Chapter 13 - What It Takes To Survive
Some time passed.
Hoooot~! Hoooot~!
A creature of the night, an owl's call resounded without effort.
"......"
For the second time in one day, a boy lay sprawled on his back, glaring at the benighted sky above.
Hwoooh~!
"Aht-!"
His skin pricked at the sharp sensation.
Alongside beasts, the howling of chilled midnight winds that vied to scratch his skin and pierce his eardrums was a difficult adversary.
“Eugh... Man, what the hell...”
Muttering curses under his breath, Jae couldn’t help but let out a despised sigh as he glanced around him from the floor.
Black... Black... More black...
Was he even looking? He certainly felt the pupils in his eyes moving, but it was simply not possible to determine for sure. He had his eyes open, or at least he thought he did, and there shouldn’t have been a reason for him to be blind all of a sudden.
So, why couldn’t he see anything?
The only reason he even knew he was looking at the sky in the first place was thanks to the scantily-dotted white specks that decorated said empty space, as well as the two faintly glowing moons, but well, they were never going to be enough to provide much use.
Stinging winds.
Burning cold.
Impenetrable darkness.
And to make matters worse.
Grumble~!
“Damn it...”
A gnawing hunger that scraped at his sanity from within.
...I thought dying was supposed to reset my hunger... Was I mistaken?
In a place where he could barely tell the difference between the sky, the trees and the ground; from right to left; and from up to down; Jae could only find stability on the forest detritus.
Although lacking in substance, it was a truly horrifying situation; and where the boundary between reality and imagination was imperceptible.
Knowledge of the existence of monsters also didn’t help to curb his worries.
Grumble~!
In such a place, Jae’s stomach voiced its woes loud and clear.
“Ugh...”
There was no time.
If dying really didn’t affect his hunger at all, then as he hadn’t eaten ever since having that bread on the morning of his escape, it could be bad.
There was no indication of how long had passed since one, his execution at the top of the cliff, and two, his passing out after killing the goblin.
Moreover, the matter of dehydration was a dire one, too, but Jae knew even less of what to do about that than food.
Of course, he wasn’t absolutely starving, so it couldn’t possibly have been more than a day. But, the passing of time was only a threat to those conscious of its existence; he couldn't place much faith in the patience of his belly.
Seriously, how come I’m still hungry even though I died? I’m not playing on hardcore, am I?
He jested, but it was a serious issue. Evidently, he was hungry, but not tired, so he wasn’t even able to sleep the night away and find food in the morning where it would be easier.
"...Wait."
Thinking about it a little deeper, would dying from starvation be the absolute end of him? He had already resurrected, but if his satiety did not replenish upon returning to life, then what would happen if he resurrected in that state?
...Let's try to avoid that.
The solution was simple.
Just don't starve in the first place.
Either way, staying like this for hours until dawn broke was no less than torture.
So, he thought he would try to find something to eat.
As for water... Ahh, screw it, I just need food for now.
He decided that, for water at least, it wouldn’t be possible until morning.
Even if he somehow managed to find some kind of water source now, if he wasn't even able to see where he was going and tripped, he could very well just fall in and drown. Such a prospect was frightening but more than realistic in the current situation and so, for now, he thought food would be a solid bet; even if it were to simply shut his stomach up temporarily.
Right... Take it one step at a time. I’ve got this, it's easy...
Was this some sort of 3 AM burst of motivation, or was he simply endeavouring to adapt to this new world already? Whatever the case, he didn’t have the leisure to be wasting time laying around, and so had no choice but to push onwards.
It’s not going to get bad enough that I’ll have to resort to eating bark or something, but I’m sure I’ll be able to find something.
He probably couldn't catch any animals or anything, and even if he did, eating them raw would pose an issue in an of itself, so he would have to find some berries or other edible fruits.
Full of spirit, Jae jumped to his feet, immediately stumbled around because he couldn’t see his own feet, and checked his Status. Fortunately, despite being trapped under this absolute darkness and even with his eyes closed, the system messages persistently shone through to his retinas.
It couldn't illuminate the surroundings, but there was no expectation for it in the first place.
