Monster Hunting 101: A LitRPG Fantasy Adventure (Titan Termination)

by Freaks, LitRPG

  This, however, was not part of the plan. I fired an arrow up into the air, causing it to land at the feet of the first man who had turned around to go.

  “Oh no, you don’t,” I said. “Dette promised me some strong backs to move these bodies. Get to work, folks. Night time’s coming.”

  “Wait, what?” Dette shouted from across the way. She scuttled over to me as I readied another arrow. “You can’t do that!”

  “Hey, if it were up to me, we’d all be cooperating for the good of everyone,” I said. “But your mayor and these volunteers proved me wrong. We’re taking the bodies close to my village. Then your men can keep the meat from one corpse.”

  Dette grimaced at those words. “You’re killing me here.”

  “No, I’m not killing any of you,” I whispered as I narrowed my eyes. “Despite your mayor’s best attempts to force my hand.”

  Chapter 17

  A lot of time had been wasted with the showdown between myself and Bernadette’s villager friends. Sundown was already upon us and the task of carrying the three corpses across the jungle wasn’t easy, despite the number of hands we benefited from.

  I wished that there was some reasonable way to avoid forcing these men at bowpoint, but they had given me no other choice. Hunter’s Hope would not be friends with Bernadette’s village, that was for certain. Whoever this mayor was, they had made an enemy out of me. I would still look out for these people, of course, but they would never learn the location of Hunter’s Hope.

  Nightfall had forced us to hide in the Home Cave. I didn’t want to take them all this close, but night was the most dangerous time in Zinoss Jungle. Long ago, someone had planted special herbs in the sides of the Home Cave that emitted a most unpleasant smell to monsters, warding them from the cave in general. An especially hungry or curious beast could ignore the scent, but as long as we were in the mouth of the cave, our own odor would be mingled with that of the herb. We would post up for the night, butchering the beasts for meat and parts.

  Once the men had learned that they were free to take home any meat they could carve from one of the Kinru, they became much more cooperative. While I never felt safe putting my bow down, I knew that the tension had cleared. They worked all through the night, cutting the Kinru up, extracting the organs and following my instructions when it came to skinning the beast.

  Dette stood next to me during the evening, leaning against the cave wall while the men worked in silence. No one had a torch, but our eyes didn’t need one.

  “I don’t think I can go back home,” Dette said. “The mayor isn’t…he’s not the most understanding of people. No doubt I’ll take the blame.”

  I shook my head. “Won’t he be overjoyed at the sight of all that meat?”

  “He’s the kind of man who will think of all the meat we lost in this deal,” she replied.

  “What are you going to do then?”

  “I’m staying here, with you,” Dette whispered. “I saw the Redmoss outside. I know what it’s used for. Your village is somewhere in this cave.”

  “So?” I said. “You’d never find it.”

  “Maybe, but you owe me,” Dette replied. “They were about to charge to protect Higgins, but I called them off.”

  “I remember that differently,” I said. “I remember you almost fainting at the sight of blood and the rest of the men moving away from me.”

  “You can’t just let me wander around outside,” Dette grumbled. “If I go back home, I’ll be exiled. The mayor is going to pin this whole situation on me. And since you shot his son, no one’s going to be happy about that.”

  “Higgins was his son?” I said, feeling a brief spike of anxiousness shoot through my stomach. If I had been less merciful and just killed him, this would have undoubtedly caused a war of some kind.

  “Yup. And since baby boy can’t do anything wrong, it’s gonna be my head,” Dette replied, gently wrapping her arm around me and giving me a tight side-hug. “So, we’re going to be best friends now. You’re going to feed me, house me and everything!”

  “If you go underground, you’re never coming back up,” I said. “Once you’ve seen our village, I can never have you report back home.”

  “What makes you think I ever want to return to the surface?” Dette said. “I’ve had my fill of adventure. And I’m definitely not going back home. They’re gonna kick me out and then maybe also cut my hair to shame me.”

  “I was going to ask why you grow it out so long,” I replied. “It’s unwieldy for battle.”

  “Long hair is prized among women back home,” Dette said. “Like soap. And deodorant. If you get my hint.”

  “I washed this morning,” I chuckled. “Unfortunately, it was in the blood of the Kinru.”

  “Ha, ha,” Dette said, sarcasm dripping from her voice. “So, can I stay?”

  “I could use an assistant,” I said, watching as one of the men pulled a large, faintly glowing heart out of one of the corpses. He threw it onto a pile of vital organs that each had a yield of Firnin or Estoan. Distilling and extracting would take forever. Having someone to man the instruments while they boiled and burned would be helpful, especially since some extraction methods took upwards of eight hours at a time.

  “Assistant?” Dette asked. “Like a squire?”

  “More like someone to babysit a few bubbling cauldrons,” I replied. “And maybe do my laundry.”

  “That’s better than getting lost in caves for weeks at a time,” Dette said. “I’ll take the job.”

