Big Game Sniper

Ever since Naomi met the human, her life had completely changed. He had vanquished the monster, avenged her family, fed her high quality mana crystals, and even deigned to allow her to travel with him. All he asked in return was for her to be his weapon. And though she was content to be that for him, she felt like she hadn’t been able to do anything when he had been in danger. He deserved better than to have a glorified backpack for a weapon.

She was sure she would be able to be more useful if she could copy some useful Skills, but almost all the Skills that had been used around her were too high level. The only one she had been able to snag so far was her savior’s tracking skill, and she didn’t think that would be very useful to him, since he could do it better.

Then, the bug lady used a Skill that Naomi could copy! As the knowledge of the Skill flooded her mind, she grew excited. This would allow her to help her savior even more!

“Are you sure about this?” Jared examined the spear he had been handed.

Basic Longspear(Common, Average) - A long shaft of wood topped with a sharp metal head. Useful for piercing foes while keeping them at a distance.

Effects: Piercing

“I’m pretty sure I’ll get killed if I get hit by anything that can get close to me, so I want to be fast and maneuverable. Why not use small blades like knives or shortswords?”

Eleisa rolled her eyes at him. “Do you imagine you will be able to bring down creatures such as the Shellback Prowler with what amounts to toothpicks?” She shook her head. “No, better to have something like this, that can pierce deeply and hit vital organs. And the spear is designed to be quick and maneuverable, so it should not slow you down much, if at all.”

“But you killed one with my hunting knife,” Jared pointed out.

“Yes, but that was a very unique circumstance. I would not count on something like that happening again. Now, I will walk you through the basic forms for combat. Watch closely.”

She started into a series of slow, deliberate movements, thrusting and sidestepping in the sandy ground of the practice ring. As she did so, Jared felt a cool sensation in his head, and time seemed to slow slightly.

Every move that Eleisa made seemed to burn itself into Jared’s memory. Every thrust, every step; he could perfectly recall each. As she moved, he hefted his spear and began mirroring her, doing his best to copy her graceful strikes. She looked at him in surprise, before continuing the kata.

As Jared mirrored her, he grew more confident, and they both started picking up speed. They kept going this way, with Eleisa demonstrating and Jared mirroring for what must have been hours. At that point, Jared’s screaming muscles begged for relief, so he decided to take a break. Looking over his gains, he was pleasantly surprised.

Skill Unlocked! Basic Spearmanship(Unskilled I)

Skill Basic Spearmanship has been upgraded from (Unskilled I) to (Unskilled IX)

Skill Basic Spearmanship has been upgraded from (Unskilled IX) to (Proficient I)

Basic Spearmanship(Proficient I) - You have begun training in the art of the spear, and have shown promise. While wielding a spear, you deal 5% extra damage and any spear you wield gains an extra 5% piercing power. These bonuses increase by 0.5% per level of the Skill.

“Wow, I didn’t expect to jump all the way to proficient in one go. Not that I’m complaining.”

“You did pick it up faster than I expected. You must have a natural talent for the spear.”

They started making their way back to the Hunters’ Guild as they spoke.

“Now that you have the basic Skill, you can choose a more specific focus for your spear work, such as against monsters.”

Jared nodded. “Makes sense. What’s your focus?”

“I have not yet developed a focus. My basic spearmanship Skill is only at proficient four.”

Jared looked over at her and smiled. “Well, it looks like we both have room for improvement. That’ll come with time and practice.”

They entered the Guild hall, walking over to the job board. Eleisa started going through the bronze missions, but Jared stopped her.

“I know it doesn’t pay as much, but I think we need to start with something easier until we’ve learned how to work together.”

Eleisa hesitated, then nodded. They selected a fairly common low level copper job to clear out a group of oversized rodents that had moved in nearby. As they traveled to the location, Jared reiterated the basics of spotting and gave Eleisa his spotting scope. They reached the nest, which was located in a small, isolated valley between a few hills, without incident.

They took up a position on a nearby hill, and Jared loaded a magazine with his fire bullets, which had the effect of exploding on impact; perfect for groups of smaller enemies.

He took aim at the rodents, which looked like weasels the size of large dogs.

[Plains Greater Mustela](Lv. 7)

Seeing the level, he deactivated his Offensive Powerhouse title.

