Chapter 3
Day 7:
The day after his successful hunt was also another successful day. He used the same tactics as last time to hunt down a rabbit for its meat. Unfortunately for Naruto, the said process took him over five hours because that's how long it required of him to find a rabbit. Still, he found two in the end, and he LvLed Up once.
There hadn't been a quest for meat, despite the "Pt. 1" portion of the quest's name. He still ate meat, because he didn't want to go around the entire forest digging up worms for food. He didn't even want to know what worms tasted like. Neither was he interested in the very sour berries that the Old Imp had pointed out.
Naruto had caught the attention of every single imp in the enclave. Hunting as a newborn imp was unheard of; there had never been such event before. He himself did not know this. He was too busy focusing on his own growth to even care about others. It was his "Content" trait taking effect on him. Normally, social animals like humans and imps would look around to see how they were in standing with others. Naruto, however, was "content" with just helping himself.
"Hey, you."
Naruto stopped and turned around to face a group of five imps. "Yes...?" he asked a bit hesitantly even as he ran [Observe] on them. It was a useful skill that he had regained yesterday as he ate his first kill. It allowed him to basically visually "dissect" someone, depending on the his level and skill level. Currently, the skill was only at LvL 2, which allowed him to see his target's LvL and HP at most.
What he saw in front of him did not impress him all that much.
Imp Navi
LvL 1
Imp Ban
LvL 1
Imp York
LvL 1
"Today, if you don't get us meat, you're going to get hurt."
Naruto stared at the three generic imp in front of him acting like a group of human thugs. Then he let out a short bark of laugh before he scoffed at them, mildly annoying them. "Ha! So funny. Who dared you to say that?" he asked.
Imp Navi growled at him. "Don't you get it? No one likes you, you little punk."
Naruto paused for a second before he sat down where he was standing. "No one likes me..." he muttered as his Depressed mood set in. 'Ugh, why do I feel so bad for a comment...'
The imps just looked at the depressed one in front of them in confusion, and felt slightly guilty.
"Uh.. you okay?"
"No. Everyone hates me..." Naruto just muttered in reply, but the depressed vibe coming from him was quite clear.
Even from across the cave. Slowly, everyone's attention was drawn towards the quartet, and whispers broke out.
Ban, Navi, and York sweatdropped as whispers about them being bullies broke. Oh sure, they intended to bully Ruto, but not like this! This was way worse!
When the trio turned their attention back to Ruto to keep him quiet, the boy-imp was already gone.
"Huh?"
Naruto had felt too depressed to stay in the cave, so he had come out, even if it was in the dusk. He felt better as he watched the sun set while he kept himself sitting on the treetops.
Despite gremlinkind's natural affinity to night, imps avoided the open night. There were dangers in the forests around the cave enclave that would feast upon the imps with ease. One good example that Naruto himself had run into was a wolf. Apparently, wolves liked to eat imps.
He looked at his own level.
Naruto [Imp Ruto]
LvL 3
The Gamer
It was ridiculously easy to level up early on, and he was going to take every advantatge of that, even if he had to hunt at night.
Now, what did hunting at night have to do with taking advantage?
Well...
Nights are dangerous, yes? It's dangerous because there are animals and creatures stronger than imps. Which means that there is a high LvL difference.
Which means if he even hits one creature before its death, he will get his percentage share of the EXP.
Which means during the night when monsters are on a slaughterfest. The only thing he would have to do is hit them hard enough once before they die. Easy EXP and easy LvL.
Naruto cackled.
Oh sweet night, oh sweet night. I wonder what heads will roll~.
But first...
He started to float up slowly, his eyes watching the forest with the sharpness of an eagle.
He would have to find one such carnage, no?
Logically, water sources like streams, rivers, and lakes would be the most ideal place to see simply because every single creature alive needs water. 'I think,' he thought to himself. Usually, animals like deers and rabbits, which were plenty in this forest, slept during the day, which made their predators less likely to come out.
'That line of thought doesn't help me at all,' he intoned once more as he headed towards the waters. 'What animal needs to drink but is awake at night-?'
Bears.
Motherfucking bears. Brown bears were awake at night, but black bears? Those giant assholes roamed day and night whenever they pleased. On top of being giant assholes who eat a deer whole, they were highly territorial. Whether it be a pack of wolves or another bear, a black bear will bring down its entire might with a ferocity to match a rampaging berserk.
And they were rare because of such reasons.
Probably not the one he should be going after.
He flew around until he found a river, and let himself down onto a large tree's thick branch.
'What else moves in the night?'
"Hey, set up the trap here."
Naruto blinked, and looked around in confusion. Was there another imp around him? No...
He looked down.
There. At the bottom of the very tree that he was perched on was a group of humans. They were dressed in leather and fur, wielding bows and cutlasses. They had several bags filled with odd equipment as well. And after connecting the dots, Naruto realized that these humans were hunters.
But why hunt in the night?
He observed them.
Human Hunter
LvL 8
Human Hunter
LvL 9
Human Hunter
LvL 11
Nothing unusual, just regular old humans. So what were they hunting? Or trapping?
They opened up their bags, and began to pull out their tools of trade. Bear traps, ropes, bamboos(?), and so much more.
They dug few holes just outside the sandy shore of the river. One shoveled out while another placed spikes in their place. Once the spike placing was done, the third one came and covered it up with convincingly looking cover.
Naruto watched them make traps all over the river area, and slowly, his lips broke out into a grin.
Oh hell yes... He could use this.
With that, he flew away.
