Hidden behind a small bush, the nameless and naked druid squatted his ass to the grass, observing the creatures a couple of meters away from him. He was too stunned to notice the grass tickling his privates as he observed the alien life before him.

They ate the vegetation that grew from the murky and muddy water that they stood on top of. Some of the creatures even lay down and napped in it, smothering and coating themselves with mud. Slow and lazy were the first two words that popped into the man’s mind.

It had been a few hours since he left his first camp, the place with the Bearcat guts sprawled all around. His bare feet weren't used to walking in nature yet, leaving his soft soles bruised and scratched. Besides that, his stomach grumbled which made him curse his heavy meat vessel even more.

He sighed, there wasn’t much he could do about his heavy build for now. He just had to deal with it and worry about things that he could immediately handle, like fueling the big body he had.

The shelled creatures in front of him started to look tastier every second that passed. However, the shell on their backs worried him. It was going to be his first time using his skill in combat, and he wasn’t so sure if could penetrate them. He pulled up the skills tab one more time to make sure.

“Hold on, that just said soft metals. Surely, the shelled creatures in front of me weren’t tougher than whatever a ‘soft metal’ is,” he whispered, affirming himself.

He poked his head above the bushes and took another look at the slow creatures. There were two of them closest to him, about eight to ten strides away. They giggled and snorted as they ate the trampled vegetation in the mud.

As soon as the levels popped up in his vision, he jumped over the bush and sprinted straight at them. They both stopped snorting and slowly craned their heads up to look at him. By the time their eyes met his, the druid was already in range to strike them.

He raised his right hand in the air and morphed it using . Stopping right in front of the closest Turtleboar, he slammed his claws straight down into its shelled back. He had pierced nothing, the claws didn’t go through.

Instead, the force of his strike was sent back at him through his arm. He could feel it vibrate and shake his bones. It even managed to chip some of his claws.

“What the fuck!?” He cursed out loud.

That wasn’t how it played out in his mind. He expected his claws to be deep into its organs by now, piercing its heart and all the other important stuff. Instead, he was the one who took damage.

Staggered by his own attack, he took back a few steps and canceled his skill. He had to quickly check his hand if it sustained any damage. It looked fine on the surface, but it still felt sore.

The two Turtleboars didn’t let him sigh in relief though, they squealed and stomped their hooves in the mud. Both of them looked at him with angry eyes.

“Damn,” the word left his lips as he started backpedaling.

The Turtleboar that he just struck ran straight at him, chasing him back to the treeline where he came from. As if it were second nature, he cast on both of his hands and scaled up the tree as fast as he could until he reached a branch that he could sit on.

Both of the creatures ran around the tree, slamming their shelled heads on it from time to time. They were persistent, but too dumb to think of a way to get to him. After a few minutes, they got tired and went back to their spot to eat and laze around.

Despite the failed attempt, the druid wasn’t going to give up on hunting the creatures. Now that he was able to breathe and think properly, he assessed the damage he took and what just happened. The feeling he got when he struck their shells didn’t feel normal, another alien feeling to him. It wasn’t a feeling that he experienced in his past life.

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So, the man decided to stay up on the tree and observe the beasts a bit more. Despite their size and how they looked, they were quite quick on their feet, probably slightly faster than the druid during a sprint. However, they were horrible at turns and changing directions because of their shape. And, other than the hard scales on the top of their heads, they didn’t have any tusks like the boars the man was familiar with. In its place was a nasty-looking beak. Fortunately for him, they didn’t try to attack him with it, which suggested that they didn’t use it in combat.

Another thing that he tried to look for were parts that their shell didn’t cover. An opening for him to dig his claws into. The most effective spot that he found was the soft-looking spot at the base of their long necks. The flesh in that area needed to be soft so that they could tuck their head into their shell and protect themselves. Well, that was what the man assumed at least.

“Alright, time for round two,” he said, jumping down from the tree. He hyped himself up for this second attempt. He could only use his claws for less than a minute, and there were two of them.

