Having left the suddenly much more obedient soldiers behind after seeing off the merchants and their adventurer guards, Nick raced across the grassland at full speed.

Technically, he was now within the Duke of Alluria's territory, but since no one patrolled this far out, he was essentially in no man's land.

That was exactly what he was after. Now he just had to find his target.

Veering south, away from the main road, Nick kept pushing forward, searching for signs of the herd's passage.

It took longer than expected before he finally found anything, and he even had to stop for the night, resting in a comfortable bed of grass and molded earth. But eventually, the next morning, he discovered a large area of land showing the signs he'd been searching for.

Trampled, muddy ground, grass that had been eaten to a nub, and more importantly, large amounts of droppings.

"Yeah, this is it," he murmured, staying just above to avoid touching the stuff.

It's already beginning to regrow. Even the vegetation here is hardier than on Earth.

To be fair, the sheer amount of 'fertilizer' the thunderhoofs had left behind made that easier than usual, but it was still impressive. The grass that gave the region its name wasn't the typical kind one might find in a well-maintained lawn. It was a wilder strain, and if he focused on it, he could feel it slowly drawing tiny amounts of mana from the atmosphere.

Not enough to make it a real magical ingredient, but sufficient to ensure it would never fully stop growing unless it was pulled out entirely, root and all.

From that point on, he slowed down, gained altitude, and followed the path of destruction the herd left behind while he went through his plans.

First things first, I need to get an idea of what I'm dealing with. I remember clearly that there were hundreds of thunderhoofs, but since we were lying low, I couldn't do a precise survey.

That was no longer the case now. He didn't need to worry about the girl's safety or how to hide his true abilities. And with [Empyrean Intuition], he only had to get relatively close to get all the information he needed.

I would have been more worried if I had to do it manually, given their tendency to shoot anything out of the sky, but I'm pretty confident I can avoid notice.

Unless the herd had multiplied in size, he'd be fine. And while the tracks he was following were quite large, they didn't show any significant increase from what he could remember.

It still took him another half day before he finally began sensing something.

So far, he had only seen a limited amount of wildlife. Monsters knew better than to come out during such large migrations, and even the usually aggressive insect species stayed in their nests until the danger was gone.

The first few thunderhooves he sensed weren't anything particularly impressive. Even when he was just starting out, he'd managed to win against one, and now that he had some perspective on the world's real threats, he knew they were small fries.

Of course, the matriarch guarding the back of the herd was a totally different beast. Easily three times the size of the common thunderhoofs around it, she sharply watched both the skies and the ground, snorting at anything that moved wrong.

The amount of mana within her was considerable, but not as impressive as her physical strength, yet Nick had to revise his judgment when he sensed her charging her horns the moment a flock of sparrowhawks got a little too close.

The impressive way she manipulated electricity far exceeded his ability to handle the element, and when she unleashed the blast, his vision was briefly blinded by its brightness.

When the blast was over, and Nick dared to open his eyes again, the sky was clear and free of avian presences. It didn't take long to find out what had become of the monsters.

The whole flock of about two dozen birds had been reduced to ash, with only bits of bone still falling from the sky.

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That single blast was powerful enough to crack my shield. I could probably survive it with multiple layers, but it's best to avoid getting hit in the first place.

The things Nick could do with such a specimen… He originally came here intending to hunt down as many thunderhoofs as he could to resell in Alluria, and his spatial ring made that task very easy. But now that he'd seen something like that, he was seriously thinking about changing his plans.

He still needed the money, and he doubted he'd be lucky enough to find another ready source like this in the next two and a half months before the auction.

Considering that he'd have to spread the sales out to avoid flooding the market and lowering the overall value, he really didn't have that much time.

But first, he needed to find a way to deal with the matriarch. My lightning magic has been falling behind. I've been working on [Spark], but I just can't justify the time investment needed to upgrade it when I have much more esoteric abilities to focus on.

Nick had not forgotten what nearly happened in the 'friendly' duel in Honeyton. His spiritual mana, charged with his bloodlust, had almost exploded into a spell capable of causing catastrophic damage, and he only restrained it by throwing the fight.

He still needed to work out the kinks in that piece of magic, but he was confident he'd get the chance soon, given the size of the herd.

Maybe I'm being too greedy, but this feels like too good an opportunity to pass up. I can improve my lightning magic and get a better idea of what to expect when I fight the other alphas.

It just so happened that the rearguard of the herd, made up of the matriarch and her brood, had slowed down to fight the thunder hawks. Not enough to fully separate them from the rest, no, but enough to make Nick wonder if he could replicate the same effect by sending more enemies her way.

