Chapter 93

"Everyone can call me Mentor Gray!" The name of this half-elf mentor was quite long, which was not unusual. Not only half-elves, but even the full names of human nobles were often very long.

Gray stood at the front of the classroom, with Cook and about twenty others sitting behind him. Gray looked at the students and said, "Now, I will explain the course schedule. Since there are only so many students in the Hunter program, I am the only mentor. The first week will be theoretical classes for the beginners, and the second week will be basic training. The intermediate class will use these two weeks to complete the tasks I assign. The following two weeks will be for teaching and training the intermediate class, while the beginners will be doing tasks. The course cycle is four weeks. Intermediate class students, come up and receive your tasks; you have two weeks."

Under Cook's surprised gaze, Mentor Gray dismissed the intermediate class, leaving only Cook and another student. The other student was not officially enrolled but was a trainee sponsored by a large mercenary group. Gray looked at the two young men and began his lecture: "Hello, first, I want to explain the characteristics of the Hunter profession.

Hunters are a very ancient profession, dating back to the early days of human civilization. At that time, hunters were specifically those who hunted. Over time, the profession of hunters has changed significantly.

Now, the Hunter profession has almost no advantages. In archery, they are not as strong as professional archers; in stealth, they are not as skilled as thieves; in direct combat, leather-armored hunters are not as powerful as warriors; in attack power, they are not as strong as mages. So, the Hunter profession seems to have all disadvantages. However, in large-scale battles, hunters are indispensable because they can adapt to any combat environment. On the plains, a hunter might not be able to defeat an archer, but in the forest, a good hunter can bury countless archers in the wilderness. A hunter's one-handed sword is far more powerful than an archer's dagger.

Against warriors, hunters must leverage their agility and speed. A single heavily armored warrior facing a hunter will only be dragged to death. As for thieves, don't forget that we hunters have traps, which are the best way to deal with thieves.

As for the flashy mages, our hunters' bow range is enough to make any mage tremble. We will continuously harass them until they are exhausted.

That's the strengths and weaknesses of the Hunter profession. Since you are in the beginner class, we will have theoretical classes in the morning and basic training in the afternoon, including archery, combat, stealth, reconnaissance, and trap setting."

Gray cleared his throat and began the first theoretical class. He smiled and asked, "Which of you can tell me what is most important for a hunter?"

"Cook!" Gray, seeing no response from the two, helplessly called out.

"Speed! Hunters rely on speed for survival," Cook thought for a moment and said.

"And you, Naida?" Gray did not say whether it was right or wrong but asked again.

"It's archery, precise archery!" Naida stood up and answered.

"Sit down, no need to stand. Actually, you are both wrong. The most important thing for a hunter is distance. Maintaining a certain distance from the enemy is crucial. In our hunter community, the safest distance is 100 meters, and beginners should maintain at least 300 meters from the enemy. Of course, Cook's answer about speed is not entirely correct because thieves are often faster than hunters. So, we need to find ways to slow down the enemy, such as using traps and archery harassment," Gray explained, shaking his head at Naida's answer.

Gray then walked to the two students and said, "To slow down the enemy, we need to understand the combat methods of each profession. So, I have decided to let you attend classes in other professions, summarize their combat methods, and find ways to counter them. You are free to go to other departments."

"Remember, I will check!" Gray ignored the stunned students and left with those words.

"What's going on?" Cook asked, utterly confused.

"Ha ha, it's like this. Mentor Gray is like this. I'm actually here for the Hunter skills in the library, but that requires points, so I need to earn points. Take care, buddy." Naida chuckled, then left. The large classroom was left with only Cook and Little Lei.

Cook sat for a while and realized that Gray was right. To defeat the enemy, one must understand their combat methods. So, Cook hesitated for a moment and entered the Thief training area. Cook had some prejudice against thieves, mainly because they were good at stealth.

The Unparalleled Academy was very free. Cook, a Hunter, entered the Thief classroom without much interference, but he was deducted five points because it was a cross-departmental class.

Cook listened to the Thief class for half a day and became even more wary of thieves. Thieves emphasized one-hit kills and could use potions, change their aura, and use the environment and clothing for disguise and stealth. Cook even participated in a Thief practical class where over two hundred students practiced stealth. In a small hill, they were almost invisible from a distance, but when Cook used his Magic Eye, he saw them hiding in trees, shrubs, and even digging holes by the road. One student even disguised himself as a rock, a magical material that, when activated by aura, turned his gray-green clothes into a moss-covered rock.

"Looks like I need to learn throwing knives too!" When Cook saw the Thief training with throwing knives, his eyes lit up. Hunters had long-range bows and close-combat one-handed swords, but the mid-range, within 100 meters, was a blank area. Although Cook knew that throwing knives had only one chance, he, being a fan of online games, understood that even one chance could have unexpected effects, and throwing knives could be coated with poison.

So, after lunch, Cook wrote down the combat methods he observed in the Thief class. He concluded that the best way to guard against thieves was to be observant, and using throwing knives was also noted.

In the afternoon, Gray looked at Cook's notes and said, "Since you want to learn throwing knives, you'll have to go to the Thief department because I don't know how to use them." The afternoon training was just fifty-meter target practice, and only Cook participated. Naida clearly didn't care for this training, and Gray left early.

Cook, having such a mentor, had no choice but to go to the general area to buy a set of throwing knives and practice them according to the Thief mentor's methods.

