Chapter 11 Life Is A...

Theodore held some branches on his shoulder while moving stealthy through the forest, he moved as quietly as possible not wanting to draw attention to the dwellers of the forest.

It's been a full week, and Theodore had long grown accustomed to near death situations that almost claimed his life, the forest were filled with hallowing abominations each striving for survival. The weakest were just as deadly as the strong, developing deadly techniques to ensure their survival, Theo also had to learn such techniques to survive and thrive in this harsh environment.

Theodore used to be a naive and compassionate person, unwilling to harm even a fly. Although he preferred to keep to himself and didn't like to mingle, when he did form connections with others, he would go to great lengths to protect and sacrifice for them. However, that was the old him, spending months tapped and crippled in mud could do a lot to a person's mind.

Someone like the old Theodore could not survive in the wild, were the only rule is: the strongest survive. Adaptation is arguably humanity's greatest strength, and Theodore had long adapted to his current life, and that's the only reason he managed to make it this far. Only the quick to adapt could ensure life for another day.

"Life is a spoon.."

Theodore quickly stopped and hid behind a tree when he heard a rustling sound.

'... '

Step.

Step.

Theodore heard something moving past the tree he hid behind, he closed his eyes and held his breath and waited for whatever was moving to pass away.

After a couple of minutes, he opened his eyes sensing whatever abomination was passing had gone, with a deep breath he continued his journey. Monsters in the forest could sense their preys with different methods, they could even tell if a person stared at them, so Theodore tried to be extremely careful when moving to avoid a confrontation with them, learning to be stealthy and swift.

After stealthy traversing through the huge trees he finally arrived at the cave, "Ahh home sweet home" Theodore said, dropping the long tree branches on the ground.

Inside the cave the corpse of the Greedy Hound occupied a corner, slowly rotting. The cocky abomination had fed him during the past week, constantly satisfying his hunger. Unfortunately, the corpse quickly decayed leaving only a few parts eatable. That's why today he planned to eat roasted meat.

Normally Theodore wouldn't light a fire in other not to draw attention, but the forest seemed strangely brighter than usual.

"I wonder if it's still following me..? '

As if answering, a big giant bird landed on a tree branch.

[Name: Masked Owl]

[Rank: E3]

[Description: This masked abomination is a silent killer, who lurks on his preys, he observes and stalks his targets before feasting on their flesh.]

The Masked Owl looked just like it's name suggested, it looked like an owl but several times bigger, it had a wooden mask on his face that resembled the Luba mask on earth, It had bright yellow feathers and huge black talons.

"As expected" Theodore smiled. The Masked Owl began stalking him two days ago, it probably found him as easy prey and planned to kill him. Though it creeped him out, Theodore enjoyed the company.

It didn't seem like it planned on attacking him anytime soon, so he mostly just ignored it.

During the past week Theodore had discovered more limitations in his sorcery and spells. The amount of darkness he could create with his sorcery depended solely on his magic reserves, another limitation he found is that he can heal himself in the cover of darkness, but the amount of health he can restore is directly proportional to the intensity of the darkness. For example: in a dimly lit room, he can restore a small amount of health, about 10-20%, in somewhere like a dark alley or forest, he can restore a moderate amount of 30-50%, in an area with complete darkness, like a cave or a sealed room, he can restore a significant amount 70-100% of his HP.

He also found out that he could not only use the Dark Observer spell to slow his perception but he could also do things like see through walls, but doing that gave him massive headaches. Also using the spell for too long made his head hurt but he could use as long he wants on the system.

Theodore situation slowly got worst, he was burning quickly on his food supply and had to hunt something inorder to eat, but doing that came with extreme risk. Unfortunately though he didn't have a choice.

"Enough thinking it's time to cook up a meal, I am sick of the taste of raw meat!"

Theodore grasped two sticks and rubbed them together vigorously, generating enough friction to ignite a flame. After a few minutes of diligent effort, he successfully made a fire. He then retrieved a portion of meat he had previously carved with his black knife, ready to roast it over the flames.

Soon the savory aroma of the roasting meat wafted up, filling Theodore's nostrils and tantalizing his taste buds, causing his stomach to growl with anticipation.

After leaving it to cook to perfection, he took a big bite out of the meat. "Hmm Yum.. life is good" Theodore said, savoring the taste after a week of eating raw meat. So what if he was stranded in a forest where the sun never seemed to shine, filled with dangerous monsters and abominations with no seeming way of escape, he at least got to eat good meat. One had to be delusional in order to survival.

Before long, Theodore had devoured the entire portion of meat. With a contented sigh, he yawned, "Time to sleep."

Theodore extinguished the fire, then moved over to the rotting corpse and rubbed against it, masking his scent. He lay down beside it, his eyes closed but his senses remaining vigilant, ready to respond to any potential threat.

"Life is a toothbrush.."