Skill Hunter -Kill Monsters, Acquire Skills, Ascend to the Highest Rank!

The mantis swung. Its claws hurtled toward Ike's neck from either side.

"Now!" Ike shouted. He dropped to the ground and shut his eyes.

A bright flash filled the room, so bright his eyelids turned pink. The mantis shrieked. Its claws slammed home, but not into Ike. They buried deep into the wooden support behind where he'd been standing.

"You can cut a sapling, but not a whole tree, huh?" Ike taunted it from the left. Soundlessly, he paced behind it.

The mantis screeched again. It threw its body toward the left.

Ike grinned. It's blinded. Now, the finishing blow, before its eyes adjust! Holding the axe, he knelt. For a second, he activated Lightning Dash, Lightning Grasp, and forcibly activated the lightning forearm skill. His mana burned at an alarming rate, his stomach aching as it cooled. With the full force of all his mana and all four limbs, he threw himself off the ground. Rotating in midair, he put his feet against the ceiling and kicked. Lightning jolted after him as he plunged down toward the mantis' head from behind, axe held out before him.

CLUNK. The blade bit into the back of the mantis' head. Ichor poured out. The blade stuck halfway through it, unable to sever it completely.

The mantis screamed. It thrashed harder, tugging at its claws with all its might.

Using the stuck axe as an anchor, Ike pulled himself up and braced his feet on its spindly shoulders. He pulled the axe free, then brought it down again and again. Chunks of exoskeleton and glops of ichor flew across the basement. The mantis thrashed and thrashed, until finally it fell still, sagging against the wooden support.

Warmth flowed into his stomach, and his core refilled. Strangely, although he was sure he'd absorbed nearly as much mana from it as from the Salamander, his stomach didn't feel taut with mana, but merely full. He put a hand to his core. Was his core expanding? Growing capable of holding more mana? It had grown when he'd killed the Salamander, but he'd also Ranked up then. I thought it was just because of Rank increase. Was it because I also killed a monster, maybe? A double effect, from both Rank up and monster-slaying?

If core size wasn't completely locked to Rank, that was great news. If he could expand his core by killing monsters and absorb more mana at a lower Rank, he'd be able to cast more spells than someone of equivalent Rank. It'd give him an edge in fights against other Rank 1s.

His mind flashed to Joseph. Any edge. Anything to give me an advantage. When anyone can become an enemy, the safest play is to become strong enough that it doesn't matter.

Right now, I'm behind, but it doesn't need to be that way forever.

Ike straightened. He jerked the axe free once more, then wiped his forehead with the back of his arm. Yellow ichor and sweat mingled on his brow. He looked up at the hatch, a square of light high overhead, and gave Cara a thumbs-up.

"Did you do it?" Cara called down.

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"It's dead!" Ike shouted back.

"Good job!" There was a rattle, and a ladder descended into the hatch.

Ike looked at the ladder, then at the mantis' corpse. He eyed the distance up to the hatch. "Reckon this thing's parts are worth anything?"

"Probably. It is a thousand-year beast. Did it drop a skill?" Cara asked, her voice echoing through the room.

He looked around. No little orbs, glistening on the floor. "Doesn't look like it."

"Can't hit every time, I guess."

Ike turned back to the beast. "I'm going to hack this thing apart and pass it up through the hatch."

"My poor old back is too weak for that kind of lifting nowadays. I'll go get Orin."

"Wait."

Cara paused.

Ike looked around again. "There's nothing down here. Orin told me his book was in the basement."

"Oh, did he? That liar," Cara said, chuckling. "It's in the attic. I'll go fetch it for you after I get Orin."

Ike pursed his lips. He glowered at the hatch, then shook his head. Last time I trust that old man. He's too wily.

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"Ah, well. He wouldn't have given me the book unless I killed this thing anyways, so it's no loss," Ike muttered aloud to himself. He lifted the axe and started hacking away at the mantis.

Although he'd only cleaned hides, his years at the monster processing plant gave him an instinctive feel for what to preserve whole, and what to chop up. He segmented its thick abdominal exoskeleton into as large pieces as possible and severed each of its wings individually, carefully passing the delicate filaments out of the basement, but hacked its legs into conveniently small pieces.

At last, only the claws remained. They were deeply lodged in the support pillar. More than half their width sunk into the hardwood. After a few minutes of fruitless yanking, he grabbed his axe and hacked them free. They struck the floor with a puff of dirt, and he knelt and examined them. The claws themselves were mostly unharmed from the battle and his removal efforts. He twisted them back and forth, admiring the strength of the exoskeleton. A few scuffs marred the edges of the blades, but that was all. These things could make a decent weapon.

"You done in there?" Orin shouted into the hatch.

"Coming up," Ike replied. He stuck the claws down his shirt and climbed up the ladder, escaping back into broad daylight at last.

