When I get back to camp I find Vacker passed out with a bulging belly, when I check the pot almost half the stew is gone. Considering how much he ate he must have liked it, so I sit down and pull the pot over to try it myself. It is good, not quite as good as the drake, but still delicious!

It isn't long before the pot is empty, but unlike Vacker I don't go into a food coma. So I clean the pot and put it in my pouch, then I sit and try to think of something else to keep my mind off things. I end up thinking about my stats again, my strength is great but my other stats concern me.

If this was a video game then with my current stats I would be a strength build damage dealer. Which is fine for fighting, but I need to be able to do more than fight if I plan to be a king. I should raise the skills that increase my intelligence, wisdom, and charisma, I will need them as a king.

Am I really qualified to be a king though, considering I am doubting my own sanity lately I doubt it. Then again there is the saying that the best person for a job is the one who doesn't want it. There is also the one that power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely, and I have been gaining a lot of power lately.

Again with the things I shouldn't be thinking about because I can't do anything about them right now. With all these concerns and worries all I can really do is trust my own mental strength and the girls. In an attempt to distract myself I decide to go into the soulscape and rewatch some anime.

'Summon Soulscape!'

The main problem with this solution is that hours of watching anime in the soulscape is only minutes in the real world. Which means I need to spend days watching anime to make the night pass, I can do that! There are so many anime series locked in my memory that I could easily spend weeks watching all of them.

If that isn't enough I'm sure I have months worth of manga stored away in my memory. So I spend what feels like days lazing around watching anime in my soulscape. I feel much better after rewatching all my favorite series.

'Exit Soulscape!'

As I open my eyes I am glad to see the sun is just rising, I was worried I hadn't spent enough time in the soulscape. Vacker is sound asleep and snoring away without a care in the world. Even in his sleep he seems different, it looks like freedom really agrees with him, he even looks a little younger.

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Assuming that I can get him through the jungle I think he can look forward to a long life as a teacher. He will be a great boon to Illium and the beastmen who learn from him, I will make setting up his school a priority. The sooner we get him settled in and taking students the better, after all we only have a few years for him to train students.

He was able to teach me a lot in just a few days, but I'm not really your typical student. Besides I was extremely motivated at the time, threatening students with death isn't a good strategy. Humans will come to him of their own accord, but I plan to look for students among the outcasts.

After hearing Myria's story I figure there must be a lot among the outcasts with similar stories. Honestly the outcasts are going to figure in a lot of the plans I have been cooking up. I want to take them in and once they are loyal to me I will forge them into a force greater than any clan.

All the beastmen that we saved in the mines are outcasts because they were captured. That doesn't matter to me, I will make them warriors again and let them regain their honor in my service. They will be the core of the new outcast army, and they will allow me to conquer the clans and become the beast king.

The fact is the sooner I am the king the sooner I can start preparing the beastmen for the war. I would like to do everything without having to force them, but I will use force if I have to. Although, even if I have to use force, I still think the beastmen will be easier to unify than the humans.

To be honest I expect to have problems with the humans at every step of this plan. It is sad to say but I trust the human nobles less than the demon lords. I guess we'll just have to wait and see how it goes, for now I should wake Vacker so we can get moving.

Vacker says "What? Oh, mornin. Is there any stew left?"

"Afraid not, its rations for breakfast. How are you feeling?"

Vacker says "I feel great actually. You do have more of that meat right?"

"Yes, some. I am going to use it sparingly to make it last."

We eat the rations and then get moving, Bones follows along, Vacker does seem to be much better off. He is moving better than he did on the first day, if he can keep this up all day we should be close to the end of the mountains. He does end up having to stop a few times to rest but we still make decent time and I have no complaints.

Surprisingly, the next morning Vacker is still feeling good enough to keep moving without a day of rest. So we keep pushing on and by the end of the day we have reached the top of the last ridge and as we look down we can see the jungle stretching to the horizon. We could reach the edge of the jungle with another hour's travel but I decide to camp here.

It is a great view and I would rather not be plagued by insects all night long. To celebrate making it through the mountains I decide to use a bit more of the hydra meat and cook steaks for dinner. Vacker is excited as soon as he sees me pull out the meat, but not long after I start cooking I hear a strangely familiar hissing sound.