Red lines adorned the squirrel's pelt. It seemed particularly fierce looking out for trouble. Ker didn't want to disappoint.
He swung his spear in a horizontal arc. The squirrel hit the oncoming weapon with its claws. Ker withdrew the spear just to stab in short order. The squirrel tried the same trick, only this time it couldn't really hit the weapon. The spear grazed on one side and left a nasty wound in the beast.
The squirrel screamed while attacking Ker. He made a step back and blocked with his spear. His hands weren't as protected as his body and took some claw strikes. He nearly lost his spear.
Ker hit the squirrel with the backside of the weapon. The hit landed, the squirrel grunted and the pattern on it started suddenly to fume. Flames erupted from the red pattern and started to stream on the squirrel. That was new.
Ker wanted to withdraw, but the squirrel thought differently and bite his spear. The spear held firm for a moment, then flames covered the weapon and ignited it.
Ker let go of his weapon to get around the squirrel for a better vantage point. But flames streamed on all sides of the squirrel. He also had little time to act. The squirrel already turned towards him to bite its new target.
As the squirrel stretched its head for the bite, Ker punched it in the head. He recognized that it didn't hurt him that much and this irritated the squirrel. It let off from biting, to claw at him wildly.
Ker was hurt in the left shoulder and arm as he defended himself. Anger simmered in him, ignited by the pain he felt. He resorted to punching the beast again in the head. The beast clawed back and Ker punched again. Something in him drove him to mindlessly punch in the beast's head far past after it stopped moving.
As he came back to his senses, he was very certain the squirrel was dead.
You slayn a firetrace squirrel lvl 3 (III) 3 lvls gained
Ker decided to rather store the squirrels this time to devour and process them later. Right now, he was on fire. Just because his senses returned, his anger did not retreat. Ker quickly turned to the next squirrel and ran towards it.
The squirrel was about to climb a tree, unaware of the predator nearby. Then, the predator got right behind the squirrel and jumped it. It struggled fruitless against the assault.
As the squirrel succumbed to his attack, Ker punched it in the neck, killing it.
You slayn a Treesquirrel lvl 4 (I)
Both landed on the ground, but thanks to the short fall, it was just an inconvenience to Ker. Short after, he began to stalk on the next squirrel, just doing its daily business. It stood no chance against enraged Ker and was finally kicked against another tree.
By now, the other denizens caught wind of the approaching disaster on the ground. That was in Ker's interest since he now could await the squirrels for the slaughter. And slaughter he did.
He had half a mind to distribute his points and gain the necessary strength and fortitude to continue.
That lasted until a lower scream echoed through the treetops, speaking of untamed ferocity.
A squirrel nearly his sice descended from of the trees. It had short bony claws, brownish pelt with white patches and freckles. Its head looked somewhat broader.
It circled towards him while Ker circled in the opposite way towards it. Then they clashed.
Ker started with a quick swing from the left while the squirrel clawed at him. The claws came in quick succession: left, right, left. Even though the first swing connected, it made little difference. Ker still had to draw punches and take some claws in return.
Ker bled from his upper arms and partly from his chest. The squirrel has surely taken damage but not as much as Ker. So he had to up his game. He shielded his face with his arms and let himself get clawed. In return, he kicked the squirrel full thrust in the hip. The squirrel staggered back with a hefty grunt. It catched itself on all fours to proceed with caution. Ker saw a dangerous glint of intelligence in the squirrel's eyes.
It waited for him to make the next step. Ker, rather on the offense, prepared another kick to the head. But it didn't go well, the kick was met with pointy bones protruding out of the squirrel. With this hedgehog defense, the squirrel won this exchange. Ker hurt his own foot badly with the kick in one of the bones. Pure pain flared in his leg.
He had to think about a different approach, but the pain dulled his brain and a certain feeling in him threatened to take over. He shook his head, a bad idea mid-fight.
The squirrel launched forward to roll beside him and enlarge the bones. This time, the bones become sharper and cut him.
A feeling arose ever stronger, gaining hold and control over him. He wanted blood for blood. He desired to shred and tear.
