The brightness streaming through the window of my rented room woke me in the morning. I opened my eyes lazily and stretched.
I soon realized where I was and what such a clear sky meant, and I leaped out of bed. If I didn't hurry, I would miss a unique opportunity.
I washed my face and dressed quickly. I stored most of my things in the Infinite Inventory Bag and a few items in my old backpack.
I ran down the inn's stairs. I greeted Neidi's husband as I hurried past the tavern counter and soon went out the door.
Outside, waiting for me, were Katarina and Ruskus. Both were wearing more equipped attire than the previous day, already prepared for the journey and for a light hunt beforehand.
I also noticed they were sporting new equipment and weapons. They must have already paid a visit to Gaston in the early morning.
"Finally, little sis! We were wondering if you had given up on our hunt to keep sleeping. But I told Ruskus 'My little sister wouldn't be so lazy; she wouldn't disappoint me like that'!" was the first thing Katarina said upon seeing me.
"Good morning to you too!" I said, ignoring her comment.
"Good morning" Ruskus greeted me with a slight smile, and then he turned his back to me and began leading the way to our destination: a level 1 beastial habitat located a few kilometers from the village.
Then the three of us began walking toward the beastial habitat, which was located around twelve kilometers west of the village. Along the way, Katarina and Ruskus guided me on how to act once we entered the area.
During a moment of silence, I lifted my head and looked at the sky. We were in an area where the trees were still somewhat sparse, which meant the sun illuminated us well. The further we advanced, the more wooded the path became.
I thought briefly about how I had never imagined, in my entire life, that I would be purposely heading into an animal habitat to hunt them. This could even spark a moral debate, since I hated the idea of killing any creature that wasn't an annoying or poisonous insect, or when my life was actually at risk, as was the case in the "fight" against the Aracna — if you could even call that interaction a fight.
I was even a vegetarian!
Now, going into their habitats to deliberately kill them, without them having done anything to me? Without my own life being at risk? Wouldn't that be wrong? If they attacked me, considering they were extremely territorial creatures, it would mean they were just protecting themselves and their home.
That is, of course, what I could believe if I hadn't read Ragnor's book and some writings about beastials in the Temple of the Knowledge of Astar. They possess no consciousness; they are driven by the instinct to feed, the instinct to procreate, and, above all, a killing instinct. They are cursed creatures from birth that feed even on their own species and relatives, doomed to attack anything and everything that appears before them, incapable of feelings or rationality.
Depending on how you looked at the situation, killing them might even be a favor to the beastials themselves, freeing them from such a depressing existence.
Moreover, getting strong in this world wasn't merely a matter of whim but the minimum requirement to survive future events, considering the obstacles and trials the so-called gods were planning. It was easy for me to decide on this matter.
I sighed, which made both Katarina and Ruskus turn their attention to me, though neither made any comment.
I had decided not to consider beastials as living beings. They were just tools — both for the gods who had created them to serve as a way to increase their influence and control over mortals, and for me and other players, who would have to kill them to gain experience points.
I was so absorbed in my thoughts that I only realized we were almost at our destination when Katarina and Ruskus stopped.
"A quick review: how do beastial habitats work, little sis?" Katarina asked me.
"In the outermost part of the habitats live the weakest beastials, of the lowest levels. In the deeper parts live the higher-level beastials. Since this is a level 1 habitat, it means the vast majority of beastials living here are level 1." I replied. "The most you should expect is a handful of level 2 beastials, and maybe a couple of level 3 beastials, only in the deepest part of the habitat."
"Correct" Katarina approved, her interested eyes upon me. "And what else?"
"Since they are very territorial, they will hardly leave their habitat, except in rare cases: if a beastial becomes too strong or the number of strong beastials increases. Or if they find prey and chase it outside the perimeter. However, even then, they won't stray too far from the habitat."
"It seems you know enough. Do you also remember the weak points of Shrakils?"
I almost laughed. It was one of the beastial species I had trained extensively against in the optimized training zone in my backyard before coming to High Mine village. It was a type of beastial whose main characteristic was very high defense. They weren't very fast, but they were reasonably strong.
"Yes. The area right between the end of the head and the beginning of the neck, as well as the belly, are the parts that don't have much defense, since these are areas that are usually hidden. You need to create openings to reach these spots" I replied.
Katarina made a pleased expression, and Ruskus gave my shoulder a pat of approval.
"Great, done with the pep talk" Katarina said. "Let's go now."
Ruskus and Katarina took the lead, and I followed a little behind. Soon I received a notification from the Player System.
[You have entered a beastial habitat.]
A few meters later, the first movement became visible. In fact, three beastials the size of a small sheep appeared among the trees and came running toward us.
I scanned one of them.
[Profile
Status: Bestial
Species: Shrakil
Level: 1
Attributes:
Strength: 7
Agility: 5
Defense: 11
Endurance: 8
Class: No class
Skills: No skill.]
I quickly remembered how many fingers and limbs I had "lost" while fighting Shrakil simulations earlier, and how helpless I was against them in the first week after the fusion. Well, certainly nothing like that would happen here. And definitely not with a level 1 Shrakil.
