I might have to start looking for a PR at this rate. By the time I'm finished typing the chapter, I already feel too lazy to go back and proof-read it myself haha.

---

“Hm… This is tough…” Hiro said to himself as he slowly walked outside of the north gate. “My bracelet inventory can only hold my hunting bow and a few arrows; 10 to be exact.” He was in a dilemma, he had only 10 Coppers, a bag with a set of clothes, dried meat and some bread. There was no way he could afford to fail the quest. He also needed to buy a better bow. The bow that he currently had was an old and used one from a while back, while it’s still operational, the strength behind it is lacking.

‘I guess that’s a start, it’ll be just be like how it was back in Torin.’ Hiro began to reminisce about the days when he and his dad went hunting together with nothing but their bows, some blankets and a tarp. ‘Too bad I don’t have anything to put over my head. Plus…’ He raised his arm to chest height, ‘I forgot that the gravity spell is still in effect.’ He clenched his hands.

[Tenga is it possible to deactivate the gravity spell for a while?] Hiro asked.

After a pause, [I can do that, but I wouldn’t recommend it.]

Curious, Hiro asked, [Why not? I don’t think I’ll be able to move ideally if my body is like this.] He slowly moved his arms vertically and horizontally.

[The point of the gravity spell is to make your body become accustomed to it. I’ve been checking on you from time to time and I can say, just ‘walking’ around isn’t doing you much good. You have to treat the spell as if it weren’t there, move like how you normally would. Only by subconsciously doing these things will you benefit from it once it’s removed.] Tenga explained.

[Eh? So you mean to say that my whole week that I spent getting used to his was for nothing?] Hiro asked disappointed.

[That is not what I’m saying. It is a good start, I suppose. However, as you are right now, I would only deem you to be as fit as a normal man your age. Now you have to go beyond that, do you understand?]

[I guess, so you are saying I should continue onwards with the gravity spell in effect?] Hiro asked for confirmation.

[If you can, yes. Only if the situation deems it necessary will I remove the spell.]

[Alright, I guess I could go on a bit longer with this.]

Hiro reluctantly made his way north along the traveled road. Around the city, he could see small farms and a village. However, choosing to focus on the road instead, Hiro ignored the strange stares he was getting as he walked by.

He was getting strange stares from everyone he passed by on the main road. Some were stealing quick glances and looking away whenever he noticed. Of course this is the normal reaction people have when they see someone dressed in worn-out black clothes. Not only because of the way he was dressed, but also because he was unarmed, and looked around the age of 12. He had a sort of feminine/childish charm to him, which would explain the curious glances. Many would wonder why such a person was travelling by himself towards the bandit infested forest, with no way to defend himself, only a small pack slung over his shoulder.

‘Keep staring.’ Hiro thought to himself after noticing the 40th person stealing a glance. While in the city, where there are hundreds of people, the staring didn’t get to him. But now, with only people that numbered in the double digits, it was getting annoying. Although he was annoyed, Hiro decided not to say anything, he remembered the last time he couldn’t control his mouth. It almost got him killed by the richest merchant in the city.

Choosing to ignore the stares, Hiro continued like that until the farmland ended and the edge of the forest was in sight. Amazingly enough, the area around the road was cleared of foliage for about 5 meters. The road was also surprisingly wide, he hadn’t noticed it before, because of all the escorts riding around, but the road was wide enough to allow two carts to travel side by side with room to spare.

‘Well I’m here…’ He slowly got off the road and approached the forest edge, ‘This road cuts straight through the forest, if I keep the road to my west I should be able to find it and get back.’ With that thought in mind, Hiro began the arduous task of prowling through the forest, looking for the elusive Marble Deer.

---

Adventurer’s Association

“Priestess Allaya, of the Temple of Sienna, would like to request a meeting with Siberus Luxia.” Kayo demanded.

“I’m sorry sir, but meetings with the head is appointment based. You will have to schedule an appointment ahead of time before seeing Lord Luxia.” The receptionist desperately replied.

“Do you not know how important this is?!” Kayo began to raise his voice. He had been trying to convince the receptionist to allow him to go see Siberus for 10 minutes.

“If it’s such an urgent topic, might you tell me what it is and I’ll pass on the message to Lord Luxia?” She hesitantly asked.

“It’s not something that a –“ Kayo began to retort before being interrupted.

