Chapter 68

As the cherry blossoms danced in the wind, Misaki opened the old diary and read the words of the promise written there.

---

Standing at the classroom door, Xiaoming took a deep breath and firmly gripped the secret letter from his mother.

---

"Your rank will increase, and you will have to hunt more often in temporary or combined parties. Even in unfamiliar, hastily assembled groups, you must not disrupt the party and must fully utilize your strength. This is a basic ability required of a hunter, and it is especially important for mid-level hunters. For races with inferior physical abilities, coordination and spirit magic can be considered a lifeline. Think carefully before you act."

The middle-aged examiner, a pure-blooded Maranova, who seemed to have been a hunter himself, spoke with the experience evident in his words.

The Yurifranz people have strong city characteristics, and each city has its own distinct traits. Maranova women are haughty and capricious, while Maranova men are gentle to women but vain and stingy. This examiner also had such a temperament, and his attitude clearly reflected the pride in his race, which is common among northerners.

The leader the examiner appointed was a mage wearing leather armor and holding a staff as tall as himself. The staff slightly improved the ability to communicate with spirits and assisted in the casting of spirit magic. Whether one carried a staff or not was a matter of personal preference, but a hunter who carried a staff was one who primarily used magic in hunting. However, many of the hunters' staffs served not only as staffs but were reinforced. This mage's staff had one end that could be used as a blunt weapon and the other as a piercing tool.

The other members were a woman who seemed to be a scout, carrying a bow, and a large man who held a shield that barely covered a quarter of his body and a one-handed axe, clearly a front-liner. All three were of the white race. Among them was Zangren.

The other three seemed to be familiar faces from the local area, and they introduced themselves as if they were meeting for the first time. After the examiner left, the leader began to explain the team's strategy.

"--- As you know, we will primarily use lightning spirit magic in our hunt."

The other two, besides Zangren, nodded as if it were obvious.

When Zangren tilted his head in confusion, the leader explained in detail. The other two looked slightly exasperated.

The most useful spirit magic for a hunter is lightning spirit magic. Especially in the vicinity of Maranova, where there are flying dragons, lightning spirit magic, which is effective against them, is highly valued. Among all spirit magic, it has the highest speed, can be lethal when infused with magic power, can be used for capture when weakened, and can minimize damage to the prey if used skillfully. The main drawback is the low number of spirits, but it's not as if there are none, and for the level of monsters that the Seven Stars hunt, it's not a problem.

Friendly fire due to electric shock is a concern, but it can be avoided by maintaining distance or carefully neutralizing it with lightning spirit magic.

Unless the affinity is hopelessly low, it's better to use lightning spirit magic for attacks. Of course, it depends on the situation, the leader said, and that's why he trained in two secondary attributes besides his main one.

The leader's main attribute was lightning, with water and earth as secondary. The female scout's main attribute was wind, with lightning and earth as secondary. The front-liner's main attribute was earth, with lightning as secondary.

The front-liner seemed to be poor at spirit magic. It was common to choose earth or ice for defense, or water in some cases. Most scouts chose wind, but in some cases, earth, depending on their affinity or environment. The exploration ability of light was even higher than wind, but there were few with high affinity for light, and most had average affinity, so using wind for exploration was more efficient in terms of magic power. Exceptions were heroes or special minority races.

Thus, the leader, a mage, said they would primarily use lightning spirit magic in the team's operations. If it was said that this would result in better prey, there was no room for complaint.

However, due to Zangren's trauma from lightning, even though he was taught by Irida that racial group hunts often used lightning spirit magic, he had rarely used it. He was specialized in dark, ice, and earth affinities, and while his water and wind affinities were average, his light, fire, and lightning affinities were extremely low. Among these, lightning spirits, unlike fire or light spirits, were not used in daily life, so he had not even mastered them. At most, he had used lightning to stun fish in a river.

Since the river was not large, even weak lightning strikes could catch fish, but the small fish with many bones were not favored by Seihaku.

Zangren, who had a rare and biased affinity among his race, used his greater magic power to overpower and relied on physical weapons, traps, and Seihaku to make up for his lack of attack power.

Thinking he might not have much to do, Zangren was casually considering using the opportunity to help Seihaku overcome her trauma with an electric massage.

For the hunters of his race, ambushing and killing monsters from a distance was the basic form of hunting. The leader also said they would follow this basic form.

The female archer would serve as a scout, and once she detected the prey, she would attack from a distance with lightning spirit magic. If that didn't kill the prey, the front-liner with a medium-sized shield would stop the prey, and the team would finish it off.

As for Zangren, his role would be to disrupt and hinder. Since lightning spirit magic was not effective, his job would be to stop the prey and fill in the gaps between attacks to distract it.

However, with such a well-rounded team, there was little for him to do unless they ventured too deep into the forest. The magic grass to neutralize the poison of the flying dragon, which was the collection task, was found in a known location thanks to the leader's knowledge and the female scout's exploration ability. The defeat of the Great Mountain Wasteland, a large boar-like creature with sharp quills on its back that could be launched, was also accomplished without any danger.

The leader, a mage, was familiar with this forest and took thorough safety measures, so they did not venture too deep or engage in monsters they couldn't handle. As long as they didn't do something foolish, the scout would detect approaching monsters, and they could be killed with long-range magic or stopped by the front-liner for a decisive blow. To get a high evaluation, which meant a higher price for the prey, it was important not to cause unnecessary damage with Zangren's earth stakes or ice pillars.

Despite having little to do, Zangren still did what he could. He hid in the shadows of trees to avoid detection by the female scout and used dark spirit magic to sense the shadow of a rock bee, which had disguised itself as a rock to stab her leg, and crushed it with his reinforced leg.

When the front-liner's earth wall, which was about to collapse under the Great Mountain Wasteland's charge, was reinforced with earth spirit magic, and the Great Mountain Wasteland's short legs were locked with earth spirit magic, and almost simultaneously, water spirit magic was used to douse the Great Mountain Wasteland, enhancing the power of the lightning strike that followed.

He also took charge of transporting the stripped materials, made the camp food reasonably tasty, and took on more than half of the night watch, acting as a mediator for the team.

While he couldn't adjust the interpersonal relationships, they all had good communication skills and, despite being familiar faces from the local area, were conscious of the examiner's eyes and did not rush to achieve their goals.

At first, they had doubts about Zangren's abilities. He was seen as a parasite who did nothing significant. However, as time passed, they began to recognize his actions and abilities. With the three of them, they could complete the tasks with some injuries, but with Zangren's minor actions, the injuries were avoided, and the hunt proceeded smoothly. Injuries required magic and time to heal, and in the worst case, could hinder their future activities as hunters and cause financial stress. A smooth hunt reduced the risks. Good food reduced stress, and a lighter night watch made the next day's activities easier.

They welcomed the second day of the practical exam in good condition and easily captured a forest wolf with weakened lightning spirit magic. By then, the party members, who initially looked down on Zangren, had re-evaluated him as at least being on par with them in terms of skill.

"Hey, thanks a lot," the front-liner patted Zangren's back