Depthless Hunger: A Progression LitRPG, page 6
"You know, I'm not sure. If you take them all, I can go to sleep, so why don't you do that?"
"Thank you." Kai took the three seeds carefully, but even up close he couldn't make anything of them, with spiritual or normal vision. "Can you tell me what these are?"
"Mana seedlings." The dryad answered as if she expected him to understand that, and when he obviously didn't, sighed and went on in a lower voice. "They will enhance your growth, but only under specific circumstances. You should eat one of them before you enter a dangerous situation. If you're having trouble developing, it could help you over the obstacle."
"Should I save them for when I get stuck, then?"
"They'll probably grow less effective the stronger you become. These are for seedlings, after all." She patted him absentmindedly on the head and then settled back onto her branch. "I guess you aren't so bad, but I'm tired of talking now."
That seemed to be the end of the conversation as far as she was concerned. Kai thanked her a few more times and backed away. The seeds burned in his palm the entire time, emitting huge amounts of mana. He'd heard of items like this, and it wasn't surprising that they'd be placed within the Hunter Trials, but he hadn't expected to find any so soon.
As he walked away, Kai considered his options. He placed two of the mana seedlings into a very secure pouch within his sack, where they'd be safest. The last he kept in his hand, both in case it was necessary and to think about it. His gut instinct was to save them, but the dryad had said they'd be less useful that way. Picking the right time to use them would be difficult.
He'd lost several hours in his early travels, but the majority of the second day still stretched before him. It probably made sense to use all three mana seedlings during the Hunter Trials, so he just needed to figure out when the most "dangerous situations" would be. The trials were intended to push them to their limits, so opportunities were sure to come up, he just didn't want to waste the seedlings on a trick like the dryad.
Less than an hour later, Kai spotted a cloud of dust on the horizon. He shielded his eyes and made out a group of the monster boars: only about half the group, and not including the largest. They weren't moving toward him, so he could simply let them run on.
Instead, Kai swallowed the first of the mana seedlings and ran into battle.
Chapter 10: Second Sunset
As the horizon began to swallow the sun, Kai staggered back to the nearest waypoint. It had been a day of grueling combat, and if he ran into any other candidates he might regret pushing himself so hard. There hadn't been much fighting between humans on the second day of the Hunter Trials because of all the new monsters. That would probably change.
He had used up two of his three mana seedlings. Hopefully he wouldn't regret that, but he resisted the urge to examine himself with his spiritual vision. The numbers didn't matter as much as working as hard as he could, and getting to safety so some monster didn't kill him in the night.
After the good prizes from the dryad, he'd aggressively pursued other waypoints, but they hadn't been as eventful. Many of those that looked like they might have been interesting had already been cleared by someone else. Once he saw several of the goons that served Fhazi taking down an octopus monster in a small pond, then leave with the rewards. It seemed that the best challenges were taken fast.
There were a few simpler waypoints that distributed food and water. The quality was far worse than the reward meal given by Juray, so he belatedly wished that he'd thanked her more. He'd considered going back to her, but it would have wasted too much time to retrace his steps. Best to keep moving forward.
Before the sun set completely, Kai reached his destination. Just another little shrine surrounded by a barrier. Fortunately, it looked like no one else had returned to it, so the only occupant was a bored-looking hunter. When Kai arrived he nodded to the man, who grinned.
"Turning in for the day, huh?"
"I'm pretty tired," Kai said. He paused and stared back out into the darkness. "Wait, are there special events occurring at night?"
"Not for the basic Hunter Trials. Get your rest and heal up. You look like you need it."
Kai didn't hurt as badly as he'd expected, given all his injuries and the potion he'd taken during the day. He still really, really wanted to sit down. Before heading in, he decided to press for one more question. "If it's not cheating, can you tell me what the situation looks like out there?"
"You think they tell me anything important or let me use the portals?" The hunter snorted. "No, I just run the shrine and save candidates if they're getting themselves killed. I guess I can say that more candidates are out than usual. That huge monster is still out there."
"The giant boar?" Kai strained his eyes into the darkness, as if he hoped to find it. His spiritual vision had been improving through practice, but he didn't spot any concentrations of power that might be the over-sized monster.
"Yeah, that thing is a problem. But they might put a bounty on it tomorrow, so I can't say anything else."
After thanking the man, Kai shuffled into the shrine and finally dropped. He needed rest, but his mind was racing. To take his mind off everything, he opened his sack and counted all the monster cores. He'd been trying to keep track, just not very carefully given all the fighting.
So far he had 53 small cores, 14 larger, and 1 enormous core he'd torn from the chest of a twisted bear-like creature. That one had required a trap, several injuries, and a bit of luck. He hadn't been comparing totals with the other candidates, but he thought that was a pretty decent number.
Once he'd finished counting, Kai decided that there was no point putting it off any longer. It was time to see if his work that day had made any progress...
<
Name: Kai Granfian
Total Power: 16
Laborer Class: 2
Physique Level: G-4
Soul Level: 2
>
It wasn't as bad as he'd feared. His Physique Level had improved twice, no doubt due to the mana seedlings fueling his combat experiences. At this rate he was rapidly approaching the F rank, which would make him about as physically tough as most of the veteran hunters... just without a useful Class.