“Enough Kayo.” Allaya stopped him and turned to the receptionist, “Sorry for my subordinate’s rude behavior. I would like you to pass on this message to Siberus Luxia for me: Goddess Sienna has spoken.”

“Eh? What does that mean?” The receptionist wondered.

“He’ll understand when he hears it.” She replied with a smile and departed from the hall.

During that whole exchange all eyes were on her, many were in awe of her beauty, some were full of lust and desire. Except one pair of black eyes.

‘So I’m not the only one looking for him.’ Morrigan concluded.

---

Hiro has been on the prowl looking for signs of any living creature for an hour now. So far he had only found the remains of a campfire from a while ago. There were some ashes spread around the small clearing, meaning that a fire had been there. The amount of ash points out that it was some time ago, since the fire was lit.

‘There’s some dug up ground here.’ Hiro pinched some and smelled it. ‘Entrails. Must be from another hunter, he decided to bury the guts of his kill here and some lucky critter found it and dug it back up.’ Hiro concluded.

“Well at least it’s not bandits. It would be bad if they were this close to the city.” Hiro let out a sigh of relief. He decided that he should keep going, although the sun was starting to set, he thought it would be best to find something to hunt. He wanted to save his meager supply of cold food in his bag. Getting up to his feet, Hiro began walking in the direction of where he thought the critter went.

‘If I follow its tracks, it might lead me to a water hole.’ Remembering his father’s lessons, Hiro began to look for any indication of tracks that he could possibly follow. After a while, ‘No good. It’s been too long, the tracks are likely gone already.

He had been walking eastward from the hunter’s clearing in attempts to find something that could possible lead him to a water source. However, nothing came up. He had seen a few hares dotted around the foliage, but they had also seen him and bolted. Night was fast approaching and he didn’t have anything prepared to ward off the spring night.

‘If I don’t start preparing a campfire now, I’ll freeze to death at night.’ Hiro was over exaggerating, but the spring night was still pretty cold. It could lead to sickness if he’s not careful. Surrendering himself to start gathering kindling, Hiro sighed, ‘What did father say about Marble Deer again? I think it was that Marble Deer have a strange behavior pattern, but what was it?’ Hiro thought to himself as he continued gathering.

Soon he had a pile of dried and dead firewood ready and was on his way back to the hunter’s clearing. ‘There’s no shortage of firewood in here.’ He amusedly thought to himself. He was just about to approach the clearing when he saw it. Right before him, in the clearing, was a…

‘Chicken? What? Did it escape from the village?’ He wondered. Clucking and pecking at the ashes of the fire was an aging rooster. The comb on the rooster’s head looked flayed and torn up, ‘I don’t think so… No village would mistreat their cocks like that, my guess would be this is a wild one. Possible fought another for mates in the past.’

After deducting that the rooster belonged to no one, Hiro silently put down his bundle of kindling and imagined reaching into a closet and pulling out his hunting bow and quiver of arrows. He nocked an arrow and slowly raised the bow towards the oblivious poultry.

‘This is harder than I thought.’ Hiro silently said to himself. Lifting and carrying the firewood was alright for him, but fully extending his arm at a perpendicular angle and attempting to aim the bow proved quite challenging. He could do it fine, the problem was he was shaking too much and at that distance, which was about 10 meters, it would be easy to miss such a small target.

Deciding not to risk a miss, he lowered the bow and slowly crept up behind the bird. He was moving slowly, crouched over and towards the bird at an angle. He took great care not to make too much noise while moving, avoiding any bushes that would give him away and lightly stepping on and off the ground. In the past, this was normal for him to do, however the gravity spell was making this tougher than it actually was. He had to maintain control of every part of his body, in order not to accidentally make noise. By the time the 10 meter distance shrunk to a mere 5, Hiro was already starting to sweat.

‘Alright, I should miss at this range.’ He once more brought up the bow and took aim. By now the fowl had already noticed something wasn’t right. Its constant pecking had cease and it’s now standing still, waiting for any sign up movement. ‘Crap!’ Hiro froze mid draw, any movement now would spook the bird and cause it to flee.

This hunt was now a battle of wills, would the cock give in to its hunger and resume searching for insects amongst the pile of dead wood and ashes or will Hiro’s limbs give up and drop to his sides.

