The 'cheat' was a bust. The system, unlike the ones he had read, seemed to had made counter-measures to make sure they were no exploits. Which was too bad, whenever he gets his hands on a video game, the first thing he does is search the internet for cheats and exploits after his first play through. There was a thrill in being overpowered, in achieving things with minimal effort.
On second thought, however, he was thankful that it was so. Exploits sucked the fun out of those video games after quite a while. There was no sense of accomplishment, and the player is demoted to simply a spectator.
And during that cold and boring journey, he needed the fun and the challenge more than mastery points and tokens.
As if to reward his realization, days later, he came upon a skulk of foxes. Composing of only five members, it was a small haul but at last, he was able to harvest from them the needed material.
Five units of pelts, a square foot and 10 tokens each, it was as cheap as a kilo of poultry meat. After refining, the pelts became thin leather and doubled in price. Still, not anywhere near impressive, but it was not the final product. Soon, everything was set for crafting.
With the small amount of leather he had, only a few options were available. So, he stuck with the choice he chose, the first time he tried the skill out.
[You have obtained Leather Bracers x5]
[Mastery Points +50]
Each unit of thin leather produced a pair of bracers, and every pair crafted gave him ten mastery points.
Informed of how much mastery points he could get with each of the leather goods crafted, now he wanted to know how many tokens it would give him.
[Are you sure you want to sell Leather Bracers x5?]
[You have obtained Tokens x400]
The number should have disappointed him because after all, Leatherworker was an E-Rank occupation and was supposed to be more rewarding.
But after thinking about it, it made sense, realistically. He knew there were plenty of factors to be considered. Firstly, he was just starting out and thus the products were of regular quality. Secondly, the haul was small, and naturally, the things he could craft were also small and cheap. And lastly, leather is just a byproduct of meat, and therefore the latter is bound to involve a more luxurious business and the two should not be compared.
So, he did not dwell on the disappointing turn-out. He expects it to be a more competitive occupation, once he reaches the next mastery. He only needed to be patient.
And patience, he needed a lot. The fox hunt was where his hunting streak ended. What followed were barren fields, devoid of four-footed beasts. And if he did spot one, it would be too far or too few to be worth the stop.
Consequently, their traveling speed increased again, uninterrupted by the stops he would normally make at every sight of prey. He realized that his early estimation of two months traveling time to North Alendia, was an overestimation.
After a month and a week, two thirds of their journey had been covered. This was marked by changes in the landscape, most of which brought a smile to Anthony's face. More trees, more boulders, more animals, more birds and a lot wetter. They were provided a more diverse scenery, with more hues apart from the greenness. And to the hunter, a bounteous hunting ground.
Anthony looked at the map, and found they were nearing the River Dismas. He could already see some of the streams that had stemmed out of it, flocked by the cranes and herons.
As they drove nearer to the river, Anthony would finally find what he had been looking for, for so long. Thin leather turned out to be scarce as small grassland creatures were harder to find. It might have been because of predators, or their disadvantage in the competition for resources, but it no longer mattered.
A chuckle escaped his throat, his eyes glowed, and his hands instinctively reined the horses to a halt. A mile from the road, was a large herd of gazelles, numbering to several hundreds.
The herd was on the move, and unwilling to let them slip away, he left the wagon for the fields as soon as he could. There was a herd of bigger antelopes ahead, and just beside the path, but was ignored.
The stallion was fast enough to cover the mile within two minutes and the herd was soon within shooting distance. Just by looking at the gazelles, their size, how many they were and how they behaved, Anthony knew, a big haul was certain.
The Bowhunter Skill had leveled up during his previous hunt and the skills have improved. The Longshot skill got an increase in piercing power, and one arrow could go through two small preys. The Rapid Shooting, on the other hand, got an increase in duration, now lasting for two seconds enabling him to fire double the arrows. And the skills proved deadly efficient against the crowded and small gazelles.
Relentless and overpowered, Anthony would come upon his largest harvest yet. More than a hundred gazelles would litter the bloody fields the time he was through with the herd.
With the meat alone, he earned a 118,000 tokens, and another 10,000 with the horns. And most important to Anthony, he got 708 units of thin hide.
After refining, he opened the crafting skill, and all the options lit up. He could craft any leather goods he wanted with the large amount of raw material he had.
Recalling the time he looted the dead imperials, he remembered that there was a leather product that sold for a lot.
[You have crafted Leather Boots x70]
[Mastery Points +1400]
[Are you sure you want to sell Leather Boots x70?]
[You have obtained Tokens x42,000]
[You have reached enough Mastery Points]
[Mastery Increased]
[Product Quality Increased]