Bear School Astartes

Wende, Aibo, and Gaffi, along with Lann, all have wilderness survival skills.

With the help of the two people and a cat from the area, Lann quickly handled his scent, using the methods of this world to mask his own smell.

They quietly hid to the side, watching as the staggering Fierce Jackal Dragon stood up, furiously searching around first.

Then, finding nothing and looking very angry but not daring to scream in the forest, it could only drag its injured forelimb and crawl away.

”How long will it be before the tracker bugs dare to come out again?”

Lann scratched his cheek, which was a bit itchy from the leaves, and asked Wende in a low voice.

The Hunter’s tone was also uncertain.

”I haven’t used the tracker bugs for long myself; before coming to the New World, I was using traditional dye balls...”

”Alright then...”

Lann did understand the practice of letting prey go in the middle of a hunt.

Even if this Fierce Jackal Dragon was their target, there was nothing wrong with this approach.

Because prey under a hunter’s pursuit doesn’t get chances to rest properly, their condition only worsens.

Even ordinary Hunters sometimes deliberately let injured prey escape during a hunt.

This is to reduce the intensity of the prey’s final burst of resistance in life.

In short—it’s about weakening the prey using injuries and time.

Although as a rule of thumb, an injured prey, even if escaping the Hunter, will face difficulty hunting due to injuries, leading to malnutrition.

Malnutrition then deprives the prey of the energy needed for wounds to heal, possibly worsening them.

This vicious cycle ultimately leads to death.

But that’s in normal places; in this ecologically vigorous and astonishingly exaggerated New World... Anyway, Lann still couldn’t accurately estimate what level of injury would cause a vigorous large monster to be worn down to death.

Damn! Some monsters’ skin, muscles, and bones are indeed tougher than ordinary steel!

The tactile sensation when Lann cleaved into a monster’s body with his weapon confirmed this rather astonishing fact.

And with these types of bodies, large monsters... Lann found it quite acceptable that they could recover from compound fractures, lost limbs, and such.

”But you really messed up this time, Wende.”

Aibo quipped at her partner while enthusiastically scribbling into her large book.

”The Fierce Jackal Dragon got close, and you didn’t even notice.”

Wende chuckled awkwardly, ”It’s mainly because of this voice...I was indeed a bit rushed.”

Here, Wende scratched his head in embarrassment while Gaffi adjusted his little helmet and let out a ’meow’.

”Meow! Wende, look, the tracker bugs are out!”

A glowing tracker bug even flew to Gaffi’s nose, startling the cat.

”Looks like it’s safe around here now.”

Lann was the first to stand up; his height made it uncomfortable being crouched with leaves brushing against him, and he was long tired of it.

Wende and Aibo stood up too, following the scattered tracker bugs as they moved forward again.

The cluster of bug-like glowing dust gathered in the air, seemingly reassessing the environment and direction.

Then, under the eyes of the three and the cat, a large patch of glow directly descended upon the battleground where they had just fought, especially the rubbed area where the Fierce Jackal Dragon had struggled to get up.

Lann raised an eyebrow, ”Looks like... we hit the mark by accident?”

”That should be the case,” Wende agreed, hands on his hips while overlooking the large glowing trail left by the bugs. ”But getting caught first by our target, that’s really...”

His face showed a hint of embarrassment while Aibo mercilessly added, ”Super embarrassing, indeed.”

”You can’t say that about Wende meow!” Gaffi bravely stood up, looking like a War God to Wende!

”Even though Wende was unreliable this time meow, the strong attack desire from the Fierce Jackal Dragon might be why the research team issued a task against it meow!”

”In any case,” Lann looked up at the sky. Although the ancient forest was dense and lush, almost blocking out the sun, beams of sunlight still streamed through the gaps.

It was already approaching afternoon.

”Let’s try to finish it today. It would be inefficient if we dragged a two-star mission out this long, wouldn’t it?”

The four of them followed the tracker bugs again as they moved forward.

Yet, Wende pressed on this time with a serious expression and shared some knowledge with Lann.

”Even though I agree with quickly completing tasks, I need to remind you, Lann. Do not underestimate any monster because of its star rating.”

”The monster’s rating is based on the degree of threat. As the target of evaluation, this ’degree of threat’ is based on a fully armed, well-conditioned, and mentally focused Hunter.”

”The two-star Fierce Jackal Dragon, that claw earlier had at least six or seven tons of force, and the four-star Female Fire Dragon doesn’t usually exceed this level unless using special moves.”

”For hunters confronting them, whether this six or seven tons of force is delivered by a two-star monster or a four-star one makes no difference. Six or seven tons is six or seven tons.”

”Hunters rely more on experience, skill, equipment, timing, and understanding of the monster for combat. Even I, if hit without reacting, could be seriously injured by a Fierce Jackal Dragon. Just because I didn’t focus and maintain vigilance.”

”Don’t be complacent, the principle I also understand, after all, this is my line of work on my side too. It’s just...”

Lann nodded in response to Wende’s caution and reminder.

”Your task levels seem to be pretty clearly defined, making me think you also consider the monsters’ strength in your grading system.”

”That’s not necessarily true,” Aibo piped up while walking along the path Wende had charted out.

”Once you encounter more monsters, you’ll understand. For instance, Female Fire Dragons are generally four-star creatures, but within their species... it’s not uncommon for them to be nine-star as well.”

”Nothing exaggerating within a species of monsters is unusual.”

”In short, you shouldn’t take any mission lightly. Especially in this New World where unexpected events are the norm. It’s entirely likely for a one-star gathering mission to suddenly be interrupted by a Barbaric Jaws Dragon, isn’t it?”

Unlike the Old World, where facilities are well-organized and institutions are numerous,

In the hunting grounds of the Old World, once a hunter begins a hunt, other guild support staff will try to drive away other monsters, minimizing interference with the hunter’s mission.

But in the New World... Generally, the monsters go wherever they wish.

And just as they were talking about this, the group of three and the cat reached the edge of a clearing.

Their target, the Fierce Jackal Dragon, was viciously using its still-intact left forelimb to swat a poor herbivorous dinosaur to death, preparing to feed.

”This time, I saw you first!”

Wende gritted his teeth and mumbled to himself.

Clearly, being ambushed by the Fierce Jackal Dragon was quite embarrassing for him.