It didnt take Karan long to find his first set of tracks. It was a small paw print of some creature. The creature had very sharp claws, based on the indentation of soil from the claw. The creature, while moving, had crushed a small growing plant bud. Based on the freshness of the bud, he figured that the creature must be nearby.
I need to get on high ground. Karan thought, looking around.
As the sunlight is not able to get through the canopy, the leaves on the soil never full decomposed. In turn, the soil had this mushy texture, which made it very easy to track any footprints. If he can track something, so can the other party.
And there is one thing that Karan had learned, while being a pure human in the 22nd century, is that scouting always helps. At the same time, scouts need to erase their tracks.
The trees of the forest had these veiny and thick branches that made it very easy for a person, as athletic as he, to navigate around. He was not moving very fast, but it was working. He was silently going in the direction of the beast, without making too much noise.
And before he knew it, he found what he was looking for.
It was a black, four-legged creature; its body resembled that of a dog, but its face was like a bird's. Its beak was an elongated structure, making it look like a strange science experiment.
The creature seemed to be eating something, making a crunching sound as its beak moved. Karan didnt wait for it to finish; he had a vantage point and a clear view. Instantly, he nocked an arrow and let it go.
The arrow pierced the creature between its eyes, instantly killing it.
Unlike reality, as the dead body of the creature hit the ground, it turned into light particles. The particles converged on a single point, creating a glowing orb.
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You have killed one Sparrow Dog
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Karan made sure that no one was around him; it was only when he dropped down. With eyes full of curiosity and with caution, he approached the orb. When he touched it, the orb flew into his body.
Immediately after which he started recieving meassage.
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You have received 5 lesser runes.
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Will I get messages like this every time I kill? It was a distraction that he didnt liked. Then another messaged before him.
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Do you want to mute your notification?
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Without any hesitation, Karan answered yes, and all the windows before his eyes vanished.
Neat. He thought when his ears perked up. He heard a scream. Karan looked in the direction the scream came from and slowly started making his way there…
After coming close to the source of the screams, Karan climbed a tree once again. Jumping from branch to branch, he finally reached a small clearing.
It was a very bizarre scene.
There was a man whose screams he had heard. The man had his back to the tree, and two Sparrow Dogs were trying to bite the guy. Bleeding and bruised, the man was trying to defend himself with a very long spear, swinging it wildly towards the dogs.
While there was a woman there as well. She was fending off against another dog, on the other side of the clearing, with a sword in her hand.
How is that man bleeding? Karan thought. When he was in the training hall, he cut himself. But it healed instantly.
It was then that Karan remembered the commandments. It did speak about some remnants being left behind after someone dies.
Now truly curious, he nocked an arrow and shot it at the man's shoulders.
The man let out a very loud scream and let go of the spear. The two sparrow dogs fighting him immediately pounced at him, taking a huge chunk out of his neck.
Seeing the scene, the woman on the other side got stunned, giving sparrow dog fighting her a chance. The dog pounced at her, making her struggle for a few seconds, before the dog killed her.
Like the Sparrow Dog that Karan had killed earlier, the bodies of the man and the woman turned into light particles and then became a light orb. The dogs, on the other hand, started snarling, making noises, but none of them seemed to be interested in the orb.
Interesting. Karan thought, he nocked an arrow and killed the dog furthest from him.
The other two instantly got alerted and started sniffing the air and looking around to spot the enemy. And within seconds, they turned towards Karan, who was hiding behind the foliage of the tree.
They have a keen sense of smell. Or did they just spot me? He thought when the dogs started snarling at him.
He let go of another arrow, and another dog went down.
The last one ran, trying to get up his tree. Letting go of another arrow, the third dog went down with ease as well.
They are not so smart. He thought. Karan then got down from the tree and started collecting his loot. As he had collected everything, he wanted to know how much exactly he received.
With that single thought, a bunch of notifications started popping in front of his eyes.
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You have received 5 lesser runes.
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You have received 3 days, 12 hours, and 70 minutes
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You have received 5 lesser runes.
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You have received 2 days, 6 hours, and 90 minutes
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You have received 5 lesser runes.
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The time that Karan received from the man and woman's orbs gave him red signals.
For a game-like world, the amount of time that he was able to earn just from the deaths of two players was astronomical. He didnt know how many people in the world had truly grasped how huge these numbers are, but once the secret is out, people will come after each other's lives.
After all, that would be easier than hunting beasts.
But what surprised him the most was the spear and sword that were left behind by the couple. As their body became light particles, everything vanished except for their weapons. Now he had a sword and a spear. The only problem was, he didnt know whether to leave it here or take it with him.
I should probably leave them here, dont want to carry too much. He thought.
It was then that Karan heard it. It was a slight cracking noise of a branch of the tree behind him. It was the kind of noise that he had been making when he stepped onto a branch of trees.
There was someone perched in a tree behind him.
Acting as if nothing was wrong, he stood up and grabbed the arrow that he struck the man with. Abruptly, he turned around, nocked the arrow, and fired.
The weezed through the canopy, but Karan didnt stayed to see what happened. He instantly took cover behind a tree.
He didnt hear anything for a few seconds, making him wonder whether the target was down. Immidately he changed his position, fearing that the other party was onto him…
It took Karan a few minutes, but soon he realized that he had been mistaken about someone being here. He tracked back to the branch that he shot at and realized that his arrow was stuck on the bark of the tree. There was no one around.
Hell, there was not even a sign that could tell whether someone had been there.
It made him wonder whether he really did hear something? Or was his brain just playing games with him…