Chapter 43 Gains
The Shadow Lynx was smashed to the ground with great force. The unexpected arrival of Spot had surprised even it.
Lucas did not waste the opportunity and retreated far away from the two, his arms still trembling due to the force that struck it earlier; at the very least, though, his arms were still intact thanks to the Armadon Tonfa's block.
As he retreated, Lucas turned his head to the area of the battle earlier and saw that the other Shadow Lynx was already disintegrating into particles of light. A moment later, the last Shadow Lynx also succumbed to Spot's vicious claws.
The blood and gore slowly disintegrated, restoring the surroundings anew. If there were no marks left, like the indentations on the ground or broken twigs around, one might even realize that a battle had taken place here just moments ago.
Calming his nerves, Lucas nodded at Spot in appreciation before he proceeded to recollect the trip traps he had used earlier. The trip traps had proven to be very useful, and he still needed to use them for the next hunt.
While doing so, Lucas did not forget to give Spot his well-deserved treat. He also allowed him to dismiss his Hellhound Manifestation in order for him to have a rest. Spot was not badly injured, to say the least. There were just some scratches and shallow wounds around his body that had slowly begun to heal even before he reverted to his normal form.
Lucas also obtained some bruises on his arms due to the blunt force he received from blocking the Shadow Lynx strike. However, such bruises were bearable for him, so it was not a problem.
All in all, the battle went well and according to plan, until the unexpected situation where the Shadow Lynx chose to attack him instead, at least.
After retrieving all the trip traps he had set up, Lucas and Spot did not linger in the area any longer. They moved toward another location as Lucas searched for a suitable spot to take a rest.
After he found a safe spot to hide and recuperate, Lucas immediately closed his eyes to meditate and recover Spiritual Energy to mitigate his usage from his earlier summon of Spot.
Now that he was already an Iron Star 2 Summoner, Lucas realized that he could now recover 1 Spiritual Energy per minute. The Spiritual Energy recovery speed was also affected by multiple factors, including rank, grimoire grade, location, as well as the mediation technique the summoner used.
Recovering 1 Spiritual Energy per minute, Lucas opened his eyes ten minutes later as he felt that his Spiritual Energy had become full.
Now that he had rested, Lucas could finally turn his attention and review his experience gains from the recent hunt.
Opening the grimoire, Lucas smiled in satisfaction as he saw the logs of the battle earlier.
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[You have killed an Iron Grade-Iron Star 3, Shadow Lynx (100%): You gained 3.8 XP]
The same log was repeated four times in total.
Due to the fact that he was already an Iron Star 2 Summoner, the experience points he gained for each beast were a little less compared to when he hunted the Ember Soldier Ants with similar grade and star rank from before.
Depending on one's star rank, a summoner might obtain more or less experience points when they eliminate beasts.
The difficulty during that time and this time was no less different. This was because even though he had an increase in rank, his major combatant, Spot, still had the same strength and rank during that time when Lucas was still an Unranked Summoner.
What was a good thing, though, was the fact that it took them less time to hunt a chain of lynxes compared to a pair of Ember Soldier Ants. So even though he received less, he would still be able to earn more in the long run if they continued with such a pace.
[Name: Lucas Valen
Age: 17
Grimoire Grade: Unranked
Rank: Iron Star 2 (16.91/225)
Spiritual Energy: 58/58
Beasts: Gentle Dog]
Even though he felt upset about the loss of some experience points, Lucas still looked at his current profile with a satisfied face.
"Still a long way to go," Lucas commented as he stood up from his hiding spot. "Well, the day is still long, so we better work harder. Right, Spot?"
Woorf!
Still chewing the Moonlit Bone, the Gentle Dog responded with a muffled bark; it's eyes glistened as it used the Gentle Gaze toward its owner once more.
Smiling gently to his reliable summon, Lucas placed Spot over his head as he sprinted forward, searching for another chain of lynx to hunt.
Not long later, Lucas found another trail left behind by a chain of Shadow Lynx. Upon a closer look, it seems that the trail was still fresh too, so the Shadow Lynxes should not be far from where he currently was.
He then searched for a spot to set up his trip traps once more.
With his earlier experience, Lucas optimized the current setup even more. Increasing the number of trips made it seem like a chaotic spiderweb that a spider had woven lazily or in a hurry. This time, he also used all of the remaining trips to make it even more chaotic.
Of course, he didn't forget to consider that having too many in one place would make them easily discoverable. To prevent this, Lucas decided to wet some soil and coat the traps with it, making them harder to spot. Although the soil made the traps a bit inflexible and rigid, they would still serve their purpose well due to the resilience of the web they were made from.
As he set up the traps, Lucas also decided to educate Spot about them, telling him to be careful and not to trip on any of them. He provided a lot of space in the center for Spot to maneuver, though, so he should be fine. The only areas where he set up the traps were just in the shadowy area where the Shadow Lynxes would most likely blend into.
Learning from his experience, Lucas also set up another batch of trip traps in another area. It was in this area that he planned to watch and observe the battle. In case one of the Shadow Lynx decides to attack him, he would also have his own trips to restrict them.
Lucas then unsummoned Spot as he was already near his time limit. Not wanting to waste some precious minutes, he decided to summon him later, right at the start of the battle.
With his preparations done, Lucas followed the Shadow Lynx trail once again.
Five minutes later, Lucas ran back as quickly as he could.
Dozens of yards behind him, Spot could be seen fighting five Shadow Lynxes as he retreated back in the same direction as Lucas.
"Shit, there's actually five of them!"
Lucas cursed as he ran wildly in front.
The fifth Shadow Lynx was an unexpected surprise for Lucas. He did not see it during his observation earlier, as it actually camouflaged in one of the huge roots of the dark giant tree. He only noticed that particular Shadow Lynx right after he made the noise to gain their attention, and it was already too late for him to stop.
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Still, even though there were five of them, everything was still within Lucas' expectations.