“Well, that was fun. Now loot.” speaking out loud to myself I eat and absorb all the bodies, the food they carried and the food in the other carriage, Noticing that the other secret compartment was empty. With a full stomach and at least three times stronger than before I start to look at all my loot. Collectively the guards and drivers had 1G(Gold coin) 30S and 49C. I also found A space ring of higher quality to my own, having a 5 meters cubed which I swapped out for my old 1 meter cubed.

Sadly my backpack and rations were gone so I took the best quality backpack as my own, but I ate all the food so I put some of the cloth covering form the carriage in it to make a makeshift shelter in the future. I also take a pair of decent quality daggers for the guy who did not have amour, along with three more throwing knives to add to my collection. Finding a gem in the robes of the mage I activate it to see if it can be useful. It creates a sphere around me out of an unknown substance and power. I was about to start experimenting with it when I felt drained and it disappeared. [ Guess it uses magic, so it is useless for now but I should be able to use it in a half a year.]

Looking at the carriages or more specifically the wheels I get an idea. Wheels are more efficient at gaining momentum with their constant friction and larger surface area than normal running. Making some could be useful and fun. Taking inspiration from the wheels on the carriages and some of Paul's memories of his limited knowledge of cars, I begin.

I start by making a ball and socket joint and pole that stuck out from the outside of each ankle by 10cm. I then made the wheel and center disk from bone with a 10cm radius with keratin spokes.

I then make the outside of the wheel from calloused skin with bumps in a zigzag pattern. Finally, I filled the area between the bone frame and calloused skin with air and coved the ball and socket joint in fat for lubrication.

With the wheel finished I 'willed' the cells to move to allow me to go forward. Sadly I moved incredibly slowly which completely defeated the purpose of the whole wheel experiment.

To solve this I made a muscle group inside the center disk which would squeeze and pull back (Like revenging a motorbike) this generated momentum allowing for extra speed.

For the final part, I remembered how I would occasionally go ice skating and copied the movement, shifting my weight to one wheel at a time. The end result was a speed far greater than I could achieve while running. "success haha. But I should probably stop fucking about now, who knows when someone else will come along this road."

I look around at the rest of the pile but I have no need for swords or amour so I put all of the spare loot into the carriages and set fire to them as I walk into the forest humming an unknown tune.

Total of 177S

In space ring

3 Small knives

3 Flame gems

2 air gems

Shield gem

5 throwing knives

Pair of daggers

10 Meat flavorings

You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

Backpack:

Carriage cover

I walk around the forest deciding not to use the wheel to avoid being stuck on all the foliage. Once I find a small clearing I exercise my body for four hours to get the new cells in my body acquainted and to become accustomed to the new strength and speed. After the workout, I continue the walk through the forest until my enhanced hearing picks up small grunting sounds that sound like a form of communication between a small group.

I go towards the sounds while trying to move as quickly and quietly as possible, but I have never been in a forest before so I make a fair bit of noise anyway. Hoping the creatures don’t hear me I slowly approach them. Climbing a tree when I am close enough I get a better view of the creatures. I see a group of 6 short humanoid creatures of a muddy green color with serious underbite issues. They all have long yellow nails and hair which resembled quills on their heads. One of the creatures, however, is different as it has four arms and seems to be in charge of their temporary looking camp.

[They seem to be a hunting party due to the look of the strung up dead animals, a small fire and the general uncleanness of the camp with sticks and leaves still covering the camp floor. I should leave one alone so when it goes back to its main camp I can follow it.] With this in mind I drop down from the tree giving the Four-armed creature an ax kick to the head, which by the sounds of it snapped its neck and crushed its skull. Looking around at the other creatures I wait for them, as they rush to pick up their weapons, wooden spears with stone tips.

If the creatures had any organization or teamwork it was gone when they attacked me. They charged me with fear in their eyes as they got in each other's way. Seeing this as a safe situation for me I decided to train a little as I practice dodging the spear jabs by the smallest possible margin I could. After a minute they seem to gain confidence and work more as a team as they create a rhythm as I make the margin I am dodging by smaller and smaller until I am dodging by the width of a hair on every spear jab and thrust. “Well it's been fun guys but I am bored now, and we all know how that ends.” In quick succession, I move past their attacks and rip out each of their throats only leaving one alive as I lick the blood of my hands [Taste like shit]

“Boo,”

The remaining creature turns around and sprints into the forest. But it only makes it a few steps before a snake strikes the creature, it makes it a few more steps before it falls to the ground and dies. [Well that is unfortunate. Don't worry buddy I will get revenge for you. Mainly because I want to know how it killed you and how it hides so well but that is beside the point.]

Planning to confront the snake I walk up to it with my left arm in front of me. The snake takes the bait and bites my outstretched arm. As it does this I detach my left arm while retrieving fluffy forming it like a spik and piercing the snake's body, pinning it in place on the forest floor. Keeping the Snake alive although I won't be able to do it for long, I observe what the snake does to my detached arm. Looking at my arms nothing is happening so I send a tentacle over to it trying to investigate what is going on. The snake is producing a liquid and injecting it into my arm. If I remember correctly myself and Paul knew the name of it, what was it? Ah, venom.

The snake's venom is made up of several hundred proteins which all have a slightly different toxic effect. This snakes venom seems to be a neurotoxin which stops the nerves from sending signals to the muscles, making them unable to move and eventually shutting down the important organs such as the heart. If I could replicate and modify the venom I could control what organs or muscles the venom targets making it more deadly and useful. I grin.

I begin to work on copying the venom from the snake and modifying it here and there so it becomes a more deadly neurotoxin. I use my own body to experiment on as it is easier to monitor the result. The snake dies as I work but it does not matter as I no longer need it to demonstrate. Once I completed making my venom I think of a way to distribute it to a target.

[ I won't be seen much in the forest so appearance does not matter. Fangs are not very practical, what if it can't fit in my mouth even if I dislocate my jaw. Maybe a spike? But my arm spikes are in use and I don't want more arms at the moment, they could get in the way. A tail could work.] With this I constructed a tail made from condensed muscle, keratin, and a vertebrae skeletal structure similar to a snakes bone structure. At the end of the tail, I put two hollow chambers remembering that there is a venom that affects the blood as well (Hemotoxic venom goes for the bloodstream). I fill one chamber up and leave the other empty for now. To finish off the tail I make a strong hollow tip made from condensed keratin in a honeycomb structure.

With the venom done I move on to the snake's scales so that I could blend it to the forest more, as much as I like black (Fucking emo), It doesn't hide me in a green and brown forest. So I remove the hair and grow scales in a light green and brown while having splodges of a darker variant of the colors to break up my silhouette. As I am about to absorb the snake I find lenses on the eyes to help them see day and night so I copy them before absorbing it.

When I am done messing about with the snake it is becoming dark and the campfire is out so I change my eyes to night vision [Snake night lens and cat’s reflective layer behind the retina] and eat the dead creatures which taste really fucking bad, but food is food. When that is done I do my night routine before I climb up into a tree and use the carriage cover as a blanket as I go to sleep after a long day of killing and eating people.