"Bree, do we have everything we need?" Eisen asked while he was polishing his sword with a polishing paste he bought at Denmir's shop on their way back to the Inn. The happy Fey-Kin's eyes seemed to move around hectically for a few seconds before she nodded with a smile.
Bree explained to Eisen that part of her Database Skill was to make lists and store information about what a person possesses, which she used to make sure the both of them were perfectly prepared for Eisen's first hunting trip in this game.
She moved around a few things in the front pockets of the Backpack, since the most important useable items needed to be easily accessible at all times, which meant that the Health and Mana pills were stored in them, as well as some jerky and water flasks in case they needed to have a quick snack.
"We're all packed~! I've got our stuff in the main bag, and there's mooore than enough space for loot from monsters!" She said proudly with a smug smile as she stood there with her Backpack on her shoulders.
"Great! Thanks for your help, Bree. Should we get on our way then?" Eisen asked and stashed away the polishing paste and the cloth at the spot in Bree's Backpack where she suggested to keep them.
Bree nodded and skipped along, following Eisen out of the Inn.
The day before, Eisen just got his new Occupation and spent the rest of the day chatting away with Morrom and Bree while he kept transmuting some of his potions into pills, and Eisen and Bree began to plan for their hunting trip. He hoped to maybe find some effect of his new skill, Crafting Space, but there wasn't anything different to usual and the skill didn't gain any proficiency levels either, so he would need to experiment with it further when he had time.
According to Bree, the best spot for beginner hunters would be near the eastern tunnel, as it lead to flat terrain covered by a forest, meaning that there was a great variety of beasts and monsters inside. And while Eisen's stats were already above those that a beginner hunter might have, it was still the first time swinging his sword against a monster, so it was the best idea to start out with weak enemies that Eisen could beat easily until he got a feel for it.
Bree spent some time studying up on the types of monsters that could be found in the eastern forest and decided that the best enemy for Eisen would be a regular Rank 0 Boar for now. While it wouldn't give Eisen a lot of experience points, it definitely would be worth some actual fighting experience.
Boars were aggressive and dumb and had some natural strength and speed on their part. If Eisen managed to beat them without suffering any injuries, it would be time to move on to the first Rank 1 monsters. There was an area popular for groups of low-ranking goblin workers about an hour outside of town. They would be the best enemy for Eisen to fight against in a real first monster battle, as Goblins had rudimentary teamwork abilities and would give Eisen some experience in fighting against groups.
So now, Bree with her Backpack on her back and Eisen with his Zweihänder over his shoulder made their way to the eastern tunnel.
On his way in, Eisen didn't really observe the tunnel, since he was more excited about what was at the end of it rather than what was inside of it. Every few meters there were some glowing crystals scattered across the carved rock wall to illuminate it for people coming in and out.
There were a few people carrying axes or bows going outside, and Eisen figured that they were Lumberjacks or Hunters that were going out for their workday.
Not too long after they entered the tunnel they left it on the other side. There was a path leading down to the forest about a dozen meters below them, and the Treetops were swinging left and right in the morning wind.
Bree lead Eisen through the forest and after about half an hour, they reached an area where a lot of Boars were said to roam around.
Quietly, the two of them stepped through while carefully looking around until Eisen spotted one of the beasts digging around in the soil beneath it. Bree prepared to help Eisen out in any way necessary, while he prepared his sword by holding it in front of himself.
Eisen slowly crept up behind the Boar, until it caught on and turned around. The moment it saw the man in front of it, it sprinted forward.
Eisen was surprised by this and stepped to the side, but was still hit by the Boar and got a notification telling him about the 10 points of damage he received. It wasn't a lot, but then again, the Boar only barely hit him. If it got a few direct hits in, Eisen's luck would be turned upside down.
But in response to the Boar's attack, Eisen swung his sword to the side toward it and with the help of the Zweihänder's reach was able to immensely injure the beast. Blood was flowing into its fur while it began to limp.
And instead of falling back and running away, the Boar only seemed more infuriated and ignored its pain while it once more ran toward Eisen. He jumped to the side, this time without injury, and the Boar turned back around while Eisen built up distance.
Due to its immense rage filling up its whole body, the Boar didn't notice that it was running straight into the tip of Eisen's sword, impaling itself due to the force that was built up during the sprint combined with a stab from Eisen.
[You killed a Boar and earned 50 Experience]
[Swordsmanship Skill Learned]
"Great Job, Eisen~! But you were hit, so… Another try?" Bree yelled while she ran up to the old man, who started playing around with his necklace. It was a superstition that Eisen picked up in his younger days.
While he was traveling around the world, there were a few occasions that he went hunting with new friends he made.
It was actually around the time that he met his wife that Eisen went hunting in a Japanese forest with a local hunter nearly every day for a whole month. He was constantly wearing a good-luck charm around his neck that his daughter made for him, and every time that the hunter killed an animal, he held the charm for a few seconds.
He explained to Eisen that it was something small to honor the life that he took, that made it possible for him to feed his family. From then on, whenever Eisen killed something, he started to play with the necklace he had around his neck. It's been a while since he had done this, but it seemed like this wasn't the type of habit to disappear over time.