For two weeks, Cook spent his time attending classes in other professions and summarizing their combat methods. However, he never showed his notes to Gray again. In the afternoon training, Gray only taught the methods at the beginning and then disappeared. During these two weeks, Cook's archery improved significantly, hitting moving targets within 800 meters with perfect accuracy. However, in the magic simulation training room, Cook only had a 50% hit rate at 150 meters and was perfect within 100 meters, where he used throwing knives instead of bows. Cook's throwing knife skills reached 150 meters, but beyond that, bows were more practical. Cook focused on improving his throwing knife accuracy within 100 meters, achieving some success.

"Cook, Mitch and I are going on a trial." After two weeks, Cook also received a combat task, which was to collect a certain material or complete another task. Cook's luck was not good; he had to capture a magical beast, and the task provided the area and general situation, collected by the academy's scouts in the magical beast forest.

"Me too, what's your task?" Cook was cooking, as Martha had been distracted lately, putting too much sugar or salt. Cook knew why but didn't care.

"Collect fire magic crystals in the A3 area of the first underground level. It's said there are many small active volcanoes there," Lori carefully read the task and said.

"Right, that area is quite safe." Cook was correct; the first and second levels of the underground world had been explored by the Mage Guild, and there were many camps, mainly for the academy students and to earn money from low-level adventurers.

"What about Mitch?" Since each person's task was different, Cook asked.

"Use Fireball to kill a water-type magical beast of the same level and bring back the corpse for verification," Mitch smiled and said.

"Phew!" Cook sighed. Mitch's task was very simple because low-level water-type magical beasts were weak.

"Mitch, why don't we go together? There are underground rivers in the A3 area, so there should be water-type magical beasts," Lori smiled and invited.

"Sure, I want to see the underground world," Mitch agreed without hesitation.

"Me too, my target is in the volcano area, but not A3, it's C6. It's said a strange low-level fire-type magical beast appeared there, very cunning and fast. My task is to capture it alive," Cook waved his task book.

"Let's go together. Fire magic crystals aren't exclusive to A3, so let's go to C6," Lori suggested excitedly.

Cook took out a map of the underground world and studied it for a while, then said, "Okay, but we can go to C6 first and then detour to A3 on the way back. If we find fire magic crystals in C6, we won't need to go to A3."

"Okay!" Lori also looked at the map of the first underground level.

"Just the three of us, should we find more people? A full team would save points for teleportation," Mitch suggested quietly.

Lori disagreed, "No, the three of us are enough."

Cook originally planned to invite Mike, but Mike was a graduate student with no tasks or exams, only needing to record his training process. However, Cook overlooked a suggestion in his task description to form a team, which was a complete ten-person configuration: one mage, one archer, one thief, three to four warriors, including a shield warrior, a swordsman, and a knight, with the mage and archer each one, the thief sometimes two, and a healer, usually a water mage, as light and wood mages were rare.

The team's combat roles were clear: the thief and archer scouted ahead, followed by a shield warrior and an attack warrior, then the mage and healer, and the rear was guarded by warriors and knights, with two more in the middle for support.

Before the adventure, Cook bought a horn bow because his strength had increased, possibly due to the constant nourishment of wood aura, making bamboo and wooden bows unsuitable. The horn bow was about 1.5 meters long, made from a level three magic bull's horn. Cook could only draw it one-third, but even that gave a range of 1,000 meters. Lori and Mitch also bought many pieces of equipment, magic accessories, and magic robes, greatly enhancing their protection and combat abilities.

They spent two more days adapting to the new equipment, then registered at the academy and obtained a certificate to use the magic teleportation array. Registration was also to ensure the safety of the students, as the guild would send people to secretly protect them, only intervening in life-threatening situations. The academy hoped students would often return with injuries to gain combat experience quickly. For the Mage Guild, as long as there was a breath left, they could be saved, showcasing the power of magic.

When Cook and his group emerged from the magic array, there were actually four of them, including Little Lei and Little Gray, Big Mouth, and Kaka. Little Bad was left behind because he had no use in the underground world. After they teleported out, another adventurer in warrior gear emerged from the array, a guard sent by the academy to ensure their safety.

Cook stood in the A1 area of the first underground level, the guild's teleportation exit. Many adventurers, mercenaries, and guild patrol teams were present. The patrol teams were large, with 100 people each, to deter the dangerous elements in the dark underground world.

The underground world was pitch black, but for professionals, this was not a problem. They relied on their senses, and the plants in the underground world emitted a faint glow, along with the occasional volcanic light, making it not entirely dark. Fire mages like Lori could use fire lighting spells, which could illuminate a 100-meter radius as long as they had mana.

However, Cook used a magic torch given by Mentor Lyle, which had a 150-meter radius and used a medium magic crystal per day. The guard behind him secretly sighed because this torch was expensive, and Cook's team was only looking for low-level magic crystals.

"What's wrong?" After walking for half an hour, the magic lights had disappeared as they left the A1 area. They would pass through A2, B3, and B5 to reach C6. The first underground level had seven large areas, each divided into six smaller areas, with supply points in each large area. Today's goal was the supply point in the B area, a safe zone managed by the Mage Guild. Lori and Mitch wore full cloaks, and Cook was dressed as a hunter. Lori noticed Cook looking back and asked nervously.

"Nothing!" Cook saw a shadow 300 meters behind them with his Magic Eye, but he didn't tell Lori, only increasing his vigilance and placing his throwing knives and arrows in easy reach.