I stopped dead in my tracks a few paces after having decided to head for the little monkeys. We were leaving the core behind. I didn't like the idea of it going to waste. So I looked at Ivo.

"Are we just leaving the remains? There's something I could use if we are." A bit of hunger for the core leaked through, my instincts seemed to be pushing both a desire for, and a caution against eating the core at my mind.

"We usually send out gatherers from the hunter's guild to harvest anything usable for a split of the profits. Adventurers aren't meant to worry about that kind of thing, we don't have the abilities that hunters and butchers get to harvest things right." He hummed to himself for a second, looking at the dead monster. "I can tell how much you want it, but I'd really like to get moving before this pull turns into something more. Will it take long, and is it important?"

"I think it is important, can you get it for me and hold onto it till we get back?"

I wasn't sure exactly where the core was, mine seemed to be near my heart, but I knew they weren't entirely physical. The idea that they only became physical after death was clear to me when I thought about it for a second. I walked over to the monster, and sniffed at it, trying to sense where the core was. I located it near the stomach, which was definitely different from mine.

Ivo walked over, and I told him where to cut, and what to look for.

"Oh, you want the mana crystal? You know, even crystals from monsters that are high level around here are pretty cheap."

"Yes please, they are very good for me." I was really confused. I'd seen mana crystals before, not just the fire crystals that I had eaten. The lights around town were all light mana crystals held in some sort of cage. They definitely woke my appetite, but eating the fire crystals hadn't provided me with more than a little warmth and a bit of fire mana, and neither crystal type created a desire in me like these monster cores.

"You owe me a drink for this." He said, as he used his sword to cut the monster's belly, and reached in to pull out the crystalline core.

It glowed to my senses, and made me lick my lips. I had to hold myself back from grabbing it out of his hand. He wiped off his sword, and gauntlet with a rag, then wrapped the bloody core in it and put it in a pouch.

"We'll have to come up with a better way to do that." He grumbled.

I nodded, and thanked him, then I turned towards the pull, which thankfully hadn't increased at all. I think Belua was watching, I didn't feel her presence at the time, but I had the feeling that gods could observe anything in their world whenever they wanted. I'm sure they didn't have to make their presence known when they watched.

With that done, we headed to the snow covered area that the remaining monkeys had retreated to. They were clumped together defensively, I could tell that most of them hadn't recovered from the dose of poison I'd given them. The poison itself would have lost all of its magical potency as soon as I switched from my death mana core but these were no alphas.

Seeing them gathered like that made me wish I knew a fire Aspect I could trust myself with, but it wasn't worth the risk. Particularly since my instincts marked every one of them as nothing more than prey.

Looking at the cluster of monkeys I licked my lips. I had fed well on the monster cores, but something I'd come to realize was that I never stayed satiated for long. The pull of Belua's order, had combined with my more predatory instincts to create an overwhelming excitement for the hunt.

I told Pierce and Ivo to stay back, they didn't need to tire themselves out any more than they already had. Without waiting for confirmation, charged through the snow, headed directly for the cluster of primates. I switched to my air core, and began to charge my horns.

I had anticipated that I would take on the Aspect I had experienced in the arena with Martin, but I apparently wasn't quite in the right mindset for that. What I ended up with was close, but instead of being Challenging and Dominating, I was Joyful, and Destructive. I was filled with a malicious glee as I rushed forward. I surrounded myself with cutting blades of air. The monkeys screeched angrily as the stronger, healthier, members of the group ran towards me.

I was given a list of types and levels, as autoinspect went off, but I paid it no mind. A few of them were higher level than me, but it did not matter, they were lesser creatures. Level only meant so much, I knew it in my bones.

When I got close to the lead monkey, I released the charge my horns held. The lightning did not disappoint, it destroyed the lead creature, and the five nearest ones died on the spot. Branching out from there it seemed to only momentarily stun the monkeys.

I ran through the stunned creatures without pause. What the lightning hadn't killed, my wind sliced apart. Thinking back on it, I feel bad for the monsters. All forty of the remaining baboons were taken out in short order. I took far too much enjoyment in the slaughter, the Aspect I was channeling had me sweep through them like a tornado. Thankfully I was able to switch away from it the moment I ran out of toys.

