Rumbling! Rumbling!....
Because the soil was relatively hard, Sasha could only dig about five to six meters before she couldn't go any further.
Li Fan speculated that only in desert areas could the Earthshatterer Dragon quickly burrow and travel.
However, the excavated soil and the pit were not wasted.
With a few digs from Sasha's head, a channel was quickly dug to divert the lake water into the pit. The soil piled on the surface was also pushed into it by the crown carapace.
Next, it rolled on the soil, and the pit was soon filled with mud.
This was adapting to itself by changing its surroundings.
Li Fan thought to himself.
He originally thought only powerful monsters possessed such traits, but he didn't expect the Earthshatterer Dragon to have them as well.
"Since you're so comfortable here, I won't put you in a ball for now. However, your hunting range cannot extend beyond the forest, and there's also this lake nearby where Puff sometimes hunts. Try not to make it too dirty."
Seeing Sasha so at ease in the mud pit, Li Fan instructed her, then returned to the small wooden house to rest.
He hadn't had a good night's sleep during the past few days of travel.
He closed his eyes and opened them again to find it was already the next day.
After breakfast, he practiced Foresight Slash with Kuku for an hour.
Li Fan found his progress limited, but Kuku had learned delayed tail whip.
This meant that when swinging its tail, it didn't exert force evenly, sometimes fast and sometimes slow.
Li Fan didn't mind, as he had practiced the fixed-speed tail whip quite well.
Besides practicing with his eyes covered and listening to sounds, there wasn't much room for further advancement. It was better to use the delayed tail whip as a way to increase training difficulty.
Next, Li Fan approached the Juyun training post.
He filled it with his Qi and used the Spirit Blade Great Whirlwind to raise his Spirit Blade level to white.
Then, he held the Jaw Blade Type 1 horizontally at his side and charged forward with all his might.
Clang! The tip of the blade, thrust forward, slightly pierced the training post.
Li Fan pressed down on the hilt with both hands to leverage himself, stepped twice on the training post to jump upwards, then forcefully pulled out the tip of the Great Sword and swung it behind him with all his strength.
Twisting his body slightly for leverage, he brought the blade down in a straight line.
"Rising! Slash!..."
Before he could even shout "Slash," Li Fan found himself already on the ground.
The difference in power was too great....
Regarding the failed release of the Rising Dragon Slash, Li Fan didn't need to summarize to know the root of the failure.
According to the in-game move analysis.
When the Great Sword is fixed into the monster's body with a straight thrust, sufficient power must be accumulated when leveraging the hilt.
When jumping by stepping on the monster's body, extremely strong lower body strength is required.
If the power in these two key points is insufficient, the aerial slash cannot be completed.
Of course, one could also utilize the height difference of the terrain to first practice the final upward slash, the Spirit Blade upward cut.
However, Li Fan still wanted to build a solid foundation, so he decided to first practice the basic moves of thrusting the blade tip and jumping with his legs.
A day passed quickly.
By changing his force application habits, Li Fan's initial stance for the Rising Dragon Slash and his jump height had significantly improved.
Although this improvement was only from a technical standpoint, Li Fan was already very satisfied, as it was only the first day of training.
At 8:40 AM on the second day, Li Fan and Dilu arrived at the guild branch.
All hunter guidance and training courses allowed one Felyne companion to attend as an observer, so Li Fan brought Dilu with him.
The training course was held in a small room within the guild hall.
There were three rows of seats inside. At nine o'clock, six one-star hunters took their seats.
Four of them were participating in a re-examination; only Li Fan and Shireen were first-time participants.
"Hello everyone, I am Chu Yan, a guild investigator with sharp eyes and unwavering impartiality. I will be your instructor for this training session to assist you in passing the two-star hunter assessment."
After introducing himself, Chu Yan adjusted his glasses.
Following the roll call, the teaching began.