‘This is good…’ Hiro began to sweat even more profusely, his hands was starting to get slippery, ‘Any longer and I might miss.’ He concluded. The time that the rooster took to survey its surroundings was only about 2 minutes, but it seemed like an eternity to Hiro. ‘Fuck it!’ He had decided that if the rooster wasn’t going to go back to searching, then it will never. He began to slowly continue pulling back the string, while trying to steady his aim.

It was at that moment that the bird-brain decided to resume its pecking. Going down once more in search of food, the fowl began its low volume clucking.

‘Chance!’ Seeing the opening, Hiro sped up his draw and held choked back in surprise. Imagining how lucky he was that the rooster finally decided that it wasn’t in danger. He made sure that his stance was proper, the angle of the trajectory was correct and that his footing was spaced out. ‘Oops, not wide enough.’ Hiro thought. During the time he sat there in a crouch, frozen, he had drawn in his legs together to look as small as possible. Now that he checked it, he noticed that the small discrepancy in his stance might throw his aim off.

He didn’t know how much time he had before the rooster noticed him, so he quickly widened his legs.

*Shish*

‘Fuck!’ He had over-extended and his left foot scraped the dug up earth from earlier.

Frightened by the sudden noise, the rooster looked up from its activity and finally noticed the arrow trained straight at it. Without another thought the bird took flight.

‘It’s getting away!’ Hiro looked back up at the rooster who was suddenly taking flight. Without another thought, his arms swung up and readjusted the angle and he let the arrow fly.

“Hit it!” Hiro screamed.

Everything happened in slow motion. The cock spreading its wings, the arrow exiting from his fingers, Hiro’s surprised and expectant eyes. The arrow was traveling just a little bit high, however at the speed the bird was taking off, it will connect.

‘Shit! I think I shot it too far to the side.’ Hiro observed. It was true, his stance was improper, his footing was just a bit too wide, because he was unused to the gravity spell. At this rate the arrow would miss by a couple inches to the right. Hiro had given up hope that his first arrow would hit and was hastily reaching for another one from behind his back.

It might just be luck, because amazingly enough, right before the arrow passed by the bird, the bird flapped its wings. The arrow, which was going to miss just by a couple of inches was now perfectly positioned to hit the right wing of the rooster and it did just that. The 25lbs draw weight of the hunting bow combined with the close proximity of Hiro caused the arrow to pass right through the hollowed bones of the fowl.

Without waiting another moment, Hiro quickly rushed at the bird, nearly tripping because of the gravity. He reached for the neck of the flounder bird and clean snapped its neck, severing its spine and killing the bird quickly. His father had taught him never to cause what you hunt unnecessary pain and had drilled that into him every time they had gone hunting. That’s why he had to make sure on all his hunts that he killed with the first arrow.

Now that he had time to think, he was surprised at how lucky he was. ‘Haha… Somebody up there must be watching me.’ He breathed out in relief, he didn’t want to have a cold meal tonight, especially on his first quest.

Soon he had quickly dressed the bird using the small hunting knife that was stored in his bag. He plucked that rooster, tearing skin and feather from its cooling body and severing its head and feet. He made sure to dig a deeper hole than the last guy and threw the guts of the fowl within. Next he split a freshly broken branch off and used it as a makeshift spit to hold the fowl. Pretty soon he had a nice and sizzling piece of meat. Fat dripping off the golden brown meat as it slowly gave off a fragrant aroma.

Hiro couldn’t help but stare at the meet before his eyes. In the past he had spices and condiments to flavor the meat, but this would have to do. Before long, he couldn’t take it any longer and slowly bit into the crispy outside of the poultry. The steaming hot meat’s warmth spread out into his mouth, a mixture of juice, fat, and natural flavors all flowed into his mouth. He couldn’t stop chewing, the more he chewed the more juice is extracted from the tender breast meat.

‘Who knew wild chickens taste so good.’ Hiro continued to chew, until no more juice is released and decided to swallow and go for another bite. He repeated this process of savoring the amazing meat and juice, then swallowing until nothing but bones is left.

Hiro laid back rested his head on his extra set of clothes that he used as a makeshift pillow. “*Burp* This was probably the best meal I ever had.” He said to himself. After resting for a bit, Hiro decided it was best to stoke the fire and move away from the clearing. Someone might’ve seen the fire and come prowling at night. So he moved away from the clearing and slept behind some thick shrubs.

