Finally! We continue.
Counting today's and yesterday's chapter, there is a total of 8 chapters.
The first 7 are already done, so I will edit them in order and post them.
The last chapter will probably take a little longer, but it will be released today.
If you forgot, Dale had decided that it was time for him to start going outside, so after convincing his teacher and the mercenary guild branch leader through a series of minor actions such as having the alchemist change, they are now in the forest teaching Dale how to hunt and survive there.
In the future, Dale will be completely free to act in the forest and farm there, or just fully explore.
There are many secrets in the forest, and I have many things ready...
Be it ruins, mysterious encounters, or just bizarre situations you would encounter within a game.
Normally, everything seems a bit slow for an RPG game, but that is because only 2 full days have passed since the release of the game and Dale so far was almost completely trapped within the village.
Let's see what will happen!
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/SQUEAK!/
Upon noticing that Dale had no intention of retreating and was instead, challenging it, the Moss Rock dashed forward with anger towards him with surprising speed!
But even when the 2 M long boar rushed at him, Dale remained calm and sidestepped to the side with an even higher speed!
/BAM!/
/CRUNCH!/
"Wow!..."
'What destructive power!... For a pig.'
'No, boars are already pretty strong creatures...'
The boar hit the walls of the cavern, making it tremble.
Its two tusks dug deep into the rock as if it was butter, a testimony of their sharpness and the power behind them.
'It's strong, but not as much as I expected…'
[Moss Rock (Weakened)
Challenge Level: 35-45]
'It's not something I can't take on!'
/FWUSH!/
The boar moved its head to the side, breaking the cavern's walls easily and unloading its tusks from it.
It once again stared at Dale, this time with even more anger.
/SQUEAK!/
"!"
'It's faster than before!'
/BAM!/
/CRUNCH!/
Slightly surprised by the creature's sudden increase in speed, Dale saw himself trapped.
So he jumped, barely avoiding the creature's sharp tusks.
"..."
'I see it now, its body must be slowly recovering its true power due to it being woken up so suddenly by me.'
'I'll make use of that!'
Dale took a step forward and stabbed his spear forward, his target was the creature's back…
/CLANG!/
His spear was surprisingly parried by the creature's extremely hard back.
Like a turtle shell, its skin was rock solid, providing not only defense but also a means of camouflage.
"As expected…" Dale said as he took a step back once more
'My spear definitely did some damage, but the bad angle made the spear bounce off.'
'There is no problem with my power, but my technique lacks. I wonder how the damage calculation would've been done if I was a normal player?'
/CRUNCH!/
The boar unlodged itself from the wall once more, its eyes were now red and this time, it wouldn't hold back at all.
It's front feet dug into the hard stone as if it was mud, this time, it was ready to dash with everything it had!
"..."
Dale smiled, feeling rejuvenated…
The feeling of being face to face with a fantastical creature, fighting it… Made him feel very excited!
[Fighting Spirit has been activated]
He activated his Skill, giving him a boost to his focus and stats.
"Come!" He exclaimed as he got into a stance, pointing his spear forward
/SQUEAK!/
/BAM!/
This time, the boar hit the ground with everything it had, making it crack due to the power behind it.
As it rushed, its tusks pierced the wind creating a sharp and loud noise as a testimony of its speed.
[Stable Emotions has activated]
Because of how tense Dale was feeling, his skill activated, making him focus even more while abandoning any useless thoughts from his mind.
"HUFF!"
Taking a quick breath, Dale pressed forward and pierced with his spear, aiming at the cranium of the Boar.
It didn't matter to him that the cranium was the hardest part of its body.
At this moment, only the 'feeling' remained…
/BAM!/
/CRUNCH!/
/Pierce!.../
"Good work." Testros said with a smile as he expected the fight
"It's been a while since I've had meat." Misgurd said as he watched the result of the fight
"Phew…"
'I did it.'
[You received 12.5%*2=25% XP]
In the middle of the cavern, it seemed as if time had been frozen.
The boar was still standing, but its legs had stopped moving, frozen in the motion of running…
And Dale was still there, holding his spear and pointing it forward…
But the very tip of his spear was now deep on the ground… Having passed straight through the head of the boar and into the ground…
Blood slowly seeped into the cold hard floor as proof of his context.
/Splurge!/
Dale removed his spear with ease, splattering blood around the place, making Misgurd say:
"Can't you be any more delicate? You'll end up throwing blood at us! Buwahaha!"
"Sorry…"
But Dale was focused on something else…
'25% Level XP?'
