The first thing Rui did was begin documenting the entire scene, he used the eco-survey device that the Ministry of Ecology and Environment provided to him and carefully used it to collect pictures. He especially documented the refilled hole, extensively documenting it so that it couldn't possibly under-considered when the Ministry went over his reports.
Once he was done, he began considering his options.
The first option was to simply routinely continue his mission according to recommended guidelines, and hope for the best. Ultimately, neither the Martial union and Ministry expected a Martial Apprentice to solve the entire mystery of the mysterious creature all by himself, as long as he fulfilled his duties, he wouldn't receive any backlash.
However, this route reduced the probability of Rui succeeding in completing the mission objectives. Which meant that Rui would not receive the full mission reward if he went down this route, most likely at the very least.
The second option was to take a more proactive reconnaissance approach to the matter as a whole and begin verifying and gathering evidence of his hypothesis, or gather evidence that ends up disproving his hypothesis one way or another.
And eventually use this hypothesis to actually fulfill the first objective of his nested mission, which was to collect swathes of data regarding the beast so that the Ministry new exactly what they were dealing with.
He had already resolved to go for the latter, he just wanted to make sure he wasn't missing anything and had considered his available courses of action.
('Alright then.') Rui exhaled, sitting down on a rock after he finished documenting all that needed to be documented. ('Time to make a plan.')
He grew engrossed, completely forgetting about the grid searching that he was supposed to engage in. He didn't particular care either, if his hypothesis was even partially true, then the on-land grid searching was frankly entirely useless and unreliable.
('The first primary goal is to finish the first objective of the mission.') Rui established. ('To do that I primarily need to document its appearance as well as its habitat and home, and ideally tag it with one of the tags that I've been provided with.')
He though as he glanced at one of the small devices the commission department of the Ministry Ecology and Environment, it was meant to serve as a rough tracker that Rui could use to tag the target of the mission. Though he wasn't sure it would stick to the target of his mission if he used it, if his theory was true.
As for the other objectives, Rui could use his constructed hypothesis of the beast to fulfill the first objective of his mission. If his theory was true, then he would be able to predict or manipulate the beast to some extent. Using this, he would be able to gather the information about the creature he needed to fulfill the first objective.
If that plan succeeded, it would serve as proof that his theory was, in fact, accurate. Since if the theory or hypothesis wasn't accurate enough, any plan based on the theory would simply fail. Thus, succeeding would be the ideal outcome.
If the plan failed, then it was a strong indicator that his theory was partially or entirely wrong, or incomplete. Which meant he needed to change his approach.
Either way, he gained new information.
('Alright, what plan do I enact, that relies on my conjecture to manipulate the target of my mission?') Rui wondered.
The plan needed to rely on predictions that Rui could make if the beast was indeed a subterranean traveler with seismic sensing.
The first fact of the matter was that it likely hunted in the direction that it detected the seismic radiation characteristic of hooves of herbivorous animals. This was the most straightforward manner in which it could reach its prey.
Another fact of the matter was that it could travel extremely fast, at the very least as fast Rui, perhaps even faster. This was based on the fact that the creature was already out of Rui's Seismic Mapping range by the time Rui had reached its hunting site, this was definitely an incredible feat.
One more fact, if Rui could even call it that, was that it seemed to have an aversion to powerful animals that could potentially kill it. This would explain why it scurried away the moment it sensed Rui, and also why it didn't hunt for the largest herd of animals that Rui had been surveilling two days ago. This also indicated that the beast was certainly cautious and had some degree of rationality, despite its immense hunger that had caused the problem in the first place.
It acted within a certain limit and perhaps that could be used against it in the first place.
He glanced at the carcasses in the vicinity, recalling that it consumed food at incredible speeds. Rui wondered if that trait was something that could be used against it. Maybe by knowing the timeframe would allow him to predict it...?
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Rui skimmed through the other pieces of information of his theory in his head, looking at each one individually and holistically, wondering how he could exploit them.
It was difficult because there were too many variables to account for, and far too many constraints that got in the way of every plan.
('One of my biggest issues is size of the Shaia Plains, it's too huge, making it difficult for me to come up with a plan, especially a plan that somehow prevented the beast easily evading me at every turn.') Rui sighed. ('It's not like I can use that against it eith-.')
Rui froze as an epiphany struck him.
"Wait a minute, there's one option I haven't considered yet..."
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