Chapter 26: A mentor and his pupil

"Sigh, finally, the rain stopped," Lucas softly said as he stretched his body.

"So, this is the world after the apocalypse?" Simo asked as he looked at the rising sun. Ruined buildings, trees growing out of structures, strange butterflies... All of them seemed to have a unique glow. Under the dawn, they looked fabulous.

"But not many monsters were present here. I thought after the apocalypse started, monsters were almost everywhere. That's why humanity lives within the domes." Glancing at Lucas's face, Simo questioned.

"Well, Master, they are indeed found in many places, but I chose the safest area. If I were courageous enough, then I would have directly gone to a red zone."

"At least you're narcissistic enough." Simo chuckled slightly. One would almost mistake him for a normal vibrant old man with a disfigured face, but Lucas knew this old man, his master, was a Mythical Figure, someone who had directly emerged from the Myths, White Death - The Grim Reaper of the Winter War.

Just as Lucas was about to say something, his senses tingled. Turning back within a split second, he took the position, kneeling on the ground as his finger squeezed the trigger.

Bang!

The head of the wolf rushing at him immediately turned into a bloody mist. Simultaneously, Lucas felt the recoil spreading through his body.

Simo clapped as he saw this. "A good shot. Your senses have also improved greatly, though not satisfactory enough, your improvement is great."

"Sir, you flatter me." He tried to act humble, but his smile said something else.

He then walked towards the dead monster and sliced it up with the help of his knife, extracting the important parts. Upon the death of a creature that could manipulate mana, their body would be collected as anything and everything within their body would be precious.

But a few certain parts of their body would undergo a qualities change. They were generally referred to as mutated parts because of a process called mana mutation.

"A crystallized eye and a silver tooth." The rest of the parts were useful too, but unfortunately, his backpack was destroyed.

"Man, desolate areas are the best," Lucas couldn't help but say this. Unlike the Red Zones, one wouldn't find extremely strong monsters or groups of monsters here.

Only a few weak monsters. This was why he considered desolate areas to be the best for a chain breaker like him.

"This silver tooth will be around 500 credits, and this crystallized eye will be 600..." If all the credits were added, then it'd be more than enough for an average family to survive for two months.

Placing the eye and tooth in his pockets, he once again picked up the knife and with swift slices cut out a few meaty parts of the wolf. Starting up a fire, he began roasting the meat.

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"Aren't you afraid that monsters will be attracted by the smell?"

"I want them to. Mostly weak monsters stay here. Since almost no one parties up with me, I alone come to desolate places. I know this environment very well."

"Hmm,"

After roasting the meat, Lucas placed it in his mouth. Though this food wasn't as good as those 5-star fancy restaurant dishes, he could proudly say that this would fill a person's stomach.

To him, the biggest plus point about the food he cooked was the fact that it was edible and wasn't limited to instant cup noodles.

As the meat entered his stomach, he could already feel the refreshing sensation. Any monster capable of using mana would have some of it stored in their body. Sometimes it would improve the taste of the dish, and sometimes ruin it. For this meat, mana seemed to have improved its taste several-fold.

"My cooking is goddamn good, ain't it?" Two minutes. It took two minutes for Lucas to finish a kg of Wolf Meat.

This jaw-dropping speed surprised Simo too. He looked at Lucas, who was slicing up the meat of a horse-sized wolf, another kg worth of meat which he started roasting.

"Mmm~ This meat is just so delicious, a little burnt but that's the fire's fault." He then looked at Simo, his mentor who was sitting opposite him, beyond the fire.

"Pfft!" Abruptly, he heard Simo's muffled laugh. "Carefree, narcissistic, foodie... You know you're just like a friend of mine, my only friend..." Lucas instantly went quiet. He obviously knew who this so-called friend was.

"I'm sure you must be familiar with this friend of mine, right? Sigh, during war times, he was the one who would act as my light, act as my hope. Amid the blizzard, he was like a candle with a flickering flame, the warm flame of hope..." The mood seemed to have become heavy.

"I wanted to see him; that's why death felt so relieving, so warm. But I never expected that..." Simo turned silent, not continuing.

"Never expected what? Being sealed in a gun as a legacy?"

"No, for now, it's not something you should know. You aren't strong enough."

"Not strong enough?" Lucas questioned, but it seemed like Simo was in no mood to answer any questions related to that.

His appetite also had disappeared. Forcing the last bit of meat into his throat, he picked up the rest of the dead body, dragging it along with him. The blood oozing out from the body left behind a trail.

Time passed by in a blink of an eye. The sun was setting down.

Lucas had already finished the meat of the wolf. This was normal, as the appetite of an awakened one or a chain breaker would increase several folds. The quantity of food they could eat in a single sitting could be enough for several families.

Thankfully, he already had a new monster. A pig-like monster with black skin.

This time Lucas was just sitting near a tree, looking at the sky. The Mosin Nagant was lying beside him, while Simo was standing, enjoying the scenery.

"Master..." Lucas hesitantly said.

"What... does it feel like to be dead?"

"Dead, eh?" He said without looking at Lucas. "Erm... Let's see, there isn't much difference."

"There should be something unique, right?"

"Hmm, ya there's one, at least least I'm not an addict like you."

"Addict? Me?"

"Oxygen Addict."

"..."

The serious mood Lucas was in instantaneously evaporated.

...

Days slowly passed. In the past, Lucas had to put in a lot of effort to kill the weakest tier 1 Monster. Even now, it was troublesome, but he managed to kill more.

His pockets were heavy, filled with mutated parts. If any dealer of these parts would have seen such a scene, they would have screamed and slapped Lucas to his death. Which mindless person would store such precious materials in some pocket of cheap formal suit?

Lucas then quickly popped out a C-grade tablet. He needed to take one such tablet every day, so that it would boost his immune system, and the diseases outside won't affect him much.

After swallowing the tablet, he walked forward, finally exiting the forest region. In front of him were gigantic dome-like structures, as giant as mountains and wide as a city. All the domes together looked like mountain ranges.

Lucas had finally reached home. The Dome Nation was here.