Chapter 3 - Boar Stampede

Murata woke up the next morning to Audren jumping on his stomach, causing him to yelp in pain.

"Big brother! Wake up!" Audren smiled at him innocently.

Murata sat up, groaning and holding his stomach in pain.

"Ouch… I haven't even had breakfast yet but it feels like I've already lost it…"

Murata swiftly stood up, stretching his arms.

"Audren, did father leave early again?"

Audren nodded eagerly, smiling wide at Murata. However, Murata wasn't so ecstatic. Due to the fact that he and his family were commoners, living in the outer walls of the kingdom, it means that his family could be ordered by anyone of higher rank. Therefore, this would also include the importation and corpses of animals. Recently, a high-ranking noble commanded for the increase of boars, as their skin was tough and could be turned into leather for multiple purposes. In Murata's opinion, the noble was a prick and he didn't like him one bit.

'Hey…this is a chance to go test out my new puppet!' Murata smiled gleefully.

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Like before, Murata snuck out while everyone else was occupied with their daily routine. He used [Puppeteering] and swiftly conjured his Chekov bird. The description appeared again but Murata quickly brushed it off to the side. The bird emerged from behind him, fading into visibility with the green strings attached to his bed. It sat on his arm, not moving.

"Well hello there!"

It didn't respond however, standing stiffly almost like a rock statue.

"Uh…hello?"

Murata gently tapped the bird on its chest but to his surprise, it fell off his arm with ease, dangling a couple inches above the ground like a doll.

"Huh…its not…living? The way it fell over was almost like a statue."

Murata considered it weird. He had always assumed that Puppeteer was a class like Summoner or Beast Tamer, but what was this cold-stone likeness of an animal?

"Hm….so it's like an actual puppet?"

He brought the bird to his hand, noticing all of the hundreds of strings attached to every fiber of the bird.

"Huh…so am I supposed to control this thing?"

[Puppeteering]

As soon as he began using his fingers to manipulate the bird, the skill would suddenly activate. With his manipulation, the bird began to move and flap its wing as like an actual bird, rather than a statue. The bird seemed to be able to move on its own, but just slightly. Most of the movements being made by Murata himself.

'Huh…so I kind of get it now. The [Puppeteering] skill activates the puppet and increases the efficiency of manipulating it. I can tell that its also draining my mana, however slowly. But….'

The bird moved erratically with Murata's manipulation, each motion not flowing in-between each other and moving more like an action figure controlled by a child.

'Isn't this still too hard? Maybe the control will increase once the skill's rank also increase.'

"Well anyways, its time to try you out Chekov!"

And so, Murata ventured into the forest, playing with the bird using the strings as he walked so he could get familiar on how to manipulate it. Soon enough, he was able to eventually encounter a boar, which was a perfect opportunity to test out the new puppet. The boar stamped its feet on the ground, snorting as it glared at Murata.

"Chekov, I choose you!"

Chekov rushed out from behind Murata, charging towards the boar. Not soon after however, Chekov was slammed into the side of a tree with little effort, killing it instantly.

[Puppet 'Chekov' has died.]

"Pardon?"

Not being given any time to understand what just happened, the boar charged at Murata at a ferocious speed, the ground picking it up behind it as it dashed.

'Shit!'

Murata swiftly rolled to the side, just narrowly dodging the charge of the boar.

'What the hell!? It died just like that!?'

[Stringing]

"So much for a mythical beast." Murata brought his fists to his waist, green stringing wrapping around his knuckles.

As the boar turned towards Murata, he opened his palm, green stringing shooting out and trapping itself around the beast's mouth. It tried to free itself but was unsuccessful, being pulled towards Murata by a sudden yanking action. With a swift blow to the mouth of the creature, it flew back a couple meters, landing on its side.

Murata winced and shook his hand, "Damn! Its skin is unnaturally tough. I can see why normal people would have trouble hunting them."

He looked forward at the beast who had began to pick itself up.

"This should only be a female boar too…"

The boar roared in rage, a red aura emanating from its figure. The roar was visceral and it had a clear aura to it that shook Murata back.

"It's activating its skill!"

[CRIMSON RAGE]

Its eyes became bright red as it charged towards Murata once again.

"This would certainly break some bones if it hit. But…"

Murata jumped to the side, easily dodging and using his stringing to get a hold of the boar as it dashed by.

"You're too predictable!"

Using the boar's own momentum against it, he spun the boar around with his all his strength before flinging him into the air, finishing the poor boar off by slamming him into the ground. Murata stood up straight and took a deep breath, exhaling as he focused on the boar again.

"Mission completed!" He smirked.

'It acted exactly how it did in the game. I can't promise that everything else in this world will also be like that. Its stats were definitely a lot higher than mines at that moment, I can't afford to slack around.'

"Jeez, I felt like I lost a rare Pokémon. Mythical beast my ass…"

Murata glanced towards the boar, noticing it was still alive.

"Huh, I was wondering why I didn't get my experience yet."

He crouched down and placed his hand on the boar, the stringing completely enveloping the beast. Like before, the strings sinked itself into the boar, the poor beast digitizing into green squares that faded away without resistance.

[You caught a female boar. You gained 1,020 experience points.]

That familiar message and sound appeared again.

[Your level has risen twice.]

"Nice! Boars give a lot of experience!"

['Puppeteering' and 'Stringing' has risen by one.]

"Oh? And both skills has finally leveled up too."

[[Murata]]

[[ <Class: Puppeteer>]]

[[Level: 4]]

[[Strength: 8.68

Speed: 3.8

Stamina: 3.95

Durability: 3.7

Endurance: 3.44

Intelligence: 3.86

Wisdom: 3.3 ]]

[[Skills: Stringing(E), Translator(EX), Puppeteering(E)]]

[[Status Points (SP): 10]]

Murata felt a sense of contentment having 10 status points, as if he had finally bought something with his own hard-earned money.

"Now…where to put all these stats…obviously in strength!"

He swiftly began inputting also his points into strength but stopped halfway, taking a moment to think.

"Actually…I should just save 5 points for later. They really can make a difference after all."

[[Strength: 8.68 ------> 13.68]]

After allocating his stats, he stretched his limbs, already feeling a change inside his body. He reeled his arm back before throwing his fist towards a nearby tree, completely punching a hole inside it.

"Woah! Exhilarating!" Murata chuckled.

'I should head back now before everyone starts to get suspicious.'

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Murata crawled quietly through the window, landing inside his home with little noise. He cleared his throat, preparing to summon all of the little of acting talent he had for this moment.

"Mom!"

He called for his mother, but to no response. That's when he noticed, it was too quiet. Way too quiet.

"Hello?"

He walked outside, his focus gathering on a group of people near the entrance of the village. Confused and wanting to see what was happening, he hurriedly walked over, being able to spot his mother in the group of people. However, there seemed to be a more serious issue at hand.

In the middle of the group being surrounded, Murata could discern that the man was a member of his father's group. But, he was severely injured, cuts and bruises all around his body.

'But what could've gave him these wounds? No way a group of boars could do damage to this degree, let alone another beast. So what is it…?'

Just then, someone came stumbling into the group, a figure everybody could recognize easily. It was Garrison, who had looked like he was on the verge of losing consciousness.

Murata ran over to him, crouching at his dad's side, "Father!"

Garrison turned towards him weakly.

"Murata….you have to take your mother and go…!"

"But why!?"

A rumbling could be heard in the distance, alerting everyone who could feel its slight tremble starting to grow.

"A boar stampede is coming."