  We shook hands on the arrangement. I didn’t have much of a reason to distrust the woman, as she had been thrown into a bad situation due to a simple accident. I knew that it was not her call to try and strong-arm me like that. If Dette knew she couldn’t go back home because of this whole debacle, then I might as well let her stay here. I just needed to figure some way to explain this stranger’s presence to the rest of the village. A new citizen would certainly raise suspicions as to what I was doing on the surface. But then again, that would be a problem for Verna to solve.

  There came a silence after our agreement, a silence between all parties, for something was roaming outside. We could hear the crashing of feet on the ground, the rustling of trees and the grunting and snorting grow closer to the cave. No one made a sound, no one even breathed. Instead, we all simply waited, hoping against hope that we wouldn’t be detected.

  I had my bow drawn and was ready to shoot at a moment’s notice, but my weapon did little to calm me down. Whatever was outside wasn’t a Kinru or a Fitzon. Fighting an unfamiliar creature in the dark would be very difficult. I considered, briefly, whether we should slip deeper into the cavern, but that question faded as the noises began to grow fainter with each passing second.

  “Whew,” Dette said, letting out a sigh of relief. “I was afraid something was gonna find us.”

  I said nothing, but instead brought up the Hunter’s Sight. I had 1,200 Bloodpoints and I should be using them right now, in case that creature came back.

  Having unlocked two abilities in almost every Scout Aspect, I now had access to the new abilities of Tier 2. At 500 Bloodpoints per ability, they weren’t cheap, but they seemed to confer incredible benefits. I gazed at the options and pondered what to take.

  Trapper Tier One:

  -

  Snare Trap Blueprint: Allows for the creation of rope snares

  -

  Trapsetter I: Increases speed of crafting and trapping by 50%.

  Archer Tier One:

  - Swift Hands I: Load arrows faster.

  Archer Tier Two:

  -

  Piercing Shot: Shots at 25 feet or less can pierce armored hides

  -

  Focus Breaker: A shot to a weak spot will now interrupt charges and special attacks

  -

  Sniper’s Aim: Increase range by 30 feet.

  Tracker Tier One:

  -

  Recognizable Scent: Improves sense of smell

  -
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  On the Trail: The longer a monster is tracked, the easier it will be to track them at a later time.

  Navigator Tier One:

  - Cartography: Unlocks the Mapmaking ability.

  Navigation Tier Two:

  -

  Home Territory: Can sense presence of monsters in your region

  -

  Secret Passage: Hidden doors, passages and basements will glow, revealing themselves

  -

  Expedition Leader I: Reduce group travel time by 25%.

  Stealth Tier One:

  -

  Surprise Attack: Arrows automatically strike weak spots if target is unaware of your presence

  -

  Camouflage I: Gain the ability to craft camouflage that provides stealth bonuses when worn

  -

  Stealth Instincts: Effective hiding spots glow.

  Acrobat Tier One:

  -

  Leap: Grants a running jump distance of 20 feet.

  Acrobat Tier Two:

  -

  Safe Fall II: Can fall 20 feet without injury

  -

  Perfect Balance: Cannot loose footing on surface as long as it remains mostly stable

  -

  Acrobatic Training I: Can backflip, roll and swing with ease.

  Alchemy Tier One:

  -

  Skilled Extraction: Increases yield by 1.5

  -

  Physiology Examination I: Learn 1 additional weakness per Distillation

  -

  Enhanced Mixtures: Potion durations increase by 50%.

  I squinted in curiosity at the Stealth abilities. Those were brand new. The Stealth Tier was a subset of the Navigation branch, opening up alongside Navigation Two. That was a bit of a surprise, but a welcome one to be sure. Increasing my ability to sneak around would be very handy. On top of that, the price of these abilities was still 150, meaning I’d be able to get a few of them if I wished.

  Still…the Archer Tier 2 abilities were really, really good. Piercing Shot was well worth 500. How would that Kinru’s flicking tail work out if my shots were able to pierce through its thick scales? The power to break through armor was too great to pass up. This was my first selection. 700 points left. My eyes scanned the other options.

  Home Territory would actually be of the biggest advantage right now. If I could sense what creatures were in the area, I’d be able to prepare to eradicate them. Cleaning the region up was necessary for a number of reasons, the biggest being that even with the Titan gone, the outside world was still too dangerous. Home Territory would ensure that this area was clear at all times, informing me if a monster were to arrive. I bought the ability without hesitation, leaving me with only 200 points. That was enough for a Tier 1 ability.

  I was torn between taking the Skilled Extraction from Alchemy, or the Surprise Attack from Stealth. Both had their merits. I was already combat-focused with a lot of my choices, but combat only wouldn’t win the day. I needed to develop plenty of potions and infusions in order to have a chance against the stronger monsters. I had done well against the Kinru, but they were at the bottom of the food chain compared to the rest of the creatures in this jungle.

  I had just brought in a large haul of ingredients to distill and extract, giving me plenty of Firnin and Estoan to work with. Skilled Extraction would drastically increase what I would be able to craft. I’d be able to infuse my arrows with magic, build a potion regimen to allow me to clear the area and still have left over points to spend. This was the better choice out of the two, at least for now. I selected Skilled Extraction, then looked over my Hunter’s Profile to see how things were coming along.

