First Hunt

Cut the skin between the thighs and body."

In front of David lay another carcass of Tesar Tawny Falcon.

Keira had to hunt down another one using the barrier to bring down these bird monsters.

Tesar Tawny Falcon are not even Tier 1 monsters, they are tireless like David but their flying ability along with weak but numbing lightning attack make them close to the Tier 1 category.

"Hold a leg in each hand and lift the carcass."

These instructions were given by Keira as she stood by side while David worked hard on the carcass.

"Bend the legs back until the hip joints snap free."

David struggled, sweat dripping down his face as what seemed like a simple task turned into a daunting endeavor.

An hour after work, an over-fried chicken body lay in front of both.

"You need some practice but it's not bad for your first try."

David smiled mirthlessly at the comment.

"Well, I will work on it. But now tell me what are you doing with… these many rocks."

David commented at the small pile of rock on which Keira was inscribing some unknown letter with her silver spear.

The latter glowed for a few seconds after being inscribed before deeming back down to normal.

"They are safety preparations. These are detection runes that will glow brightly at once and release a humming sound when someone comes near them.

After inscribing them, I will lay them around the barrier. They can't distinguish between friends or foes, so don't get startled by them when you cross the dome." She replied.

"Are these preparations for the future when the barrier goes down?"

David asked as went down to inspect the stones.

"They aren't glowing."

"They have to be set in a specific formation for them to work."

David nodded at her quick answer. He doesn't get a thing but still pretends as if something is getting through his head.

'They are probably works of mana. Speaking of which…'

"Keira, can you tell me more about mana?"

Her working hand stopped at my question before she laid down her spear and started contemplating.

"It will be difficult since you don't know a single thing about it. So let's just start with feeling it inside you."

Saying so, she made David remove his upper clothing and turn his back against her.

He was hesitant at first but still followed.

'Whatever, if she wanted to harm me, she would have done that already. And it's not like I have options to learn from.'

"First lesson, mana of every living being has a unique and certain frequency to it. And this frequency couldn't be the same for different individuals.

It is a unique characteristic of the person like a fingerprint."

"I see.."

"This property is called a mana signature.

So if a person tried to inject his own mana into another living being, his mana would clash with the already present mana inside the recipient, thus running rampant and causing internal damage to the recipient."

David nodded along as the explanation went on.

"But this rule can't be applied to the mana present in the surrounding area.

The wild mana still has its own frequency to it but can be molded into different ones with relative ease."

"So why can't a living being's mana be altered like wild mana?" David interjected.

"It's because they carry a will. This characteristic of will is related to souls and hasn't been researched well, so we will leave it at that."

Keira answered as she moved her hand behind his back.

"So what I'd do is try to directly manipulate the wild man and concentrate around you. This will stimulate your mana due to gradient formation.

Try to focus on that feeling. Try to feel your mana."

David once again nodded and closed his eyes to maximize his concentration.

An hour later.

"Haa… ha…"

Both were sweating profusely after 1 hour of practice, David from concentrating for too long and Keira from manipulating mana that didn't contain her will.

"I think this is enough for today. I will go and hunt some monster for exp."

Keira said as she grabbed the spear and slowly headed towards the barrier.

David didn't say anything but just lay on the grass as the cool wind blew, bringing some relief to the young man.

But there was a smile on his face.

And the reason was.

==========

[Status]

Name: David Taylor

Race: Human

Rank: Tireless

Level: 1 [---------(69%)----]

Attributes:

Class:

Strength: 0.7 / Agility: 0.9 / Constitution: 0.6(0.5) / Dexterity: 0.8 / Intelligence: 1.3 / Mana: 0.7

==========

His mana capacity was improved significantly in just 1 hour of practice.

What he didn't know was that it was normal for people to increase this much after coming to a high mana-density region.

Still obvious, he closed his eyes and remembered the feeling of mana inside his body, determined to master it.

There wasn't much but still, he was getting a hang of it.

'Three more times, maybe four.'

This was his estimation of the count of sessions he needed to fully remember this feeling and control his mana somewhat without any help.

But,

'This still isn't enough.'

He doesn't have any parameters to compare but he instinctively felt that he was lacking.

Glancing at his level, he thought.

'Let's increase it.'

He shook his head in the next second.

'It is still dangerous to go outside the barrier.'

The memory of the bird was still fresh inside his mind, making him reluctant to leave the safe haven provided by the barrier.

"Maybe…"

He mumbled and his thoughts drifted at the sentence that Keira used.

"Exp can be gained from killing any life form."

Saying that he moved his gaze towards a white snail with blue strips crawling on the ground, barely visible under thick grass cover.

Its crawling speed was as fast as a running mouse rather than a snail of his planet.

Taking the knife in his hand, he launched himself at the poor thing like a cat.

Rustle-

Hearing the noise behind, the snail increased its pace.

"No, you don't."

David said as the snail started moving in a zig-zag manner.

He moves his hand down and strikes at the snail after getting close.

But only moist soil landed on his face as the blade scraped the ground rather than the target.

Tsk-

Clicking his tongue, he again chased after the snail.

"Dammit"

The grass cover was really getting annoying for him.

But after a few minutes of diligent work, he got his target. Smiling from ear to ear, he ended the life of the poor thing.

[+1% for skiddy snail]

"Huh, just one percent."

After feeling disappointed, he got up from the ground and looked around.

He noticed a figure standing not much further from him, staring right at him.

'Keira, what's she looking at?'

Following her gaze, his eyes landed on the snail in his snail.

Then as if a bomb had exploded, his earlier act of chasing and jumping like a frog, entered his mind.

With a horrified expression, he lifted his head and looked at her.

In response, Keira moved her one hand to cover her mouth and looked away.

"Pfft-"

No laughing sound followed after that initial stifled laugh but it was enough.

'Just end my life.'

A face that hadn't shown much expression still now, was covering its expression.

'Fuck'