Chapter 22 Hunting

(SNAP)

A twig broke as Zen took a step forward, startling the nearby fauna to run away.

Arvell turned to Zen and sighed.

"Remember to watch where you're walking. We won't be able to catch any lunch if you keep scaring them away."

Zen put down his head in shame. For someone who never had to hunt like this before, hiding his presence from his prey was too hard for him.

He simply had no experience with this kind of thing.

Arvell realized this too, so he didn't admonish Zen too much, instead of relying on giving him tips and reminders instead.

The two of them were planning on catching some lunch by slowly following any nearby animal they deemed as 'fit to eat', and planned to kill them before they could run away.

Normally this would be quite easy for Arvell, being he could just slow down time, or open a small portal near them to kill them quickly.

Even without this, he had some food already stored in his inventory.

However, there was a major problem with this.

Zen.

Arvell couldn't just reveal his use of Aether and Nether to someone he had just met.

If it was revealed that he could use a power that far surpasses magic, and two of them at that, he would be hunted down by the strongest mages across the world.

They would capture him as a test subject, force him to fight for them, try to steal his powers for themselves, or simply kill him since he would be seen as a threat to them.

While Arvell did see Zen as a somewhat of an honourable man, he didn't want to take any unnecessary risks that would jeopardize his own life.

Especially for someone, he saved out of pity.

Arvell valued his life far more than that.

Thus they were stuck to hunting the 'natural' way.

Zen apparently was able to use wind magic, but he had just turned thirteen a month ago so he wasn't properly trained on how to use magic yet.

He could summon a small puff of wind, but that would only be able to ruffle some leaves on the ground at best.

Naturally, it fell on Arvell to hunt instead.

When Zen asked Arvell how he was able to kill all of the bandits, Arvell just revealed the part where he poisoned their food.

Without stating that he was the one who made the poison of course.

Being able to brew poisons as strong as that at his age would also raise questions, something Arvell would find quite troublesome.

He was debating revealing some of his less flashy abilities, and passing it off as normal magic, but he was still debating this.

Unfortunately, their recent failures with procuring food forced Arvell's hand.

[Time Manipulation]

Arvell turned into a blur as he raced after a nearby creature that resembled a deer.

[Haste]

Arvell's speed increased even further as he appeared behind the deer the next second.

The deer shuddered as it instinctively turned to face Arvell.

(CLANG)

Arvell's sword slammed onto the deer's horns and loud noise rang out.

'This creature's horns are as strong as metal,' Arvell thought to himself.

He quickly threw a kick at the beast's jaw while it was preoccupied with blocking Arvell's sword.

However, the creature twisted its head and dodged Arvell's kick.

Arvell coldly smiled when he saw this

'Checkmate.'

He quickly repositioned his sword and cleanly beheaded the creature.

Unfortunately for the deer, when it dodged Arvell's kick it let go of Arvell's sword, letting Arvell have a clean angle to behead the deer.

The shock in the creature's eyes was visible as its severed head and headless body both fell to the ground with a thump.

A small pool of blood started forming around the body of the creature.

"W-W-What was that? You were so fast! I didn't even see what you were doing!" A voice rang out behind Arvell.

Arvell looked over his shoulder to find a bewildered Zen.

He was looking at Arvell with eyes full of awe, respect, and a little fear.

Arvell felt a headache coming but he decided that it was better to let Zen think he was just a talented mage who was proficient with body enhancement magic at a young age, instead of letting him form his own speculations about Arvell's powers.

Furthermore, if they were to be attacked Arvell would have to reveal some of his cards either way.

"As you can see I can use body enhancement magic to make myself faster and stronger. I also have a magic artifact that makes me far faster as well."

Zen looked at Arvell as if he was a monster.

"Aren't you also 13? Just like me? How did you get this strong!"

Arvell turned his head to the side.

"I just trained myself really hard"

Technically Arvell didn't lie… Lykos did put him through hell the past five months.

Zen looked at Arvell like he was speaking another language

"You can't just get that strong that quickly by working hard. However, if you want to keep your privacy that's understandable. You did save me, so I shouldn't pry into your secrets if you don't want to disclose them."

Arvell let out a breath of relief and went to pick up the carcass which they would eat for lunch.

Zen started gathering firewood while Arvell gutted the animal and removed the blood.

He removed a small black crystal from inside the chest of the creature

[Appraisal]

[Status Information]

Beast Core Species: Iron Horned Deer

Beast Core Rank: Middle First Rank

[A Beast Core harvested from an Iron Horned Deer.]

Arvell had gotten used to using Appraisal to the point where he could now use it without even saying its name.

He simply had to visualize it and he could see it.

He had also recently also acquired a refining furnace using the money he gained by hunting bandits and began to use alchemy as well.

This was also how he made the poison which he used on the bandit group that kidnapped Zen.

After they got the fire started the two of them sat in silence while watching the meat cook.

While the Meat was slowly sizzling above the fire, Arvell decided to ask Lykos a question.

He had planned on asking him earlier, but he was preoccupied with other things so he completely forgot about it.

'Lykos where did you get the name Silvanus from?'

'Silvanus was my last name. Since I gave you my essence and trained you, it's only fitting that you take my last name as well.'

Arvell's eyes momentarily widened with shock before nodding his head.

'It's a lot better than keeping the last name of my 'father'. Those people exiled and rejected me for a birth condition. It's only fitting that I reject them as well.''

'Keeping your first name should be fine since you aren't the only person named Arvell in the world. While the name is uncommon, it's not unique enough to just belong to you either.'

'I don't want people to realize who I am just yet, but I agree. Keeping my birth name shouldn't be too much of a concern. Everyone assumes that I am already dead. I even look completely different. Including the fact that it was common knowledge that I had no mana in the first place, almost no one would think I would be the exiled third prince.'

A mouthwatering aroma spread through the air causing both Zen and Arvell's stomach's to rumble.

Arvell grabbed his sword and made a small incision on the slab of meat to see if it was properly cooked.

"It's ready. Lets dig in."

As the two were talking Zen looked over at Arvell and spoke up.

"Hey Arvell, you plan on going through the Algreppa mountain ranges to travel to Elantrya correct?"

Arvell nodded his head.

"Yeah thats correct. Why do you ask?"

"While I was kidnapped I was brought through the mountain range by the bandit group from earlier."

"How many casualties did they have? For a group that large it must have been a lot correct?"

Zen looked at Arvell eagerly.

"Thats the thing… They only lost three people."

Arvell almost spit out the food in his mouth.

"Just three? How is that possible?"

"Well you see they have a secret tunnel they use to traverse it. I was thinking we could use it too. After all… Why create unnecessary risks?"

Arvell looked at Zen as if he was made of solid gold.

'To think someone I saved out of pity would be this useful! I guess it was worth it in the end.'

"If you are speaking the truth, that would make our trip far easier."