[Year 1]

For 3 months, Farza has taught several women who take care of their houses how to plant. Thanks to that, their food source is now somewhat secure.

All this time I also noticed some men and some of their chatter.

"If women could harvest plants, could we men harvest animals?"

"Maybe? Or we could be better at hunting."

For the past three months, I studied this village carefully. The one who has it hardest is the men. Their hunts might not even actually succeed and the village relies more on the women's harvested crops than a hunt.

Though I'm not trying to segregate chores it's just really a matter of my actions and how the village interprets them. I'm not putting anything in stone… yet.

Also, the reason why the hunts are not always successful is easy to tell. There is a god that governs dungeons in this world and there is a dungeon within the forest.

Most monsters or beasts come from the dungeon, for example, the [Scorn Wolf] was born in the dungeon but later came out due to a phenomenon called [Overload] in which the dungeon amassed a lot of mana than it could use and had to spew it out somehow.

Thanks to the phenomenon, the dungeon that seems to have eaten more than it can chew will start spewing out monsters, because of that the hunters will not hunt deep in the forest only at the outskirts making them unable to hunt something bigger than a hare.

There's a dungeon kilometre near the village, and it just spewed out a few sets of monsters, including the wolves. I already have amassed 16 SE after all these 3 months.

Time to bless some people.

I went to Kavo, and I blessed him with [Medicare F] the description of being knowledgeable about poisons and medicine, also a bit about medical care and gave him a quest to identify at least 2 types of poisons and turn them into useful medicine.

Since they use some kind of herb for cough relief in the village, I thought that Kavo might lean on that knowledge and fulfil the quest.

14 more SE.

I went to Mari, and I gave her a simple quest. 5 questions, all about simple arithmetic.

[Quest]

5+5

11+37

23-86+12

113-231

123+138-128

Answer all questions to get the reward.

Reward: [Mathematician F+]

Why did I choose this specifically? It's because Mari needs more mental understanding of math. I plan to slowly expose her to arithmetic before the latter harder parts of the subject.

Thanks to that promotion of skill I only have 9 SE left, to fully promote it to [E] rank it would've cost 10 SE. Next on my list, I headed to a Hunter, they're skinny but they have high endurance, as expected of persistent hunters.

So I decided to bless this one, but not with a skill but a quest. This time, I made sure he'd be in hardship but the reward would be worth it.

~

Shavik was a Hunter in his thirties, his comrade was Arkum a Hunter of similar age. They're thin due to the lack of meat, but their body remembers, and it helps in their hardship.

Their usual hunt always starts with tracking an animal for hours, but thanks to monsters Shavik's mood couldn't go any lower. Thanks to those monsters, hunts are always failing.

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But luckily, the new god gave them a blessing and it was in the form of Farza, the woman who was blessed with knowledge about plants.

The men, like Shavik, are just waiting, gods are entities beyond malevolence and benevolence. A mortal like Shavik couldn't comprehend the motives of a God.

Shavik sighed deeply and thought of things like how to hunt, he missed the taste of cooked meat and the joy of his family who ate it.

With a bright orange light his world suddenly changed, and another panel was added to his status, an event he never expected to happen to him.

[Quest]

Hunt a furred or scaled animal, big or small, and offer it to Hadro.

Reward: [Hunter instincts. F]

A quest! He was blessed with a quest! Shavik's body is trembling, not because he is anxious but because of anticipation.

What kind of skill is Hunter's instincts!? What does it do?! He wanted to scream but it seemed the others noticed his excitement, and he told them what he got.

I was watching it all, Shavik was a good Hunter, second only to Arkum who thrust his spear straight and deadly. I chose Shavik because he seems to have more stamina than Arkum.

If someone is going to persistently hunt an animal successfully it would be him. And I already placed in the quest description to hunt any animal, scaled or furred.

I'm curious as to how much SE is an animal as well, I have yet to open my domain to place all the offerings they gave me and I don't want any waste.

Anyway, this event will be good for the village as well. I worry that the monsters spewed out by the dungeon will trouble the village.

So I might as well prepare the people.

"Arkum! Arkum!"

Shavik ran to his friend, sweating. Arkum looked at his friend who came up to him. Arkum was helping his wife collect some berries since he was not out for a hunt.

"I got a quest!"

Arkum's eyes widened as his brows jumped, that's fantastic news. Another person was blessed by Hadro!

"What did the god task you with?"

"To hunt and offer!"

"... Shavik, you don't plan to invite me and help you hunt something grand, do you?"

Shavik then turned his eyes away, a trait that Arkum knows best about his friend, he'll always have his eyes to avoid contact with him when he is caught like a lying child.

