Desolate Life

The mooselk was surpringly tasty. A little chewy but good nonetheless. I wasn't going to complain even if it tasted bad. But this was a unexpected but welcome surprise. Having slowly grilled and smoked the mooselk worked a lot better than I thought, I just wished I had put some condiments on it before I cooked it. A marinade, that would make this incredible. We had received meat before but it was just chickens.

Chickens didn't evolve after the Cosmic Radiance. No one really knew why, but the most accepted theory was that they were already at the peak of their evolution tree and could not go any further. I chuckled to myself imagining the panic that would have occured at the time if chickens had managed to evolve. At the time, the population was almost five times that of humans, this surely meant that humanity's greatest enemy would have been chickens instead.

Pets however didn't remain the same, cats and dogs and whatever people kept as pets were affected by the Comic Radiance. They grew larger and stronger and some even went thorugh the Waking. But they remained fiercely loyal to their owners. A lot of people till this day, tried to raise animals or tame them. I, however, hadn't seen any yet.

The mooselk I faced was also one such animal, a Waking beast. The horn control wasn't something normal mooselk could do. Their evolution granted them with a tough body and massive stamina, and a change to their diet. They were omnivores instead of just being a regular herbivore.

After stuffing myself, I fell asleep. A good long sleep, one that was long due. 

I eventually woke up to alarms from the Jager. It was nighttime and for once in a long time, I didnt feel fear toward the reason for the alarm. Just curiosity.

I looked at the display with the video feed and there it was. The cait had stepped into my territory. My sleep had left me refreshed. I stretched my body and stepped out of the Jager, my steel pole in hand.

I walked around and faced the cait, its black body trying to hide in the darkness but the clear moon denying it that chance. I felt nothing. The cait had become something like a minor hindrance now. I wasn't being overconfident at all, just nonchalant. And the cait probably sensed my emotions as it was backing up on its own.

My eyes were on it the whole time. A silent, cold and uncaring stare. This creature wouldn't leave here alive if it attacked me.

I did something I would never have done. I yawned. Despite facing a creature that would spell my doom, I took an action that would result in me closing my eyes or at least block my vision to an extent.

Maybe my body had realized that this creature was not a threat anymore. The cait was just another creature I could kill. I had grown over the weeks, not just physically but also mentally. Being put in stressful situations every day of the week, resulted in rapid growth in my personality.

I sighed as I put my eyes back on the creature.

The cait watched me for a while and then backed off. I stood outside till it left my territory, after which I walked back into the Jager reset the alarms and went right back to sleep.

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I had the best sleep I've ever had. I felt refreshed and energized as I woke up. A morning without a headache was something I appreciated a lot more than I thought.

I also had a dream. A proper one. Not that dark space. I had only experienced blank sleeps after completing my Waking. 

The dream was nice, one I didn't want to wake up from. I was back at the orphanage and was surrounded by my family. Spiel, Stark, James, Zen, Shen, Mama and all the others. I was smiling and so were they. I didn't want to accept it, but I already had the happiness I sought after for so long. I just didn't accept the fact that I was already happy, surrounded by people that I loved and who loved me. Gen and Jeana were there too.

I broke out of my thoughts.

GEN and JEANA.

They were still alive. 

I started to think, even further. The older ones too. The ones who had graduated from the orphanage after hitting the age limit. I hadn't lost everything. I still had family. 

My mood which had been just doom and gloom brightened up a bit. I found my steps lighter, as though a weight had been lifted off my shoulders.

Revenge was still on my mind but I didn't need to do it alone.There were others who could join me in my quest. But despite this new silver lining, I still worried about not having anough strength. Even if I had backup, it wasn't really backup when I had to protect them as well.

Now, that that thought had come up, I made the decision to not involve any of my alive family. They did not need this. I did. They should stay happy with a still alive orphanage in their memories.

I covered the silver lining myself now.

I would take revenge, and I would do it alone.

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As I started my daily routine, I also decided to see if I could fortify the territory. The little moat or trench like thing I constructed didn't even work against the cait. I could beat the creature any time, but that still didn't discount the question of safety. 

I could put my life on the line to achieve my goals without a second thought, but I wasn't going to die from a beast invading as I slept. I could kill it yes, the Jager's alarm would wake me up in time but prevention was always better than cure.

