuck you!'.
Let me give some context to that.
I was just some random dude who was living for his hobbies.
You know…
Working and earning money and spending it on games and gadgets.
Everything was fine, but then it was just…blank.
I woke up in my kid self-body, at first I thought I was getting a second chance and doing something with my life.
Doing better in school so that I could get a better job and have more money to spend on my hobbies.
But as they say…
'Shit hit the fans'
I was 14. I have been living in the past for over 7 years. It was breakfast and I was watching the news.
I was barely paying attention to what I saw on the news, as my mind was wandering about the classes.
But then I saw something which changed my life forever. I saw a red-haired man giving a statement.
Having such hair is impressive and unique but…it was his name which made my mind shatter into a thousand pieces.
His name was Zeoticus Gremory.
I only know one man with such a name and only one place where such a man exists.
The father of Rias Gremory and Sirzechs Lucifer. A Devil from House Gremory. If this is true…I hope it's NOT.
Then I am fucked beyond hope!
At that moment I started to think! My current situation and the situation with the supernatural.
For one I am safe since I am in the middle of nowhere Europe. Not far from the countries of Scandinavia peninsula where the Norse Pantheon should be around.
This should give some breathing space for me and I don't have any power to speak. So I SHOULD not be attractive to these people.
After this discovery my day went like a blur. I could not recall anything that happened. As I would just space out. Thinking about what to do.
Though when the day was over I didn't even realise that I was in my bed staring at the dark ceiling of my room. It was time to sleep. I heard a distinctive ringing sound in the back of my head.
*[Mental Threshold Reached]*
*[Franchise Dungeon System Online]*
*[Scanning Mind for Grinding Preferences]*
*[Hunter/Shaman Selected]*
*[Locating Low Supernatural World According to the Preference]*
*[Low Supernatural Medieval World selected]*
*[All Choices Selected- Let the Grind Begin!]*
~~~
As weird as it is, I knew I was dreaming, the feeling in the back of my head constantly was telling me that I WAS dreaming, at the same time my senses told me that this was real.
I didn't know what to think about this. Not that I had any time to complain.
The moment whatever system I had kicked in. According to it, I needed to feel utter despair for it to start working.
This was not the first thing, I had no time to explore my system or the powers.
As I instantly got my first 'task'.
[TASK 1]
[Learn everything you can from the 'Hunter']
[Rewards: Basic Hunter Knowledge, Hunter's Hut (North)]
It was exactly as it sounds. The first thing I knew was that I was a kid once again!!!
For the third time! I was around 9 or something, and in front of me was a middle aged man who looked like my father! A freaking carbon copy!
Regardless, I had to follow him through an ancient-looking forest as he was teaching me things! About old-style hunting.
I thought I would dislike how…dirty and physical it was, however, there was a certain primal feeling about it being in a forest and learning how to prey on things.
It wasn't like this from the start. No, at first I was freaking annoyed that I was shoved into this. But then I realised that I had to learn this… to learn to defend myself, as I was living in the DxD…
But then I was wondering, why hunting? Why not magic? Why not a Sacred Gear? It was weird. However, as time went on I forgot about it. I didn't care.
The sheer liberation of being in such an ancient forest doing one of the most primal things of them all… hunting!
"Look at this. Do you see it?" The 'Hunter' said to me. He pointed at the ground. There were animal footprints there.
From the looks of it was a large elk.
"Yes. It's a large elk or a stag."
"Indeed, their footprints are quite similar but Stags are more agile, while Elks are more robust and they don't mind taking on large foes."
"From this, you can deduct who it is." He then explained more about how to differentiate the animals as we proceed to follow the tracks.
From time to time he would explain about the vegetation and what is edible and what is not. How certain animals mark their territories and things like that.
Eventually, we ended up next to a water stream.
He pointed at the Elk in the distance it was drinking water from a stream.
"Watch carefully, when aiming don't breathe, it gives you steady aim. Don't try to force the arrow, just let it flow naturally."
As he said that the arrow was released and It rammed right into the elk's neck.
I think it has hit a vital artery. As the animal wanted to run but it only trashed for a bit before it just died on the spot.
When I saw all of that I could only gulp. I mean, I played some hunting games, but it was usually with a gun…but a game can't properly explain when one takes a life or the smell of nature.
It was simply a surreal feeling. Not only that but it made my body pump all that blood in excitement. I was excited to try it!
Once I am ready of course.
Though what followed next was some ugly stuff. And that is to process the hunted animal.
For that, I was taught that skinning daggers are the best.
And I honestly was shocked at how easily this hunter dude started to skin the elk.
Though I nearly threw up when he opened the animal guts and organs were taken out. It was… unique to say the least.
