After walking out of the bushes, his Data Vision showed that the time was 9 AM. He could not afford to wait further as he had not restocked the raw materials for Fish Booster as promised.
Fish Booster was the best-selling product of the White Stone Apothecary.
However, it was not used to cure illnesses, but rather to increase the probability of survival of silver-scaled fish. After the fishermen caught the fish, they could increase the probability of survival of these expensive fish greatly by adding Fish Booster into the water tanks.
Many noble families and vendors came to purchase the silver-scaled fish, which was the speciality of Leopold.
Fish Booster, which would bring about more profit for the fishermen, was also in great demand.
This was also a special creation by Grandpa Leo after he realized the needs of the locals. For a small town with a population of less than 20,000, although it was valuable, it would not attract unnecessary problems from envious parties.
Looking at it as a person who transmigrated, Alvin could not help but feel impressed by the butler's shrewdness. Without a respectable individual like him, who knew if this son of a noble family would survive till today.
After suppressing his thoughts, Alvin began to work.
…
At about noon, because Alvin was familiar with the forest, he finished the collection he was supposed to do that day and enjoyed his lunch on a huge rock.
A huge slice of wheat bread, some dried fish, and a smoked sausage, along with some mountain water. Although this was nothing much for people in his past life, it was a rare enjoyment for people in this era.
Alvin also made new discoveries about his Golden Nails. The identification ability of his Data Vision was very powerful, and he was able to recognize all the herbs just by glancing at them. This greatly increased the efficiency of collection of herbs.
After lunch, since it was still early, Alvin decided to go deeper into the forest to see if he could catch any animals to improve his recipe.
That was because Alvin saw markings made by other hunters when he was harvesting herbs earlier. These markings indicated that some individuals had spotted animals that they could not catch alone and needed help from other hunters.
The nearby hunters were people Alvin knew, so he did not have to worry about attracting the attention of people with malicious intentions.
Since he had nothing much to do, Alvin tapped on his sword and decided to go ahead to see whether he could help out.
He was confident in his martial arts. After all, he was a part of a noble family in his past life. He started training his sword skills when he was eight years old. His sword skills were impeccable, and none of the hunters who fought with him could beat him.
Alvin believed that the forest would no longer be a threat to him if he was able to attain the same level as his mentor, Grandpa Leo, and become an official knight as well as one of the Extraordinaries.
Alvin passed through the forest like a nimble monkey, following the tracks left behind by hunters. Alvin thought that there should not be any accidents. Instead, if he arrived late, he would feel despair if there was nothing left for him.
Although he was only 13 years old, frequent sword training had given Alvin broad shoulders and a fit body. Moreover, he was very agile, so the maze-like forest meant nothing for him. At least there were not many life-threatening predators in the forest.
Perhaps he had wasted too much time eating lunch, since he did not see any hunters around in the forest after two hours.
Alvin would have given up and returned home if he hadn't noticed that the tracks seemed to lead around the outer regions of the forest and that there were additional footprints.
"These tracks were made by Graham and his dog. Did they come to hunt too?"
After Alvin recognized Graham's footprints, he could not leave. Graham was one of the most outstanding hunters in the region, but he had left behind a sign calling for help. Alvin guessed that he had encountered a huge creature that could not be dealt with even with two experienced hunters.
For such last-minute hunting, experienced hunters were able to judge their ability to catch the creature. In the past, the hunters would gather sufficient manpower before springing an attack.
If they were unable to gather sufficient manpower, they would give up. No matter how valuable the creature was, the hunters were clever enough to know their limits.
Experienced hunters would know that the way to survive was to control.
As Alvin complained about the unknown powerful creature, he continued to follow the tracks until it was slightly dark in the forest. It was already 4 PM when Alvin finally caught up with the hunter.
However, Alvin knew at first sight that something was wrong!
There was a pool of fresh blood on the ground. Even though Alvin was not a professional, he could tell the difference between human and animal blood. Although he did not know who the blood belonged to, judging from the amount of blood, the person had probably died.
Alvin felt terrible. In a small, seaside town, the value of creatures from the mountains was much higher than those from the sea. Moreover, only talented hunters were able to enter the forests.
The creature had to be extraordinary in order to kill an experienced hunter on the spot.
Without hesitation, Alvin restarted his Data Vision and took in the details in his sight. He eliminated unnecessary information and the footprints of two individuals appeared on the ground. There was a clear trail of blood that led to another path.
Strangely, apart from an additional footprints of a hound, there were no marks left behind by the creature.
Things were getting a little difficult.
Alvin narrowed his eyes. As someone who had watched many mystery shows, he knew that the most terrifying thing was not a beastly creature, but rather… the unknown!
However, based on the tracks left behind, the hunter who had survived had followed the creature. From the movements of the hound, it was probably Graham's hound. Although his partner was dead, he had decided to continue following the creature. The only possibility was that he felt that the situation was still under control and he wanted to retrieve his partner's body.
Alvin clenched his teeth and moved towards the direction of the blood trail.
…
"Beast, go and die, stay there! Leave Hunk behind!"
A 20-year-old hunter holding his arrows was running furiously in the forest. Although he was frustrated, it did not affect his agility. The winding roads, the slippery ground, and the streams of water did not pose as obstructions to him.
However, even so, he was unable to close the gap between the creature that was flying past the trees.
Swoosh! An arrow landed on a tree trunk. A black lynx that had a thin man in its mouth had already leaped to a huge tree.
The black lynx ignored the human giving chase and quickly moved on the trees, disappearing without a trace.
"Argh!!! Go and die!"
After ranting, the hunter who had lost his partner began to calm down. He knew that it was impossible for him to get his partner back alone.
He could only hope that the lynx had sufficient food and hope that he could still get the body of his partner back after he went back and asked for more help.
After kicking the hound, who was still barking at the tree, Graham turned and walked back, hoping to get out of the forest before sunset.
"Wo…!"
Immediately after he turned, he felt a wave of wind from above. The sly creature had not left!
It had returned after hiding its food and attacked when Graham let his guard down.