Preparations

Ahtal-Ka swung its tail claw back, tightening the silk and pulling the sticky silk clump free.

Blood spurted through the boar's bristles. Its eyes went wide, and it howled again.

The pain was actually secondary. Mostly, it had no idea what this terrifying insect creature was going to do to it.

"Ahtal-Ka is aiming! Keep quiet!"

Whether it was frightened or Li Le's reprimand actually worked, the boar stopped howling.

Tethered by a silk strand, the silk clump swung through half a circle in the air before hurtling forward.

Whoosh-splat!

The silk clump plastered itself onto the Insect Nesting Band mounted on Li Le's forearm.

The Insect Nesting Band served two purposes.

First, it gave a kinsect somewhere to perch and rest.

After all, even kinsects bred primarily for stamina could not keep fighting in flight for long periods.

Ahtal-Ka was destined never to enjoy that benefit.

Second, it connected to the hunter's body, injecting the monster extracts that the kinsect gathered and brought back.

"Come on!"

Li Le swung his arm back with all his strength.

Ahtal-Ka exerted a little force, pulling the silk between man and insect taut.

Whoosh! Slash!

A scythe claw chopped down, severing the silk.

The severed end of the silk whipped back hard.

Smack!

The silk clump was struck and compressed, squeezing all the mist-like essence sealed inside into the injection port of the Insect Nesting Band.

Instantly, Li Le felt his blood flow accelerate sharply, as though all his muscles had been activated.

The next moment, his body felt lighter, and the fatigue in his legs from days of pedaling vanished.

"So the little boar gives white extract..."

To test his guess, Li Le started sprinting and jumping.

Sure enough, he found that his physical mobility had improved significantly.

"Haha, it worked!"

"Next, we just need repeated practice to improve our coordination."

Li Le began training.

But on the fifth Extract Essence, the boar passed out.

He gave it a quick examination.

Li Le determined that it was neither frightened unconscious nor suffering excessive blood loss.

Instead, its white essence had been drained, leaving it completely exhausted.

"So monster essence can't be extracted indefinitely. No wonder the concentration kept dropping over the last few extractions, and the physical enhancement lasted less and less time."

Having reached that conclusion, Li Le immediately untied the boar.

"Hurry home. Don't come around here to play so often."

The exhausted boar opened its eyes and bolted on all fours, paying no attention to what Li Le said.

"Let's go find some other monsters."

With that, Li Le climbed onto his pedal-powered cargo cart.

When he reached forward with both hands, he discovered that the handlebars had mysteriously vanished.

"Stolen... impossible. We're out in the wild!"

Li Le turned to look around and noticed that one wooden side panel of the cargo bed was missing too.

He walked behind the cart and found Kaluo gazing intently up at the sky.

Yet there was nothing in the sky but white clouds.

"Did Ahtal-Ka take the handlebars apart?"

"Ah... that boar sure ran fast, meow."

Despite saying that, Kaluo could not help glancing at the grassy mound nearby.

Li Le went over to look and discovered what lay below the mound.

His pair of handlebars had been glued to the cargo bed's side panel with silk.

They jutted forward like two protruding boar tusks.

Ahtal-Ka held the panel with its scythe claws, trying to scuttle forward in a sprint.

"It's all my fault. I didn't stop it in time, meow."

Kaluo sounded nervous.

Right, besides human creations, Ahtal-Ka is also very good at using mechanical structures to mimic monsters. Though its choice of subject seems a little weak... well, it is still young, still at the stage of developing its interests.

"It's not your fault, Kaluo. We've been traveling for two days straight, and I'm a little tired too. Let's set up camp here and let Ahtal-Ka play some more."

The purpose of this trip had been to find a workable way to train Extract Essence.

Now that they had made a breakthrough and had a clear direction for practice, there was naturally no pressure.

"No wonder Ahtal-Ka is willing to follow you, meow!"

Kaluo's eyes lit up. He had not expected Li Le to not only refrain from getting angry, but even provide favorable conditions for Ahtal-Ka's antics.

In the morning, Li Le reattached the handlebars and cargo side panel, then pedaled hard down the road again.

As they gradually moved farther from Dondorma, monsters became more numerous.

Occasionally, lone hunters asked for a ride.

Naturally, Li Le turned no one away.

Two days later, they reached the desert.

Armed with the latest map and ample supplies,

Li Le headed straight for an Apceros habitat.

Bind, extract, drain dry.

