Three hours later, Mark saw a hunter coming towards his hiding spot.
"Buddy, I know you're there. You go and rest. I'll take care of this area." The hunter shouted.
'How did this guy find me here? It should be impossible unless Kevin told him that I'm here.' Mark thought to himself as he jumped down from the tree.
Whoosh!
He landed in front of the hunter.
"Oh? Hi, Wolf!" The hunter exclaimed upon seeing him.
Mark was familiar with this person. He was one of the guys he befriended on the hunting team. "Larry, how did you find my exact hiding spot?" He was curious about this.
The man named Larry beamed and pointed at the grass beneath their feet. "I followed your tracks. I noticed two tracks which led me here." He said.
Mark was surprised. "You managed to follow our tracks? How did you…" He stared at the grass in confusion. He didn't see any tracks at all.
Larry grinned. "Watch carefully. Do you see this? This part here has some marks that are usually difficult to notice, but if you observe closely you will…" He explained how he was able to track him by observing the grass.
"You're right. There are indeed some faint marks here and also there." Mark nodded his head seriously.
Larry chuckled when he saw his serious face.
"You taught me something valuable. Thanks!" Mark smiled at Larry.
"It's nothing special. Don't mention it." Larry shook his head with a smile.
Mark grinned and bid him farewell. "I'll go back to the camp first. See you later!"
"Yeah!"
As soon as he returned to the camp, Mark sat in a lotus position and began his cultivation.
+1 Qi
+1 Qi
+1 Qi
After cultivating for three hours, he opened his eyes. "I'm hungry again." He said while rubbing his stomach.
He took out the leftover food from his recent meal and stuffed it in his mouth. He only stopped eating when half of his rations were gone. "I'm almost out of rations. I should hunt some small animals tonight." He stood up and went to look for Jason. However, someone told him that he was resting so Mark told the hunter that he would be out for some time to hunt some animals.
After informing that person, Mark went away from the camp to search for small animals. There were a lot of wild animals in the forest, but they were quite smart so it was difficult to catch them without a proper hunting strategy.
"This is a lot harder than I thought." He clicked his tongue as he looked at the wild rabbit that was running away from him. It was the fourth prey that had escaped from him. An hour passed since he started hunting, but he still hadn't caught anything.
"Yo, Wolf!"
Mark heard someone calling his name behind him. He turned his head and saw Larry standing on top of a branch, grinning at him.
'Tsk! That guy must have seen my failed attempts!' He felt embarrassed as he thought about it.
Larry jumped down from the branch and landed in front of him. "Don't worry, Wolf. I won't tell anyone." He said. Larry's face was red as he restrained himself from laughing.
Mark chuckled awkwardly as he scratched the back of his head. "Why are you still here? Your shift should be done by now, right?"
"Yes, my shift is indeed done. I saw you leaving the camp so I followed you here out of curiosity. I didn't think that I would see you fail so pitifully. Hahaha!" Larry could no longer hold it in and burst into laughter.
Mark laughed bitterly and shook his head. This guy had too much time on his hands.
Larry's face was still red as he said. "Follow me. I'll teach you how to hunt effectively."
Mark was delighted when he heard this. "Are you serious?"
"Of course, but you have to treat me to a drink once we get back to the village."
"No problem!" Mark agreed without hesitation.
"Great! Let's go!"
The two went further from the camp, but they didn't go too far away.
"When you are hunting, the first thing you need to do is understand the behavior of your prey. Animals and mystical beasts have different behaviors. If you learn how they behave, it will be easier for you to catch them. For instance…you see that rabbit over there? That is called a Red-Eyed Rabbit. It is one of the few wild animals that can absorb Qi. Which means that it is a lot stronger than normal wild animals. Don't let its cute appearance fool you. That thing right there is a carnivorous creature." Larry explained while pointing at a rabbit not far from them. Its fur was gray and its eyes were blood-red. It looked harmless at first glance, but upon closer inspection, this rabbit had sharper claws and blade-like fangs.
"Red-Eyed Rabbits are usually loners, but they sometimes stay in groups especially if there's a Purple-Eyed Rabbit leading them." Larry continued.
"Purple-Eyed Rabbit?" Mark stared at him in confusion.
"When Red-Eyed Rabbits accumulate a large quantity of Qi, this would sometimes trigger an evolution that turns them into a true mystical beast called Purple-Eyed Rabbit. It's very easy to spot them in the morning because of their pitch-black fur, but it's quite dangerous if you encounter them at night. They are not that strong, but their speed is equivalent to a Second Level Body Strengthening cultivator!" Larry answered.
"Let's not talk about that. Purple-Eyed Rabbits rarely appear in this part of the Enchanted Woodlands. Anyway, I'll teach you how to catch that Red-Eyed Rabbit without expending much effort. Listen closely…"
Mark didn't want to miss this chance to learn something new so he listened carefully. Larry was a lot better at teaching than Kevin and he explained things in great detail. Even a newbie like him was able to understand his words well.
A few minutes later, Mark was ready to give it a try.
He slowly and silently walked towards the direction of the Red-Eyed Rabbit. According to Larry, these creatures could detect malice. It was like a sixth sense of some sort. To successfully hunt these animals, one has to hide their hostility so that they would not be alerted. Red Eyed Rabbits also have a habit of creating a hiding spot by digging through the ground.
At this moment, the rabbit that he was eyeing was digging a hole into the ground.
Mark was waiting for an opportunity to strike.
Suddenly, he saw the rabbit scratching its body.
Mark grabbed the dagger that he got from Larry and hid himself behind a tree. He took a deep breath before he made his move. 'Now!'
Whoosh!
With lightning-quick movements, he threw the dagger towards the rabbit.
The dagger struck the rabbit's body, making it cry out in pain.
Eik!
It then hopped a few times before it collapsed in the field of grass.
Seeing this, Mark's eyes lit up. "Nice!" He quickly headed towards the body of the rabbit to check if it was still alive.
Meanwhile, Larry who was watching this scene revealed a look of surprise. He didn't expect that Mark would actually hit the rabbit accurately on his first attempt. "Was it beginner's luck?" He muttered as he jogged towards Mark.