Chapter 5 Beast Hunter

"Go that way!"

"Slow down, slow down! You've run too far, quickly turn down that dirt slope ahead!"

Zhou Jing pulled the burly hunter, running at the very front of the group, becoming the guide instead.

The other four hunters followed closely behind, and further back were more than a dozen wolf-like beasts relentlessly chasing after them.

During their mad dash, the cold wind lashed against their faces like knives, their center of gravity constantly fluctuating, but their vision remained remarkably steady.

His legs rotated like windmills, his feet striding across the humus. He could feel his soles sinking into the soil, each push-off causing his leg muscles to tighten and flex, pumping out astonishing power, providing a strong and stable counter-thrust to his body, allowing him to dash through the forest like a gale, stirring up layers of fallen leaves.

Only when he ran at full speed did Zhou Jing realize how fast he was.

'Good lord, 9 points of physique is this intense... If I went back to ancient times with this physique, I'd definitely be a promising general.'

Zhou Jing mused to himself while charging ahead.

Just as they ran into a sparse clearing in the woods, a sudden sound of bowstrings being drawn echoed from the dense canopy above!

Twang, twang, twang!

Several arrows shot out from the treetops, striking and felling several wolf-like beasts in quick succession.

Then, with a rustling sound, a large net made of vines, concealed by leaves, suddenly rose up where Zhou Jing and the others had just passed, catching six or seven beasts at once and suspending them in the air.

The pack was instantly reduced by more than half, and the remaining few stragglers scattered and fled.

"Counterattack!"

Several hunters stopped and fired arrows, and the burly hunter also broke free from Zhou Jing's grasp, took down the longbow from his back, and shot back.

Arrows flew in quick succession, but with the trees providing cover, the five hunters and their comrades hidden in the treetops only managed to kill three beasts.

The last beast ran around the trees, using them for cover, and was about to escape the range of the arrows.

At that moment, the sound of wind being cut through suddenly arose.

Whoosh, whoosh—

A flash of cold light, and two hand axes spun past Zhou Jing, heading straight for the beast, leaving two spiral trails of cold light in his peripheral vision.

Mid-flight, the hand axes collided in mid-air, sparks erupting.

With a crisp clang! The flight path of the two axes changed simultaneously. The first one embedded itself deeply into another tree trunk, while the second one ricocheted off at an angle, perfectly bypassing the tree trunk's cover and striking the area behind the tree.

A miserable beastly howl immediately echoed from behind the tree. The last beast stumbled out, collapsing to the ground, its legs kicking wildly, an axe head deeply embedded in its neck.

Zhou Jing's eyes widened.

...I'd accept this if it were throwing knives, but can you really pull this off with unbalanced axes?

At that moment, four more hunters jumped down from the treetops, their attire similar to the previous five. As soon as they landed, they drew the daggers from their waists and went around finishing off the beasts on the ground.

Zhou Jing turned his head to look at the source of the hand axes, and saw a man walking out from behind a tree, his attire distinctly different from the other nine hunters.

This was a tall and strong bald man, with a few faint scars on his face, the lower half of his face buried in a thick reddish-brown beard, his appearance rugged.

He wore a dark green beast-hide robe, the hem reaching his knees, with a black beast-mane shawl on his upper body, and beast-patterned leather shoulder pads tied on both sides with a few straps. His waist was cinched with an armored leather belt, which had four loops, two of which were currently empty, while the others held throwing axes. He also wore metal, iron-grey arm guards.

The most eye-catching feature was the long-handled, single-edged axe that the bald man carried on his back. The silver-grey axe head was almost like a door panel, and looked incredibly heavy. There also seemed to be a few lines of inscriptions on the axe head.

The bald, muscular man noticed Zhou Jing's unfamiliar face, and his expression showed doubt: "Who's this?"

The previous burly hunter heard this and quickly approached, explaining to the bald man:

"Captain Balong, he's a lost person we happened to run into in the forest. He wants us to lead him out of the forest. His name is... uh, what did you say your name was?"

"Willwood."

Zhou Jing blurted out.

The default name for the Star Realm Apostle template, at least it should fit the naming conventions of this world, he had already thought it through on the way. If anyone asked, he would use this name.

As soon as he spoke, the panel moved.

