Hunting: The Dawning

Chapter 18: Emergency Task

The two coldest months of the year had passed.

The cold wind was still biting, yet when the sunlight shone on one's body, there was already a warm feeling.

The snow, with a thickness of over half a meter, was slowly melting, seeping into the soil and flowing into the rivers, filling the dormant earth with the essential moisture for the revival of life.

Carefully opening the door of the wooden house, Gordon shoveled away bit by bit the snow that had turned into fine ice particles at the entrance.

Like all the villagers, Gordon, who had been cooped up at home for dozens of days, walked out of the house, bathed in the long-missed sunlight and stretched himself with a long yawn.

Compared to the young man who had struggled to hunt the Great Wild Boar King half a year ago, Gordon now was visibly a size bigger.

Running fully armed between the hunting grounds and wielding the heavy steel blade weighing dozens of kilograms for hunting was originally an extremely intense form of exercise.

Moreover, as a hunter, he naturally wouldn't lack meat, and his muscles and bones grew as if they were inflated.

Now he was nearly 190 centimeters tall, with broad shoulders, a wide chest and bulging muscles. Standing there, he looked like a wall. If it weren't for his still slightly immature face, who could have guessed that this guy wouldn't reach adulthood for a few more months?

It wasn't just him. Even Pig Chop had become a lot stronger.

Of course, it hadn't reached the level of Gordon's muscular build yet, but it no longer hunched its shoulders and lowered its head as it did when it first came to Kokoto Village.

Casually throwing a solid iron rod leaning against the door into Pig Chop's hands and then picking up his own huge stone block from the ground, Gordon's eyes narrowed slightly with a good mood:

"Pig Chop, yesterday it was five hundred swings with the iron rod. Today, seeing the sun after a long time, we should make some progress, right? Is aiming for six hundred times a problem?"

"…Meow, meow, meow?"

Pig Chop, who caught the iron rod in a flurry, couldn't figure out what the connection was between seeing the sun and improving physical fitness.

However, if it was just an increase of a hundred times, there should be no problem, right?

"Okay, meow! Today it's six hundred times, meow!"

...

Just as the people in the nearby villages ended their hibernation-like winter days and walked out of their homes one after another to start production activities, the Schreiter Forest Hills also gradually began to regain vitality.

Snakes and insects crawled out from under the ground. Wild boars left their warm tree holes and began to wander in the forest, attempting to find some delicious mushrooms sprouted by the melted snow water to relieve the hunger that had persisted throughout the winter.

In the nests of Velocipreys deep in the dense forest, the newly hatched little Velocipreys, with slimy egg white still sticking to their scales, were chirping, urging their parents to hunt meat for them to fill their stomachs.

A gray swift shadow streaked across the sky above the forest hills.

It was a brown-gray peregrine falcon.

This specially trained raptor accurately found the small village named "Kokoto" on this land that was still covered with snow.

After circling several times with a clear whistle, it landed on the window sill of the village chief's house.

The old and feeble village chief opened the window. The peregrine falcon tilted its head to look at him, hopped a few times and entered the room.

"It's the peregrine falcon, it's the peregrine falcon."

The village chief muttered as he closed the window, and the peregrine falcon quite humanely lifted one of its claws, revealing a small metal tube tied to it.

There was a small emblem engraved on the metal tube, which was the mark of the Hunter's Guild.

The village chief's movement paused slightly.

Under the cover of his long white eyebrows, his always narrowed eyes opened slightly, revealing the clear pupils beneath that didn't seem to belong to an old man.

"An urgent letter from the Hunter's Guild?"

The village chief's long eyebrows twitched twice. At this moment, he didn't look like the muddled old man with senile dementia as usual at all.

"Tweet~"

The peregrine falcon chirped in dissatisfaction and lifted the claw with the metal tube again, as if urging the village chief to receive the letter quickly.

It had been traveling day and night to deliver the letter and hadn't even had time to eat. Now it just wanted to quickly deliver the message and then hunt a field mouse or a hare nearby and have a good meal.

"Sorry, sorry."

The village chief skillfully took the metal tube off the peregrine falcon's leg, unscrewed the cap and pulled out a small roll of parchment from it.