'So if I kill 4 of these boars I can Level up? Finally, the benefits of hunting creatures well beyond my own Level are showing!'
'This boar is around double my Level, so I expected a lot of XP.'
'It wasn't a Boss monster, so the XP it gives is just that of a common fodder, but still…'
'As expected, XP gain is also affected by my privilege of receiving X2 rewards from hunting. Normally, I would've had to hunt 8 of these boars to reach the XP cap, but now, only need 4.'
'It may look small, but that is the difference between being Level 30 today and 2 to 3 days later.'
/Tap/
Misgurd went to his side and gently slapped his shoulders, interrupting his thoughts as he said:
"No need to be sorry, you did well." He said as he kneeled on the ground to look at the creature
"Although this is something to be happy about there are a few things we need to talk about first before we proceed." Testros said with a serious face
"Yes sir!" Dale said with a salute, making Testros smile
"Be serious now."
"First, do you know why I asked you to hunt this?"
"Humm… Because it was a good first opponent?"
"Yes, but that is not all."
"It's because you need to get used to your strength, look at yourself."
"You are strong enough to resist the impact of a charging Moss Rock and yet you failed at piercing its back with your spear, a place weaker than its head in terms of hardness."
"That last attack you did, I'll give you a point for standing your ground and not cowering, but such stupid face-offs often only end in misery, don't do it again."
"If you had missed the target, the spear might've bounced off like last time and that wouldn't have been pretty."
"... I understand." Dale said with an awkward expression
Testros looked at him and let out a sigh, saying:
"I wanted to show you that yes, you are strong, but that doesn't mean you are STRONG. Do you understand that Dale?"
"Yes, I do." He said with confidence
'I am already aware that my combat power is well below what my current Stats should be able to display, I've said this multiple times over now and that is why I've accepted and brought up the idea of training.'
'If I could bring out 100% of my true strength I would definitely be comparable to a pure Level 100 player, even if I don't have decent Skills.'
'Once I master my power, it will be about getting and improving my Skills and equipment, but Skills and gear are but a part of me, however, they are not me.'
'My stats and how well I use them, this is who I am.'
Testros didn't say much after he confirmed Dale had indeed understood what he talked about, so after a few seconds he said:
"Good, so let's proceed to the next part…"
He sat near the boar with Misgurd and said:
"Come here Dale, it's time to teach you how to process the body of the game you hunt…"
"Wait, are we doing it here? This place doesn't seem very safe..."
'It's even a bit unsanitary...'
"We do have the luxury of doing so thanks to your… You know." Misgurd said as he blinked his right eye
"..."
'Are they talking about my inventory? Can he be any less obvious?'
"Okay, I understand, but on a normal hunting day, how would you proceed?"
"Depends on how deep I am in the forest because sometimes, bringing a bleeding carcass with you isn't a very smart choice in this forest."
"So normally, we simply remove more essential parts that are easier to carry around, like its skin and tusks, and perhaps a few cuts of meat."
"It's a shame I know, but the rest would be needed to be abandoned unless you're strong enough to move around without it hindering you." Misgurd said with a serious expression
"But today! We shall bring everything!... I imagine there is enough space…"
"Yes, there is…" Dale replied with an awkward expression
'My inventory doesn't have limitless space but it has more than enough space for this…'
'I cleared most of it after selling a lot of items, but I also filled it back up since I bought many things...'
'In fact, people who choose the Tourism gameplay style actually come with a bit more inventory space than most for some reason…'
"So sit down and pay attention! Unless… Yeah… Show us what you can do first!" Misgurd said
"What?" Dale asked bewildered
"That's good, in any case, we'll be here to help you out in case you make a mistake." Replied Testros
"I can try..." Replied Dale as he sat near the boar, grabbing the knife from Misgurds hands
'It's not like I never butchered an animal like this before, there are many games out there and people tend to love simulation games of anything really, me included.'
'But it wasn't something I focused on in the last year…'
"Ok here I go."
'I don't remember much but the process of skinning a pig/hog was pretty similar. Although it isn't being hanged, which is a problem I guess I can still do it although it may get a bit messy.'
Dale first went to the hind feet of the hog and made a not-so-deep cut, before turning it around and making a cut going all the way to its chest.
He did this twice for both of the hind legs and before long, he started…
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Notes
If you forgot, Dale literally only has 1 active skill and that is his fighting spirit which is more of a morale boost to himself.
It gives him something like an endorphin injection... Not exactly but the effects are the same.
His stats increase temporarily and his mental power increases.