I watched the white, quadrupedal beastials that had their heads, faces, and backs covered in a bone-like material. The protruding spines on their backs. Their reinforced hooves kicking up dust as they rushed toward us.
Ruskus intercepted the first one coming from the right and dealt with it easily, using his strength and the momentum of the beastial's own attack to unbalance it with his broadsword and make it fall to the ground, leaving part of its belly exposed. He then struck it once to kill it.
The beastial let out a strange bleat, and then its body went still.
After that, Ruskus moved to contain the Shrakil in the center. But without properly attacking it, just defending against its attacks and blocking its advance.
Meanwhile, Katarina dealt with the third Shrakil, provoking it with her high agility, as if she were playing with an interesting toy. Until the Shrakil raised its head in frustration, offering an opening that Katarina immediately exploited, cutting its throat in a single, clean motion. Blood, a darker red than human blood, almost black, began to gush from the Shrakil, staining its white fur. Then its body fell limp to the ground.
Before the beastial's body even hit the ground, however, Katarina was already near me again. I couldn't see a single trace of blood on her, not even on her dagger's blade. She followed my gaze and smiled playfully.
"The secret is to be fast" was the explanation she offered. "Well, now it's your turn."
She nodded toward the beastial that Ruskus was containing.
I advanced with my new twin silver daggers in hand. Ruskus fell back to give me a clear passage. I was then face to face with the Shrakil.
I taunted it a little, waiting for it to attack me and then dodging. A far less graceful execution of Katarina's strategy.
Meanwhile, Katarina and Ruskus observed the confrontation from a distance that was enough to give me space, but at the same time close enough to intervene if something went wrong. It was a strange feeling, because I felt safe with their presence, like a child who has their parents nearby, even though our relationship wasn't exactly based on trust.
I waited for the beastial to attack me again and dodged this time almost at the moment it would have hit me, which provided me with an opening for a counterattack. I slid one dagger into the side of the Shrakil's neck. Although I managed a deep cut, it wasn't enough to kill it in one go, and it retreated, moving at least a meter away from me.
I waited, analyzing it. If I attacked it aggressively, it would crouch down, hiding the vulnerable parts of its body even more. I needed to provoke it into attacking me again, so I could have an opening to penetrate its defense.
Well, considering the nature of beastials, that didn't take long. I soon managed to provoke it enough for it to try attacking me again. I dodged three more attacks, and on the third, I found enough of an opening for another deep strike. This time, instead of trying to slash with the blade, I stabbed the creature. Then I twisted the dagger inside it before pulling it out. Warm blood gushed onto my hands.
Soon a thud was heard, and a message from the System appeared to me.
[Congratulations! You defeated an opponent!
Calculating experience points…]
[You defeated a level 1 opponent!
You received 10 experience points]
[Experience points will be automatically stored in the Infinite Inventory Bag item.]
It was not an impressive feat, but it wasn't bad either. Even though it took me much longer to take out the beastial than it had taken Katarina and Ruskus to do the same, I had still done it in well under a minute.
"Not bad" Katarina said. "But you have a lot of room for improvement."
Ruskus looked at me, his eyes stopping on the bloodstains on my clothes.
"Let's hunt a few more, and then you can clean yourself up."
I felt my cheeks warm slightly. Well, I had never had to worry about blood while fighting simulations in the optimized training zone, so I hadn't realized how messy a cut in a particularly blood-rich area could be.
After that, Ruskus and Katarina helped me hunt two more beastials. This time, I also focused on trying not to get too covered in blood, and I managed to some extent. Although I didn't avoid it completely, I certainly didn't make the same mess as the first time.
Luckily, I only got blood on my shirt and a few small spots on my pants, which would come out easily and weren't even that visible because of the pants' black color. I could probably remove the stains from the pants, but the shirt would be easier to just throw away.
We then left the area that constituted the habitat, and Katarina and Ruskus gave me enough privacy to clean myself up. I was mildly irritated when I noticed there wasn't a single stain — not even a tiny droplet of blood — on either of them, even though they had each killed at least three beastials.
As soon as I had cleaned myself, removed the stains from my pants, and changed my shirt, Katarina looked at me with the expression of someone trying very hard not to mock me — but she offered no mockery. In fact, she even complimented me and said it hadn't been bad at all for my first time hunting, and that as an older sister, she was proud. For a millisecond, I felt like slapping her in the face. The problem was that if I did that, I would have to run for my life.
So I refrained from even giving a clever response, to avoid any consequences.
I then accompanied Ruskus and Katarina to the road along which they would continue their journey. They had already settled all pending business in High Mine and would leave immediately. Although they hadn't shared this piece of information with me, I knew they were heading toward Earth's territory to fulfill the investigation mission that some Etruskian noble had assigned to them.
Just as I was about to say goodbye to the mercenary duo, an unusual noise caught our attention. Ruskus and Katarina immediately went on guard, drawing their weapons.
'Is that a car engine?' I thought to myself at the same moment the vehicle appeared a little further down the road, coming toward us. Since the engine sound was subtle, we hadn't noticed it until it was almost upon us.
There was a good reason the car engine was so subtle though — it wasn't an ordinary vehicle. It was a camouflaged military armored car.
The car then stopped a few meters from us, and the doors opened.