While he threw away the majority of the stuff we did go to eat the liver as it's good for us.
It reminded me of that Liver King dude… fake ass… though liver is good stuff.
Eventually, the animal was skinned and the carcass was hanged on the specifically prepared wooden hold.
One thing I noticed through all of this is how quickly I am picking up daggers and Bow related things.
For example, I was given a spare carving knife and was told to prepare some wooden sticks. While I never did this kind of thing a lot back at home I did some of it as a child.
The issue was that it should not give me experience or 'feeling' that I could do it.
However, most likely I have a talent for this kind of thing.
'The system huh…'
Regardless, after learning about carving it was time to start practising shooting from the bow.
After a few abysmal tries I started to make some progress but according to the 'Hunter' I was not ready yet to use a bow for a hunt.
What he said didn't make me annoyed or anything as my mind would wander to the carving knife.
I knew something was there. So I walked around and looked for a wooden stump.
Once I found one of a respectable size I started to carve. My mind would wander to the elk the 'Hunter' has slayed.
For some reason, I could easily recall the details of this animal and started to carve it, according to the image I had in my mind.
It was an abysmal first try but progress is progress.
The next thing I was taught was cooking, the basic cooking of a game. With things like food in nature. Berries, vegetation, fishing, and elk meat.
The thing was, with nothing to do, I would practise my archery, daggers, and wood carving a lot.
Just like that, days would fly and we would do nothing but hunt and do survival-related things.
Not only that but I would have to carry the parts of Elk and other animals' carcasses.
It was heavy and…I would need to do that for a long time.
Eventually after a few days we exited the forest and in front of us was a small village.
'Holy shit…is there the whole village in my head?'
Regardless, I followed the 'Hunter' to this village where we sold the pelts and the meat at the village market.
At that moment I was handed over a few silver and bronze coins.
When I inspected the coins I could see… A stag.
'Silver Stag…'
At that moment my eyes widened as I looked around. The vegetation of this place.
It was grey-like land with darker green grass, and there are some hills in the distance.
'This is…'
As I thought about it…
'Low medieval fantasy world…'
'Scottish like lands'
'Stags on coins…'
That moment I looked at the other side of the coin… It was the face of a King…
With a familiar name.
'King Robert Baratheon, First of His Name… That's just fantastic…'
I was in a death trap world with no name, no power, no wealth, and most importantly I was in a kid's body.
That's why I was staying pretty close to the carbon copy of my father.
Thankfully nothing happened… After staying in the village in the middle of nowhere we proceed with my 'Task'.
Continued to learn archery, dagger-wielding, survival, basic cooking, animal tracking, and orientation in the wilderness.
In my spare time, I would continue to carve animals from a piece of wood as it was something related to my power. I remember that my 'playing model was Hunter/Shaman'.
That means I do possess some sort of magical powers but so far I have no idea how to use them. And even when I would ask the 'Hunter' he would say that it's not his business which is annoying. Same with the system. It is not reacting to me at all.
Regardless, there was progress to be made so I didn't bother much. Feeling that I have a mission to fulfil makes me want to continue.
And continue I did.
~~~
A year of intense training it was time for a solo hunt.
With a bow and arrows made by myself, with a couple of knives given to me by the 'Hunter' I went for a hunt.
It was quite anxiety-inducing but after a while, I got over it and started to orient myself in the ancient forest which is Wolf's wood. One of the biggest woods in Westeros.
Thankfully Dire Wolves are no longer found below the enormous wall. So, at least my worries are just regular Wolves, Bears, and huge ass boars.
Totally… not terrifying…
After a while, I finally found tracks of a Stag.
Stags in Westeros are quite big and can end up being seriously dangerous. Those horns they have can punch through a human like a knife through a tissue.
Though they can easily be scared as well. That's why sneaking is paramount.
Sneaking is something I picked up as well. It's related to breathing just as much as shooting from a bow.
Each step has to be calculated and precise.
After passing a few trees and following the stag's footprint I will eventually see the animal in the distance. Once I saw it, I looked around making sure no one else was targeting my prey.
Thankfully there was no one around. Eventually, I pulled out my bow with an arrow next.
Taking a deep breath I started to target my prey.
'No wind…visibility…acceptable.'
Then I let the arrow fly. It rammed directly into the stag's neck which made it release a painful sound.
It tried to run away but it soon collapsed. I swiftly dashed forward and pulled out my knife.
Ending the suffering. Though it wasn't as easy as I thought. Even though I practised on a few pigs and chickens…
Regardless he then proceeded to pull the carcass toward a good location I saw a while ago.