[Synchronization +5%]

[Current Carrier Synchronization: 15%]

Zhou Jing's eyes flickered slightly.

Using the carrier's name to walk in the world, so this is a synchronization behavior... He noted it down.

The bald man Balong heard this and his expression became slightly solemn: "Wood... I haven't heard of it... But you have a family name, so it seems you're a blood relative of some tribe."

What the hell, a tribal blood relative?

So not everyone has a family name?

Zhou Jing was startled in his heart. He lacked understanding of the current world and was afraid of being questioned further, so he quickly asked first: "Then what are you?"

Balong didn't hide anything and directly stated their origins.

"My name is Balong, a beast hunter from Frostwood Village, and also the captain of this hunter team. They are the village hunters."

Zhou Jing's heart stirred.

Beast Hunter... this was mentioned in one of the life goals of the current template.

At this moment, the burly hunter next to him interjected, his tone enthusiastic:

"I'm Griff, you ran so fast just now, I felt like I was about to fly. Your body is really great, are you an I-Blood Warrior?" (Yi Xue Zhan Shi)

"I'm not." Zhou Jing cautiously shook his head, not daring to agree rashly.

I-Blood Warrior... this was also a term mentioned in the template's life goals.

Judging from this person's reaction, this might be some kind of extraordinary power or profession, with the characteristic of being physically strong... he secretly analyzed.

Griff seemed a little surprised: "Really? I don't believe it... Not an I-Blood Warrior, then your body is too good, but you don't look that strong."

"Alright, I can see that he's indeed not an I-Blood Warrior."

Balong interrupted Griff.

Then, he turned to Zhou Jing and asked: "You want us to lead you out of the forest?"

"Ah, yes, I'm lost, I don't have any supplies, I can't survive in the forest alone. I hope to get the help of you kind people..."

Seeing that the other party was easy to talk to, Zhou Jing repeated his words again.

While the three were talking, the other hunters had finished patching up and gathered around.

Hearing Zhou Jing's request, the tall, thin hunter, who had previously expressed his opposition, shook his head repeatedly:

"I still think this person is suspicious. There's a risk in letting him follow us. I've never heard of the Wood surname, who knows if it's made up, pretending to be a tribal blood relative..."

Griff retorted: "Dean, you're thinking too much. Is he a Earth Bone person? (Di Gu Ren) Is he a strange beast? He's a Terra person, our compatriot! In this Black Shroud Forest, what's more trustworthy than a compatriot?"

The tall, thin hunter Dean: "We entered the forest this time to hunt beasts that threaten the village. Bringing someone with unknown origins, if he messes around at a crucial moment in the hunt, we'll all be in danger."

Hearing this, several hunters nodded in agreement. Hunting beasts could lead to death with a single misstep, and reducing unstable factors was indeed the right thing to do.

Griff: "Then we might as well escort him out first, or send one or two people to take him out of the forest."

"Have you forgotten about the Earth Bone person lair nearby? If we encounter a group of Earth Bone person raiders while acting alone, what should we do? Moreover, we finally locked onto the location of that beast. If we give up halfway, what if this beast runs out and hurts the villagers later?"

"Then do you mean to stand by and watch him die?" Griff put his hands on his hips.

Dean glanced at Zhou Jing: "He's not from the village. We have no responsibility to protect him... Give him some food and water, and point him in the direction to leave on his own, that's enough. Whether he lives or dies, it depends on his own luck."

Black Shroud Forest... Earth Bone person...

Zhou Jing listened from the side without being able to interject, putting on an anxious look, while secretly noting down some of the information revealed in their argument.

Balong listened for a while and impatiently interrupted the argument:

"Stop arguing, I'm the captain, I have the final say."

The two immediately shut their mouths, obviously Balong had a lot of prestige.

Balong carefully sized up Zhou Jing, scratched his bald head, and without getting too hung up on it, waved his hand:

"Then let's take him with us, looking so unlucky, he's probably really a down-on-his-luck traveler. Besides, he's just an ordinary person, just keep an eye on him. If he has other ideas, I can take care of it."

"I still think there's a risk..." Dean muttered softly, but didn't continue to object.

Balong ignored him, raised his chin at Zhou Jing, and said in a deep voice:

"Whether you're a tribal blood relative or not, we have to go hunt beasts first, we don't have time to take you out of the forest, so you have to follow us for the time being... If you affect our actions, then we can only kick you out, can you accept that?"