"Hmm? I see. It's indeed a bit troublesome." After quickly reading through the scroll, the village chief murmured to himself, "But for him, it might be a good opportunity. Well, I'll give it to him."

The peregrine falcon continued to tilt its head and look at him.

"Alright, you've worked hard, little one."

The village chief tied the empty metal tube back onto the peregrine falcon's leg and fed it two pieces of dried meat. "Go back quickly. Be careful on the way."

"Chirp~" The peregrine falcon seemed to understand the village chief's words. It chirped cheerfully, flapped its wings and took off into the sky, disappearing into the slightly gloomy sky in the blink of an eye.

...

"Five hundred and fifty... nine, five hundred... sixty! Meow!"

"Oh, Pig Chop, there are only the last forty left. Come on! Just a little bit more!"

"Five hundred and sixty... one... meow!!!"

In the open space of the small yard in front of the door, Gordon and Pig Chop were sweating profusely until a familiar loud voice came from outside the yard.

"Gordon! Pig Chop! Hey, you're full of energy!"

Gordon put down the stone block in his hand with a bit of effort and looked at the person coming. He greeted with a smile, "Good morning, Instructor!"

"Morning, morning, morning. Alright, let's skip the pleasantries. I have something urgent to talk to you about. How are you and Pig Chop feeling now? Can you set off immediately for hunting?"

The instructor waved his hand and his tone suddenly became serious.

"Hunting? Now?" Gordon was stunned. "Hasn't the first full moon of this year just passed? There's still about half a month left before the hunting ban is lifted, right?"

"It's an emergency task!" The instructor waved the parchment in his hand. "It's a two-star rating. The hunting target is the Velociprey Lord. Are you confident? If you're not, don't force yourself. Just leave it to me..."

"Two-star emergency task?!"

Gordon excitedly interrupted the instructor's words and confirmed, "The target is the Velociprey Lord? I'm confident! Of course I'm confident! Thank you, Instructor. Just leave it to me with peace of mind!"

He was certainly excited.

Generally speaking, there were two ways for hunters to upgrade their ranks.

One was to complete tasks step by step until enough was accumulated and then apply to the Hunter's Guild to take on hunting tasks one star higher than their own. If completed smoothly, they could be promoted successfully.

The other was to take on emergency tasks. Due to the urgency of the situation, the Hunter's Guild would appropriately lower the threshold for taking on such tasks. After successful completion, they could also achieve promotion.

According to the normal procedure and maintaining the previous task completion frequency, it would probably take another half a year or so before he could take the initiative to apply for a two-star task.

And now, this emergency task had directly saved him this half a year's time! As long as it was completed smoothly, he could be directly promoted to a two-star hunter!

In terms of strength, Gordon believed that he had already reached the level where he could hunt the Velociprey Lord smoothly, which was the level of a two-star hunter.

What he lacked was just an opportunity.

Unlike those large towns with concentrated resources, Kokoto Village, which didn't even have a guild hall office, it was really difficult to wait for a suitable emergency task.

Now that there was an opportunity right in front of him, how could he let it pass?

The instructor suddenly smiled.

He certainly knew what choice Gordon would make and was also clear about the latter's strength. The mere Velociprey Lord was not enough to pose a threat.

In terms of the danger of monsters, the Velociprey Lord was not much different from the Great Wild Boar King. This guy could hunt the Great Wild Boar King when he was wearing the hunter's set and holding the hunter's knife.

Now that he had the Burst Blade and the Velociprey set, what was there to worry about regarding the Velociprey Lord?

"Then I'll leave it to you."

The instructor, Ernest, handed the emergency task document to Gordon.

"Time is tight. Set off as soon as possible!"

—

Hunting Task (Emergency Task): The Bandit Chief Threatening the Trade Route (★★)

Task Content: Hunt the Velociprey Lord

Reward Money: 4000z

Task Location: Schreiter Forest Hills

Time Limit: 5 days

The hot air balloon of the Observation Bureau sent a report that a Velociprey group had migrated to the southwest of the Schreiter Forest Hills area, and its territory overlapped with the trade route between Minagarde City and Melchita City, which would pose a serious threat to the caravans and travelers on the trade route. The Velociprey Lord, the leader of the group, must be hunted as soon as possible to make the group collapse.

—