The activity of his Primal Core lasted only a few seconds before it returned to dormancy, with no visible change whatsoever.

  Arthur frowned in confusion and wondered, "What just happened? Why did my core react like that? This is strange… I can feel that something about it changed, yet I can’t tell what it is."

  He carefully sensed his physical state for a short while but found nothing suspicious that could explain that feeling, which only deepened his confusion.

  "'Thinking alone won’t get me anywhere. I need to try this again to understand it better… which means I’ll need more Primal Cores.'"

  He let out a short sigh and said with a hint of sarcasm, "Looks like this will be a busy night of hunting. But first, I’ll fill this empty stomach."

  He turned his gaze toward the massive buffalo corpse, then bent down and devoured it whole within a few minutes. After that, he stored the remaining buffaloes in the "Dimensional Storage" and set off in search of more D-Rank beasts.

  Thanks to the strength of his senses, it took him only half an hour to find his second prey—another herd of buffaloes. This time, however, it was more difficult, and he barely managed to hunt two D-Rank ones.

  After that, he hunted a massive reindeer, then a tree deer, and a strangely shaped beast.

  He even encountered a huge tiger along the way, exchanging a few blows with it before each went their separate ways. There was no benefit in engaging in a bloody fight for prey that wasn’t worth the trouble.

  And as time passed and night was nearing its end, he had collected seven Primal Cores. Still, he decided to go for one more hunt.

  As before, it didn’t take long for him to find his next prey—a small herd of strange wild horses, with thick, wide legs covered in hair, long fluffy beautiful tails, and most strikingly, a long milky-white horn in the center of their foreheads.

  [ D-Rank Horpheus?]

  [ D-Rank Horpheus?]

  […]

  As usual, he hid in the shadows and crept toward them slowly and cautiously, approaching from their blind spot.

  Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

  But just as he was about to strike, he suddenly stopped—he noticed something important that he had overlooked. He focused on the “Evaluation” screen again, and a serious expression spread across his face.

  'Something is wrong with these horses. There shouldn’t be a question mark next to their race name. This isn’t normal.'

  The question mark in the Evaluation skill—or anywhere in the system—meant only one thing: the information provided was completely inaccurate, and there was something wrong or mysterious that was difficult to determine.

  'Now that I think about it, this is the first time I’ve seen these creatures. And after a closer look, they seem different somehow… how should I put it? Arrogant.

  Yes… they’re just lying there, completely indifferent to their surroundings, as if saying: Come on, hunt me if you can.'

  He tried analyzing the situation from multiple angles, and his certainty grew that what he was seeing wasn’t normal—it was more like a trap.

  From his experience, he knew that all herds of beasts were usually guarded by a few males while the rest slept, but that didn’t apply to the herd in front of him.

  'Should I attack them anyway? No, no… I’ve hunted enough today. Anything else would just be greed. More importantly, I don’t feel comfortable, and I don’t want to repeat my past mistakes. It’s better to be cautious than regretful.'

  He gritted his teeth, cast one last glance at the sleeping horses, and thought: 'Tsk… lucky them.'

  Without wasting any more time standing there, he slowly and silently retreated and left. As soon as he moved away, one of the sleeping horses opened her eyes, turned her head back, and looked at the spot he had disappeared from, then said in a sweet, feminine voice full of curiosity:

  "Did he run away?! Did he notice something? Or did he retreat on his own?"

  She turned her head slightly, looked at the empty spot next to where he had been hiding, and said teasingly:

  "What a strange wolf, isn’t he, Father? But why didn’t you kill him? He got way too close."

  In front of her, out of nowhere, a majestic white horse appeared, the size of a normal horse. Unlike the others, it had huge wings decorated with black patterns, three long horns on its forehead glowing faintly red, and white eyes with vertical red pupils.

  It was looking in the direction Arthur had left, with a strange expression, and after a short moment, it spoke in a nonchalant voice:

  "You’re right, StormChaser. He really is an interesting wolf. You didn’t notice this, but he carries the aura of the Calamity Spider."

  StormChaser’s eyes widened, and she replied in disbelief,

  ‘You mean that terrifying spider? That’s impossible. Didn’t the humans kill her? More importantly, why didn’t she eat that wolf?

  I don’t think she’s intelligent or merciful enough to spare him for some ulterior motive. All she knows is how to kill and devour.’

  The Spider Woman was somewhat infamous within the forest, and many intelligent beasts were well aware of her brutality and savage nature.

  Her father shook his head and replied with a hint of mockery,

  ‘Who knows what goes on in her mind?’

  Then his expression turned serious.

  ‘But you are greatly underestimating that monster. She is no ordinary Calamity Spider.

  Her bloodline is extremely pure—perhaps even comparable to yours. A mere handful of lowly B-Rank humans would never be enough to kill her.’

  StormChaser showed clear annoyance at her father’s rebuke and replied arrogantly,

  ‘Hmph. I’m far superior to that stupid insect. And even if she survived, I bet she was severely injured and has become much weaker.’

  A wicked thought flashed through her mind, and she continued excitedly,

  ‘Father, why don’t we go and finish her off? Her Primal Core would clearly be of great benefit to me.’

  Her father let out a short sigh and took a step forward, crossing a distance of twelve meters in an instant to appear beside her. He lightly smacked her with his wing.

  ‘You little troublemaker, that’s enough nonsense. There’s no benefit in making an enemy of one of the Beast Masters. Besides, someone is already hunting her. Don’t forget—she has quite a few enemies who despise her deeply.’

  A cold look appeared on his face as he added,

  ‘The forest has grown increasingly chaotic lately. Let us hope this does not affect our race.’

  — — — — — — — — — — —

  An extra chapter this week

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