First day of Hunt

A cultivator forges his will as his realm progresses. Generally, higher realm cultivators can sustain long periods of isolation because of their strong will.

If low-level cultivators face long periods of isolation then they might go crazy. To avoid such cases Elders usually allow restaurants, tea houses, gambling stations, and other entertainers to be set up in the sect premises.

On this day a tea house present near the southern side of the sect became busy because of additional guests.

More than fifteen people occupy three tables at the corner of the tea shop.

"Bell! Did you mention the location of the gathering place correctly to Daniel?" Johnny who is sipping tea asked the person sitting at the next table.

"Don't doubt me! I mentioned the location of this tea house correctly. We just need to wait. Daniel should be here in a few minutes." Bell also doesn't know why Daniel is late. But he sure Daniel won't be late by more than a few minutes.

"Johnny! There is still fifteen minutes before the scheduled departure. So technically Daniel is still not late for the hunt." Lloyd does not want someone raising the issue after Daniel joins here. So he is covering for him.

"Well! Let us see if he will be here before that time." The leader of the newly joined group also didn't push for an early departure.

The members of the newly joined group are five in number and all are carrying bows and sharp arrows. The striking thing about their leader is his hawk-like eyes.

Now that the leader of the Archery team also agreed to wait. Johnny will not turn his face against all and push for departure immediately.

After ten minutes wait Daniel joined the group ending all the speculation and suspense.

All eighteen members went to a nearby stable operated by handyman slaves and rented eighteen strong horses.

"The way is not good. So follow me closely." After mounting the horse Johnny urged everyone to follow him. The group left the sect leaving a trail of dust.

After a three-hour horse ride, the group finally reached the perimeter of the forest.

Johnny searched for a few minutes looking for a good spot.

"Ok! Let's set up camp here! Horses can't go any further than this. Search for some shade and tie your horses securely."Johnny dismounted the horse and urged everyone to secure their horses.

The group decided to camp near a small pond since the surface of the area there is plain.

After everyone choose a suitable place they pitched their tents and had quick lunch there.

"Everyone listen up! A member of my group will stay here to look after the horses and protect the camping equipment. And the rest of us will go into the forest to hunt the feather birds. I hope everyone is happy with this arrangement." Johnny stood on top of a big rock and said this to everyone after the break.

"Wait! Should we carry food with us?" The green-haired girl Ivy raised a question before Johnny could complete his speech

Everyone including Daniel looked at her.

Ivy also turned towards Daniel and gave a sweet smile.

'Is she trying to get my attention?' Daniel has been ignoring her signals since meeting at the tea house. So she raised her voice now just to get his attention.

Daniel simply shook his head and ignored her.

When ivy saw Daniel look away she stamped her leg in disappointment and turned towards her friend for consoling.

Although everyone turned a blind eye to this Johnny still decided to answer her question.

"No! We don't need to! Whether the hunt is successful or not we must return to the camping area by evening. Of course, if someone has the courage to stay in the forest for the night then I wouldn't stop." Johnny answered the girl with a smile and did not show any irritation.

Seeing everyone silent Johnny continued, "Eighteen people will divide into three groups. One is the Archer team responsible for the long-range attacks, second is the Strike team who will engage with the birds at close range. The third is the Scout team responsible for searching the new nests. We shall start with this lineup and make some adjustment upon need."

Just as Johnny was about to divide the people into various groups a question is raised from the audience.

"What about the Feathered Birds! Mind explaining their strengths and weaknesses." It is Daniel who raised the question. Although he got the general information from the library he wanted to know if he missed anything.

He also wanted to decide on his role in this hunt based on the info presented by Johnny.

Johnny wanted to slap himself for he managed to miss such an important thing.

Although feathered birds are not dangerous it is his job as a captain to share all the Intel of the target to keep the trust of the members.

If the people in the group start doubting him then the efficiency of the hunt will drop considerably and the whole purpose of coming here will flop.

Johnny nodded his head at Daniel in a way of thanking him for this important reminder. Although Daniel did it for himself he doesn't mind the goodwill gesture from Johnny.

Johnny once again raised his voice, "Feathered birds are not dangerous usually but they can peck someone to death if they attack in large groups. The king of the group is what you should be careful with. The king can grow up to two meters. They run very fast and can jump over a human if needed. They don't have poison or any other powers, so don't hesitate to strike from the front."

After that Johnny went on to say the habits of the birds and catching techniques to all the people.

Finally, after preparing an attack plan the groups are chosen.

Daniel chose to lead the Scout team as he doesn't feel motivated in catching chickens.

Johnny led the strike team. And Arthur, the Hawked-eyed guy took the lead for the Archer team.

Two other persons who joined the Scout team are called Williams and Watson.

…..

"Why do we have to join the other group? Why is Johnny giving such importance to that guy?" William raised his grievance to his friend after Johnny pushed him into Daniels's team.

Obviously, the two fellows are not joining the Daniel team willingly. But they can't raise their voices because of their low talent.

"Don't be so gloomy. Didn't you see how strong that guy is last time? We will be safer following him. Leader Johnny may be trying to test our loyalty or maybe he is trying to win over Daniel. We just don't have a choice here." Watson is somewhat more mature than William so he managed to pick up some straws floating in the wind.

Upon reaching their tents Watson warned his friend to behave properly in front of Daniel and follow his orders during exploration.

…..

