"Splash, splash," Lann and Bernie jumped from the boat into the muddy flats.
"This is where the fish are plentiful outside the fishing grounds. Finding Water Ghosts here is easy; those beasts are too lazy to even hide from humans now."
Lann’s nostrils flared, the water-rich breeze mingled with all sorts of fishy odors.
The smell of the mudflats was far from pleasant, with scents of fish, blood, and the sea...
If you brought an old gentleman used to a pampered life here, the first breath would make him throw up his breakfast.
Through the mutated senses of a Demon Hunter, he could feel these smells swirling around him like colorful auras.
After carefully distinguishing them, he picked out his target.
——An unpleasant smell like rotting fish, shrimp, and seaweed mixed together.
That was the scent of Water Ghosts.
Once he focused on one smell, the air carrying it highlighted in his vision like a ribbon, clearly standing out amidst the mess.
The other chaotic scents were filtered out.
Of course, finding the correct trace so easily was thanks to the frequent activities of these Water Ghosts, which kept the scent fresh.
In theory, just based on these smells, Lann could directly find those Water Ghosts.
But he didn’t move immediately. Instead, he turned around to ask Bernie, who had already started taking out his bow and arrows from his back.
"Can you track those Water Ghosts?"
Bernie gave the young man a surprised look; isn’t this your job?
But he didn’t say much more.
"With these obvious footprints and the Water Ghosts’ scales... anyone could do it."
"..." In Lann’s mind, Mentos emitted a series of nonsensical ellipses.
Lann looked expressionlessly at the muddy flats in front of him.
The black and smelly sludge was covered in all sorts of strange, chaotic marks.
Made by beasts, floating debris, Water Ghosts...
To someone without tracking experience, it was just a messy patch of mud.
Water Ghost scales and fish scales couldn’t be distinguished, and the so-called "obvious footprints" were buried under chaotic marks, invisible.
... I really fail at being a person, huh!
Lann’s mouth twitched slightly.
"Alright, I need to adjust my combat state, so I’ll leave the tracking to you."
Without much explanation, Bernie wasn’t interested in asking anyway, since it was an easy task for him.
So the man with long leather gloves moved ahead, naturally examining various traces and using them to determine the direction they should move in.
Meanwhile, in Lann’s mind, Mentos began to work according to his plan.
"New analysis project—[Trace Detection]
Skill source—[Fisherman Bernie]
Integrating information, current progress—1%."
"Deliver the analysis results to me tonight; I don’t want my head feeling like a shaken soda bottle while dealing with Water Ghosts."
Mentos’ intelligent voice responded smoothly.
The process of transferring knowledge from the AI couldn’t be altered without permission, which was definitely troublesome.
However, choosing a time to endure it was still an option.
The mental exchange was swift; Bernie was still bent over inspecting the mud.
Lann couldn’t understand how he always gleaned information from all sorts of subtle traces.
For example, seeing a shallow scratch in the mud or finding clues amidst a chaotic pile of footprints and decisively adjusting the direction.
The direction changes he made were much more precise than the smells Lann captured with his Demon Hunter senses.
Lann followed behind and sighed; even extraordinary senses required knowledge and experience to be used effectively.
Every qualified Demon Hunter was definitely a master of tracking.
Although he didn’t regret personally dealing with his teacher, it meant he had to make up for his lack of experience and skills.
In a world with backward productivity, even the skills of a butcher cutting meat or a cooper barrel-making were family trades, or something an apprentice had to work hard to learn.
Let alone hunting and tracking skills that could feed a whole family.
But fortunately, Lann’s good partner allowed him to distill and summarize nourishing knowledge simply by observing.
"Your tracking methods seem a bit different from ours."
Following behind Bernie, Lann tried to appear knowledgeable.
Regardless of accuracy, he was full of confidence!
"Just like earlier, you were looking at that scratch in the mud, whereas we usually focus on the mess beside it."
Bernie recalled the "mess" the young man mentioned.
Wasn’t that the trace of dead fish or rotten meat, dragged into the crab’s hole?
What use was that for tracking Water Ghosts?
Bernie had doubts but dared not speak them.
Who knew what kind of tracking technique a Demon Hunter used?
For all he knew, they might divine using crabs!
"That scratch is a trace of the Water Ghost’s toe scraping the ground, the webs between their toes make the marks distinct."
Bernie honestly answered the query.
"[Trace Detection]receiving skill calibration
Integrating information, current progress—9%."
"Sir, I suggest you continue asking questions."
Mentos’ hint brought joy to Lann.
The AI could certainly extract a skill just by observing a person, but if the skill holder explained the skill, the progress bar filled up faster.
However, Lann didn’t plan on asking questions indefinitely.
Asking one or two questions was technical exchange, asking too many would reveal his ignorance—pure exposure.
The tracking process wasn’t long. About two hundred meters from where they landed, they reached a small hill where the high-pitched calls of Water Ghosts could easily be heard by normal people.
Beyond this hill, they would see the horde of monsters.
Bernie turned to look at Lann, clearly indicating—
The young man, unlike during the tracking, stepped forward without hesitation.
The bright Bear School silver sword slid out of its scabbard with a deep, steady metallic sound.
The steady sound indicated the hand holding the sword was exceptionally stable, instilling an unintended sense of reassurance in Bernie.
"Put away your bow; there are only five Water Ghosts in total. I can handle them. We’ve never fought together, so your arrows might interfere with me."
So Bernie re-slung his bow and arrows onto his back.
He initially doubted Lann’s tracking skills along the way, but now seeing the young man accurately stating the number of Water Ghosts, he completely discarded his doubts.
The young man walked unhurriedly over the small hill, his free left hand gesturing in front of him.
A golden magical glow flickered briefly, and a same-colored Magic Rune began to float around Lann.
Lann, fully equipped with Bear School gear, decided to adopt a more aggressive combat style this time.
The excellent gear gave him plenty of confidence.
In this situation, the ball-shaped study application of [Quen] was less suitable; the original version was more advantageous.
The erratic cries from below the hill suddenly quieted, five pairs of unblinking dead fish eyes widened, all focusing on the figure slowly descending the hill.