"Currently, the mainstream hunter equipment, with improvements in crafting, is broadly divided into new and old types. Old-style equipment stimulates abilities in a more dispersed manner. Sets require wearing two or more pieces to stimulate abilities to a practical level. They are also relatively heavier and are divided into Blademaster and Archer types."
Dilu was diligently taking notes, while Li Fan quickly grasped the concept.
The old-style equipment Chu Yan mentioned should be the gear used to accumulate skill points before the release of Monster Hunter World.
"Furthermore, when hunters use old-style equipment, although they can still utilize some of the monster's power, the negative effects from monster materials are much stronger than with new-style equipment. This can be mitigated by embedding decorations, but there are very few places that still produce decorations for old-style equipment. Be sure to pay attention when purchasing old-style gear."
This point made by Chu Yan truly reminded Li Fan.
If he collected materials and crafted them at the weapon shop, the result would definitely be new-style equipment, so there was no need to worry about that.
However, some hunters still used old-style equipment, and it circulated in the market. If he were to purchase it with money, he would need to be careful to distinguish it.
"Now, let's talk about the negative effects of armor on hunters. First is weight. Although new-style equipment has been improved, allowing archers to wear it while maintaining defensive strength, the total weight of a full set is still considerable. Additionally, the weight of monster materials used to craft armor generally increases with rarity. I hope that in addition to improving your strength through hunting, you will also do more strength training to adapt to the weight changes of wearing armor."
Li Fan had been doing this all along.
"Another point to note is the accompanying negative effects that arise from stimulating monster abilities. I mentioned earlier that new-style equipment is better at suppressing these than old-style, but this doesn't mean the effects are absent. In fact, when they affect a small number of hunters, more severe reactions can occur, leading to a terrifying assimilation effect. The two-star hunter assessment is designed to screen out such hunters. Of course, this situation itself is very rare, so you don't need to worry too much."
At this point, Li Fan was a bit confused.
He was clear about the setting of negative skill activation in old-style equipment.
However, the assimilation effect on hunters had never appeared in the game.
"Next, I will introduce some confirmed common negative effects. The Icefang Wyvern set can cause symptoms such as persistent mental stimulation and insomnia. The Brachydios set can lead to hunger, drooling, and fatigue. The Deviljho set can cause excessive eating, mild dragonblight, slowed thinking, and irritability."
Hearing this, Li Fan understood.
While armor grants hunters monster abilities, it also passes on some of the monster's negative traits to the hunter.
The assimilation effect mentioned earlier might be these negative traits being amplified in some individual hunters for unknown reasons.
If the intensity reached a level that could not be resisted by willpower, then clearly, they were not suitable to be hunters.
"Of course, these sets are still quite far from you. The currently common ore and bone series are relatively safe. If you are considering upgrading your equipment, I strongly advise you to be cautious with the Popo set."
"Be cautious with the Popo set? Why?"
Shireen asked, puzzled.
"Perhaps because Popos often use fart attacks on enemies."
Li Fan guessed.
"Uh... then it's not something that can be worn casually."
Shireen quickly jotted it down.
The entire armor training course lasted about an hour.
Much of the knowledge about armor overturned Li Fan's understanding.
What concerned him the most was the danger of wearing armor and the method of ability activation.
Regarding the activation method, the armor's abilities directly affected the body, so there weren't many flashy external characteristics.
This was quite consistent with Monster Hunter; if you didn't experience the drawbacks yourself, you wouldn't know what they felt like or how much they would improve you.
As for the most mainstream ability activation currently, it was Foresight, or Kenkiri.
In the game, its effect was to increase critical hit rate. Li Fan had never experienced it here, so its actual effect was still unclear.
However, it was not a release or a trigger, but an ability used through bodily sensation.
Li Fan quite liked this activation method, but it felt too hardcore. Mastering it would certainly not be easy.
"Everyone, the two-star hunter assessment will begin at the guild shooting range at 2 PM. Those who wish to participate can sign up with me."
Chu Yan announced.
Both Li Fan and Shireen signed up, but Shireen clearly lacked much confidence.