After finalizing the team Johnny told everyone to make final preparations then invited Daniel and Arthur into his tent.

"Daniel! To the west of here a valley exits and there you can find the nests. I already know the location of two nests. You can take your team and search in the nearby location to find more nests for tomorrow's hunt. You have no problem with that right?" Johnny explained everything to Daniel in detail by drawing a rough map on the paper.

"Before that, how do you plan to distribute the loot?" Daniel wanted to get a word from Johnny to avoid future troubles.

"No need to worry! Both of you will get a third of the loot and as a leader, I will get a Fourth of the Loot. As for how much you pay your teammates it is entirely up to you." Johnny has big plans for the future so he would not mind suffering a little this time.

Hearing that Daniel took the rough map from Johnny's hand and left the tent, "No problem! I will look for new nests and search the area for any dangers near them."

Next Arthur and Johnny discussed their attack plan while Daniel called all the team meats and left the camping area.

Once the Scout team completely disappeared into the forest, the other two teams also left for the hunt after a few minutes.

"Ouch!!" Suddenly Williams who is walking in the middle smacked himself in loud voice.

The sudden scream brought everyone's attention to William.

William started rubbing his neck and said to everyone, "Don't worry! It was a mosquito bite! I was surprised that's all."

After a false alarm, the group continued on for more than twenty minutes before reaching the valley mentioned by Johnny.

"This should be the place! The other two groups will be hunting on the west side. Our job is to look for new nests to the east. Since the distance is far, better not spook the things we can't handle." Daniel warned everyone to be careful and not be too enthusiastic about unknown things.

For the next part of the journey, Daniel slowed down his pace and moved among the trees to search for traces of feathered birds.

"Daniel! Here!" Bell is the first to find the mud tracks traced on the leaf blanketed forest.

"Yes! Look at the footprints! It's definitely the Feather Birds. They must be moving along this path for a long time to form such a track." Lloyd also became enthusiastic because they managed to find a nest just after searching for an hour.

Not only him everyone in the group had a happy smile on their faces.

"Alright! Keep your voice down! We will follow the track from the side to find the nest." Daniel urged everyone to move away from the track and follow him from distance.

After following the tracks for fifteen minutes they managed to find the nest.

There are three big birds which are of knee height and ten small birds looking similar to a chicken.

It seems they have not seen predators for a long time as they are not showing full alertness towards their surroundings.

Daniel and the team circled the area to check for predators.

After finding everything is safe, they put some marks on the tress for directions and left the area.

The search continued till evening but the team only managed to find another nest in the end.

Adding to the first they managed to find only two nests before calling the day off.

After Returning to the camping area safely, they found out the other two teams also are back.

Daniel first went to find Johnny to ask about the results and also to inform him of his findings.

"How was the hunt?" Daniel asked Johnny who is washing his face.

Johnny put on a smile, "It was good! We managed to hunt four big ones and ten small ones. But sadly we didn't find any king among them. Otherwise, it would be a bumper harvest."

Daniel also did not hesitate to share his findings, "We found two nests. A total of five big ones and fifteen small ones. It should be enough to keep you all busy tomorrow. By the way, do you have the necessary tools to preserve this huge amount of meat?"

"Generally monster meat will not go bad for a long time. But as time passes the Qi elements in them will dissipate slowly. Cultivators usually use sealing talismans to preserve the monster meat for a long time. I managed to secure one talisman for the kingbird. But we can't waste it on normal feathered birds." Johnny gave some knowledge to Daniel then he fetched a Jade box to show the sealing talisman.

It's a palm-sized polished rectangular piece of skin with weird symbols on it. The entire talisman is glittering in the sunlight and looks sacred to touch.

Daniel took the talisman to feel the texture for a few moments before returning it to Johnny.

"The plan is to smoke all the meat to preserve it for three months right?" Daniel picked some hunting knowledge from the library so he had some guess on what Johnny is going to do.

"So you know that process! It's a surprise for me! How do you know so much? You are obviously not from a big family?" Johnny always finds talking to Daniel informative and enjoyable. He sometimes feels he is talking to his good uncle while conversing with Daniel.

"Don't be too surprised! I just got some information from the library and nothing more." Daniel shook his head with a smile.

"Well! You know by smoking the meat and keeping it as a jerky will make us lose a lot of Qi in it. But we can still retain thirty percent of Qi for more than three months. It's not a bad trade-off considering our situation. Also, the jerky is more than enough for us." Johnny's explanation matched the information Daniel gathered so he just nodded in agreement.

"I have one last question. Would you answer it?" Daniel still had something to ask.

"You can ask anything! But I will answer it only if I am comfortable?" Johnny also wondered what Daniel is looking for.

"If you can afford a sealing talisman then why can't you buy some spirit stones for your breakthrough?" Daniel had this question at the moment Johnny mentioned the Hunt but he didn't want to inquire into other affairs so he stopped then. But after seeing this talisman Daniel became a little alert.

Johnny looked at Daniel with a smile and said, "I got the sealing talisman only after promising to share half of the king's meat. Although I can get the spirit stones, the price I had to pay is not small. If the hunt isn't successful then I will choose that option."

After that Johnny explained his situation in general outline while Daniel listened to it patiently.

When Daniel left the tent, the campfire was already lit.

'First day of the hunt has gone without any surprises. Let's see what happens in the rest of the week.' Daniel thought of this while returning to his tent.