26 Natural Selection At Work

(Morgan Pov)

Yesterday was a shitshow, to say the least. I got a horse and learned a lot of things about that horse. For one, that horse doesn't hate just me, it just hates children in general. I can respect that horse's opinion, it doesn't discriminate, it spat at all of my friends. That was funny.

I forgave him after seeing that, but I stuck by him because he is the only horse that is willing to approach me. The spitting is still an issue, but I just need to get better at dodging or deflecting it. I named him Diego, after the Part 7 counterpart of Dio because he rode a horse.

Okay, that's pretty much the only reason why I named him that. I suck at naming things and I was put on the spot. He hates children and the first thing I thought of was a villain. And then I thought of my favorite villain Dio/Diego Brando, and that's how I named him. I'm not a weeb.

~Shut up, you know deep down you are one of us.~

I may very well be a weeb, but I am nowhere close to your level. You reference anime and manga way more than I do, and half the time I have no idea what you are talking about. You keep talking about stuff I haven't heard of, things I don't like, or things I dropped.

~You should still check out the things I recommended I have great taste.~

I don't trust your taste if I'm being honest. Quite frankly, I don't care if others say something has a good story, is deep and meaningful, or emotional. If I find something boring, I will drop it no matter what others say. You are also forgetting something important. I AM NOT ON EARTH!

~I can describe to you the best parts of each series. I can even do a living reading of the best and hypest parts.~

Please spare me from your cringe, I can barely deal with my own cringy moments. Why do I need to deal with yours? Well, I'm done with the pull-ups for today, all I have left to do is my run. After that, I can finally get my day started, I wonder what I have to do today.

--------------------

I am on hunting duty today, which means I get to raise some of my weapon proficiencies. This is how I raised my spear/polearm proficiency to C+ rank. I knew a lot of theory behind spearplay, but hunting allowed me to put into practice what I learned. I got to see what did and didn't work.

The theoretical knowledge my master taught me was the reason why rank increased so quickly. Another factor that contributed to this growth was guidance from Dorian, Roger, Garret, and Corbin. My young age and this explosive growth lead to the misconception that I was a prodigy.

I am not a prodigy, I am simply a man with a few advantages. I am also a man who is willing to try almost anything for the possible experience I can gain, despite the risks involved in some of my actions. I need everything I can get to compete with those who are truly talented.

I honestly don't want to compete with anybody, I just want a quiet and fulfilling life. But knowing that this world is very Darwinian, I don't want to be unprepared when the time comes. And it will come, but I'll do whatever it takes to safeguard my happiness regardless of the repercussions.

I want to practice my archery today. I want to see if I can hit a moving target with this new trick of mine. I was on a roll the other day, so I am feeling confident about this attempt. Now that I have my very own horse, I need to get better at mounted archery as well.

Building up my confidence in archery will be a surefire way to improve it on horseback as well. But if my accuracy is shit and it is affecting my contributions to the tribe, I will stop practicing. I will have to use throwing spears to make up for the lost progress.

Let's see how this goes, I am not being accompanied by anyone today. I have shown that I am a somewhat competent hunter, so I am allowed to go alone as long as I produce results. Only I am allowed this privilege, because of how powerful my magic is in combat.

They have all seen how powerful it can be in a dire situation, and practicing magic can be dangerous if others are nearby. So once in a while, I am given this time alone, and I get to test my magic on live targets. Sometimes the results are disturbing, another reason why I like being alone for this.

-------------------A Few Hours Later

Fuck, I am surrounded by a pack of wolves, again. This is the 5th week in a row this has happened, my longest streak was 6 weeks. It's sad to say, but I'm so used to being attacked by wolves that I don't even see this as a danger anymore. It's more of a mild inconvenience.

It would be a fair statement to include me as a natural predator of wolves in the ecosystem. I'm surprised that the wolf population hasn't dramatically decreased, they somehow keep showing up. Maybe I'm doing a service to nature by managing the overpopulation of wolves.

How do I want to deal with this situation today? There are 15 wolves, shit this is going to be a lot rougher than I thought. But on the plus side, this means that there will be more food available to the tribe. I was also very successful with my target practice. Today's profits are looking great.

Where are the alphas located? If I take out the alpha male, they will lose their leadership and sometimes their greatest strength. If I take out the alpha female, more often than not, the morale of the wolves is greatly affected. They either become more aggressive or they flee for their lives.

If they become more aggressive, well I just have to take them out faster than they can gang up on me. My magic has grown to the point where I can one-shot these wolves, and I can fire about 10 of these spells in quick succession. That means I only have to deal with 5 of them.

