Chapter 2: May
She used to be named April, but that was a fact that even she had slowly thrown to the back of her mind. She was leading a completely different life right now with a different identity. She never knew who the mother of her current body was. Right after she first regained consciousness, April's vision was blocked up as she was wrapped in a small towel. Unable to move her body, her thoughts were filled with helplessness and confusion as she was left in the jungle, seemingly as an offering to the wild animals. Fortunately, a passing woodcutter got to her before the wild beasts did. May was what he named her.
How fitting, from April to May. A new name, a new month, a new beginning.
That's what she thought when she first heard her new name. But she naturally wasn't able to express her thoughts as a baby. From that day, she was brought up alone by the woodcutter in a small wooden house at the edge of the forest. No large wild beasts ever ventured this far out, and smaller ones were kept out by a sturdy fence set up by the woodcutter, thus the house was safer than it looked.
Once a month, the woodcutter would set off with a wooden cart to sell the wood that he prepared at the nearest village, and each trip took him three days due to how far off it was. He always brought May along with him, since there was no one else who could help to take care of a baby. During these monthly trips, May stretched her senses to the limits as she tried to take in as much information as she could in an attempt to learn more about this world. What her foster father could teach her was limited as his horizons were small, and there was little he knew about the village itself. Thus May had no choice but to learn the rest through her observations. That, to the adult consciousness within her, was not difficult at all. In addition, she got a lot of opportunities to enter the village, visiting every month. Soon, May was able to have a pretty good idea on the state of the village.
Lorne Village was a week's journey from the nearest city, Rainfall City. Just like how her foster father will make a trip to the village once a month, the villagers will send a small group to the city twice a year. It was a self-sustainable village, so the trips were usually meant to sell their goods. If any villagers had a personal reason to go to Rainfall City, they would tag along with the group on their journey as it was dangerous to traverse the woods alone.
While May was curious about how the city would compare to that of her old world, she was certain that her foster father would never allow it. Thus, she decided to start with the village itself. The village was not big, so she quickly got to know everyone around. Even as her old self, she had always known how to get to into other people's good books. Now in the body of a lovable young girl, things got even easier as she got the villagers to teach her everything ranging from archery and knives throwing to flower arrangement and lock picking. Seeing how eager to learn this young girl was, the adults grew even fonder of her.
"You sure have a bright daughter! I'm sure she will grow up to be a talented young lady in the future!" a villager was full of praises as he bought firewood from May's foster father.
"I sure hope that is the case!" Tom answered cheerily as well.
This daughter of his was his pride. Though she was not born of his blood, he had long treated her as his own daughter. And she had not disappointed him at all. While kids her age only wanted to play, she went around learning useful skills from the villagers, making her a multi-talented individual. At her tender age of ten, she probably already knew more things than he did.
"After a few more years pass, she is going to be on every young boy's mind!" another villager was walking past when she heard their conversation, so she chimed in casually.
"Bah! Those brats can keep dreaming!" Tom got turned off by the mere thought of a guy getting to the heart of his precious daughter.
At that moment, he caught sight of a familiar figure making its way towards them from afar. His mood immediately lifted once more as he turned to wave to the young girl who was making her way over.
Seeing Tom wave to him, May broke into a smile and enthusiastically waved back. She was just at the local smith's, and had wanted to try picking up the basics of blacksmithing. However, she never expected the heat to be so unbearable! The relentless heat proved to be too much of a deterrence, and May decided that not all things are necessary in life. In the future, she would just obediently pay the blacksmiths for any jobs she required of them.
Skipping over, she greeted her foster father with a kiss on the cheek before flashing a bright smile to the other villagers around.
"How's the day at the smith?" Tom casually asked.
"Not good at all! I think my skin is going to be burnt to a crisp if I stay there for more than a minute!" May sulked.
"The smith is not suited for girls indeed! You made the right choice in giving up! There's no way that you will retain your smooth skin otherwise!" one of the villagers laughed.
"He's right! You should be careful with exploring all these different jobs! Some things are still better off left to the men!" Tom nodded in agreement.
"Well, I will be careful!"
May answered brightly, but everyone here knew that she was unconvinced. She had always shown in interest in learning everything after all, no matter how dangerous, though the art of blacksmithing seemed to be an exception. Tom could only sigh helplessly at the thought of that.
