Chapter 24 – Traveling.

I still have no idea where the hell I'm, so I have been going down the man made path.

My goal right now is to find a new home and hunting ground, but I have no idea where the hell am I even after getting the map I stole from the caravan driver.

I also made a giant mess after destroying and killing everybody ridding the caravan.

Well, humans already know about my existence, so as long as I move far away from the crime scene, I should be fine.

Still…. I really want to know where the heck am I.

The map I stole from that guy corpse seems to be hand drawn map of this area.

It would be good if I arrived at some sort of land mark that would allow me to find out where the heck I'm.

I know that maybe that giant spot on the map maybe the forest I was born in, but I don't know where exactly I'm on the fuking road!

 Or maybe this map depicted much larger area than I think and maybe other those smaller weird areas maybe the forest I was born in. Some of them are right next to the roads and all.

…

Well. Until I find any land marks I can use, the map is completely useless.

Anyway, I ended up encountering another caravan.

I wasn't hungry or anything, but going around it or in different direction would still lead up to them spotting them.

So, I killed them.

This time it was a merchant with a pair of young adventures.

These guys were noticeable stronger than guys before. They managed to wound me properly, but in the end they died.

The merchant caravan was transporting some vegetables.

I ate some and as it turns out, I can eat them without problem.

That is good news to me.

I decided to take some vegetables and store them in my mane.

I cannot really store much stuff in it, since it wasn't meant for transporting stuff and all. There is also the fact that my mane is a shield of some sorts and all.

So, I was able to take some that I could use as small snack later on.

Anyway, I once again made a giant mess and left it behind while I continue running down the road.

Honestly, I already want to leave this road, since I already two giant messes, but the problem is with food.

I'm a wolf monster and all and from my knowledge the wolfs can survive several days without eating and all, so not being able to eat everyday isn't that bad and I even have hunger resistance.

But the problem is about not knowing where I'm.

What if I were to go off the road and head the grass field but would not encounter anything for days or maybe weeks that I can eat?

There is also the fact that I'm big. Way bigger than average wolf.

I don't know how much I can survive without eating food considering my size and all.

So, yea… The situation is annoying.

Hm?

Wait. If I were not to eat food and all, wouldn't the hunger resistance work better?

…

Nah.

Hunger resistance only makes me feel less affected by hunger mentally and my body can survive longer without eating, but I still need to eat to recover and heal, so not eating regularly right now will be a giant pain in the ass.

I don't even know where the heck should I go!

I want to be away from any human settlements and at least some forest where I can hide where I can rest and practice magic.

The only thing I can do right now is to walk randomly or somehow find a spot I can recognize on the map. But who knows-

"!?"

Deerwolf quickly stopped in the tracks.

(…)

(I can see something!)

(It's a settlement over there!)

(Shit! Did the path I took was leading straight to the settlement?!)

(Fuck me. I got to now go other way around.)

(….)

(…)

(Wait.)

Deerwolf took out a map from its mane and began looking at it.

(….)

(!)

(There!)

(A settlement right under the forest!)

(Is there…. Yes!)

(There is a cross path here!)

(Oh my god!)

(I found the spot that matches the thing on the map!)

(Well, I was already running for few hours, so I didn't found it immediately, still it better now than later.)

(Anyway, now I know where I'm on the map.)

(This a very nice development.)

(But where should I go now?)

(I want to go to the forest that is far away from settlements.)

(….)

(Hm….)

(!)

(South!)

(On the bottom of the map, there seem to be forest…But the map cuts off there.)

(There are some other spots that may seem like forests, but they are too small and too close to the settlements. I would get discovered in no time.)

(However, it seems to be quiet far away on top of that there seem to be some settlements along the way.)

(I should be able to go around them, but would I go unnoticed?)

(Hm….)

(Well, it's not like I have choice.)

(I don't really know if that area on the bottom of the map is big or just appear to be like one, but I don't have choice.)

(That place is my next destination.)

After finally finding and landmark on the map and finding out where the heck I'm, I decided to head south.

Probably it will take me few days if not weeks to get there.

As for the source of food, humans will do.

Honestly, I don't feel anything now while killing humans.

Be it young people or older people.

I think I can only see them as food.

…

Is my new body is affecting my mind? Or am like this because of my current life style.

Honestly, I don't care. I'm not a human anymore.

 I'm just a monster.

If I don't kill them, then I will be one who dies.

I know that I was human in my previous life and killing is consider a crime.

But so, what?

Do you expect me to just lay down my life and die? Fuck off.

I'm a monster and will live this life the way I want to.

Anyway, before I realized a night had already came.

Honestly, I think I could run for much longer, but I decided to call it a night.

Who knows what could happened while traveling? Maybe I would need all of my strength to run away from something.

Better safe than sorry.

Anyway, I slept and I continue running once a sun has risen.

I ended up running into a lonely adventure.

I killed him and ate his corpse.

I run through the entire day, then slept at night.

Next day the same.

This time I didn't run into anybody during the day.

However, when I was about to go sleep, I noticed a camp near the road.