Maybe it was because of the fact that I had been following my instincts quite a lot on the frost primate hunt. Maybe it was the fact that Angela was no longer part of me. But whatever the reason, I didn't even consider what it would look like to my partners when I settled down to make use of all the food strewn around after the slaughter.

The smaller monsters had tiny, weak cores, I barely felt drawn to eat them. The mana and Concepts they contained didn't provide me much individually and they barely took more than a thought to break down. I still tracked down each one, and consumed them by the time I was done, I felt fat and happy.

I moved to a clean patch of only slightly melted snow, and rolled around in it, in an effort to remove some of the blood from my fur.

I practically jumped out of my skin when I heard Ivo clear his throat. I hadn't precisely forgotten they existed, but my mind had been consumed by my post hunt instincts. I didn't even know how long they'd been waiting for me to finish.

I took a deep breath, and collected my mind. I looked at what I'd been doing, and sighed.

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"Sorry Ivo, I lost track of…" myself? I didn't send him the end of the thought. I was suddenly struck by a moment of existential crisis. I didn't even know who I was. The part of Angela who split off to become me was at best two weeks old. I was little more than a creature born of the System's impulses. Or was I?

No, I had taken a part of my original with me, it wasn't many of her memories of earth. Those belonged to her, but it was some of her attitudes towards new experiences and conflict. I took her ability to cope with less than favorable situations. I was the part of her that knew not to fight against the current, but to swim with it so I could keep my head above water. Going along with the instincts that the System had given me when there was gain to be had in doing so came so naturally to me I hadn't thought to question what it would look like.

It wasn't much to base my sense of self off, I knew I wanted to be more than just that, but now wasn't the time. I was pretty sure learning who you were took more than a brief period of introspection, and I was fairly certain Pierce and Ivo wanted to go home.

I felt a hand touch my shoulder. "Hey, it's alright, we're not squeamish if that's what you're worried about. I just wanted to ask if you were done? Because we'd really like to head back to town. You definitely need to clean up though, I'm not sure rolling in this slush is going to do it."

The man had a point, my rather aggressive hunting methods had left my fur more red than white, and as much as rolling in the snow felt right, I had a much better way to get clean. I nodded at Ivo, and told the two of them to turn around and close their eyes.

They both turned around without questioning me, which made me feel good. To my instincts, that was a level of trust I would have trouble displaying.

I walked a slight distance away from the red slurry I had created, and switched my core. Light had proven quite good for letting dirt fall away from me, and I had to admit that I held a hope that it might help me get my head on straight with my momentary identity crisis.

As the mana suffused my body, and I changed to a being of pure light, my mind was working.

Losing Angela had changed who I was, no doubt about it. Even under the influence of mana I doubted that I would have felt so comfortable bathing in the blood of my prey if Angela was still around. I would have certainly thought twice of openly making a messy feast of them afterwards.

Angela was the voice in my head that told my instincts no most of the time. Without her around I would have to come up with my own limits on how I would let my impulses push me. Following my instincts felt good most of the time, but given my contract, I had to think about the image I was projecting.

Ivo and Pierce did not seem terribly bothered by my display, but if some random person saw what I had just done? I can only imagine how I looked.

I gazed at the killing field, it was a mess if I had come upon it randomly, I would assume it was a monster who created that carnage. I would have to do something about that before we left. I did not want to frighten the local hunters.

The light mana I was channeling would not help me hide the scene, even if it helped me realize I probably needed to. I went over the possible elements I could use. Fire would certainly remove the blood and flesh, but an area filled with scorched bones might be just as worrying. Besides, we were surrounded by forest, and I didn't trust my control.

I could call on the earth to bury the evidence, but I was quite sure that I would struggle to find an Aspect that would allow me to communicate that desire cleanly. Earth wanted to be stable if it wasn't enraged, and I didn't want to have to channel rage with no enemies present.