"Oh right, dad, I will be joining the hunters this evening! The chief had already agreed!"
"All right, but be careful!" Tom agreed easily, as this was no longer the first time that she joined the hunting team. The first time she asked, Tom did not agree at all. So May sneaked out to join the hunting group, only telling him after she got back. He was so furious that he forbade her from leaving her room for half a month.
"Got it! I will bring back some meat for you! Just wait for my triumphant return!" May punched the air smugly before skipping off.
The three adults just laughed as they watched her trail off.
It was late afternoon when the hunting group departed. The planned hunt was a straightforward one. Just as they routinely do, the hunting group will enter the shallow portions of the forest. The experienced hunters will be leading the way as they looked for trails and signs of beasts, while the younger members of the group carefully follow behind and wait for signals telling them what to do. Today, May actually convinced the more experienced members of the group to allow her to join the front. She wanted to be right beside them as they put their skills to use, so that she would be able to see for herself and learn accordingly.
"Stop!" one of the more experienced members suddenly raise his right hand as a signal to the group behind.
The group immediately came to a halt, as their eyes wandered from the front to the forestry around them, trying to catch any hint of animals. May took a step forward and focused as she tried to sniff the air for any odd scents. They could hear the cicadas calling as tension rose.
Just then, the sound of a branch breaking caught the attention of all the hunters. No one knew who fired the shot but an arrow flew in that direction, resulting in a yelp of anguish.
It hit something!
But the joy in their hearts was short-lived. Immediately after, roars sounded out from all around them. There was a pack of beasts that had surrounded them without them noticing! What a grave mistake!
The thick grass parted behind them as a wolf pounced out in fury. No, it was not a wolf. This beast before them was slightly larger than a normal wolf and had a sharp blade protruding out from the middle of its back. Its two front limbs were significantly thicker than its two hind limbs, built so it could easily tear its prey apart with the overbearing strength packed into the muscles of its two front limbs. It was known as a Tyrant Wolf, a ferocious beast that lurked in packs within the depths of the forest. However, it was the first time that the villagers encountered one so close to the edge of the forest.
It managed to pounce onto one of the members at the back, pinning him onto the group immediately. Shock overcame everyone as they froze for a moment, and this moment of hesitation was all that the Tyrant Wolf needed to bite right into the neck of its prey. There was no longer any hope of survival for the victim. While he was not killed immediately, the village did not have medical facilities or priests advanced enough to heal such severe wounds in time.
After the moment of fear came absolute rage as the villagers watched their peer got sentenced to death by the beast. They gave off shouts of rage as they, too, pounced at the Tyrant Wolf with weapons in hand. Everyone's attention was drawn to the back of the group, but the more experienced ones knew that was just the beginning.
One by one, Tyrant Wolves pounced from the thick bushes around them. There were six, no, seven of them! Considering the arrow that likely stopped one of them just a moment before, it was probably a pack of eight! How did an entire small pack like this wander all the way to such a shallow part of the forest?
May had already reached her right hand into the pouch that was tied to her left thigh when she first heard the roars sound out from around them, and it was fortunate that she had prepared so. Of the seven Tyrant Wolves, one of them had actually pounced right at her!
She had previously taken a step out from the group when they stopped to observe the surroundings, and this one step further actually drew her out of the range of the experienced hunters beside her! It would have been fine if they were fully focused, but they had been distracted by the first Tyrant Wolf that pounced out, causing them to react slower by a beat.
I'm not about to die to some stupid wolf in this rural part of the world!
May was shouting in her head, as her eyes locked themselves onto the predator that was leaping through the air towards her. At that moment, her right arm moved at a speed that she never realised was possible, swinging diagonally in front of her across from bottom left to top right. Two short daggers flew out from her skinny hands right towards her target.
Time seemed to have been frozen for the Tyrant Wolf as the two daggers flew nearer and nearer to its skin. Blood spurt out as the two daggers embedded themselves into the face of the Tyrant Wolf, causing it to falter halfway through its leap. May was in full concentration mode, agilely dodging the Tyrant Wolf which fell flat on its face as it landed.