"No problem."

Zhou Jing immediately nodded, finally feeling relieved in his heart.

He had finally temporarily escaped the survival crisis and found people he could communicate with... Next, he needed to inquire about information and find out what the situation of this world was.

...

With Balong's orders, the hunter squad temporarily accepted Zhou Jing's presence.

The group packed up the traps, recovered the arrows and throwing axes, processed the prey, rested in place for a while, and then continued on their way.

Zhou Jing took some of the jerky and water that the hunters shared, and borrowed a fur coat for warmth, finally feeling much more comfortable.

He followed the team through the mountains and forests, occasionally chatting with the hunters.

In the previous exchanges, Zhou Jing found that Griff was easier to talk to, so he took the initiative to approach him, cautiously hiding his lack of knowledge about this world, and probing for information in various ways.

Griff was straightforward and mostly told him everything he knew.

From him, Zhou Jing slowly gained a vague understanding of the current world's situation:

This world was still in the era of agriculture and hunting. The main intelligent race known so far was humans, the living environment was harsh, and they faced a huge threat - strange beasts.

People of the current world divided beasts into two types: wild beasts and strange beasts. Wild beasts were ordinary non-intelligent creatures, like the dozen or so "snake wolves" that the team had hunted earlier, which were simply wild beasts.

Strange beasts were completely different. They generally had huge bodies, and some had special talents. Some could breathe fire, some could emit electricity. Powerful strange beasts could fight alone against armies of hundreds or thousands of people, and were extremely dangerous. Moreover, there were many types, flying in the sky, running on the ground, swimming in the water, including everything. New species appeared from time to time.

To this day, no one has counted how many kinds of strange beasts there are in the world.

Since the barbaric era, in order to survive, humans united to form tribes to fight against strange beasts. However, due to the huge gap in strength, the living space of humans in various places was once compressed, approaching the brink of extinction many times.

This situation did not turn around until the appearance of I-Blood Warriors.

In the long dark history, some people believed that strange beasts were powerful because their flesh and blood contained power. As long as they extracted the power of the strange beast's flesh and blood in some way and gave it to human warriors, they could seize the power of the strange beasts... a very primitive idea, but it didn't seem strange.

After countless attempts, someone finally realized this possibility - extracting the essence of the flesh and blood of different strange beasts in a special way, forming a potion that allowed humans to gain amazing physical strength, enabling individuals to fight with strange beasts.

And this potion was called "I-Blood Potion", opening the door to transcendence for the humans of this world.

However, using I-Blood Potion carried the risk of death. If one couldn't bear it, even if they were strengthened, their body would slowly collapse. Therefore, in order to gain powerful strength to protect their tribes, the warriors of the tribes regarded taking I-Blood Potion at the risk of their lives as an honor, and the warriors who successfully gained strength were also called "I-Blood Warriors".

These I-Blood Warriors used their extraordinary powers, combined with well-honed combat skills, to hunt strange beasts everywhere - and the profession of Beast Hunter was born.

The ancient glory has been passed down from the barbaric era to this day, giving this profession a special meaning to mankind.

"Becoming an I-Blood Warrior is to become a Beast Hunter" - this has almost become a consensus.

More and more Beast Hunters have gradually become recognized protectors of mankind. Various tribes are no longer afraid of most strange beasts, their living space has expanded, and they have gradually gained stable territories, forming alliances and conflicts with each other.

Finally, after a long period of friction, the history of civilization has opened a new chapter. The humans of this world established the first human country - which is now the Terra Empire.

"So that's how it is... There is only one national regime, and it has only been established for about forty years. It hasn't been long since entering the national era from the tribal era... However, because of the accumulation of the long tribal era, the technical level is not too backward. At least it is the Iron Age. Judging from their weapons, the smelting technology is quite mature..."

Zhou Jing sat by the campfire, the firelight making his face flicker. While nibbling on jerky, he recalled the information he had gathered along the way, constructing a picture of this world in his mind.

It really is a new world he has never heard of, not any period in the history of the main world... he felt a little excited.

It was already evening, and the forest was getting darker, almost pitch-black, with a deep chill.

The dense canopy blocked the top of their heads, making it difficult to look up and observe the astronomical phenomena of this world, but there were still stars and a moon.