That was the fly in the pudding. None of the fights throughout the day had revealed any special abilities or wondrous secrets to his "Laborer" Class. Its level had increased for some reason, possibly due to the mana seedlings. Or possibly just to mock him.
If he worked twice as hard as everyone else, could he keep up? Right now it felt like it, but Gunjin had implied that every source of power became more and more difficult to increase as it advanced. For now, all he could do was give the last day of the Hunter Trials his all.
Lying down and thinking about his plans, Kai wasn't sure when he fell asleep.
.
..
.
He woke up with the earliest light stabbing into his eyes. That was the way it had always been: the slightest light was guaranteed to wake him up. Since he'd lived in hole-ridden shacks until Gunjin took him in, he'd gotten used to rising early.
Kai rose to his feet and yawned. He struggled to remember the fragments of dreams that slipped away before realizing it was pointless. One last day.
There weren't any sources of power on the horizon, so Kai decided to train until the dawn announcement. If they changed the rules for the last day, that could significantly change his strategy. Given the apparent weakness of his Class, his best hope of getting stronger was to acquire the top rewards for the Hunter Trials.
Since the day didn't seem to have started as far as the managers were concerned, Kai dropped to the ground for his old physical training. He started with ordinary push-ups, and when they proved too easy, he vaulted into a hand stand and lifted his body weight that way.
As he went through his routine, he marveled at how much stronger his body had become. Since he'd finished puberty, his gains in strength had always been slow and steady. Even when he tried more difficult exercises, he could only advance at a limited rate. But now his body was being enhanced by more than simply his physical exercise, and he was already seeing the benefits.
He might not have gained an exceptional Class ability, but he'd take what he could get. Exercising normally felt better than before and he wondered if he could improve that way now that he could attempt new exercises. Most likely there would be diminishing returns switching between combat and physical training. That didn't mean he couldn't balance both to see how far they could take him.
As Kai lowered himself to the ground, he tried to focus on the mana reinforcing his body. When his nose nearly touched the ground, he could feel a slight burn in his arms, but it was hard to disentangle that from the mana. Veterans said that balancing the two became as important as good form: you needed to exert both body and mana together, without letting either go slack. He began to slow down as he pushed himself back up, trying to focus on the sensations.
Kai had time for a long routine before a glowing point of mana appeared overhead. It briefly outshone the sun, but he just ignored it and prepared his things for the day's work while he listened.
"The third day of the Hunter Trials has begun!" It was the same old woman as before, though her voice was a bit less cheerful. "There has been a change to the schedule: the trials will end today at noon. Everyone's performance up to this point has been evaluated, and if you're still here you're eligible for prizes to be awarded at the end, even if you're eliminated today. A different prize will be awarded to any group that is able to eliminate the Direboar.
"No new waypoints have been added, but all candidates are encouraged to compete with one another to test their new Classes. Anyone who is still conscious when the bell rings will receive a mana potion. But the most substantial rewards will go to those with the largest number of monster cores. Stealing monster cores is permitted and encouraged. The strategy you choose is up to you, but prizes will be awarded at our discretion, for the good of Monskon City. Good luck!"
Those were essentially the rewards that Tusquo had explained to him. Good to know that the Irunian hadn't been lying. Kai was especially glad to hear that some rewards would be given based on the discretion of those judging. They would see that he was working at a severe disadvantage given his Class and hopefully reward him for his effort.
As for the others... Kai headed away from the shrine and searched the horizon while he considered strategy. He wasn't sure how his collection of monster cores compared to the others, but he didn't think he needed to be too concerned about volume. They were encouraging infighting, which could turn bad for him unless he found allies. Except all allies could easily be enemies.
He predicted that the least honorable candidates would go for the easiest path of taking down weak opponents to steal their cores. This late in the trials, they wouldn't risk their lives against the largest monsters unless they had to. If that was true, then hopefully the best plan for staying away from them would be to throw himself into danger.
Time to see if his new strength could take on the Direboar.
Chapter 11: A Rough Hint
After killing only three lesser monsters, Kai was starting to get frustrated. Not many monsters so far. All the other candidates he'd seen were trying to run out the time. The sun hadn't gotten far up in the sky, but he only had until noon. He wanted to find the Direboar, or at least some other challenge... even getting ambushed would be better than wasting his time.
Then a whirlwind slammed into the ground in front of him and he regretted those thoughts.
For a moment he thought it was a living tornado, then he remembered to use his spiritual vision. That made clear the spinning bands of viridian mana, whipping the air into a frenzy. They dissipated not long after he saw them, revealing a young woman in a green cloak. She looked vaguely familiar, with a mop of blond hair and a slim athletic build. She wore a top that left her midriff bare, but her hands were encased in gauntlets with nasty spiked knuckles.
"You and me, winner take all!" The woman bashed her gloves together with a cheerful grin. "I was planning to do this anyway, but then they told us to fight each other, so..."
