Nearby the Stremreth Academy was Rosevale town, it was somewhat a small town yet it was quickly expanding. Its narrow streets were very crowded, its inns were never empty and its economy was comparable to that of a city.
All of that was due to its location beside the Academy. Mages, knights and scholars they are not the kind of people you would expect to see in a small town.
In fact, Rosevale itself was created for the Academy, travelers who came to the Academy had no place to stay so they camped here, those people needed food, clothes, a place to stay...etc.
When there is an opportunity to make money, merchants quickly step in, they started opening inns, stores, restaurants…etc.
Naturally these places provided lots of jobs, either directing by working in them or indirectly, for example farmers sold them fruits and vegetables, hunters sold them meat and materials from monsters and so on.
The wheel of economy started moving, with time it started getting faster and faster, to the point it that the imperial palace started taking notice of it, and yet soon it will undergo another great change.
..…
In the forest, close to mid-day a strange sight could be seen, a young man was stand in a strange position, his right hand was straight in front of him with his palm facing forward and his left hand was also facing forward but his elbow was bent 90 degrees. Several feet in front of him there was a One-horned rabbit, peacefully eating grass in the shade of large tree no knowing what fate was waiting for him.
From afar the posture of the young man was full of strength, like he was about to perform a skill of martial arts, but if you get a bit close, giving him, another look you would think of him as nothing but a fool.
His head was not facing forward, looking not at the target in front of him, but was turned toward his left arm. His face was merely a few fingers away from his arm, all his attention was there. With such posture with the serious look in his eyes as if he was performing an important task, you would assume there is something wrong with his head.
..…
"Let me focus, this time I will succeed" after taking a long breath, Dreue focused all his attention on his left arm.
"To improve the casting of my left arm while performing dual cast I need to focus my attention on it, guiding the flow of mana through my body by myself at the same time casting with my right hand using my experience and sense".
"I just need to achieve bar minimum casting with my left hand while maintaining an acceptable performance with my right hand".
WHOOSH WHOOSH
Two consecutive fireballs flow from Dreue's hands, the first one was a lot smaller, it's shaped was disturbed, it was not stable at all like it would be extinguished at any second yet it continued toward the rabbit. The second was much better, it didn't reach the level of the ones casted by level 2 mages but was still good enough for Dreue's new strategy.
The rabbit ran escaping from it yet it dropped dead just three feet from its original location, it was hit by the second fireball.
Dreue finally breathed a sigh of relief, he wiped his sweat with his sleeve. He squatted down before the dead rabbit.
"Finally, after so long time, my first successful hunt".
"If it was another monster most likely it will not work" Dreue looked at the place that the first fireball hit, it was a bit away from where the rabbit was standing.
"The first fireball is only a distraction, it was not meant to hit in the first place, it serves just as a means of sacring the rabbit so it ran away, the second fireball is the one which was meant to hit by aiming it several feet ahead of the rabbit".
"It will not work every time, I cast the second fireball in the direction the rabbit will most likely take while escaping, but nothing is guaranteed, it may run in any direction."
"If it stayed in its place it would not have been hit at the first place, you can tell where the fireballs will land, this maybe the case for another monster with better intelligence but not the One-horned rabbit".
Dreue carefully examined the rabbit, nucleus aside they only thing that could be used to till it apart with animals was its horn, it was very hard and sharp able to pierce through thick trunk of trees easily, it can be used to make arrowheads or any pointed weapon in general, that why it can be sold for a good price. Otherwise, it was like an animal, its fur was soft and can be used for cloths, its meat was tender and very delicious.
In fact, if it tried to attack Dreue with it horn it will surely hurt him and may even kill him. But the One-horned rabbit was a timid monster if it can, it will always choose running away, it will not attack unless it was pushed into a corner, and the strategy that Dreue was using made it look like the monster always had a chance of escaping.
..…
BOOM BOOM
"Good!"
"Another successful hit" Dreue said as carried the rabbit he hunted, he was getting at dual casting, getting better at predicting which way the monsters will try to escape and most importantly choosing better targets.
He chooses to hunt monsters around large trees and rocks, these monsters had very limited choices when they run away.
By selling their body and nucleus, he was able to pay for the room he stays in, by food and buy daily life necessities. He was also able save a bit, you can say things are now stable financial wise, although he can't buy tool, potions…etc. but at least he will not worry about getting kicked out of the inn or not being able to put food on the table.
"This the best that I can achieve alone"
"It has been a long time since I had a conversation with anyone…. It seems it is the time I start looking for a party".