He charged at the Turtleboars once again, activating once he was a few strides away, an attempt to conserve his Mana. They raised their heads from the mud and looked at the naked man. It seemed to him that they weren’t expecting him to come back so soon.

To get a good angle at the first Turtleboar, he slid down on one knee towards it. Then, as he went past, he sliced its neck with the claws.

He faintly saw that in his vision. The message didn’t block or impair his sight at all. Somehow, he just knew that it showed up and what information it held.

The Turtleboar tried to stand up and tuck its head inside its shell. However, it was too late for the animal. It bled out from inside its shell, the blood dripped from the thin slit that the shell on its head couldn’t completely cover. Its knees gave out and it toppled into the mud. It would’ve looked like it was asleep if viewed from farther away.

The druid didn’t celebrate his victory yet, there was another Turtleboar. Because of the move that he just made, sliding across the mud, he was positioned awkwardly. The body of the dead Turtleboar was in between him and the other beast. And, now he was on one knee and covered in mud. It could retreat to its shell and he wouldn’t have a chance to kill it.

He deactivated and climbed over the dead Turtleboar. With his Mana at <42.5/100>, he let his instincts take over. While still in the air, he activated the skill on his left hand instead.

The Turtleboar couldn’t react. As his left hand was still morphing, he swiped at its neck much like how he did to its companion earlier. A satisfying registered to his senses. The animal dropped shortly after he landed on the mud.

He laid on top of the shell for a bit to catch his breath. It was during this time that he was grateful that he was all alone. Here was a big naked man covered in mud, murdering turtles for their shells and meat.

***

He spent the rest of his afternoon making a proper camp, it was somewhat close to a stream of what he assumed to be clean water. This time, he made sure to dedicate a spot for butchering the animals so that it wasn’t as messy as the first one.

Also, he made several bonfires around the campsite to ward off any wild animals. Chopping down small trees with the claws was fairly easy. And, the area was dry enough that finding tinder wasn’t a problem.

Learning from his past mistakes with the Bearcat, he managed to butcher the Turtleboars better this time. He saved the shells for something he had planned for later. And, with a proper sleeping area prepared, he was ready to eat.

Their meat reminded him of chicken. It tasted eerily familiar to something that he couldn’t remember. Way better than the Bearcat he ate yesterday. Thinking about the beast, he wondered if he was going to gain another skill from eating the Turtleboars. Deep down, he wanted to learn a skill that had something to do with their shells after he experienced having his attack deflected easily.

He waited for a while after eating, but the message never came. There wasn’t anything else he could do but sigh.

“Guess the only thing I can do is check out those shells and see what I can make from it,” he said to himself.

The lack of people around him made him comfortable speaking to himself. He found it odd and funny that he was feeling lonely despite not having any memories of talking to anyone else, yearning for something he hadn’t even experienced.

The shell was still a bit wet from the cleaning that he did earlier. There was a faint smell of meat, but other than that, it was clean.

Apart from gathering water, he wanted to see the shell’s defensive capabilities. Being a naked man out in the wild wasn’t a comfortable experience.

Since he was in a safe environment now, he thought it would be a good idea to test out some things. Mainly, he wanted to feel what he felt earlier when he hit the shell with his claws. Using up the last bit of his Mana, he used and hit the shell right in the middle. It shattered and his entire hand went through it. He was down one usable shell for collecting water.

“Wasn’t expecting that.”

He observed the broken shell one more time. Did it need the Turtleboar alive to harden itself? Or was it some sort of skill? He asked himself.

After pondering about it for a while, he let out a large burp. He was probably eating too much for someone in a dire survival situation, but this was the only life he had so he thought that he might as well pig out.

His eyes lit up, it wasn’t all for nothing. Maybe his existence wasn’t pointless after all. He relished in this small victory, he can figure out a grander goal later on in life. For now, his current goal is to eat more Turtleboars to unlock this skill.