"That doesn't seem fair," Kai said. She was obviously going to attack him, he just wanted more time. He pointed at the sack tucked into her belt. "If that sack is filled with your monster cores, I have way more than you. I have more to lose."
"While everyone else was getting cores, I was training my Class. It's a valid strategy." She gestured for him to attack. "My name is Inafay Corinin! Come on, fair duel!"
The Corinin clan was another of the largest in the city, and prominent throughout Goralia. Kai bought a little more time as he drew his sword. "That's not very honorable for a Corinin."
"Dammit, it's not like I targeted you because you got a weak Class. I'm looking for tough fights, and I've seen you kill monsters - you're a beast! So are we going to fight, or are you going to disappoint me?"
She still hadn't taken the initiative, and he didn't think that had anything to do with honor. Still, while she had been talking he'd gotten a clear look at her spiritual presence.
<
Name: Inafay Corinin
Total Power: 13
Windcutter Novice Class: 6
Physique Level: G-1
Soul Level: 2
>
Inafay might be physically weaker than him, but she was no slouch. And she hadn't been lying about training her new Class: she had the highest rating he'd seen from any candidate. The fight could go either way depending on a few variables...
Finally she got impatient and thrust a fist forward. They were still many paces apart, but a burst of wind exploded from her hand. Kai managed to duck aside and felt the wind whip his clothing violently. She was already winding back for a punch with her other arm.
Kai ducked underneath the wind as he stepped in, his sword sweeping up. The tip of his blade would have cut her face, but Inafay leaned back just enough to avoid it. She grinned at him and dodged back with a little dancing step, as if taunting him.
Her next two punches went wide, giving him a chance to run in for a direct attack. Kai closed the distance... and then leapt backward as hard as he could.
Her gauntlets smashed together and wind mana exploded around her, forming a sphere so intense that it tore through the ground. That was exactly what he'd been afraid of: she was clearly a physical fighter, so why had she been spending so much time taunting him to attack? The sphere of wind was more potent than he'd expected, but he'd been able to get out of range in time.
Inside the sphere, he saw Inafay's eyes widen as she realized her mistake. Not fast enough. As the wind began to fade, he leapt in and thrust directly for her heart.
She barely managed to jerk aside and his blade pierced her shoulder instead. It should have been a disabling blow, but Inafay turned her cry of pain into a roar and slammed a fist into his chest.
For a moment his entire torso was raw pain, then Kai felt his back slamming against the rocks. He tumbled several times, losing his grip on his sword somewhere during the process. When he finally skidded to a halt, he struggled to lift himself up to his elbows, much less get to his feet. If she hadn't been weakened by the stab wound in her shoulder, she might have finished him off then.
Was that the power of a trained Class? The wind had shredded most of his shirt, lacerations covered his chest, and there was already an ugly purple splotch where her fist had struck.
Kai forced himself back up and considered his options. Okay, he couldn't afford to take hits like that. But she was down an arm and couldn't use her sphere technique, so he had a chance. When he went to pick up his sword, Inafay hurled several wind bursts at him, but he was able to dodge around them until he was armed again.
"Damn, that hurts." Inafay let her injured arm hang limply and thrust her other arm toward him. "But I'm not giving up yet, so bring it!"
She unleashed a wind burst the next second, without any punching motion. He barely managed to get out of the way, but when he tried to step in, a second burst nearly caught him in the face. This was her fighting for real, effectively keeping him at a distance.
Every time he tried to get into her range, one of her bursts of wind would clip him. Kai realized that a lengthy fight would benefit her: she might be bleeding from her shoulder, but she could keep up these movements a lot longer than him. If he ended things soon, he might be able to heal with a potion, but at this rate he'd be beaten to a pulp.
So he needed to accept a hit. The right hit. Kai readied his sword, pretending to grip it with both hands while shifting all the weight to his right. Then he charged.
As expected, she retaliated with wind punches. This time he let the first hit him in the left shoulder, jerking his arm back. But he converted the blow into spinning momentum, his right arm thrusting out to pierce her stomach.
Just before he could hit, Inafay ducked. No, she wasn't ducking: she slammed her fist down into the ground and a half-sphere of wind exploded from her. The sword was instantly blown from his hands, and the wind hit him like a wall.
His instinct was to flinch back... but he pushed on. Ignoring the pain as the arcs of wind cut him repeatedly, Kai pushed through the sphere and slammed his head directly into Inafay's forehead. The impact made him reel, but when he could see again, the wind was gone and she was flat on her back.
He limped to pick up his sword, struggling just to raise his arms. His plan had been to hold it by her neck to force a surrender, but he wasn't sure he could keep it in place without accidentally stabbing her. When he turned back, however, he saw the young woman shake her head.
"No need. You could finish me off, so better to call it here." Inafay used her good arm to wipe away some of the blood on her face. "You're absolutely crazy, but I guess it worked."
"Are you going to need help?" Kai asked. "I mean, I'm going to steal all your stuff, but will you be okay out here?"
"Someone from the clan will be along to pick me up. I just keep everything in this... ugh, I guess you'd better reach it."