Eisen looked over at Bree and nodded in response. "Yeah, let's. What should we do with the Boar's corpse?"
"I can take it apart if you want! It's going to take a while, but I can do it! Or we can just leave it here. The natural ambient mana will feed on it, and the corpse will disappear in about an hour! That's how most adventurers do it. They grab what they need off the corpse and let nature do the rest~!" She explained, and Eisen nodded in understanding.
"I see… Then how about you take it apart for the meat? I'm sure I could make some nice things with it. I crafted a cooking knife, but didn't have a chance to do anything with it yet."
"Okay~!"
The next few minutes were spent with Eisen making sure nothing would ambush them, while Bree took apart the Boar, and incredibly fast at that. Quickly, Bree laid down different chunks of meat on a cloth, leaving only bones, guts and fur behind.
These stats were simply amazing. In real life, Eisen probably never could have hoped to slay a Boar with only two slashes against it, but now his body was basically in the peak condition it could ever be, and his reflexes outside of crafting were faster than they ever were.
And when he thought about more than doubling this state for the cat's quest, he could only grin. An old man like him could usually only expect his body to grow weaker and weaker, but he had the chance to grow stronger than he ever was in the 70 years of his Life.
"I'm done~!" Bree smiled brightly as she walked up to Eisen, the backpack already on her back. "I managed to get a lot of good meat! I hope the next Boar's is also as good!"
"Haha, I'm glad that worked out then. Although, that's really going to be a lot of food… I guess I can always make things like jerky to keep it a bit longer if we can't eat everything before it goes bad."
"Mhm! Now, let's look for the next boar!"
"Okay!"
---
[You killed a Boar and earned 50 experience]
Eisen stood above the corpse of the just-dead boar, while Bree slid in and began to take it apart. It was a pretty close call, but Eisen managed to jump out of the way just before the boar managed to hit him.
And although this time around, he didn't kill it quite as graciously as before, it still went down after four hits against its side.
After a few minutes, Bree waved over at him to show that she finished taking the boar apart and was ready to move on. "You did it really fast! So cool! Want to get to the goblins now?" She asked with a bright smile, and Eisen let go of his necklace before nodding.
"Sure, let's do that. What exactly are goblins like?" Eisen asked curiously. He saw a few drawings and sketches of them while doing research on fantasy worlds, and at least that's the general image he got from that.
Short, green-skinned humanoids, that were seen to be incredibly aggressive most of the time. But he didn't know whether or not this game would portrait them in the same way.
Bree crossed her arms and began to think for a few seconds, then began to explain.
"Hmm… They always live in big groups, so if you see one, there will be more around as well. They're reeally greedy, and try to steal anything that glitters when they see it. Goblins are pretty short, and super ugly, and have dark green skin, so they blend into forest environments easily, especially at night. Sometimes, they found whole towns! But you need to be really super strong to destroy those. The only ones around here are the weakest kind, Goblin Workers, but there are a lot of different ones as well if you walk further east. Goblin Archers, Assassins, or Warriors!"
"I see, thanks. And these are rank 1, so we can grab Mana Crystals from them, right?" Eisen asked curiously while forming a mental image of Goblins for himself. How they might fight, and how they might act in general. He knew what Boars were like, but since there was no such thing as a Goblin in real life, Eisen had no way of knowing what they would be like.
However, while that was definitely the case, he was also incredibly interested in the Mana Crystals growing inside of a Monster's body. Mana Crystals seemed to be such an important material in this world, and since Eisen would probably be working with it quite a lot, it would probably be the best idea to know where it came from. Maybe it would give him some further insight on its uses.
"Mhm! They're in the center of Monsters' hearts! They aren't big, but they have their uses!" She explained, and then the two of them made their way to the Goblin area.
Eisen looked at the first group while hiding behind a tree, preparing for his next fight.
----------
[Eisen]
[Race - Giant-Dwarf Halfling][Occupation - Omni Craftsmaster][Level - 13]
[HP - 550][MP - 530]
[STR 40][END - 42][AGI - 41][INT - 40][WIS - 40][CHA - 10]
[Titles]
-[Original of the Mechanical Arts]
-[Limitbreaker V]
[Skills]
-[A Dwarf's Hands][Rank - 1][Level - 95]
-[A Giant's Strength][Rank - 1][Level - 6]
-[Alchemy][Rank - 2][Level - 10]
-[Appraisal][Rank - 1][Level - 7]
-[Blacksmithing][Rank - 1][Level - 58]
-[Crafting Space][Rank - 0][Level - 1]
-[Drawing][Rank - 1][Level - 6]
-[Enchanting][Rank - 1][Level - 19]
-[Golemancy][Rank - 0][Level - 1]
-[Leatherworking][Rank - 2][Level - 4]
-[Mana Copy][Rank - 1][Level - 4]
-[Mana Double][Rank - 2][Level - 41]
-[Mana Manipulation][Rank - 1][Level - 72]
-[Swordsmanship][Rank - 0][Level - 5]
-[Tailoring][Rank - 2][Level - 6]
-[Tool Connection][Rank - 1][Level - 10]
-[Woodworking][Rank - 0][Level - 49]