Hunting Record

A gunshot rang out, and the two of them dove in opposite directions to dodge the bullet!

However, a sudden explosion echoed in the air; the bullet fired by the Hunter shattered into buckshot, and both Ash and Sonia were inevitably grazed by the spray!

Ash expected it to hurt, but as the bullets passed through his body, he only felt as if he had lost something, his physical sensation akin to the exhaustion of having just run 400 meters.

He suddenly remembered that he was currently in a state of consciousness and not truly a physical being; being hit by the bullets only resulted in a loss of soul energy.

Compared to the suddenly enlightened Ash, Sonia, who had attended advanced classes in the Void Realm, had long anticipated this.

After dodging with an Iai Slash Evasion, she immediately rushed toward the Hunter, raising her wooden sword high to slash down from a distance. A hazy white light gathered on the blade, transforming into a crescent-shaped ripple as she swung, surging toward the Hunter!

"Ripple Sword!"

This was the secret Spell Spirit of the Vosrodar family: the Ripple Sword! A relatively rare long-range attack Spell Spirit within the Sword Art Faction, it could derive powerful combat miracles such as "Wave Cleaving Slash" and "Silver Wheel Burst"!

"Three thousand arts, one gun in hand; only speed is unbreakable, and nothing is impenetrable!"

The Hunter chanted while dodging, his long musket barrel shimmering with a faint light as he fired yet another bullet! It clearly looked like an ancient flintlock!

But Ash and Sonia, having been prepared, were no longer flustered. Setting aside Ash's "lazy donkey roll" method of evasion, Sonia went straight into a sheathed-blade stance, stepped forward, and unleashed a Spinning Wave Slash!

Clang!

Not only was the bullet deflected, but the Hunter, standing several paces away, was also viciously struck by the Spinning Wave Slash, the barrel of his long musket even being severed!

Without a word, Ash rushed up to bear-hug and restrain the Hunter, while Sonia, recovering from the stiffness of her Iai stance, took two steps in one and brought her wooden sword down in a fierce strike!

There was no sound; under the critical hit of the wooden sword, the Hunter dissolved into a thick mist and vanished, leaving a leather-bound notebook to fall onto the rocky ground.

"Hey, hey, hey! You almost blew my head off!"

Ash looked at the wooden sword embedded in the rock, touching his head with lingering fear.

"Isn't that just 'almost'?" Sonia's tone was full of regret. She bent down to pick up the leather notebook, flipped through two pages, shook her head, and handed it to Ash.

Ash took it and found it to be... how should he put it, a hunting record?

The first page contained data on a mouse, detailing its weight, size, fur color, cause of death, and even a photo of the mouse pinned to a wall by an arrow.

The second page was a spider, the third a rabbit, the fourth a roe deer... It wasn't until the tenth page that things finally changed. Not only was the prey a ferocious carnivorous wolf, but the owner of the notebook had also learned a new skill: he had trapped and killed the wolf.

By the twenty-third page, the entry was a Human Race soldier in full iron armor, wielding a long musket.

The next twenty pages were all musket-killed soldiers, but what caught Ash's attention more was that the owner of the notebook seemed to have abandoned his past archery skills, adopting the long muskets taken from the soldiers and combining them with jungle traps to fight an entire Orc unit single-handedly.

The notebook contained no details about the owner himself, but Ash could vaguely discern a story: a boy born into a hunter's family, living in a jungle village, inheriting the hunting skills of his forebears, only for an invading Orc army to destroy everything they had. Their prideful archery could not pierce the Orcs' armor, while the Orcs' fire-muskets could easily shatter their bodies.

The boy abandoned his bow, learned Gun Art with astonishing speed, and then, in this jungle where he wouldn't lose his way even with his eyes closed, hunted the Orc soldiers like a God of Death to avenge his fellow villagers.

The terror of the boy could be seen in the expressions of the Orcs before they died: the first few Orcs had calm expressions, likely having been headshot while urinating or defecating; the later Orcs had increasingly terrified expressions, clearly in the midst of fleeing; the final Orcs had even discarded their weapons and hidden in a bush, their faces full of piety, as if praying for the God of Death not to notice them.

After the Orc soldiers were wiped out, the owner of the notebook seemed to go through a period of confusion. The hunting targets in the notebook included animals, humans, Orcs, Goblins, wealthy merchants, bandits, prostitutes, and even ordinary people.

After the hundredth page, the owner's hunting targets suddenly stabilized: Orcs.

There were three hundred pages of data, all documenting the different Orcs the owner had hunted.

Although it was never explicitly mentioned, Ash could guess a thing or two from the causes of death:

First, the Orcs were all killed by the owner using an "Admirer Type 5 Service Rifle";

Second, there was more than one bullet hole in the Orcs' bodies.

Therefore, Ash deduced that the owner must have joined the army and killed Orcs during the war.

He didn't just kill soldiers; he killed children, women, the elderly, and even his own comrades... No matter who the target was, he never changed his weapon, always ending their lives with a single bullet.

Further on, the owner of the notebook seemed to have struck it rich and settled down. This was evident not only because his hunting targets were herbivores like rabbits and deer, but because the people dying at his hands were no longer soldiers or bandits, but maids, servants, and slaves.

It was worth noting that the frequency of the servants' deaths was quite high.

He likely owned an estate with numerous servants to attend to him, but due to the trauma of war, he kept his gun on him at every moment, and the moment he felt the slightest suspicion, he would shoot the servants without hesitation...

Suddenly, an old woman appeared in the hunting record.

Ash guessed she was likely the owner's wife, because what was revealed in her eyes was not panic, not fear, nor confusion, but pity.

Pity for the owner of the notebook.

When Ash flipped to the last page, he was certain that the deceased in the data was the owner of the notebook himself:

"Carbin Stoli"

"Human Race · Male · 56 years old"

"Weight: 72 kg"

"Height: 1.76 m"

"Features: Brown skin, thick hair, body odor."

"Cause of death: Killed by an arrow."

In the photo, he was a weathered old man in decent clothing. He had already raised his handgun toward an enemy, but he would never be fast enough to pull the trigger, for an arrow had pierced his eye and penetrated his brain.

Ash didn't know who had killed him with a bow and arrow; it could have been an old enemy, the son of the old woman, or perhaps a burglar breaking into the house. Ash also didn't know why someone as battle-hardened as him had been slower than an arrow this time—was his body sluggish, or was it because he had underestimated the bow?

Regardless, Carbin Stoli's hunting record ended here. Perhaps his name would eventually appear in someone else's hunting record.

Flipping to the very end, Ash discovered an iron medal tucked inside. Ash didn't recognize the characters on the medal, but since it was made of iron, it certainly wasn't worth much; he guessed it was the first medal Carbin had ever received in his life.

Perhaps this medal represented the golden moment of Carbin's life.

Ash picked up the medal and felt a warm current flow into his hand, followed immediately by a message popping up on the Light Screen:

"Rapid Fire"

"One-Winged Art Spirit"

"Restriction: Must possess a ranged shooting tool."

"Basic Effect: After performing one shot, you may immediately perform a second shot."

"Passive Effect: Increases the accuracy of ranged shots."

""Sometimes, a few seconds lost can never be recovered in a lifetime.""

At the same time, a message automatically popped up in the game:

"Currency eligible for top-up detected. Would you like to exchange it for points?"