Five Years of Hunting

After obtaining the grimoire, 'Deva', Sol learned that the foremost thing he should do was to summon 'Adam'. Since then he had been hunting for beasts for five years. For five years he went to the small forested hill chain that was at a distance from the village. One would need to cross the small forest on the outskirts of the village, then walk for thirty minutes towards the river. The river was big but not deep. From there a few minutes walk to reach the hills.

Sol would only hunt three or four days a week so that his parents wouldn't wonder where he always disappeared to. And during the rainy and winter season, he didn't hunt as often as he did. He could not spend all day in the forest. Plus he didn't hunt all the beast he encountered. The number of beasts he hunted was in two digits.

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One fine day in the hill; where sunlight hardly broke through big and tall trees, where the surrounding temperature was cool, where the forest floor was filled with tall shrubs and other plants, untouched by humans; there, a 'furless saber tooth' beast was searching for food. The beast was a three feet brown saber-tooth cat with thick skin, no fur, and long canine teeth.

The 'furless saber tooth' beast was walking and looking around. Between those tall plants, a thick eight-inch white snake with red eyes was lying low, watching the 'furless saber tooth' beast walk. When the beast was in the straight sight of the white snakes, it bit the beast on the side of its neck with poisonous fangs. The 'furless saber tooth' beast was startled and hurriedly turned towards the side from where the snake attacked. The white snake was pulled back and disappeared amid those tall plants. The beast didn't follow the white snake and walked forwards. It walked a little further and fell on the ground. It couldn't move, it tried to keep its eyes open. After a few minutes, it died of poison.

A boy came towards the dead beast from among those tall plants; a ten-year-old, wearing a long-sleeve dirty dress, thick brown color gloves, and a cloth tied as a mask. On his shoulder was the same white snake that bit the 'furless saber tooth' beast earlier, loosely wrapped around the neck in one loop, raising its head above the boy's head and looking around. The white snake appeared from the upper right side of his back.

The ten-year-old boy was Sol. He hid among those tall plants, keeping a distance from the beast, and waited to attack the beast. The 'White Sentinel' he had was thirteen meters long, enough to attack from a distance.

"Is it dead?" Sol looked at the dead beast lying on the ground. The White Sentinel around his neck looked at the beast, it had the ability to sense the heartbeat of the living and it could also share its sense with its master. The white sentinel told Sol that the beast was already dead. "Good," said Sol. He sat down and observed the beast. He would observe the beasts he hunted. Those beasts fascinated him.

From the upper left back and lower right back, Sol called out two 'Silver Sentinels'. He backed off a little then the silver sentinel pierced and tore apart the chest of the dead furless saber-tooth beast. Sol watched the process as if it was nothing new, the blood on the ground-plants, the torn-apart beast. He was calm. He waited for thirty seconds for the beast's heart to turn into mana stone. It was a two-inch, red heart-shaped stone with some small stony veins.

"Beast mana stone huh," said Sol while taking out the stone. In these five years, Sol had only obtained red, beast mana stones from the beasts he hunted. If the stones are heart-like shapes then they are beast mana stones. He learned that the beast mana stone and magic stone obtained from beast varies from beast to beast. Purple color beast mana stone indicates mana stone from the mutant beast, red color beast mana stone: a mana stone from the normal beast, blue color beast stone: a magic stone from the magical beast. He learned about stones from the villagers who would sometimes travel to town and from a doctor of the village.

For five years Sol used different methods to hunt down the beasts. He, most of the time hid himself and poisoned beasts, hid and pierced beasts with silver sentinels, made silver sentinel threw big stones, and branched. He kept a distance between him and the beasts.

There were times when Sol avoided some beasts. He didn't know how but he could feel which beasts to hunt, which to avoid, and which he couldn't win against. He avoided a pack of beasts, enormous beasts that would take too much effort and time, hardshell beasts, and sometimes beasts he felt creepy.

Sol always had one 'White Sentinel' out from his back. The White Sentinel would watch the surroundings and inform him. It would search for a beast with its eyes, or sense of heat and smell. It could sense being within the twelve-meter range. Since it had the ability to share its sense, Sol would observe the beasts and surround them through its eyes before hunting them.

"Now let's store it in the grimoire," said Sol. Then he called, "Deva." From his chest a red light ball appeared, it turned into a grimoire. It opened its sun-like yellow eyes and formed a yellow magic circle. The magic circle pulled in the mana stone. Since the grimoire had the ability to store things, Sol had been storing stones in it. The stored things had its own record page with a drawn picture of it, name, and quantity. The name and description of stored items depended on Sol's knowledge about it. If he didn't know about the item then only picture and quantity would appear in the grimoire. He could record stuff either by writing it or just by speaking. Items that were stored in the grimoire could also be taken out.

Sol didn't just store the mana stone, he would also use it on Silver Sentinel and White Sentinel to enhance them and their ability.

