Wild beasts always prowled around the outskirts of Brookwood Town—wolves most of all. Every so often there'd be black bears, griffins, man-eating bees, or… the Great Boar King.
That was the name Ethan had given the bizarre specimen in front of him.
Guide to 100 Dark Creatures didn't record anything like it. It had a pair of razor tusks and a red-brown hide, much of its body plated in a living carapace studded with black backward barbs. It was far larger than any boar Ethan had ever known—and when he first saw it, head held high and chest puffed out, it looked every bit like a monarch.
In reality, it was a complete fraud.
One Frostbolt and it flopped onto the ground. Its stubby legs twitched twice… and then it stopped moving.
Still, the Great Boar King had one hidden trait.
It gave an absurd amount of experience.
『Frostbolt (Beginner): Proficiency: 1/75』
Staring at the Frostbolt proficiency jumping an entire tier in one go, Ethan fell into deep thought.
This was the first time in two years he'd run into a Great Boar King outside Brookwood—and it immediately made him wonder whether his training plan for the past two years had been completely wrong.
The Great Boar King had four glaring "negative" traits:
Big.Easy to aim at.Paper-thin.Loads of experience.
It was practically a natural-born experience piñata.
If he'd started hunting one Great Boar King every day two years ago, he might've already finished learning every spell in Fireball & Frostbolt: A Study of Mana.
Thinking was one thing. Habit was another.
Ethan still checked the corpse carefully, meticulous to the end.
Cause of death: a clean hole punched straight through its body.
The Frostbolt had pierced the black carapace on its chest, drilled through the boar itself, then left identical holes in several trees behind it—only disappearing into the darkness at the far end of the forest.
The power of Frostbolt was… not what Ethan had expected.
Now he finally understood why Fireball & Frostbolt: A Study of Mana claimed ice magic was especially suited for "resolving disagreements between people."
An Elemental Shaper who mastered Frostbolt was basically carrying a heavy sniper rifle on them at all times. The penetration from that single bolt was better than any firearm Ethan knew from his old world.
And Frostbolt, as the most basic spell, cost almost nothing.
Which meant, if you did the math…
It was basically a heavy sniper with near-infinite ammo.
See someone you don't like? Snipe them.
Ethan suspected that was the true lifestyle of ice-element Elemental Shapers.
Of course.
He was a peace-loving man.
He gathered enough firewood, brought a pot, and returned to the Great Boar King. Ethan was peace-loving—and he was frugal. He would never waste nature's gifts.
Jerald had dragged him around to "test" Miss Chloe all day, and he still hadn't even had a bite of bread. Perhaps the Great Boar King had sensed that, and graciously come to him of its own accord.
What a merciful king—unable to bear the thought of people going hungry!
Miss Chloe heard his footsteps and froze mid-tear. She stared at him for several seconds, then suddenly shook herself hard, flinging blood and minced flesh off her face. After that, she padded over to the pot with elegant steps and sat down calmly like a patient, refined young lady.
Ethan's feelings were… complicated.
Miss Chloe had changed.
Not only had she developed "lady" pride—she was no longer the little girl who could be satisfied with a handful of breadcrumbs.
While Ethan had been gathering wood, one of the Great Boar King's legs had vanished. Miss Chloe, meanwhile, looked nowhere near full.
A flame rose in Ethan's palm, igniting the stacked kindling. Then he dropped several chunks of ice into the pot.
Based on Ethan's observations, the second-stage proficiency benefit unlocked element conversion—ice created from mana could serve as an emergency water supply out in the wild.
With Frostbolt proficiency climbing, Ethan was evolving into a wilderness survival master that could rival a perpetual motion machine.
"Miss Chloe, help me cut the meat."
Chloe nodded, then even dipped into an elegant bow.
She raised a claw and sank it into the Great Boar King's belly. With the slightest pull, she tore off a perfect slab of pork belly.
Then something happened that made Ethan's eyes go wide.
Miss Chloe… had learned to "skin and pluck" on instinct.
Before tossing the pork belly into the water, she simply traced her claw along the surface once—cleanly shaving off everything inedible—and without even waiting for Ethan to speak, threw the entire cut into the pot.
Ethan stared at the meat floating in the water for a long time.
You probably wouldn't believe it.
This was a wolf-chicken that could cook.
The werewolf curse was supposed to make humans gradually lose their intelligence.
Yet Miss Chloe was only getting smarter.
Under the bright moonlight, one man and one chicken sat beside the pot, waiting for the water to boil. Ethan's heart, for the first time in a long while, settled into rare quiet—letting him shove aside the world's danger and endless worries.
It was strange.
Every time he dealt with small animals, he seemed to stumble into good luck.
Miss Chloe seemed to read his mind. She craned her neck and gave him a curious look, then let out a soft "gok-gok" under her breath.
Ethan swore he could see gossip in a chicken's eyes.
"Yes," Ethan said. "I used to have a cat."
Since arriving in this world, he'd been carrying far too many secrets. Secrets could invite danger. But bottling them up also formed invisible pressure.
When he'd first arrived, the only time he could truly relax was when he was with the town's small animals.
"She was a white cat. Red eyes. Her name was 'Lucky'…"
Miss Chloe tilted her head.
"You're asking why she was called Lucky? Because she was great at digging things up. Somehow she always came back with treasures. But she was extremely cold and aloof—every time I called 'Lucky,' she'd look at me like I was beneath her."
Whatever Lucky had dug up had helped Ethan survive his hardest days. Ethan always felt like she understood what he said.
"Guu-guu?"
"Hm? Where did she go? One morning, she dug up a sheepskin book called Fireball & Frostbolt: A Study of Mana… and then she disappeared. After that I never saw her in town again."
Ethan's gaze softened.
"I think she had something she had to do. She was a clever cat—wherever she ended up, she'd be fine."
Miss Chloe let out a quiet "gok."
"I know."
Ethan gently stroked the head she nudged against him.
Steam began rising from the pot. Ethan stood to prepare dinner for both of them. Seasoning in this world was scarce—only basic salt and sugar—so he tossed in what he had, plus scallions and carrots, then skimmed off the foam with a ladle.
"Kii—!"
A sharp screech cut through the air overhead. Chloe jolted and stared up into the night sky.
Fear of aerial predators was still etched into her memory.
"Don't be nervous."
Ethan also saw the falcon slicing through the moonlight—never stopping, flying straight toward the town before vanishing beyond sight.
"That's a messenger from the big cities."
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