The reason was simple: Chu Yan had emphasized that the activation and use of armor abilities were very dependent on talent.
The only factor that could influence it was metabolism.
The faster one's metabolism, the easier it was to activate armor abilities.
They could try doing some short, slow-paced runs before the assessment.
Beyond that, no other preparations would be helpful.
To be safe, Li Fan sought advice from Yin Tie.
The latter said he had been able to do it since birth and couldn't impart any experience.
Village Chief Bazerli said that when he was a hunter, there was no such assessment, so he didn't know how to deal with it.
Finally, he went to Eudora and received a hint to "give up thinking."
Li Fan was astonished. "I'm participating in the two-star assessment, and you're advising me to give up thinking? What kind of advice is that?"
However, after Eudora repeatedly assured him it would be effective, Li Fan decided to try it. After all, he could retake the exam if he failed; it would only be a waste of time.
He walked around the village, and it was nearing noon.
Li Fan planned to go to the Felyne barbecue stall with Dilu for lunch. He saw Shireen rushing down the street.
"I need to increase my metabolism as much as possible. No time to chat!"
Before Li Fan could greet her, Shireen waved and ran past.
"It's only 12 o'clock, and the assessment starts at 2 PM. How long is she going to run for..."
Li Fan was a bit speechless.
"Miss Shireen really looks forward to becoming a two-star hunter, meow."
Dilu said, watching her retreating figure.
"After lunch, give her this water bottle."
Li Fan said, hanging the water bottle from his shoulder strap onto Dilu's chest.
At 2 PM, in the guild's backyard shooting range.
A four-star male investigator holding a hunter's bow stood about ten meters away from the hunters taking the assessment.
"Now, let me introduce the assessment. Instructor Mawei will shoot three training blunt arrows at the same force with intervals. You will face the trajectory of the arrows and use Foresight to catch them. During the assessment, you can only wear the guild-provided Kamura helmet. Wearing personal talismans will be considered cheating. I will supervise the use of Foresight. If you catch the arrow based solely on reaction, you will not be deemed to have met the objective."
After speaking, Chu Yan nodded to Instructor Mawei, who was holding the bow, indicating that he could begin.
According to the order, the hunters retaking the exam would go first.
Li Fan and Shireen were ranked last.
A burly young male hunter stood in the designated area, took a deep breath, and signaled he was ready.
Instructor Mawei, holding the bow, nocked a training blunt arrow onto the string and slowly drew his bow, aiming.
Chu Yan pushed his glasses up with his finger.
Li Fan looked at the lenses, which were thicker than the bottom of a wine bottle, and truly doubted if Chu Yan could make a fair judgment.
Whoosh! The arrow was shot!
The young male hunter's arm moved forward quickly, and he firmly grasped the arrow.
Although there was a clear pre-judgment in his movement, his actions were indeed clean and swift.
"Ah! I finally succeeded! Roar!!!"
The young male hunter shouted to the sky in excitement.
Chu Yan showed no reaction. He turned to Instructor Mawei, and seeing him shake his head slightly, he shouted, "First arrow! Failure!"
"How could that be?"
The young male hunter was stunned, looking very innocent.
"You did not use Foresight. You merely caught the arrow through targeted practice and reactive prediction."
Chu Yan explained.
In the end, the young male hunter caught all three arrows, but was still judged to have failed the assessment.
"The difficulty of this assessment is so high, why did Eudora still tell me to give up thinking?"
Li Fan became even more confused.
The second hunter, a tall and thin male, only touched one of the three arrows, but failed to grasp it, also ending in failure.
"I have no hope..."
Shireen, holding the railing of the exam area, said with despair.
The continuous running had already made her mind hazy with exhaustion.
Going into the assessment in this state would clearly make it difficult to meet the requirements.
"Don't worry, I'll go before you. If I learn anything, I'll tell you."
Although Li Fan himself wasn't very confident, he still encouraged her.