Chapter 22: Wild Horned Boar

Being in front of the forests for the second time, Cyan was getting a little shaken but backing down now was not an option for him.

His Master has previously warned to not drop down his guard and he could only nod and remain cautious of his surroundings, luckily for him, his senses of danger were very shard indeed, even his most of skills were sealed, the skill that his title as the Hunters King Apprentice gave him, Hunter instincts was still active and working.

Hunter King Apprentice

The hunter king has taken you as his only disciple.

+5 Agility

+3 All stats

Skills:

[Hunter instincts (passive)] You can feel the danger in your surroundings

Nevertheless Cyan didn’t knew the full reach of this skill so he could just not drop his guard, but with not sing of warning near him and with Arlom being in front of him, there was nothing to fear, he was pretty confident ‘it was safe’, well at least for now.

Of course he will not take this as a walk in the park and drop his guard down but he felt he was cheating Arlom somehow, ‘maybe I should use this time to test the limits of this skill’ Cyan thought, the concept of skills was not new to him, but knowing about it and knowing how to use them was entirely different.

Nevertheless, this skill was a passive skill, something that was always active and it was not a conscious work. He has felt the effects of the skill Hunter instincts before, so he was sure he would be alerted ahead of time but how much time, distance the danger would be and how fast was still left unknown to him, not to mention the concept of what the skills thinks something is dangerous, even more than that, do a skill can even think?, Cyan was could only sigh, like always he got not answerers, he could only do the second task Arlom has told to him to do, ‘always remember the path’.

Cyan took out his mind of meaningless tasks and focused into his second task, track down his current position. Using the three black tower that were still very visible as a reference, Cyan started to make a mental map to serve as his guide, funnily enough even he has never tried to do such a thing in the past he felt it was not hard to do at all, no, the more he advanced deep into the forest, the more he knew the path he has took before, maybe it was too easy Cyan thought.

He felt he could easily trace his path back to the cave without even the need of using the black towers as references and more amazing than that, this was not until back to the cave, but back to the first day he has arrived, even if he was unconscious for the majority of the time the first day, it was like if something was guiding him, it was a similar feeling as his skill Hunter instincts yet it was different, it was a quite puzzling feeling but Cyan could only carry on with the task at hand, while trying to see the bright side, ‘sigh at least keeping track of my position and the time are cover now, maybe this is also a skill of mine?’

Cyan could not see his own skills right now, so he could only make a wild guess, nevertheless maybe it was he was remembering the path back to the first day but ‘Serah’ name popup in Cyan mind, as her last moments also did, he did know why but he felt very saddened after remember it, it was not something he could put into words.

[Arlom]: “Cyan if you get distracted you will die”

What brought back Cyan to reality was his Master voice, a stiff warning was issue in Cyan direction, Cyan could only nod, and start walking behind Arlom was again, while putting one more thought away.

After a few hours of following being Arlom and roaming in what it looked to be an aimless direction, Arlom founded a trace and started showing to Cyan how to track down their prey this time around.

[Arlom]: “We are lucky Cyan, it seems a boar is not far from here, you can see here where the boar marked his territory” was said by Arlom while he was hold dirt with his hand.

Cyan on the other hand did not looked that optimistic about it.

[Cyan]: “Master that’s…..”

Nerveless, Cyan did not said anything else, he was not capable of saying to Arlom that what Arlom was holding was not dirt, dirt was supposed to be black not brown.

[Arlom]: “What it is?”

[Cyan]: “It is nothing, forget I said something”

Arlom could only let it go, Cyan was starting to put that face he always put when he said something stupid, and this was surely not the time for that.

[Arlom]: “Forget it, let’s go”

Arlom started to teach Cyan how to follow the marks on trees, the signs on the ground and the smell in the air, actually he could just find the boar with no problem, but this was a very important lesson to Cyan.

In the other hand, Cyan thought this was a very hard task to do, everything looked the same to him, how can a crack in a tree can be a mark when all the trees around have cracks on them, and smell was the same everywhere, it smelled like grass, leafs and dirt, with the exception of some pile of… dirt that smelled different, nevertheless this was a sign for Arlom that they were in the correct direction to the boar.

With his Master tracking down the boar, actually finding it was pretty easy to do Cyan thought, based on Arlom observations, there where marks everywhere, nevertheless Cyan thought something was not right, and it shouldn’t be harder to find food in here? Nevertheless, Arlom did not mind the stupid thoughts that were currently in the stupid head of Cyan, he just carried on with the task to teach Cyan how to track down a prey, any prey in this woods.

After a few more hours they finally meet with an wild horned boar, it was very huge, as it was the same height of Cyan that was 1.6 meters, and should weight about 500 to 650 kg, it was obviously something a normal human would never dare to hunt without bringing a very big gun, even worse, it was a wild animal with a dangerous look to it, the two horns in the front and teeth looked very threating to Cyan, as soon the boar was in sight, his sense of danger started to ring inside his mind as well as a blue screen was shown in front of him.

Cyan was alarmed by it, this thing was a huge, no wonder it did not bother to hide himself, being this huge, and it must also have a terrible strength. Cyan could only sigh at his own naivety of how big a boar should be.

After giving some thought Cyan was secretly glad that his skill was still working just fine, he had not felt any danger in the 4 hours that they were out hunting in the forest, but it was working just fine now. Cyan was starting to believe that the skill that senses danger must be broken, shouldn’t the skill hunter instincts ring like crazy in this forest?

At least that’s what he thought from Arlom description of the forest, as only certain doom awaits for you if you ever dare to step in, but as he entered the forest nothing felt any different than before, Cyan could only draw a few conclusions, from this, one, his skill must be broken, two, Arlom has lied and the forest was not that dangerous, three, the hunter kings protection is still in place and that why there is not ‘any’ danger right now, fourth, there is danger and his skill is working just fine, it is just that he was putting too much hope to this skill of his as something omnipotent skill, and fifth the worse conclusion of all was, ‘he has always being in mortal danger’, going outside or staying inside the cave with Arlom did not make any different, his normal status was always in mortal danger.

Cyan could only sighed, it would had being very foolish to go outside the cave without some form of protection, thanks to Arlom and his skill, he could be a little fearless, but after stepping out outside he was ready to feel danger all the time, but he felt none, at the end, not feeling any danger what so ever was more nerve racking to him that the actual danger itself, if not for Arlom, he could had my as well gone crazy half way through it.

Well, maybe that was an exaggeration, but Cyan felt like exaggerating after fourth excruciating hours of following after brown dirt.

But now with his skill working again, everting will be just fine, he could now easily discarded option, one, two and five now, nevertheless he still did not know how his skill function, after all, after the boar was insight, his skill activated instantly, but the boar was not seem to be aware of their presence, or maybe it was, but it was pretending to not notice them? Are all boars this smart?

Putting this thoughts to the side, Cyan started to think now how exactly they would kill this huge thing and then dragged it back to the cave? Cyan could only wait besides Arlom waiting to see him in action once again, turning his head around with the anticipation that he could see Arlom in action one more time and learn for him.

What he found, was a calm-serious expression, looking back at him, his sense of danger ringed once again and stronger than before, ‘wait why my skill is warning about my Master, it was not warning me about the boar?’, it was redundant thought but he was getting a bad feeling about this.

With a wave of his hand, a spear appeared in Arlom hands, it was a silver spear, with a shard point that it looked more like a needled of 1.5 meters long than an spear, Cyan himself was 1.6 meter long, so it was almost as tall as him but it was something short for the 2 meter long Arlom.

Before Cyan could said something, Arlom asked something that did not feel quite right to ask in this moment.

[Arlom]: "Cyan do you remember the way to the cave right? Like I told you to remember?"

Of course he did, Cyan was very serious on not being a dead weight for Arlom and he didn’t wanted to be send back without actually doing anything, so he has made a very diligent mental map that he was proud of, but that huge lava throne where Arlon sits, could still be seen even from here, there is no way for him to not know where he is and to lose his way.

Nevertheless thanks to his own hard work in this 4 hours he had a very clear imagine of the route they have taken so far, Arlom had not lied, this forest was not a walk in the park, is full of unknown dangers and even if he could see the black obelisk, he could not just walk in a straight line, and this was the reason why Arlom has took such a rounded way to navigate the forest, and that’s why Cyan has not felt any hint of danger so far, at least that was the only conclusion Cyan could think of the aimless path was for, right until they had found out a trace to follow was when the seemly aimless wandered stopped.

Cyan did not know what was to come, but he could imagined, so he gave Arlom a strong nod with his head, reaffirming to himself one again his compromise and the reason he has asked to come along with Arlom to gather food, nevertheless, he still hold some doubts as to why Arlom would ask this question as well his sense of danger being active, nevertheless, he could see in Arlom eyes that his Master did not have any ‘bad intentions’ inside him, but it seems his skill don’t take ‘intentions’ into account.

But why is activating now and not when for example Arlom was throwing rocks at him? Was he not in danger at that time? Being hurt or pain doesn’t count as being in danger? The time when he felt danger coming from his Master was because of Dark-Arlom, back then, Cyan could clearly see Dark-Arlom clouding his Master sight and he was surrounded dangerous cold air that was his killing intent.

But this time there was not killing intent in Arlom and his eyes were crystal clear, even if they were still hiding stuff from him, Cyan would not peek into things Arlom doesn’t want him to see, leaving that aside, Cyan could only make even less sense of how his own skill to sense danger works, in the end he only could try to ask.

[Cyan]: "Master I do, but why do you…."

But.

Before Cyan could continue, Arlom shrugged his shoulders pretending to ignore the fact he has cut right into the middle of Cyan questioning and like nothing he continue speaking.

[Arlom]: "It’s nothing too important, it is just in case something goes wrong, you never know what can happen, any way let us not waste any more time"

Just as he said that, Arlom gave the silver spear to Cyan, in the other hand, the interrupted Cyan was just giving a confuse expression of someone asking ‘what you want me to do with this’ but it was also the expression of someone understanding the facts ‘as expected’.

What is a spear? It was a weapon for attacking not for defending, it has a long reach and can be use from the back as well in the front, but if Arlom was giving him a spear, there was only one meaning behind it that Cyan could thought of.

Looking over the spear that was in his hands and then looking to his Master again, Arlom raised his right hand and with his finger, he was pointing out in the direction of the horned boar, Arlom expression was of someone asking something like 'What are you waiting for? Didn't you wanted to help? Then go there and ‘help’’.

A sigh in defeat escaped Cyan, he was not that stupid to pretend to not understand Arlom indications, he could obvious understand what this all about, he was the one that asked to be put to help, but he never expected to be this way, even if he wanted to say no, the look in Arlom face was not of some you could say ‘no’ or ‘but’ or ‘I don’t understand’, this was exactly what his sense of danger was warning him, not the boar but what Arlom himself would do if Cyan did not acted like Arlom wanted him to do.

He could only think that if he made the ‘wrong’ choice, Arlom would surely say something like ‘wrong’ and throw him together with the spear to fight the horned boar, or even worse, he would be thrown without even the spear in his hands to fight.

Cyan could only start to inspect the silver spear Arlom has just gave him, there was no way to run away from this now, nevertheless he felt like crying, that boar did not looked like an easy target at all, ‘at least you could have found me an easier target master’ Cyan could only retort to himself with a bitter laugh inside himself.

Nevertheless the spear Arlom has gave him was very sharp and sturdy, and it has a nice weight to it, it felt very comfortable in Cyan hands, it didn't look like it would break easily, even if he was not familiar with spears this spear felt quite familiar to him, as he was thinking that a blue window pop up into the thin air in front of him.