The hunter squad traveled for a day, found this slightly flat forest to set up a temporary camp, made a campfire, and decided to rest here overnight.

Most of the people had laid down to rest, only Griff and Dean were awake to keep watch. The camp was quiet, with only the occasional crackling of the campfire and the rustling of the wind blowing through the leaves.

Dean sat in the farthest place, leaning against a large tree, occasionally scanning Zhou Jing with distrustful and suspicious eyes. Griff sat not far from Zhou Jing, playing with a dagger.

After secretly sorting out the information he had gathered, Zhou Jing thought for a while, moved his butt to Griff's side, and asked softly:

"Do you know how to become an I-Blood Warrior?"

He hadn't forgotten his main goal of star realm traversal - to obtain superpower and make his main body a superpowered person.

There was indeed extraordinary power in the current world, but he had only found out about the I-Blood Warrior as a possible path.

These hunters were not scholars after all, and knew limited things.

"Then you have to ask Captain Balong, he is the official Beast Hunter. He has taken I-Blood Potion once, we are just ordinary hunters," Griff shrugged.

"I asked him, but he didn't tell me."

Zhou Jing shook his head, looked at Balong who was resting with his eyes closed, and silently called up the basic attributes of Balong that he had previously inquired about using the panel function:

[Attributes: Physique 18, Resistance 15, Perception 6, Spirit 5, Energy 0]

He discovered this function on the way. As long as he consumed 10 Star Realm Points, he could view the attributes of an object, provided that the target interacted with him... chatting, physical contact, etc. were all possible.

But currently, only basic attributes could be queried, and items such as talent, aptitude, and skills did not seem to be displayed.

Zhou Jing spent a total of 20 Star Realm Points on the way to inquire about the basic attributes of Balong and Griff, so as to locate the level of his carrier.

Griff's physique was 7 points. A healthy ordinary person who had undergone exercise was probably at this level.

Balong was completely different. His physique reached 18 points, far higher than his own 9 points. The difference was huge. Carrying that giant axe, he agilely dashed high and low in the mountains and forests, almost making people think that he was carrying not a real heavy weapon, but a plastic model.

Zhou Jing also personally saw Balong easily lift a stone disc with one hand on the way, put it on the stream as a bridge to prevent everyone from getting their shoes wet, and then casually threw the stone aside with ease.

He quietly tried it at the time, but could hardly move the stone. He used all his might to move it a little, feeling that the weight of the stone seemed to be more than half a ton.

The strength of his body was still within the scope of normal people, but the real performance of Balong's physique value was a bit extraordinary.

As for resistance, it was a comprehensive attribute of various defenses, such as physical, energy, elemental, disease, etc. Balong's resistance was as high as 15 points. Zhou Jing could not directly judge this aspect for the time being.

By comparing the difference between basic attributes and actual performance, Zhou Jing had a rough estimate of the power level of the current world... Using the classification of the main world, I-Blood Warriors should be regarded as the "physical enhancement" superpower system.

In the main world, there were many ways and systems to strengthen the body, each with its own merits. Physical enhancement was the most common type of superpower.

Although the function was single, and the application range was not as good as those fancy abilities, secret techniques, and mechanical exoskeletons, its strength was in its pure foundation.

A strong body brought a high degree of freedom in the direction of learning, guns, fighting, driving, etc., rich in skills, not necessarily just a reckless man.

Zhou Jing had only come into contact with Balong, an I-Blood Warrior. Based on his many years of watching superpower leagues, Balong's level was only a "Level 1 superpower".

- In the seven-level standard for evaluating superpower combat power in the main world, it was just the level of entering the extraordinary.

But he was not qualified to be picky, it was good to have the opportunity to obtain superpower... Zhou Jing was quite clear about this, don't say nonsense, keep it in mind.

Moreover, according to the hunters, I-Blood Potion can be taken multiple times to strengthen the body. Balong had only strengthened once, which only represented the lower limit. Perhaps the upper limit of the I-Blood Warrior system was considerable.

'These hunters don't trust me very much. After leaving the Black Shroud Forest and arriving at their Frostwood Village, I'll inquire in detail how to obtain I-Blood Potion...'

Zhou Jing's eyes reflected the jumping firelight.