But first came the antlers. Their size made them perfect for body armor. Of course it had holes but it was tough and durable. I had some work to do now. I watched tutorials for making armor with animal leather, of which, there were a lot more than I expected.

I fashioned something wearable out of the materials. Unfortunately, it was not comfortable.... like at all. The antlers gripped hard onto my ribs, practically digging into it. The leather felt extremely rough against my skin, constantly rubbing as I moved.

Well, not everything worked as I wanted it to. I would have to wear the thickest of my clothes under it and hope it all works out.

Speaking of my clothes, I needed to wash them soon. I needed to keep both myself and my surroundings clean. Just because I was living in a jungle didn't mean I couldn't follow basic hygine. I had also lost two pairs of clothes, after my rolling around and fighting against the monsters. They were normal clothes and durability was not one of its selling points, not to mention that these clothes were old as well, the orphanage used hand-me-down clothes.

I also tried making shoes using the leather. Insects were still lethal to me. I couldn't do anything if they bit my feet in my explorations. The mooself leather was tough enough to protect me from insects. I managed to create a makeshit pair of boots using from wire and the leather, again it wasn't the greatest, but it was something I could use at least.

I didn't need to hunt for a little while, the mooselk would last me a while, and combined with the fruits and vegetables I would forage, I could have a hearty meal whenever I wanted. So, I could focus on all the other stuff until the next big hunt.

I put my thoughts aside and started my work. I went on auto pilot as I extended the trenches for the next few hours. This was hard work. Constantly digging through the ground and moving the dirt out. The sun was shining straight down on me, but I didn't feel it at all. It was just a source of light for me. 

After extending the trenches the whole way, I decided to use the excavated dirt and water to create a small wall. It was a temporary security feature. Any creature that managed to jump across the moat would face the attached wall for added annoyance.

I also needed to plan moving out of this place. I needed a cave or something like it at least. Staying in a big open area like this was bad for me. If I had to face enemies, I had to face them from all sides. I could beat them, but they would still be a pain if I was surrounded. A cave would make it so, that I just had to face a single direction and face every creature face to face and have myback against the wall. My Waking would work all around me, but just one direction made it easier. Not only that, A larger cave worked as a storage facility, I could cover up any smells from cooking or blood from creatures I had hunted.

I also didn't need to hole up in the Jager the whole time, I could carve out some basic furniture using nearby wood and just straight out of the stone in the cave. It wouldn't be comfort but I could just get used to it. If I wanted comfort, I could just get back into the Jager.

I looked through the map that had been created using data from my exploration. Apparently, there was a function that passively analyzed the type of ground I had walked on and tried to predict what kind of area I might chance upon if I walked in a particular direction.

It might not be fully accurate but it was something, I could work off of. I also needed to find a clean path to the cave, as the Jager was also coming with me, once I found it of course.

I picked out three spots which seemed like a good choice to explore and updated it on my display.

My next step was metal work. By that, I wanted to sharpen the ends of my steel pole. For this, I used my lightning to heat up the metal and just use my hands to push the metal into the shape I desired.

My hands didn't hurt as I did this, much to my surprise. After the hard metal work I ended up with a double sided, crudely shaped spear. I also incresed the weight of the spear artificially. After closing up one end into a sharp end, I poured in dirt and fit as much as possible and made it as compact as possible and the I closed up the other end. Now, my , would actually do more damage with more weight behind it and a better shape to peirce things with,

I then made my way to the stream with a large bag with clothes. I could wash them in the stream and dry them back in my territory.

My way to the stream was uninterrupted. I also didn't spot any footprints of the cait. That was interesting, had it realized that it was in MY territory now?

The smile that I never thought would come to me after my experiences, crawled onto my face. It wasn't a smile of happiness, but one of anticipation and achievement.

I washed my clothes in the stream, with that little grin on my face.

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Yo Manager here, so I'm temporarily changing update schedule from ever alternate day to 2-3 every week. I might upload more if I'm able to but for now I can't. My Dell has kinda shafted me and the rest of this chapter was done on my phone, and that has nightmare UI. And my university is also screwing me right now. 

Once stuff is sorted out, It will be back to normal alternate day updates. I'm guessing in a week or two.

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