Reign of the Hunters

Chapter 18 A New Pet!

Quite some players reached lvl 10 after Ye Ci’s one day of absence. However, there were still a lot of new players appearing in the newbie village.

Ye Ci returned to the newbie village and handed 100 Wolf’s Eyeballs to Zol.

“Oh, young Huntress, I must say that you’re fast. You’ve brought me so much loot in such a short amount of time. You’re a qualified hunter. You’re certainly a Huntress worthy of inheriting this skill.” Zol handed the Hunter’s Mark skill book to Ye Ci without too much nonsense.

Ye Ci clapped her hands together after receiving the skill book. The skill book turned into a bright white light and entered her body.

“You have learned Hunter’s Mark.” the system notification chimed in immediately.

It’s done! Ye Ci grinned after hearing the notification. With that skill, she was a true Huntress.

Talent could be accessed after a character hit lvl 10, and Ye Ci could wait no longer. A Huntress’s talent was divided into three different categories: Pet Talent, Shooting Talent, and Survival Talent.

One does not simply get the salmon along with the bear’s paw. The choice of Talent worked the same way.

Talent points were limited. To create the strongest character with such limited Talent points had always been a topic of debate among Fate’s forums. Most of the popular topics on the forums were about the combination between class, race, and Talent distribution.

Every one of them had their own point.

Of course.... If one had unlimited Talent points, this was not a matter to be worried about.

Ye Ci had 11 Talent points with her, 10 of which were from leveling up and one from completing the village chief’s side quest.

She studied the first row of Talents available to her. She maxed out the 5 points of pet endurance, distributed 3 points to upgrade Hunter’s Mark as well as 3 more points to the Survival Talent, and upgraded Falcon’s Protection.

Ye Ci’s combination was mediocre.

Most players would agree that one should focus on only a single category of Talent, leaving aside the other two merely as support.

Ye Ci, however, was more concerned about the Talent points earned from side quests. She greedily distributed points to all three categories.

Ye Ci’s Hunter’s Mark and Falcon’s Protection had significant changes despite the few Talent points distributed to each skill.

Falcon’s Protection had an increase of 30% attack damage. Hunter’s Mark’s increased range by 15m and its ranged damage was increased by 30%.

The Talent points distribution was mediocre, but the changes they brought to Ye Ci’s skills had a major impact.

The only thing that Ye Ci lacked was a pet.

Ye Ci headed straight to Icy Cave. In Hard difficulty of Icy Cave, there would be an Elite Spider following every rat man. The spider was Ye Ci’s target.

Monsters were visibly stronger in the Difficult version of Icy Cave. However, with her empowered Hunter’s Mark and Falcon’s Protection, it was not hard for Ye Ci.

As Ye Ci approached Shator, she heard a low growl emanating from a bush not far from her. A powerful figure was walking between the shrubs.

Haxie the Ripper!

It was a Wandering Boss that had a one in a thousandth chance of appearing in Icy Cave. It was the best pet for a pre-lv30 Hunter or Huntress. Haxie was not part of Ye Ci’s plan. To run into something that had only one in a thousandth chance of appearing was simply too hard. There was once a Hunter who waited every single day for three months in Icy Cave for Haxie to appear. It did not.

Ye Ci did not expect that she would run into Haxie in her first trip to Icy Cave on Difficult.

She decided not to go after the Spider and approached Haxie with Stealth activated.

Immediately after she had gotten within range, Ye Ci exited Stealth and attacked Haxie the Ripper ferociously. A Huntress’s Capture Pet could be casted under any condition, but the chance of success would be higher the lower the hit points of a target monster. She jumped left and right, kiting the jet-black panther. She casted the Light of Enticement when Haxie’s health was at 5%.

Light of Enticement was a skill under the category of Pet Rearing used to capture pets. There were also Pet Summon, Disband Pet, Release Pet, and Pet Heal.

Light of Enticement had a 12 seconds channeling time which could not be disrupted by any monsters unless the caster died.

Haxie the Ripper was a Wandering Boss in the Difficult dungeon and its attack damage was high. Ye Ci drank an assortment of potion such as Defense Potion, Agility Potion, and Health Potion without stop during the 12 seconds channeling time of Light of Enticement. It was the longest 12 seconds of her life.