Though the thing was huge, most likely weighing more than a few hundred kilos.
If it was my old self then I would most likely give up on this. I was not that lazy ass anymore.
After pulling this thing for several hours I tied it up with a rope and then threw the other side of the rope over a big tree branch and started to pull it up. It was time to make it drain its blood out.
As this was happening I got up in a tree and got myself comfortable.
Pulling out my carving knife I proceeded to carve a considerable branch I picked up beforehand.
Though my mind swiftly wandered to the stag I just hunted down.
Once again, its form could not leave my mind. So I proceeded to carve a stag out of this branch.
I didn't even realise since my hands were slightly bloody from the stag, I smeared some of it on the wood.
After a few short hours of non-stop carving it looked sorta…similar to the stag.
Though it was enough…as the wood started to glow.
"...Is this….my power?"
As I was holding the carving I could feel the stag inside of it.
"Curious…"
The power I could feel radiating from it was speed and manoeuvrability… though I could tell that it was fragile as well.
"Now…how do I use it?"
Thinking for a while, I could tell… that it was my natural 'Shaman' trait?
However, most of the stuff was at the tip of my tongue. I know but can't put it into words.
"...Stag…"
At that moment the wooden statue of the stag glowed faintly.
"...Speed and agility."
At that moment the wooden carving cracked and turned into dust. Though the glow transferred into my body.
"...Impressive."
With a few swift bursts jumped down to the ground and landed extremely elegantly with no sound whatsoever. Then proceeded to try out what I could do! It was absurdly easy to move fast and make sharp turns, apart from that my vision got increased to easily spot the details and I could see slightly further than normal a human could.
After around five minutes the power started to dwindle and I could feel tired.
Like quite a bit.
"...A temporary boost… I see… Though I think I know how to make this permanent."
Though it was my gut feeling, the same feeling which made me start wood carvings.
After returning to the temporary camp I climbed back to the tree branch and proceeded to rest.
~~~
However, a few hours later growls woke me up.
'Fuck…wolves…'
My eyes went down and I looked at the pack of wolves. They were circling the hanged carcass.
Thankfully they couldn't reach where the rope was.
Or I thought that, as they would jump and try to bite where the knot of the robe was.
"Oh no, you don't, you fuckers!"
I pulled out my bow and proceeded to shoot.
The arrow hit its target which made the wolf bark from pain as it landed in its spine.
Making it drop and lose control over its limbs.
For a second I smirked and proceeded to shoot another arrow.
This time I hit another wolf which was turning around to face me.
It was another direct hit.
Which knocked the beast out.
After taking two down I proceeded to try to shoot another one but the canines had enough and ran away.
"...pretty sure they will return."
Once again I went down and pulled out my dagger. Ending the suffering of the pair of wolves.
After confirming their deaths I proceeded to inspect the fur.
"Nice… fluffy too."
Without much hassle, I proceeded to start skinning the pair of wolves.
The thing was my talent lies with anything hunting, and things related to animals I hunted. This means as long as it's my prey I find it easier to work with.
Apart from that I find working with wood extremely easy as well.
Which is most likely related to my Shaman perks.
Around a couple of hours later I had a pair of pelts.
My eyes ended up on the remaining flesh of the wolves.
"Hmm…a distraction? Yes…that could work."
Looking around… I decided to dump the carcasses and use it as a distraction.
This way the predators could focus on wolf meat instead of my stag meat.
Though I doubt this trick will work for long as I am bloody and the stag still has some remnant of blood.
Regardless It was the only trick I could pull, so either this or I need to face wolves again.
A few hours later after swiftly dealing with the stag's organs and skinning it I proceeded to return to my humble abode.
~~~
"Not bad, kid. My task here is complete. Good luck with your future endeavours." After saying that the 'Hunter' simply ceased to exist.
My mouth slightly opened seeing this.
What the hell was he!?
Regardless I saw a pop-up
[TASK 1 COMPLETED]
[Rewards: Basic Hunter Knowledge, Hunter's Hut (North)]
At that moment few more details entered my mind. I could be slightly even more confident about my hunts.
Anyway, after getting over that the Carbon Copy of my Father just ceased to exist I proceeded to pull my prey into MY HUT.
FINALLY! I have some sort of property in this place! No more sleeping on fucking trees!
After pulling the carcass onto a large table I took a short break before proceeding to cut it into pieces and store it away in salt.
Salt is like the best way to preserve before fridges were invented and ice was considered.
Once all this was done I proceeded to wash myself and went to my bed.
It was an interesting hunt, can't wait to start working on Totems and my true power!
Yes I can feel it at the back of my mind the call to carve one, these wolf spirits I have want their home.