Krono had spent the night exploring and familiarizing himself with all of the various options and menus in the game. Through his exploration Krono found a curious option that required going through sub-menu after sub-menu to get to. It was called [System Assist] and it’s only description was ‘Helps the player with various actions’. It was on by default. Krono, being curious, decided to turn it off to see what would happen. When he did a notification popped up.

System MessageBy turing of [System Assist] you will be forfeiting the ability receiving any advanced help from the system and shall only receive basic help if help is requested. [System Assist] may be turn back on at any time.

Would you like to proceed?(Yes/No)

“Yes” Krono said.

System Message[System Assist] is now disabled

Krono got up and moved around but didn’t feel anything different so he just shrugged his shoulders and went back to exploring the game’s menus.

The sun was just starting to peek over the horizon, coloring the sky a brilliant orange, and Krono was leaning against the wall near the village’s east gate waiting for Eric to arrive. A few minutes after the sun had started to rise Krono spotted him walking down the road. After another few minutes Eric had arrived in front of Krono carrying a leather bag on his back, a bow and quiver of arrows, and two spears.

“Ready to go?” Eric asked.

“Yep.” Krono answered.

“Good.” Eric said, “There’s a few things we need to go over before we head out though. First; can you use a spear?” Krono shook his head, “Well that’s going to change today. Second; the woods are a dangerous place. You always want to pay attention to your surroundings and you never want to venture into them without protection. There are worse things than wolves and bears living in the forest. Third; if I tell you to do something you do it without question or hesitation. Doing otherwise could get you killed. The fourth and final point is that you always respect the forest and it’s inhabitants. The forest has been here far longer than we have and will continue to exist far after we’ve entered the cycle of reincarnation. If you treat the forest right it may thank you in some way. Any questions?” Krono was curious about Eric personification of the forest but didn’t feel like it was appropriate to ask so he just shook his head again, “Alright, let's head out.”

Eric handed Krono the second spear and the duo left the village. They followed the road for a few hours before Eric turned off the road and headed into the forest. Every so often Eric would stop and search round on the ground before moving on. This happened for a little over an hour before Eric Stopped and put down his bag.

“Today you’re going to learn how to set a snare. There are many ways to set one and no one way is the best so it’s always a good idea to try out any new designs you come across. The first one i’m going to teach you is simple. You’re going to need one good sized stick, a length of rope, and a knife or hatchet.” As Eric spoke he took some rope and a hatchet. “Carve one end of the stick into a point and carve a notch close to the other end. Tie one end of the rope around stick where the notch is. Tie a slip knot at the other end. This will be your noose. Press or hammer the stick into the ground far enough that the animal won’t be able to pull it up. Now you can just place the noose on the ground our you can use another small stick to prop it up and you’re done. The only major problem with this is that another animal might steal your catch. Why don’t you give it a try now?”

Eric undid his trap and handed the knife and rope to Krono. Krono looked around and found a stick like the one Eric had used and made the proper cuts in it, tied the rope to the stick, placed it in the ground, and made and set the noose. All in all it only took Krono a few minutes.

“Since that was too easy for you let’s try adding something to it. We’re going to turn this simple snare trap into a spring snare trap. The snare portion is set up the same with the only difference being that it’s secured to a bent over sapling or a large rock that’s suspended. The more complicated part is the lock and trigger. The lock it what hold down the sapling or keep the rock suspended and the trigger is what sets the trap off. To do this just find two sticks that fork. Brake off one of the forks on each so that you’re left with a straight shaft and a hook. One of these will go into the ground, this will be your lock, while the other will be secured to the sapling or rock, this will be your trigger. The noose will also be attached to the trigger. Secured the trigger to whatever you going to use to lift the animal then attach the noose and hook the trigger to the lock and you’re finished. This trap works by having the animal knock the trigger of the lock and having the noose it’s neck or leg. Let’s see if you can do this one.”

Krono copied what Eric had and but when he went to arm the trap the trigger stick slipped of the locking stick and almost took out his eye. Krono tried for the next twenty minutes to get the trap to work. Sometimes the locking stick would be pulled out while other time the trap refused to trigger. After getting several cuts and almost losing an eye a few time Ren finally go it to work.

“Great!” Eric said, “Now you can help me set the rest of them. You’ll get to keep whatever your traps catch.”

The duo spent the next two hours setting traps and Krono even got a new skill out of it.

System MessageCongratulations!

You have learned the Life Skill [Trapping]

(Beginner level 1 - 0%)

You can now set trap that could capture, kill, or hinder prey or pursuers. High levels will grant access to better and deadlier traps

“We’re going to stay out here for the rest of the day and check the traps before we head back to the village this evening. We’re going to be doing this everyday until you have all of the pelts you need for Jason. While we wait i’m going to instruct you in the use of the spear.”

Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

The duo walked to a clearing they had passed earlier and Eric dropped his bag and motioned for Krono to stand in front of him.

