A few days passed like that as we hunted and migrated, outrunning our persecutors but still leaving a clear path for them to follow with the carcasses of our prey.
And still we could not wait for the danger to pass to learn more of this world.
So, on the next hunt we change things a little and go from animals to monsters, not only to test our abilities and learn more from it but to widen our horizons, staying with the same prey will only make us susceptible to stagnation.
Animals and monsters have some big noticeable differences that the few encounters I had with my mother's prey and ours makes me able to classify them a little from the very start.
Monsters, or magical creatures, usually are stronger and higher level than other animals, are more sentient and have elements and abilities too, as for as, on the contrary, normal creatures are very low level, but far more numerous, and do not have any magic or attributes whatsoever.
It would seem that monsters are a higher type of animal, putting it in more simple short words, and there are even rare cases of animals evolving into magical creatures and not being born like us, but they were so rare that I knew little of them, just noticing that some herds had a single stronger member that would excel magic around it.
Basically, translating so that the doggy brain of my brother can understand, I would say that one is food resource and the other level resource.
After ponderation and observation I finally manage to choose which one will be our first victim, and I bet that no one would be able to guess which monster we are going to hunt today; note the sarcasm.
They are…
Slimes!
They were hopping about, semi-transparent colorful creatures that even though were gelatinous did not leave parts of them behind, only sucking grass and jumping forward, dissolving grass and jumping, sometimes bumping into each other and fighting with until one gave up.
Their colorful camouflage only works here because of the many flowers scattered around, even more because apparently the smiles avoided eating them, only the grass around, turning it into an even more favorable place for the flowers to grow since no tree could rise there since the slimes ate it before the trunk had time to form.
Watching them for a while, hidden on the shadows of the trees surrounding the bed of flowers, and because we use our mouths to attack and consume, I cannot stop myself from wondering what the hell those things will taste like?
Guess we will find out, but there is a good reason for hunting down those things, beyond only experience and whatever; I was using appraisal in everything to level it up, not that I could do it for very long with my low MP, and once we arrived at the flower field full of slimes I discovered that they all had different elements and were very low level.
Being low level and having different attributes widen the possibilities of what I could level up with them.
First I find one red slime made of fire to test things out, and even with it being level one I use my sneaking skill to move around since practicing was another way to level the abilities up.
After try and error, burning, accidentally of course, some into glue that stuck to the soil and became unedible, I finally manage to kill one of them without obliterating it, cutting what looked like its core, a slightly resistant part of it that was no different for the eye.
I won't deny that it was by complete luck that I manage to discover that core, even more cutting something invisible inside a somewhat transparent creature.
That's when I discover how they taste like, not the most important thing to learn of course but one of the most shocking one since I would never expect it to taste like gummy bears with the texture of a mochi, getting stuck between the teeth and becoming an endless munching mass on the mouth.
After getting the drift I end up lessening their number down a bit, but once I found a blue water type slime I let it attack me as my brother hopefully did the same on his part of the field.
It keeps attacking me with a small Water Ball and it surprises me when it manages to actually cause some damage, but it didn't cause me pain exactly because it was just a bubble of low-level Water Ball attacks, only got me numb and stiff. I kill it once it gets tired and eat it up, finally feeling like ending the day there, but not before checking some things out.
As I move back towards where my brother is I check my own status using appraisal once more.
Attacks: Claw 3, Bite 3, Swim 1, Fireball 2, Fire Breath 2, Sneak 3
Magic: Appraisal 2, Fire Resistance 5, Fatigue Resistance 2, Hunger Resistance 1, Water Resistance 1, Earth Resistance 1, Poison Resistance 1, Bleed Resistance 1, Hell Form 0, Berserker Mode 1, Shadow Veil 1.
No level ups though, sigh. Guess we need to hunt stronger things than us I supposed, but not bad for a single day of work.
I go to my brother and look at his status too:
Level: 3
HP: 70-80
MP: 266-330
SP: 100-140
Attributes: Fire, Shadow
Titles: Younger Brother, Good Boy
Attacks: Claw 2, Bite 2, Swim 1, Fireball 3, Fire Breath 2, Fire Armor 2, Explosive Ball 1, Sneak 2
Magic: Fire Resistance 5, Water Resistance 1, Earth Resistance 1, Poison Resistance 1, Illusion Resistance 1, Bleed Resistance 1, Hell Form 0.
Hum… he level up, that's good, and another magic? Really he is very creative with those, though I think he doesn't even realize that and does it naturally, after all he can't even see his status.
I lick my dry lips, tired of this mushy meal, and go close to him.
"I think we should hunt other things now."
"Finally!" He rolls his eyes, dramatically falling with his belly up and showing his tongue off sideways. I kick him, and motion him to follow me.
"I think we should try some humanoid creatures as well." I say, thinking that we should learn how to fight againt more organize type of enemies too since we are being follow by humans.
"You mean hunt humans?"
"Nah, we may take one down, even get away with it, but where is one there is always more. Today can be one; tomorrow can be an army. No, the best way is to avoid them and pretend they don't exist. Even a glimpse of us can make them hunt us down for whatever sick reason they have." He swallows dry.
"Sounds terrifying brother, are you sure they are that way?"
"Positive."
"Then I will take your word for it."
I nod. That is not a lot we can do if humans decide to hunt us down like this, it is simply a matter of numbers, if rabbits had the meanings of fighting back we would be outnumbered too, even if they were smaller and weaker them us.
Which, to get worst, wasn't the case.
I would love to have a peek at the human's status now that I evolved appraisal, but I wouldn't risk it. Hell, I would at least like to know if they went away or not, but I rather presume that they were still on our tails for good measure.
But that's when it hit me.
The Voice of Nature.
