The guards nodded in satisfaction when he returned to the tribe with 8 rabbon. He handed the game to the Matron in charge, along with 2 Copper Coins. That was the proof that he only exchanged two prey.
Red went to the kitchen, and it was quite empty since it was past lunchtime. He dragged a chair to the counter and took his time finishing his meal.
At the same time, he tried to learn more words about the human language. The thing he used for the meat gruel was a bowl. That was the only thing he remembered from their short exchange.
The female human told him more than just a bowl, but the bowl was the only thing he remembered. He headed out of the tribe once more to continue the hunting.
The guard on duty was surprised to see him going out not long after he returned. He took the left path, and to his surprise, the guard called him out.
"Be careful, kid. Three groups of your friends are going to that side early in the morning. You'd better go somewhere else today. I don't want to lose a useful kid that can bring back food for us!"
Red was surprised to hear from the guard. That was completely unexpected and made him happy. He was not used to this kind of treatment and didn't know what to do. He just nodded and still went down the left path.
Instead of following the dirt path, he entered the jungle directly. He left a lot of marks to follow in the jungle. That made it easier for him to explore and not get lost easily.
He avoided the main path, being cautious that the other kids might prepare something for him. He headed toward the rabbon's hunting ground from there, looking for the bait.
Red created his own path in the forest, keeping the mark between trees fresh. He left an O-mark, meaning that it was a path to the rabbon area.
He used X-mark as a navigation in the marget area as well, and *-mark for his secret stash. If he used the same path, he would make sure the mark was fresh.
Following his mark, he quickly found a pair of rabbon. He approached the unsuspecting creature who was busy munching the fresh leaves.
Red was confident that he could win against these two rabbon easily, even if he decided to confront them head-on. However, he didn't want to miss his chance to practice with his slingshot.
He crouched upon reaching the ideal range for his slingshot, took out the metal ball, and pulled his slingshot. He aimed at the rabbon to the right since its head was in sight.
Whoosh!
The metal whistled in the air as soon as he released the metal ball. It was so fast that the rabbon could not react in time. The rabbon to the right got its head crushed, and the second rabbon turned toward him.
The second rabbon charged at him instead of running away. Red was ready as he already had his slingshot on his waist, and the dagger was ready in his right hand.
A light step to the right was all he needed to dodge the rabbon's charge. His hand moved so quickly, slicing the rabbon neck. It landed on the ground and completely stopped moving afterward.
He cleaned the dagger and went to the first rabbon. The metal ball was inside rabbon's head, saving him the trouble of looking for it. He dug the metal, cleaned the blood with the leaves, and dried the metal ball by rolling it on the ground before putting it back in his pouch.
Then he retrieved the two rabbon and made his way back to the marget area. He started to follow the X-mark. Aside from navigation, the mark told him the area he had hunted before.
That would help him to find the marget since they were a territorial creature. He would skip the area with his mark.
His hunting method never disappointed him. He easily hunted his first two marget without a problem. Killing the marget was no longer an issue, but he encountered another issue as he went deeper into the jungle.
It was harder to find marget as he went deeper. It took more time to get his third marget. It was supposed to be faster since he was deep in the jungle. The fourth marget took even longer to show up, even though he made sure to go further from the last area.
"This is weird…" Red muttered as he retrieved his fourth marget of the day.
He expected to get more marget by now since he was deep in the jungle. He thought he would get seven or even eight marget by now, yet this was his fourth.
The two rabbon and the first two marget were exchanged for loot. He got 3 Might Cores and 2 Magic Cores. The moment he didn't need Magic Core, he got it.
Now he had two marget in his hand and hesitated to exchange them for loot. He wanted to bring three marget just to satisfy the Matron, but now he changed his mind.
If he could not get more marget, he might consider bringing one back instead of three. He was in a crucial moment.
"Ah, right. I can use those kids as an excuse since they are going to the same place."
If the Matron, he could make an excuse that the other kids were going to the same place as him. If they failed to bring back the marget, he would say their presence scares the marget. If they brought back marget, then he didn't need to explain anything.
Red decided to go further, looking for more marget and exchanged one in his hand for loot. He got 2 Might Cores and two coins.
"Why do I never get a skill scroll again?"
He had exchanged more than thirty prey, and he didn't get a single skill from them; just Copper Coins and cores.
He absorbed the two cores, which gave him 0.2 Vitality and 0.2 Dexterity. His Endurance had been maxed out with the first three cores. He was getting closer to maxing out his Might Attribute.
[Tier 0 Might]
Strength: 10 Endurance: 10 Vitality: 7.8 Dexterity: 9.8
[Tier 0 Magic]
Intelligence: 10 Wisdom: 10 Arcane Perception: 10 Mind: 10
If he had to assume that each core gave him the minimum gain, which was 0.2, he would need 12 Might Cores to max it. However, the core from the marget gave him a 0.4 increase most of the time. He might need less body to exchange.
"Let's do it today! Let's max it out today!"
This time, he decided to go thirty trees deeper. He waited and waited, but the marget never appeared. He kept waiting as the sun went down, but the marget didn't show up.
More than an hour passed, and the marget didn't shop. His patience was running out, and he decided to leave the area. He went even deeper, fifty trees deeper.
Red put the dead marget above a flat stone, and this time he climbed the tree, hiding behind the thick branch.
He thought it would take even longer for the marget to show, but he didn't need to wait that long. He heard steps, but he quickly discovered the oddity in the steps.
First, the marget didn't really make sounds in the first place. Second, they never appeared in a big group, but the sound of steps indicated there were more than four creatures approaching. Third, they usually traveled through trees, not the ground.
With that in mind, he quickly readied himself. He knew something different was coming, not the marget. The steps got louder and louder. It didn't take long for them to show up, and his hand tightened at the sight of the new creatures.