Once they reach the clearing, Fang orders all the cubs to stand in line. The cubs look at him weirdly. He looks at them for a few seconds while they look at him. Finally, Fang decided against this idea.
He calls them by name one by one and asks each one of the cubs to find prey and successfully hunt it.
When their turn comes, each cub finds prey and struggles to hunt it; some manage to hunt one while others fail.
This goes on for a while until it's Luden's turn. Fang does the same thing as ordering him to find an animal and hunt it. Luden climbs a tree, trying to find a small animal. After a while, he spots a small rabbit crawling on the floor.
Once he finds the rabbit, he slowly leaves the tree and crawls towards it.
Fang nods at what Luden is doing. He approves of his tactics so far and starts to look forward to seeing how he'll hunt the animal with the weird things he's carrying.
He wanders in his mind about how Luden will use his tools even though Luden has never had any human interactions and has no idea what tools they used before. It interests him what kind of ideas Luden will pioneer to cover his shortcomings.
Once Luden is in position, he calculates the trajectory, wind, and distance, and the animals weigh in his mind.
After a few minutes, he comes up with a solution for hunting this rabbit. First, he examines the rabbit and notices that it is very small and has no abnormalities. He concludes that this is a normal rabbit like all the rabbits he has seen before and that it's not an awakened or mutant rabbit.
Secondly, he notices that he is 15 meters from the rabbit, and any melee attack will not work on it. Lastly,
He notices that the rabbit is abnormally cautious, so he disqualifies using the trap, too.
Finally, he concludes that a viable way to hunt this rabbit is by using a projectile, so he reaches out to his back and fetches a very sharp, arrow-shaped stick small enough to be used as a projectile and sharp enough to penetrate the rabbit from this distance.
Then he reaches out again and grabs a device he invented using rubber material he found in one of the old wolves' dens. It's similar to a crossbow but with minor tweaks that Luden has used.
The device is a long board of wood that's 3 feet tall and half a foot wide, with a string of rubber in the middle of it, a string of rubber tied to the board by two sides with two pieces of wood that can be used to tighten the string to get better force from it. There are Six holes are used to hold the string on the board. Luden analyzes, bringing the string to the 3rd hole and fitting another fat piece of wood used to hold the string and rest the arrow-shaped stick on it.
He loads the string onto the back of the arrow-shaped string and starts tightening it by spinning the two woods that hold it from the side.
Once the string is tight and about to snap, he stops and aims the arrow stick at the unsuspecting rabbit. And finally, once he locks in, he lowers the fat stick holding both strings and the sharp stick.
The arrow-shaped stick launches like a bullet onto the rabbit's neck. The rabbit didn't even realize the danger until it was shot in the neck.
Luden watches as the rabbit falls to the ground, knowing that his skillful aim and precision have resulted in a successful hunt.
Fang gaps at the aim and the force that Luden used while using a few sticks and runs to inspect the rabbit. "Impossible," he mutters. This is only a 3-year-old human cub. And he finally remembers everyone calling Luden abnormally smart. "I know he is smart, but this..." Mind you, he has never seen anyone use a crossbow in front of him before.
Fang finally collects himself and turns to Luden, smiling proudly. He says, "Well done, little brat."
Once all the cubs are done, some fail to catch their prey, while others catch one.
Fang starts teaching them a more advanced way of hunting prey. He teaches them how to calculate the wind and how to use it to their advantage, among other techniques the adults use.
All the cubs listen to him with passion and enthusiasm. Specifically, Luden has already devised a few plans for how to use the wind while hunting.
Finally, Fang ended the lesson by showing him how to hunt medium-sized prey.
On the way, all the cubs are already sleepy except for Luden, who is brainstorming new tactics he sees Fang use once they reach the pack.
Fang orders those who successfully catch their prey to hang it on their necks or mouths. Once everyone reaches the pack, the other wolves notice them and cheer for those who successfully catch their prey.
Luden catches Grey approaching him with a proud smile on his face.
"Hahaha, that's my cub," Fang declares proudly but soon notices Luden mounting on Fang's back. His face twitches, and he finally looks Fang in the eye and lowers his head, feeling sorry.
While Fang chides Grey, he turns to Luden and tells him to show his hunt to his mom in the den and that she is waiting for him all day.
Luden nods in understanding and heads towards the den, his heart swelling with pride at his successful hunt.
When he walks into the den, he feels even more victorious when he sees his mother's eyes brighten with pride and happiness at his achievement.
But soon, his enthusiasm dies. When Grey returns, he and Tasha start to berate him on his behavior: "Luden, how many times have I told you never to mount the others if they don't tell you first?" Tasha growls at him.
Two years passed, and now Luden is five years old. His silver hair has reached his shoulder, and his black eyes have become darker. He has learnt how to hunt a large-sized animal. He has learnt many new techniques from the other adults, and he has put all he has learnt into the new inventions that he has made. Last year, he discovered iron from some scraps lying around the forest and found new ways to use it as arrows or more sturdy tools. He also discovered a new way to improve himself, which is using parts of all kinds of plants that he discovered to come up with new items, such as powder that can be used to detect enemy tracks or scents or a very weak type of poison that can paralyse his prey for a minute or more depending on the prey. He has become the most versatile hunter among the other cubs.
His innovative approach to hunting has made him stand out among his peers and earned him the respect of the elders in the tribe. His ability to adapt and think outside the box has proven to be a valuable asset in the harsh wilderness.
Today, there is a big event that happens once in every cub's life in the pack: a hunting competition to determine the group leader for each age group.
