Solo The Making of a Hunter

[Kagerou]

A breath of cool, fresh air, that’s all Kagerou needed to start his day. Well, along with a hearty breakfast, or at least an ingestible one which the ration he brought with him at least served. Not a single hint of the sun’s rays has yet to reveal itself but the young hunter’s passion for his first blood in the woods outside of Zeltiva has begun to burn. He marched along the empty streets of Zeltiva, dressed in his full leather hunting suit and armed with his bow and arrows, along with his hunting tools. As taught by his father, hunting deers is best done near dark. Either early at dawn or late in the afternoon.

Kagerou walked along the cobblestone street, holding the map of Zeltiva before him to help him navigate towards the forest with the town's lamps lighting his path. As he made his way near the edge of town, a guard ordered him to halt. Submissively, the young hunter promptly complied with the command.

“Hmmm...going hunting are we?” the guard remarked, his eyes scanning Kagerou from head to toe. Another guard, who stood at the other side of the street simply stood to watch.

“Yes...well if you would allow that.” Kagerou replied meekly, giving the man a courteous bow.

“I actually have nothing against that but you do know what you are doing aren’t you? And you sure looked like someone new in town.” the guard continued, his hand touching his chin in a contemplative manner.

“I did arrive just yesterday. Though I think you might be worried if I’m aware of the mad scientist’s doing in the woods. I did hear that from somewhere.”

“And you still decided to go on. How impressive. Considering that well...you don’t look like an experienced one.” the guard exclaimed in a rather mocking tone.

“I admit I’m not that experienced in hunting but I could say I’ve already survived quite some danger in my lifetime.” Kagerou responded, a warm smile escaping his lips.

“Well if you say so. I just pray that you do get back safely.” the guard shrugged and courteously stepped out of the hunter’s way.

“I sure hope so and thanks for the concern.” the young hunter responded, leaving the wave guard with a polite smile. He stepped out of the town’s border and continued until he disappeared into the woods.

The first ray of the golden sun finally peered through but its brightness isn’t enough to properly light up the dark forest. The murky trail did give a bit of difficulty to Kagerou, significantly slowing him down.

‘Jeez how could I forget to bring some torch with me? Oh well, it’ll definitely get brighter at some point.’ the young hunter mused as he faltered along the trail, tripping at some logs and stepping on some prickly shrubs. Without the town’s light, it’s even hard to check the map so he decided to roll the parchment and tuck it in the pouch that contained his hunting toolkit.

Having to open up his toolkit reminded him to apply some animal scent on his body. He should be careful as not to scare away the animals with his human scent. Hence, he pulled a vial from the toolkit and applied some concoction into his body. Oddly enough, the young hunter then decided to kneel down then lowered his body towards the ground. Both his hands rested on the soil as he further lowered his head till his left ear touched the earth. He closed his eyes, as he solemnly entered a deep state of concentration.

‘Listen to the earth son. It will tell you much more than you could see,’ the young hunter remembered as the words of his late father. It took him quite a long time till Kagerou decided to get back up and continue his way deep in the forest. Ample light from the sky has now made the young hunter’s venture much easier compared to his earlier trek. He pulled up the knife from his hunting kit to cut up some grass and branches that somehow hindered his path. He continued his hike, threading carefully as silently as he could. Noise from various animals began to echo around the woods, as opposed to the silence that accompanied Kagerou upon entering the forest. He ventured deep in the woods till he finally ended up near a slow moving stream. With that, he walked closer to the stream to drink some water and then sat against a tree to rest after quite a long hike.

[Kagerou]

Kagerou took a deep breath then surveyed the area around him. Having experienced hunting with his own father, he remembered that one of the best hunting spots would be near a serene water source. Although Kagerou had lots of experience hunting with his father, the young man hasn’t done any shooting himself. He could only remember the teachings and actions that his father made but hasn’t applied them first hand up to this day. This day, when he could finally decide to follow after his father’s steps which he used to reject. Perhaps due to his guilt or perhaps the only choice he had for survival. As of now, he could only rely upon the memory of his father’s ways.

Seeing a perfect spot to hide himself, he quickly stood up and made his way behind a thicket. He pulled the camouflage tarpaulin from his hunting toolkit, which he used to cover himself. Having been settled, he knelt down and silently waited for any deer to drop by. The waiting wasn’t as easy as he remembered it to be, now without his father to observe and watch at. He wasn’t even sure if applying such practice could be effective at the area but that’s all he could rely on at the moment.

The rays of the sun have started to slither their way across the forest and the chilling morning air has started to succumb to warmth. The dullness of waiting has started to lull the young hunter into drowsiness. Kagerou had to shake his head from time to time, to keep himself awake.

