Chapter 21: Hunter
Kai stayed true to his word and worked at the Hunter's Lodge throughout the day.
Kai took some time to acclimate himself to the new environment, however after the first few hours, he fell into a rhythm.
4 hours flew by within the blink of an eye. Kai looked over to the pile of hides to his left and felt content. He averaged 30 skinned hides for the first hour and by the 4th hour, he was averaging over 40 hides.
Kai did the final count and found he had 140 hides with 110 being Grade-1 and the remaining 30 being Grade-2 Hides.
The foreman came over to Kai and was surprised to see that he had already skinned all the beasts in his section.
"You're fast kid, and the quality is good too. 110 Grade-1 hides will be 22 copper, the 30 Grade-2 Hides will be a total of 12 copper."
He handed the Kai 34 copper coins and gave him a pat on the back before heading off to another section.
Kai was extremely disappointed. The 34 copper was welcome, but the amount of time and effort he had to put in wasn't worth it. He pocketed the coins and looked around the depressing factory.
"I need to find a better method of making money..."
Kai put down the skinning knife and went to catch up to the foreman. He still didn't know the man's name seeing as he hadn't bothered to introduce himself, so Kai just called him 'Mister.
"Mister, where exactly are these beasts are coming from?"
"Huh? you don't know?". The man said with a look of doubt plastered on his face.
Kai just shook his head innocently. He was getting better at playing the part of an innocent young boy.
The foreman turned around and kept walking on his original path while answering Kai.
"They're caught by adventurers and various types of mercenaries and warriors out in the wilds. The Hunter's Lodge purchases the beast carcasses and ships them here to get processed into usable materials "
Kai now understood a little more about the supply chain of the Hunter's Lodge. This place was just a processing factory.
"So how much do the Hunter's who catch the beasts make?". Kai asked with some anticipation.
"Hmm, that would depend on the size, grade, and rarity of the beast. The small Grade-1 beasts you've been skinning will go for about 30-40 copper each. Much more if they're bigger or rare.
Kai's jaw almost dropped off his face. He could make 4 hours' worth of skinning income by selling one beast?.
"Where can I find these beasts?..."
"Don't even think about it kid, you would need to be a Grade-3 Body cultivator just to survive and encounter any beast Grade-2. Even then, a Grade-3 beast would mean instant death"
The man was counting a stack of hides but quickly turned to look at Kai with a serious expression.
"Many strong mortals are lured in by the prospects of making easy money but they just end up throwing their lives away"
Kai didn't expect this guy to try and dissuade him. Did he really care? or was he just sad to see a fast and efficient worker like Kai leave?.
"The beasts from the deep forest gather west this time of year so most Hunters head over there. But I can tell you that most beasts are already back in their territories by now so don't you even dare think about going there, it's a death sentence!"
"I was just curious, I don't plan on going there". Kai said nonchalantly.
"Good!. If you need money, just work hard for me here. With your skill, you'll make enough to live a comfortable life in the future".
The foreman nodded his head in relief. He turned his back away from Kai and continued to count the pile of hides.
Kai simply rolled his eyes but didn't respond. The man either cared a lot about Kai's well-being or just wanted Kai to waste his life skinning beasts for him.
Kai left the Hunter's Lodge Factory and decided to head to the main branch of the Hunter's Lodge where the beast extermination notices got posted.
Kai had only spent 4 hours at the factory so it was still quite early in the day. He got the directions to the main branch from a local vendor and quickly moved towards it, however, he first decided to disguise himself.
Kai walked into an alleyway and changed into his original fisherman's rags along with the large straw hat. He had been carrying the stuff in his backpack the entire time since he didn't want to leave anything lying around in the shared rooms.
Kai also covered his face entirely in straps of black cloth he tore off an old shirt. This would completely hide his identity, at least from regular people. The change in clothing worked to make Kai look like a different and mysterious person who people would think twice about before messing with.
"With this, I'll be able to at least hide my identity from random nosy people", Kai thought to himself
Kai continued in the direction of the main branch and reached it within just 15 minutes of fast walking.
The building was massive with eye-catching architecture that made it stand out from the other smaller buildings around it. This area of the city also looked better developed and more affluent than the area of the Inn he stayed at.
All the people moving about had expensive-looking clothing on, with some even having multiple bodyguards following behind them.
Kai didn't dally outside and walked straight into the building. He was again stunned by the marvelous architecture and decorative statues of both man and beasts.
This place must be quite profitable if they could invest this much into decorations.
There were not too many people, however, the few Kai saw all looked quite strong. Kai was hesitant to randomly use [Qi Detection] after what happened when he first arrived in the city so he kept his curiosity bottled up and walked towards the receptionist area.
"Hello, are you here to register as a Hunter?". said the female receptionist with a warm smile.
Kai simply nodded his head but didn't say anything lest he exposed his young age.
"fantastic, can I have your city token please"
Kai obliged and handed over his token.
The woman waved an odd orb over the token which slightly glowed in her hands.
"Thank you. The registration fee will be 50 copper and an additional 1 copper will be charged to your token daily"
Kai almost fell over after hearing the registration fee but good old [Twig] kept him balanced and standing.
The receptionist noticed Kai's lack of response and decided to elaborate.
"Anyone who pays the fee can earn a bronze Hunter's license however the only privilege it gives is access to the beast movements in the area. Access to this information is part of the ongoing fee"
Kai understood it better now, however, he wondered why they allowed anyone to be able to register as a Hunter. This place didn't seem to care much if the person was strong enough or not, meaning they didn't care if regular people got themselves killed out there.
Kai paid the 50 copper and had 4 coppers left after making the payment. Kai suddenly felt poor again.
The receptionist stamped Kai's token then handed him a map.