Amid the Apceros's wails,

the man and insect grew increasingly practiced and coordinated at Extract Essence.

In the shadow of a yellowish earthen peak,

Ahtal-Ka carried the cart's bottom panel, with the wheels attached, on its back, imitating an Apceros crawling along the ground beneath its shell.

Beside it, Kaluo kept offering guidance, pointing out differences between its form and a real Apceros.

Inside a small tent at the foot of the peak,

Li Le picked up a pen and recorded his training observations.

"Apceros yield yellow extract, which increases bodily hardness and noticeably improves resistance to impacts. An adult can be tapped about eight times, with the amount extracted dropping noticeably from the fifth attempt onward. Using that boar as a reference, essence potency and the amount within the body increase with the monster's own strength."

"Judging by this trend, large monsters possessing all three extracts might not have unlimited essence, but they should have more than enough to meet the absorption limit a human body can withstand."

With that, Li Le's understanding of Extract Essence deepened further.

The following night, they successfully reached an Apceros habitat.

Bind, extract, drain dry.

Amid the Apceros's wails,

Li Le experienced an injection of red extract for the first time.

He felt his body's range of motion improve dramatically.

The Insect Glaive attacks he performed with a wooden staff became broad and sweeping.

At the same time, a sense of invincible excitement began to emerge in his mind.

"I kind of want to know what it feels like to have all three extracts together in my body. Maybe I should try finding a large monster..."

Just as Li Le grew eager to try, Sara's warning echoed in his ears.

Looking at the wooden staff in his hand, Li Le promptly abandoned the idea.

Three days later, outside Dondorma's eastern gate,

a pedal-powered cart carrying an enormous "insect ball" appeared.

Two rows of Guild knights once again lined up to block its way.

With the previous experience behind him, Sara calmly came to greet them.

Only after signing the paperwork did he feel something was not quite right about the insects inside the net.

"Li Le, why are there Vespoids in there?"

"I saw that monster fluid was fetching a good price, so I brought a few back."

Li Le explained.

"You're sure that net won't burst halfway through, right?"

"Don't worry, Director. I won't screw you over."

Back at the Kinsect Research Institute, Li Le explained the essence extraction method he had developed.

He also said he had not neglected practicing his moves, training whenever he had spare time.

"Your first injection of red extract felt exhilarating, didn't it?"

Sara asked with a smile.

"Exactly. At the time, I felt like I could put up a fight even if a Diablos burrowed up beside me."

"Try to calm those thoughts as much as possible. Don't let red extract influence you into blindly attacking at the wrong moment."

Sara emphasized the warning.

"All right, Director. What does it feel like when all three extracts are injected?"

"How should I describe it..."

Sara looked upward, yearning on his face.

"At that moment, you'll feel like an embodiment of the ecosystem. Neither the powerful impacts nor the wind pressure from a monster's enormous body can shake you. You become less sensitive to pain, and even if you're badly injured and knocked down, you can quickly roll over and get back up. Your Insect Glaive swings become powerful, and monster shells are like paper, easily sliced and cleaved apart."

"It feels that good..."

Li Le marveled.

"Unfortunately, that only applies to extracts from powerful monsters. With weaker monsters, if you experience it often, the feeling isn't nearly as intense."

Sara explained.

"Just about what I figured..."

"By the way, Chief Gatherer Li Le, are you handing the insects you brought back over to the institute?"

Sara asked tentatively.

"Of course, but forget the payment. Raising Ahtal-Ka has nearly emptied the insect feed reserves, after all. Just consider it material support."

Li Le had personally experienced just how outrageous the investment in raising Ahtal-Ka was.

If the Kinsect Research Institute really went bankrupt, Ahtal-Ka would definitely be the first research project shelved.

Li Le did not want that to happen. The best solution was to keep it afloat with an infusion of resources.

"Thank you for your support. As our chief gatherer, I intend to hang your portrait on the members' wall."

Li Le thought Director Sara really did have plenty of ways to motivate people.

"Sure... it'll be a color portrait, right?"

"Of course."

"By the way, Director, there's a Felyne named Kaluo. He hasn't been skipping work and running off these past few days. He went gathering with me as my Palico."

"No problem. I'll talk to Holo."

That night,

having eaten until he was stuffed, Li Le finished the aerial exercises he had gone without for so long in the wilderness and returned to the little shack.

Surrounded by cats, Ahtal-Ka was using the lumber they provided to assemble imitations of a boar, an Apceros, and an Apceros.

