She appeared not to see the frown and impatience on his face. She continued calmly, "I don't want you to die because you're such a kind young man. So I decided to do you a favor. Join my team, and I'll protect you. We will distribute the loot based on the amount of effort and contribution that…"
She called out to him, "Wait, I'm not done."
He was already leaving. This time, he didn't stop no matter what she said.
He called back to her, "Thank you for your concern, but I prefer to take my chances."
She said, "Don't be rash."
He didn't reply as he had said all that needed to be said. He just continued on his way.
Once he found out that her offer was for them to work together, he was never going to accept it.
He wasn't going to work with someone mainly because he had secrets about his strength that he didn't want to be exposed.
There is also the most important reason, which is that he doesn't trust her. He can't believe whatever she says. For all he knows, she might be luring him to somewhere she will kill him.
If it were him, he wouldn't do something that could be easily traced back to him. He wouldn't recruit someone he wants to kill right in front of so many people. Instead, he would stalk his target into the forest and kill them secretly.
So she might actually just be looking out for him. Or she might be trying to lure him someplace where she can force him to hand over the ownership of his dog to her. After all, she has shown interest in Ruff.
But whatever her motives are, he won't follow a stranger into a dangerous place like the green forest.
He left the beast hunting center and returned home. When he got home, he began to prepare for his hunt.
The first thing he did was prepare and put on his armor. His mother got him the armor when he was leaving home. It is of a high quality.
The armor is a black metal construct that covers his whole body. The armor is flexible even though it has no free links in it in areas like his elbows and armpits.
The armor is very strong, and there is no point of weakness on it that someone can use to bypass his defenses and strike his body directly.
It also has a thick, padded inner wear and chain mail that he has to wear first before putting on the outer armor. The combination of the inner wear, chain mail, and external metal makes the whole armor resistant to piercing, slashing, and blunt attacks.
The main disadvantage of this full-body metal armor is that it is very heavy. It is about 40 kilograms.
This isn't something that an ordinary person can wear for a long time. But to him, it isn't much of a problem. It doesn't even impact his speed much.
He is more concerned about the other disadvantages, which are the noise it makes when he moves and the insulation of heat it creates.
The noise will attract unwanted attention to him during the hunt while the heat insulation will cook him. But these disadvantages are acceptable for the protection the armor will grant him.
After wearing the black armor, the second thing he prepared was a weapon. He needs a weapon that can help him display his capabilities completely.
Currently, he has an upper limit of the 14th transformation and a control of around 80%, so the amount of power he can actually show is 11.2.
This power is why he feels confident leaving his home to risk his life hunting in a dangerous place. Combined with his armor, his life won't be in much danger as long as he doesn't meet a beast in the second mortal coil.
All that is left is a weapon that will help him tackle the great beasts in the green forest. Since the major obstacle for him is the great defense of the beasts living in the green forest, he will need a weapon that can do great piercing damage or blunt damage.
Beasts have always had a greater defense than humans. When they reach the seventh transformation and above, this defense becomes exaggerated.
He needs a weapon that can bypass their defense. While his current sword will do, it is too small and its range is too short. A sword that size can't contend with the large size and defense of beasts.
Using a sword to fight them would be like fighting them with a knife. If he manages to stab the beasts and his sword impales their large bodies, this will put them in range to rend him.
So he needs something bigger and with more attack range.
His options are either a spear or a large sword. There are other weapons that fit the bill, but those are the only two weapons he has experience with.
His experience with a spear because his mother uses them to fight him. As for the sword, it is the weapon he currently has the best experience with.
He was also tempted to use a morning star or spiked club of some sort. But his experience with the sword and its ability to slash and stab is why he prepared a broadsword instead.
Actually, what he prepared is more accurate to be called a giant sword. The sword is more than 2 meters long. It has a blade that is 15 centimeters wide. The whole thing weighs 10 kilograms.
It is a weapon that a giant would use as a normal sword, but to humans, it is a giant sword.
The sight of the sword impressed him so much that he said, "A sword fit for a giant or a giant among men."
The sword is currently sheathed in a black scabbard made of leather. He grabbed it and unsheathed it to examine it.