When Title is inactive: +15% damage dealt to creatures of a lower level than you, -10% damage dealt to creatures of a higher level than you

When he was ready, Eleisa looked through her scope, giving him adjustments.

“Compensate for wind with 3 mils to the left. Go three quarters of a mil down for elevation.”

“3 mils left, .75 down, copy.” Following the directions, he squeezed the trigger. Flames erupted from the group of creatures, off to one side.

“Adjust 1.25 mils right.”

“1.25 mils right. Copy.”

He fired again, this time hitting near the center of the now frantic rodents. They kept going, taking out the larger groups of [Mustela] until there were only stragglers left. At that point, he switched to water bullets, which added extra piercing to take out the rest.

You have slain [Plains Greater Mustela] x16.

Level up!

You have free stat points to assign.

Your party members level up!

He jumped up, turning to Eleisa with a grin and raised his hand for a high-five. “That was great!”

She looked at him quizzically. “What are you doing?”

“Oh, it’s something we do back where I’m from. You lightly slap each others’ hands to congratulate someone or celebrate. Almost like clapping, but only once, and with another person.”

She looked at his still upraised hand skeptically, then hesitantly tapped it with her own. Jared’s gran widened. “There ya go! Although, you don’t have to do it so softly.”

He went to pick up Mimi, only to find a vaguely hand-shaped pseudopod sticking straight up out of the mimic rifle’s scope. He chuckled, giving her a high-five as well.

“You did great too, Mimi.”

The rifle vibrated in happiness at the compliment.

They spent the next while salvaging anything they could from the mutilated mustela corpses, Jared especially interested in the eyes.

Greater Mustela Eye(Uncommon, Average) - The eye of a Greater Mustela. The beast’s magic has concentrated here, giving it additional properties.

Aside from eyes, they collected teeth, claws, and anything that seemed of worth. When they had gathered everything they could find, they started heading back to town.

Skill Big Game Harvesting has been upgraded from (Proficient I) to (Proficient II)

Jared felt a little bad for just leaving the bodies, but Eleisa assured him it was fine.

“They will feed scavengers who may go hungry otherwise. If not, then they will feed insects and fungi as they decompose, and will leave the ground more fertile.”

When they got back to town, they collected their reward, which amounted to a few silver Nobles, and Jared decided to spend the rest of the day experimenting with ammo creation. Going up to his room, he considered his needs.

Those fire bullets worked great against the groups of monsters, despite making some of the pelts unsalvageable.

He thought back to his near death experiences, first against the monocular devourer, then the afanc, and finally the shellback prowler.

What I need is extra stopping power. The bullets I’ve made so far are an improvement, but they won’t be enough to take down larger creatures. I need something bigger.

Acting on instinct, he started grabbing some of the larger afanc and shellback teeth, added several copper coins, and then picked two different mana crystals, one fire and one ice. But when he tried activating the crafting, nothing happened.

Crafting Failed: Opposing mana types present. Please choose one type or use an intermediary material to combine them

Do I have something that’s good at combining stuff? I don’t think…

A thought occurred as he remembered an item he had completely forgotten he had.

“Mimi, can I have the rat king core?”

She spat it out, and Jared examined its crystalline surface.

Rat King Core: Stone(Scarce, Great) - A large, stone aspected mana crystal that has been at the center of a Stone Rat nest for so long, it merged with the rats, creating a Rat King. Quality has been lowered due to damage to the crystalline structure. Useful in some crafting.

It’s stone aspected, but just maybe…

He put it with the other items and tried again. This time, there was no system message, and the now familiar reddish light flowed from him, lifting the items into a small tornado, gradually increasing in speed. The usual tugging sensation in his gut grew until it felt like someone had tied a rope around his innards and attached the other end to a car driving away from him. He gritted his teeth through the pain, and was rewarded a few seconds later when the items smacked together, ending the crafting process.

All of the materials had been used except for the rat king core, which was about half its previous size. In their place lay four large bullets. He hefted one, measuring it in his hand. It stretched from the heel of his hand almost to the tip of his longest finger.

High Caliber Thermal Fang Bullet(Obscure, Great) - A large bullet made from the teeth of powerful monsters. Fire and Ice mana crystals have been fused using a Stone intermediary, greatly strengthening the destructive potential.

Effects: Piercing, Thermal Shock

“How the hell am I going to shoot these?”