Resourcefulness.
Another important skill a Noble Blood must have in all things.
From how to survive the wild, how to manage a Domain, and how to increase one's power and influence with whatever one has at one's disposal.
These things were drilled into boys and girls alike in equal measure.
The only ones who receive preferential treatment are the heirs themselves, who receive more lessons in survival and Domain management without having to experience them firsthand, without putting themselves in the face of the dangers of the wild or the consequences of failure.
But that was the only difference.
The non-heir children of Noble Bloods were allowed to study and attempt to learn by practice without limitation. This, in turn, allowed them to gain more experience in a field, but at the cost of danger.
Of course, children without a Domain as inheritance can not practice such a thing, so they usually remain at getting better at surviving as adventurers or getting stronger. In case the heir met an untimely demise.
Blanc was one such case, a second son, with experience and enough strength for his age, but without the managerial skills required to manage a Domain.
He read about it, more as a curiosity, when he was younger, but he pushed them aside in exchange for reading things that he found more worth his time.
He did not wish to put his older brother's position in jeopardy or give the impression of ambition, which would have surely ruined the relationship between them, so he focused on things he found more important.
Strength and knowledge on how to survive anything life may have thrown at him, even though, now, as he was walking in the forest in search of food, he wished it didn't.
Either way, it was true to say that he had his ambitions.
He would have liked to be someone important to many, but he found solace in being important to the people he cherished. And that was enough for him. For now.
Foraging so far has been going great; he found some good mushrooms, not like the angry woman living in their cave.
Morels and oyster mushrooms, delicacies that even Noble Bloods favored over other types of mushrooms available in almost all the forests in these parts of the Senvia Empire.
Plenty enough for the four of them for a few days, especially as an addition to a soup.
Then he remembered they actually had five mouths to feed. Celine would have certainly wanted to make sure Miyanna ate as well, both to stay on her good side and to coax her into opening up.
As he walked, he also found some wild garlic. He took only the stems, leaving the roots in the ground, just as he had done with the mushrooms, making sure the plants would grow back. If not later this year, then the next one.
Life from the bounty of the wild was an exchange of respect between nature and man. One could not take more than the other had and expect the other to keep providing.
And so, after grabbing just what he needed, he turned in search of other things, leaving most of the wild garlic behind.
He kept walking, never venturing more than three miles away from the cave. Along the way, he found a good patch of fiddleheads and nettle, a nice addition to his foraging, so he gathered some of each.
But no matter how good the bounty looked, he couldn't shake the feeling that it wouldn't be enough for a long stay. Especially not for Kael and Lune.
They needed something they actually enjoyed, something that gave them real satisfaction, something that nettles alone never could. Meat.
For that, Blanc had already walked for hours, picking everything he gathered along the way, focusing on his surroundings for easy prey. But without much luck.
He thought of maybe trying fishing for a chance, but the last time he did so, he realized he was pretty bad at it.
The lack of confidence he had in his fishing skills made him keep walking in circles until, as evening was slowly creeping in over the mountain, small taps on the ground drew his attention from a hundred feet away.
Rabbits.
Perfect, he thought as he slowly moved towards their direction.
Luckily, he was close to a creek when he noticed them, and his already silent steps were impossible to hear, no matter how sharp a rabbit's hearing might be.
Soon after he began moving, he spotted his target, which turned out to be several of them. Three, in fact. Enough arrows, but not enough time.
The rabbits were huge, almost the size of cats, two bucks and a doe. No matter how fast his arrows flew, the rabbits were just as quick.
The best outcome he could hope for was taking down two of the three.
At least one male, preferably, since the bucks carried most of the meat.
So he got as close as he could to ensure the best chances. Twenty feet away. Perfect.
He stood hidden behind a tree, keeping as much of himself out of sight as possible.
He was ready.
Arrow nocked. Loosed.
A rabbit got hit with the arrow in its lungs. Dead.
Another arrow was already moving towards the string.
The other two started sprinting in different directions.
Who to choose? The one running uphill. A buck. Perfect.
Arrow loosed. Spine.
Dead.
A beautiful success for the hunt. A proud moment for Blanc as well.
These were the first rabbits he ever hunted.
Which meant that he not only assured meat for a few days, but also had enough time to harvest the rabbits' Raw Vita.
He considered the overall day, and besides the crying part, it was a good day.
His priority was to get stronger and to keep those he cared for alive and well. And he managed to do so. He got them to safety, in a place they accepted, instead of sleeping under the night sky, and now, after foraging for a while, managed to pick up some good food for all of them.
After clearing his mind of any kind of thoughts, he began harvesting the Raw Vita from the first rabbit. The process was the same overall.
The only issue was the reward and what Mark he got.
A reward he was embarrassed to receive. And a Mark that was placed in an interesting spot.
"You've gotta be fucking kidding me…" Blanc muttered out loud.
But all the same, even if he did not like the reward overall, he began harvesting the second rabbit's Raw Vita.
After all, he would not disrespect the Vita by denying the reward it bestowed upon him.
He knew a moment when this reward would come in handy.
And it made him laugh as he began bleeding the rabbits, right as the sun began setting, just in time to return to the cave.