His right hand gripped one of the protruding bones. The left hand punched down on the head. He tore and pulled on the bone even as it cut into his hand. The squirrel tried to shake him off, which encouraged him more.
The bone gave in and cracked. The squirrel screamed. It looked at him with anger, in that instance, its eyes met his eyes. But only hatred in darkness stared back.
Ker, unaware of his eyes moved on his own, his mind filled with wrath. He had never experienced such extreme emotions. They were completely irrational as if he were hating the existence of his foe. At the same time, it gave him the drive to push on and the power to overcome his enemies.
He used exactly that power to ram his foot into the squirrel and force it to the ground. In that action, he sliced his under leg open. Heavily bleeding, he resisted the futile struggle of the squirrel that further wounded him. He used the broken bone in his right hand to open the squirrel's throat. Met with resistance, he gripped the bone with both hands and pushed the bone through the throat slowly into its head. In panic, the squirrel created several bone protrusions, which stabbed Ker in dozens of places.
For the squirrel, it was too late. The last push killed it and saved Ker from the ongoing assault. Ker actually felt really miserable, bleeding basically overall, deep cuts and bite marks in his limbs and stab wounds in his body. He regained awareness, just enough to know that he was screwed. On his last leg he looked around. The other squirrels, rather not wanting unwanted attention, decided to flee upwards.
He was going to die if he didn't fix himself soon. The only way he knew how was eating the beast before him. Not given much choice he started to assess his felled prey. It looked pretty beaten down, the bones looking like an assortment of knives and daggers. He started to rip the beast up by use of his hand and the bone he gained in battle. Ker had to cut around the bones sticking out. He found out that the bones weren't directly connected with the skeleton of the squirrel.
The first bite was bloody, but tastet just as good. He savored the taste, letting the thirst take hold over him. Again, he was devouring the good parts of the beast. When he was done, he felt exhaustion draw on his mind.
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He carried the rest of the beast out of the den to his momentary storage place. It was more of a hole, but he didn't care about that. It should just prevent other beasts from eating and damaging his prey.
After somewhat closing the hole with earth and some stones, he looked up a tree. What worked one time might just work another. And this tree did not have previous owners. He climbed up the tree to a broader branch and lay down on it. Too tired, he fell instantly asleep.
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Hours later, Ker woke up. It was already nighttime. He couldn't see much, so he decided to stay there and do nothing until he would sleep again.
In his boredom, he looked around and saw the stars in the nightsky. Hallauer once tried to teach him how to orient just with the help of the stars. Back then Ker had thought what a ridiculous idea that was. Now he wished he'd paid more attention.
He could see large parts of the stars and their formations, only some were covered by branches and leaves. He identified a 5 star formation as the Scale. Further up was what he believed the Eye to the side he probably spot the Dragon.
He continued observing the stars and making up formation that could be there.
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After a not measured time Ker woke for the second time. It was morning, with all the animals and beasts making their sounds. He didn't count how many times he woke up that cacophony of noises. Ker had lost track of time, but he guessed it was probably a week since he entered the wilds.
He really wanted to go back, there were just a few things he had to do. First, he looked at his gained stats and levels from yesterday:
You slayn Woodsquirrel lvl 5(I) You slayn Treesquirrel lvl 4(II) You slayn Woodsquirrel lvl 3 (I) You slayn ferocious Squirrel lvl 2 (III) You slayn Bonepiercer Squirrel lvl 3 (IV)
You gained 1 lvl You gained 2 lvls You gained 3 lvls You gained 5 lvls
He felt that he was closer to his next evolution. However that worked, but he could feel how prepared he was for his next evolutionary step.
Ker dug out his slayn prey to process them. He really didn't like what was to come next. He tried to cut the pelt of the dead beasts as good as he could. That was not a very pleasant work but necessary if he wanted something like clothes.
The step after that was what made him question his own humanity. At the side, the smell of the fresh flesh, he felt again a strong desire to devour. He knew he needed the EP and there weren't many alternatives. Still, he had to try.
The fire started tame, first some smoldering. The heat of the flames warmed him. It gave him a reminder how much he missed the warmth of a good campfire. Carved out flesh on sticks was positioned above the fire.