Until now, he had the heart to savor his wonderful encounters today, and he still couldn't believe it.

Looking at the crackling firewood and these living hunters, Zhou Jing seemed to suddenly realize that he was really here... As if he had just come back to his senses, he had left his familiar environment and come to an unknown world, a plane different from the main world.

'Star Realm Traversal... I don't know what kind of things I will encounter in the future...'

Zhou Jing's mood was complicated, more of an inexplicable expectation.

Shasha...

Just then, his ears suddenly twitched, vaguely capturing unusual movements hidden under the shaking leaves.

Like... someone was deliberately lowering their footsteps, walking lightly on the forest floor covered with leaves.

The sound came from all directions, gradually approaching, as if they were surrounding them.

A sense of crisis suddenly surged into his heart, Zhou Jing's face changed, and he suddenly slapped Griff:

"There's movement!"

Griff and Dean were taken aback, and without hesitation, they stood up suddenly.

"There are enemies, everyone get up!" The two whispered, quickly kicking the others awake.

The crowd woke up one after another, scrambled to their feet, picked up their respective weapons, and skillfully leaned towards the surrounding trees for cover, vigilantly scanning their surroundings.

However, after looking around, the dark forest around them only had the sound of wind, and no enemies were found.

"What's the situation?"

"Is there really someone? Who discovered it?"

The crowd spoke in low voices, uncertain and suspicious.

"Will said it." Dean didn't look back and pointed at Zhou Jing.

Could it be a false alarm... This thought couldn't help but emerge in everyone's minds.

This outsider was not a trusted partner, nor was he an experienced hunter. His warning was really hard to believe.

In fact, Dean, who had just woken everyone up, didn't believe it either.

But although he didn't like Zhou Jing, an outsider of unknown origin, he wouldn't act on impulse.

Even if he felt it was a false alarm, he still warned everyone... An old hunter like him understood a truth, it's better to be safe than sorry.

Of course, the more real reason was... Anyway, it was his shift to keep watch, and it wasn't him who was woken up from a sweet sleep.

Griff saw that there was no movement in the surrounding woods, and couldn't help but nudge Zhou Jing with his elbow: "You wouldn't be shouting randomly, would you?"

"I feel like something is approaching, and there are quite a few of them."

Zhou Jing responded softly, the sense of danger still lingering in his heart, and suddenly he had a bit of understanding.

- The sudden sense of crisis, I'm afraid it's the [Alertness] talent of this body taking effect...

Just as everyone was doubting, Dean's expression changed, a look of surprise flashed across his face, and he suddenly shouted:

"There really is something, come out!"

As he spoke, he raised the angle and shot an arrow into the woods as a warning.

Before long, the rustling in the forest gradually became clear, and vague figures flashed through the woods.

The firelight radiating from the campfire roughly illuminated more than a dozen figures, and in the darkness further away, there seemed to be even more people.

The dim firelight illuminated the appearance of these figures - only about 1.6 meters tall, skinny, slightly hunched, as if they were a little hunchbacked.

Their cheeks were thin, their skin was gray, their bodies were painted with white lines, they only wore short skirts woven of grass and leaves to cover their lower bodies, and they held tattered bone knives and bone spears, moving through the jungle like ghosts in a nightmare.

"Earth Bone people!"

Everyone's expressions changed, and the atmosphere suddenly became tense and murderous.

...So these are the Earth Bone people, a branch of humans in this world that the hunters mentioned?

Zhou Jing's heart stirred slightly as he narrowed his eyes and observed carefully.

At this moment, he suddenly felt something stuffed into his palm.

Zhou Jing looked down and found that Griff had quietly stuffed a dagger into his hand.

"Take it, protect yourself."

Griff winked and placed the arrow in his hand on the bowstring, whispering:

"If a fight breaks out, I guess you don't want the only thing you can use to be your fists..."

...

Thank you Shen Lan Hai Yang, Yi Xi Cheng Dao, e Yi Li Na 3, Can Shang Fei Yu, Wo Wei Zhe Xian Ren, Wo Te Me Xiu Ni Yi Lian, Wu Shang Zhong Lin, Juan Zhi Nian, Xiao Li, Wei La 0205, Fei Tian Yu Ben Zun, Li Pang Pang De Zhao Rou Rou de Alliance Master!