I settled on life, if I grew the plants in the clearing with my aura like I had in the arena it would definitely cover up the monkey massacre.

All those thoughts occurred in the time it took for the mess covering me to fall to the ground. I moved myself ten feet away in an instant, before switching back to my pure core.

I looked at the backs of Ivo and Pierce, they would definitely have to get clear of the area. I did not know if I could restrict what my growth aura affected, and I didn’t want to think about its possible effects on the human body. I would have to add that to the list of things to test in the relative safety of the arena's simulation.

"Hey, you two can start heading to the road, I think… I think I need to do something about this area, this could attract even more monsters. And I don't want people to see what I did to those things."

Some of my fear of people's perception of me leaked through. I hadn't meant to add the last bit, I had thought that the fear of attracting more monsters was true enough. But it wasn't my main motivation and I suppose that was enough to trigger Honest. That was mildly irritating if I was being honest with myself. I wasn't appalled by the mess I had made, but I was embarrassed that I felt the need to clean it up.

I supposed I should be happy that my new Concept wasn't pushing me not to clean up. But really, that scene of carnage would give people a false idea about who I was, or so I'd convinced myself.

Ivo turned around and took in the blood and viscera covered clearing, then looked me in the eyes. He seemed to see something sad there, if his expression was any indication. "Okay Angel, I trust that you'll catch up when you are done."

Pierce looked at the clearing, and sighed. "Yeah that's fine. I doubt the hunters could get anything from that anyway, if they are even sending people out with the wendigo about."

I watched as the two of them walked off. It would take them time to make their way back to the road through the forest, I would bypass most of the effort by flying over it, I had plenty of time.

I made my way to the approximate center of my mess. I would have to clean my paws thoroughly, later. I yawned while I waited for Ivo and Pierce to get further away. I was full, and my instincts wanted nothing more than for me to find a nice comfortable place to take a nap. That I wasn't considering it made me feel better about my own questions about my identity.

Once they were so far out of my range that even my enhanced senses could not detect their movement through the underbrush, I switched my core. I called for growth, thinking of an aspect that could turn the clearing into just another part of the forest.

What followed when my mana saturation caused my form to shift should not have been a surprise. I had focused on plants, so I became one. The Aspect made me feel the need to shift my form all the way to my as yet untried Oak Tree. I was relieved to find that the shift didn't seem to slow my thoughts. Though the Aspect certainly influenced them.

My roots dug deep into the soil, and I raised my branches to the sun. I had no vision but mana sight, and though I could move my branches and roots, I could only do so slowly. I was overcome with the need to reach both down with my roots, and up with my branches. It was some time before I felt satisfied.

I was so distracted by my own transformation that I hadn't released my aura to grow anything near me by the time that I realized my own form had grown to shade the entire clearing, and I had dropped hundreds of acorns.

I unleashed my aura, without considering the implications. The local life mana, which had been pushed back by the aura of ice from the monsters, came flooding in to help me.

I felt all of the living things in the area speed through their life cycles to maturity, it was terrifying when I thought about it later. I was focused on the plants so they were the most intensely impacted. Grasses grew tall in an instant, accompanied by small plants that grew larger than they would ordinarily be capable of. Then came the trees, hundreds of oaks just like me stretched their white and black leaves towards the sky.

When they reached maturity, they towered over the other trees in the forest, though they remained much smaller than my form. I switched away from my nearly empty life core, and shifted to my demihuman form. I stood on a very disturbed fifteen foot wide section of bare earth that had been covered by my oak form.

I inspected what I had done without the mana influencing me. I freaked out about things for a moment before I realized that I was getting no feedback from sense mind. The trees that had spawned from my acorns were strange, but they were just strange trees.

I walked up to one, and placed my hand on its dark gray bark. As far as I could tell, despite its colors, and the fact that it seemed to house slightly greater than average life mana, there was nothing terribly special about it.

I shrugged, I didn't have the heart to think about destroying them. They were mine, and I doubted they would be more than a curiosity.

Without much worry about what I'd left behind, I shifted to my aerial form, and took off to meet my friends.