Back home Gurara pushes the door open and brings Michael in to let the kid cool down from anger. Micheal having his hunt stolen from him felt like he left his candy and the table and someone stole and eat it in front of him.
Seconds turned into a minute and Michael start to cry.
"Uncle am I worthless like Graha said?" he asked because of the comment that Graha had about the old man's arm. He crotch down and hug his knee.
"Look at me" Michael turn his head to look slowly. His redden eyes met with the one-arm man. Gurara has a confident look on his face and a sturdy body. Yet he gave off a warm feeling of a father looking at his kid.
"Michael you're not a disappointment. If you are I wouldn't have given this arm for you."
He gets up and searches for a brown box that seems like it just shipped from afar.
"But...."
"No, but. You will only be a disappointment if you want to be one." Gurara gives him a leather book. The book is named "A hunter guide to Boniha island" the book is bigger than his head, yet it seems light and can be easily carried. The book also presents its writer Franklin Bernard in big letters.
" This is..."
"It's a hunter guide for this island written by Franklin Bernard. An official hunter book from the biological research team in the mainland. It contains in-depth information about the monsters on the island and their weaknesses. It also contains a basic requirement to travel safely in the mangrove forest. Use it well."
This is exactly what he needs to cover his lack of strength. By knowing the monster's weaknesses and habits he could effectively hunt these monsters. But this book is a product from the mainland and Boniha's relationship with them is borderline hostile. How could Gurara get his hand on it?
"Uncle I don't know how to thank you. With this, I could potentially pass the trial!" Michael wipes his tears and bows at Gurara.
"haha," Gurara shakes off his embarrassment by chuckling "just talk to me more, kid. Don't cry by yourself and share your heart with me. I can still give you a hand Ok?"
For the first time in months, Michael let out a giggle and hug the old man. A warm and fuzzy feeling fill the room.
Slam!
The door sound open and out comes a girl with red hair who has been tried up in a ponytail. After hearing that her dad got into conflict with Graha, she rushes back from school to see her father. But the sight of him hugging Michael isn't what she expects to see.
"Did I interrupt something?"
Layla asked, perplexed about the whole situation. Gurara cough and stand up from hugging Michael.
"No, nothing. More importantly, why did you come back here this early?"
"What do you mean dad? Graha talks shit about you so I'm here to ask if you'd like me to beat him up! No, forget it I'll go punch him right now!"
She said while crushing her hand together with furious force ready to unleash on someone. In repose, Gurara smiled and pat the girl's head aggressively messing up her already messy hair.
"Stop! You don't have to do anything, Layla. If he dares to talk to me like that another time, his father's name wouldn't save him." Gurara emits an intense killing intent for a brief second. But Layla and Michael feel like they could suffocate from this feeling alone.
Noticing the kid's condition Gurara stop and apologize. Having seen a glimpse of his power scared both kids. if the effect is this bad when they're not the target. They don't even want to imagine being on the receiving end of those killing intentions.
As for today, they had a full family table meal for the first time in weeks.
Next Morning
Layla went to school early. The trial days are coming closer so their teacher has to prepare them with extra training and knowledge. It might seem like much, however, they would mostly be instructing you on how to utilize your weapon efficiently against various trial adversaries.
Layla is one of the top students and the daughter of Gurara, the best blacksmith in the village. The teacher will take special care in training her. So she has to take extra lessons.
As for Micheal, he got something that he never expected. Gurara is personally training him!
Even the best kid in the generation doesn't have this kind of privilege.
It a common knowledge that aside from the chief and the vice chief, Gurara is the strongest person on the Boniha island. And with the village chief being gone, Gurara might be the strongest if he went all out.
Michael knows that Gurara used to be a hunter. a powerful one with a title. Which is usually given to a well-known hunter on the mainland. However, after losing his arm, he retired and come back to boniha with his daughter and Michael.
Currently, that hunter is sitting on a wooden table while watching Michael do a morning exercise. He decides that Michael doesn't have to go to school anymore. Their way of teaching is not suitable for Michael.
Gurara realise this after Michael began trying to kill a monster with a trap 3 months ago. At first, he was curious about what the kid wanted to do and follow him but, after some time he stops following. Gurara knows that Michael will most likely succeed in his hunt. And that's some real talent from a 12-year-old kid that grows up in this tribe too.
What he didn't expect is Michael losing his prey to Graha and Graha not being at school.
Anyway, his way of teaching Michael is faulty. His origin is different, so why did he think that Michael could learn from Boniha school? He truly felt guilty about this and decide to make it up by teaching the kid personally.
"Michael, are you ready?"
"Y..yes" Michael stuttered from excitement.
"I don't hear it. Do you want to learn or not?"
"Yes!!"
"That's what I like to hear. Have you read the book yet?"
"Yes!"
He couldn't contain his delight yesterday as he read the book's contents. Even if he would like to read it all, just the beginning part alone takes him late into the late and he couldn't fight off his sleepiness.
Although he only reach the first part of the content, Micheal still learned a whole new perspective from this book. Being on Boniha island for a long time Michael always thought that traps are just tricks and not the right way to hunt.
But after reading the introduction. He changes his mind. The book goes into detail about how and why you should incorporate traps into your hunt. And doing it effectively could decide the outcome of the hunt before it even begins.
"You should know the 3 rules of hunting, can you repeat them for me?"
"Yes! First be prepared, second, be decisive and lastly third be adaptable." This is a rule that comes with every guidebook from the mainland. The rule outlines the most basic survival rules when hunting monsters of any kind.
Gurara gets more detail about its rules. First and most important rules of hunting. Be prepared whenever you decide to hunt. There's a saying that goes like this "Unprepared hunter is a dead hunter" and that saying usually accompany by a tale of a man hunting an innocent monster and get killed by it.
Most people don't believe this rule until they lose something when hunting. Whether it is an arm, leg, or even their life. Nonetheless, Most hunters would get careless after a successful hunt and learn that the first rule is the most important.
This is where Boniha island is different from the rest. They only prepare their hunters to hunt but not the environment they hunt in.
For example, another hunter might lure the monster into a trap and kill the monster making their job easier. But the Boniha people will not lure the monster but learn to hunt it in their natural habitat.
Normally this would be a terrible concept as the weakest of monster would have more strength than an average hunter but, the strong body of the Boniha tribe make this training process possible.
Their strong body allows the Boniha to challenge the monster in a battle of power. Wrestling a monster wouldn't be a problem for the hunter that passed the tribe's trial.
After passing the trial the Boniha people could use it as a badge of honor and seal of approval that this guy is a real deal.
Because of this, the Boniha tribe's trial is significant and why other people value the Boniha people. Their physical body and their battle-hardened survival instinct could be used in any hunting party.
And sadly why Micheal couldn't fit in.