Sol looked at the number of mana stones he had collected. "Only fifty-four huh!?" said Sol, "Well then, let's look for another one." The grimoire turned into a red ball and went into Sol's chest. He left the dead beast as it is for another beast to feed on. Sometimes he would feed them to White Sentinels. Not all the mana stone he had collected came from hunting, some he obtained from a beast that died from disease, accident, or from its predator.

Sol walked further inside the forest, slowly climbed the hill. The hill was untouched as there were no paths. He walked between big trees and tall plants with White Sentinel around his neck, scouting the area. He marked the trees he passed to follow the same path to return.

"Hiking in another world," said Sol as he got closer to the top of the hill. He wasn't tired as he had been doing it for five years. He could see his village, crops, roads, rivers on wide green land. It was the scenery that captivated Sol whenever he went hunting. He enjoyed exploring. He reached the top of the hill, at the other side of the hill, there were small densely forested hills and small forested valleys. He walked down the hill.

While descending, in between the trees and tall plants he found a big hole in the middle of the hill.  Sol said "A cave?!" It was the cave entrance and was about three-meter tall and four-meter wide and was blocked by plants.

Sol slowly entered the cave with caution. "Are there any beasts?" Sol asked White Sentinel on his neck. The White Sentinel didn't detect any beast within its range. "Nothing huh!?" Sol looked around. Inside the cave was big like a passage. At the beginning of the cave, the ground was all green due to moss, roots of trees, and plants were hanging above. "Whoa!" Sol was amazed. He had never been to a cave before in his present life as well as in his previous life.

As he went further, the moss decreased and brown soil passage started. It also got darker. "It's getting dark…' Share Vision' " said Sol and he shared vision with the White Sentinel that was around his neck. Both the eyes of Sol and White Sentinels were glowing red. The white sentinel became the eye of Sol, what White Sentinel saw Sol saw the same. The White Sentinel moved its head in sync with Sol's head like it was controlled by him. With this, he was able to see in the dark through the white sentinel's eyes

After walking further for three minutes Sol reached a spacious cave which was also the end of the cave. He didn't find any beast in the cave while walking through the passage but at the end of the cave, he was surprised by what he discovered.

"Whoa...What are those things?" said Sol.

The end of the cave was partially field with small stones, brown and green color stone on some parts of walls and ground. These stones were random-shaped, closed to each other, and were small enough to carry in hand.  The stones didn't glow but were beautiful due to their color.

Sol walked a bit and stopped to observe the stones on the ground. He plucked out both green and brownstones from the ground. "Wow!" said Sol after looking at the stones closely.

The greenstone had thick, one to three brown curve lines and green curve lines in the brownstone.

"What kind of stones are these? I hope they are not some useless stones!" said Sol. He stood up with both stones in his gloves and looked around. "Looks like there aren't other things besides these two kinds of stones!"

All of a sudden there was a noise behind Sol. He quickly turned back and saw that one Silver Sentinel had pierced a Giant Venus flytrap mouth and another two Silver Sentinel had already appeared. Silver Sentinel saved him from the Giant Venus flytrap.

Sol was a little surprised at what he saw. "What's this? Where did it come from?" He saw a one-meter-wide Giant Venus flytrap mouth pierced down by a Silver Sentinel, green liquid flowing from the part where it was pierced, and its thick, long stem appeared from the ceiling.

Sol wasn't aware that he was attacked by the carnivore plant but was saved by Silver Sentinels and of course he wouldn't notice, he wasn't some kind of warrior or mage or had any ability to sense the presence of something dangerous around him. The ones who could do such things were White Sentinels and Silver Sentinels. However, White Sentinel failed to detect the Giant Venus flytrap.

Sol looked above where the long and thick stem of the plant came from. There he saw about eight of the Giant Venus flytrap hanging upside down, connected to the ceiling.

"I think I know why there aren't any beasts in here," said Sol. Then all the Giant Venus flytrap rapidly came straight down towards Sol with their mouth open. Sol said, "Oh! They are coming after me." Then three Silver Sentinels appeared from Sol's back to protect him. Sol wasn't scared. He was calm as always.

"Let's not fight without any preparation," said Sol and with both stones in his hands, started running towards the passage. Since he was seeing the surrounding through White Sentinel's eyes he was able to run in that dark cave. The Silver Sentinels on his back were attacking upwards, blocking and piercing the Giant Venus flytrap that approached Sol from above.

Sol ran into the cave passage and noticed that the Giant Venus flytrap wasn't following him. He turned back. "Huh?" Sol stopped running in the dark passage. The Giant Venus flytrap struggled as they couldn't enter the passage. Their roots were attached to the ceiling and their stems weren't long enough to follow in the cave passage.

Even though the cave was dark and Sol was alone and some giant plant tried to eat him, he didn't have any fear in him. He stood there calm and composed with White Sentinel around on his neck, both their eyes glowing red, seeing in the dark, observing the Giant Venus flytrap.