Hurriedly turning back to face the beast, May could see it fumbling around with its limbs, struggling to push itself up from the ground. As expected, her young and undeveloped arms were still too weak! It was impossible for her throwing knives to completely penetrate through a Tyrant Wolf's physical defense!
That may be so, but if May had any chance of killing the Tyrant Wolf, it would be this moment when it is still struggling to get up!
May quickly stretched her hand into her pouch once again, but before she could do anything else, she felt a strong arm sweep her up and away. She was shocked by the sudden intervention and was about to throw a knife towards the newcomer when she realised that it was one of the more experienced hunters who wanted to pull her towards the centre of the group and away from danger.
Another hunter rushed forward with his spear and pierced it right towards the neck of the Tyrant Wolf. It was already blinded by the two knives embedded in its face, so it had no way of dodging the spear strike. Blood spurt out as the spear was plunged through its fur and into its neck where it was vulnerable.
Needless to say, May was slightly displeased.
That could have been her virgin kill on a wild beast! What a kill-stealer!
But at the same time, May also knew that her current status as a ten year old girl was simply shouting out for others to protect her. This was also something that she wanted to continue capitalising on for the days to come, so May just kept quiet as she was pulled away from immediate danger.
Adrenaline was still pumping in her veins though! No matter what, even if she counts her previous life as well, that was her first encounter with such danger! How would she be able to calm down so quickly under such circumstances?
Taking a quick glance around her, she could see that the hunting group had been forced to divide themselves into six different subgroups, each facing a different Tyrant Wolf. While the experienced hunters in front were able to wrestle the Tyrant Wolf by helping each other, the inexperienced members at the back were not doing as well. A few members were already lying on the ground, either dead or dying from blood loss. The others were slowly cowering backwards as they faced the huge beasts.
Swoosh!
The sound of an object cutting through the wind sounded out.
Before anyone could even think about where the sound came from, a roar of distress came from one of the Tyrant Wolves at the back. Originally poised to pounce, the beast suddenly staggered back as it drew its head back in pain.
"Look at its face!" one of the hunters shouted out in alarm.
"That is…a knife?"
Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh!
More roars of distress sounded out as three other knives flew in from the centre of the hunting group.
May had started learning the skill of knife throwing from one of the villagers who specialised in picking fruits. She once followed the villagers out to pick fruits from the edge of the forest, and saw this exceptionally talented villager aiming at the stalks of fruits that were hanging at the top of trees and strike them down with such precision that it gave her goose-bumps. Since that day, May had begged the villager to train her in knife throwing and religiously practised on a daily basis. As long as the target was stationary, May was even confident of hitting an apple that was 50 metres away! Fortunately for May, Tyrant Wolves were built to overpower their prey with their strong front limbs. As such, their movement speed was not high at all, allowing her to still strike with relatively high accuracy.
The morale of the inexperienced hunters at the back was completely reinvigorated as they saw knife after knife embed themselves into the face of these Tyrant Wolves, and they stopped cowering, switching to offense instead!
The knife wounds were not as deep as that of the first Tyrant Wolf that May struck at though. That first strike was done as the Tyrant Wolf itself was pouncing right at May, increasing the relative velocity of the knives as they struck the beast!
However, it was still sufficient to impair the Tyrant Wolves' vision, as well as causing some form of psychological damage to the beast. Feeling the pain from an attack that it was unable to dodge, it was inevitable that the Tyrant Wolf started to hesitate, even thinking of running instead!
May had run out of knives by now, but she knew she had done her part. The Tyrant Wolves were no longer overbearingly attacking, now even slowly creeping backwards in fear. But how would the hunters, whose morale was on a high, allow that to happen?
With a loud roar that almost equalled that of the Tyrant Wolves', the hunters rushed forwards with their weapons in hand, determined to finish off this skirmish once and for all. It was finished quickly from there, the wolves only turned to run upon seeing the hunters charge at them. However, they were not built for speed! One by one, they were caught up and cut down from behind. Only two of them managed to get away as the hunters ran out of stamina. May simply stayed where she was, watching as the hunters run off in pursuit.
That night, the elders of the village convened at the village head's house. There were three main points on the agenda – first was the compensation to the family of those who died to the Tyrant Wolves, second was the appearance of Tyrant Wolves in the shallow forests, and lastly it was to discuss their future treatment towards the newly discovered monster of a warrior, May.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone