After several minutes of running away I finally found a landmark, a large boulder which was around the size of a small house, which appeared in an open space. Taking that as a sign that I've run far enough I finally slowed down my pace to one not unlike a casual stroll. I was about to continue aimlessly walking through the forest when I spotted a freshwater source nearby.
A small river happened to be adjacent to the large boulder. It was a flowing source of water which meant that it was safe to drink, not that I would right now. The main part was that animals or beasts would likely drink from here.
As I approached from behind the rock I spotted a beast which just so happened to be drinking from the very river I mentioned. Luckily, I noticed it right before I walked out into the open. It was even on my side of the river.
From its appearance from behind I could tell it was some kind of boar-like monster beast, but its size was at least twice if not more of a normal boar's size. Its two front fangs jutted out from the sides of its mouth and were significantly larger proportionate to its size.
Back when I was living like one of those nomadic tribes, hunting was one of my favorite activities. The reward after a successful hunt truly made me feel like everything I did was worth it. Especially after a year or two of being on my own without anyone to provide food for me. At that time I finally understood what it meant to be grateful for everything.
The animals I hunted at the time weren't only a source of food, but was also my source of income. When I first left on my journey I only happened to bring a knife with me for self defense, but that knife would become something more than just self-defense. I used it for all sorts of things including, cooking, skinning, and carving. There were numerous times I had used it for sharpening a long stick into a javelin. Unfortunately, I had to leave it behind around a year before I was picked up by Big Brother.
My early hunting days consisted of throwing rocks at small animals and hoping that they would be knocked out. That eventually turned into me carving javelins to be thrown at larger game.
I still remember the first time I killed one of those poor innocent creatures. As their life left their eyes I felt so bad, but I knew that if I didn't do it I would probably be the one to die. It was a rabbit and its body was limp in my hands, there I fell to my knees. For maybe five whole minutes I had kneeled on the ground, trembling a bit as I looked at the first ever life I had taken from this world.
As time went on my targets became larger and larger, from normal animals such as boars and deer to even a couple monster beasts. Of those two monster beasts I took down, one was a lucky accident and the other was deliberate. But the purposeful one took forever and was the most dangerous hunt I ever had. It simply wasn't worth the risk to hunt more of them, even if the profits were quite fruitful.
Coincidentally the beast in front of me was of the exact same kind I had purposefully hunted before, so I had a plan for this one. I pulled out a sword as I got close behind the boar-like monster beast and used the movement technique I had to assist me in jumping high. When I landed I landed right on the back of the beast, but before I landed I plunged my sword down into the beast's back.
Almost immediately as soon as I landed the boar began kicking. I was sure that while I was here the monster beast wouldn't be able to reach me well. I tried to anchor myself down onto the boar with my legs as I pulled my sword out of its back. Once it was out I tightly gripped it with both hands as I forced it down onto the back of the beast repeatedly. It was best not to attack the head as it was one of its most protected parts of its body, after all its main method of attack was headbutting things.
*Squeal!!* *Squeal!!*
The pig's cries were filled with pain and anguish as it tried its hardest to force me off its back. It rapidly tilted back and forth as it ran around all over the little opening we had, trying desperately to toss me off its back.
Finally after several minutes of it trying the same thing over and over again it started to slow down, losing its vigor and energy. The pig's movement slowed to a halt before it started tipping over to one of its sides. I jumped off its back before it could crush my leg and landed a bit away.
For a single moment I felt like I was back to those desperate four years. I had the urge to skin the animal and collect everything I could. In fact I could, I looked down at my right hand where a ring was slipped on. It was a silver ring with flowers and vines etched onto it and a blue gem was fitted on as the central part.
It was the storage ring that Sister Ying had given me. Earlier today she had told me of the additional measures she emplaced on the ring. But, since I was suspicious of the ring in the first place her initial plan had failed. Now it had a different reason to be used. She would now be able to peer into the competition and see what I was doing at the moment and if the need arises the tracking feature of the ring would certainly be useful in finding me.
She told me that in the competition there were monster cores that were occasionally formed inside the beasts. They were actually a rare commodity, but she told me that it could help with my cultivation. Apparently in average monster beasts the chance of one forming was 1 in 10,000, but of course those odds increase with higher grade beasts. Not all cores were the same though and they also had grades to them. Big Brother also mentioned them in passing, but didn't elaborate as much as Sister Ying did.
Slicing open the belly of the monster boar corpse I dug a bit around the heart of the boar with my left arm and oddly enough I felt a hard lump within. Grabbing onto the small lump I pulled it out of the body. My entire arm was covered in blood, but fortunately there happened to be a river nearby. I opened my hand and in the palm was a small pebble sized orb. It was a fairly rough shape with several edges, but overall it was fairly smooth to the touch and wasn't able to cut me.
With a small flash the orb disappeared into my ring and for a moment I wanted to take the entire boar corpse with me as well, but I realized that if I did take it then I wouldn't have much room left.
Sheathing my sword I decided to head to the river to clean the blood off my arm. As I was cleaning a rustling came from behind me where I previously came from. After I had gotten to an acceptable point of cleanliness I turned to look back at the noisy bushes with my hand hovering above my sword's handle.
Soon a foot stepped out and for just a moment I thought it was that man I clearly saw go left, but my fear was for nothing as the person who came out wasn't even a man, but a woman. I was about to let my guard down against the bush person, but soon another rustle was heard and one more person came out of the bushes. This one was a man, but thankfully not the one I was worried about. They didn't seem to see me yet so I decided to just leave and find other beasts. I needed to do well in this competition after all.
'Hehe! As long as I get mentioned I'll be able to get him to agree to my request. I can't wait for that moment when I finally say it. I bet he'll be so surprised at it, but he can't take back his words now.'
"Hey, look! There's someone here!"
"It looks like they just killed that beast over there."
"Hey! You over there! Could we talk to you for a moment?"
Hearing them address me I thought I might as well turn around now that they saw me. It wasn't like I was trying to hide in the first place.
"Yes? Do you two need something from me?"
When I turned around the two looked a little stunned at me, the man more so then the woman. Their expressions flashed for a moment before changing immediately and it seemed that the woman didn't have too much of a reaction to me at all. On the other hand the man tried as well, but I noticed the way he looked at me. His peeks were completely undisguised, only relying on the fact that his glances barely lasted a breath. His way of hiding his reaction was completely disregarded and compromised by the frequent number of glances he took.
"Uh, yes we'd like to know how many of these beasts you have found so far. It's just that we haven't had much luck since we came here and in fact this one was the first one we've seen."
The man and woman started moving toward me as she spoke.
"This was actually my first one as well."
'Why are they asking this? It hasn't even been 2 incense sticks worth of time since the competition started.'
The woman kneeled in front of the beast I killed and inspected the corpse.
"Well we-"
As the woman spoke the man suddenly interrupted.
"We noticed that you were all alone here. So we've decided to invite you to join our humble little group!"
"No, I'd rather not share any points nor do I trust either of you enough for anything."
"Come on! It's always better when people are in a group!"
As the man was attempting to convince me to join their group he was blatantly looking at my chest as he spoke to me. It's extremely easy to notice his gaze, even though I was shorter than most I can still tell if someone is staring at my eyes or literally anywhere else.
A slight frown appeared on my face as my tone of voice became a bit cold.
"I said no, I'll be taking my leave now."
"No, No! Come back!"
"Miss! Please! We need a third person to cover us! You'd be perfect! *Sigh* I don't think she's coming back. I knew it wasn't going to be easy to get close to those Big Shots. The fact that everyone gave room around them earlier shows! She must deal with people like us trying to make connections all the time."
"U-uh.. y-yeah… build connections. *Ahem* I mean It's tough to talk to her. She was quite cold to me even though I tried to be as friendly as possible."
"I guess that's just how it is, it was worth a try nonetheless though. Besides, you even got to look at such a beautiful girl up close. I sure hope you weren't checking her out."
"Ahahaha…."
"Why are you laughing?... Wait, you were, weren't you? You idiot! Why did I have to let someone like you take over the conversation, and get that close to her in the first place! I shouldn't have even let you near her!"
In the distance I still heard their conversation as they soon began to yell.
'Connections? With me? It didn't matter, I still would have said no anyway.'
Heading through the forest I refocused on my goal: to be mentioned in the rankings!