Cane had already figured out the specifics after indulging in a hearty meal.
First, different ranks of meat held different levels of upgrade. Second, there had to be a basis for upgrading - similar to how skyscrapers were built on foundations.
For rank 1 awakened meat, eating it after completing 1 hour of skill usage would allow for the proficiency of 1 additional hour to be added. If it was rank 2 meat, he'd receive 2 hours' worth of skill proficiency for that same hour of real life practise.
One thing held true - after he'd eaten the meat, he wouldn't have any more skill proficiency increasing until he'd practised by himself.
Thus, rank 1 meat could double his cultivation speed, rank 2 meat could triple the speed. It also stood to reason that rank 3 would quadruple his speed, while a rank 4 meat could quintuple his cultivation speed.
All in all, Cane was very excited for his future. On the mean time, he'd already begun planning a hunt - a hunt for a rank 3 monster.
Now, generally, it was impossible to fight above one's own rank. Because the increase in strength was exponential as one climbed the ranks, even winning with numbers stopped working after a while.
At rank 3, the minimum power boost it gave you was 81 times. For humans, that meant they could be 81 times stronger than a regular human. However, for monsters - who were already far stronger than humans in their base form - their strength and power were unimaginable.
It would only be possible to fight one under certain conditions. Team fights could still work - humans also had strange and varied abilities guaranteed to them with every rank, while some monsters had to rely on their physical strength and nothing else.
Other than that, one could only fight above their level with a physique buffing skill.
However, Cane was alone. And despite the fact that he did have a physique buffing skill, his base strength wasn't powerful enough for him to match up to a rank 3 monster. He wasn't even a full rank Combatant, let alone close to being a Warrior.
Thus, Cane decided to spend his next days within this very convenient forest, hunting rank 2 monsters and eating them.
Well, that was his plan. But he was currently surrounded by a group of 5 teenagers no older than he was.
...
"State your name and your identity! What are you doing in The Hunting Grounds, and how did you get here!" Cassidy shouted at Cane in an imposing manner. To the group, they'd just been planning their route - avoiding rank 3 monster nests, entering rank 2 monster nests, etc.
But their plans were sorely interrupted by the sudden intrusion of Cane. He looked intimidating, much more than any one of them cared to admit. He was wearing an amorphous, pitch-black cloak and a white mask which had no features on it. Beneath the cloak, they caught a glimpse of scales. Whether that was the intruder's skin or if it was some type of armour, they didn't know.
As Frytz and Susie's dog had scouted out, they found the intruder sitting on top of a hollowed-out crocodile corpse, eating a range of monster flesh which had been laid out on the ground next to him. After they came back to report, Cassidy ordered for the group to surround him.
Thus, this was the current situation.
Cane looked at the group, and pondered killing them to silence them. Then, he thought otherwise. After all, don't learn to swim just because you like burning bridges. Wait, that doesn't sound right.
"Well, y'know what they say? You can't burn a bridge just because you know how to swim." Cane stood up, patting dust off of his clothes. He then waved his hand in a greeting.
"My name is... well, you guys can call me Thief. I'm... not too sure how I made my way in here either. All I know is that I was outside that invisible barrier, which opened for some reason. Then, I entered this forest over here."
Cane tried smiling in a friendly manner, but remembered that he was still wearing his mask. He'd worn it so much these days that he sometimes forgot it existed. "Well anyways. You guys call this place The Hunting Grounds? Mind giving me some directions? I appear to be... lost."
The 5 prodigies looked at each other, gauging his words. He seemed to be friendly, but his looks and mannerisms were anything but. Plus, he had rank 2 monster meat laying in a pile on the ground, which proved he was a full rank Combatant at the very least.
"Fine. But you need to show us proof of your sincerity. Give us half of the meat you've hunted, and we won't do anything improper."
After hearing this, Cane nodded. He didn't care much for the meat anyway - he'd mostly hunted for fun, since he still needed to practise his skills later if he wanted the meat to increase any more proficiency.