Checking his current condition out, he soon felt awkward.
There were a few differences in his Status compared to last time; first of all, the Resurrected title had adopted a '[x2]' beside it.
“...Not even hiding the fact I’m abnormal, huh... Well, it was never like that from the start anyway, was it...”
Jae groaned as he looked once again at his ‘Humanoid’ Race. Recalling the pack of goblins he glimpsed before he lost consciousness, it wasn’t surprising at all that the outcome was death, but the fact he came back to life a second time was definitely reassuring.
It's strange that I’m still in the forest, though; I thought they would've taken my body as food...
Needless to say, without knowing how the resurrection worked exactly, there was no way to tell what really happened. Still, Jae assumed that, as monsters, the goblins would have wanted to take his body.
“...Well, no use in thinking about it. Just be grateful for the fact I’m alive. Whew.”
That was all he chalked it up to in the end, and thinking about it too hard wouldn't bring any results. Moving on, it seemed his Level had increased after the fight with the Goblin, but...
Level 2
“I risked my life to kill that bastard five levels higher than me, and yet...”
Upset by the lack of rewards, Jae sighed.
...No, if I’m going to make a fuss every time I kill a monster... Just, keep in mind that any progress is good progress. Level 6 doesn’t sound like much anyway, and since it was a goblin, there’s no surprise the exp I gained was small.
He had to remind himself that for every monster he killed, the next fight would become even easier.
Deciding that simply forgetting about it would be beneficial, he quickly scanned through the rest of his Status.
〔Status〕
Name : Jae Kang [Cursed]
Class : Classes Available
Level 2
Race : Humanoid
Age : 16
Title : 「Apostle of Sin」
Trait : 「Steadfast Mind」
Distributable Points : 1
Health Points (HP) : 359 / 359
Mana Points (MP) : 136 / 136
Strength : 19
Endurance : 19
Agility : 20
Dexterity : 19
Magic : 22
Wisdom : 2
Luck : ―
Titles : 「Apostle of Sin」, 「Cursed by a God」, 「Sinful God's Affliction」, 「World Traveller」, 「Resurrected [x2]」, 「Goblin Killer」
Passive Skills : 「MP Consumption Down [Lv.1]」
Active Skills : 「Power Burst [Lv.1]」
Combat Skills : 「Close-Quarters Combat [Lv.1]」, 「Combo [Lv.1]」, 「Fighting Spirit [Lv.1]」
Resistance Skills : 「Mental Abnormal Status Nullification [Lv.MAX]」
Communication Skills : 「Seronian Language Comprehension [Lv.MAX]」
Perception Skills : 「Charting [Lv.1]」
Unique Skills : 「Envy [Lv.3]」, 「Wrath [Lv.2]」
Skimming through all the minor changes, the summary was this:
His HP had once again increased; this time by 27 points, now totalling 359. Moreover, his maximum Mana had risen by 36 points, and he spotted an even spread of 2 additional points in all attributes bar Luck.
Plus, one Distributable Point.
Hah, it might as well be par for the course that I wouldn’t be granted something useful like Luck even after levelling up. Things would never work out so conveniently, I guess.
Aside from that, the large increase in the number of skills thanks to the fight with the goblin was certainly nice, but what Jae was more concerned about was, once again, his base attributes.
“They all increased, but only by two points each. I can... Kinda feel a difference? But, still, it’s barely noticeable...”
It was a total of twelve stat points gained―thirteen if he included the single Distributable Point, and he was now pretty much an equal to Chris in terms of stats.
Overall, he didn’t feel much stronger even despite levelling up, but was that normal or just because he was especially weak? Feeling like, if anything, it was most likely the latter, he found his disappointment hard to shake off.
With a few simple calculations, he could also figure out how much health and mana he gained per level up―and the answer was, 12 HP and 36 MP; the leftover HP was from the first +15 he gained after falling into the forest, and another +15 he seemed to have gained after fighting the goblin.
This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.
359 minus 317, which was Jae’s HP value at Level 1, equals 42. Take away 30 from that and you arrive at the +12 he gained from levelling up. MP was even easier to calculate since his Level 1 value was 100.
