Chapter 09 - Focus on Strength

Zack blinked several times after reading that description… that was another thing that he couldn't readily accept. The cheater trait was making less and less sense with the passage of time.

"What the hell… what is this? How is this even possible?" Zack asked with his mouth wide open.

It wasn't on the same level as Teleportation, but it was a broken skill anyway. Without wasting time, Zack decided to activate the skill, and then a single thought made him appear ten meters away. He appeared where one of the monsters' corpses was and then reappeared in the place he had been before when he looked over his shoulder.

"No cost, no time for casting… this is pretty good," Zack thought. "There should be some limitations like I can't pass through things and I can probably trip on obstacles, but aside from that, with this one, I basically am almost impossible to ambush."

Zack wanted to test that further, but he was almost out of nails and getting hungry. The magic circle was already full of the monster's wings, too, so it was time to return.

Just as one would expect, the mages in the teleportation room opened their eyes widely when they saw the loot that Zack had brought with him. It was a lot more than before, and he didn't look like he had struggled against the monsters at all.

In the end, Zack obtained thirty thousand credits for that single day of work. It was amazing that he could make now in a single day more than he could earn in a year working as a part-timer in a restaurant… hunters certainly lived the best life.

"It is time to focus on something else… I am taking a lot of time to level up now," Zack thought. "I need to go to another place where I won't be bothered, and hunting will be very efficient for me."

As Zack contemplated his next hunt, he carefully considered his skill set and current parameters. With his abilities in mind, he began to think about which kind of monster would be the most suitable target.

After a moment of thought, Zack concluded that hunting giant ice slimes would be the most efficient choice. These creatures were formidable opponents, but they possessed certain characteristics that played to Zack's strengths.

First and foremost, ice slimes didn't require skinning after being defeated. Unlike other monsters that might yield valuable materials that needed to be harvested, ice slimes simply dissolved into cores upon defeat. This meant that Zack could focus solely on defeating them without the hassle of additional tasks afterward.

Furthermore, Zack's skill set was particularly well-suited for dealing with ice slimes. His Instantaneous Movement skill allowed him to close the distance between himself and the slimes swiftly, negating their advantage in ranged attacks. Once in close proximity, Zack could unleash his close combat abilities with precision, exploiting the slimes' vulnerabilities to dispatch them swiftly.

"They can use magic, and their bodies are pretty solid, but they melt, and only their cores are left behind once they are killed, so it is probably the best option for me as of now," Zack thought.

Still, that was a matter for the next day. For the rest of the day, Zack decided to relax. Still, just for funsies, he crossed the city in the blink of an eyes using Instantaneous Movement. Then he cleaned himself before leaving to eat in the restaurant in front of his new temporary place.

Zack filled his stomach and ordered two pudding after having an early dinner. He felt like all of his problems had vanished… he felt like asking for some alcohol as well, since he never had any, but since he was seventeen and be was planning to have an early day tomorrow as well, he decided to avoid that.

After finishing his meal, Zack couldn't help but notice a familiar sensation washing over him. It wasn't just the satisfying fullness in his stomach; it was a sense of lethargy and sluggishness that settled over his body and mind. He had experienced a feeling before, one that he knew all too well.

As he sat there, feeling physically and mentally soft from eating too much, Zack realized the importance of maintaining discipline when it came to food. Indulging in excessive eating not only weighed him down physically, but it also dulled his senses and clouded his mind, making him less sharp and alert.

Maintaining a fighting mood was crucial in his line of work as a hunter. He needed to be at his best—physically, mentally, and emotionally—every single day in order to face the dangers that awaited him outside the city walls. Allowing himself to become complacent or sluggish could mean the difference between life and death in a battle against monsters.

Once he got home, Zack jumped on his bed and realized that he didn't have much time to explore that destroyed city. He only focused on killing the monsters, after all. Seeing how things were before was interesting, but that wouldn't make him fight better.

"Now I am getting into a more fighting mindset," Zack thought. "The next place will also be hard to explore since I have heard that the ice slimes freeze everything around and their presence also makes snow… I should buy some thick clothes as well before heading there."