Chapter 114: Survival in the open...or locked up

Although we could talk to each other, we couldn't do much else. We had spent a lot of time here and we were very fragile. Leaving the cave was dangerous and I was afraid, I had no strength. Even if I hadn't spent my time locked in this cave, that wouldn't change anything, I had become very weak.

My plan was to continue like this until she recovered enough, then... maybe to go to the merchant to buy something, I had seen the icon on the map, not close, but not far. We needed a lot of things, but luckily nothing came to attack the cave until now.

...

A lot of time passed, things improved slightly and I had high expectations. Within this time there were some periods when we didn't even talk to each other, not because we fought or something like that, but because of the difficulties we had in doing so and its consequences.

Even without communicating much, we became dependent on each other. It was very noticeable that we used to ask random questions to see if we would get answers from the other party and console ourselves.

For a change, I started using my [Essence of Bard] to sing lullabies whenever she wanted to sleep, which she was grateful for, as it relaxed her. It brought us closer and I could tell how she started talking to me the same way she did that time when I healed her for the first time.

...

We finally reached this critical point, my healing continued to work until now, that I am no longer completely necessary to keep her alive. I could finally sleep a wink after all this time. In fact, I thought I had come to this a few days before, but just in case I postponed it until now to avoid any danger.

She was a bit scared when I told her I would stop healing her temporarily. We were like this for a long time and although we didn't like it, it was better badly known than bad to know. After explaining things to her a little, she accepted, but was not calm.

My well-deserved rest finally arrived, I laid my body on the unicorn and fell asleep almost instantly.

...

I woke up after an unknown time, with the call of my partner. I didn't know what was wrong but I started healing her again anyway.

I fully woke up sometime later and after understanding the situation more, I realized how risky my decision was. I can survive even without eating, but not her, the only thing was otter her was my healing and while she was sleeping I stopped, so it was very dangerous.

Luckily, she was able to wake me up, because I felt like I could have lasted another whole day. The time I slept was about a day and a half, according to what she said, and my sleep bar recovered to 53%.

I didn't go back to sleep until I made sure my partner was fully nourished, as far as possible, and we created a system to prevent the same thing from happening. After a while, I finally got 100% recovery from exhaustion and I could feel great relief.

Being mentally recovered I also saw a recovery of my magic power, it didn't go back to what it was before but at least I had my current blue bar full.

I considered making use of ritual magic to help us, as it didn't absolutely require great power to perform it, but the problem was that I didn't know if doing so would draw the attention of the dangers outside.

I asked my partner if she would let me cut her tail hair and, although she was somewhat reluctant, she ended up accepting. Moving my almost skeletal arms, I cast a cutting spell and got myself a lot of unicorn hair.

The feeling that my bones were rotten wood that could break at any moment was not pleasant, but it was worth the effort.

As accurately as possible, use the unicorn hairs to draw some magic circles on the ground. I made some more drawings and then I broke one of the wands in my inventory to remove its core, which was a phoenix feather. Some blood here and there, the occasional spit, and words in a language I didn't know but knew what they meant once I got my ritual magic.

Now we just have to hope and pray that we don't draw the attention of the acromantulas, I mean, they're arachnids instead of insects, so I should be fine.

...

Small insects like fireflies began to approach the magical formation made up of spiral lines. Even if we were close, the little ones couldn't resist the pull of the magic circle.

I could hardly contain myself but I did, only once I could be sure of my actions did I act. I hunted as many as I could, pinning them down or killing them if there was no other option.

With most of the insects killed, I created a paste that would later transmute to eat something, however disgusting it might be. With the others, I focused on continuing to strengthen and complete various rituals.

One ritual with the unicorn blood to expel the evils, with the insects I completed another to absorb vitality, and a last using my magic to carry out one focused on the revitalization of the vegetation.

...

This cave gradually became our fortress. The unicorn blood used as a catalyst served well to transform this place into a focus of energy that warded off dark creatures. It was false protection, since it only took a monster brave enough to enter and ruin everything. The energy exposed outside was not correspond to our true power.

The vines, fungi, and mosses were growing more and more inside and from there we had more material to work with. Whether to support the other rituals, or to obtain another source of food, they were used anyway.

The insects continued to appear, and by using the rituals of absorbing and reabsorbing vitality, I got a better food source. Insects that I discovered were more edible, they were injected with the vitality of their comrades and then swallowed by us.

Little by little we got stronger, we had a horrible taste in our mouths, but we were better fed. My hunger meter never returned to 100%, but having a full stomach felt great, and with my satiety getting higher, my healing improved as well.

...

One more time and my partner could stand up, not walk much but being able to move was a good sign. We had been immobile for so long that it was very difficult to take the first steps, not to mention that we also hurt ourselves in the process.

We started recovering and although this improvement did tempt us to leave this place, we did not, because of my insistence. Even if we got out, couldn't be sure of escaping the forest safely.

...

The entrance of the cave was covered with weeds, the things that I had put in the beginning had already been undone with the passage of time, but they were replaced by me with what I had at hand.

Our diet was based on insects and some plants that seemed edible, although my companion enjoyed my healing more as a food source.

All the walls of the cave were now covered in magical symbols... or moss. The interior was cleaned and was now more organized, with some areas prepared for different activities.