“I really gain 15 HP every time I die, don’t I...?”
Naturally, such a suspicion arose.
It couldn't be called a large amount, but the fact itself was bizarre.
"Since I started with 317 HP and my Endurance was 17 at Level 1, does that mean every point in Endurance equals one additional point of health? If that's the case, then wouldn't it be the same with MP and Wisdom? I'll have to check that out next time..."
Finally, there was the matter of Classes.
Somewhere along the line, he appeared to have unlocked an available class, and if he focused on it, a list popped up in front of him.
Currently Available Classes:
1. Fighter - [Basic]
It was the only option available.
"That's really all?"
It was only a ‘Basic' class―presumably the lowest tier―and on top of that, whether or not he would be able to change it later down the line was unknown; at least, in all the other RPGs or MMOs Jae has ever played, the in-game character’s chosen class, or sometimes called a ‘job’, has always been fixed unless the player either uses a special in-game item or purchases microtransactions... Or, by making a brand new character.
"Hm..."
Of course, the way things work in this world could be, and the chances are that it is, completely different, but all Jae had to rely on at the moment was his own experience, gut instincts, and logical thinking.
To pick a class or leave it.
It was a balance of risk versus reward.
Short-term payoff or long-term investment.
What would he gain from choosing a low-tier Class now, and what would he get by waiting patiently and picking a better class later?
"......"
Frankly, he had no way of finding out the answer right now. Still, a decision had to be made.
If he haphazardly chose the Basic-tier Fighter class now and became unable to choose any kind of better one in the future because of it, he knew for a fact that he would rue the decision for the rest of his life.
More importantly, knowing how his luck has been recently, Jae probably wouldn’t get anything useful and then would also be stuck with it for the rest of his life.
That thought alone made him extremely reluctant to choose it, and if he then imagined the sweet rewards he could get by being patient, the choice became even clearer.
...Let’s not touch it for now. I can always come back to it later on anyway.
He couldn't bring himself to do it.
It wasn't like he wanted to min-max his character like he did in all those games, but he didn't want to make an irreversible mistake.
It was simply a matter of picking the option with the least risk.
Thus, he came to such a conclusion and pushed the matter to the back of his mind.
Leaving his Class selection window alone, he dropped the single Distributable Point he had gained into Strength, raising it to 20.
It’s disappointing. I thought I’d get more than one point, but I guess it’s fair if I can put it into anything I want...
“Oh. Except for Luck of course, haha.”
Laughing to himself, he spontaneously recalled something odd about the whole ‘Distributable Point’ thing.
“...Now that I think about it, Chris didn’t have this on his Status, did he...? Hhm...”
He suddenly found something he could hold over that guy’s head, but what was even the point? He was never planning on going back to the palace, or anywhere in Seronia for that matter, so he should stop caring so much about the lot of them.
“...Argh, seriously. Let's not get hung up on those guys.”
Perhaps not wanting to let Wrath or Envy get the better of him more than they already have, he wanted to forget about it if he could. Shaking away the unpleasant thoughts that began to intrude, he began moving forwards in an attempt to find food.
Immediately, he walked into trouble.
“W-woah...!”
Thud-!
Before he could even take three steps, Jae’s foot got caught on something in front of him, causing him to trip. Stopping his fall by sticking his arms out, he rolled over and sat down.
“Ow... Maybe it’s better to not wander around too much... What was that?”
Is there a tree stump or some roots or something? I can’t see fuck all...
Dusting what felt like dirt and leaves from his hands, he reached out towards whatever it was he tripped over. Curiously groping the object, Jae felt something strangely familiar yet somehow repulsive from it.
“???”
It was far too circular in certain areas and squidgy to be a rock or a branch, and yet the texture was unlike that of something like moss; dry, and bumpy yet smooth.
It’s not moving, so it can't be alive... What the hell is it...?
Coming up with all kinds of hypotheses as he poked and prodded, a possibility popped into Jae’s head. Something that should’ve been obvious, but that simply slipped his mind.
Is this...? No...
...
......
