Hanging in the web on the far bank, a single massive, round, eight-legged creature was curled up on its legs, napping.
A spider creature.
Natsuyū’s eyes sharpened.
In the corner of his vision, a gold exclamation mark materialised above the creature’s head and expanded rapidly.
[Ding!]
[Congratulations on unlocking the achievement “First Monster Sighted!” — shout the incantation “I want to be a Monster Hunter!” to claim your rewards: Information Appraisal, EXP +10.]
A gold exclamation mark.
The last time he’d seen one of those, it had unlocked the Basic Achievement Tree.
And from that tree alone, he’d massively boosted his Physique and picked up a serious suite of crafting and building tools.
A new gold exclamation mark meant only one thing: a new achievement tree.
Yukino watched the black spider creature for a moment, then said close to his ear, calm and quiet:
“Confirmed.
Forest creature — large spider, estimated half a metre.
Not an Earth species.
Doesn’t look like it picks fights easily, but something with a nest is probably territorial and likely social.”
“We’ve found the water source.
Scouting objective complete.
Per your original plan — we fall back and regroup with Sakuraba Ema and the others.”
She agreed with his caution.
That had been the right call.
“No,” Natsuyū said.
Yukino looked at him with a question mark on her face.
“Wasn’t that your plan?”
Natsuyū’s mouth curved.
“Plan changed.
Yukino — when you’re playing a game and a reward notification lights up, can you stop yourself from tapping it?”
“I can,” she said.
“I rarely play games.”
Natsuyū’s smile disappeared.
Right.
Lady Flat Plains is exceptional in many ways.
He missed the normal person — Kushida.
Though, admittedly, the two-faced Kushida wasn’t exactly ‘normal’ either.
And Ema and Kiana both had the energy of high-tier landmines.
Was there a single ordinary person in this group?
He had questions.
“I need to trigger a new ability unlock,” he said.
“Stay put for now.”
Yukino smiled and nodded: “I guessed as much.”
He stared at the nearby smug and beautiful girl.
“You were teasing me on purpose just now?”
Yukino tilted her head and played innocent.
“I don’t know what you mean.”
Wait.
Wasn’t Yukino supposed to be the jealous type?
The tsundere?
Since when did she have a streak of scheming in her?
Her character setting was crumbling.
“Whatever — step back with me first.”
“Mm.”
Yukino nodded without hesitation.
“Yes, Captain.”
Natsuyū blinked at the sudden flash of Yamato Nadeshiko softness in her voice.
“Why are you staring?” She pinned him with a look.
Natsuyū let himself smile, relaxed now.
“Just thinking about how to get everyone stronger.”
Right — that was the real Yukino.
Tsundere, proud, sharp-tongued.
Just now, if she’d admitted she’d been playing with him, he wouldn’t have been irritated — if anything he’d have felt encouraged, like their dynamic was warm enough for that kind of teasing.
Instead, she’d played dumb and then hissed.
Silent Yukino: top tier.
Open-mouth Yukino: off the charts difficult.
Anyone who gets the distinction?
Yukino watched Natsuyū walk ahead and quietly followed, small steps.
She hadn’t meant to tease him.
Not because he’d called Ema by her first name while still calling her ‘Yukino.’ She wasn’t that petty.
And she absolutely did not care who Natsuyū was closer to.
On the other side of the rock, once he’d confirmed the spider was out of sight, Natsuyū straightened up and announced to the general air:
“I want to be a Monster Hunter!”
[You have received: Information Appraisal, EXP +10.]
Information Appraisal.
Across games, novels, and comics — the single most universal, most fundamental, and most important ability there was.
Appraise enemies: identify threats to avoid, identify weaknesses to exploit.
Safety increases exponentially.
Appraise items: know what’s safe, know what’s dangerous, waste nothing.
On top of that — if a monster was disguising itself as a teammate, one appraisal call would rip the disguise clean off.
An absolute hard counter to infiltration and illusion types.
This was a god-tier ability.
He accepted Information Appraisal with a quiet, satisfied smile.
[Natsuyū: Level 3 (EXP 20/25)]
Five more EXP and he’d level up again.
And — most importantly:
[You have unlocked the “Combat Achievement Tree.”]
[Combat Achievement Tree:
First Monster Sighted!
→ Time to Strike!
(Kill one type of monster) → ?]
[You can unlock hidden achievement trees through exploration and discovery.]
He’d assumed unlocking hidden trees would be hard.
And the second tree was combat-focused — meaning new tools for fighting were on their way.
That explains where the sword and armour went.
They’re hiding here.
Sword could wait — the stone axe was a serviceable substitute.
Armour was different.
A good set of armour boosted the courage and margin for error in melee combat in a way nothing else could replicate.
In any pre-modern military, armoured soldiers had always, without question, outperformed unarmoured ones.
No comparison.
And once he could craft armour — the girls could put theirs on while their clothes were drying, and not have to—
Natsuyū glanced back at the Yukino following behind him, involuntarily let his mind wander for a moment to the general concept of nothing underneath, immediately pulled it back, looked firmly forward:
“Right.
Back to the stream.”
“…”
Yukino had just stopped walking.
She stared at his retreating back and reluctantly started moving again.
“What are we going back there for.”
“Marking the spot.
Easier to find it next time.”
Yukino accepted the explanation and fell into step — back and forth.
In reality, this was a pretext Natsuyū had produced on the spot.
The Information Appraisal ability had some potential privacy concerns that he didn’t want to bring up — it would make the girls paranoid and undermine group cohesion.
Better to keep it quiet.
The real reason for going back: he wanted to appraise the spider.
New ability in hand, unknown creature in sight — expecting anyone to not immediately use it was expecting the impossible.
He moved quickly back to the familiar boulder, crouched low, and peered around it.
Across the stream — the spider, still napping on its web.
He focused on it and called it in his head:
Appraise.
[Round-Head Spider (Common Monster)
Physique: 0.7
Soul: 0.3
Charisma: 0.3
Notes: Carries venom (standard tissue-dissolving type).
Eight legs — tips sharp but brittle.
Chitin shell: moderate defence.
Skin: weak defence.
Drops: Spider Silk, Venom Gland, Monster Meat.]
[Tier-1 Spider Nest (Unranked)
Physique: 0.4
Soul: 0
Charisma: 0.4
Notes: Nest of the Round-Head Spider.
Small-scale — maximum occupancy 3 Round-Head Spiders.
Drops: Spider Silk.]
Huh — the spider only has 0.7 Physique?