"It looks like it can reach only up to that point," said Sol. The Venus flytrap stopped trying to follow Sol and went back up in the ceiling. Sol didn't follow it inside the big cave. "How come you didn't sense that? Is it because it wasn't a beast but a plant?" he asked White Sentinel around his neck. "It seems White Sentinels can only detect creatures and beings," thought Sol.

Sol then looked at the greenstone and brownstone in his hands. "Hmm…What should I do with these? I don't even know what these are? Should I ask someone in the village?" thought Sol. "Deva" He called out his grimoire. A red light ball came out from within Sol and turned into the black and red grimoire, floating in the air. It opened its sun-like yellow one eye. "For now let's store it," said Sol, and a yellow magic circle formed on top of the grimoire eyes. The magic circles pulled both the stones in. "Show me," said Sol and the grimoire flipped the pages itself to the page where it just stored the stones. Both the stones had its own page each, with a colored picture, and quantity but no title and information were written about it. Sol looked at both pages and wondered, "Hmm…there's no title and information about it. It really does record things based on my knowledge about it?" The grimoire closed itself, turned into a red light ball, and went inside.

Sol looked at the big cave from a distance where the stones were found. He thought, "Looking at it I did find something big…I just hope it is something useful to me. I must find what these stones are?" Sol returned to the cave entrance.

Sol got out of the cave and undone vision sharing with White Sentinel. The cool breeze from the forested hills went inside the cave. The light and the breeze made him feel fresh.

"Let's come back again after getting some information." Sol climbed the hill to the other side of the hill. He followed the marked trees to return from the same path where he came from. He reached the bottom of the hill and walked towards the river. He crossed the river.

At the riverbank, Sol stopped, took out the mask, and cleaned himself with river water. The river was big but not shallow and the flow of the water wasn't fast.

Sol walked further where fish were located. He sat at the bank of the river and said, "Shall we have fish for dinner?" Then White Sentinel around his neck unwrapped itself and submerged in the river. "Share Vision," said Sol and he shared vision with White Sentinel. He was seeing the inside view of the river through White Sentinel's eyes. The river had clear water filled with plants and various rocks and stones. In some parts, there were various fishes.

Whenever Sol went for a hunt he would always bring fish with him. It was to cover his hunt by showing that he was fishing most of the time. For fishing, he would either use Silver Sentinel to directly pierced swimming fish or use White Sentinel to search and catch fish by biting it. He mostly used White Sentinel for fishing since he could also enjoy the view of the inside the river. However, it wasn't that easy to fish.

"No matter how many times I do this it's always cool, it's like a VR headset," Sol exclaimed in a soft voice as he felt like he was actually swimming in the river. He would sit on the river bank and let White Sentinel do the fishing while he enjoyed the view. White Sentinel wouldn't go far or detached itself from Sol, so it could only swim up to some part.

After a few minutes of waiting and searching Sol saw a big trout fish coming near. "Oh! That's a big one and it's coming here. Let's catch that one." The White Sentinel waited for it to come near and when it was near it bit the trout with its fangs and took it out of the river.

The fish was struggling to release itself from the White Sentinel bite. It was a twenty-three-inch rainbow trout.

"Whoa! That's a big fish we got there," said Sol, looking at the fish hanging by the White Sentinel in the air in front of him. "Then," Sol stood up, "Let's head home already. It will be evening soon." He carried the twenty-three-inch rainbow trout and headed to the village through the small forest behind.

At the village, everyone knew Sol would sometimes go fishing and bring one or two fish with him. And it wasn't his first time catching a big fish.

That night at Sol's house, the fish he caught was at dinner. His parents were delighted at his achievement. They used to question him but not anymore as he has been doing it for five years. They just want him to be careful while fishing. Besides, Sol always brought one or two fishes and made them believe that he was trying hard all day to fish just one or two fish. They had asked him how he caught the fish before and Sol would lie by answering either spearfishing, where he made a spear out of a branch or angling where he tied a line on a stick and tied a bait on the line.

"That was delicious!" Sol lied on the bed remembering the dinner he had just before. "Thank God! This world is not behind in food innovation, said Sol, "Mom also said there are many cooking tools similar to fridge, oven, mixer, and others like in Earth which runs on mana." Sol was fascinated by the thought of such tools which ran on electricity on Earth, here ran on mana. "Almost all of the things in this world run on mana and me…" Sol sighed. "That is not important right now," Sol thought about the green and brownstone he found in the cave.

"Deva" Sol called his grimoire. Then from within him a red light ball appeared, turned into a grimoire, and opened its sun-like yellow eye. "Let me look at the stones that we got in the cave," said Sol. A yellow magic circle formed and the first green stone partially appeared. Sol took out the greenstone, then brownstone appeared, he took it out. The greenstone was slightly bigger than the brownstone.

"Should I ask Doctor Nomu about it," said Sol. "If it is some kind of mana stone then I don't have to worry about collecting beast mana stones to summon Adam," thought Sol while looking at both stones in his hand.