XelofBloom
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2.4
🕑 Added 2021-01-01 23:33:51 +0000 UTCHunting at night was a far different experience. Of course, Eve was no expert in either day or night hunting.
The only experience she had was ferrets so far, which was why she had bowed her head and asked for assistance from the wolves after checking for advice from her brother. She had attempted to check her brother’s Transport to Another World for tips on hunting to dismal outcome.
Surprise, your big bro sucks at hunting.
I know, I know, exactly what you are thinking.
How could my big brother suck at hunting? He brought home game all the time? He had all those guns? All that hunting gear?
Long story short, I cheated.
My normal hunting method is the throw dynamite in the ocean for fish type.
It works because I’m super awesome!
It also has the additional problem of drawing a lot of attention.
Attention is bad for low level scrubs, like, well you are probably.
I would recommend finding a species that excels in hunting, wolves, raptors, any decent predator species. Why don’t I recommend humans? Hah, trick question.
Trust me. Find a species that specializes in murder and learn from them. Most of the non-humanoid species I encountered were pretty chill. Honor is a big thing with a lot of them, and they all love younglings. You’ll hit both those check boxes if you're even half the sister you were to me.
Watch out for mushrooms!
Learning that her brother actually was a failure at something was admittedly a bit of a shock. Not as much as learning he cheated all those times he beat their dad on the hunting trips though.
This is so utterly going in the blackmail list for when I get back someday. Eve thought with an evil smile.
Since she couldn’t cheese this with knowledge from her brother, Eve immediately turned up the charm on the old wolf accompanying her, Fang, to gain his assistance.
“Fang, would you help me learn to hunt better? Our species ruled the world I came from so we lost a great amount of the knowledge to hunting properly.” Eve said as she moved up beside her liaison with the Pack.
Stopping the old wolf stared at her for a long moment before Fang said, “You have aided the pack in taking care of the young. I suppose it is not too much to show you the ways of supplying food. The method you showed against the ferrets at the lake cannot be applied at all times after all.”
Yeah, I might have gone too far into survival mode. Eve thought. There are only so many ways to cook meat mush, after all.
Under the careful guidance of the old wolf, Eve’s methods of killing grew more varied than just attacking with a blizzard of paper shredding her targets into mincemeat. She learned to use a single sheet of paper as a blade with focused precision. When she killed her first target by decapitation, Fang simply gave her a look before saying, “You have a Domain, yes?”
Nodding as she stored the body into her inventory, along with the bloody ground, Eve said, “Yes, why?” With a slightly confused look.
Looking around Fang replied, “Do you think those around us have lost their sense of smell? Blood on the wind means hide to all those who are prey.”
Eve looked guilty as the old wolf continued, “You have a Domain. Perhaps it would not be clear to others, the Pack however, has seen such things before. To not use one’s fangs or claws to their fullest is folly of the highest order.”
Eve agreed, she waited as Fang continued on, “You must learn to be the Death-Without-Traces. Come, I will show you.”
They moved through the surrounding forest with ever decreasing errors on her part, Eve learned to step in the right manner to leave minimal traces. Fang showed her how to move with the wind, to always be in the prey’s blind spot, both sight and scent. The old wolf demonstrated what to watch out for in terms of an ambush spot, how to corner the prey, and finally the theory of how to kill without leaving a trace.
“For the Pack, such things are not required as the hunt is done with others. For you, it is vital. You must be able to strike silently, leave no trace, and retreat with speed to fade back into nothingness. The ability that you have to blend with the surroundings is excellent, and it should form the basis of your stalking method.” Fang said, as they approached a one of pools that formed as the river traversed from the north.
“Hunting at one of these locations will play to your strengths the most. You can layer your paper all around the ground making it mimic the forest floor. When the prey arrives, close the jaws, and twist their neck. Then store them within the Space-That-Is-Not-Here.” Fang said, settling down into the brush to watch the water hole.
I’ve just been schooled by an old furry ninja. Eve thought, facepalming. Time to put in the work.
She papered the ambush site around the pool’s edge, before then settling in to watch from a higher vantage point on a nearby tree. Looking down, Eve controlled her paper until it blended seamlessly with the ground around it. The paper became rough as well, so the sense of smoothness didn’t spoil the ambush.
As the night progressed she began to rack up a rather large kill count. With eight spaces in her inventory since it had been expanded from five to ten, she carefully chose prey that would be able to stack together. Deer, rabbits, large cats, serpents, and a land-bound bird species all fell to the ambush. Eventually as dawn started to break on the horizon, she noted that the amount of prey arriving decreased to almost nothing.
During a lull in the hunting she had taken the time to check one of the strange cats that had fallen to her ambush site.
Black Blood Panther
Lv. ??
HP: ???
MP: ???