Immediately retracting his hands and pulling his head away, Jae hesitated to get any closer to the thing―whatever it was.
After the image of that filthy goblin he beat to a pulp entered his mind, Jae was unable to erase the thought that what he had just been fondling and examining with his hands was a monster’s corpse.
“Eugh...”
He shuddered, but not because the night was cold.
In the next moment, a light breeze brushed against Jae’s face, and along with it, he caught a huge whiff of some putrid malodour.
“......”
Sniff.
“Euugh...! Oh, my god...!”
Get away from me, get away!
Gagging audibly from the noxious fetor that was undoubtedly a rotting goblin, Jae scrambled away with his legs whilst hurriedly covering his mouth and nose with his already ruined school uniform.
“Ehegh, argh, cough, shit...”
Shaking his head vigorously as if to dissuade the lingering fumes in the air, he voiced muffled rejections. The smell was so god-awful that he could still catch traces through his shirt soaked with blood, and even that was enough to moisten his eyes with tears.
“Oh, why, it’s so bad...”
He waved his hands around, but it seemed to serve no purpose. The thick stench of decay was persistent.
Although Jae had heard before that corpses reeked with a smell that refused to budge, never in a million years would he have thought it was this unbearable.
Was this what all corpses smelled like or was it something specific to goblins?
Glowering in the direction of the unseen body, the source of this toxic miasma, Jae felt his mood quickly drop from bad to worse.
Grumble~!
A loud rumble from his lower torso.
Suddenly, something absolutely forbidden crossed his mind.
“...No.”
It was only for a split second, but he didn’t fail to catch it in its sinister infiltration of his head.
Grumble~!
“Eugh... No, no. No. There’s absolutely no way I’m doing something like that... No chance.”
His stomach had said its piece, but Jae wanted none of it. The calling of the creeping hunger within only grew as it fought him from the inside, however, and his choice in the matter slowly felt vanishing.
“No! Stop! I won’t allow you! Stop it...!”
Eventually...
Title 「Apostle of Sin」 has activated
You have acquired a ‘■■■-grade’ skill
―The inevitable occurred.
You have acquired the Unique Skill: 「Gluttony」
He wanted to resist.
“Fuck...! Off...!”
He desperately struggled to avoid at least this tragedy.
Skill 「Gluttony」 has activated
But it was hard.
“......”
Too hard.
“Damn you...!”
Jae gulped. In nervousness, as well as to suppress the taboo desire he felt surfacing from within.
The cause of it, his ceaseless starvation, refused to dissipate.
I'm dying...
On the contrary, it only intensified.
He closed his eyes, trying to think of anything but the current situation. Needless to say, such a thing was not possible; with the constant, excruciatingly painful reminders of his own, imminent starvation, the only desire in his mind was to eat.
Grumbleee~~!
“......”
It didn’t matter what it was, as long as it contained any quantity of sustenance.
Skill 「Gluttony」 has activated
The cravings were becoming too much to handle, and his hunger only swelled further.
Likewise, his tolerance to the pangs of hunger and resistance to the mental influence of the skill was rapidly diminishing, and soon, even the rancid effluvium of decomposing goblin flesh that previously tortured him went forgotten.
Skill 「Gluttony」 has activated
Skill 「Gluttony」 has levelled up [Lv.0]→[Lv.1]
You feel a fraction of your soul become tinted with desire...
“Ah...”
Blinded by his appetite, which had all of a sudden experienced a sharp increase, Jae’s reason took a step back as his watering mouth began to drool ever-so-slightly.
What happened next was the natural flow of events.
[Oh...! Hello? Food...? Oh, yes, eat! It’s been so long since I could eat!]
Yet another unfamiliar voice resounded inside his head. Speaking in a jovially light and distorted tone, as if underwater, the peculiar newcomer only encouraged Jae to continue down a dark path with enthusiasm.
"No..."
Please...
[Ah! You don’t want to? That won’t do, that won’t do! Tell you what, I’ll give you something special if you eat!]
Usage of the 「Insatiable Devourer」 System is authorised
Jae only barely noticed what the voice was saying as he approached the goblin’s corpse.
