From Summer to Winter

Realizing this Blue Velociprey was no ordinary specimen, Gordon did not send Porkchop to lure it over. Instead, he challenged it himself.

Faced with the enemy who had suddenly appeared, the Blue Velociprey stopped eating. Rather than pouncing immediately, it fixed its eyes on the hunter, caution tempering its ferocity.

Gordon rested his right hand on the sword hilt behind his back but did not draw it yet. Holding his weapon would severely hamper his movement, making it a poor choice until the distance between them closed.

In the end, Gordon moved first. He broke into a sprint, rapidly closing the gap.

The Blue Velociprey screeched and charged as well, its bloodstained, elongated beak and sharp claws looking especially vicious.

Just as its head was about to enter the Buster Sword's reach, Gordon decisively drew his blade and delivered a vertical slash.

This move, which almost always worked against Blue Velociprey, failed this time. The creature stopped in time and hopped a short distance backward, easily avoiding the powerful blow.

The heavy Buster Sword slammed into the ground. Gordon needed time to lift it again, and the Blue Velociprey seized that opening, whipping its powerful tail at his flank.

Gordon frowned and stopped lifting his Great Sword. Gripping the hilt with one hand, he pivoted around to the other side of the Buster Sword.

Sword guard!

Clang!

The Blue Velociprey's tail struck the flat of the Buster Sword with enough force to leave Gordon's hands slightly numb as he held his guard.

"So you really do have plenty of combat experience."

Gordon pressed his lips together, abandoning his dismissive attitude. He lowered his body slightly and drew on the strength of his waist and legs to sweep his blade at the Blue Velociprey's legs.

Once again, the Blue Velociprey hopped backward in time, successfully evading the blow.

This time, however, Gordon's attack did not end there.

Bleeding off the excess momentum of the missed horizontal slash, Gordon completed the arc, then immediately stepped forward into a rising slash.

Thinking the hunter was recovering between attacks, the Blue Velociprey was just about to lunge and bite when the massive hooked tip drove straight into its lower jaw and pierced its brain. Its hulking body crumpled to the ground.

It died instantly.

Gordon put away the Buster Sword and let out a soft breath.

Sure enough, actual combat was the most effective way to improve his fighting skills. In just two days, he had honed his previously awkward Great Sword techniques until they flowed smoothly.

Missed a slash? No problem. The next strike would ride that momentum and hit even harder!

Looking at the perfectly intact Blue Velociprey corpse before him, Gordon smiled in satisfaction.

Without needing a reminder, Porkchop began keeping watch over their surroundings.

Taking almost twice as long as usual, Gordon carefully skinned the creature, obtaining a large, intact Blue Velociprey Hide. Of course, he did not leave behind its high-quality scales, claws, or teeth either.

The materials for the Blue Velociprey Armor Set were complete!

"All right, Porkchop. Let's go home!"

"Meow!"

After returning to Kokoto Village, turning in the quest, and collecting his reward, Gordon immediately carried his great pile of Blue Velociprey materials to the Workshop.

Then he received a piece of news that struck like a bolt from the blue.

He had enough materials, but not enough money.

The Blue Velociprey Armor Set consisted of five pieces: head, torso, waist, arms, and legs. Each piece cost 1,150z to make, bringing the total to nearly 6,000z.

On top of that, Gordon wanted the Workshop owner to use the spare materials to make Porkchop a set of armor too, adding another expense.

Part of the 2,000z quest reward he had just received also had to go toward repaying his debt to the Instructor. It was nowhere near enough.

With no other choice, Gordon handed the materials and all his money to the Workshop owner, asking him to start work on the armor first. After all, unlike a weapon, a full set of armor took considerably longer to make.

Then he took Porkchop along, accepted a new quest, and headed back to the hunting grounds.

Over the days that followed.

Gathering quests to find Specialty Mushrooms, hunt for meat, and collect Deer Hides; hunting quests to slay Great Bullfango, Blue Velociprey, and Shakalaka-he accepted anything that paid enough.

At first, these small-fry one-star quests, which offered neither much profit nor much challenge, left Gordon dispirited.

But the Instructor told him this was what everyday life looked like for monster hunters.

The ores and materials needed to forge weapons and armor, the countless ingredients used to combine hunting supplies, and the money required for just about everything.

None of it fell from the sky.

It could only be accumulated little by little.

Take the Buster Sword in Gordon's hands, for example.

It might have seemed easy to gather all its materials, but hadn't that enormous quantity of iron ore and Earth Crystals come from Gordon's own pickaxe, one swing at a time over the past two years?

Without going through this process of accumulation, how could he forge stronger armor or hunt more powerful monsters?

He would just have to buckle down and do his quests!

Two weeks later, the Blue Velociprey Armor Set was finished. After paying the balance, Gordon finally put on the new armor he had dreamed of day and night.

It was a full suit of armor with an understated design, yet it gave an impression of remarkable reliability.

The brightly colored Blue Velociprey Hide had turned an unremarkable dark gray after tanning. Though it was leather, it carried a faintly metallic sense of weight and solidity.

Vital areas such as the chest and joints were covered with plentiful Blue Velociprey scales and metal plating, offering the greatest possible protection without restricting the wearer's movements.

According to the Workshop owner, this armor offered at least two to three times the defensive protection of the most basic hunter armor.

Paired with the heavy, keen-edged Buster Sword, Gordon finally no longer looked like the naive rookie he had once been.

Gordon was not the only one with new equipment. Porkchop had some too.

His nut armor, whose sole virtue was being lightweight, was replaced by a brand-new suit likewise made primarily from Blue Velociprey materials.

Along with it came an Ore Felyne Pickaxe, painstakingly forged from several smelted minerals.

All of this thrilled Porkchop, who was going through his own adolescent years.

After paying the remaining balance for his and Porkchop's armor, Gordon was penniless again. With no other choice, he returned to his old, busy, somewhat tedious life of questing.

Yet even he failed to notice.

Through those unremarkable one-star quests, his body grew stronger and his combat and sword skills improved. Even the restlessness particular to youth gradually settled as he worked away at mushrooms and ore.

High summer and autumn passed without a sound.

Throughout autumn, everyone stockpiled supplies for the coming winter. As the village's only two hunters, the Instructor and Gordon traveled constantly between the village and the hunting grounds, bringing back the meat the villagers needed to survive the winter.

After the year's tenth full moon, Gordon finally set aside his armor and weapon for a while, having spent nearly half a year hard at work.

Winter came early to the Schrade Region, situated in the continent's northwestern corner. As cold winds blew down from the Akura Region to the north, everything withered, and all living creatures slowed their activity.

Humans were no exception.

Hunters generally did not enter the hunting grounds during this season.

For one thing, the starving monsters in the snowy forests were more aggressive, making conditions extremely dangerous. For another, it gave the females that had become pregnant during the autumn breeding season a little breathing room.

Heavy snow fell, blanketing the mountain woods, forested hills, roads, and villages.

In previous years, Gordon had refused to spend the winter at the Instructor's home out of pride, and had always been alone.

But this year, he had a cat!