37 The human-shaped metal

The next morning, just as Rith predicted, Ssatsko came in the early morning to wake Evin up. They had breakfast, and Evin prepared for departure with his grandfather. They prepared a tent, some clothing, and some emergency items for the trip. They gave it all to Rith for her to keep them in the storage space reserved for Evin.

Before they left, Evin half-expected his parents to see him off, but was disappointed to find no one. He became a bit anxious, but he knew that his parents needed time to digest the information. Elina and Sasha came out to see them off, saying something about their parents' irresponsibility. Sasha went on with another talk of what Evin should avoid doing to keep his grandfather satisfied. After saying their goodbyes, the trio walked towards the forest that was located on the on Smallwall town's western side.

…

In the deep thickets of a forest, shards of metal slowly converged to take on a human shape. The glistening of the metal showed that it definitely was not your usual low-grade metal. The steel shone with a fiery red hue, threatening and ominous. The humanoid shape was not complete, only able to imitate a makeshift version of what looks like a human. The metal covered the invisible shape's exterior, but it was quite noticeably hollow.

But aside from all those deficiencies, it definitely behaved like a human would. Its chest rose and fell like it was breathing, heavily and with difficulty. At one point it even tried to spread its 'arms' and faced upwards, it's 'mouth' opening wide, like it's trying to scream. But no sound other than the occasional clanking of metal could be heard in the vicinity.

It seemed to make a sudden decision, as the shape tried to run to a random direction with all its strength. It could not reach far, and it stumbled down to the ground. Soon after, the spread out shards that created the shape of a human converged together, and took on the shape of a sword. The sword lay on the ground, exhausted from its previous 'attempt at humanity'.

…

Evin's group finally reached the outskirts of the Forest after traveling for half a day. Ssatsko was silent throughout the journey, aside from telling Evin some information about what they were about to do inside the forest.

It wasn't anything exceptional, they would basically survive on their hunted food for the ten days that they would be gone. For the seven days, they would gradually go into the deeper reaches of the forest, hunting animals that came upon them. Ssatsko explained that there would be something interesting to see at the center of the forest. So, after they checked out that spot, they would return. If everything went well, they would have hunted enough meat to last them the journey back.

As they were about to enter the forest, Ssatsko finally said something.

"Don't worry about anything for now. Just follow behind me and observe to your best abilities. In the evening, you will ask me anything you found confusing or interesting. Tomorrow, you will start imitating me as much as you can, so today's evening would be your best chance to learn," he said.

"Oh, that's quite simple. I thought you would leave me here and tell me to survive for ten days or something," Evin joked.

"What kind of dumbass training method is that? Is that supposed to be self-studying? Why should you not take advantage of the wisdom of your elders, instead of fumbling in the dark yourself? Though it does feel a bit off when I call myself an elder in front of to you…" Ssatsko said with a chuckle.

"Just because I lived for a few couple hundred years, doesn't mean that I know everything. It's not my first time hunting, but I'm nonetheless excited,"

"Oh, when was that?" Ssatsko asked, curiously.

"Don't expect anything from me. It was still when I was alive, so a very long time ago. I went hunting with some of my friends when I was studying in a university. And I also mostly watched in the sidelines when it happened. Not to mention that it has been such a long time since then"

"Then just watch and follow me silently. If you see something you think I didn't notice, then don't hesitate to tell me," Ssatsko said, and they walked deeper inside the forest.

Nothing exciting happened for about three hours, as Ssatsko moved stealthily and silently through the forest. Sometimes when he would find some footprints of an animal, mostly deer, judging from the hoof size, he would inspect it for a bit and move on. Evin guessed that the trail was too old to follow.

But after a little while, he managed to find some turkey trails. He beckoned Evin to follow, and the latter decided to float behind the old hunter. He understood that the trail was fresh, so he didn't mind spending some mana to hide his sounds. Ssatsko was walking, but he didn't make any noise. Compared to him, Evin floated like he was wearing a suit of armor. They followed the trail for a bit, until they soon heard the turkey's call. Ssatsko focus was on confirming visual on his prey, as his eyes calmly scanned the area that produced the sound. Not too long after, he found his target and after a slight glow of his red horn; he shot a flaming arc towards the turkey. The arc worked like a knife and instantly decapitated the turkey.