“The spear is the common man’s weapon. It’s cheap and easy to use and because of that it’s looked down on.” Eric said.

He stood in front of Krono holding the spear in one hand out to the side. To Krono he almost looked like a completely different person. He looked like a strong, confident, and rather imposing warrior instead of a simple old hunter.

“While the spear’s biggest advantage is that it can keep enemies at a distance it can also be rather difficult to wield if your opponent is to close. The primary attack method of the spear is the thrust. The thrust has the ability to be the single most powerful attack one can make with a melee weapon as the user can put their entire body into the attack. It can also become one of the fastest weapons on the battlefield. Any questions so far?

“Yes actually,” Krono said, “Why am i learning how to use a spear? I thought i was learning how to hunt?”

“I don’t believe I ever told you what I was going to be teaching you. You also need something to do while we wait and you don’t look like you could defend yourself from blind tortoise let alone wolves or other people.”

“I can defend myself.” Krono said heatedly. His sister had taught him some self defense techniques and he wasn’t that bad at them. Plus he had the sword in his inventory, though he didn’t know how to use it.

“Really?” Eric said with slight disbelief, “How about this, if you can withstand three of my strikes i’ll believe you and you won't have to learn the spear. If you can’t withstand my strikes however, then you’ll agree to get trained by me without complaint. Deal?”

“Do I have a choice?” Krono asked

“Sure, you could say no and we can just part ways here. You already have what you need to complete Jason’s task. I’ll just tell Jason that he’ll have to teach you the bare minimum because anymore than that will scare you away.”

Krono frowned. He was perfectly aware of what Eric was doing and had no doubt in his mind about whether Eric would go through with his threat or not. It really annoyed Krono that someone was manipulating him and frustrated him because it was working. If Eric told Jason to just teach him the bare minimum then it would effectively cheapen everything Krono had to do to be taught tailoring.

“Fine.” Krono said, not bothering to hide the irritation in his voice. It’s just three strikes. How hard could it be? He thought.

Krono put his hands up and kept his fist open, his feet were in a stable stance and his eyes were focused forwards.

“Well at least your stance is good.” Eric said, “Alright, here I COME!”

Eric punctuated the final word with a yell and a fast thrust towards Krono. The speed of the thrust astonished him and Krono just barely managed to redirect the spear to the side has he dodged. Krono felt the wind generated by the spear as it brushed past. In the next instant he was looking at the sky and felt a light tap against the side of his head.

“You know I was kind of impressed with that first dodge but now i wonder if it was just luck.” Eric said, ‘I any case it’s time for you to uphold your end of the deal.”

Krono sighed as he rolled over and pushed himself to his feet

“What now?” He asked

“Pick it up.” Eric said, pointing at Krono’s discarded spear. Eric continued talking as Krono picked up the spear. “Using a spear is more than just trying to stab your opponent. A spear is, in essence, a staff with a pointed tip and as such can, and should, be used like that. Spears and staffs have three way of attacking; the thrust, the sweep, and the strike. Each of those are self explanatory so i won’t spend any time describing them. If you need an example of their use I demonstrated them earlier in our bout. When you dodged the first thrust I simply used the retracting motion to sweep you off your feet and continued with that motion to tap you with the butt of my spear. Simple, effective, and no wasted movements. That’s how you use a spear. Now I want you to show me how you attack with a spear.”

Krono got into a stable stance and thrust the spear forwards with his arms before sweeping his arms sideways and finishing with an overhand strike.

“Wrong.” Eric said, “When you thrust you need to put your whole body behind the spear and let it slid through your front hand, not just move it forwards with your arms. When you sweep you need to use the power you get by rotating your hips to add enough force to it. As for for striking, you need to put your weight into. Right before you hit your opponent you need to drop you center of mass. Now you’re going to do these again until i feel satisfied. You’ll start with ten of each when I say go so get into your stance raise your spear like you’re going to attack..”

Ren did as he was told and place his spear at about waist level. Eric walked around him and made comments on his stance.

“Feet shoulder width apart.”

“Your hands should split the spear into three equal parts.”

“Your weight should be centered over both feat.”

“Alright, you may begin.”

Krono did the attacks ten times each as he was instructed.

“Wrong. Again”

“Again”

“Again”

Eric kept calling ‘Again’ over and over for hours, only allowing Krono a few short break for food and water. Eric only stopped when the sun started to get low in the sky.

“Let’s go check the traps then head back.” He said, “We’ll continue tomorrow.”

They checked the traps and Krono obtained a total of eight rabbits, one fox, and an assortment of other small animals which he traded with Eric for another two rabbits and three foxes.

When the duo got back to the village on a sliver of sun was left over the horizon and the guards had just started to close the gate.

“Cutting it a bit close today aren't you Eric?” one of the guards said as they slipped into the village.

“Lost track of the time.” He replied

Eric and Krono parted ways after agreeing to meet at the gate the same time the next morning.