Chapter 11 - Hunting

Alister glanced at Arin, asking, "Can you tell me about the general features of this forest? Things I need to be careful of?"

Arin scratched his head and spoke. "There's a lot of things to be careful about in ths forest. How do I start?"

"Let's start with the directions," Ali suggested.

Arin explained, "As you can see, our village lies on the northern side. The elders say that if we travel straight to the south, we'll reach a sea that is full of water demons far stronger than us. There are many swamps to the west. But, the more we travel to the west, the more dense the poisonous miasma gets. And finally, there's a big river in the east where we found you."

He continued, "Usually, the east is the safest direction for the hunt. Some elders have once traveled far beyond the rivers and came back safely. So, I think we should go east."

But Ali had different thoughts in his mind, "No, we'll go to the west for hunting this time."

Arin blinked in astonishment, "But that direction has very few vicious beasts."

Ali said, unfazed. "Exactly. Since you attract vicious beasts, the less they are, the less we need to handle."

Arin thought for a moment and nodded understanding the logic.

Arin continued. "The swamp itself is dangerous and there are even many poisonous and vicious plants living around it..."

While Arin was busy explaining, Ali conversed in his mind.

'Evil system, do you know why Arin attracts vicious beasts?'

[The system has no data to confirm but it is probably related to bloodline.]

'Bloodline, huh…' Ali thought.

"Let's go to the western swamps." Ali urged.

Arin nodded and they started moving west.

After some minutes of walking, Alister saw something that bewildered him. "Stargazing herb, Moonflower, Mystic Jade leaf, Eternal nightshade...."

"How could so many rare herbs grow around these areas like cabbages? Did we accidentally enter some celestial garden or something?" Ali muttered in disbelief.

Arin sighed, "The elders in the village also lament about all these herbs which we cannot make use of since they are tainted by the poisonous miasma."

Small purple patches could be seen in these magical herbs which doused water to all the fancy ideas Alister had in his head.

'But for these many spiritual herbs to grow in this place means this place must be special. No wonder the villagers are so strong,' he thought.

Among these several spiritual herbs, one small white flower caught his special attention. 'Blood-sucking flower…... Just what we needed.'

An unusual glint of cunningness flashed in his eyes.

He went towards that herb when Arin stopped him.

"Be careful. That herb is dangerous!" Arin warned. "It is capable of sucking blood from the body if we go near it!"

But Ali continued moving towards it ignoring Arin.

"Brother Ali…" Arin tried to dissuade him but he ignored Arin.

Alister went near the herb and tapped the soil around the plant a few times and suddenly, his hands went inside the soil with a swift motion and pulled the roots of the plant grabbing it upside-down hanging in the air. Suddenly, the petals of the plant closed as if afraid.

Arin was stunned at how easily Alister handled this plant which even the elders in the village are afraid to go near. "Why is this vicious plant so docile in your hand? Even vicious beasts are afraid of it."

Ali laughed. "Actually, the plant is dangerous because it's able to suck blood from any organism a few meters around it but the roots of this plant are very fragile. If you grab hold of its roots, it's a docile plant."

Handling this plant was not as easy as Alister made it to be since the plant can retract its roots and create a strong blood aura defending against attacks. And the more blood it sucks the stronger it becomes. But he made it seem as if the whole thing was effortless with his skills and experience.

They continued moving forward reaching the areas with swamps while gathering a few more blood-sucking plants.

Arin showed the safest way and how to move around in the swamp to Alister.

Alister nodded. "We'll put traps at the entrance of these swamps and hide nearby so that we can escape through the safer route in the swamp even if a horde of vicious beasts gather."

Alister said, "Let's make a few pits in the ground first."

"How do we make pits?" Arin asked with an ashamed expression, clearly unfamiliar with it.

"Don't you have any tools for digging? Storage treasures?" Ali asked.

"Storage treasures? What are those?" Arin replied. "There are tools for digging in the village but we don't use them since we can't cultivate food."

Alister sighed.

"Alright. Then, we'll use the most primitive way." Ali said as he broke some wood from nearby trees turning them into rudimentary shapes for digging.

They dug a few holes together and added a few sharp objects as traps. Alister started planting the blood-sucker plants inside these holes puzzling Arin.

Alister looked straight into Arin's eyes and said, "Give me a few drops of your blood."

Caught off guard by the sudden request, Arin asked. "What? Blood? Why?"

Alister urged, "You'll know, just give me a few drops."

Reluctantly, Arin gritted his teeth, made a small cut in his finger, and looked towards Alister.

Alister slowly grabbed his hand and allowed a drop of blood to fall on each of the blood-sucking plants in the pits before allowing the wound to heal.

Instantly, the white flower turned blood-red in color after a drop of blood fell into it and a strange alluring fragrance wafted out of it.

Alister grabbed a bunch of branches from nearby trees and covered the top of the holes with branches, leaves, and some foliage making it like a large bush.

"Now we'll observe from a distance and wait," Alister said with hopeful eyes.

"Brother Ali, I know vicious beasts don't have great intelligence but will they really fall into such an easy trap?" Arin asked with doubtful eyes.

Alister replied. "I'm making a guess that your blood is somewhat attractive to these beasts if they gathered in groups to chase after you in the past. The blood-sucker plant's specialty is that they can absorb precious blood and amplify their fragrance spreading them in large areas to attract prey."

They went nearby hiding at a distance where the traps were visible.

While waiting for the vicious beasts to fall into their trap, Alister asked Arin in a low voice, "You said there's a village elder who can cure poison from vicious beasts. Can't he do it for the smaller wild animals? It would make your lives a lot easier."

Arin shook his head, "The elders said they've tried it before but the elder was only able to purify the vicious beasts."

"Weird, shouldn't it be the other way around? Purifying vicious beasts should be a lot harder than some wild animals." Ali murmured in doubt. "Since it's so difficult to get food here. Why didn't the people in the village consider moving to other places where there are better sources of food?"

Arin answered truthfully. "The elders say that we cannot leave this village unattended even if we have to starve to death. Due to some oath and restrictions set up by the ancestors, we are responsible for the protection of the large gates."

"Against what?" Alister asked with great intrigue.

But Arin shook his head. "Nobody knows of it anymore. Maybe it was relevant in the past but nowadays except for some vicious beast, we don't have any other situation around the gates. In fact, many villagers have escaped the village and settled somewhere else but the village elders are still stubborn on staying and defending."

Suddenly, Alister gestured and both of them went silent.

Some movements could be heard in the distance and both of them gathered their attention waiting for the creature.

In a few moments, a vicious beasts could be seen.

"Red-horned boar," Arin murmured in a low voice.

It was a boar with extra two horns on its head which was red in color glowing ominously under the forest canopy.