A group of people, a merchant, 2 woman who appeared to be a prostitutes based on their appearance and a body guard. That guy wasn't a young man or girl but more a thug looking bastard.

I ambushed them by first taking down with surprise attack the body guard.

He was bit strong; I think he was the strongest human I fought so far.

He even managed to stab me with a sword, but I ended up ripping his throat off.

The merchant tried running away by throwing prostitutes at me, but I chased him when he tried to get away.

Obviously, I didn't spare those women.

I filled my stomach with their flesh and used their camp to rest.

Next day was running once again straight up from the morning.

I ended up arriving at some sort of village, but I decided to go around it.

There is no way I would be able to kill and chase everybody inside there.

There is also the fact that maybe somebody is guarding that place that would fuck me.

Too risky.

It did took me some time to get around it, but it seems I wasn't spotted.

Night came and I went to sleep without eating anything.

Another day came and continue running.

 I did spotted a caravan from afar, but I decided not to attack it.

According to the map, there is a second settlement nearby.

Killing guy and destroying the caravan isn't that smart idea while its literally right between two settlements.

I manage to hid behind some random big rock and waited it to pass me by before then continue running.

Another day went by and I slept before getting up and running once again.

I run into another village on my way. It seems to have been the settlement marked on the map.

Again, I had to go around a village, but this time I was lucky.

I spotted a caravan leaving the village and that one was heading in completely different directions.

This time I could hunt it.

I waited for it to get far away enough before then launching my attack.

I killed horse so the guy couldn't get away before the killing the guy who was ridding it.

The caravan was carrying some crops. It seems the driver was a farmer that probably wanted to sell his stuff somewhere.

Well, sorry but I kind of ended up eating you whole.

Anyway, after I ate and filled my stomach, I began running once again.

Run. Sleep. Run. Sleep. Hunt. Run. Sleep. Hunt.

Pretty much I was just doing those things over and over.

My level did increased a lot and I even ended up getting few new skills.

[Lesser – Weak Stamina Consumption Reduction]. It seems I got it after nonstop running at full speed for many days in the row. It decreases stamina consumption, but by not much. Around 1% or maybe 0.5%

[Walking] Increase movement speed but increase the stamina consumed. Around 1% speed increase?

Besides that, a lot of my skills related to magic had leveled up, like plant magic and the leaves skills as well as [Root Limb] skill.

I was practicing a magic and other skills when I was not traveling and it was quite peaceful for me to experiment a bit.

I also used some of my new skills for my experiment.

[Wild Nature] is a skill that provides me with better understanding of plants and wild type magic like plant magic. Pretty much it's a slight buff to the plant magic that makes it stronger and easier to use.

[Lesser Mana Horns].

This skill makes my horns act like battery. Pretty much, my horns can store mana that I can use.

It makes my horn stronger and also allows me to have more mana.

[Plant Body Production].

This skill allows me to sacrifice mana and stamina to grow plants on my body. However right now I can only make things like grass, leaves or roots sprout from my body. Nothing like a plant armor or fruits that I can eat.

[Lesser Plant Manipulation].

This skills allows me to manipulate plants.

Well, it's very weak and using it uses a lot of energy. On top of that all I can do right now is to make a grass on the ground grow in size.

However, it seems I can use this skill on my body, but all I could do so far was to make my leaves grow up or make my fur slightly longer.

Honestly, I don't think the [Lesser Plant Manipulation] would even work on me on the first place if not for the [Plant Body] skill.

Pretty much that skills allows me to affects myself with some specific skills with bigger effect.

However unfortunately, it seems [Plant Body] is also a very weak skill right now.

I cannot use it to heal myself using plant magic and plant manipulation, but it can help me with growing leaves and other plants.

These new skills may hold a poetical combo, but as of right now they are quiet if not completely useless for even basic things.

I was able to push forward my experiments and test out many new things.

Not only that, I can finally cast spells!

Basic spells, but spells!

It seems I was finally able to cast spells after the plant magic became [Beginner - Plant Magic].

Was I not able to cast any spells before because my skill level was too low?

Or maybe my max mana was too low?

There is even good option that it was because my understanding of the plant magic was nonexistence at the start.

Honestly, I think all 3 maybe a proper answer.

Still, I have now a new means of attacking and this is good.

So, I tried creating some spells I can use.

My first experiment was to create a blade.

Not like [Leaf Edge] or [Leaf Blade], but something sharper and stronger.

My strongest leaves attack enchanted with magic couldn't even leave a scratch on that centipede monster.

No. They couldn't do anything against any monsters.

All it could for example against a goblin not wearing an armor was give it some small wounds that would cause it to bleed, but not anything dangerous or deep wounds.

I needed something stronger and sharper.

So, I shaped and shaped.

I changed and changed.

And finally, after many trials and errors I managed to create a combination of leaves in a shape of a chakram.

Since it was made out of leaves, my skills could affect it.

I shot the created blade at the caravan I destroyed and I was able to cut the piece of the wood off.

I successfully learned a spell!

Not only that, but a useful and deadly one!

I can probably make it stronger with more experimenting and research, but now that was a good start.

Anyway, as soon as the sun has risen once again, I began running towards my destination.