The sloth’s fur was thick, stopping the knife blade in its tracks. Lem’s simulated self had to saw it back and forth for a few seconds before it finally penetrated into the flesh.

He widened the cut on the fur, pulling the knife up and down through the resistance.

Lem watched with interest as his simulated self finally sliced off a piece of the flesh, causing a small amount of blood to pool on the cut. He pried it out of the gap with the knife.

Eventually, the piece of bloody flesh was finally free of the skin. He held it delicately between two fingers.

What would it taste like?

Lem’s simulated self put the piece of flesh in his mouth, and chewed a couple of times.

It had a slimy texture, and a pungent flavor that was metallic and salty. It felt wrong in his mouth, and his body rejected it.

Lem’s simulated self had to forcefully prevent himself from throwing up.

He chewed again, before swallowing it with difficulty.

Quickly, before his own disgust could stop him, he cut off another bloody piece of flesh, and swallowed it whole, without even chewing it first.

He suppressed the urge to wretch as he quickly walked away from the corpse, picking up his spear again.

[You know that your rations are getting low, and you reluctantly take a couple of bites of the sloth, but you almost throw up from the taste.

You do not have the confidence to cook the meat or take the corpse with you, as you fear that you will be beset by beasts, so you leave…]

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For Lem, the moment was a stark reminder for how different the life of his simulated self was compared to his own.

He had not yet felt true hunger, nor had he been driven to any extremes in his behavior. In fact, he had been given the life simulation system before he had even entered the forest.

Lem could not help but feel sorrow for the versions of himself that had to die for him to live.

At the same time, as a selfish being, it was impossible for him to value their lives more than his own.

The day passed slowly.

The ravine had become a familiar presence for Lem’s simulated self, a fixture in the background.

[You eat from your rations and fall asleep…]

…

[Day 16: You feel weaker due to the evil power consuming your vitality…

You continue traveling around the ravine…]

As Lem’s simulated self was walking, he saw a figure lying down on a branch in a tree that was several dozen meters ahead.

A dust cat.

As he looked at it, it noticed his gaze and locked its green eyes with his.

It turned around, its tail waving slightly in the air.

In the next moment, it had disappeared in a flurry of movement, rattling the top of the tree, and sending a few leaves down in its wake.

Lem wondered what the dust cat had been doing in the tree.

Was it sleeping? Had he disturbed it while he was walking by?

It felt like a naive thought.

He knew from his education in the village that dust cats often ambushed their prey from the tops of trees. Lem had suspicions that it had been waiting for him to get closer.

The cultivation boosts from eating the mushrooms and the seed several times had greatly improved his perception. If he had been in his original body, then it would be easy to imagine a situation where he never spotted it.

He could have unknowingly passed directly beneath the tree that the dust cat was standing in…

Lem remembered a moment in a past simulation where he had felt a sharp pain in the back of his neck shortly before a mysterious death.

He had never learned what had killed him.

Had it been a dust cat that was lying in ambush?