‘Haha, this reminds of that one time.’ Hiro began to reminisce, ‘Father and I encountered a weirdo that kept spouting ‘You are to bring me… A SHRUBBERY’. What a strange man haha.’

---

Next Day

Hiro awoke to the sound of birds singing. There was a bit of sunlight peeking from behind the trees overhead, just enough to gently awaken the snoozing hunter. Right after waking up, Hiro took a moment before remembering why he was sleeping out there in the middle of the forest.

‘I gotta finish this quest soon, sleeping on the hard ground without a blanket hurts.’ He complained after stretching. Gathering up his clothes, and taking a swig out of his small waterskin, Hiro began once more on his hunt for the elusive Marble Deer. Hiro decided instead of walking east, he should push north, because he was still pretty close to the village on the outskirts.

‘Maybe the shy nature of the deer, causes it to stay deeper within the forest?’ Hiro thought as he strolled on deeper into the recesses of the forest.

Soon he was nearing some hills. The ground began to climb upwards and the walking became tougher. The angled ground was causing him to lift his legs higher, making it tougher to traverse.

‘Stupid hill.’ Hiro complained silently. He was stuck in the saddle of two hills, so it would be more efficient if he went through it instead of around. However, he didn’t expect the journey through the hills to be so tough.

There he was halfway through the saddle of the hills when suddenly he began to hear a soft noise over his rough breathing. Curiosity got the best of him and he decided to stop and listen.

‘I’ve heard this before…’ Hiro began to think of when and where he had heard it. The noise was a low hum that seemed to fluctuate lightly. After a few minutes he gave up, ‘It’s coming from the right. Might as well go check it out.’ Turning east, he started walking clockwise around the hill to his right.

The more he walked, the louder the noise became. While walking, he kept his eyes on the ground, in search of tracks on any kind. Soon the air became wet with sprays of water, the soft low hum of noise had transformed and became a loud drone of crashing water. The ground became soft and wet.

“That’s right!” Hiro exclaimed, “It was a waterfall.” He said to himself as the wall of falling water came into view. It seemed if Hiro had continued just a bit farther east the day before, he would’ve arrived at the small river that was formed from this waterfall.

The waterfall was about 10 meters tall and emptied out into a pool of water. The spray from the impact of the water wasn’t that far but freezing chill that it gives off seemed relaxing. Hiro and his father had come upon waterfalls like this before in the Forest of Mist, however they never stayed long, because the waterfalls are usually from further in the forest.

Hiro casually walked to the ponds edge and peered in. “Not too deep, probably around 5 meters at its deepest point.” He concluded after staring at the clear water. He could see fish swimming around the pond, there were even tracks that were left on the moist ground. Carefully studying these, Hiro began the annoying task of figuring out which tracks belong to what.

“Hm, signs of bears.” He answered, after quickly identifying the large paw print next to the water’s edge, “Judging by the size of its print, I guess it’s almost three times my size…” A chill ran down his spine at the thought of such a huge bear in the area. “I guess I’m in its territory.”

The thought of a huge bear, possibly recently woken up from hibernation and looking for a mate was a scary thought. He had checked around for anymore paw prints to see if there were cubs, but he couldn’t find any. With the thought of a huge predator in the area, Hiro continued searching around the pond’s edge to find any source of deer tracks. Soon he had circled around to the other side of the waterfall and was approaching the rocky wall behind the fall.

“Here we go.” He smiled to himself, “Hoof marks. The trail seems pretty fresh.” He used his finger to measure the indentation of the mark to determine the approximate size of the deer. “Small, possibly a doe.”

Deciding to follow the track back to where it came from, Hiro quickly refilled his water skin and moved on. He kept following the trail, tracing it back to the direction that it originated, hoping by some chance he would stumble upon the bed. Along the way, he could see the droppings the doe had defecated, he knelt down and hovered his hand over them.

“Still warm. I guess I’m on a deer trail now.” He concluded. Although he was following tracks of a possible doe traveling to the pond, he had discovered feces. That can only mean one thing: There is a possibility that he was near a den of deers. He began to silently walk, taking care not to make too much noise and keeping himself downwind from the direction he was walking.

He wasn’t following the doe’s track anymore, he had discovered a beaten animal path. Using that to his advantage, he kept his eyes out for any movement around him as he carefully stepped. He had taken the precaution to take out his old hunting bow and nocked an arrow to the string, prepared to fire at a moment’s notice.

