Hunting

After Nathas left, Andy first gave a hearty greeting to this hands-off teacher; after all, the man had never actually taught him anything.

Five years passed in the blink of an eye. On this particular day, sixteen-year-old Andy went to find Hilar as usual. Twenty-year-old Hilar was already a mature elf, and a beautiful elven maiden at that. Andy didn't know if all elven girls were blessed with such figures, but in his mind, the Windrunner sisters from the games had bodies that were beyond reproach. Hilar was the same: a slender waist, long and powerful legs, a towering chest, and a lovely face. Every time Andy saw her, he found it difficult to control himself.

"Hilar! Hilar!" Andy began shouting before he even reached Hilar's dwelling.

Hilar still lived at the residence of her teacher, Malfurion. However, because Malfurion had not been staying in Darnassus much lately—spending most of his time patrolling various parts of Kalimdor—Andy had always been able to come and go freely.

"Sister Hilar, are you in?" Andy walked into the residence and called out toward the interior.

"Roar!"

Without turning his head, Andy said, "Brother Andrew, how many years has it been? You're still using that old trick? Can we move on, please?"

"Hilar isn't here; she's already gone out!" Andrew shifted back into his human form and said.

"What? She's already gone? She promised she would wait for me!" Andy turned and ran back outside.

"Who told you to sleep in again? Look at what time it is!" Andrew said. "Slow down!"

Andy secretly bared his teeth, because the Monster Spirit was already laughing uncontrollably in his mind: "Hahaha, tell me, if I didn't wake you up, would you really be able to get out of bed on your own?"

"Who told you not to act as my alarm clock? You made me late! Hurry up and locate Hilar for me!" Andy was nearly fuming.

"Didn't I tell you to raise a chicken?" the Monster Spirit said while searching for Hilar's location.

"Tell me, does this world even have chickens?" Andy scoffed.

"Found her. Hilar is in that forest to the left of the city," the Monster Spirit said. "Can't you find something else to use as a substitute?"

"Then it'll be you!" Andy said viciously. "You must wake me up tomorrow!"

After five years of practice, Andy had achieved some modest results. Although he hadn't fully grasped the contents of the booklet Nathas had given him, he was fortunate to have the Monster Spirit. Nathas had overlooked one point: Andy's inability to sense the power of nature wasn't a matter of whether he was a Druid or not—he couldn't sense any magic at all; he was, after all, an outsider. Fortunately, he had the Monster Spirit, otherwise, he would have been stuck practicing his clumsy archery on small beasts.

"Hilar, I'm here!" Not long after entering the dense forest, Andy saw Hilar's figure—a robust Sabers!

Hilar had just finished off a Sabers, her claws still stained with blood. Seeing Andy, she shifted back into human form and said, "You dare make me wait for you? Do you have any idea how late you are?"

"I'm sorry!" Andy looked guilty, though there wasn't a hint of apology in his tone. "But I'm here now, aren't I?"

Starting a year ago, Hilar and Andy had accepted a mission from the Darnassus authorities to kill as many beasts as possible and skin them. According to the elven high command, these materials might be needed in the future.

"What are you standing there for? Get started!" Hilar said, hands on her hips.

"Oh, right, right!" Andy instinctively froze at the sight of Hilar.

Andy instructed the Monster Spirit to activate Beast Tracking. Over the years, this skill, which had originally seemed useless, had become quite handy. Just recently, the skill had leveled up to rank two, and its sensing range had reached nearly a hundred meters—more than three times what it was at rank one.

A flat map instantly appeared in Andy's mind, with three red dots representing the locations of the beasts. One was alone, and the other two were together. Andy gestured to Hilar and moved forward. Hilar shifted back into her panther form, having faintly caught the scent of the beasts as well.

A Sabers was prowling alone, letting out a low growl from time to time.

Whoosh. An arrow shimmering with cold light flew rapidly toward the Sabers, the swift flight making no sound. Awoo. The Sabers was struck and fell to the ground, letting out a helpless roar before dying.

"Rank two beast, primary leather," the Monster Spirit performed its duty.

Using Beast Tracking to ensure no other beasts had been drawn by the Sabers, Andy carefully walked over, crouched down, and began to skin the panther, humming a little tune as he worked.

"Hey, are you done yet?" Hilar was annoyed by Andy's humming; the key was that she couldn't understand a single word of the song he was singing.

"Done, done!" Andy packed up the hide and, following the Monster Spirit's directions, slowly approached the remaining two beasts.

"Giant Owl, rank three beast. Birds cannot be trapped!" the Monster Spirit reported the situation.

"Damn, I've never run into a pair of these before!" Andy whispered to himself.

"I haven't encountered two together either. What do we do?" Hilar was also in a bind; dealing with one was difficult enough, let alone two.

"Other than feathers, this thing has nothing else. Its skin is useless. Should we retreat?" Andy swallowed hard.

"That works. Let's go," Hilar said, slowly backing away. "Hey, could you not be so loud? Be careful not to startle those two Giant Owls."

"Heh, I didn't mean to!" Andy glanced at the Giant Owls, wiped the sweat from his forehead, and followed Hilar as they slowly retreated.

Crunch!

"You!"

"Damn it!"

Andy had stepped on a dead branch, the sound piercingly loud in the silent forest. "Report to host: you have been discovered by two Giant Owls. Please make a decision immediately!" the Monster Spirit's voice rang out sharply in Andy's mind.

"No need to tell me, I can see them!" Andy cursed while retreating rapidly. Forget about traps being useless; even if they were effective, there was no time to set them now.

The two Giant Owls flapped their massive wings, screeching as they charged toward Andy.

"Stop running, you can't outrun them!" Hilar stopped and said. "I'll take the one on the right, you take the one on the left."

Andy didn't have time to reply; he just nodded and moved quickly to the side. As he moved, he drew an arrow from the quiver on his back, channeled magic through the Monster Spirit, and fired a Concussive Shot. However, Andy's archery was mediocre at best, and firing while moving caused him to miss completely; the arrow grazed the Giant Owl's wing. Andy looked over to see Hilar already locked in a struggle with the other Giant Owl.

Andy cursed and scrambled around a large tree, hoping to use the obstacle to put some distance between himself and the owl. But the Giant Owl was incredibly fast; before he could circle to the other side, the owl had already intercepted him. The Giant Owl raised its massive beak and spread its steel-like claws, lunging at Andy.

Andy broke out in a cold sweat. He closed his eyes and, in a split second, turned and kicked—unleashing his only real combat skill. The Giant Owl dove down, never expecting the elf to have such a trick up his sleeve. Caught off guard, its head was struck by Andy's kick, and it was instantly sent spinning, forgetting even to flap its wings.

Andy glanced at the wobbling Giant Owl and quickly drew another arrow. At such close range, against a stationary target, if he missed again, he might as well just die. The Giant Owl was unlucky, becoming a soul under Andy's arrow in its dazed state.

Hilar had also finished off her Giant Owl, snapping its neck before shifting back into human form, panting heavily. Dealing with the owl alone had been too strenuous for her, mostly because she couldn't fly.

Andy caught his breath, took out his skinning knife, and began carving chunks of meat off the Giant Owl, muttering as he worked: "That'll teach you to attack us! That'll teach you to attack us!"

"Andy, why are you cutting its meat?" Hilar asked, walking over to his side.

"Ah, it's nothing, just taking it back for dinner!"