Chapter 237: Playfulness

Two weeks later, Ilya had to part ways with Shane who was visibly demotivated.

She felt sorry for him because they hadn't found a single Lesser Starlet Fox until now.

The only signs were footprints and remains of spatial transmuted mana fluctuations.

It was better than nothing but Shane could hardly call it a 'great' feat.

However, instead of giving up or slacking, Shane had worked much harder during the last two weeks in which he had studied every single detail about the surrounding area.

The Lesser Starlet Foxes' habitat was hidden somewhere, but Ilya was able to tell him roughly to pinpoint him to a possible location. 

This information was already enough to help him conduct his first research.

Now that he had gotten familiar with every nook and cranny in his surroundings, Shane could search for the best hiding spot. He would use it as a base to see and observe almost everything, within a radius of several hundred meters around him.

There weren't many places where Lesser Starlet Foxes that loved the starlight currents of this dimension could stay. Even if they were hidden, they were instinctively tempted to leave their hideout because they liked to fool other races which were what Shane was currently waiting for.

After Ilya left he had much more options than before. 

This was not because Ilya was bad at hiding or something like that, but she was unable to conceal her mana core completely.

Otherwise, she would be unable to move around or maintain her humanoid form.

In the end, her liquefied mass would be retracted within her core as well.

Shane was aware of this downside of the Elementals race which was a reason for him to not want to accompany him.

However, in the end, she had proved to be more useful than he had expected.

The problems he had expected to encounter didn't occur, even after his own and Ilya's mana fluctuations were only partially restricted.

It was enough to show other, stronger beasts that they were submissive, according to Ilya. This meant as long as they didn't release their mana provocatively or threatened beasts including the stronger Peak-Awakened stage beasts, everything was fine.

There was always the possibility of beasts hunting him and Ilya, but in that case, they could fight against them with each other's help.

Shane was not sure how exactly it was monitored by those strongest Awakened stage beasts but fighting against the beasts that attacked them first didn't lead to any unexpected attacks or any sort of reaction from those Overlord-beasts.

Yet, instead of complaining about it, he found this situation great because it was not necessary for him to pay too much attention to his surroundings.

After he had set up the first reinforced taratector net to see how other beasts would react, Shane and Ilya figured out that most weak beasts avoided such nets instinctively. The nets were similar to a certain spider's net that hunted said weaker beasts.

Meanwhile, the stronger Awakened stage beasts perceived that the reinforced taratector net was not strong enough to hold them down.

This was most likely the reason why they didn't seem to bother about those nets.

When Shane saw this, he couldn't help but feel that it was a very good decision he made by purchasing only [Tier-1 (Extraordinary)] nets instead of his initial plan to purchase the same net one grade higher.

He had only set up a single net to test its efficiency. Now that he knew how most beasts reacted to those nets, it would be possible to set up the remaining 199 nets.

However, before that Shane had to figure out where exactly the Lesser Starlet Fox habitat was!

**

Several days passed and Shane had yet to move away from the treetop he picked as the best location to monitor the surrounding area.

It had been painful to be perched on the treetop for hours on end and his back had stiffened a bit. Right as he was about to loosen the tension he had accumulated during the last few days, he saw something silvery golden flash before his eyes. It was a small beast with silver fur that had one golden colored strip that looked similar to a golden stream of stars embedded in it. 

Rubbing his eyes because he thought that he might be hallucinating, he peered at the beast again by squinting his eyes. Shane saw that the Lesser Starlet Fox was still in front of him, at most one hundred meters away from him.

Seeing that there was at least one Lesser Starlet Fox alive, he could barely suppress his excitement. He continued to observe the small, 20 centimeters tall Fox that was around one meter long ensuring no sound escaped his lips.

Every single member of the Elus-race he had spoken to about the Lesser Starlet Foxes had told him that they were alive, but he had had his doubts. He was not able to believe them 100% because the last time someone had reportedly seen them had been more than 50 years ago.

If he would have been required to wait equally long to encounter one of those small foxes, it would have been shocking and a huge waste of time.

Fortunately, only three weeks had passed since he had been on their lookout which gave him the chance to solve his mission in a few weeks.

That was if everything worked according to his plans.

Yet, while he was observing the Lesser Starlet Fox in front of him, Shane noticed that it was approaching his current location.

When he saw this the first time, he was truly overjoyed in the hope that his mission would finish today.

However, after thinking about the foxes' characteristics, he could only grit his teeth, telling himself to stay calm.

'They're sly and it definitely perceives my mana fluctuations…It probably plans to play with me...If I don't fall for this, it should be less suspicious about my existence and maybe even ignore me!'

After reminding himself that, Shane decided that it was enough to observe the Lesser Starlet fox that was less than 20 meters away.

'I'll set up the nets and wait for the next time it will show up...calm down!!' He was glad that the [Hunter's Mind] helped his mental state to suppress the desire to try catching the Lesser Starlet Fox right now.

Suddenly, the Lesser Starlet Fox utilized its affinity to create a spatial portal less than 10 centimeters in front of it as its speed accelerated.

Only a moment later, Shane's perceptions and instincts caused him to twist his body as the Lesser Starlet fox emerged out of the second spatial portal it had manifested along with the first one.

However, instead of showing any intentions of attacking Shane, it just stared at him, with a faint gleam of interest in its eyes as a third spatial portal manifested in front of the Lesser Starlet Fox.

In less than a second, the Lesser Starlet fox had manifested 4 spatial portals to ambush Shane while running.

'Fast and proficient with its affinity exactly as described...and it likes to play, that's for sure!' 

Comprehending what was going on, Shane suppressed how shocked he was about the sudden, unexpected ambush.

While he took a deep breath, Shane saw how the Lesser Starlet Fox jumped outside the fourth spatial gate.

It was now at the exact same position as it was a moment ago, but instead of acting as if it was oblivious to Shane's existence, it stared at him.

Shane thought that the Lesser Starlet Fox would depart soon, but time flew by and it was still staring at him while ambushing him once in a while with its spatial affinity.

This was because Shane was able to evade every single ambush without many problems.

'The pattern in which it uses the spatial portals is predictable and its speed is only slightly higher than mine...if my reaction speed were to be a little bit slower I wouldn't be able to evade the ambushes'

However, while thinking about this, he told himself that he would catch the Lesser Starlet fox soon enough, even if he had to endure its ambush for several weeks.

'Wait….what would happen if I don't evade its ambushes?' With this sudden thought, Shane wondered if he could use the spatial restriction parchment the exact moment at which the Lesser Starlet Fox appeared next to him.

If that was possible, he would save lots of time, and more importantly, money, because he could sell the goods he had purchased for the hunt at a high price.

Unfortunately, Shane was unable to use this tactic when he perceived the mana fluctuations of a low-Awakened beast nearby them. The distraction led the angsty Lesser Starlet Fox to use its affinity to emerge at a position 200 meters away.

'I will get you, trust me!!' Shane thought in his mind as he stared at the Lesser Starlet Fox that disappeared from his sight a moment later.

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