Tufts of fur began to appear on the foliage along the path. “I’m close.” Hiro squatted down and began to move even more carefully. Earlier he had noticed some bedding that was used from a deer previously. Hiro was constantly scanning his surroundings as he crawled through the forest, looking for more signs of deer activity and then he saw it.

‘That’s right!’ He suddenly remembered what the strange behavior Marble Deer’s have, ‘Marble Deers, another name for them are Marble Bucks, all let off a strong musk that attracts does. In spring they are usually surrounded by many does.’

Right in front of him, about 20 meters away was a small gather of 8-10 deer’s, all trying to draw the attention of a smaller and more fidgety one. Marble Bucks are called that because they have the ability to mate with all species of deer, just like a mixture or blend of different rocks. The leather made from them are naturally oily, thus making it easier to take care of and clean.

‘Right, now the problem with this situation is how I would separate him from the rest of the herd.’ Hiro thought. ‘Time is not my friend in this case. The direction of the wind can change at any time. At this distance, I would be able to hit it, but I’m not sure it’ll be a clean kill. Plus there’s the problem of hitting the Marble Buck through all the does.’

After thinking about it for a bit longer, Hiro concluded that his best option was to try and get closer. The herd of deer were so concentrated in mating that they were oblivious to Hiro as he crept up until he was only 10 meters away. By this point, Hiro had already figured what to do.

‘That doe near the edge of the herd.’ He looked at one that seemed to be further away from the group, ‘When it attempts to mate with that doe, that’s when I’ll take it down.’ Satisfied with his plan, he began to wait.

Not even a full minute had passed when the buck started making its way towards the lone female. Sensing that it was time, Hiro once more concentrated at the task of preparing his shot. Since the buck was smaller and more nimble than the regular does, either the doe had to lay down or the buck had to jump up in order to begin the mating process. So far, Hiro had observed that it was a 50/50 chance for either. The ideal target would be if the doe remains standing, because the buck would be in the most vulnerable position.

Holding his breath in anticipation, Hiro’s hopes came true.

‘Good. Exactly how I want him.’ He slowly took aim and began to draw back his bow. This time he was sure his stance is proper, he didn’t want to mess up like earlier. Now fully drawn back, he was ready to shoot, he only had to move his fingers a couple centimeters and the buck will be dead. However, it must be luck trying to balance itself for that lucky shot yesterday, because just as he was about to release the arrow a strange growl escaped from the other side of the herd of deer.

“Grrarrrrr”

“What was that?!” Whispered loudly to himself.

Startled by unexplained noise, Hiro and the herd suddenly stopped what they’re doing. The buck and doe, which were lost in their natural throes of passion, were quickly separated and poised, ready to bolt at a moment’s notice. Hiro began to scan for the source of the noise. His heart began to race and the panic that was slowly rising, began to dominate his thinking.

‘The bear track! Fuck! Now isn’t a good time.’ In the past, he and his father had encountered bears before, but it was all from a distance. His father’s superior tracking skills allowed them to spot any danger before it happened upon them. Now that he was on his own, his negligence to study his surroundings is putting him in danger.

Just as that thought was running through his mind, the huge lumbering charge of the ursine broke through the covers of the nearby bush. With eyes clouded by hunger and the size of a cart, the bear instilled fear on everything in the area. The herd began to bolt for their lives, some who were closer to the huge beast were knocked aside, with shattered bones, including the unlucky buck. In just a matter of seconds, the herd of 10 or so deer was reduced to nothing, half were laying on the ground, spitting out blood and on their last breath of air.

Hiro couldn’t do anything, he dropped himself to the ground as soon as he saw the bear come charging out. Lying on the ground, hoping that the bear would not notice him just 10 meters away, Hiro began to think of a plan.

‘Fuck! Ok Ok Ok… Calm down!’ He reassured himself, ‘I’m downwind from it, so I should be fine. What did father say about bears again?’ He tried to remember the warnings that his father taught him, ‘Never piss one off… As if that will help me!’

After the loud grunts from the bear stopped, Hiro slowly peeked over the bush that he was hidden behind. What he saw was the large beast beginning to tear flesh from bones as it began to prey on the dying doe.