"You can collect the latest beast-related information from here once a day. if you want regular automatic updates sent to you, you will have to upgrade your city token to Silver then come back to register here again".
Kai took over the map and saw that it was dated with the day's date. it looked generic and mass-produced but it highlighted the beast locations as well as their estimated strengths.
Kai nodded to the woman and was about to leave when she suddenly stopped him.
"It's dangerous out there so it may be best to move in a group. Many Hunter's gather in the bar across the road, you can try to find a willing group there if you are alone".
Kai simply nodded his head again then left the Lodge. He had no plan of joining a random group of strangers. Kai knew from this world and the last that Humans were the most dangerous beasts of all.
Kai read the information on the map and discovered that most of the areas were marked with a note saying the beasts had migrated west. Only a few locations had beast activity.
Kai decided to head to the Eastern Swamps to find what the map labeled as [Slime Vine]. These were Grade-1 beasts that traveled alone and were not considered to be powerful. The swamp's other inhabitants had migrated west so Kai saw this as a chance to get stronger easily.
The swamp was an hour's carriage ride east of the city, but Kai didn't have the money to hire a carriage so he decided to just run there.
He was as fast as a carriage at full speed if he counted his ability to enhance his leg muscles using Qi.
Kai didn't waste any more time and headed to the Eastern entrance of the city. His fisherman's clothing definitely drew the attention of people around him but his face was covered by the rags and the large straw hat so he didn't care this time.
Kai looked out into the Horizon and started to run towards the east at full speed.
The mortals around him were surprised when they saw his sudden high-speed sprint which was not ordinary, but before they could react, he was already going over the horizon.
"What was that, a body cultivator?"
"If he's in such a hurry, why didn't he just take a carriage?"
"tsk, show off. I could do that too if I wanted"
People had different reactions but they soon went about their business normal business again.
Kai was running at full speed. He hadn't enhanced his body with Qi seeing as he only had [1 Qi] available right now. He had to save it for emergencies
Kai reached the swamp within two hours of sprinting. His body wasn't too tired and he figured with just a quick 10-minute break, he would be good to go.
As Kai sat cross-legged to regulate his breathing, he looked at the eerie swamp in front of him. There were odd sounds coming from within which startled Kai.
"Is this really a good idea?..."
Kai was doubting his decision. He came here under the allure of finding weak monsters to grind Qi from, however, being here in person all alone was a completely different story.
Kai shook his head and reminded himself of his goals before standing up with resolve in his eyes.
"If I start making excuses now, it will never end. I need to face this challenge head-on if I want to get stronger!".
With that, Kai left all his doubts behind and headed into the swamp. The map only gave a general overview of the beasts but not what they looked like or how they fought. Kai figured he needed to upgrade his token and register as a Silver hunter before he could get that information.
Kai moved along the swamp slowly and as quietly as possible. The odd sounds could be heard all over, however, he had yet to see any creatures.
Kai was ready to escape using [Hare leaps over moon] at any moment if he had to, but at a cost of [ 1 Qi ] to use, he wanted to avoid using it as much as possible.
Kai simply trudged deeper into the swamp but didn't encounter any living creatures. All he noticed was that the vines in the area were becoming denser and harder to traverse through.
"Wait a minute...could these vines be..."
Kai had a terrifying thought and quickly backtracked, moving away from the vines quickly while activating [Qi Detection].
[Grade-1] Slime Vine [Qi 72]
[Grade-1] Slime Vine [Qi 68]
[Grade-1] Slime Vine [Qi 83]
[Grade-1] Slime Vine [Qi 78]
Kai felt a cold sweat down his back. He almost walked right into the beast's lair.
The vines reacted to his sudden movement and they started to wiggle around like snakes. Each vine was covered in small spikes looked alive.
Kai threw off his backpack and pulled out a dagger.
This dagger belonged to one of the mysterious Internal Cultivators that Kai had defeated.
Mina and Ryu hadn't taken everything from the two, just the small and hard to identify items in fear that they would be found with the stolen goods of dead cultivators.
Kai prepared himself. There were currently only four of the beasts. Kai could clearly differentiate them from the actual vines with [Qi Detection].
Kai ran towards the closest vine and swiped at it horizontally using the dagger. The vine moved quickly and dodged Kai's attack which was strange.
They did not have eyes so Kai didn't know how it had managed to dodge his attack.
Not wanting to waste any more time, Kai enhanced his entire body using his last [ 1 Qi]. He would go for an all-or-nothing attack.
With his enhanced body, Kai was a lot faster so his next attack connected, however to his dismay, the wound he had just inflicted healed almost instantaneously.
However, Kai didn't give up, he dodged the attacks of the other vines as best as he could while focusing on the one target.
Kai threw out multiple slashes inflicting serious wounds in the vine, however, the other vines were also attacking Kai, leaving nasty gashed across his arms and back. He dodged as many as he could however they were also quite fast so he had no way of dodging them all.
Kai noticed that the wounds on his targeted vine weren't healing at the same rate which proved his idea that they couldn't regenerate indefinitely.
After a few more minutes, Kai finally saw the notification that brought him immense joy.
==[Slime Vine] defeated. [3 Qi] absorbed by [Dragon Subduing Law]==
At this point, the tables quickly turned. There was one less vine so the pressure on Kai had been greatly reduced. He had also learned their unique attack patterns so he was able to dodge a lot more of their attacks.
Kai made quick work of the remaining three vines and only had to use an extra [2 Qi] to do so.
Kai stood over the bodies of the strange vine creatures with a triumphant look on his face. His injuries looked terrible but Kai knew they were just surface level.
"This is good, I just have to avoid getting injured"
Kai looked in the distance and noticed a few more vines slowly creeping towards him. He smiled and ran over to them eager to collect more Qi.
Gifts
-- Gift
received Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone