Linear Motion A Life Worth Living

he sun must be not out yet. I stretched my body again, while yawning this time. Im still sleepy, but I have to check my magic power reserves. I shouldn sleep.

I spread some monsters deterrent on the entrance of the cave. Its handmade. The materials are quite the hassle to collect, but it works wonders.

I went in and sat down. I put my leg on top of the other, and my hands on each of my legs. Closing my eyes, I try to relax.

Breathe in.

Do not think of anything else.

Breathe out.

Strike down any unnecessary thoughts that pop ups. Relax. Focus. Focus on the movement of the chest as it exhale and inhale.

”Hu… ”

As I feel my mind becoming focused, I feel my thoughts pooling into one. Like a machine, whenever unnecessary thoughts pop up, my mind struck them down. Each time, faster, more efficient. Leaving the trails of the thoughts behind.

Soon enough, I can feel my sensation sharpens. Each sensation becoming even brighter. Even louder. The cold wind that tickled my skin, the hot air that comes out of my nose, the drops of water that fell into the ground and splashed my skin. I felt them clearly.

Then, I feel heat. From my stomach, the heat spread slowly and surely throughout my whole body. Then, from within the heat… I feel the cold. The cold slowly envelopes my body, spreading following the heat.

When the heat wholly enveloped my body, the cold stopped spreading.

There. That took a while.

I stopped concentrating and released the meditating pose. I took out my watch. Its already morning. The sun must be out and about at this time.

”Fuuuh… ”

The cold stopped around the upper arms and thighs. So thats about 50, 60 percent? Not bad. Thats quite fast. Still not quite enough for me to use Signs and Crafts safely, unfortunately.

Well, then. Now that I know my current mana reserve state, here is the question.

To hunt or not to hunt?

───

”UOOOOOOGH!!! ”

The answer is to hunt! Of course!

Giant Rabbits are great group fighters. To hunt Giant Rabbits, the hunter must first break their formation by scaring them with loud noises or something similar. So they cannot fight back.

The giant rabbits were surprised and immediately ran away in different directions.

I threw my sword in front of the giant rabbit that was running away from me. The sword struck the ground and stopped the rabbit in its track.

Immediately I pulled out another sword from my storage device and pushed the rabbit down with my whole body weight.

With my hand on its neck, I raised my sword and aimed to behead it cleanly.

I will never get used to this feeling.

I looked away from its eyes, and slashed.

There. One giant rabbits fur and meat.

Fuuuh…

”Ill leave the dissection to the professionals at the guild. ”

I sighed and threw the corpse inside my storage device.

”I have to hunt more. ”

───

”Hah… ”

Im done. Ive hunted enough rabbits for the quests.

I threw the last Giant Rabbit corpse into the Storage Device and sighed.

I don like this. I enjoy the feeling of the hunt, but when its time to kill them. To take their lives… Its uncomfortable. But this is my job. At least I have to try and get used to it.

I looked at the pool of blood under me and sighed again.

”No. Don think about it. ”

I shook my head and I walked away.

What should I do next? Ive already collected enough materials for the quests… There is no sense in over hunting the rabbits, so… Should I explore? Im sure Im going to have to come here a lot in the future. Knowing the terrain will be helpful for sure. Yeah. Exploring will definitely be helpful.

I decided to explore. That is, after I rest a little bit in the cave.

”Good afternoon kak! Im sorry for bothering your camp kak! ”

When I arrived back at the cave, there are two adventurers resting on my mat. Not literally.

The male adventurer slowly approached me with his hand raised. Behind him, resting on the wall is a female adventurer. She looks pained.

”I saw the bonfire remnant, but we really need a place to rest and regroup kak. Im sorry for being rude. ”

The young male adventurer spoke politely and tried his best to not offend me as much as possible. He has the attitude right. That I can say.

Adventurers have plenty of unspoken rules between us. Do not steal others kill. Do not disturb others quest. Do not steal others camp. Stuff like that. The young guy saw the remnant. He knew the rules, but he still decided to crash into my camp. There must be a reason.

”Introduce yourselves. ”

”Yes kak! Erm, my name is Alisa. Behind me is my friend, Salim. We are both E-ranked adventurers. Er, we are new. ”

”What happened to your friend there? Make it brief. ”

”Yes! Erm… We took on a quest for slaying a small goblin group near the forest and we succeed but we chased them too far into the forest and she got shot by an arrow! ”

They over chase their target huh. A common mistake for beginner adventurers. When fighting against any monster, it is wise to not chase them too far. It is better to just try again later or flat out failing the quest. They should already been briefed about this back when they first started. I guess they got overeager and pushed their luck.

”Youve bandaged her wound, did you do it properly? ”

I glanced at the young boy, asking if I can get closer. Both of them agreed and I checked on the girls condition.

”I- I think so. I did it following what I learned from the guidebook. ”

”Good. Have you checked for poison? ”

”O-oh no! I haven ! ”

They boy face immediately changed to shock. I felt the urge to scold him right then and there, but the girl is more important.

”Check your storage! Did you buy any first aid provisions?! Anti-poison potion?! ”

I checked my storage. I only have some herb concoctions to alleviate poison. Thats better than nothing.

”Drink this! ”

I lifted the girls head and fed her the drink slowly.

”I don have any antidote or anti-poison potion! ”

”I already gave her an herb potion, but thats probably not enough. We have to bring her back to the city. ”

Damn it. I guess Il have to delay exploring the forest for later.

”K-kak! ”

The boy suddenly shouted in distress.

”I sense monsters coming into the cave! ”

”Right now?! ”

What the hell is with the timing?!

”Get out your weapon! Guard her! ”

I took out my sword and shield, and stood in front of the two newbies.

Good thing that my eyes are already used to the darkness. I can see them clearly now. Goblins. A lot of them.

”They
e goblins. ”

I whispered to the boy.

”G-goblins?! ”

”Did you REALLY succeed at your quest? ”

”Y-yeah! We killed all the goblins, but one of them managed to escape…. ”

”!? ”

This newbie…

”If one of them managed to escape… Then your quest is NOT a success you idiot! If one of them escape, then it could tell the other goblins about YOU and they can fortify their defenses! They teach this basic bit of knowledge to newbies when you apply for the quest! How did you not know?! ”

While still whispering, I yelled at him as harsh as I could.

”How did they find us here?! We are far away from the last place we fight! ”

”…it must be her. The poison. It must have some kind of scent that led them here to us. ”

”Ugh… ”

This is why I don like newbies. They are not ready to go out into the world yet. They need to know stuff first!

”Do you have two teleport orbs? ”

”N-no… The forest wasn too far from the city, so we didn think about it. ”

Damn it!!! I have one for myself… FUCK! I can just leave them here alone!

”Listen. Tell me what Crafts and Signs that you can use. No secrets! ”

”R-right! I can use… [Flash Step], [Sense Entity], and [Solid Barrier]. ”

Only the basics huh… Tch!

”Cast [Solid Barrier]. Make it as thick and as wide as you can to protect you and your friend. ”

”Erm… What about you? ”

Ill just have to do my best. Fuck you and the trouble you bring.

”I have a plan. ”