Ker tested the flesh again and again until it was edible. It tasted bland, just a bit different. It saturated him, but it gave no EP. Which led to the harrowing conclusion he had to eat the rest raw.
At least his insatiable hunger for flesh and innards took over. So he did not have to force himself to eat it.
+ 23 EP gained
At least he gained nearly as much EP as he had before in total. It should be unproblematic to evolve soon at this rate. Then again, training foundations was everything if one wanted to reach the peak.
Ker repeated his first try to process the pelts. He scrubbed the pelts clean from the inside. This time, he rather opted for too much effort than too little. He also looked for some cleaner water to wash the pelts. He cleaned the pelts again with stones, just to go certain. In the last step, he did hang or span the pelts on high branches. Now, he just needed to wait.
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He sure was bored. In his boredom, he looked after the squirrel den. He was instantly spotted. There was a squirrel guarding at the entrance direction he always came from. It squeaked and hurried up the next best tree.
All the other squirrels obviously got the message too. They all climbed up the trees without hesitation. This kind of dominance felt good, but now Ker had no easy prey anymore.
He walked back to his pelt-drying spot and waited.
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It needed several hours until the pelts were finnaly dry. Ker recognized that stretching the wet pelts had been a mistake. They were now a bit harder and thinner than the other pelts. But he would use them anyway. Even the bony pelt from the bonepiercer would have a purpose.
Ker made a rough version of a shirt and pants out of the softer pelts. With the bony pelt and the harder pelts, he made some kind of mantel. With the bones sticking outside, it looked pretty brutal. It had something basic, animalistic to it.
How it held all together, through plant stems and sticks. It was not robust, but he wore clothes again.
He looked at his status to confirm him.
Status Race: Homo Aspiratio - Evolution I
Level 17
HP: 700
MP: 220
Statistics
Strenght: 66
Dexterity: 48
Constitution: 70
Intelligence: 22
Wisdom: 22
Stat points: 0
Evolution points: 25
Skills
-
Passive Skills
Devourer: You crave flesh and blood from enemies. You gain strength and hightend regeneration through consuming raw flesh.
Hidden Skills
Titles
First Human Animal: You are the first of your species on this planet: Welcome! 10% to all stats
First Primer:
The first of your species: 15% faster leveling, 10% faster stat growth, 10% more Evolution Points
Squirrel Slayer:
You slayn more than 10 squirrel beasts: 10% more might against squirrel beasts, squirrel fear you now
He made sure to ninvest all his stat points. Ker had to cringe slightly at the new title. But in the end, it was worth it.
He felt ready. Now, he had to find his way back home. A travel route that took him with the others over two weeks. Alone, he would be faster. There were no support people carrying supplies, then again he would have to hunt by himself and take care of a sleeping place for himself.
He laughed at the thought. He survived in the wilds on his own, nothing in the forest would be a challenge.
To that, he had to find his way back first. He tried to follow the tracks from his group. But those tracks were many days old and nature recovered quickly in the wilds. The broken twigs and underbrush were grown over. The footprints in the mud were long gone. He could make out tracks from a boar family. But in the wilds their were probably beasts instead of normal boars. He was confident in his abilities but not that overconfident.
In the end, Ker tried to remember the way. That worked out pretty badly. He nearly turned in a circle back to his starting position. He had to try something new.
Since the wilds and the forest were still foreign ground to him, he decided to orient on the sun and the stars. He just had to make sure not to follow the sun, but use the shadow of trees to follow one route. He knew that the city must be somewhere in the south, a bit to the east.
So he had to follow the first light of the dawn. The more difficult task was to keep the direction. For that, he would mark the position of the sun and watch the shadows. The shadows should move until they face in the nearly opposite direction. Since it was evening, Ker oriented in the direction of the shadows and walked on.
Soon, it became night. Ker faced in the direction he started moving from the start and chose a random star in the same direction. In the day, he followed his plan. In the night, he could easily lose his direction and rather used that time for sleep.
He discovered that he didn't need that much food anymore. The beasts seem to sustain him for several days. That wondered him. After three days, his stomach grumbled and he had to hunt again. This time in the forest. He had left the wilds behind.