A pile of mantis parts awaited him, from hunks of its exoskeletons to a dirty old tin full of its slimy internals. He looked over the bounty and gave a satisfied nod.

Even if I didn't get a skill, I have at least fifty gold in parts to sell right here.

Orin sniffed. He looked over the dismembered mantis alongside Ike, then nodded. "You did good, kid. Have real skill as a hunter."

"Thanks," Ike said. He looked at Orin. "About that book…?"

"Right here," Cara said, before Orin could open his mouth again. She held up a fat notebook stuffed full of looseleaf papers, notes, even fragments torn out of printed books. Three thick metal rings bound its tattered covers together. The cover itself was marred with dark splatters of barely-identifiable materials, from a rusty brown stain that looked suspiciously like blood to a brown, tealike pigment that stained the paper in a telltale circular pattern.

Ike took it. He cracked it open and skimmed through the pages, then nodded. "My thanks."

"I'm surprised you can read, kid," Orin said, without a single ounce of self-awareness.

Cara smacked his arm. "Don't be rude, old man!"

"What? Most kids that grew up in the slums can't. It's not that strange of a thing to assume."

Ike smiled, a tinge of bitterness to it. "When I was younger and too little to do manual labor, I kept the inventory books for my uncle's plant. He had to teach me to read so I could note down what the plant took in."

He flexed his hands, still feeling the merciless crash of the liquor bottle onto his small fingers every time he answered a question incorrectly. I hated it at the time, but now, it means I have access to invaluable information that'll make me become a better hunter. I guess my uncle helped me out a tiny bit, however small.

"A diligent lad? I like that," Orin said, nodding.

Cara nudged him. She looked at Ike, the compassion in her gaze telling him she'd picked up on his unintentional clues. "It's fortunate that you learned such a valuable skill, however it came to be."

Ike nodded. He rubbed the back of his neck and looked away.

"Have any sword skills, boy?" Orin asked.

"My name is Ike. And no," Ike said.

Orin harrumphed. "Too bad. Those blades you're holding could make a fine pair of swords."

Ike glanced down, then drew the blades out of his shirt. "I thought as much. Do you know someone who can process them?" I'm not taking them to my uncle. Though…come to think of it, I'm not sure my uncle did weapons. I don't recall ever seeing someone make a blade. We did lots of leather and bone armor and shields, home goods, meat, organs, blood, construction materials…but no weapons.

Orin nodded. "Better than that…I know someone who can make swords outta those, and teach you a sword skill at the same time. He's a bit elusive, but a kid as resourceful as yourself oughta be able to find him."

"If you can't find him, don't get disheartened. There's plenty of good monster-smiths in the outpost," Cara reassured Ike.

Ike smiled, uncertain. Is he that hard to find?

"Aye, but none of 'em quite like Silver."

"Silver?" Ike frowned.

Cara touched her forehead just over her right eye and drew a line toward the back of her head. "He has a silver streak in his hair, just so, and he never gives anyone his name. We had to call him something, so in the outpost, he's known as Silver. He doesn't spend a lot of time in town. Prefers his own company, he says."

Ike's eyes widened. "He lives outside the wall?" He had to be powerful. Even Rank 2 hunters only risked short excursions outside the wall—a week, maybe two at the extreme. Beyond the wall and the barrier, monsters could attack at any moment, day or night. It was exhausting to keep up that level of vigilance for short travels. To live outside the wall full time…

Orin crossed his arms. "That's right. He's a bit of a loner, but if you tell him I sent you, he ought to help you out. There's a map on the back cover to his hut."

Ike flipped open the book to the final page. An arrow pointed out into the forest from crudely drawn approximation of the outpost and gate, traveled straight for a time, then turned right. A few dotted lines indicated the general course of the other paths. A short list of instructions sat below the map. Go forward until you see the lightning-struck tree. At the old owl's nest, hook a right. Two paths down, take the left where Genii lost his boots that one time… They continued, not getting any less arcane the longer the list went.

"…Right. Thanks," Ike said, not too certain.

Orin thumped him on the back. "Let's hear a heartfelt 'thank you, sir,' huh? There's hunters who would kill to get a glimpse of that book, and here I am handing it over to you!"

"Thank you, sir!" Ike barked, snapping his heels together and lifting his hand to his eyebrow in a poor approximation of a guard's salute.

Cara glanced at him from the corner of her eyes. A smile curled her lips, and she lifted a hand to suppress a giggle. Ike grinned back.

Orin sighed. He shook his head, scuffing his foot on the ground. "Youth these days."

Cara clapped, drawing their attention. "Now that the big monster's taken care of, let's finish off the small fry."

"Yes, ma'am," Ike replied. It wasn't much, but those little mantises gave me mana, too. I'll monitor my core closely while we clean up the lodge, and see if I can't confirm that absorbing monsters' mana expands my core.