Chapter Five: The Winter Hunt

This time, there were four teams in total from the Moria Barony. Aside from Lando’s group, which consisted of a trio of elite knights, the other three teams each included one knight accompanied by several peak apprentice knights. Mike was the leader of the expedition. Since many were participating in the “Winter Hunt” for the first time, he spent much of the journey explaining important precautions. Chief among them was the strict rule forbidding any participant from attacking another; if caught, the offender would be subject to a joint manhunt by all the nobility of the North.

When they finally arrived at the temporary gathering site—a nameless mountain village—only two other knights from different territories had arrived. Having already gone over all necessary instructions during the journey, Mike gave the order to begin and promptly went off to drink with familiar knights. Meanwhile, Lando and his companions each ventured into the northern forests, thus commencing their month-long hunt.

…

A sharp whistle split the air—the sound of an arrow. Lando instinctively raised his sword to parry. After more than half a month of hunting, he was well accustomed to sudden ambushes. He charged toward the direction of the arrow, catching in his peripheral vision George and Rina also entering battle.

With a flicker of light across his body, Lando activated the life energy within him, greatly enhancing his speed and strength. His sword sliced out, and a faint white lion shimmered around him, poised to devour. The barbarian, cloaked in animal hides, was shadowed by the image of a snow leopard. Nimbly dodging Lando’s strike, the barbarian discarded his longbow and drew two short swords from his belt.

Veteran’s Might!

The barbarian’s previously fluid movements suddenly faltered; he lost his balance and nearly fell. Lando seized the moment, thrusting his sword into the barbarian’s heart before immediately withdrawing. Once he was certain the enemy was dead, he glanced toward the other two knights. Their fights were nearly over as well. Lando sliced off the left ear of the fallen barbarian and found some strange herbs and dried rations on the body.

“It seems this was an elite squad from a major tribe.”

“Indeed, likely from the Snow Leopard Tribe. They have worshipped the snow leopard totem for generations.”

After regrouping, Lando suddenly sensed a prompt from the system—the presence of a soul available for extraction. He followed the system’s guidance and looked at the string of beast-fang necklaces in George’s hand.

Noticing Lando’s gaze, George smiled and said, “I thought you might like this. It’s said that only shamans or powerful warriors from the big tribes can craft these beast-fang necklaces, and only they and their descendants are permitted to wear them. It’s a rare trophy. Since this is your first ‘Winter Hunt,’ you can take it back and show off to the young girls.” With that, he tossed the necklace to Lando, who, though a bit embarrassed, did not refuse.

Extract!

Totem Shaman (Green): Totem Affinity (Green) (200), Summon Totem.

Totem Affinity (Green) was a talent, noted as 200 in the log. Summon Totem was an ability obtainable after installing the soul.

Neither seemed particularly useful, so perhaps it was time to try out the soul decomposition function.

Extracted souls could be decomposed into soul essence. Previous souls were too valuable for Lando to consider decomposing, so he hadn’t tried it yet. But now seemed a good opportunity.

Decompose!

The [Totem Shaman (Green)] soul gradually grew faint and vanished, while his soul essence count rapidly increased.

Watching his soul essence climb from 220 to 450, Lando was overjoyed.

Two hundred thirty points—Totem Affinity (Green) accounted for most of it, the rest were minor fragments. Most importantly, the system didn’t seem to shortchange him.

Since acquiring the system, Lando had been studying it and hadn’t found any sign of independent awareness. He’d prepared himself to receive only half or even less of the soul essence required to condense a talent—after all, buying and selling always involve a profit margin! But unexpectedly, the system hadn’t withheld anything, even giving more than Lando anticipated.

Setting aside his doubts about the system for now, he took stock of their spoils—a pile of ears. Barbarian ears differed from those of ordinary folk; each left ear signified a slain barbarian. For totem shamans, the head was usually taken instead. These trophies would earn them considerable merit upon their return.

Among the loot were some unidentified herbs, generally of little value, but since they took up little space, it was worth carrying them back in case there was a rare snow forest herb among them. Someone could appraise them later.

There were also some dark, unappealing strips of jerky. Despite their appearance, they were actually quite tasty—certainly better than gnawing on raw meat.

George and Rina, both seasoned veterans, could easily locate hibernating animals in the snow, sparing them the need for frequent resupply trips to the village. As knights, the three of them had no trouble eating raw meat when necessary.

As the “Winter Hunt” drew to a close, their encounters with barbarians became rarer—a tacit understanding, perhaps, between the northern nobles and the barbarian tribes.

During this period, Lando was fortunate enough to extract another soul from a weapon.

Totem Warrior (Green): Totem Affinity (Green) (150)

This time, Totem Affinity (Green) was rated at 150, and decomposing it yielded only 160 soul essence.

His records showed Totem Affinity (Green) required 200 soul essence to condense. Lando guessed that, even for the same talent, individuals possessed different degrees of it. The shaman’s totem affinity was likely stronger than the warrior’s, and the system would only record the highest version obtained. That explained the discrepancy.

Overall, Lando was quite satisfied with the results of this Winter Hunt. It appeared that killing ordinary people did not yield soul essence. He speculated that perhaps only those with talents yielded extractable souls, but as he hadn’t yet encountered such a situation, he couldn’t be certain.

By the time Lando and his companions returned to the nameless village, it was already teeming with knights and apprentice knights who had participated in the Winter Hunt. After handing in a sack of ears to exchange for merit, their task was officially complete. All that remained was to travel to the greatest city of the North, Snowfield City, to claim their rewards.

The northern nobility had established a treasure vault there to encourage knights to participate enthusiastically in the Winter Hunt.

Lando observed that, though he was unfamiliar with the other teams, every group that had come with him had suffered losses to some extent. The most unfortunate team returned with only the lead knight, and even he was wounded. The fate of the peak apprentice knights in that group was obvious.

“Well, this is war after all—losses are to be expected. Next, we head to Snowfield City. Once there, besides claiming your merits, you’ll have a few days to enjoy yourselves.”

“Oh! Wonderful!”

Lando was delighted as well, convinced that a great harvest awaited him in the treasure vault.