Moon - Twin Silver Spear (unique)

Lv.: -- (??)

Description: A Master blacksmith, made a very powerful spear under the threats of a noble man to his family, nevertheless, after he created it, he was so afraid of the power of his own creation and the nefarious purposes that noble man holds, that he tried to destroy it, nevertheless he only managed to split it in two halves sun and moon, and after failing to destroy the spear the noble man got a wind of the Master blacksmith intentions and ordered his troops to wipe out his family and to bring the spear to him; in the end the blacksmith, his family, and the spear whereabouts was never heard again, someone say the noble man found them, others said that they took refuge with another of fourth races.

Attack: 155/500

Durability: 254/500

Defense: 1/500

[Stats]

+5/50 Strength

+5/50 Agility

- 5/50 Wisdom

-5/50 Intelligence

[Skills]:

[Skill Slot (empty)]: None.

[Skill Slot (empty)]: None.

[Spiral Throw (active)]: (In combination with the user). After being imbue with enough mana, the spear will start to rotate, if throw at the right moment it would gain a huge penetration force.

[Twin Spiral Throw (active) (combination)]: Even if the sun and the moon can’t be together, After being split into two halves, they still refuse to be separate from each other for too long, like the sun chasing the moon, after throwing one or the other, if you are still holding onto sun or moon, the other halve will come back. (You better be on the lookout for that kid).

Cyan was speechless, this thing was an actual item, and for the look of it, this was only one half of the item, nevertheless he did not had any other item to compare to, when he received the inventory bag no blue window pop up, and when Arlom purred a mountain of items for him to put into the inventory bag, even if he did not have time to check all the items, the ones he did check there was not a blue window popping up like now, everything else was just a plain name or just ???

‘The hell’, Cyan though, ‘this System is just too broken, it works just fine sometimes, and the next I only get (???) question marks, my skills works just fine but then they don’t, I got an spear I got nothing to compare it to’ So what if he could see the spear stats, to Cyan this just were random numbers in a blue screen, Cyan let out a sigh, ‘forget it, if Arlom has gave this spear it must be good’.

Adjusting his body Cyan tried some practice with the spear, even if he had never used a spear before in his life, he had trained with the bow and the sword back in earth, in the dojo where his foster father was an instructor, he has learned about martials since he was little, even if he was not a master he could beat kids one grade above him with no problems.

What Cyan lacked in talent he always put it in effort, nevertheless the still felt the spear was quite familiar to him, it was the same felling when he trace his mental map, he felt familiar to the path like he was remembering something he has forgotten a long time ago but at the same time he did not remember anything at all.

Nevertheless, after getting more familiar with the spear, Cyan started to think in a plan, he could not just charged in without giving any thought at all right? That would be dumb if he did that.

‘How can I beat that boar that is stronger than me, and his hide looks very sturdy and the worse part is…’

Lv.?? Horned Boar (Boss)

‘That thing is a boss’

Cyan could only put a bitter smile after being remained once again of those blue screen that did not say anything helpful and were something he could only see, he has tested them before and Arlom was unaware of their existences, but even so, some windows said (sealed) for him but they work for Arlom, even if not in windows from, because of that he could not see his own level nor his status, nobody can tell him how strong he has become in just three days, nevertheless that doesn’t matter right now to Cyan.

Looking in the direction of the boar once again, Cyan notice that somehow his presence was still hidden from the boar senses and that the boar was still not aware of their presence, in other circumstances, coming this close to this boar without alerting it of his presence would had being impossible.

He found it weird for this the boar boss to be this careless, even for a boss level monster this was too much of careless, just as he was wondering why, he felt a tiny trace of mana over him, looking back he could realize what it was, when Arlom put his mana armor over him to cross the lava he has left something behind on him to hide his presence very well, and that’s why the boar was still not aware of an amateur like Cyan coming this close to him.

Cyan could put everting together now, and what he should be doing now.