It wasn't long before the hunters were exhausted of their tools and trap materials, they left the forest.
Naruto, on the other hand, returned ... with animals trying to kill him. The closest one to him was a pack of wolves, who Naruto interrupted their meal by pissing in front of them.
The animal following the wolves was a bear, which had been pissed off by the wolves when it interrupted its hibernation.
Naruto weaved through the lower branches of the trees as the wolves leapt over them. The bear just crushed through any and all resistance including trees, shrubs, and any other animals that crossed its path. He dove over a large root, one the wolves leapt over. The bear just tackled it to splinters.
Just being part of this chase felt exhilarating! His heart pumped with vigor and his ears drummed up along with his heart. This was quite a new experience, even for someone who has died before. He had been chased by an equal before, someone that he could take on. But these wolves and particularly the bear in the back? There was no way for him to win them whatsoever. Being caught by either one of them right now meant certain death.
And it felt good!
His pulses rocketed as he dove underneath a tree branch, only to come face to face with a thick tree trunk. He sneered (read squeaked)* as he put all his effort into turning. He steered just in time to avoid getting his face smashed in, but a loose bark left a long gash on the side of his face.
The wolves fared better with their four legs, using the tree trunk that would've been his death as a corner to jump off from towards him.
The bear did not. He pounded through the tree, and both sides lost track of each other.
Well, wolves didn't care at all. They just kept chasing. To them, Imp Ruto was just out of their reach; too tantalizing and within their grasp to give up, and too much effort had been put into just giving up without more.
The leading wolf, an alpha male, jumped over a stream, and tripped over a rope.
Naruto cackled as the first trap went off.
The alpha and the two wolves right behind the alpha were caught in a rope net trap.
+One Wolf Alpha defeated!
+Two Wolf(s) defeated!
LvL Up!
Details Here
Naruto cackled, but quickly growled (read squawked) as the rest of the wolf pack came after him. And he ran like a bitch to the next trap.
-W-
The wolves were admittedly pissed as hell. Not only did this small imp interrupt their meal in one of the most rudest way possible, it got their pack's alpha and two other members caught up in a human trap. Did it even know what those humans did to any of the forest denizens caught in their traps? How they would kill them and skin them? Not even eating them?
Two of the pack stayed with the three trapped members, attempting to get them down.
The rest of the pack, consisting of four wolves, sped on to catch the imp.
The alpha of the wolf pack, on the other hand, was infuriated. It didn't understand nor know exactly why that imp was doing what it was doing. This was not the first time he had seen imps play tricks on other forest denizens for their entertainment. But to use human traps?
That just crossed the line.
-W-
Naruto, on the other hand, just kept running and flying. He could see the river through the gaps between the trees.
That was when the wolves ran into a spike trap, and all four of them fell through. There were yelps and howls before it fell silent.
He stopped running away, and gasped for air. He looked down from the ground to the bottom of the spike pit, and saw the dead and dying bodies of the four wolves.
+Four Wolf(s) slain
LvL Up!
Details Here
With a sigh of relief, he fell backward, and landed on his bottom.
"Okay," he muttered to himself between his gasp for air. "Maybe ...doing this ...night hunting thing... is not a good idea." Then he looked over his own status, and noticed the less than half filled mana bar. "I flew a lot today, didn't I?" Fairy Flying, the skill that allowed me to fly, drained mana at 1 per minute. Considering that he had about 120 mana and that there was now less than half, counting in the mana regeneration, he had been flying for more than a good hour and half.
Fairy Flying LvL up!
+Mana cost reduced by half!
+Increased max load by one kilogram!
Naruto chuckled. "Oh yeah, look at that," he said, but even as he celebrated his victory over the wolves, his body was complaining about his latest expedition. Then he turned his attention to the two [LvL Up : Details Here] floating in front of him. He floated up on the nearest tree's branch for safety's sake, and opened them up.
You have LvLed Up to LvL 5!
Your activities leading before your LvLing have determined your Status!
+2 Dexterity
+1 Agility
+1 Endurance
+1 Intelligence
You have LvLed Up to LvL 6!
Your activities leading before your LvLing have determined your Status!
+1 Agility
+2 Endurance
+2 Intelligence
+1 Wisdom
Genius trait has given you extra status points!
The changes in his status made Naruto very happy. While he was unhappy that he could not distribute the points how he wanted to, the widespread allocation of the points, and more than 5 points per level, were serving him well. If they haven't, they were sure to from here on out. Hell, Naruto was sure that the previous few LvL Up's helped already with the points dumped into endurance.
"Ugh, I'm sleepy..." he muttered.
Status: Sleepy
You have expended more energy than you are used to. You have 25% more chance of falling asleep per quarter hour.
Current Total Sleep Chance: 100%.
"Well, shit."
(End of Chapter)
Character Status by the end of Day 7
Naruto [Imp Ruto]
LvL 6
The Gamer
HP: 18.0 (+1.5 Max HP per day until a month old)(+1 HP per hour regen)
Mana: 330 (+2.4 per minute regen)
STR: 6
DEX: 8
AGI: 8
END: 8
INT: 17
WIS: 16
CHA: 4
Unused Points: 21
Spirit: 5
Magic: 12
Power: 3
Traits Taken:
Ambitious, Quick, Genius, Weak, Cynical, Depressed, Content
Focus:
Growing
Skills:
Fairy Flight (LvL 2)
Listening (LvL 1)
Intimidation (LvL 1)
Now you may be asking, there is a LvL difference. Remember the beginning of this chapter? NAruto LvLed Up hunting rabbits. That's where it comes from.