A strange system; why should she kill a passerby with whom she had no grievance?
Moreover, with her current physique, she had no power to resist against the burly hunters who made a living in the North.
As for the reward, Young Esdeath didn’t quite understand it, nor did she take it to heart.
She arrived at the mountain and began to search for herbs—some for feeding horses, others for treating wounds.
However, the herbs nearby had been picked clean, so she had to venture deeper, but going deeper meant entering the territory of some beasts or even Danger Beasts.
Fortunately, in the wild, every type of animal and Danger Beast had its own territory.
Esdeath, having lived here for many years, knew this clearly.
She usually went to the territory of ordinary herbivores to pick herbs, so it was hard to encounter carnivores.
If she did encounter carnivorous beasts or Danger Beasts, these gentle herbivores could also provide an early warning.
Esdeath was not incapable of everything; she had no problem hunting small herbivores like rabbits, foxes, and squirrels, relying on her experience.
But the so-called warriors of the hunting tribe had to be able to hunt Danger Beasts.
Like other Northern tribes, the Barutesu Tribe had a strict hierarchy within the group.
Those responsible for logistics, cooking, and miscellaneous chores were the lowest-ranking tribesmen, while those who could go out hunting were distinguished according to the level of Danger Beast they could hunt.
The Danger Beasts of this world were beings more ferocious and powerful than ordinary jackals, wolves, tigers, and leopards, and were difficult for ordinary people to hunt.
Generally speaking, the most common Level 3 Danger Beast required ten ordinary armed hunters to kill.
Although there were already guns and cannons, due to the lack of industrialization and insufficient numbers, firearms were not used as the main weapons in combat, and most hunters still fought with cold weapons.
Moreover, it was said that powerful warriors could even outrun bullets.
Therefore, the status of firearms was very awkward—useful, but not very useful, so the Empire did not mass-produce firearms and ammunition.
If one could hunt a single most common Level 3 Danger Beast, they could be awarded the title of warrior within the tribe, with a status above ordinary hunters.
Above the Level 3 Danger Beast were the Level 2 Danger Beast and the Level 1 Danger Beast.
Esdeath’s father was a strong warrior capable of hunting a Level 1 Danger Beast, and he was the strongest person in the tribe.
Above the Level 1 Danger Beast were the Special Class Danger Beasts.
The danger level of Special Class Danger Beasts was a leap compared to Level 1 Danger Beasts.
Further up were Super Class Danger Beasts, which were legendary Danger Beasts with a chasm-like gap between them and ordinary Danger Beasts, and were extremely rare.
Perhaps because the First Emperor of the Empire led an army to attack and hunt them a thousand years ago, killing most of them, or perhaps because no one who trespassed into their territory came back alive, no news of them had spread.
Esdeath did not want to accept her father’s help, so she wanted to try hunting a few rabbits while she was at it.
Rabbits were creatures that bred quickly and had no danger, but they were exceptionally agile, ran very fast, and were hard to find.
The difficulty of hunting basically lay in the searching.
Esdeath went a few hundred meters deeper into the area where she usually gathered.
Her luck today was not very good; she only found a few ordinary healing herbs and a cluster of wild fruits.
She took out homemade bait from her backpack; this kind of bait could attract herbivores like rabbits.
Throwing the bait into the grass, Esdeath hid behind a tree twenty meters away to wait for the prey.
Taking the small short bow off her back, Esdeath pulled it a few times, felt that it was fine, and then waited with the bow.
Ten minutes passed.
Twenty minutes passed.
Esdeath thought helplessly, “Perhaps there are no small animals nearby.”
Esdeath took out dry, hard meat jerky from her pocket and started gnawing on it.
“I’ll go look elsewhere later.”
Chewing on the jerky, Esdeath remembered the reward she got from completing the system task yesterday.
“Eye of True Sight, what is that?”
So, she activated the ability.
The world before her eyes suddenly turned black and white, and even the speed at which the grass leaves swayed became extremely slow, allowing Esdeath to see every curve and detail of their movement.
It was as if everything in this world could not escape her eyes.
However, what was even more magical was that there were crisscrossing white auras on the forest clearing before her, like long lines extending in all directions.
These white auras were bright and dark, deep and shallow; some were very fresh, and some had almost disappeared.
Those were traces of biological activity; as long as they walked by, they would leave a scent.
This kind of scent was similar to pheromones, which particularly sensitive animals like ants and insects could detect and act upon.
Esdeath felt no danger, which meant these scents were left by herbivores that posed no threat to her.
So, she noted the brightest path and then deactivated the ability.
If she guessed correctly, the depth of the color should represent age; this animal had passed by here not long ago.
Esdeath tracked along the path.
After advancing fifty meters, she saw a gray rabbit in a grass patch.
Esdeath drew her bow and shot, hitting the rabbit above its hind leg, then rushed over quickly.
The gray rabbit was startled, but it didn’t run far before it fell due to its injury and was grabbed by Esdeath.
Esdeath pulled out the arrowhead, wiped it off casually, and it could be reused.
She looked happy; she didn’t expect the Eye of True Sight she had obtained to make tracking prey so easy, so she wouldn’t have to worry about not finding prey in the future.
The system appeared again: “Kill a rabbit, reward 1 villain point.”
“villain points?
What is that?”
The system seemed to hear her inner thoughts and explained: “villain points can be used to exchange for attribute points, which can be used to enhance the host’s strength, physique, agility, and mental power.”
Esdeath had a thought and chose to exchange one villain point for one point of physique.
The next moment, a warm current rose in her body, and her body, which had felt exhausted from going up the mountain and gathering for so long, felt much more comfortable.
It was as if her stamina had become stronger?
Esdeath tasted the benefits and followed suit, successively finding and hunting three rabbits, a hoop snake, and a plump Bali rat.
“Kill a rabbit, reward 1 villain point.”
“Kill a Bali rat, reward 1 villain point.”
…
This time, Esdeath added all five attribute points to strength.
The next moment, she felt a miraculous change in her body; unlike before, her body seemed to be filled with endless strength.
Although she didn’t know what was going on with this system, it didn’t seem to have any malice towards her.
Feeling a bit hungry, Esdeath started a fire on the spot, skinned a rabbit, and roasted it to eat.
Fresh food with a little seasoning tasted much better than cold, hard jerky.
The function of the Eye of True Sight was exceptionally useful, and the fact that she could become stronger just by hunting was also too magical.
This couldn’t help but make Esdeath interested in the other mission reward, the Retrospection.
But killing a passerby just because she didn’t like the look of them, that was just too strange.
Why did this system always want her to do bad things?
Although she had hunted many animals, killing people was still relatively rare for the people of the tribe.
Border tribes occasionally had conflicts over territory, food, and resources, but they rarely killed people.
One had to know that those who could hunt Danger Beasts were all people with strength and blood, and a conflict could very likely escalate into a tribal war.
Therefore, each tribe had divided its own hunting territory, and they tacitly agreed not to hunt in other tribes’ territories on a daily basis.
Of course, the size of this territory was also determined by the strength of the tribe.
Just as her father often said, the strong live, the weak die; in the North, this principle was vividly displayed everywhere.