The Fiend's Creation System

Hunting 2

The homunculi scouted the forest and a few red dots popped up on his minimap. Julius made sure his homunculi steered clear of them. He knew their positions, but not what they were so he wouldn’t be able to determine their strength and rank.

He only had his homunculi scout a kilometer into the forest before ordering them to return. 

Julius found a few monsters within that 1-kilometer area and he decided to hunt them. He hoped that they weren’t insect monsters or anything. It was already hard on him and Eisha only eating the horrible tasting Fiend Nutritional Fluids for 2 days in a row now.

He didn’t want to try mantis meat and he didn’t have the heart to let his Eisha eat terribly so Julius hoped that they’d be able to procure some meat this time around. Since it was a forest, he also had hopes that they’d be able to find fruits, vegetables, and herbs lying around.

“Alright, Proto, let’s go.”

Julius and his homunculi clone went into the forest and regrouped with the other 3 homunculi. Julius led them towards the first group of monsters they were going to attack.

There were only 3 of them on his minimap so it would be safe. At least, it was better than attacking the other groups he saw on his map that had 4-5 hostiles grouped together.

When he arrived at the location, he looked around the place to find that there was nothing there. Proto tugged on his arm and pointed upwards, it was then that Julius finally saw the enemies he was searching for.

They were ape-shaped monsters that had long tusks, 2 pairs of arms, and a tail that split into 3. Their faces were hideous and mean but they didn’t seem that tough, at least, that’s what the system told Julius by giving him the monsters’ details.

[Demon-Face Ape Lv. 2

Rank: C

STR: D~B

AGI: D+~C

INT: C~B

Condition: Healthy

]

Julius couldn’t see their precise stats but after taking a look, they weren’t too scary. The possible Bs did worry him a bit, but the monsters didn’t give off a dangerous feeling to him so it was safe to assume that they didn’t possess strength too far apart from his.

The monsters hadn’t detected his group’s presence so he pulled out his bow and conjured a wind arrow before knocking it.

“Glad I took wind arrow. They’ll never see it coming…”

Julius waited patiently until all 3 monsters were looking before he decided to shoot. His aim was true and one of the monkeys’ heads exploded.

“Next.”

Julius didn’t hesitate as he prepared his next shot. While the monsters were still surprised at their companion’s sudden death, Julius released another arrow and killed one more monster.

He didn’t prepare his final arrow but instead ordered his homunculi to move in. 2 kills were secured so there was only 1 left. Julius wanted to see how well his homunculi could fend themselves.

Last night, he saw that they were really good at restraining. Now, he wanted to see their raw strength because if they turned out to be more powerful than he had first imagined, Julius reckoned that if he could control them well enough, it would be easier for them to commence their plans later tonight.

Julius wasn’t going to pass up on killing those insects since they would provide an abundance of resources for him. The monster materials harvested from them could also be processed into weapons once he unlocked the Research-Creation Branch and built the required building.

For now, he could just hoard those materials or create some rough equipment for his homunculi.

It was rather easy for him to direct the homunculi’s movements since he was closer to them. Julius noticed that the closer he was to his allies, the easier it was to command them. The farther he was though, the harder it became. However, they’d still be able to listen to his commands as long as they weren’t too detailed and complimented.

The corpses of the 2 monster apes he killed hadn’t even fallen from the trees when the 3 homunculi, with surprising agility, had already rushed their way up the tree and restrained the remaining monster.

Two of them restrained the monster with their tentacle-transformed arms while the remaining one began ripping away at the monster’s head with its grotesque mouth that abnormally split wide open whenever it moved to bite the monster.

Julius only observed in delight at how easy these ‘worker’-class units took care of their target. He had severely underestimated their power or he overestimated the enemies.

The information of the monsters’ stats shown earlier was unreliable in his opinion. Julius knew that his strength was just around D rank but his attack with his bow and magic arrow was able to quickly take care of 2 of them in quick succession.

Of course, Julius forgot that his Creation Skill was ranked EX so it gave quite a boost to the Create Weapon and Generate Spell sub-skills he had under Creation EX.  If it was calculated into his stats, he would at least have his stats boosted by a rank or so. It was only normal that he killed those monsters easily especially since he also ambushed them and aimed for their vital spot. 

“Go take these back to the base.”

One of the homunculi nodded before it used its tentacles to wrap around the 3 corpses and began dragging them away.

Julius continued his hunt and only aimed for the monster groups that had 3-4 of them. He started with an ambush using his ranged supremacy before having his 3 homunculi rush in and attack.

The homunculus that was sent back to base would be replaced by one of the homunculi that were scouting the area within the Shifting Hallows. The cycle continued until it was late into the afternoon.

“It’s getting late...we should return soon or else Eisha will get worried.”

Julius ended his hunt after he killed a group of forest geckos. It was one of the few groups that had numbers nearing double digits. The geckos had a unique camouflaging technique that eluded them from the system’s minimap.

He had been outnumbered at the time, but the monsters were quite weak compared to 1 of his homunculi so he was able to overpower them. They were also quite cowardly monsters so after 4 of their comrades perished, the remaining geckos began scurrying away with their lives.

Julius sighed and wiped the sweat off his brow before strapping his bow on his back. It was a tiring fight since they were ambushed but thankfully, because Julius and his homunculi were of one mind, no one in the group panicked and ran around like headless flies.

They only waited for Julius to command them what to do instead of recklessly doing something out of desperation and fear for these homunculi knew no fear. As long as Julius wanted it, they wouldn’t back down even if they were being beaten and overwhelmed. 

Julius had a few wounds on his body and Eisha was probably going to freak when she sees them. He smiled after remembering that a beautiful woman was waiting for him back at home.

He shouldered one of the wolf-sized geckos before saying, “Let’s go. We’ve got some insects to hunt later.”