If they want to run away from me, then I have to pick them off as they run away. I don't want to deal with their revenge in the future. If I am not under attack I can fire more than 10 offensive spells, that's mainly because I have time to control the output and power of the spells.

Let's start this engagement right. I should eliminate the wolves that are positioned in troublesome angles to attack. It's a good thing I can fire using both of my hands, I can fire 5 shots to the left and right. The wolves in the middle have to contend with the length of my spear.

'Pierce' x10

Did I take out any of the alphas? It's very hard to tell these wolves apart, but dealing with 5 wolves is about what I'm used to. These wolves look like they're grieving or in shock, either way, it's an opening. I'm aiming for the largest-looking wolf in the crippled pack, to weaken them more.

My experience hunting wolves has taught me their furs are slash-resistant, so piercing through their furs is the way to go. I step forward and thrust my spear downwards. I see that despite the casualties, this wolf isn't distressed and is down low ready to pounce. Too bad, I have the range.

I easily pierce through the back of the neck, one down, four more to go. I didn't go too deep, so I don't have to worry about the speartip getting caught on the spine. Great, two wolves moved to the left are getting ready to pounce.

I sweep my spear to get them to back off, I hit one, and the other backs off. The other two wolves moved to the right while I was occupied with the other 2. They are already in a position to pounce. So I don't stop my sweeping motion and rotate my entire body to get into position.

By the time the two wolves are in the air, they are already lined up to get hit by my swinging spear. I have enough speed and force behind this motion to slash their throats with the speartip. Not going to lie, it's times like these that make me feel like a badass I know I'm not.

I'm not allowed to bask in my glory for so long. I still have the remaining 2 members of the pack to deal with. They should be scared by now, they no longer have the numbers advantage and I proved to them that I can easily kill them in a 1 on 1 or 2 on 1 fight. Good, they're running away.

I quickly take out 2 throwing spears and throw them at my fleeing prey. I have done this so often that I am confident that I won't miss these throws. I see the spear fly and hit their targets. The wolf corpses aren't too mangled. A lot of the blood hasn't spilled out yet and that's good.

I think I'm done for today, these 15 corpses and the other game I shot down are enough for today's hunt. I am so glad I don't have to carry all of my spoils home, magic is wonderful. Wolves are number 1 on the list of animals that hate me, but I don't hate wolves at all. Why?

Well, it helps that they are delicious and my favorite food in this life is wolf soup. I don't mind getting attacked, as it means I get to eat my favorite meat. I'm not alone, I have formed a bond with Lyn over our mutual love of eating wolf meat.

For some reason, it's not that popular in the tribe. But that's fine, it just means more meat for the both of us. The others wouldn't recognize fine dining if it came up and hit them. I should hurry up, I want to have time to carve them.

---------------------A Few Moments Later

I return to the tribe grounds, and Lyn spots me as soon as I get back. I see her run towards me.

"Mawr-mmmph!"

I quickly shove a piece of cheese into Lyn's mouth. I have enough experience to know that one does not recover from a bad nickname from their childhood. Honestly, Moron is probably the most destructive name she could have thought of.

I also feel that it's an apt name for me at times. However, through a stroke of luck, no one else has heard her call me Moron. I have been bribing her to stay quiet ever since she has called me that. I feed her various pieces of cheeses, meats, and berries any time she gets close to saying it near the presence of others.

"Shh, just eat the cheese Lynlyn. Please don't call me that."

"No!"

She's sticking out her hand demanding the rest of her payment. I of course oblige, that name is too dangerous to my credibility. I hand out the sheep cheese I extorted from Brennus a few days ago.

"I was attacked by wolves again, Lynlyn."

"You okay?"

She looks very scared and concerned for me. Why did I think it's okay to tell a little girl I was attacked by a pack of wolves. I just noticed I didn't clean off all of the blood on me and my clothes. Wow, I am very inept at times. How do I fix this mess?

"I'm fine look."

'Cleanse'

"Look there is nothing wrong with me."

She calms down a little, good. Now it's time to make my escape from this awkward situation.

"I have to go now Lynlyn. I want to eat wolf meat today, so I have to get the meat ready for cooking."

"Can… have some."

"Of course you can. I'll see you at dinner time."

"Bye."

I somehow recovered from that social blunder, I wonder who will be there to assist with the carving. I brought a lot back, and I don't want to carve all of that on my own. I hope we have enough herbs or vegetables for wolf soup, if not, I'll search for the ingredients next time.