‘Maybe that’ll be enough to fill him?’ Hiro hoped as he saw the amount of dead deer corpse littering the area. With that hope, Hiro began to slowly back off. The bear was too preoccupied with feasting to notice him slowly backing away. Hiro kept a close eye on the bear as he began to back up, making sure to dive back down into cover at any moment, in case the bear was to look up. This proved fatal.

*Snap!*

‘…’

“Fuck!”

While trained on the bear, Hiro had mistakenly stepped on a branch, normally it wouldn’t have snapped, but with the gravity spell in effect, the weight proved too heavy for the branch to support. The bear had noticed the loud splintering of branch and looked up to see a man dressed in black with a bow out. The bow showed everything that the bear wanted to know, it was a weapon and weapon equals bad. Angered by the interruption to his meal, the bear stood up on its hind legs and issued a challenge.

“*RAWWRRRR*”

Flinching from the loud roar, Hiro started turning around to run and nearly tripping.

‘If I run, the bear won’t follow right?! He won’t abandon his meal just to chase me right?!’

[I wouldn’t be so sure Hiro.] Tenga warned.

[Tenga! Great! Undo the spell!] Hiro said hurriedly.

[Hah~ You have the worst luck…] Tenga seemed to complain. However, after a moment of silence the weight bearing down on Hiro was lifted.

‘This is…’ Hiro felt his body lighten. Every stride that he took, took him farther than before. It was as if a great burden was lifted from his body, which was true.

“Hahaha!” With the new found strength, Hiro almost forget about the danger than was rapidly approaching from behind. The only reason he didn’t forget was the loud thundering of the bear’s heavy paws.

[Wait how come he’s still catching up?] Hiro said in a panic.

[You think a week of this training would allow you to outrun a bear?!] Tenga answered incredulously, [At most you will have a chance to dodge its attacks.]

[Eh?!] Hiro internally screamed as the thundering got louder.

[That’s why I said you have the worst luck. Hah~…] Tenga seemed to sigh in submission, [and it just had to be you, who found me…]

Still pushing himself to run faster, while avoiding the branches and foliage, [Isn’t there something you can do to help?!] He begged.

[No.] Tenga replied sternly, [If I have to hold your hand the whole way until I’m released, then what? You will become a deadbeat person who relies on everyone!] Tenga finally concluded. He was adamant in not helping Hiro any further. Every time Hiro was in a predicament it was Tenga who had helped. The moment when they first met, the Doppler. That time when Hiro was dying from using all his life energy. You could even say he made it this far only because of Tenga’s teachings.

Hiro clung to the idea that the powerful Tenga would always step in, whenever he was in a life or death situation, but now he was unsure. The Tenga who had always seemed so calm and collective was now very unrelenting in his reply. Looking back over his shoulder, Hiro almost tripped after seeing how close the bear had already gotten. The initial distance of 15 meters had shrunk to 5 meters.

[If… If you won’t help directly! Give me some advice!] Hiro pleaded.

[… Fine.] After a moment, Tenga decided that would be the only help he was going to give. Although he acted stubborn and as if he was leaving Hiro for dead, truly he cared for the young man. Being mentally connected to Hiro from time to time, Tenga was able to understand just how naïve the young man was. He also knew that, if Hiro kept growing at this rate, the young man would become a loser, someone who can’t do anything. So, in attempts to teach the boy how to fend for himself, Tenga had to take up the mantle of a harsh father-like figure.

[Since I can’t run from it, what should I do? Should I climb up?] Hiro looked up overhead at the branches.

[No.] Tenga answered, [You’ve threatened the bear with your bow. It will chase you until either you’ve outran it or you are dead. Your best option would be to fight. Use your nimbleness to weave around the trees.]

[Ok!] Agreeing to Tenga’s advice, Hiro reluctantly dashed to his right, just as the bear caught up to him. Narrowly dodging the bear’s jaws as it snapped at where his neck used to be. After rolling and coming to a stop, Hiro made sure his equipment wasn’t damaged.

“All good.” He looked up from the bow and stared straight at the bear, who had also come to a stop and was watching him. He could see the recent blood of the previous kill mixing with the bear’s saliva as it dripped down from its mouth. Surveying his surroundings, Hiro confirmed that the trees would provide some cover for him to run behind.

