Hunting
After an hour's worth of cultivation, Alex felt that his body was full to the brim with bad luck that was filling all his cells with a mysterious energy and making him stronger. The school was a vast reservoir of bad luck, simply due to the sheer number of people who had collected in the area. Soon, Alex felt his body popping and during the break between classes, Alex broke through to Ordinary Grade 2.
[Alex Hail]
[Ordinary Grade - 2]
[Cultivation System - Crazy Immortal Sutra]
[Skills - Gun Technique (Ordinary)]
Alex nodded to himself. Crazy Immortal Sutra had too many flaws, but it had its benefits as well. No one seemed to be able to sense the fact that he had broken through a minor level and even more so, no one seemed to be able to sense his cultivation at all. After going through the network, Alex had found this to be a salient feature of the technique.
Alex wondered about the creator of this technique. Just who was it and how did they think of this technique? It was so perverted in its simplicity as well as so profound in its consequences that Alex wondered about the genius, though perverted, behind the Crazy Immortal Sutra. Perhaps it was a truly crazy cultivator who invented the technique.
School was uneventful. The next few months were mostly about being busy practicing and improving strength rapidly. After classes ended, Alex did not return home. Instead, he walked to a military depot a few miles away from school.
This was actually a gate into the Blue Palm Monster Zone. There were several gates in the city that led into this single monster zone, though each gate led to different areas in the monster zone.
Monster zones were an ecosystem unto themselves. They were isolated pocket dimensions that constantly spawned monsters that could be hunted.
The reason why Alex was entering today was to hunt for a specific dimensional creature that would help improve his gun skills. After browsing through the net, Alex had zeroed on this monster as being appropriate for one of his two currently availble ability slots.
"Gusty Rabbit - Ordinary Grade Monster. Drops Speed Attribute Pearl(Rare), Wind Attribute Pearl (Ultrarare), Accuracy Eye (Ultrarare)."
With each minor grade he leveled up, Alex would unlock one skill slot. Thus he would theoretically gain 9 skill slots when he reached Ordinary Grade 9. Others would then fuse the 9 skills create to the first consolidated major skill when they upgrade to Uncommon rank.
With Alex's situation, the possibility was unknown. This was because no one had ever been known to proceed further than Ordinary grade 9 after practicing the Crazy Immortal Scripture.
Alex decided on the Accuracy Eye skill, because it provided a permanent passive boost to his vision and his ability to visualize and simulate trajectories of objects. Accuracy Eye was a common and reliable skill pearl that Gunsmiths would choose as their first minor skill to set a foundation in the Western Zone - 3.
After paying the basic entry fee to the Monster Zone, Alex entered the pocket space, to find himself in a large green meadow, with many small hills and small valleys and burrows. Grass was growing everywhere and the sky was clear blue - the place looked like a pleasant hill garden that stretched out for miles.
After entering the zone, Alex found himself in a small town - more like a military base to prevent forcible entry by monsters. There was a collection of shops and tents selling items or renting weapons. Alex walked to one such shop and rented a Magnolia Purple, a low caliber high penetrence gun suitable for Ordinary Rank hunters and several rounds as well as a spatial backpack and some supplies.
Spacial backpacks were a precious resource that was largely monopolized by businesses such as the ones here, which rented them out for use in the Monster Zone. They had a large pocket space inside them, and were created from a mysterious creature found in only one specific Monster Dimension in Western Zone 3.
After adequate preparation, Alex proceeding through the town, finding many individuals looking to team up and a few groups looking to 'carry' people at a cost.
Alex ignored these groups and instead walked to a temporary canvas tent with military symbol on it. Alex was ready to use the perks of his parents being in the self defense corps.
After walking into the tent, he found that he had entered a rather large area, where all kinds of military personnel were relaxing. Alex walked to a counter and requested a 'carry'. The receptionist was actually a low level warrior in the defense corps and accordingly nodded, asking Alex to wait.
Within fifteen minutes, a group of three soldiers at the Uncommon Rank and a group of five noobs including Alex had set out to hunt. Alex was the only one who got to hop on for free, while the others were mostly paying to be carried. The regions near the gates were relatively safe and so the soldiers were relatively less vigilant, but the trainers in the carry group were strict and serious in their instruction.
As they left the safe zone and began venturing into the wild, the three guides began explaining the essence of tracking, navigation, geolocation, and scouting for monsters. Under their serious teaching Alex could only gladly smile as he observed as he constantly heard the updates from his system.
[You observed basic hunting and tracking practices with attention. Your familiarity with Hunting has risen. Hunting + 1]
[You observed basic hunting and tracking practices with attention. Your familiarity with Hunting has risen. Hunting + 1]
[You observed basic hunting and tracking practices with attention. Your familiarity with Hunting has risen. Hunting + 1]
....
[Hunting 10/10]
[Congratulations, You have unlocked skill - Hunting (Initiate)]
...
[Hunting 100/100]
[Congratulations, You have unlocked skill - Hunting (Ordinary)]
Alex felt that he was getting more attuned to the wild and felt more at home than before, when he felt like he was entering a foreign environment. He was also able to quickly spot tracks and anticipate monster movements and observe the habitat for signs of activity.