Hunting

Lock silently lurked in the shadows of the tall, lush trees. He was as stealthy as a wolf waiting to pounce on its prey. 

He taught himself how to hunt by observing the way nature worked. He watched animals hunt, and from there he slowly incorporated it as his own. 

Right now he is stalking a lone wild boar, hunting for food. While boars looked weak in comparison to other wild animals, they were by no means harmless. 

A fully grown wild boar is enough to incapacitate and finish off an untrained adult human. This made it one of the best enemies to train with for aspiring knights.

Boars were dumb compared to wolves, but their sheer strength makes up for it. They have a strong charging strength, enough to destroy metal armor as if it were paper. Pair it up with a couple sharp horns and an aggressive nature, and you get an annoying foe. 

Lock learned this the hard way. At first, he trained with rabbits and other small animals, but as he got better, his ego got the best of him, so he tried to hunt a wild boar. 

The boar was not an adult yet, so Lock thought it was easy prey. But due to his arrogance, he was met with nothing but pain. 

The boar he tried to hunt that day noticed him before he even got close and immediately charged at him. Startled by this sudden attack, Lock didn't have time to dodge it, causing him to suffer a couple broken bones. 

Ever since then, he never got ahead of himself and trained himself to the fullest before even thinking of trying against a wild boar. 

Back to the present. With enough experience under his belt, Lock knew how to handle this wild creature well enough. He knew their attack patterns and their absurd physical strength. 

He also knew about their weaknesses. They were dumb and not agile enough. Their reaction speed was slow, and they didn't think of any tactics other than charging.

Lock cleverly used his surroundings to his advantage. He used the shades of the trees as camouflage and blended with the shadows.

The boar wandered aimlessly, trying to find prey. Unfortunately, it didn't know that it was actually the prey. 

'It's time,' Lock thought. 

On his way to the forest earlier, he made sure to test out his newfound strength and eventually got a bit used to it. He also tried to use the power of void, but the only thing he achieved was forming a small clump of it. 

He used that clump to cover his fists, and the first thing he noticed was the increase in strength, durability, and speed of the covered part. 

The void matter acted as a form of enhancement for his fist. With that logic in mind, he experimented a bit, covering various parts of his body and even the sharp edge of the axe. 

With these discoveries, his battle power doubled and his confidence increased. 

The boar made an "oink" sound before a shadow leaped behind its back. It tried to rotate, but its speed was too slow. 

Lock delivered two slashes with the axe covered in void matter. The axe cleaved its way into the body of the beast with little to no resistance. 

Guts and blood matter spewed everywhere as the wild boar trashed on the ground. Its stomach was wide open, and its throat was sliced through. Lock walked over the dying boar and delivered the finishing blow, ending its life. 

Upon killing it, a notification suddenly popped up with a bell sound. This caught his attention and made him look at the bright screen in front of him. 

<Killed a wild boar: + 5 soul fragments>

'Soul fragments?' Lock asked himself in confusion. 

He checked his system panel and saw no difference on it, but when he checked his affinity, he saw a +5 increase on his void mastery. This led him to believe that the soul fragments were the way to increase levels. 

'It seems that soul fragments come from beings I kill. The boar gave me 5 soul fragments, and it seems that if I manage to fill it up, I'll gain another level.' Lock concluded. 

Now that he had knowledge about the level system, things just got a whole lot simpler for Lock. All he needed to do was hunt. It was a win-win situation, as he will not only get food and experience but also levels. 

"What a cheat," Lock said in amazement. 

He didn't waste any more time and decided to cut the boar up, taking the meat and horns. The meat was his food, and the horns were precious. 

Wild boar horns can sell for 10 copper each, which is basically 1 silver per pair. It was enough to buy three pieces of bread, which, by Lock's standard, was a lot. 

'I hit the jackpot today.' Lock thought joyfully. 

He left the forest afterwards and washed himself by the river before going home. He needed to learn more about himself before going out on long hunts. 

He had enough money to last him a few weeks. He wanted to explore his power more and get used to his new self.

It was foolish to hunt with his strength unchecked; it was like he was asking to be killed by wild animals. 

He prepared the meat by simply boiling it, while adding a few slices of herbs he found on this little trip of his. He watched the flame in a daze as he remembered the recent events. 

There were too many changes in such a short period of time that it was still hard to believe. One moment he was a scrawny frail boy, and the next he was an awakener with such a mysterious power. 

Boil.. boil.. boil.

Lock's thoughts were interrupted by the delicious aroma of the cooked stew. His hunger took over, and he forgot his worries. 

It wasn't the time for such things. For now, he'll eat and sleep. He will worry about things in the future. Right now, he wanted to enjoy his little peace.