Chapter 8

CAW! CAW! CAW! CAW

Two wide-open mouths begged Nikolai for more smoked meat. At this rate, these two gluttonous ravens were going to empty his whole stock of smoked meat.

" You know. " He gave a warm smile, " You two will eventually eat all my smoked meat at this rate. " The amount of meat they devour was not at all much, he was just joking about the whole emptying his whole stock thing.

" Artom, Igor. " The two ravens now named Artom and Igor cawed happily. Though it was impossible to distinguish, as birds cannot smile or show any sign of happiness. But it was that bond between them that told him that.

Now physically, Artyom and Igor look identical, with no noticeable aspect that could differentiate who is who. But he knew who was Artom and who was Igor. It was probably that magic-related bond between him and his familiars who so happened to be these two ravens, that made him feel as if these were his children.

After feeding them, he went to start his daily training. Regular exercise had produced no results and he had to utilise some improvised methods to get stronger, which included using logs as weights.

His workout and combined with his daily routine of going to the forest for food and the fight to the death with the undead had improved his physique greatly. His stamina, his strength, agility and muscles had increased far greater than he was when he woke up in the basement of the cabin.

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Night came and it was dinner time. After the hunt of six buck souls that happened last week, he was left with a lot of meat to be smoked. Meat became an important diet these days especially after he got that passive from those orcs, which allowed him to bulk up.

The passive, ORCISH PHYSIQUE was a pain in the ass. It was such a demanding power that precisely pained him to entertain it.

Orcs were one of the most savage beasts to ever exist, existing only to fight, mate and eat. Although most of them were not as barbaric as people believed they were. Most, Orcs are nomads, but some choose to group as a horde.

What made Orcs very famous was their fast maturity which was just behind that of a goblin and the speed they heal themselves, which was as fast as that of a hydra or an ogre, but it was still fast.

Regarding their fast maturity to adulthood, Orcs need only one year to fully mature and be ready to fight and mate. This was thanks to their ORCISH PHYSIQUE.

Now since he has the ORCISH PHYSIQUE passive, he was also undergoing the same thing. Sure growing more muscles and getting more hair on one's body sounded manly and cool, but it had a high price to be paid.

Orcs are carnivorous by nature and during their maturity period, they need a ridiculous amount of meat to support their growing body.

This also implies to Nikolai. It pained his hoarder mentality, that he had to consume all those proteins otherwise his body will start to degrade.

' No gift is free, there is always a price to be paid. '

The time came for the Raven to get fed, but he could find them in their usual pole they loved to hang on.

" Artom! Igor! come have dinner! " He called, there was some caw sound coming from the basement, and the sound of his two ravens came closer but it was also followed by a thud sound as if something was dropped repeatedly.

He went to inspect and found that his two adopted feathered children had caught a big rat each. The basement was Nikolai's storage room, where he stored all his prized smoked meat. These rodents were their main enemy of his, last week he had to throw away ten kilograms of smoked meat they had spoiled.

It brought him joy that his two adopted children were already so helpful even at such a young age. They were surely bigger than most ravens he had seen so far and they were just a week old.

' Young ravens were not supposed to be this big right? ' He questioned, ' They have not even learned to fly yet. '

The two Ravens looked at their featherless father with hopeful eyes, hoping to be praised for such good work. He complied and gave them head pats with his index finger. The two cawed cheerfully bringing a smile to his face.

The rats which were captured by the talons were already badly injured as their bodies were littered with holes that were caused by the two ravens' beaks, they looked miserable and were a foot near their grave.

" You sure did punish them huh. "

Artom pulled his finger and pointed to the dying rat he held by his talons, even Igor was doing the same.

" Is this a gift for me? " The two cawed in affirmation.

He decided to entertain them, as he took the dying rats. He cast UNDEAD VISION and saw the dying flame of the two rats. The mist then devoured the souls. The SOUL CUP was already filled days ago but the mist did not get a sign of getting improved. But a soul was a soul, so it was better he hoards them even if he had no use for them at the current moment. Two tiny drops of liquid soul dropped into the already-filled cup.

[ YOU HAVE RECEIVED A TRIBUTE FROM YOUR FAMILIARS ]

[ BLESSINGS CAN BE GIVEN TO YOUR FAMILIARS ]

[ THE FOLLOWING BLESSINGS CAN BE GIVEN ]

1. SENTIENCE

2. UNDEAD WILL

3. ORCISH PHYSIQUE

The mist just kept bringing him surprise after surprise. ' Just what are you? ' He asked the mist that was already enveloping both his arms. He already come to peace that the mist was strange and he was no longer surprised at this strange development.

He thought the mist was a symbiotic entity that needed a host to survive, in turn, it gave its host abilities like the things it was giving him since the last month.

Now this mist can somehow give his familiars the same abilities he had received.

The blessings that could be given, were kinda good. ' SENTIENCE was good I guess, makes them smarter than they already are. UNDEAD WILL... I am not really sure. ORCISH PHYSIQUE... are they going to need meat than they already need. '

If there were skills that would benefit Artyom and Igor it would be curse magic, at least they would not need to fight. He was not really fond of the idea of his two feathered children fighting to the dead. The image of them getting killed would surely break his heart.

[ YOUR FAMILIARS ARE TOO YOUNG AND MAGICALLY INEPT TO LEARN MAGIC ]

' Well, thanks for the Information Mr Creepy voice in my head. ' He thought sarcastically. ' So how are they going to learn magic? '

[ THEY MUST REACH ADULTHOOD FIRST ]

[ ORCISH PHYSIQUE WILL TAKE CARE OF THAT ]

' Well, these blessings won't hurt them, right? '

There was silence.

' Well? ' He was getting impatient and the silence was not really helping him.

[ MAYBE ]

' That was not really supportive of you. '

CAW!

His attention was snapped back to Artom who called to him. He scratched the back of his head in embarrassment. " Sorry, I spaced out a bit. "

The two cawed back in response as if saying, "No problem. "

" Hey do you two want to become strong? " he asked, the two ravens looked at each other in silent confusion, not really understanding what their father was asking them.

Do they want to become strong? Of course, they want to become strong! just imagine how many of those pesky rats they could kill for eating their food. They just saw how happy their father was when they help him deal with the mice problem, if they became stronger, they could eventually help him fight those strange rotting people at night. It Would be so much fun!

[ BLESSINGS HAVE BEEN GIVEN ]

Pain, their head was in so much pain! They were so confused and afraid. ' Just what was happening?' They began to spasm uncontrollably, their vision blurry and the darkness was consuming them. They were so scared, ' IT HURTS!!! '

At that moment, they could feel being lifted and being embraced by their father. It was very soothing, the pain in the head didn't last long and soon subsided. Nikolai still kept them close to him. " I'm sorry. " He admitted guilt for his actions. It was not befitting of a father, he was supposed to protect them not bring them pain. The two ravens were very happy at the moment, they knew their father loved them and it was enough for them.

Not knowing what the future has for these two ravens, it was at this moment in the supernatural world, that two monsters were born. Artom: The Butcher and his brother, Igor: The Demon

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AUTHOR'S NOTE :

Thank you for reading my story, please leave a comment and a review, a power stone would also help. It would help to motivate me.

See you in the next chapter.