Plundering Souls as the Blessed of an Ancient God

While Des ran through the forest, his awareness–improved from multiple hunts–was at its peak because he didn't want a mistake to occur thereby potentially injuring Cifer.

Regarding Cifer, from the moment he had encountered Cifer that morning, he was already carrying out different assessments.

The current assessment he was doing was a test to see Cifer's physical capabilities, and the results so far were mind blowing. 

Although Des could go faster, his current speed wasn't slow enough to be easily forgotten by the average person – he was once a professional adventurer after all.

But that wasn't what surprised Des, there was more.

There are times where Cifer momentarily turned his gaze to other directions while they ran. 

And most of the time when this happens, Des sensed an animal in the direction of Cifer's gaze.

'Are those instincts or his awareness is just that good? How does he achieve that, his eyes, ears, nose or through using mana? What more can this kid do?' Highly intrigued, Des wondered.

'With the way things are going, I will not regret taking Cifer in! He's a literal unpolished gem that's now mine!'

While he was having different thoughts, Des' alertness was still top notch and after finding a prey suitable as target for Cifer's practice hunt, he halted.

Following Des' instructions, Cifer also halted. 'The hunt begins now?'

Cifer immediately trailed Des' line of sight and used his mana sense to cover that direction. 

With his control over mana sense becoming better, he could sense some small animals with no mana core a couple of metres away from them.

"Here, use this." Des handed Cifer a binocular.

"Thank you."

Cifer couldn't see the animals he sensed because they were hiding using the grass and rocks as cover so he was interested in seeing their appearance.

Using the binocular that also seemed to have magical runes, Cifer penetrated through the cover of the grasses and saw Rabbits with long white furs, sharp teeths, and thicker legs built for moving faster than normal.

"So you could make out their presence before, eh?" Des said teasingly.

Des' statement stunned Cifer. That was meant to be his most practical skill at the moment and he wanted it to be some sort of hidden card.

'How did he know…'

Cifer's stunned face wasn't missed by Des. Des even found it funny as this was the first time Cifer's face has displayed an expression.

"I guess I'm right. Hehe, don't worry I won't pry into it. It's wiser to keep things like that to yourself." Des said smugly.

'He is really more observant than he looks…' Cifer thought.

Arming himself with the rifle, Des flashed a smile at Cifer but seriousness was laden in his eyes.

"Cifer, I'm curious...why do you act like this? Like someone who's living a sad and pitiful life… You act like someone who has no will to live, someone who wants to die."

Des' statement made Cifer chuckle self-deprecatingly. 

'In my past life, I might have looked this way… but in this life, I'm just trying to act like someone who lost his memories… I got engrossed in acting…'

Des didn't wait for Cifer to answer and continued talking as he inspected the rifle in his arm.

"You probably act like that because you lost your memories but let me tell you, acting like this won't make you feel better."

Raising his rifle up and pointing it towards the rabbits in the distance, he added:

"You know what, while you're under me, I'll teach you beyond hunting, I'll teach you about life too."

Cifer was quite shocked to hear Des talk about this. Within the past day they've met, he saw Des as a playful adult who didn't take things seriously.

'I want to see where he is going with this…'

As Des set his finger on the gun trigger, he said.

"When you give something a goal to work towards, you give it purpose… This gun for example, I gave it a goal, to kill that rabbit. Now that I push it towards that goal, I give it a purpose."

Bang–!

Blowing the tip of the rifle, Des turned to Cifer and gave him a smile. 

"In the same way, when you give your life a positive goal, you create a good sense of purpose for yourself. This purpose becomes the driving force that keeps you moving forward, that can also fuel your desire to live."

'A purpose… What is my purpose…? To fulfill god's task?'

"Oh, that's not something you can just think about in one sitting!" Des interrupted Cifer's internal questioning. "For me, I just want my family to live a comfortable and enjoyable life. If it's you, maybe work towards regaining your memories or something. Just think carefully."

"A-ah, alright…" Cifer decided he was going to take his time understanding what Des actually meant.

"I told you this so you won't keep acting like this. Put more energy into life!" Des said, tapping Cifer on the shoulder, "But before that, you have to put energy in killing the other rabbit, it's running away!"

"Eh, what? I'm going to kill it just like that?" Cifer took a second to compose himself, locate the rabbit and set his arrow.

As he prepared to launch the arrow, his thoughts slipped out of his mouth. "Tsk! I can't use this, I don't know how to."

"Just try!" Des prompted, watching from the sidelines.

"I'll just do this instead!" Cifer let out unintentionally once more.

Increasing his concentration, all of the background sounds faded as Cifer only paid attention to the rabbit that was running for its dear life.

Holding one of the arrows like a spear that was about to be thrown, Cifer guided out of his core towards the veins of his hand. 

He used that mana to increase his physical strength like it was done in the fiction he usually read.

Through his mana sense, he could feel the mana merge with his muscles, thereby tensing them to make them stronger.

Waiting for the rabbit's most vulnerable moment, he stayed fixed for a second.

Then, the running rabbit jumped high to avoid a rock that was obstructing its path – this was the moment Cifer waited for.

He immediately released the arrow that was in his hand.

Piercing through the air and meeting no resistance, the arrow flew until it hit the rabbit in its lower half, the force of impact causing flesh and blood to spill all over.

Huff. Huff. Huff.

Seeing the result of his attempt, the excitement coupled with the large amount of mana he suddenly expended, Cifer bent forward a bit, unable to calm himself.

But his lips couldn't help but curl up amidst his heavy breaths. "Did you see that? That was cool!"

Only then did he see the serious face Des wore.