"Alright. I promise you guys, I'm not some evil, irredeemable person okay? I'm really not the demon god's lackey or anything." Cane attempted to paint his image in a beautiful way.
Cassidy then nodded to Frytz, motioning for him to collect the meat. After a somewhat lengthy silence, the two parties began to feel a bit more familiar. Or at least, they didn't feel too uncomfortable with each other.
As the group settled down, Gabriel took the time to talk to Cane. "Hey man. Well, it seems like you're new here, right? This place is called The Hunting Grounds. It's a property owned by the Combat Schools, who teach people like us! We need to learn how to fight and hunt monsters if we want to clear out the Empty Districts, after all. How'd you end up here?"
Cane smiled and sat next to him. "Well, I was taking the train from the Outskirts into the Inner City. On the way, we got boarded by train robbers, though I'm not too sure what their goal was. We fought, and I ended up going through the window of the train."
He looked up at the sky, where the invisible dome was presumably still located.
"From there, I landed on top of the dome, and I slid my way down to the ground." Cane let out a chuckle. "It was my first time seeing so much greenery, and I was also curious about the barrier. Thus, I waited outside the place and tried to get in. Finally, at some point, the barrier opened up and I was able to enter these... Hunting Grounds."
Gabriel nodded. "Well, for us, we're just here to learn how to hunt different monsters. Especially team fights - our end goal is to hunt a rank 3 monster." He clenched his fist in determination. "If we can't hunt one, then we'd better not leave!"
Cane pondered for a moment.
"Tell you guys what, I can teach you how to hunt monsters. I've worked at the Border ever since I awakened, after all. In return, once we get out of The Hunting Grounds, why don't you guys help to cover for me, and get me a new identity and stuff?"
Hearing this, the group looked at each other and nodded. With both parties satisfied, Cane could only think in his heart. Well, kindness is a virtue! If I can achieve my goals without killing anyone, then why don't I give it a go.
...
The following few days fell into a nice rhythm. Every morning, Cane would go out and hunt a different monster. Then, he'd bring back the intact corpse to give the 5 kids a lecture.
After that, it was their turn to hunt. If they couldn't catch the monster which Cane had caught by the end of the day, they'd get half the food everyone else got. In the meanwhile, Cane himself no longer needed to hunt that much - after all, he could just take a small percentage of food from each person's plate, and with enough collected he could form an entirely new meal off of that.
He taught them many things. For arachnid monsters, for example, one should attack from above - and aim for the pedicel. Never attack the abdomen - if you were fighting a female spider, there was a chance that you'd be unlucky and face a huge swarm of spider children.
There was also general hunting skills. Staying downwind was a good strategy, preventing certain monsters from smelling you until you got close. Another thing, which not many people knew.
The key to hiding is staying still. The brain could trick yourself into believing that something was part of the environment - but that would fail the moment the object moved. It could instantly attract attention. Thus, always stay still. Even if you think they've seen you, stay still.
During this time, both parties felt the benefits of the win-win deal. They also grew closer in terms of friendliness, and Cane found himself enjoying the teaching process, despite their similar ages.
Cane himself could feel himself getting stronger - after teaching the kids, he'd go and train his skills, either by himself or with the others, before eating awakened meat and gaining a cultivation boost. Even though Cane's monster-hunting prowess was top-notch, his combat skills against other humans was lacking. Thus, the win-win once again came into effect.
At his current stage, Cane could be considered to be just as strong as any other full rank Combatant, despite still being an Apprentice Combatant. A regular Combatant was about 13 or 14 times stronger than the average human. As for Cane, the constant cultivation made his strength increase by 50%, similar to the increase one might attain at an Apprentice threshold.
Thus, his 9 times strength became a 9 plus 4.5, or a 13.5 times strength increase, firmly situating himself in the middle of Combatant rank. In terms of strength, anyway.
And it was some time, about a month into the training arc when the group of prodigies felt it was finally time, under the supervision of Cane's teaching.
Time to hunt a rank 3.