It did take almost an hour of waiting till finally, a herd of deers finally showed up. Having spotted his prey, Kagerou’s blood was pumped up pulling him back from drowsiness. He quickly pulled out an arrow from one of his two quivers and carefully placed it on his bow. He kept his weapon down and waited for the herd to reach the river hopefully to stop by and drink. Fortunately enough, the deers did as he expected, giving him still targets to shoot at.

With the deers now bent down at the stream, he raised his bow, along with the arrow that he placed against the bowstring. He tightened his grip at the bow to stabilize its position as he drew the string back along with the arrow till it touched his nose. He carefully aimed at the deer closest from his spot. His eyes fixed themselves in between the deer’s front and rear shoulders where he was taught to best target the game. He took a deep breath, relaxed himself and freed the arrow.

It would have been good if the arrow hit exactly where he aimed at unfortunately, the arrow just flew past the prey. Worse, his shot startled the rest of the herd who all panicked and ran back from whence they came. With his prey escaping, the young hunter decided to step forward, firing another shot. The second shot however, wasn’t even better as it just flew towards the stream. Stupidly, he tried to chase after the herd and fired another shot but all were too far to even be reached by his shot.

“Damn!” he snapped, disappointed at watching all the deers disappearing from his sight. He did know how fast these creatures could run but all he could remember were the still ones shot dead by his father. As he drowned in his frustration however, a small spark of hope peeked the moment he saw some crimson liquid on the ground just beside his feet. He knelt to carefully examine the liquid and much to his delight, it was indeed a drop of fresh blood from one of the deers.

With his passion now rekindled, he quickly ran following the trail of blood that one of the deers left for him. He wasn’t sure where he hit whichever that deer is but if he’s lucky, he might be able to find a dead deer along the way or at least find their breeding ground.

He was running for a couple of chimes worth of time when unfortunately, the blood trail faded. He stopped and carefully surveyed the area for any further signs of blood drop but no matter how much he scour the area, he had no luck in finding one. He even tried to check for a hoof trail but unfortunately, even those markings couldn’t lead him to a specific direction. Frustrated, he walked back at least near the water stream and sat against a tree.

‘Why did it seem easier when father hunted?’ Kagerou thought, frustration dragging him down to despair. A deep breath pulled him back however, it didn’t change the fact that he got no game with him. The sun has risen higher up in the sky. It wasn’t noon yet but not being able to shoot a still deer meant that he wouldn’t catch one in their active time either. With that fact in mind, the young hunter decided to stop pursuing his hunt at the moment. After all, he still has the late afternoon time to resume.

Realizing that his aim wasn’t that good, the young hunter decided to do some target practice. With that, he laid his toolkits down beside a tree, then pulled out his hunting knife to carve himself a marked target. He cut an x shape at a shoulder’s height on a tree bark then stepped several paces away and decided to make his first practice shot. Carefully, he aimed at the mark that he carved on the tree before him. He took a deep breath and released the arrow. Much to his dismay, the arrow flew past the tree. Determined to improve his aim, he quickly pulled another arrow fighting off his disappointment. Unfortunately, his next shot wasn’t any better, though it hit another tree just a few paces behind his actual target.

“I must have shot too hastily. Alright I can do this!” he exclaimed, taking another arrow from his quiver. He raised his bow, as he armed it with the arrow. Slowly, he pulled the bowstring till it touched his nose. He took one deep breath and took his time to focus his aim. Satisfied, he relaxed and then released. The arrow flew straight right at his targeted tree but way high up the mark he made.

“Well at least I’m closer this time,” he sighed pulling out another arrow. He aimed another shot and took his time to focus. After another deep breath, he released the arrow which this time flew a bit closer to the mark. Delighted, he went on with a couple of other shots. He stopped when he realized that he consumed all the arrows that were packed on one of his two quivers. He walked closer to his target and reviewed his shots. At least ten out of the 28 arrows he shot, landed within the tree he targeted. Among those shots, at least three got a bit close enough to his mark but none of them hit a bull’s eye.

Satisfied, he decided to take some rest. The sun has now set itself high in the horizon, its rays now hotter against the young hunter’s skin signifying that it is almost noontime. Being used to the heat however, he was able to tolerate the sun’s blazing rays. As he sat against his target tree, his stomach suddenly growled in hunger. It’s funny how one forgets about time and hunger when they’re fixed into achieving something.