“Oh... Something special...? Well... I guess I have no choice... I’m starving anyway, so it’s fine... Right? After all... I’ll die if I don’t... I’ve got to do... What it takes to survive... Right...?”
Convincing himself that what he was doing was necessary, the influence of Gluttony, mixed with the very real sensation of starvation in real time, corroded Jae’s rationality to the point where all that existed within his mind, body and soul was the desire to consume.
To eat.
To relish.
To devour.
There was nothing more and nothing less.
Rustle, rustle~!
Famished and having crawled all the way over on his hands and knees, across all sorts of forest gunk and leaves, the boy sat blankly before the monster corpse which had subjectively lost its stink.
Instead of the body of the deceased.
Instead of the carcass of a monster who had tried to end his life.
It had been replaced with merely ‘food'.
Something to enjoy, to savour.
A tool to ward off starvation.
“......”
Staring vacantly at the goblin, perhaps it wasn’t that the smell had gone away so much as that Jae had ceased to perceive it.
Perhaps, if it weren’t for this absolute darkness, this veil of invisibility in which the corpse was shrouded, he would have come to his senses.
Perhaps there was a scenario in which he wouldn’t go through with what he was about to do, for better or for worse.
In the end, would simply waiting for famine to take him to its abode be better?
He would never know.
Grumble~
“Ugh... Damn it...”
Gulp.
He couldn’t take it any more.
Lowering his head, Jae brought one of the goblin’s scrawny yet lean arms to his mouth.
His jaw trembled, the origin of that powerful stench steadily approaching his face and nose.
He opened his maw and, after a moment’s hesitation, chomped down on the tough, sinewy flesh that had been sitting in the open for hours.
[Mmmh...! Good~!]
Crunch, chew--
“......”
As he had eaten the meal right from the source, icky monster blood was quick to spurt within Jae’s trap, sticking adhesively to his teeth and the roof of his mouth, filling him with the taste of something metallic.
“Ngh...”
The texture of rough, leathery flesh on his tongue.
The hint of pungent spiciness present within the monster's blood.
Not even attempting to chew the chunk of monster meat any further, he swallowed it immediately.
At that moment, Gluttony’s “surprise” presented itself.
Skill 「Gluttony」 has activated
You have acquired the Perception Skill: 「Night Vision」
You have acquired the Title: 「Goblin Eater」
Not even seeming to notice the notifications that appeared right in front of him, he gazed like a zombie at the goblin corpse he clutched.
Needless to say, with but a single bite to eat, there was simply no way Jae could have satiated his hunger with just that; he was about to go for another, but hesitated.
“Ohh... Ugh...”
With his newly-acquired skill, Night Vision, the midnight forest was now somewhat visible to Jae’s eyes, albeit dimly.
With that power, however, came a consequence.
Naturally.
His sight dropped to the arm of the deceased goblin in his hands with a clear bite taken out of it.
“Oh...”
His voice quivered.
“...Oh, fuck...”
He found his mouth unable to close.
What have I... done...?
The back of his throat threw a riot in defiance.
Feeling something vile arise from the depths of his stomach, Jae threw down the arm without a second thought and swung his head away to the side. Placing both palms on the ground as his body’s sweating upper half hunched over, he could barely hold himself up as a sudden burning sensation bubbled like acid within him.
It wasn't just a subconscious gagging.
Before he had a chance to think any further, that feeling made its way up the oesophagus and shot out of his mouth.
“Aughhh...!”
The sight of the goblin corpse, as poor as it was.
The fetor that had penetrated his nostrils and contaminated his lungs.
The lingering tang in his mouth that couldn’t be erased if a gallon of bleach had been poured down his gullet.
And the disgusting realisation of what he had just done.
“......”
He had a thought.
That this was the real―the Original Sin.
The sin of mankind.
To eat a rotting monster. But, not just any monster—a goblin of all things.
Low-level goblins such as this one generally didn’t have much fat, and they certainly weren’t often creatures known for their deliciousness whether in this world or in fantasy media.
“Euuughhh...!”
...Well, survival had never claimed to be a pleasant experience from the beginning.