The rain was a source of water that saved us from the hell in which we lived. I made a little 'pipe' so to speak, with transformation magic, that redirected the water into a little pool that I dug. It wasn't the cleanest water, but it didn't stop us, the first time we almost drowned from so much water that we tried to swallow... bad memory.

My [Dancer Essence] was extremely useful to us. The 'rain dance' was a fairly simple ritual but with little power outside humid environments, it still increased the chances of rain in our area by a few percent. It was very funny, since I was not alone in this, my partner decided to help me, and seeing a boy and a unicorn dancing inside a cave was a very funny image.

We dug in and could almost say we had a 'life' here, if we didn't mention that we were each almost skeletal versions of ourselves.

Our powers got stronger. My meters stayed at a decent level, so she was getting good results, and she got some of her power back as well. We were more and more prepared for the day we can go out, but there was still time left.

...

We live in harmony, talking to each other, telling each other our stories, now without the slightest restriction. We may have talked about things that the other would not like to hear, but the passage of time has eliminated any disagreement.

"So...?"

"I didn't believe it the first time, I thought that monster had come for me again, but when I saw you I realized that the evil in you was much purer than the one in him. It was terrifying that something so purely evil may exist"

"Is that why you didn't recognize me?"

"I can only perceive a kind of black mist with red eyes when I see you, I could not distinguish your form in the least"

"Interesting, I didn't expect that"

"Yes, I still see it, and even though it's just as powerful, it seems like you shrunk or something. Now it's not at the same height"

"So can't you see that my hair is now the color of the moon?"

"Really?!"

"Wow, you can't actually see me"

"Well, if I work hard it should be possible, but I don't want to waste energy"

...

Our activities became more and more daring, we hunted some small animals that we could attract. She didn't like it very much and didn't eat meat, but still cooperated.

Something similar to what I did with the bottle of wine that time, I did with our prey. With their deaths, I collected spiritual energy and drained vitality from their bodies to nourish certain foods, such as the plants that the unicorn ate, to improve their nutritional value.

I gained some abilities in the process. [Autophagy] which allowed me to feed on myself, charging the hunger bar heavily and giving me strong temporary buffs, but at the cost of damaging my max vitality, so I didn't use it once and disabled it.

Then there was [Drain Life] which arose from the constant absorption of vitality. Its function was to improve my absorption of blood. Now not only could I suck blood to restore my reserves, but I could also drain the vitality of bloodless creatures like insects and plants to recharge it, only it wouldn't be as efficient.

With these advances, we achieve better achievements.

...

At the entrance of a cave covered by vegetation, an opening could be seen, not very large, but enough for something to get out... or enter.

Outside this cave was an acromantula that wandered around the place, it had felt strangely attracted to this place as if some kind of hypnotic song had called it here, a song that it still heard.

It had seen the entrance to the cave and when it got closer smelled an enticing scent…human blood. With a little effort, entered, through that opening to the darkness. Getting inside, something didn't seem quite right, but the body of a child up ahead made it ignore that sense of danger.

Approached slowly but when perceived that the body was motionless and covered in blood it couldn't resist anymore and ran forward. As if that action was a signal, the cave entrance through which it had entered was completely sealed, a strange energy that it disliked suddenly flared up as if to ward off any intruders, and strange visions rushed at it.

Shadowy figures with a hint of silver came out of the carved bones scattered on the floor and they lunged hatefully at the giant spider, doing it little harm but disorienting it.

From a dark corner came a unicorn whose horn glowed, shooting a beam of white light that hit the body of the invader, slamming it against a wall covered with something sticky.

The boy's body on the ground rose quickly with a wand in his hand, at whose tip the blood that was scattered on the ground accumulated, launching the killing curse without the slightest problem.

The acromantula took a lot of damage and while it didn't die right away, it didn't last long. Those who had planned this trap came closer to perform some more murderous attacks to make sure of its death, and then heaved a sigh of relief along with some smiles.

"It's a shame we couldn't have made it suffer more. If we could get it to build up more resentment, I might be able to turn the acromantula poison into anti-acromantula poison for the next trap."

"We made it, you should be happy about it"

"Yes, although we also wasted a lot of resources" Said the boy, picking up some of the bones from the floor that had broken for no apparent reason.

"I told you I don't like that..."

"And I explained to you that they are not the real spirits of these animals, they are just fragments of souls that they leave behind when they die"

"I still don't like it"

"Let's stop arguing about this, there are more important things... Or are you going to tell me that you don't expect the flowers to revitalize with the energy of this spider? Or are you? We don't have many left and I won't know when we can acquire more" A mocking smile appeared on the child's mouth.

"Hmm... just hurry up and don't make fun of me" The unicorn couldn't hide her emotion upon hearing those words, they were her favorite food since she came to this cave and the more vitality it contained the more delicious it became.

The boy and the unicorn took care of the post-hunt work. Dissecting and separating the different parts of the spider for different purposes, then absorbing the vitality for a good meal.

"Next time we'll see if we can do better. As long as no more than one come, we could make a lot of profit given enough time"

"I hope I can get out"

"Me too, let's just wait a while longer, eliminate the dangers and when we're strong, we'll go out"