[Kagerou]

With the need to satiate his hunger, he scoured the trees and bushes for any edible fruits that he might take. Unfortunately, no matter how hard he scour for the area, he wasn’t able to find anything that could pass as food. Most are either poisonous or too hard for him to reach. Desperate, he decided to use the small snares that came with his hunting toolkit. He hasn’t set one up before but he did remember some learnings that his father told him.

He used the animal scent liquid to musk his hands and avoid the snare from catching some of his human scent. Again, he reached for his hunting toolkit and pulled out the small snares then pre assembled them. He’s already near a good water source hence, he would be able to find a trail somewhere that some small animals use to reach the stream. Realizing that he must have disturbed the area where he practiced his aim, he decided to walk farther just along the stream’s edge. Having covered a long distance, he carefully walked into the woods to look for any signs of an animal’s trail. He surveyed the area for droppings, disturbed shrubs and tracks. It took him quite some time to notice small pellets that lie on the ground. Along with them, small round tracks could be found scattered along the area but leading to a common path. The moment he determined where most of the tracks collided, he set up the two pre assembled snares just a few hands away from each other along the round tracks. He picked up a few dried leaves to cover the armed snares, adding a few muds around. He gathered dead branches and some more dried grass to create a funnel-like barrier near the snares. As he had learned from his father, the barrier would increase the chance of the animals to fall right into his trap. Satisfied with his work, he left the area, going back to where he did his target practice.

It took him a long walk to get back to his target area where he decided to wait for a couple of minutes. As he waited he decided he at least ought to recover the arrows he used for target practice. A couple of them are still in good condition but a few had been bent or broken to be of much use. A few more have been lost deep in the forest or he isn’t that much interested to search.

He placed the good arrows back in his quiver and the bad ones, he placed over his camouflage tarpaulin to fix. For the broken ones, he removed the arrow heads to be attached on another shaft. He scoured along the area for some soft wood that he could carve into an arrow shaft. He selected long straight branches, all free from any insect damage. Having enough wood, he walked back to the fletching area he set up. Before starting, he would be needing to start a fire to heat the wood up and make it pliable. As he started to search for any fire starting materials however, his stomach growled yet again. At that, he realized that it took him quite some time to forage for the wood hence, there’s a chance that his snare must have trapped a small animal to eat. Hastily he walked back to the place where he set up the snares.

He threaded yet another long walk and a bit of memory recollection to find his way back to the site of the snares. It did take quite some time but a desperate hunter ought to find his food. Finally, the view of a straggling rabbit caught his attention. He came closer to verify that the rabbit was indeed trapped on the snare he made. He took a hold of the rabbit’s neck then looked away as swiftly broke its neck. With that, he prevented the small game from suffering any further. He recovered the snare along with the other one which took him quite some time to find then headed back to his resting area.

Back at his made up camp, Kagerou quickly placed his hunting trophy at the tarpaulin far from where he gathered his broken arrows. He took a few deep breaths before deciding to knife his way into the small game. Skinning and field dressing the small rabbit proved to be harder than he remembered it to be but it felt good that he finally did the feat all by himself. He threw the entrails as far as possible into the woods and walked back to the dressed rabbit meat. The young hunter then carried the meat to wash by the stream then placed it back at the tarpaulin.

All that is left is the fire to cook his food with. Fire making would be an easier feat for him, one that he has practiced himself for quite some time. Some dry branches were already scattered around his area hence it didn’t take him so long to gather some. He gathered a couple of thicker dry branches as well, along with a few grass straws. Looking for good flints was the greater challenge. Being already near a stream where most flints could be found, Kagerou needed not to go further for the search. Luckily, he was able to locate one after scouring the side of the stream. The one he found is a bit wet since it’s nearest the stream but he deemed looking further could take longer than drying the rock. He used some of the dried grass to wipe the rock off and then exposed it to the sun to further dry up.

As he waited for the flint to completely dry up, he dug a shallow hole and set up his fireplace. He poked a couple of holes near the edge of the hole he dug for ventilation then loosely placed the dry twigs inside. He gathered and tied the grass straws by batches and scattered them around the dry twigs. Satisfied, he got the dried flint rock and his hunting knife to start his fire. He held the long flint rock with its base resting at the center of the dried twigs. After that, he started to scrape the blunt end of his hunting knife in an attempt to start some sparks. He scraped the flint hard and as fast as he could till evidence of smoke could be seen at the rock. It took him a couple of scraping till sparks of embers started to light up due to the friction. He rubbed the knife faster till finally, the kindlings started to light up due to embers from the flint. He carefully blew at the starting flame till it grew large enough to consume the twigs. He added a couple of loose grass straws to make the flame bigger along with moving the other twigs closer to fuel the fire further. He added some of the tied up grass straws till he got satisfied with the flames’ strength.