The Parent Card

"Are you sure you don't want to bring any weapon brother?"

"Yes, I'm used to using my own hands to hunt the beasts."

The kobold hunting team had offered Matthew one of their bone spears for Matthew to use, but Matthew who always uses his trusty claws, of course politely rejected the offer since he knew that he won't be using the spear at all.

The bone spears that the kobolds use were probably made from the bones of level 10-ish beasts whereas Matthew's claws belong to the level 12-ish wolves and it had evolved twice ever since Matthew first got it, which means that Matthew's claws are considerably tougher than the bone spears.

The only thing that would make the bone spear superior to Matthew's claws is the attack range of the spear which is clearly longer by about a meter and it can even be used as a projectile. Matthew might take the spear if he was going to hunt the level 15 deer since it will give him more options to attack it, but Matthew guessed that they will only be hunting a herd of level 10ish deers or boars and the spear will only be unnecessary luggage for him.

But that doesn't mean Matthew denied the usefulness of the spear. When the first kobold kid and the twins wanted to copy Matthew and go barehanded into the forest, the first thing that Matthew did was scold them and shove the spears onto their hands.

"Do you know how easily those creatures will be able to break your bones and kill you? A headbutt from a deer will launch you straight up a few meters away while the boar's tusk can easily puncture your organs and break your ribs, both of them are enough to incapacitate you or straight up send you to the bearded god!"

"But why is brother Matthew allowed to not use any weapons, it's unfair! We also want to be strong like brother Matthew! If brother Matthew didn't use any weapons then we also won't use them!" The first kobold kid said while the twins followed suit by nodding their heads.

"It's different! My claws are several times tougher than the spears and my body strength is no less than a kobold warrior! And if I couldn't dodge their attacks, the scutes on my body should be strong enough to even deflect the boar's tusk!" Matthew argued back.

"Brother Matthew, your claws must be strong because you use them often right?" The first kobold kid asked back.

"Umm… It's not completely correct, but it's not wrong either. I use them all the time."

"Then if we don't start using our claws, when will our claws also be as strong as brother Matthew's!"

Matthew was starting to wonder how much parents around the world are suffering because their kids are way too smart for their age and started using reasonable and rational logic to talk back and argue with them.

'Did my parents also feel like this back then?' he thought for a while before coming back to reality and faced the first kobold kid.

But Matthew wasn't frustrated at all when dealing with the first kobold kid since he knew exactly what to say when he's in this situation.

'His arguments might make sense, but I got the ultimate parent card!'

Matthew then looked at the first kobold kid in the eyes before he said clearly,

"If you kids want to come along, then bring the spears with you. If you refuse to bring them, then I will tell your grandpa that I changed my mind and refused to bring you along."

The first kobold kid wanted to argue back, but what came out of Matthew's mouth is unarguable and the only remaining choice is to comply. In the end, the first kobold kid only opened and closed his mouth several times without any words coming out of them before finally grabbing three spears that were slightly taller than his body and giving them for himself and the twins to use.

Seeing this, Matthew nodded with satisfaction and thought,

'Although I feel kind of bad abusing the parent card, I only wanted them to have some extra protection just in case something unexpected happened.'

After the problems with the kids are solved, Matthew then came up to the leader of the kobold hunting team which is one of the kobold warriors and they proceed to go into the forest.

The kobolds have several hunting teams to increase the chance they will bring back more boars and deers since the boars and deers are animals that are considered nomadic and a certain percentage of luck is needed to be able to meet them and successfully hunt them.

The hunting team that Matthew is currently in went towards the opposite direction of the bear, which means that it's a completely new area for Matthew who came from the other direction.

'I can use this chance to prove my theory about the levels of the creatures in this forest.'

The hunting group usually consists of groups of 6, but Matthew's group becomes slightly crowded with the additional 3 kobold kids and Matthew himself and it becomes a group of 10.

The six kobolds circled around the kids while Matthew stood right beside the kids to ensure their safety. The group walked slowly further into the forest while maintaining this formation and keeping a lookout for any boar or deer herd.

The first ten minutes into the forest, the group is still chatting with each other as some of the kobolds was still curious about Matthew and asked a lot of things to him and the kids listened closely to their idol's story.

The twins are just purely enjoying Matthew's adventure story while the first kobold kid is trying to squeeze any knowledge that he can from Matthew's story. His fight with the deers, the crocodiles living in a lake, and a venomous creature with sharp 8 legs, these stories were not only appealing to the kids but also the adult kobolds because in general, the kobolds never traveled too far out from their village.

Matthew continued telling them stories until finally, the kobold warrior reminded them that they're already quite a distance away from the village and there's a high chance that their voices might be heard by the boars and deers and scare them away.

After the reminder, the group walked in silence and with their eyes and ears peeled open to catch any small hints of the boars and deers that they're looking for.

Fortunately for the group, it didn't take long for them to finally meet a group of boars. Using his excellent sight, Matthew was the first one who noticed a group of boars was eating berries about 50 meters away from the group.

The group then looked at Matthew first as if asking what he wanted to do. Matthew then whispered loud enough for them to hear,

"I want to see how you guys usually hunt, I will protect the kids first this time, and the next one I'll be the one hunting."

The kobolds quickly nodded their heads and started moving cautiously towards the group of boars while the kids stayed at Matthew's side and followed behind the group from some distance away.

As usual, there are 4 boars in the group, and looking at their appearance alone, Matthew guessed that the boars are the usual boars that he met that are around level 11ish and not the high leveled ones that can use aura like the level 15 deer that he met before.

'It should be fine and there's also the kobold warrior, if it turned out to be a level 15ish boar then he can at least buy some time for me to activate my aura ability.'

Matthew wondered how would the kobolds hunt the boars, would they circle around them just like how the wolves hunted the boars? Or will they use a completely different approach?

Holding their spears tight on their dominant hand, the kobolds are now only about 15 meters away from the boars and their position is completely covered by the abundant bushes and trees and the boars are still happily biting on berries straight from the berry bush.

Matthew thought that the kobolds would move in closer and ambushed the boars to catch them off guard, but after reaching the 10 meters mark, all the kobolds stopped moving with the kobold warrior's command and they're all nodded after the kobold warrior gave them some hand signs that Matthew had never seen before.

The kobolds then spread out and lined up beside each other.

'What are they going to do?'

Right after Matthew tried to figure out what the kobolds were trying to do, 3 of the kobolds raised their spears and pointed them at the boars while the other 3 kept their spears at their sides, but their eyes were also locked on to the boars.

'Hoo… I guess that works too.'

The 3 kobolds then threw their spears and all 3 spears were flying towards one of the closest boars. And since the kobolds were in a line, none of the spears collided with each other. Either their skills are very good from the start or they have done this a lot of times that all three spears hit their target and pierced the boar's body.

But the kobolds were not done, right after the spear hit one of the boars before even the boar shrieked from the pain, the three other kobolds that were still holding onto their spear started running towards the group of boars.