The sun had yet to appear on the horizon but young Rick was already crossing over the limits of the infamous Impassable Wall. He had left home hours before dawn to save the whole day for exploration. Today was his first expedition after receiving the storeowner’s counseling, and hopefully, it would be his most successful one.

The hunter had used up his exchanged beastiarium reading credit in the study of beasts that he already knew or had seen at this side of the mountain. He planned to ‘conquer’ this side before venturing deeper into the mountains. When thinking about the upcoming adventure, that bag with his notes seemed to weigh a ton. The responsibility for his success and future progress lay heavily, and only, on his shoulders.

Soon, the familiar landscape of withered trees gave space to a sturdy and lushfull scene in a variety of green tones. Contrary to the wildlife outside the Wall, which suffered from the sudden wave of magic energy, the life here had millennia to adapt to the magic levels. In fact, that’s what made the forbidden forest an open treasure, a thousand years’ worth of all kinds and quality of resources. And Rick only hoped for a tiny drop of it.

For now, he could still recognize the landmarks, so he decided to save the mapping for deeper into the forest. However, the so much-needed preparation buffer came to an end as he reached the first stream. Time would run fast when one needed it the most.

Fortunately, Rick didn’t become lost in thought, like when he first came, and quickly climbed a nearby empty tree. From here on beasts could jump from every bush, branch, or puddle. After doing a standard but through enemies search, he took out the mapping book and started drawing. He moved on upon finishing it, always paying attention to avoid beasts and dangers. This was exploration and mapping time, the hunt would come later.

Time escaped like the water on the stream and afternoon arrived. Rick put away the book and prepared to find shelter. The rules of the forest were strict, once night fell, one ought to be settled and quiet, otherwise… Beasts were unforgiven, and the night was the time for the most dangerous ones to hunt. Since he was here to hunt and not be hunted, better to be safe than sorry.

In this wild magic setting, trees were the best location for observing and attacking, but not much for secure sleeping. For a few hours of needed rest, one would look for either an empty cave, which was by far the best option since it could be blocked, or a rock wall. In the case of the last, he would have to surround himself with stones, branches, and trunks, to ward off predators.

Either way, any hunter that wished to remain alive would master the skill of light sleeping, and by doing so, they would wake up many times a night to even a fallen leaf. Another option was lighting a fire, but that would have the opposite effect on fire essence beasts, it would attract them.

Rick had been wise to save four hours of light for shelter searching. He only had one hour of day left by the time he found a rock cover. The hole formed by erosion only dented the small cliff by a couple of meters, but the space was ideal to protect his sleep. In fact, he might use it for a few nights in case he didn’t find an appropriate shelter deeper into the forest.

When night came, the lone hunter was already lying inside the rock gap. He had used a fallen tree and other sticks to seal the entrance and his bag as a pillow. The shelter could be considered safe and comfortable by forest standards. The small space was pitch dark, saved by the few rays of moonlight that passed through the branches. It was eerie but good for sleeping.

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The meaning of safe in the forest was flexible since the number of creatures that could break through the blockage wasn’t few. Unfortunately, it was a risk to the profession. Of course, he didn’t need to leave everything to chance. Before locking himself, he had covered his tracks and used specific plants to disguise his scent. The average beast that roamed here wouldn’t be able to locate him. He was mildly safe.

Fortunately, nothing happened and night passed. A couple of hours before dawn, Rick was already leaving the shelter for one more day of exploration.

Time flew fast and two weeks had already passed. The young hunter had changed shelters four other times before he was satisfied with his mapping coverage. With the help of the book, things have been completely different, a giant leap for the better. He could easily mark shelters and excellent observing spots, easily moving between them. Another helpful gain was being able to estimate distances. Now, he could simply decide how much time it would take to go to a place and no longer needed to fear being caught shelterless at night.

In the past weeks, Rick had mapped roughly 30 kilometers along the mountains. He had even made separate notes with the beasts he saw, marking their numbers and location. Going forward, he was confident about acting in this area, which would become his hunting ground. Well, he couldn’t get ahead of himself. This area wasn’t that bountiful, the resources that could be taken back and sold were quite limited. Still, it was way better than before.

Now, it was time for hunting.

***

Rick waited patiently on top of the tree, his eyes would only leave the prey for a few seconds every minute to check around for other dangers. The wild boar was sniffing around trying to locate his scent but was somehow avoiding the trap. The beast was an earth essence creature that reached his navel in height and could probably break more than a few bones in a single successful front attack.

The hunter lacked the power to face it in a direct battle, but hopefully, the shallow spike trapping pit would weaken and restrain the beast long enough so that he would be able to finish it. To set the trap, Rick had leveraged a meter-long depression, which he circled with stones and filled with piercing spikes before covering it with a wooden stick grid and leaves.

The plan was pretty straightforward, attracting the beast to fall into the trap, then attacking it with a spear. In another situation, he wouldn’t hope to wound such a strong beast with only a few wooden spikes. The boar was, after all, a magic creature reinforced by earth essence.

However, the power of the bookstore had come to his rescue once again. According to the beastiarium, a female of this species had extremely tough skin, except for an area in its underbelly from where its offspring would feed. Even if it didn’t work, he could still escape as long he had a safe route, so watching for other approaching beasts was also important.

Tired to wait for a chance, Rick threw a broken stick near the trap, hoping it would urge the boar. It could had go wrong, but fortunately, the noise made the beast finally run into the trap.

Hurriedly, the hunter jumped down the tree and sprinted towards the screaming creature. He hoped the agonizing sounds meant that the spikes had pierced through it. Without waiting for confirmation, he raised the spear and made a piercing attack aiming for the boar’s eyes.

The attack missed its target and brushed against the tough nose of the beast. Rick had a relatively good aim, but the boar was struggling fiercely against the trap. The hunter didn’t give up and repositioned his feet to try again. The high-pitched painful squeaking was making him anxious, but fortunately, this time the attack hit the eye.

However, before he could push the spear deeper, the beast escaped from the trap and broke the weapon still embedded in its eye. Rick didn’t want to test the remaining strength of the boar, so he ran back to the tree without looking back.

The enraged wounded creature didn’t hesitate to pursue him, it wanted revenge for the pain.