The Difference Between Humans and Beasts

The Female Hunter's home was also on the south side of town.

It was a spacious wooden house with one floor and only a separate loft on the second. It had a larger yard than any other residence in town, standing alone at the edge of town like a crane among chickens.

Linsey followed Dan there.

Before the two even entered, they caught an unpleasant smell outside.

Dan was used to it, while Linsey curiously peered through the wooden fence.

Quite a few animal hides hung in the Female Hunter's yard. Some were drying, while others soaked in a pool filled with liquid. The foul stench came from there.

"Leather tanning..."

Linsey muttered.

It seemed that hunters in this distant borderland were responsible not only for hunting, but also for making leather. The leather rug he had bought a few days ago might have come from the Female Hunter standing before him.

"A'Ju, I'm back!"

Ahead of Linsey, Dan crossed the yard, shoved open the door, and called out happily.

Linsey moved closer for a look.

In the spacious front hall on the first floor sat a young boy slightly younger than him. The boy's hair was neatly combed, and his large eyes were bright with energy. On the table in front of him sat two basins, one high and one low, connected by a curved Wooden Plank serving as a channel. Beside them lay a dripping wet ladle.

"Mom, you're back?"

Hearing Dan's call, the boy immediately stood up. He saw his mother, and also Linsey behind her.

"Wh-who is he?"

"Linsey." Dan smiled at her son and hung her bow and arrows on the rack beside the door. "He'll be learning the skills of a hunter from me from now on. You two will be seeing each other often."

"Hello, Brother Linsey." Dan's son politely greeted Linsey. "I'm Ju."

Linsey naturally replied, "Hello. Nice to meet you."

After chatting briefly with Dan's son, Linsey was led to a seat in the front hall.

Whenever he had a spare moment, Ju used the ladle to scoop water from the lower basin into the upper one, then let it flow down the channel and back into the lower basin, repeating the strange process over and over.

Linsey was rather curious about Ju's behavior.

Dan, meanwhile, was dealing with the Ice Badger she had picked up that day, and explained Ju's actions to Linsey.

"My family's inherited skill has to do with water."

"Normally, he'd wait until spring to practice in the river. But time waits for no one, so I'm having him simulate it at home first and get used to it."

The Female Hunter's explanation did not slow her nimble, practiced hands.

In just the time it took to say those few sentences, she had skinned the entire Ice Badger and begun dismembering it, preparing the meat for roasting.

There was no fireplace on the first floor.

Instead, there was a fire pit in the center of the front hall, piled with wood and lit with a small campfire.

Dan cut up the Ice Badger's meat, threaded it onto skewers, set up a small rack, and began roasting it.

Seeing that there was nothing to do at the moment, Linsey took the initiative to ask, "Dan, what preparations do we need to make tonight?"

The Female Hunter, focused on roasting the meat, immediately answered, "First, of course, I'll tell you what to watch out for during tomorrow's trip."

Linsey continued, "Can we start now?"

Dan laughed, delighted by Linsey's eagerness to learn.

She did not stand on ceremony and went straight to the point.

"Then let's start with the first thing."

"Linsey, I know you killed an Ice Badger by yourself. That's an achievement most ordinary children could never attain."

At this point, Dan paused, her tone and expression becoming more serious.

"But tomorrow, once we enter the forest."

"You must promise me that no matter what happens, you'll listen to me. You can't just do whatever comes into your head."

Whether in this life or his previous one, Linsey understood the dangers of forests.

So he immediately nodded solemnly and promised, "I'll follow your instructions."

Dan was even more satisfied with his attitude. "That's good! As long as you listen to me on that point, there basically won't be any problems. And then..."

Dan thought for a moment, then pointed outside.

"After we eat, we can head out for a bit."

"There's a practice bow for children at home. You can try it out first and get a feel for it. But the archery range is behind Anrui's manor. It's pretty far from here, so we won't go there yet. We can just find a couple of trees at the edge of town."

"..."

It looked like Basic Archery was unavoidable tonight.

With guidance from a professional, this kind of basic skill could easily be added to the Attribute Panel.

That put Linsey in a good mood.

At that moment, Dan turned the roasting meat over and sprinkled on a little seasoning.

Looking at the Ice Badger, which had threatened his life only a few days ago and had now become chunks of meat on the grill, Linsey naturally felt a question arise in his mind.

"I'm curious about the difference between an Ice Badger like this and an ordinary beast."

"It's a magical beast." Dan immediately explained. "Ordinary beasts are essentially no different from the chickens, ducks, and piglets people raise at home. They're merely more feral and may attack. But magical beasts..."

Linsey cautiously asked, "Like the Ice Badger, able to use spells such as Ice Cone?"

Dan shook her head, immediately dismissing Linsey's idea.

"No. Whether they can cast spells isn't the standard for judging magical beasts. The true difference is that they can integrate Essence."

At this point, Dan's tone turned wistful. "Essence isn't something exclusive to humans. It fills the entire world, and that applies to every living thing. We humans can awaken Essence and integrate skills. Ordinary animals, even plants, have their own methods of awakening."

"So for hunters, every Source Material Tide that comes once every ten years makes hunting outside more dangerous. You have to be far more cautious than usual."

When Linsey first heard this, he merely filed it away as knowledge.

But the moment he considered the current situation, he grew tense.

Wasn't this the year when the Source Material Tide appeared and awakened individuals emerged?

If Dan was right, there would definitely be no shortage of awakened magical beasts in the forest! "Then when we go into the forest tomorrow..."

There was worry in Linsey's voice, but Dan answered with a confident smile.

"Why do you think that after Red Moon said magical beasts might be around, Anrui checked the area, and then I checked it again?"

"Don't worry. At the very least, the area around town is safe."

"..."

So getting thrown into the Hidden Borderlands and immediately running into an Ice Badger was simply bad luck? Linsey's mouth twitched.

He did not know what he ought to say about that, so he changed to a topic that would make him feel less awkward. "What about the Dragon Beasts in the neighboring Black Mountain World?"

"They're absurdly powerful." Dan's face immediately twisted as though she had eaten something bitter. "Dragons symbolize great power. Magical beasts bearing that name... at the very least, none of the Hidden Borderlands' strongest fourth- or fifth-stage awakened individuals could possibly deal with them."

Linsey continued asking.

"What is the highest stage an awakened individual can reach?"

"In theory, a person's skills can be sublimated nine times. But in reality... if you count such beings across the entire universe, there are only a handful. For example, the brothers Nark and Bondek, who built the War School; the ruler of the City of Law; and the great artist of the Seven Seas Alliance."

At this point.

Dan seemed worried that Linsey might aim too high, so she changed her wording and emphasized, "But among ordinary awakened individuals, being able to sublimate a skill five times and become an Ascender is already an extraordinary achievement. The Sixth and Seventh Stages beyond that are rare things as difficult as ascending to heaven."

Linsey was still thinking about Black Mountain.

And his goal of crossing Black Mountain and returning to Anville Village.

So he continued confirming the details.

"What level is that Dragon Beast?"

Dan shrugged and turned over the meat on the rack, which had begun to sizzle with grease.

"Able to subdue an entire world through sheer violence alone—if converted to a human awakened individual's level, it would be at least Seventh Stage."