Exploring the deep nooks and crannies hidden between the shadowy boulders, Charlie ended up eventually finding a cozy little spot. It had a large enough opening, so that even if his stomach were to be stuffed to brim with his prey and Charlie bloated to even thrice his size, he would still be able to comfortably slip through the gap - yet the entrance was small enough to not allow any particularly large creature in.

Charlie's [Mana Sense] also acted strangely inside of the rock enclosure, it was similar to the concrete the humans had used in their defenses and dimmed his senses. It was almost like it absorbed Mana from all around it, but not quite as well as what the humans had [Mana Sense] felt blurry and vague while he was within the walls of his new home, but hopefully it would turn out fine. The light emanating through the rock was not as bright as it was outside of his stone home either, but at least he could still have a little bit of visibility.

The peaceful aura of the river was right outside his home, which should, in theory, placate most creatures that would find reason to cause trouble for Charlie.

Charlie spent a bit of time for some much needed rest within his new home, hoping to mend some of his still-healing wounds. They weren't life threatening, but there was enough damage accumulated to impede his actions - and even if they weren't that grave, Charlie preferred to err on the side of caution anyway.

Having learned many painful lessons, Charlie had come to the conclusion that inaction was just as important, and sometimes even more so, than action. Taking time to rest and heal was the key to survival. Sure, it slowed down his potential progress, but dying would put an end to any and every possibility.

With having a roof above his head and sturdy walls to keep danger at bay, Charlie could focus on the next step in his plan of action. There was a lot that needed to be done; reconnaissance of the surrounding land and creatures, research into creating new Magic, finding a steady food source and finally, finding additional places to conduct his operations from.

Shelter was the number one priority in his survival. There would be no way for him to descend deeper and challenge even stronger creatures if he couldn't find a place to sleep through the night, always having to be watching his back in the boiling mass of bodies of the lower sections.

If the right opportunities arose, Charlie would certainly descend deeper - all in the hopes of finding shelter as quickly as possible. Only if there was space to recover, would Charlie be able to gain enough Experience to continue forward.

Once the wounds had stopped bleeding, Charlie dipped back out to the river and washed off all of the dried blood in the revitalising, and pleasantly cool waters. Not long after, the river turned crimson and carried the bloody waters downstream, towards the rest of the tired creatures.

For a split second Charlie worried that the sudden appearance of his blood would send them into a frenzy, but relief came quickly. None of the tired animals even spared a glance from where it came from, and continued to drink the tainted water with dire greed.

Clean, but still full of ugly and gory holes, Charlie felt good enough to scout out the near vicinity, and get a good idea of some of the creatures that inhabited the river bank as early as possible.

There hadn't been enough time to recover enough Mana to cast [Worm of Envy] without worry, as the constant use of [Hollow Fang] had burned through his dwindling reserves. Instead, Charlie decided to use the Mana-induced downtime to simply learn what these creatures looked like.

There were plenty of familiar faces, cattle-like creatures, wild vermin with vicious fangs, rabid and deformed dogs, and things that Charlie had never seen before.

One creature in particular caught Charlie's attention.

The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

Green vegetation grew along the river bank, topped with brown and cylindrical fruit. The leaves were sharp and stood up straight, only bending downward near the tip of the leaf. Most of the plant life had been crushed underneath the myriad of tired bodies, trampled without care by weak and thirsty hoping to find respite by the water.

Yet this plant stood, and though Charlie had never noticed it, he was able to quickly put together why.

There was a singular, yet powerful, creature among the ocean of powerless. It's body was easily twice the size and thrice the width of the Razorclaws, it's grey fur was dyed with a singular black stripe coming from the tip of its tail all the way to its elongated snout.

Large beady eyes on the sides of its large head, its elongated snout, uncomfortably close in resemblance to a trunk, sat between two white-ivory tusks.

It walked on four terrifyingly large paws, all tipped with disconcerting fingers. It didn't make sense to Charlie, why did it have both large padded paws and fingers at the same time?

Sure, each finger was tipped with a knife-like talon, and that was terrifying in its own way - but it was not why it had been so unsettling.

The large creature was surprisingly abiding by the unspoken truce, and munching away on the spiky reed fruit. Not a single creature dared to approach the reeds, nor could they. They would have to climb over the mountain of terror, and even down here amidst the chaos, none were stupid enough to try.

Using its dexterous fingers, the creature plucked the fruit off of the reeds without ripping them out of the ground. Charlie didn't know if he should feel impressed, or terrified by the fact that the wild creature had the presence of mind to keep the plant alive. Was it smart enough to know that if it were to destroy the plant, no more fruit would grow, or was it simply coincidence?

Yes, the dexterous knives the creature called it's fingers were terrifying, but Charlie quickly learned what the trunk could do, too.

Whether it was by accident, or if it was intentional, a creature must have missed the giant beast and tread upon its food. It was only a touch smaller than a Razorclaws, and looked just as vicious. But when it trampled the reeds onto the wet ground and covered the fruit in mud. The beasts trunk moved faster than Charlie could make out and grabbed the unfortunate creature by it's neck.

Charlie was too far away to hear it, but the captured creatures head popped off into the air, almost like the cork popping off of carbonated alcohol. He could image the sickening crunch well enough, Charlie didn't need to hear it with his own ears.

Overall though, and excluding the towering creature, the river was calm and peaceful. There was still a lot left to explore, but after witnessing the trunked creature, Charlie decided to pick on someone his own size and leave it to its own devices.

Charlie's stomach didn't rumble yet, but the cores healing power would bring him back up to fighting conditions whether or not he was hungry. It also didn't hurt to preemptively fill himself to avoid the stomachs ire.

Descending down the shadowy rocks, Charlie made his way towards his original entry point through the wall of bodies. The creatures were weak and they were small, all of their strengths lay in their sheer numbers. Yet, their strength is what Charlie hoped to take advantage of.

Charlie was in the perfect place to begin his true growth. He was close enough to the safety zone provided by the river if things got out of hand, and far away enough from the truly massive horde to avoid becoming overwhelmed. Charlie wasn't keen on being torn to shreds.

Crossing the river and maneuvering between the legs of unsuspecting creatures, Charlie approached the nearby rock coves. His eyes scanned for any crack or crevice he could be used as an ambush spot, but found none that could be easily employed to suit Charlie's needs.

The further away from the river, the thicker the sweet musk of blood was in the air. It wasn't ideal, but Charlie had no other choice than to fight out in the open. Though, that didn't mean he needed to fight fairly.

Fairness was a concept filled with honor among humans. It dictated the spoken and unspoken rules between those holding power, it guided how one acted and what they could do to survive lest they shame their friends and family.

Yet, Charlie was not powerful, not human, nor did he hold anything close to resembling honor. Amongst the beasts, fairness was a delusion, and whilst Charlie's mind was unstable, it had perfect clarity in the face of irrefutable truth.

[Hollow Fang] struck down atop the skull of an already bleeding creature, killing it on the spot. It's meek attempt at crawling towards the river in search of safety had been cut short.

With his fangs still deep in the small creatures skull, Charlie felt it go limp. As life escaped the creatures grasp, Charlie felt nothing but it's dead weight.

Instead of retreating back to the base with the corpse of the fallen prey, Charlie dragged it closer towards the coves by the river and dumped it into a deep crevice.

One core isn't going to be enough.