My Last Hunt

Level Four (31)

After the hunt, for the rest of the night only few monsters wandered around the hundred feet area, but none dared to come near the rock wall or destroy the entrance. 

"You did a good job man. Fortunately, level five monsters can give out a lot more spoils and the leader shared it with you." 

It was the same hunter who told him about how to use the twang tremor stone who came around when they were about to finish their work at the watchtower. Soon it would be morning and the team would go back to rest. They were no more worried about any big monsters appearing and creating trouble for the encampment. 

"Ah it was tough, but I don't want to disappoint the team either, so I have to do my best. Also, do you know about the Silver Class team or how they treat someone else who is not as strong as them?" Qiao asked since this hunter was much more friendly than others. As he was only able to talk to him till now, he thought to ask about this. 

"Well, the truth is the higher-level monsters do not really bear stones in greater amounts. In simple words, when a monster attains the next level then the breeding stones it already has, which happened to be in pieces start to merge with each other." 

"So to say, the number of spoils you can receive from a hunt decrease with the increase in level. And rarely do any higher-ranking teams share what they get. Actually, I have heard that after ascending to the Hightown, the team members start to decrease too or similar things happen to accommodate hunters getting a share from the hunt. I am not sure about and will find about it until I myself reach the Hightown." The hunter patted his chest proudly because he was soon going to get qualified to get the permission. 

Qiao was amazed at this revelation. According to this hunter the higher levels and hunts would become tougher but the team members will also decrease. Not only that, the number spoils you obtain will also decrease. Although higher level stones will always be more valuable compared to numerous lower ranked ones.

But this information meant that his present skills of hunting might not work in the bigger continent or in front of stronger monsters. 

With the help of its natural capacity, when a monster starts to bear stones it first appears as small dots. Depending on the capability and nature of its natural armour, the monster strengthens these stones with the time and after level five, it starts to merge them at every next level. 

Few monsters were able to merge them to level seven. Few even take longer to complete the merging. That was in case the monster had some rare armour. 

"Buddy this is only half the knowledge, but if you want me to explain more you have to tell me why you were first punished by the organizer?" The man suddenly spoke out and that grabbed the attention of Qiao. 

It was a little difficult to clearly explain about it because then he had to talk about the booklet. So he could only tell half the truth.

"My enemy wanted to test me whether I could stand against him or not so he intentionally asked me for a duel while I was ignorant about the rules, so here I am due to my ignorance." Qiao shrugged his shoulders. He had told what he could, as this was indeed the reason the organiser had used to punish him, so it wasn't a lie. It was up to this hunter whether to believe him or not.

"Oh, such a small reason? You must be having a lot of misfortune to be punished for something like that." The hunter also shrugged. The place from where he belonged to, there was a belief that if a man was facing misfortune then nothing can save him from the bad luck. So he accepted this excuse. 

"The monsters start to learn different attack with their armours as they evolve and they happen to learn from the hunter's various type of attacks. Also, the weapons rarely help you gain an advantage in high level hunting. The spoils gained from the monsters are the real weapons and the Guilds are responsible to educate the hunters about such hunting. This is also the reason that a level five peak hunter needs permission from his primary Guild to travel towards the Hightown." The hunter then paused to take a breath. 

For Qiao every step forward was similar to a whole new world of hunting, learning and experience. Now he could understand why the wicked hunter chose his own world to test whether Qiao could level up in presence of complex hunting and the level attaining. He might have been hundred percent sure that this young man who belonged to a fast pace world might never show such patience to learn every step and gain strength. 

Nothing was concrete in this world, not the exchange system, the hunting and soon he would come to know that levelling system was also completely complex at next steps. It was made complex because of several pressing reasons. First of all, though humans were weaker than monsters and were constantly at war with monsters, but if even one of them became the strongest, he might bring more chaos for other humans than a monster. 

Everything about the current system was designed by the Hunter Monarch who had gone long ago but still all the seven continents were following his designed system for levelling up and for hunting. If someone critically observes all the aspects of the Guilds, the merchants, traders as well as the elders, senior, one can feel the presence of some hidden order set by a hidden power. But the power was no more there, only his leftover aura could be felt. 

Only those could level up further, who had a strong will and were willing to take hindrances to polish their temperament. Still, many go against and eventually perish in the history without leaving any of their commendable deeds or footprints in the history. 

The balance of this world was necessary, else the complete seven continents would become a hell either for monsters or for humans. 

'This means that every earned booklet is more than a treasure for someone who could read it and understand the hidden meaning behind the plain script"

Qiao thought in his head. But until now there was not a single school that he had found in the Middletown hub. He had tried looking for one, where he could get enlisted as a student of language. 

Without the language he could not read the script and so the problem will still remain the same. 

And according to this hunter, after reaching the Hightown the Guild will be responsible to guide the chasers for the next level of hunting. So, all previous knowledge one had can be seen to have pretty less value. 

It was finally morning now as they both walked forward with the team, down from the stairs. They had their tent near it because they cannot set it up around the main market. During the whole day, many hunters would walk around and talk loud in the market area, and a team who was alert and guarding at the night would not be able to rest properly in such an environment. 

Now that Qiao was also part of this team, they gave him a small place to rest in the tent and he sprawled on like a dead man. The previous day, first he was with his team, later he was fighting a duel and at the end he got punished. Then without taking any rest he had remained alert the whole night with the whole team while keeping the Twang Tremor stone active. 

His whole body ached with fatigue as he was completely exhausted and he could feel how badly his body needed to rest. His eyelids got heavy and he fell asleep. 

...

The man who was sent to inform the elders came back with the reinforcement of two seniors who had retired from hunting and some strong reserved stones. These stones were actually the defence against the monster of the lake and will be used by them or the Silver Class depending on the situation. 

Presently, the two seniors and the Silver Class team were standing on the bridge and deciding the time and the place for when and how they would attack the monster. 

"If it is a level six peak then two of us would not be enough. I know the Silver Class has experience with strong monster but this one is a water elemental type. I don't think we need to be lenient." The retired senior spoke. 

"Man, you already know that the reinforcement from Hightown needs one-month prior notice to send. Do you think you have that much time? What if the monster decides to travel to the opposite part of the lake or it has gathered enough races to destroy the encampment?" The other senior also gave his reason. 

The Silver Class were standing alert because they don't want to bother these both old brains.