To the hunting ground!

"This is tasty for you...? What the hell is wrong with your taste buds, are you a mole-rabbit yourself?"

The other prisoner gasped in disbelief, shaking his head – but in the end, he was tempted by the allure of the yellow bill and grabbed it off the counter before going for another loaf.

"Here. No refunds."

Druu put the bread in front of Viria and grabbed the empty jug to refill it with normal clean water.

"What in the...?!"

... just to have the young man devour the meal without needing the drink to wash down the hard-to-chew and almost stale product...

"Mmm-hmm! That hit the spot. I'll be in your care, mister!"

Viria grabbed the jug straight out of Druu's hand and drained it in a few massive gulps – not because he was thirsty, but just to fully use what he has paid for – and left the restaurant while both Druu and the guard at the door looked at him in confusion.

The young man wasn't sure about the reason himself, but he felt an overwhelming urge to hunt.

It was odd – he did want to train both the skills he gained the access to through his soul artifact jumping a grade after being remade, and he did want to raise his cultivation level, but the feeling he was experiencing seemed to be something else. Something deeper, more primal...

Before the young man knew it, his legs already guided him toward the hunting grounds.

Originally, or before cultivation training at least, Viria wanted to repeat the previous day's routine with him carefully hunting down the monsters through the first barrier's gate during the night when no one was around. That of course changed and so on his way there he was passed by many different prisoners moving back and forth between the hunting ground and the trade post or the clinic.

Although it was a brief study, Viria noticed that not a single one of his fellow prisoners was interested in hunting the same number of monsters that he did.

Three or four mole-rabbits seemed to be the daily quota of most hunters, with the occasional mole-fox or two mixed in.

Mole foxes were slightly bigger than mole-rabbits and had more meaty-tails but also much more threatening claws and a whole set of fangs instead of just massive front ones like their weaker cousins.

Considering that even after killing a hundred or so mole-rabbits the other day Viria didn't see a single mole-fox meant that those beasts must have spawned deeper within the hunting grounds or something.

Even with the urge for some monster killing, Viria didn't feel like it was a good idea for him to waltz into the monster spawning ground with no plan or backup.

"...and then I...."

"That was annoying though..."

"...yeah, and...!"

As the young man was approaching the first barrier, the gate opened ajar and a large group of prisoners all carrying at least five or six mole-rabbits each emerged from within, talking and laughing amongst each other.

Having the gate open like that didn't seem like a good idea to Viria, but no one amongst the group looked as if they were willing to patiently wait their turn queuing up to exit while the monster blood was soaking into their clothes.

"Ey! Look! We got some sleepy head coming in! Confident in yourself, are you, pretty boy?"

To Viria surprise, even before everyone walked through the gate, he was spotted waiting and got called at by someone from the group.

"Hold on Jian, I haven't seen him before. Hey, youngster, are you a new prisoner?"

Another person from the group, a woman that didn't reach over the shoulders of the rest of the prisoners so her face remained hidden, shushed the jokester and asked the hesitant Viria.

"That's right, I got brought in here yesterday."

Viria didn't find a reason to hide that information, so he shared it, with no intention of revealing anything else, including his name to the woman that somehow saw him despite him not being able to spot her.

"Ah. That's why."

But it sounded like that at least the woman he was talking to was not bothered by such details.

"Listen. If you don't want this day to be your last, better wait an hour or so. During the dusk, monsters spawn in packs of at least a dozen each. Only at night they all separate for whatever reason and go around on their own, often wandering in alone or in pairs close to the gate. Also, at night the spawning rate is much lower than during the day so a lone guy like yourself will have a better chance of survival anyway."

The woman instructed him in a matter-of-fact tone, sharing a lot of very useful information.

"Huh... is that so? Thank you for telling me that."

Viria straightened his back and raised his brows, looking towards the gate with amazement.

"Khihi~! No problem! Say, if you really want to repay me, then whenever you will get your hand on the green ticket you can come to the Bathlan..."

"SCWEEEEE!"

"!!!"

The woman let out an interesting dry cackle, but before she could finish advertising, a loud squeal of a monster interrupted her. Everyone from the exiting group turned around and saw a particularly big mole-rabbit flying through the air straight at them - as the beast must have launched itself beforehand with its massive legs.

While normal mole-rabbits were the size of a turkey, the one attacking right then was more similar to a large dog.

"Oh, fuck! A rare spawn! Everyone, get-GHUAGH?!"

The helpful woman was the first from the group to react – but she wasn't the first one overall.

Viria, who was already looking the right way even before the monster announced its presence with a growl, rushed forward with his soul artifact already materialized in his hand, and launched himself at the beast with no hesitation, jumping up and using the other prisoners as a foothold to gain height.

…the foothold in question ended up being the helpful woman...

*SHING*

"SCWEGHRGHRGHRGH...?!"

The monster had far superior jumping power and had higher altitude, but that only turned out to be its demise as the soul artifact made of the bones of its brethren ripped into its throat and cut it open all the way through its entire length.