“Only 9 arrows.” Hiro said. He was unprepared for this fight, in his negligence, he had only brought 10 arrows along with his old bow. The arrow used for the rooster had pierced through the wing and slammed into a tree, rendering it useless. With practiced movements, Hiro quickly nocked the arrow that he had returned earlier onto the bow and fired. At that distance plus the size of the bear, he wouldn’t miss.

“*RAAAAARR*”

“…’

Flying true, the arrow landed on the shoulder of the bear, however it didn’t do any serious damage. It only enraged the beast even more.

‘Its fat is too thick!’ Hiro cursed himself and the weak strength of his bow.

“Tenga!” Hiro screamed as the bear began to charge at him once more, “Do you think ‘Reisa’ would work on it?!”

[As you are right now no.] Was the only reply.

“Shit!” Hiro dived to the side as the beast lunged right by him, this time however, the bear was ready and swiped Hiro’s arm, leaving a light cut on it.

Getting back on to his feet, Hiro turned to the bear, ‘How do I kill something that my arrows won’t pierce?’ Hiro began to frantically look for any weak spots. Finally his eyes landed on the wild eyes of the beast.

“That’s it!” He exclaimed.

Hiro then began to look up and around for something to grab on to. While the bear noticing something was up, began to close in on Hiro once more, this time it won’t miss.

[What are you up to?] Tenga asked, [Climbing up won’t help you!]

[Just watch!] Hiro answered, as he slung his bow over his head and began running in the opposite direction of the bear and towards a large tree.

The branch that he was going for was 6 meters off the ground. Normally if he were to jump for it, he would have never reached it. However, because of his recent training with gravity, his leg strength and stamina had improved. That, combined with his light frame allowed him to reach that height easily, if he were to kick off from the trunk.

“Hup!” Hiro yelled as he grabbed the thick branch and pulled himself up with the beast right at his heels.

The bear, seeing his prey escape just out of reach of him tried desperately to climb up. It stood up on its hind legs and snapped at Hiro. Standing up to its full height, the bear easily reached 5 meters. Just one meter short and just what Hiro expected.

“Heh. Check mate.” Hiro said with a sneer of confidence as he nocked another arrow and aimed straight at the unsuspecting beast 1 meter away. At that distance, it was hard not to miss the small eyes of the wild animal, “Eat this!” He shouted as he let loose the arrow.

The wild animal, although intelligent, wasn’t prepared for Hiro’s clever use of the environment. By using the bear’s rage to his advantage, Hiro had predicted that the bear would try to lunge up at him if he were to climb a tree. So he looked for the branch that was just far enough away that the bear couldn’t reach, but allowed the bear to try. By doing this, Hiro tricked the beast into showing him its weak point, the eyes.

Letting go of the arrow, Hiro watched as the broad head entered its black beady eyes. As soon as the contact was made, Hiro felt kind of sorry for the dumb animal. He witnessed the look of pain on the bear’s face as the arrow punctured its eye and began tearing through the skull and finally entering its brain.

The beast froze in shock at the pain and soon slowly toppled backwards into the embrace of death. The half-ton of rage came crashing down from its upright position and stopped moving.

Up top, Hiro breathed a sigh of relief. His heart was still racing, his adrenaline levels were still high and his fear of the animal was still present. He sat up there for a couple more minutes to make sure the bear was really dead before coming down.

[Good job Hiro.] Was the only thing Tenga said.

[Thanks.]

“I did it… Hahaha…” He laughed in disbelief. It was the first time he had killed something so dangerous by himself. Jumping down, he walked up to where the bear’s head was. It was a nasty sight, blood was leaking out from the eye socket, which still had the broken shaft of the arrow in it.

‘Too bad I can’t bring this back.’ Hiro thought in shame, ‘No one would believe me anyways…’

“That’s right. The quest.” Hiro quickly remembered the reason why he was in the forest in the first place. He retraced his steps and arrived once more at the dead corpse of the Marble Buck. It was a clean kill, the bear’s charge had tackled the buck and instantly snapped its neck.

‘It’s starting to get dark…’ Hiro observed, after sighting the Marble Buck, ‘I won’t make it back by nightfall… Oh well I’ll just go tomorrow.’ He cheerfully thought as he set about to gather kindling and prepare a fire. He was inwardly ecstatic at the turnout of the quest. Instead of killing the elusive Marble Buck, he instead encountered a territorial male bear.

“Is this why adventuring is so fun?” He rhetorically asked himself as he began to skin the buck.