The Insider System

Chapter 14: The Hunt for Exp

Feeling the cart stop Lake hoped it meant they were there because these last 10 minutes had felt like an hour. Seeing everyone start to grab their stuff, Lake followed suit. He was in Dan's way so he hopped out the back of the cart. Looking towards the forest Lake confirmed that they were indeed there. " Nice we beat the crowd today."

Lake saw the Man who he hadn't spoken to yet climb down from the cart and then help a woman who had been sitting next to him down. Lake could tell they were an older couple and they seemed nice enough, the only person who didn't seem that nice was the girl named Mandy she had already walked into the forest so lake just assumed she was the loner type.

Lake guessed if he hadn't made it awkward these two would have introduced themselves already, so he walked up to them and said. "Hello, I'm Lake. It's nice to meet you." The older man smiled and reached his hand out for a shake, "Hello I'm Kyle and this is my Wife Mary."

Lake shook his hand and was about to go and talk to Stan when the man said, " If you'd like we can show you around the forest, Me and my wife pick plants for the alchemist guild so you might learn something." Nothing Like old people, they really hand out benefits just so you'll spend time with them. Having no reason not to, Lake said " Ok I'll do that, to be honest I was a little afraid I'd get lost."

After saying that Lake marked the cart and all the people still standing around, this way he could find them later if he needed to. " If you follow us today we'll show you some of the safer places in the forest. It's good not to roam around randomly; you might stumble into a monster den by accident." After saying that, Kyle started into the forest so Lake followed. New n𝙤vel chapters are published on

Entering the forest Lake could hear various small animals but couldn't see them, he still took out his bow just in case. " Don't let us stop you from hunting if you see anything, feel free to shoot." Lake hadn't asked, but it was still nice to know these two wouldn't stop him from hunting. He had noticed these two weren't carrying bows and only had small knives and was wondering why. "Why are you two not carrying weapons?"

Lake was expecting Kyle to answer but Mary did "We got too old to be fighting. When you hunt there are times you run into monsters, It's usually small monsters Like goblins or wolves but still. These days we just harvest plants on the edge of the forest." That made sense Lake Lake was about to ask another question when he saw something fly past excited lake looked up to see a bird, but then Lake remembered there were no birds here they called them wyverns. Lake saw it swoop down and grab a squirrel out of a tree getting a good look Lake could see the difference, the Hawk like wyvern had a short tail with no feathers, but other than that it was pretty much a bird. "Nice." Lake loved birds and that included these monsters, he thought maybe in the future he could tame one he had the tamer job so it wasn't impossible. " I was expecting you to shoot at it."

Lake looked to see the pair were looking at him, not wanting to reveal his secret weakness he said "I don't know how to use a bow." Lake was fishing for benefits, maybe one of these two was a bow master and would show him the way. " Come here, I was a max level archer by the time I was 20." Bingo. Lake walked over to Kyle. " Pull your bow back."

Lake did as he was told, seeing how easy he did so Kyle said "You must have a job that gives strength so you won't have a problem using that wooden bow but dexterity and perception are more important with bows. Alright get an arrow out." Lake got an arrow out and waited for further instruction to see Kyle reach out his hands and take the bow. " Alright watch as I do this you see how I'm holding my shoulders." Lake looked real close, almost too close. "Now look at my elbows and fingers. If you do this you should hit most of your shots for now this is a good starter pose that helps with accuracy. Once you get a few levels in archer or hunter you can switch to a pose that feels more natural for you."

Handing the bow and arrow back to Lake, Kyle said " Alright let's see if you can do it." Lake pulled the bow back and shot the arrow. Looking at Kyle, Lake could tell he was surprised at how well Lake had copied his actions; it was like a reflection, not only that Lake had actually hit something, Mary. Lake hadn't held the arrow correctly and it had spun off and hit Mary. Thankfully she was fine but Lake still learned something, so it was all good.