Drops?
Natsuyū spotted the key detail.
He didn’t have a hunting-drop ability yet—
Wait.
Resource Gathering.
It wasn’t just chopping trees and mining stone.
Killing monsters counted too.
He could loot them.
And the Appraisal ability had even listed the drops in advance.
Incredibly useful.
The Round-Head Spider’s combat power was mediocre — 0.7 Physique, crushed flat by his own 1.2.
The nest in front of him held at most three of them.
A hunt was possible.
Take them out, clear the Combat Achievement Tree’s next milestone, get the EXP, push to level 4.
Speaking of Appraisal—
He glanced sideways at Yukino.
Should he?
He was curious about her three stats.
Especially Charisma — Miss Self-Proclaimed-Wonderful over there, how did she stack up against him?
If her stats are decent, I might be able to bring her along on this hunt right now.
He wanted to check.
And it was genuinely for the team — knowing everyone’s exact data would make task assignment much more efficient.
But casually reading Yukino’s private information without permission…
that felt morally questionable.
Wrong thing to do.
I want to do what’s right.
Natsuyū held that thought for half a second, then said, as if it had just occurred to him:
“Yukino — hypothetically, if I wanted to look at everyone’s detailed physical data, would you be okay with that?”
Doing the right thing doesn’t mean not checking Yukino’s stats.
Getting her consent first and then checking — that’s how you make it right.
Yukino’s eyes sharpened immediately.
Both hands flew up to cover her chest — entirely hidden behind the backpack — and she said with a faint chill:
“So the Beautiful Girl Collector finally reveals his true nature.
Teenage boys being fascinated by someone as charming as me is understandable, but that doesn’t mean it’s appro—”
“Stop.”
Natsuyū was already done.
He kept his voice low and pointed at her: “I meant physical fitness data.
You absolute gutter-brained woman.”
Yukino looked mortified for exactly one instant, then covered it with a small, dignified huff.
“That was your own ambiguous phrasing.”
“Your request is entirely reasonable,” she added quickly.
Here.”
And she started talking — fast, eager to change the subject entirely.
Top exam scores in middle school, proficiency across multiple instruments, seventh-dan amateur aikido, cooking and household management, the 100-metre in 13.5 seconds in PE, height 164cm, not suited to sustained physical exertion—
Natsuyū tuned out the self-promotion and focused on the part that mattered: she didn’t object to him accessing her information.
Alright then.
He activated Appraisal.
Shen Lan — full readout on this girl, three seconds.
[Yukinoshita Yukino: Level 0 (0/10)
Physique: 0.8 (Healthy adolescent girl)
Soul: 0.9 (Slightly below average mental fortitude)
Charisma: 1.2 (All creatures: Hostile)
Ability: Cat’s Body.]
Yukino, meanwhile, was still talking herself into greater confidence.
She finished with a graceful smile:
“I’ll admit I’m rather exceptional.
Please try not to develop any particular feelings, Natsuyū-kun — that would be best for everyone.”
“Hmm… ha… hmm…”
Natsuyū fought his own face.
His mouth kept wanting to curve up, then he’d catch it, then it’d start again — the expression of a man desperately sitting on a laugh.
Self-important?
Cute?
Sure.
But your Charisma stat is lower than mine.
Her face was undeniably at his level, and her figure was elegant — probably docked points somewhere by certain geometric shortcomings, or perhaps Charisma included social warmth as a factor.
Either way: Natsuyū, Charisma 1.3.
Yukino, Charisma 1.2.
And here she was, delivering the “please don’t fall for me” warning speech at him.
The comedic timing.
So hard not to laugh.
That’s it.
That’s the whole joke.
Small fry.
Yukino noticed his expression and stopped smiling.
Baffled irritation rose in her.
She balled her fists:
“What are you laughing at.”
“Not — laughing.”
“You can barely speak!”
“…Pfft.
Couldn’t hold it.
Sorry.”
Natsuyū let the smile settle on his face, decided not to push the joke further, and materialized a stone axe in his hand out of nowhere. Read this novel at g.com for the best experience.
Back to business:
“I want to test the Round-Head Spider’s actual combat ability — get a read on what we’re dealing with.
Stay close to me and keep yourself safe.”
Yukino opened her mouth to follow up on what he’d been laughing about — then processed what he’d said and frowned.
“You want to fight something that large?”
She remembered him being the careful, dependable type.
This seemed out of character.
“If you get hurt out here with no medicine, an infection would be a serious problem.
If you absolutely have to probe the spider’s strength, call everyone over first — more people, better safety margins.”
Natsuyū nodded.
“Fair — but I didn’t say I was going to brawl with it up close.”
Yukino paused — and then watched Natsuyū straighten up, weigh the stone axe in his hand a couple of times, and grin:
“Ever tried axe throwing?”
“I haven’t — but today seems like a good day to find out.”
Only a complete idiot would go hand-to-hand with a venomous spider when they had no armour.
When you have a tool in your hand, the answer is obviously cowardly long-range throwing.
A stone axe probably weighed around five kilograms.
Hurled at full force by someone with 1.2 Physique, it wasn’t just dangerous to a creature with 0.7 Physique — it’d be dangerous to the current Natsuyū, flesh and blood as he was.
“Throwing axes,” Yukino said, eyes brightening.
“That’s actually smart.
Let’s try.”
Then she caught herself.
He’d talked her into it again.
He always found exactly the framing she couldn’t argue with.
Yukino studied his profile and had the unsettling thought that this boy’s emotional intelligence was starting to look a little terrifying.
Even Haruno couldn’t manage her this easily.
Natsuyū moved quietly, closing the distance to the Round-Head Spider step by careful step.
Between them and the nest ran a stream — roughly a metre wide, no more than half a metre deep.
The nest itself sat about ten metres back from the far bank.
The sound of the current covered his approach.
He stopped at the water’s edge, felt the cool mist rising from the stream sharpen his senses.
He took aim at the Round-Head Spider ten metres away.
Yukino fell into position beside him, silently drawing the wooden axe from her backpack and gripping it, alert and ready.
Natsuyū counted down in his head:
Three.
Two.
One—
His legs bent sharply, planting his weight into the earth.
Power gathered at his core, transferred through the twist of his waist — he wound back, body pulling taut like a bow at full draw.
Then the axe flew.