Everyone in the pack takes this event seriously, and the adults see it as the rite of passage to become a skilled hunter. Grey was against Luden joining this event. He felt there was a big difference between Luden's physical growth and that of the other cubs, who are twice his size now and 4 times stronger than him. However, after an infinite number of complaints from Luden about how unfair it was for him to watch his friends hunt without him, he finally changed his opinion on the matter.
Tasha checked everything in Luden's leather bag to ensure he brought everything with him. Once she ensured he was ready, she gave him her blessing and sent him outside.
She remembered all the preparations Luden had made before this test, from finding new tools to making new poison materials, making all kinds of extra powders from all kinds of planets that he had researched before; she hoped he would do well and make them proud.
Once Luden got out, he joined the pack's big yard, where all the other cubs were gathering along with the older wolves.
Once he gets there, all eyes are on him. The other cubs nod at him, knowing Luden has a high chance of winning. Luden joins his friends, and they talk until the pack elder and Grey come.
One of the elders comes forward and yells, "We have decided to make this season's competition based on three tusked black boar's tusk collection. The one who brings the most middle tusks of these boars in 12 hours will become the new group leader for the 22nd generation's cubs. I wish you all good luck. May the pack be with you."
Soon, Grey comes forward and yells, "GO!"
Soon Grey looks back at the other adult wolves and orders, "Ok, make sure to follow them and make sure they remember to remain unnoticed."
"Yes," the other wolves howl, and soon all of them leave the pack to chase after the cubs and monitor them while keeping them safe.
Just as he said go, the cubs and Luden launched forward with their fastest speed, while the other cubs were three times Luden's speed.
Once he was about to be left behind, he grabbed a rope with a hook-shaped iron at the end of it, launched onto the tree, and swung himself along the tree. After that, he used the swing force to keep up with the other cubs.
While the other cubs use their sense of smell to find their way and sense their prey, Ludens starts spraying all kinds of powders on the ground, each showing different colors. Using these colors, he finds the traces of the nearest boar.
He is disadvantaged because he won't know if it's three tusked boars. (a black boar with an extra tusk in the middle of his forehead). He hopes this is the right boar and follows the color to the nearest boar. As he approaches the boar, Ludens carefully approaches to study its features to determine if it is indeed the three-tusked boar he seeks.
Soon, he reaches a creek with a small pond on it. He creeps his head out and watches an area filled with brown and white trees. With a big pound on it.
He watches the area a little but doesn't notice any boars. He sniffs the area, registers the smell, brings out a bottle filled with green and brown stuff, and smears it on himself to cover his scent.
He slowly crawls back and notices a tree with green bark on it. Takes out a green sheet of leaves, almost the same color as the tree, and puts it on. and slowly climbs it unnoticed;
Once he reaches enough height, he notices. The back of a brown boar while it is drinking water. Disappointed that it's not the right boar,
He slowly gets down from the tree, packs his stuff, and leaves the area before he is noticed.
He goes away slowly and uses the same powder to find his next boar.
3 hours later Luden slowly came out of the bush and left the area disappointed. This was the 4th boar he saw. That wasn't the three-tusked boar.
Cursing his luck, he goes down the road to a clear area and applies the powder again, noticing that only some powder is left for two more tries. He sighed and continued to use it.
This time, he gets three different red colors, all in the same area.
Excited, he follows the color swiftly, running along the big tree. On the way, he reaches a big hill. He tries to find a way around it, only to realise it's covered a long way and it will be hard to go around it, so he decides to climb it slowly instead of going around it.
As he climbed the hill, his heart pounded with anticipation. Finally reaching the top, he saw a magnificent view of the forest below and knew he was getting closer to his elusive prey.
Finally looking into a clearing west of the hill.
Climbing down the hill, he follows the color for 300 meters until he reaches an area full of tall grasses.
He scatters the powder again, and his eyes narrow when he sees it fade up ahead. Luden searches for a big tree for him to climb. He finds one big one that overlooks the grass area and is good for surveillance.
First, he reaches out and scatters scent fluid on himself, then he reaches into his leather bag to find a sheet with a colour close enough to the colour of a tree. He covers himself and climbs it.
Once he had climbed the tree, his eyes narrowed in exhilaration. He found three adult boars that the test needed, but soon, furrowing his brow, he noticed two were awakened.
"This will be difficult, really difficult," Luden mutters, making a mental plan for the whole area. He closes his eyes and starts brainstorming the best tactics to do this, opening his eyes and looking at the hill behind him.
Luden mutters under his breath, "But possible!" After a few minutes of planning, he finally outlines the whole situation.
He devises the best action plan while he slowly comes down the tree. He starts laying his traps around the path to the hill and throws a few vines from tree to tree, leading up to the tree he used before.
Finally reaching the hill, he lays a few sharp iron spikes near it, scattering all kinds of powers he created.
Luden takes a deep breath, feeling confident in his strategy. As he surveys his work, he can't help but feel satisfied and looks forward to outsmarting his opponents.
Meanwhile, two adult wolves watch Luden's actions from afar while narrowing their eyes.
"Deano, I think this little ancestor is planning to take down these three boars," says Naha with amazement and disbelief.
"I think he is overestimating himself too much," said Deano.
"Should we stop him? If anything happens to him, the old team leader will skin us alive," says Naha in frustration.
"Not yet; we are not allowed to; he is not in danger yet. Besides, I can one-shot these three fools from where I'm standing in a split second. So let's watch for now," says Deano with a firm look.
Nah sighs. "I guess you are right; we better prepare for the worst then."
"I'll keep an eye on him just in case," Deano reassures Naha. "Let's hope he knows what he's doing," Naha replies, still worried about their little ancestor's ambitious plan.