Still, he first wanted to get a more complete understanding of the rest of the herd, so he dipped from the sky, careful to avoid notice, and sped up just enough to bring more of the herd into his range.

What he found was both encouraging and daunting.

At least a dozen more thunderhooves the size of the matriarch he'd just seen at work were scattered throughout the moving mass of bovines, but more importantly, more than fifty regular alphas surrounded them.

A single alpha, Nick could play with as much as he wanted. Two or three would pose no problem. Ten would become risky enough that he'd need a plan. Fifty, along with the thirteen overall matriarchs, was beyond him.

There weren't this many before. I remember seeing a few, sure, but fifty? And the matriarchs, too. Four or five, I could have understood, but this is more than double my predictions.

If Nick were a typical mage, he'd turn around now and call the whole thing a failure. A herd this big, with so many heavy hitters, would need more than one knight company to manage it, and even then, only with a few mages to protect them.

Yes, fighting the whole herd head-on just wasn't an option.

But Nick didn't have to do that, did he? Sure, he'd probably lose some in the chaos of things, but if he could just whittle them down, forcing the different groups that made up the herd to split off, he'd face a much easier fight.

Of course, this meant the whole operation had gone from a day or two to at least a week, maybe longer.

Considering that he only had three weeks before the tower exam, and it would take at least a day of hard flying to reach Alluria from here if he went at full speed—something he was reluctant to do since it would leave him completely exhausted—he had about fifteen days at most.

I can work with that. It's enough time to set up something big, and I was itching to push the boundaries of my spiritual magic anyway.

Indeed, what was supposed to be a daunting two weeks turned into a valuable opportunity thanks to his more esoteric abilities. All thoughts of a simple elemental enhancement vanished, and he started developing an ambitious plan.

Nick's memory easily allowed him to draw on hunting rituals from all of Earth's traditions, and while he briefly considered the Maasai Lion Hunt and the Walkabout Hunt of the Australian Aboriginals, as both involved a single young man going on a solo journey through the bush to survive off the land and hunt, there was one tradition that suited even better.

The Omaha Tribe codified their traditional hunting rituals into a four-part event, which included scouting, strategic riding, and spiritual preparation.

He would have to fast from now on, which would suck, but it was much less of a requirement on him now that he had a stronger physique.

That decided, Nick hurried away from the herd, heading toward the nearest stream of water.

It didn't take him long to find one of the many rivulets crisscrossing the grassland, and he lowered himself, touching down on the muddy bank.

"It's a good thing I haven't eaten today. I was planning to stop after the first scouting for food, but this works. I don't have to wait until tomorrow this way," Nick murmured, undressing until he was completely nude.

The rivulet's waters weren't deep enough for him to fully submerge himself, but that was easily fixed, and Nick used [Minor Elemental Manipulation] to carve a deeper riverbed, preventing the muddy sand from dirtying the waters.

Although his change of plans was rushed, he felt confident he was doing the right thing. Sure, conducting a Major Ritual alone, without anyone to share the burden of managing the vast flows of mana it would summon, was intimidating, but Nick doubted he'd ever get another chance like this.

Once the artificial pool was complete, he stepped into the cold water, not letting himself shiver. He kept walking until the water reached his chin.

Omaha rituals didn't often involve chants, and although he was tempted to add something to give the whole thing a bit more oomph, he refrained. It would already be a lot for him to wield the forces he was about to invoke. There was a limit even to his hubris.

Taking a deep breath, Nick dove into the deep waters, releasing spiritual mana from every pore, clearing himself of every thought and emotion.

Three minutes later, he finally resurfaced, feeling woozy from the effort, but at the same time incredibly refreshed.

"I should do this more frequently, even without the whole four-step ritual afterward."

Slowly stepping out of the waters, Nick flicked his hand and refilled the hole he had made, feeling the mana flow through him just a little faster.

Considering that this was only the prelude to the actual hunting ritual, it was encouraging to see that he was already feeling its effects.

It also tells me I will have my work cut out for me. I haven't even done anything truly magical yet, and I already feel something starting to build up.

Indeed, [Empyrean Intuition] confirmed that it wasn't just his imagination at work. The constant haze filling the ether was starting to slow down, becoming still in a way that was completely unnatural, and that any true Occultist would recognize as the calm before the storm.

After completing the purification, Nick began drawing a cardinal circle. With a stomp of his bare foot, lines were carved into the mud, each one pointing toward the four directions.

He'd soon have to repeat this entire cycle on a much larger scale, but first, he needed to find his initial target.

"May the hunt begin."