Outside the city of Minagarde, on a flagstone road, a flat carriage without a canopy, pulled by a Herbivore Dragon, was slowly moving forward.
Hayata, with her helmet placed to the side, lay on her back on the carriage board, side by side with Zhu Pa, enjoying the sun and breeze.
She dangled her two calves off the edge of the board, swaying them leisurely and contentedly.
"It's been a long time since I left the city.
We're still far from the Hunting Field, so Teacher said I can relax a bit~."
"Meow~"
Unlike Hayata, who was always "kept" within the city walls, Gordon didn't find the blue sky, white clouds, or the weeds and wildflowers by the roadside anything to "enjoy."
His attention was currently entirely on the weapon on Amos's back.
"Amos Senior, is this weapon of yours a Katana?"
It was no wonder he felt puzzled; the appearance of this weapon was truly a bit strange.
Unlike the simple, slender, slightly curved shape of a Katana in most people's minds, it looked more like a giant Fork.
The hilt was very long, taking up almost half of its total length.
The ice-blue blade was slightly short and thick, and the tip of the blade widened further while splitting into two prongs, reminding one of a fierce beast's sharp fangs.
"Oh? You mean this."
Amos glanced at the weapon on his back, a hint of pride in his tone.
"Yes, the Ice Katana—White Monkey Tachi [Extreme], crafted from materials of the Fanged Beast monster, the Snow Lion King.
It underwent step-by-step enhancements to finally become its current form."
"Whoa, a weapon with an element!
It's my first time seeing one!"
Gordon couldn't help but lean closer again, carefully examining the slightly transparent ice-blue blade.
"What's an 'element'?"
Hearing a topic of interest, Hayata also sat up, turned over, and leaned closer.
"Huh? It's cool!"
"Don't touch the blade; it's easy to get frostbite."
Amos reminded the two, then entered "teaching mode," patiently explaining knowledge about various elements and monster weaknesses to Hayata.
Gordon understood all these things, but he certainly wouldn't interfere with the teacher-disciple lesson.
To pass the time, he took down his Burst Blade and began maintaining it with a cloth and blade oil.
"Why is it said that elements aren't important for heavy weapons like Great Swords and great hammers?"
Hayata's ability to draw inferences pleased Amos greatly, and her question also attracted Gordon's attention.
Elements aren't important for Great Swords?
So there's such a saying, a piece of knowledge I didn't know!
Gordon stopped what he was doing, tilted his head, and listened intently.
Amos smiled, glanced at him, and asked, "Gordon, when you continuously Attack with a Great Sword, how fast is your Attack frequency?"
Gordon thought for a moment and replied, "Not considering dodging or Charged Slash, it's probably one swing every two to three seconds."
Amos nodded and continued to explain, "A Great Sword's single Attack damage is very high, but its Attack frequency is slow, while a Katana's Attack frequency is more than one swing per second, and even faster when using Spirit Blade.
Weapons with added elements deal a basically fixed amount of additional elemental damage with each strike, so the higher the Attack frequency of a weapon, the greater the elemental effect boost.
The fastest Attack speed, Dual Blades, shows an especially significant increase.
In fact, the added elemental damage is the core part of a Dual Blades User's output.
Therefore, Dual Blades Users often craft multiple weapons with different elements to target different hunting objectives."
The two young listeners nodded in unison, and Gordon's expectation and envy for elemental weapons diminished somewhat.
Days passed like this, filled with teaching, chatting, and resting.
The road gradually disappeared, and the low shrubs and weeds by the roadside were replaced by taller woody plants.
They had finally arrived at the Metabe Forest, where their target Hunting Field was located.
This was a super-giant forest covering over 500,000 square kilometers.
Due to its distance from the Xinmai Dragon Mountain Range, the terrain here was relatively flatter, with some low hills but no high mountains, and the vegetation was much more lush.
If Gordon were to describe his current state, it would be "like a fish in water."
The natural ecosystems of the two Hunting Fields were quite similar, requiring no adaptation from scratch, and the gentle terrain spared him the trouble of climbing mountains and descending ravines.
He almost immediately fell in love with this place.
Upon arriving at the Hunting Field, they did not immediately begin hunting but instead went to the Hunting Camp, planning to rest for a night.
Hayata felt a little disappointed about this.
Gordon, who inadvertently noticed her expression, was somewhat speechless.
When he first entered the Hunting Field with his instructor, he was very nervous.
How was it that for her, there was only anticipation?
By the bonfire at the Hunter Camp, Hayata, who had been pampered since childhood, tasted the "delicious" preserved food for the first time.
She gnawed on it.
Although it was dry, hard to chew, and very salty, Hayata still chewed down her entire portion little by little, washing it down with water.
This made Amos look at her with some admiration.
Hayata's talent was good, and she was very brave; this was a long-confirmed fact.
His only concern was whether this child could endure the hardships of being a Hunter.
Now it seemed he had worried too much.
Paine, your precious niece is probably more determined than you think.
The night passed without a word.
A new day dawned in the thin morning mist.
The earliest to rise was surprisingly Hayata; she had been impatient for a long time.
Ignoring the little girl who was bouncing around the Hunting Camp with a Hunter's Knife, Amos approached Gordon, who was checking the hunting tools in his pack.
"Gordon, this time the Defeat mission will be led by you.
I need to protect Hayata, so unless there's an emergency, I won't intervene.
Is that okay?"
"Of course."
Gordon nodded readily.
It had been agreed upon when taking the mission; since he was taking all the rewards, it was reasonable for the other party not to participate in the hunt.
A few Qimian Tribe members were nothing; there was no need to borrow Amos's strength.
"Hmm, just a quick reminder, don't provoke too many Qimian Tribe members at once.
These little guys are quite intelligent and good at using tools.
They can be a bit troublesome if they cooperate."
"Understood!"
After a final check of their equipment and tools, the three people and one cat left the Hunting Camp.
Gordon and Zhu Pa walked in front, while Amos followed about ten meters behind with Hayata.
Along the way, Hayata kept asking questions.
When she noticed Gordon suddenly squatting down and fiddling with the weeds on the ground, she quietly asked again, "Teacher, what is Brother Gordon doing?
Is he looking for monster tracks?"
Amos glanced and said, "No, he's understanding the environmental humidity by observing the state of the grass roots and soil."
"Environmental humidity?"
"Yes, season, temperature, weather, topography, monster habits, and so on—all of these are relatively independent yet interconnected."
Saying this, Amos squatted down, inserted his fingertips into the soil, and pulled out a section of grass root.
Hayata imitated him, but her still-tender fingers couldn't penetrate the soil.
Holding the section of grass root with wet soil in front of Hayata, Amos said, "Just from this section of grass root with soil, you can extract a lot of information, for example, that it rained here within the last day."
Seeing Hayata still looking confused, Amos smiled, threw away the grass root, brushed the soil off his hands, and stood up.
"Hunting isn't just about swinging a knife to hack at monsters.
Keep watching.
That kid's fundamentals are very solid.
It seems he had a very excellent instructor."
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T/N: While I am an inexperienced Translator, I have a Patreon! While it may seem empty as of now, webnovel will get 2 Chapters Every Day, and advanced chapters will be uploaded on Patreon.
There should be... around 20+ advanced chapters?
[email protected]/Kazenova
If you guys wanna check it out.