Adam finally thought that his service was needed and started to gather mana at his fingertips, when the guardswoman started a rant about safety, precaution and being cautious.
"...You can't just ignore me, young lady, you were reckless, what I am supposed to tell your dad when you return without a leg?"
"No worries, I heal fast, and besides it's just a small cut, Dad won't notice it." Answered cheekily the girl that made the final strike.
"Hey! I am here worrying about you and you ignore my words, how did your dad raise you?"
"Heh..."
"All three of you, besides her injury, it was okay first fight, even with your dad's training. You need to be more careful and make more use of your shields. You need to train hard because, by the end of this week, all of you who aim to become fighters should be able to kill such a weak beast alone."
At this moment the guardswoman noticed that Adam was tinkering with something.
"What are you doing?" She asked.
"A bottle." Was Adam's answer.
"What? A bottle?" The guardswoman was flabbergasted.
"For the snail's slime, of course." Answered Adam, not without stopping.
"What? Wait how are you able to sculpt something so exquisite from ice?"
"Magic."
"Stop with the sarcasm, cheeky bastard." Said an angry guardswoman, still not noticing that Adam told the truth.
"Magic." This time it was Ethan who said it. He observed the whole process from the start, as did most of the group.
"Magic? Why do you insist that's the case?... OH FUCK, how were you able to learn magic in that short amount of time?.... Oh sorry, you don't have to answer me. But why are you making a bottle?" Guardswoman finally remembered that in her team was an aspiring mage. From the start, she didn't know if he was just an additional weight for her to carry or an actual deal. She assumed the first option, but it seemed she underestimated him.
"For the slime, triplets will have to give me part of what they gain from the sale, of course."
"Aahh, of course."
With that troubling question out of the way, the group could finally move in search of new prey.
As everyone was curious about Adam's magic prowess, He and Ethan were chosen as the next group to fight.
It looked like the outer rings of the inner forest weren't too full of beasts, because, for the next 30 minutes, the group hadn't found any.
After the next few minutes of walking through the snowy forest, in which the sun barely shines past the treetops, the guardswoman finally saw some promising prey.
It was a 2-metre tall moose, with its wide antlers reaching an astonishing 0.9 metre out of its head. It had strong legs, which ended with hooves and fur unnaturally fluffy. The most unsettling thing about the monster was its teeth, which looked as if stolen from a wolf. As the beast walked through the snow, it looked around for potential predators and promising prey. Despite them being merely 40 metres from it, it didn't notice them.
Ethan set off first, being a vanguard. while Ethan was moving toward the moose, Adam prepared [Icicles], he could hold about 4 of them in ready if pre-emptively created.
Ethan neared the beast, he was about 10 metres from it when it noticed him. The beast concentrated on Ethan and charged. It ran surprisingly fast crossing the distance in no time.
Adam, seeing as Ethan flew through the air after being smashed in his shield by the beast, shot two Icicles at the moose. One of which even hit.
The icicle hit the beast in the leg, making it stumble as it started to run again.
This time, the moose targeted Adam, it ran at him with its ferocious antlers prepared to strike, and crashed into a [Shield], in which Adam poured nearly all of his mana as soon as he saw the beast move in his direction. The beast came to a sudden halt, being stopped by Adam's barrier before it dissipated into thin air.
"SPEAR IN THE GUT" Shouted Ethan, who after standing up, charged at the moose.
As Ethan arrived near the beast, he threw his shield on its head, to stun it, and grabbing his spear with both hands, threw himself spear-first at the moose.
The spear, pierced thru the moose's, as Ethan said, gut. Ethan tried to recover and attack again, but the spear was stuck. He let it go and ran away, around Adam in search of safety.
In the meantime, Adam erected the barrier once again and combined his two remaining icicles into one larger.
Moose, trying to free itself from the spear, was throwing himself in all directions, when he abruptly came to a stop. Some parts of its body still twitched, but its head was surprisingly still.
Unsurprisingly, if you have seen the spear-like ice stake impaling it to the ground.
"Yes!!" Shouted Adam, he was excited for his first kill. And, Ethan echoed him.
"Calm down, you little shits. Why did you attack it with no regard for your life, or a plan?! Especially you Ethan you should be more focused and ready to dodge at any moment, for your life depends on it, but you were reclass and too excited to see the danger you were in." Shouted the guardswoman in anger. The was apparently about to be very stressful for her, especially if the next teams remained on the stupidity level of their predecessors.
"Without that ridiculous barrier of Adam's, you would both be dead."
After the guardswoman's rant, the hunt proceeded as planned. The two teams that didn't fight before managed to kill their beasts with minor injuries. The hunt continued for the next five hours, during which Adam and Ethan were able to kill two more monsters.
Three kills spread around two people wasn't a good number for any self-respecting hunter, but for two novices, who for the first time battled with their lives on the line, it was a very impressive result.
For Adam, killing these beasts was very refreshing, he managed to get two of the killing strikes and in both instances, he felt like a heavy burden was lifted from his heart.
For his sister, Emily, and his dead parents, There will be no mercy granted to the beasts.
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Time flew fast as Adam hunted in the mornings and afternoons and trained his magic in the night.
he parted ways with Ethan as his partner in hunts, being a team proved to be inefficient and even dangerous, Enthan just believed in his friend's capabilities too much. Too many incidents happened because of that, so Adam started to venture with random teams each time, and Ethan reunited with his friend from the initial training.
That's how the first week of the year ended, with Adam constantly hunting in the outskirts, slaying the weak beast and training magic all the time.
Soon, the preparatory week would end, as a ceremony neared.