These lifelike wooden monsters, whose leg joints could all move, utterly astounded the cats.

"Oh! Ahtal-Ka has grown quite a bit in just a few days!"

Holo said in some surprise as she pushed a little cart of insect feed.

"Really? Maybe because we're together every day, I didn't really notice."

Li Le understood.

"You've gotten sturdier too, and tanned."

Holo remarked.

"Do I look like a hunter now?"

"Mm, you still seem a little scrawny, but your bearing and your sharply increased appetite are getting close... enough chatting. You feed it. I'll get a measuring tape and measure Ahtal-Ka again."

"Sisi is amazing, meow!"

"Go, Sisi, meow!"

A chorus of feline cheers rose.

"Who's Sisi?"

Hearing that rather cute name, Li Le could not help scratching his head.

Then he saw Ahtal-Ka surrounded by the cats.

"How can they give Ahtal-Ka such a cute name? I need to find a way to correct this."

As he spoke, Li Le sat down among the cats.

Eating, practicing, feeding, going out to gather...

Two months passed in a flash.

In the early morning, warm sunlight slanted into Dondorma.

Li Le and Ahtal-Ka arrived at the entrance to the Hunter's Guild headquarters.

"Sisi, are you ready?"

The Ahtal-Ka, a size larger now, raised its head, its compound eyes flickering as it gave its confirmation.

"Good luck, Li Le!"

"Sisi, everyone will be cheering you on, meow!"

Holo and the cats all called out together.

"It's just the hunter admission assessment. What's there to be nervous about?"

Sara looked relaxed.

"Director! Li Le and Sisi have only had a little over three months to prepare! If they succeed, it'll definitely be legendary!"

Holo clenched her fists and spoke indignantly.

"Even if they fail, that wouldn't be so bad, would it..."

Sara looked up at the towering Hunter's Guild headquarters and sighed.

"Uh... Director Sara, why would you say that?"

"I just feel there have been some bad signs in the recent ecological reports. Hopefully, it's just a misjudgment."

Since this was the day the hunter assessment began.

Hunters from all over soon filled the space outside the Guild headquarters.

The wooden training weapons each person carried on their back determined the content of their weapon-specific assessment.

Among them was Li Le, who had no Kinsect on his Insect Nesting Band and had brought a ground-crawling bug.

And the blond with a mohawk carrying multiple weapons stood out the most.

Most people couldn't make any sense of Li Le's situation.

But the other candidates assumed the blond with the mohawk wasn't familiar with the assessment rules, so they approached to offer a friendly reminder.

Essentially, for the one-star hunter admission assessment, all he needed to bring was the training weapon he was best at using. There was no need to bring so many.

His answer, however, shocked them.

He said he was proficient with multiple hunting weapons, so there was no need to worry.

Proficient with multiple hunting weapons...

Hearing those words amid the clamor outside the Guild headquarters, Li Le instantly grew excited.

But when he approached the crowd and saw the face of the blond with the mohawk, his excitement instantly vanished.

"Aiden..."

"Ah, someone recognized me after all."

The blond with the mohawk lowered his head and sighed, looking quite helpless.

The onlookers then turned toward the Insect Glaive wielder with no Kinsect on his arm.

"Uh... I've heard the legends about Aiden. How did it go again... the top rookie!"

Li Le pointed at the sky.

"Huh? I spent so long coming up with that catchy title. I was going to announce it after passing the assessment with multiple weapons. How did you know?"

Aiden suddenly froze.

"If you can pass the assessment with multiple hunting weapons, what are you if not the top rookie?"

"That makes sense! Haha!"

Aiden came over as though they were already friends and patted Li Le on the shoulder.

"What's your name, prospective hunter?"

"My name is Li Le. I'm the chief gathering officer at the Kinsect Research Institute."

"Chief gathering officer... that sounds like a really high-ranking position."

Aiden spoke thoughtfully.

"It's nothing special. Anyway, you must be pretty confident you can pass the assessment, right?"

"Of course. Passing the assessment is only the starting point of my hunting career. My goal is to follow in my predecessors' footsteps and become an unprecedented legendary hunter."

"I wish you success!"

"Thanks, friend!"

The two reached out and shook hands.

"Don't get discouraged if you suffer a setback. There are plenty of geniuses in this world, after all."

Li Le offered a reminder.

"Mm... understood."

Aiden nodded in agreement, but somehow felt there was something strange about those words. ()