While wandering through the forest, Idris was able to pick up the sound of people yelling in the far distance, one that’s accompanied by the roar of a large beast. Judging by its distinctive sound, it’s most likely the roar of a thunderbolt tiger. The archer had been training in the wilderness long enough to know the distinct cries of almost every animal in the world of Alius. His acute hearing was to the point where could pretty much discern the cry of any animal with near-perfect accuracy.
With his bow in hand, he rushed towards the sound with a swift yet quiet sprint—readying three arrows drawn from his quiver as he did so—before leaping up in the air and taking aim. At the peak of his jump, he was able to spot the thunderbolt tiger in his line of sight. With masterful marksmanship, he released the drawn bowstring, sending those three arrows flying into the tiger’s head, piercing its skull and killing it in an instant.
The two frightened contestants rolled away as the felled monster flew towards their direction before skidding and tumbling across the ground. As it laid there lifelessly, the monster’s corpse began slowly disintegrating into a mist of pink light particles, a magical effect to indicate the monster’s artificial origin for the purpose of this trial. Once the body of the tiger had vanished completely, all that’s left behind were its three star runes—each a dark-gray palm-sized stone with the symbol of a pentacle engraved on its surface.
Idris walked up to the three star runes lying on the ground and picked them up. Then, after giving them a rather indifferent glance, he tossed them to the two remaining contestants, ones whom he’d saved by defeating the tiger for them.
“Here, you can have them,” Idris said as he casually tossed those star runes to them.
“What? You’re just going to let us take them?” one of the contestants asked, feeling utterly baffled. “You don’t even want them?”
“Getting star runes from an easy kill like that does not fill me with satisfaction,” Idris explained with a charming smirk. “If I’m going to acquire a star rune, it needs to be from something more…challenging.”
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The laidback archer walked away, his gait relaxed and carefree. Meanwhile, the two contestants merely gawked at him with utter bewilderment as he departed. What kind of person would consider a 3-star monster like a thunderbolt tiger an “easy kill”? Surely, whoever he was, he’s in a whole different league than they were in terms of skill.
Idris continued wandering throughout the forest, prowling stealthily as he did so. At the beginning of this trial, he had read through both of the scrolls just like all the other contestants. Even before coming here, he’d already decided to ignore all the riddle runes. It’s not that he wasn’t smart enough to figure out any of the riddles, it’s just that he thought it’d be more fun to acquire it through the hunting of a monster instead. And out of all the monsters listed on the monster scroll, one particular monster caught his eye.
The zephyrtail swift.
It was listed as a 4-star monster, despite appearing only as a small and unassuming white-feathered bird, its size similar to most other swifts. That’s because underneath its nonthreatening appearance was a hidden ability—it was the fastest flying bird in terms of horizontal flight, able to fly even faster than the speed of sound in short bursts. Because of that, they were notorious for being nearly impossible to catch. What better way to test out the archer’s skills than by hunting down such an incredible creature?
Using Grappling Vine, Idris pulled himself up a nearby tree in order to spot the signs of a zephyrtail’s presence. Due to the bird being able to move at supersonic speeds, it would leave a miniature sonic boom in its wake every time it did so. Occasionally, that sonic boom would damage and disrupt the surrounding environment in very specific ways.
Patches of bark would be removed from trees, almost as if they’d been sheared off due to tremendous wind forces in a highly localized area. The dirt on the ground would produce a pattern of concentric rings due to the bird taking off at such a high speed. A few clumps of down feathers would be left behind due to the forces of the wind blowing against its aerodynamic body.
All these signs gave off the presence of a zephyrtail swift. If one was observant enough, they should be able to pick up those signs. And that’s exactly what Idris had done. He was able to spot all those signs around him. Based on that, he could tell that the zephyrtail swift was nearby.
