Chapter 77 Hunting For Coins

A bestial cry of pain erupted from the bush, and a small fox-like beast popped out.

Its fur was white with black patches around its face, tail and paws.

It looked around desperately for the source of the attack, not being able to locate Arvell who immediately hid amongst the tree branches.

Arvell watched the beast search desperately with a cold smile.

'Prey number one found.'

[Status]

[Status Information]

Species: Colian Fox

Beast Rank: Middle First Rank

[A white fox with accentuating black patches. While the fox is incredibly normally incredibly docile if it were to ever get angry, it wouldn't relent until the target of its anger is dead.]

'I guess hitting it the head with a stick would count as angering it right?' Arvell smiled with visible amusement.

'Well, I need to start collecting coins at some point. Might as well start now.'

[Inventory]

Arvell pulled out his trusty companion, the hasty iron sword.

Instead of swinging it, however, Arvell held the tip between two of his fingers and closed his left eye.

With his increased strength, lifting his sword in such a manner was quite effortless.

He steadied the blade and aligned it in a direct line with the fox, and threw it.

As if he was throwing a kunai.

*Fwoosh*

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He pulled out another sword from his inventory and repeated the same process.

The hasty iron sword sailed at the beast, but the beast sadly heard it coming and jumped to the left.

But instead of being disappointed that his attack missed, Arvell was smiling to himself.

'Checkmate.'

The second sword he threw flew straight to where the fox dodged, aiming right at its heart.

Even though it noticed the sword, it wasn't like the fox-like beast could just dodge in mid-air.

*SHKK*

"SCREEEE!"

The fox howled in pain, as it slowly felt its life slip away.

Sadly, there was nothing it could do now.

Arvell watched its death throes with a neutral expression.

He'd experienced the exact same thing the fox had, but instead of empathizing with it, he slowly waited for it to die.

This was the fate of those that were weak.

Something Arvell never wanted to experience ever again.

Even though some would argue that killing a fox would be something he should avoid since August used a similar appearance to the one he stabbed when using illusion magic, Arvell didn't care.

That was like saying since you have a human friend, killing humans is a bad thing to do, even if you're in a fight to the death.

That was just stupidity.

Something Arvell didn't really care much for.

The light in the fox's eyes disappeared as it twitched one last time, finally breathing its last breath.

After confirming his kill, Arvell jumped down and quickly grabbed his swords.

Arvell began to closely inspect the fox, but it didn't take him too long to find it was that he was looking for.

He removed a small string with several iron coins strung on it.

These coins seemed to have a square shape in the middle, allowing for the string to keep them all together.

'These look different from the coin that person found in the dirt. Perhaps they made them different intentionally? To see how we acquired our coins, and evaluate us based on that as well?'

Lykos nodded his incorporeal head.

'I agree, but don't jump to conclusions. You should find a few more coins to properly test your theory.'

'That's true.'

He used the hasty iron sword to remove its beast core, before tossing it into his inventory.

Without wasting another moment, Arvell climbed back up the tree and began surveying his surroundings.

'It'll be faster to hunt for beasts if I just stay here. They'll be naturally attracted to the smell of the Colian Fox's blood.'

Arvell hid his presence and watched his surroundings calmly.

Whenever a beast would appear, he would swiftly kill it and collect its core and coins.

He repeated this process until the sun began to threaten to set.

'I think this is enough for today.'

Arvell jumped down and threw a few of the beast corpses into his inventory.

With portions of Kujak's remains still occupying his inventory, he didn't have many places, especially considering the other essentials he crammed into it.

Since all of them wouldn't fit, he left some of them out in the open and began searching for a proper shelter.

Since he was under the threat of being robbed at night, he needed to pick a location that he was sure other examinees wouldn't walk over to.

Stealing was a loophole in the examination's rules that Arvell was sure the other examinees would have picked up on.

As long as the person who was being robbed didn't come to harm, stealing their coins was fair game according to the rules.

This means that all of the idiots who revealed they got coins would have a hard time getting any sleep.

Constantly watching to make sure that no one made any moves on their loot while they were fast asleep.

While Arvell was trained enough to be able to wake up at the slightest sense of danger, who in their right minds would want to be awoken from their peaceful slumber?

Finding a secure place to sleep was an extremely important task for his mental well-being.

Arvell looked up at the sky.

While most of the sky was blocked by the many trees, he was high enough to get a somewhat stable vantage point.

'No clouds… Sleeping outdoors is fine for tonight.'

This saved him a lot of effort in finding a proper shelter.

Luckily it didn't take him long before he found 2 trees with intertwined branches, with more than enough space for him to lie down comfortably.

He plucked a bunch of leaves from nearby trees, and covered the branches to make a proper cushion for his 'bed'.

Arvell fell backwards onto his bed and crossed his hands under his head, watching the countless bright lights that decorated the night sky.

'I guess… Sleeping outdoors does have its advantages. You can't see such a beautiful sight when you're inside a house.'

Arvell smiled to himself as he closed his eyes with a content expression.