Small Gains

The words that popped up on the System Panel were [Basic Trapping Technique], rather than a category like "Basic Saber Technique" or "Basic Footwork."

Fang Yuan's heart stirred. This seemed to be a skill more geared toward knowledge and techniques, rather than merely training physical ability.

The discovery invigorated him. Even his fingers, numb with cold, seemed to gain a bit more strength as he dug with greater effort.

At first, the frozen-hard ground was difficult to dig. The pit was pitifully shallow and could not trap anything at all.

But as he kept trying, vague insights naturally surfaced in his mind—

How to angle the shovel to save effort, how to widen the pit mouth while maintaining its structure, how to use the surrounding snow and dead branches for camouflage...

[Basic Trapping Technique Proficiency +1]

[Basic Trapping Technique Proficiency +1]

The prompts kept sounding, and his movements gradually went from clumsy and awkward to orderly and practiced.

He selected several suitably thick hardwood branches, carefully sharpened one end with the axe blade, then planted them upside down at the bottom of the pit.

That way, even if a thick-skinned muntjac fell in, it would suffer enough injury to keep it from easily breaking free.

In one go, he dug several similar pits, carefully camouflaging them with dead branches and snow, leaving only inconspicuous openings.

Looking at his fairly decent handiwork, Fang Yuan let out a small breath of relief.

Now, all he could do was wait.

But he did not simply wait around.

After setting the traps, he immediately began carefully searching for tracks in the snow.

His gaze swept across the vast white ground, not overlooking the slightest irregularity.

Before long, a string of tiny footprints caught his attention.

The tracks were small and arranged in hopping intervals. They looked like they had been left by a wild rabbit.

He immediately followed them.

To avoid alerting any prey that might be nearby, he deliberately slowed and softened his steps, placing every foot down with extreme care.

Sure enough, the Basic Footwork proficiency prompts no longer appeared as frequently as they had when he was running earlier.

He realized that this footwork did not merely improve walking.

It required a technique of coordinated exertion, mobilizing the strength of his whole body to make movement lighter, faster, and more concealed.

Walking slowly purely to avoid making noise, like he was doing now, had little effect.

He adjusted his breathing and tried to recall the sensation of exertion from when he had run earlier. His toes touched down lightly first,

feeling the depth of the snow and the solid ground beneath it. Only then did the sole of his foot slowly press down, his center of gravity flowing smoothly along with it.

This way, although he was slow, every step was steady and light, making almost no sound in the snow.

[Basic Footwork Proficiency +1]

The prompt appeared again. Though the intervals had grown longer, it proved that he was heading in the right direction.

After tracking for roughly the time it took to burn an incense stick, the string of footprints vanished beneath a snow-covered thicket.

Fang Yuan carefully pushed aside the dead branches and snow, revealing a hidden hole.

The opening was small, but the surrounding traces were chaotic. Clearly, things frequently went in and out.

A rabbit burrow!

Joy rose in his heart, but he did not act rashly.

He carefully observed the surroundings and, sure enough, found two more extremely concealed exits not far away.

A cunning rabbit had three burrows indeed.

He thought for a moment and did not try to dig into the burrow. That would take too much time and effort, and it would be easy to get hurt.

He took a few steps back and, along the paths where rabbits might travel near the other two exits and the burrow,

quickly dug several more simple pit traps, likewise planting sharpened branches and camouflaging them.

This way, no matter which exit the rabbits used, or whether they came outside to forage, there was a high chance they would fall for it.

By the time he finished, the sky had already begun to darken.

The wind in the mountains was even colder, cutting across his face like blades.

Fang Yuan rubbed his hands, red from the cold, then found a spot behind a large rock where he could observe the traps from afar while remaining relatively sheltered from the wind.

He curled up and held the axe in his arms.

What came next would be a contest of patience and luck.

After all that fussing about, the sky gradually dimmed. The light in the forest grew hazy, and the cold deepened.

Just then, faint rustling and soft sounds of struggling came from the direction of the rabbit burrow.

Fang Yuan perked up and cautiously approached.

Pushing aside the dead branches, he saw that something was indeed thrashing about in three of the traps he had set!

Three plump Snow Rabbits, their thick fur covering them, had been pierced in the legs by the sharpened branches at the bottom of the pits. They struggled in panic, staining a patch of snow red.

"Only three?" Fang Yuan frowned.

This little meat would, at most, sustain him for two days given the consumption from his martial training. It was far from enough.

Just as he was about to step forward and collect the prey, a deep, piercing roar suddenly rang out from the depths of the distant forest!

"Awoo—!"

A tiger's roar! The sound was deep and majestic, carrying the oppressive aura of the king of beasts, shaking snow from the trees in a fluttering cascade.

Fang Yuan's heart jolted, and his movements froze instantly. The tiger had come out to patrol its territory and declare its dominion!

He immediately lowered his body, held his breath, and warily looked toward the source of the sound.

Listening to that hair-raising tiger's roar, a bold thought rose uncontrollably in his mind.

The village elders had once mentioned during their idle chats that more than ten years ago, the best hunters had formed a group and entered the mountains, where they had hunted a fierce tiger!

Tiger hide, tiger bones, tiger penis... every one of them was a priceless treasure!

If he could hunt one, not only would he have enough silver to exempt himself from Military Service, he could probably scrape together seven or eight parts out of ten for the expenses of his future martial training as well!

But the thought flashed through his mind only briefly before he forcibly suppressed it.

With only an axe and a few traps, for him to set his sights on a tiger now was simply courting death.

He quickly calmed down, lifted the three rabbits from the traps, tied their feet with hemp rope, and hung them upside down.

Then he hurried to the mountain hollow where he had set traps earlier to check. Sure enough, two more traps had been triggered, each holding a Gray Rabbit.

"Five rabbits... If I ration them, they'll be enough for two days." He weighed his haul in his hand.

"Home first. I can explore these deep mountains and old forests slowly in the future. There's no need to rush it now."

Knowing that fierce beasts were active nearby, he did not dare linger any longer.

He tied the five rabbits together and slung them over his shoulder, picked up his axe, got his bearings, and quickened his pace down the mountain along the path he had come from.

About half an hour after Fang Yuan left,

a group of people emerged from deeper in the forest, swearing as they came.

There were four or five of them, dressed in thick fur coats with bows, arrows, and steel forks hanging from their bodies—the standard attire of hunters.

But every one of them looked bedraggled. Their fur coats were stained with mud and snow, and some had scrapes on their faces.

Two of them supported a companion. The man they were holding up seemed to have injured one leg and limped as he walked.

Blood could still be seen seeping through his trouser leg, and his face was pale.