Haxie’s launched the fiercest and the most desperate of attacks under the effect of Light of Enticement. Ye Ci almost gave up due to the pain, but the potions she brought along allowed her to go on.

A golden flash emanated from Haxie the Ripper after the 12 seconds. Haxie was successfully entrapped.

Ye Ci herself was not in a good condition. She had only 11% of her hit points left. Her clothing were torn in several places and she could feel immense pain all over a body. She gulped down a bottle of health potion before checking Haxie’s stats.

Name: Panther

Owner: Gongzi You

Level: 1

Hitpoints: 1630/1630

Stamina: 1300/1300

Skills: Scratch, Taunt, Speed Boost

Attribute: Wise, Loyal

Loyalty: 10

It was truly high grade! The happiness which arose from looking at Haxie’s stats could not be described by words. She had never seen pets with such attributes before even in her last life! Pets would normally possess quality such as Tame, Honest, Smart, Loyal, Sly, Bad Tempered, Deceptive and Picky. “Wise” was the rarest quality of all.

Although she had never really calculated the rate of pets having “Wise” as their quality, Ye Ci had come across a lot of pets with different attributes. No more than ten of them possessed the quality “Wise”, and all of them had only one quality.

Wise pets possessed a higher level of intelligence and they would have a higher chance of learning skills on their own as opposed to their counterparts. Loyal meant that the loyalty of a pet could be easily obtained, and it would almost never abandon its owner no matter how bad a situation was.

Hunters in Fate treated their pets almost like their own parents. No Hunter would waste their time or the space of their Pet Slot on a normal pet. Most of their pets were Elite monsters. The process of acquiring them was tedious, and if they ran away, the invested money and experience points would all be for naught.

Ye Ci looked at Haxie who was beside her. It was not as fierce as before. It stared at Ye Ci with its big, glassy eye. When it learned that Ye Ci was looking back at it, it lowered its head shyly and licked its paw.

You’re acting cute! You must be acting cute!

The system notification chimed in, “Do you want to rename your pet?”

“Yes.”

“Please name your pet.”

“Ol’ Three.”

“Are you sure you want to name your pet as ‘Ol’ Three’? You can only name your pet once. Please name it carefully.”

“Confirm.”

“Naming successful!”

Although Ol’ Three was loyal, this didn’t guarantee that it wouldn’t run away. Before a pet’s loyalty reached 100, any one of them could run away. There was only one way to raise a pet’s loyalty — feed it.

Let’s be honest, pets were always vigorous eaters....

Ye Ci handed her biscuits to Ol’ Three. It sniffed at the food and turned its head to the side with an expression that clearly said: this is not what I want.

“Your pet does not like this kind of food.” The system notification chimed in again just as Ye Ci was about to figure out Ol’ Three favourite food.

Favourite food: Meat, poultry or fish (Of course, it would be better if it was cooked!)

She finally understood something. The reason behind why Hunters were usually the top 10 cooks in Fate, it was all for their pets!

There was nothing she could do. Ye Ci munched on the biscuit ignored by Ol’ Three and handed to it a few pieces of meat.

Ol’ Three did not hold back. It gulped down five pieces of roasted meat before letting out a satisfied burp.

Ye Ci took a look at its Loyalty. It increased exponentially, haven risen to 15 points already. There was still a long way for Ol Three’s Loyalty to reach 100. With a pet of her own, Ye Ci could attack the 3 Bosses of Icy Cave without fear.

As a Boss grade pet, Ol’ Three performed well. It fought ferociously. Against the onslaught of 3 Bosses simultaneously, however, even an angel could not hold the line. Within moments, Ol’ Three lost its life and Ye Ci fled from the dungeon.

Ye Ci summoned Ol’ Three right after exiting the dungeon. It was feeling sad and its loyalty dropped by 3.

“It’s like trying to serve a prince! It can’t starve and it can’t die!” Ye Ci grumbled at the rough fate of Hunters in the not so distant future while feeding pieces of roasted meat to Ol’ Three.

As Ol’d Three was happily chomping down on its meal, Ye Ci could hear.....