I 'need' that.
"Du- Brother…" Shit, almost called him dumb.
"Yes?"
"It may sound weird, but I really need a skill called the Voice of Nature, it allows us to talk with the trees and plants so we can have information coming and going."
"Ow, that sounds cool, can I try it too?"
"Of course, of course, the problem is… to get it I think we need to sing."
"… Wait, what? How so? I don't get it." I didn't think you would.
"Is actually talking and thanking Mother Nature in the form of a song, and in exchange we gain the ability." Hopefully.
"Hm... I see, but what is Mother Nature? We already have a mother." He asks as we walk, turning his doggy head sideways, his brown caramel eyes glinting in excitement.
"Is like… The spirit of the forest, the energy that keeps the woods alive… like a God?" How could I explain that? Did I knew it myself? It was just a feeling… when you go to the woods is like a palpable existence, an energy, is not something you can teach your mind to perceive, only the hearth is aware.
I give up explaining it to him even before trying.
"We can try it later. For now, let's hunt a little more." I say, dismissing the explanation and earning a grunting disapproval as we trot between the roots.
We had no time to waste, we needed to get stronger quickly, otherwise who knows what may happen to us if another lion appears before us.
There is only so much we can count on lady luck to help us out.
And I had no intention of needing her again so soon.
After some time sniffing around and debating we choose to hunt some goblins down. We need to get used to being outnumbered and to fight against weapon holders creatures.
Though I wasn't very happy with the possibility of having to eat their flesh.
It definitely didn't seem very sanitary.
We are hiding in the bushes, watching a little camp with those creatures coming and going. Oh, and before anything else let me correct myself: the "smelly" humans were clean, sparkling even, because now I have seen the true meaning of disgusting, repulsive, and horrendous in the form of those small green creatures and, ugh, the smell, the repulsive texture of their green skin, I could even see some suspicions stains on their underclothes, and some snot out of their....
No, no, never mind, never mind! No details needed! And I'm definitely not going to eat that, nope, not a chance, and for the frown on my brother's face, neither would him.
Let's do it for the experience, yes, focus on that, not the smell, uhum…
There were three normal goblins level 2, two level 3, a shaman level 5 and a hobgoblin level 4. All had an ugly green face with long droopy ears, arched backs, and all used weapons, from clubs to staff.
No bow. Good.
The most dangerous one was the shaman. He could use magic and was the only one with long reach on his attacks. We were far faster than all of them if we needed to escape, so I wasn't worried. It would be a good training.
"Don't do anything stupid. They are training material, and hurting yourself will do far worst for your training than backing off, ok?"
My brother licks his nose, eager as he nods. "So, how are we going to do this?"
"See the one with the staff? He is the most dangerous, he can use magic and poison. We need to take him down first. The second one is the tall one, but that's mine, once we take care of the shaman you go for the little ones. Ok?"
"Ok."
We approach stealthy, against the wind, and circle around until we are closer to the shaman. I pat the ground slightly, urging my brother to stay behind, in position, and use my Shadow Veil to stay even more hidden even though that cost magic, meaning that it was a race against the clock for me and my low mana.
The veil was still a simple one, covering only my figure, not the sound or my smell, so once I'm close enough the shaman starts sniffing around like a pig with his enormous droopy nose.
Without waiting any longer I jump at him out of nowhere and use Fire Breath so I can definitely reach him. He is stunned by the combo, his clothes catching on fire, giving me enough time to bite down his neck as he tries to put the fire out, easily cracking his skinny neck sideways with my strong jaw.
The others react quickly, and one of the lowly ones jumps at me only to receive a Fire Ball from my brother who was waiting on the side. Without looking back I run upon the hobgoblin, who was already holding a blunt enormous sword.
Once I get close he swings it at me, faster than I thought he could with such an enormous weapon, but not faster then I, so I duck, lowering my belly and curving my hind legs to jump at his face, not before letting a stream of fire out on him right up his face. He screams as the fire melts his skin away, but not for long since tapping it with his hands only helps spreading the hungry flames to the rest of his body.
Fire is a very effective thing to use against organic beings…
I look behind me as my brother finishes the last one, staying far and throwing Fire Balls at them. Well, it works as well.
It all goes well when it ends well. By the end of the day all worked out just fine in our firsts monster hunts.
A good change for once.
~~~~
Older Brother
-Appraisal completed-
Name:???
Gender: Male
Race: Hell Hound
Age: 0
Level: 5
HP: 180-180
MP: 20-35
SP: 300-350
Attributes: Fire, Shadow
Titles: The Wise, Angry One, Reincarnated, Older Brother
Attacks: Claw 3, Bite 4, Swim 1, Fireball 2, Fire Breath 3, Sneak 4, Dodge 1, Dash 1
Magic: Appraisal 3, Fire Resistance 5, Fatigue Resistance 2, Hunger Resistance 1, Water Resistance 1, Earth Resistance 1, Poison Resistance 1, Bleed Resistance 1, Hell Form 0, Berserker Mode 1, Shadow Veil 1.
Status: Ready to Roll
Younger Brother
-Appraisal completed-
Name:???
Gender: Male
Race: Hell Hound
Age: 0
Level: 4
HP: 90-90
MP: 350-360
SP: 90-155
Attributes: Fire, Shadow
Titles: Younger Brother, Good Boy, Magic Holder
Attacks: Claw 2, Bite 2, Swim 1, Fireball 4, Fire Breath 3, Fire Armor 2, Explosive Ball 1, Sneak 2, Aim 1, Support 1
Magic: Fire Resistance 5, Water Resistance 1, Earth Resistance 1, Poison Resistance 1, Illusion Resistance 1, Bleed Resistance 1, Hell Form 0.
Status: Not going to eat that