  Avery Lorn

  Stats

  Skills

  Traits and Abilities

  Health: 95%

  Strength: 2

  First Aid: 5

  Clean Retrieval

  Mana: 0

  Dexterity: 4

  Stealth: 1

  Dodge Reflex

  Total Bloodpoints: 2,655

  Intelligence: 3

  Tracking: 2

  Light Step

  Current Bloodpoints: 50

  Perception: 3 (2+1)

  Ranged Weapons: 4

  Archer’s Eye

  Firnin Points: 0

  Charisma: 1

  Navigation: 4

  Safe Fall (10 ft)

  Estoan Points: 0

  Trapping: 2

  Fast Movement

  Kaos Points: 0

  Acrobatics: 2

  Search I

  Alchemy: 1

  Pit Trap Blueprint

  Piercing Shot

  Home Territory

  Skilled Extraction

  I grinned at the sight of my growing archery and navigation skills. Mobility and ranged combat. Speed and precision. I was liking how my power was turning out. But I could see some weaknesses emerging in my build, namely that I would be utterly screwed in a melee situation. I had been deft at avoiding hand-to-hand so far, but there might come a time that I’d get into a close range situation that I couldn’t avoid. If that were the case, I’d probably be killed. I needed to gain some melee skills. There had to be some way to gain a skill outside of my class abilities. I just needed to figure out how.

  Chapter 18

  Rashar had not been joking about my legs being useless for two days. Once the potion had worn off, I found myself bedridden, unable to walk without a deep, searing pain in every part of my legs. It was fortunate that I had just taken in Dette as an assistant, for she was able to bring books to me while I was laid up. I would take advantage of the immobility and search for a way to develop a melee skill. One of these books had to teach martial combat in some way. I’d more than happily spend the Bloodpoints in order to gain that knowledge.

  After the night in the cave had passed without event, the strangers took all the meat they could carry and left, hoping to get back home safe and sound. What they did not know was that I had followed them in secret, to ensure that the great amount of fresh meat in their bags did not attract any other hunter.

  Once they were out of harm’s way (and I had learned one secret entrance to their territory), I returned to the Home Cave just as Dette had found the secret passage leading to Hunter’s Hope. It was surprising to see that she was observant enough to find the hidden door. I didn’t think that anyone from the outside could find this passage.

  Getting the corpses into the workshop wasn’t easy, especially since the entire village was waking up to go about their daily duties. Cranston, Dette and I were the only people involved with loading the big wagons with the corpses, then covering them up with tarps. I was beginning to find the whole thing ridiculous, going to such lengths in order to hide my activities to the villagers. I understood the fear that Verna had in her heart, but at the same time, I was starting to make a real difference out there. A week ago, I’d have been killed instantly by those three Kinru. Now? I was able to stand my ground, provided that I had a trick or two up my sleeve.

  However, Verna would not hear of such objections. I told her that my skillset would be more than enough to keep the young men safe, but she merely lectured me at a length. Dette was a welcome addition to the village, the elder had said, but the story was that she’s just a scavenger who got lost and found us. There would be no talk of other villages, or of how I had saved Dette from a terrible fate. As always, I deferred to my elder’s decision, all the while shaking my head. There was no need for secrets anymore. I was starting to take the Zinoss Jungle back. All I needed to do now was just recover, then I could go out and continue in my work.

  I was staying in the small bedroom connected to the workshop. The room didn’t have much other than a bed, a shelf and an armor rack that Cranston had built. Hopefully, soon, I would be able to get some armor to put on that rack. As I idly thumbed through a primer on swords, noting that the cost of absorbing this knowledge was 1,000 Bloodpoints, there came a knock on my door.

  “It’s Crans
ton, ma’am,” he said. “I’ve got something to show you.”

  I closed the tome and put it aside. “Come in,” I called, sitting up a bit so I could see what the blacksmith had been up to. In the time I had been gone, the man had fixed up the shop quite a bit, building an ingredients stand for the alchemy as well as rebricking the oven so that it worked better, expelling the hot smoke at a faster rate than before. He had taken to his role as the Venator Blacksmith quite eagerly and was certainly making things easier on me.

  The door opened and the burly man came in with a few books in hand. “I’ve read these from end to end,” he said, placing them on my bed. “And I am confident that I can build whatever you wish.”

  I glanced at the books. They were all books on how to craft weapons and armor from fallen monsters. My heart skipped a beat at the realization that I’d be able to improve my bow.

  “You’re serious?” I asked, grabbing one of the tomes and flipping through it. There were many recipes to choose from. The language, however, was impossible for me to decipher, for it spoke in crafting terms that I knew nothing about.

  “These books aren’t made for Venators, but their smiths,” Cranston explained, taking the book out of my hand and flipping the pages all the way to the back, showing me a shorter list of weapons. Smithing unlocked appeared before my vision the moment I took a look at the list. “You’re supposed to read the pages in the back of these three books.”

  I nodded and continued to scan each page, adding item after item to the new Smithing section that had appeared in the Hunter’s Sight. The three books in total were concerned with Weapons, Armor and Tools.