Evin was wondering how they would kill their prey, and as he guessed, they just used magic. Simple and efficient.

"The turkey stood no chance," Evin commented seriously from the side, while shaking his head. His joke got a chuckle from Rith, but Ssatsko only shook his head and went to collect his game.

"Not bad. This will last us till tomorrow evening. Let's travel towards the center for the time being," he then said, and the three continued the march. They did not have to walk slowly as they had already found their food.

The sun was starting to set behind the trees, so they began setting up camp. After bringing out tents and the cooking-ware, Ssatsko showed Evin how to butcher the large bird.

He took out a big pot that he gave to Rith before leaving and filled it with water, then boiled it with his magic. Then, he put the big bird inside it and boiled it for a few dozen minutes.

"It's easier to pluck its feathers after boiling it. I could burn it off with Fire, but the smell ain't exactly nice," the old man explained.

Afterwards they took the animal out of the pot and started plucking. After they were satisfied with their work, Ssatsko started to cut the turkey's belly, so that he could extract all the blood and innards from inside. Evin watched the process silently.

Ssatsko asked Evin to dig out a hole somewhere and bury the innards and blood inside. Throwing it in a random place might attract some beasts, so burying it is the best way to get rid of it. Evin used the World of Earth and helped to quickly finished this task.

'Hopefully, it'll help a tree grow later or something,' he thought.

"In the North, we usually eat every part of our prey, even the innards and blood. We get the necessary nutrients to survive from the organs of the animals, since eating only meat will eventually lead to your body's failure. We also have to be frugal with our food, because growing plants requires warm environments and that requires mages to keep the heat up. The higher ups and mages can afford to eat vegetables, but most commoners live off their cows and sheep." Ssatsko mentioned.

Evin nodded thoughtfully. The two left the turkey to chill. Done with their tasks, they went on to talk about their day.

"So, tell me boy, what did we do today?" the old man asked, then realized how he called Evin and frowned.

"We spent most of the still hunting, creeping through the forest while we searched for signs of prey. After we find some signs, we inspect it, and if it's fresh, we begin stalking the prey. If it's too old to follow, we give up and move on," Evin summarized the day's activities.

"Good, what kind of questions do you have?"

"Not much, I only want to know the various footprints and sounds of animals, so I don't miss too many trails tomorrow," Evin said.

They spent the rest of the evening talking about the traits of various animals and birds. The ground was littered with drawings of animal footprints after it all ended. At the end, Ssatsko reminded Evin of mana beasts.

"Inform me immediately if you feel traces of mana on beast trails, or if you find abnormally large trails of animals. They should be ones left by mana-beasts. They are normal beasts who either absorbed mana naturally, or they were unlucky enough to swallow mana lodestones. If it's the first case, everything's fine. They're all wise creatures who roam these forests. They know better than to mess with unknown humans. But if it's the latter, it would most likely be rabid and dangerous. Their powers depend on how much mana they absorbed"

"How dangerous can they become?" Evin asked.

"They don't get too powerful, since the more mana they absorb, the harder it is for them to survive. But if they do survive, then it becomes a very tricky problem. If we meet such a beast, it would be best for us to ask Rith to send us out of this forest," Ssatsko explained.

Ssatsko then set up a life-sensing ward around the camp. Since his other horn gives him power over the World of Life, such things were easy for him to create. Evin asked his grandfather to teach him, but received another refusal.

"Are you guys bound by an oath or something? What is this?" Evin exclaimed afterwards.

Rith and Ssatsko could only shake their heads at the question. They praised Evin in their hearts for finding the truth, but were not quite able to vocalize it.

They had the turkey's legs and wings for dinner, and they soon went to sleep after talking for a bit.

…