"Fine… just let me help my family first."

Arkum agreed to help Shavik hunt to finish the quest, unlike Arkum, Shavik had no family to take care of, not that he didn't have any he had a child. But that child is already old enough to start his own house, and when starting a house, it means a family.

And Shavik already helped his wife to pick up enough berries, that she had to offer some to the altar. Now that Shavik is free, he will take up some hours hunting some prey.

"So, Shavik. What kind of prey are we going for?"

"The Yellow-Tailed Deer."

"Why that? You know how hard to hunt those are!"

"We aren't going to follow it, we're going to make it bleed!"

Today is Autumn so it's not that hot anymore, they could make the Yellow deer bleed and follow it for hours, unlike summer when they had to constantly take breaks, losing the deer they have their eyes set on.

But now it's autumn, they could persistently follow the deer they wanted to hunt. After a few careful strutting, they finally saw a couple of Yellow Tailed Deer.

"What's your plan?" Arkum whispered.

"I make one bleed, and follow it."

Arkum and Shavik slowly approached, hunched and ready to stay still. A couple of times they stopped in their tracks, but once close enough, they prepared the spears.

Raise, then throw!

The initial target missed, but his spear hit a young deer instead, the spear tip went in, but it was only wood with a sharpened edge, sharpened by a rock. So it didn't pierce neatly, it splintered and was stuck on the deer.

It was on the deer's side, near its front legs. The young deer ran but the stuck spear hindered it. What's worse is that the deer hit a tree and the spear splintered and made its wound worse.

It was bleeding profusely. Arkum couldn't believe it, Shavik had hit the deer critically, even though he knew how unintentional it was and how lucky they were. Was this the gods' plan?

No matter what, they chased their wounded prey, minutes and minutes passed, and the large wound stopped bleeding but that single limb was still broken.

Arkum and Shavik are nearing, excitement in their blood. They closed in like predators, excitement filling them that they forgot to be aware of their surroundings.

It was only when Arkum pulled Shavik that they saw it. Scorn wolves, reddish fur that doesn't belong in the forest, hot back that seems to make the surrounding wave, the deep sunken eyes with amber colour that strikes one's soul.

The [Scorn wolf], the dungeon had spewed this beast out of its caverns, one detail that Shavik doesn't like because they keep stealing their hunts.

The three wolves looked at the injured deer, but before they did they looked at the two hunters. Maybe it's because of how the wolves' skulls were shaped, but it just smiled.

It laughed like a hyena, mocking the two hunters, knowing they wouldn't do anything even if they took their hunt. Shavik saw the mocking act of the wolves, their dreaded smile touched his nerves.

"Shavik, let's leave, it's not worth it."

"No, Arkum. It's been months ever since we've successfully got a hunt. I'm not giving it to these beasts!"

Shavik grinds his teeth and takes another spear from his back, tied around his chest. He started rushing to the wolves who were still laughing like a hyena, now intensifying as Shavik got closer.

"Aaargh!! Die you scum!!"

Shavik trusted his spear to the nearest wolf just for the strike to be dodged. Three wolves just snickered, mocking his being.

"Face me you scum!"

In a fit of rage, Shavik kept thrusting his spear, only for the effort to be denied. The laughing became boisterous, the mocking now getting to his head.

He raised his hand and with a herculean shout, he tried to throw his only weapon left, the only assurance of his defence. But that all stopped when he saw his friend charging.

He leapt, Arkum, who thought this was a bad idea still decided to be with his friend, he had a child and a wife to worry about. But to lose his childhood friend because he chose to do nothing is a dreadful feeling.

Shavik might be stupid sometimes, but that's no reason to abandon him. The spear he held dug into the unsuspecting Scorn wolf.

"Whimper—"

The wolf yelped in pain, it tried to shake Arkum off but to no avail, the spear even dug deeper. Which angered the wolf, the other wolves saw this and roared.

Shavik's toothy smile broadened as he attacked the wolf, thrusting his spear forward; the angry wolf tried to dodge but it was stabbed by the spear's range.

Its pointed tip stabbed its jaw, it tore and exposed the raw flesh, bleeding like an unwound faucet. This chance was not unseen, the wolf, unharmed from the attention given not by the two hunters, struck the moment Shavik's back was exposed.

Arkum saw this but was way too late. His body was not fast and agile like a wolf, he raised his spear, yanking it out from the wolf's flesh much to its protest. And jumped towards the vulnerable wolf.

The world seemed to slow down. It went from normal to the point he could see a mosquito's wings flap.

'What is going on?!'

An orange panel opened in front of him.

[Hadro would bless you with a skill.]

[Accept? Y/N]