When she fell back to Fang to mention the question marks, as well as the decrease in prey he gave her another look before saying, “Do you think the prey are idiots? So many go in, yet few exit, what did you think would happen? For the other bit, if you see no numbers it generally means they are higher in the food chain. One cannot see above one’s own level of power, only below, it is one of the Primal Laws. Be careful when you use that power on prey, some can sense it, and flee.”
“Oops, thank you for explaining.” Eve said, contrite.
Fang rolled his eyes before saying, “This old bag of bones is tired from keeping up with such a young one. Let us return to the Green Death that surrounds your home.”
“Would it be possible to gather some of the plants the Pack Leader and his mate mentioned to me? Kudzu, I mean, the Green Death enjoys eating such rare delicacies.” Eve asked, politely before continuing, “I would be happy to cook even more for you in return. I already planned to feed you some of the prey caught with your help, if we can go the extra mile, I would use spices too.”
Fangs eyes flashed at the mention of spices before he said slowly, “The Pack Leader and his mate did mention you had a strange way of combining meat and plants that was most delicious.” Eve watched the old wolf’s jaws open as his eyes turned glassy, a small amount of drool escaped before he got ahold of himself.
“Those two were very smug when they described such a combination of things that had never been eaten in such a manner before. I suppose it wouldn’t cause much delay, yes, I can do this favor for a cooked meal.” Fang said, as he moved off silently through the forest once again.
This time Eve was able to keep up without making an enormous racket like before. Celestial Mind and Celestial Body worked in tandem with Celestial’s Five Senses turning her previous flailing in the forest into a smooth predatory stride. She moved around bushes, trees, loose gravel, fallen leaves, and dead twigs like she was born to it.
It was like being the main character in a ninja action movie. Only with strange flora, fauna, and magical energy everywhere. Eve kept her eyes moving in the simple roving pattern she had learned keeping guard in the military. The trick was to let focus expand so that a person could see everything, and not tunnel vision on one particular area.
Which was why she spotted the snake ambush a fraction of a second before Fang was in range of it. Eve felt time slow down as her senses boosted faster than ever before. She removed paper from the inventory, before accelerating it towards the attacker.
I won’t make it in time. Eve thought, and her mind slowed further entering a strange state of calm. The paper is too slow as a sheet, I need something else, something faster that can cut through the air resistance.
Her mind moved flickering through all the forms of origami she had ever seen in her entire life. It had been one of the few passions she had, a hobby that amused her squadmates to no end. Finally her mind crystallized on the teardrop diamond form. It was a complicated series of folds, yet within the frozen moment she had gained the folds unraveled at a speed rivaling light. Time sped up just in time for Fang to begin responding to the attack before Eve’s strike accelerated into the snake.
In a contest of flesh versus magically reinforced paper, she emerged victorious. Eve immediately leaped to the snake's body storing it before the viscera could even touch the ground.
Fang looked at the Eve for a long moment before saying, “This old wolf is thankful that the young two-leg had faster reflexes than him. That was a very venomous creature, and survival would have been in doubt for me had it managed to bite.”
Eve said without showing arrogance, “It was the least I could do for the aid the Pack has given one lost in this world.”
Neither side said anything further as they traveled through the forest once more. Occasionally the old wolf would point out certain herbs, vines, flowers, and mushrooms that were known to be dangerous. Eve collected everything using paper wrappers combined with a bag she had inside her inventory for just this type of situation.
When they finally reached her house, Eve was on her final bit of stamina. The puppies and hunting had drained her energy levels a great deal. She gave the bag of rare plants to Kudzu to do whatever he did with stuff like that, before taking a quick shower and changing to more lazy clothing. Just like when she hosted Mudslide and All-Right, Eve expanded the table with paper, as well as creating a comfortable chair for Fang to rest in.
He watched her with eyes filled with curiosity as she utilized her paper to chop, mince, slice, dice, hold, and more. Using her Domain of Paper I in such a manner made Eve feel like there was more to life than mindlessly murdering her way up the ladder of life.
“I admit to being extremely interested in this manner of preparing a kill.” Fang said, his tail wagging as he continued, “Perhaps you would consider trading how it could be done?”
Eve looked at him noting his affinity was strongest for Air according to her Celestial’s Five Senses. She thought for a moment before saying, “I could teach you what I know, it’s just, do you have a way to mimic what I’m doing with the paper?”
Fang grinned in a lupine manner, “Such child’s play of moving things back and forth and cutting here and there? Pah, I could do such things with my eyes closed.” As soon as he finished he demonstrated by moving the plate she had just cooked for him directly in front of him with a soft movement of Air with his eyes closed. Opening them he immediately started to eat.
“Ninja Air Wolves, of course.” Eve rolled her eyes as she finished her own food before plating it.
Sitting down at the table, Eve said, “So, in the beginning the great minds of humanity got together…”
