Side Chapter: Raw Meat is Not so Bad!

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Through the night, while sleeping on his cradle, which was constructed by Jason and was quite rough, barely deserving of calling it a 'cradle', Ervas trained magic by automatically transferring his Mana to Jason with the No-Attribute Spell 'Mana Transfer', while also draining it away with 'Mana Drain'.

Meanwhile, as Jason slept, Ervas would manipulate his father's Mana Veins with the thin, tentacle-like Mana Rivers that he could generate, helping Jason adapt to the constant flows of mana through his body, which also made him practice 'Mana Control' and 'No-Attribute Magic'.

While doing this every night, at day, Ervas would keep multi-tasking, reading his mother's book, controlling the new monster plants while hunting small monsters to slowly gain Experience Points.

However, Ervas felt that he was gaining Experience Points from killing monsters at a slower pace, this was due to having a second job and being Rank 2.

Horned Rabbits and Demon Rats were Rank 1 monsters, the weakest monsters that could be found in almost any corner of the Devil Forest, they were weak, but multiplied insanely quickly.

In the Evergreen Village, a few of the villagers dedicated themselves to hunt them for their meat, although one or two a day per hunter was the max, and they would usually use them for their own families, so people selling meat was often strange.

Jason sometimes would bring meat scraps and bones of Horned Rabbits and Demon Rats that he would exchange for his harvested carrots with some of his neighbors.

In the Evergreen Village, houses would usually have their own little crops, Jason's crops were inherited from the ones that raised him in here, who died a few years ago, and they were all carrots.

That is all he has… carrots, carrots, and more carrots.

Jason and Ervas ate carrot soup and puree every day, with the rare meat and carrot soup. Other villagers would not have something so different, like radish, potatoes, or sweet potatoes… often doing trades between families to have a nice variety of vegetables to eat. But Jason had been rejecting interactions with others so they would not shower him with questions about Ervas.

Ervas would usually kill his prey with the poisonous spiky vine, which had evolved into a Plant-type monster, named Venomous Spiky Vine Serpent. However, the other plants also evolved, the Sticky Grass became Demon Sticky Grass, and the two young tree sprouts became Devil Tree Sprouts.

They now have some ways of attacking, such as manipulating their bodies and extending them like tentacles. However, the vine was still the strongest.

But Ervas decided to use the others, which were not venomous, to hunt some Rabbits and Rats, and bring them home through the underground, which was moved by the Devil Tree Sprouts.

Ervas choose a specific time of the day where most villagers were outside to open the backdoor and retrieve the underground delivery.

The blue-colored roots appeared with three Horned Rabbits and two Demon Rats tightly wrapped in long leaves.

"Thank you," said Ervas, taking the 'delivery' with his Telekinesis spell, bringing it inside the house, and closing the door. It seems that no one saw him.

"Now father will be happy when he sees this… though, I should butcher them first…" said Ervas, showcasing his masterful use of 'Telekinesis' while wielding a thin knife to cut down the corpses and butcher them. After a few hours, the five corpses were properly butchered, with their blood take away and their internal organs as well put inside a bucket.

"Hm… If I let them there, they will smell… I will cast the 'Disinfection' spell on them…"

'Disinfection' was a Level 1 Life Attribute Spirit Magic Spell, which did what it said, disinfected an object or person from microbes and bacteria, alongside dirt or other 'uncleanly' things.

Ervas decided to use it on the bucket with all of the blood and innards as well, so it would not rot fast.

The knowledge about microbes and bacteria was almost non-existent in Kritias, so this spell would often not show their true potential if the caster did not know what to target other than 'nasty things' such as dirt or dust.

However, because Ervas came from Earth, he naturally knew the existence of microscopic organisms, being able to target them with 'Disinfection' and show this often 'useless' spell its true potential.

Being finally done, he decided to rest, while munching on the cleanly butchered corpse of a Demon Rat.

"Hmm… eating raw meat doesn't feel as gross as I imagined. Is it because I am a demon? Or is it because I am nasty?" wondered Ervas.

"Muh, muh," said Gaia.

"Hm, I guess it's just a taste, everyone has different tastes. In my previous life, I was always served well-cooked food because I was from royalty, even if it was Demon royalty, the food was well prepared… so I never truly give it a try to raw meat. It feels… natural to eat it, and the blood is unbelievably delicious, the meat is juicy and fatty. Demon Rats have more grease and are tender in the stomach and the shoulders" said Ervas, analyzing the meat.

"Muh, muh," said Gaia.

"What about Horned Rabbits you ask? They are even more tender, and their legs are probably the best part… but they lack grease, especially in the sides of their stomach. And they have very thin meat in the shoulders and back… wait, now that I think about it… I should use the bones and horns to create tools for father… perhaps a Bone Shield and a Bone Armor? I never thought about it that way… I did receive some studies about crafting, but never learned the skill." Said Ervas.

"Muh!" said Gaia.

"It's a good idea, isn't it? Alright, I will give it a try… I will multitask while reading the book, using 'Telekinesis' to craft armor, a shield, and a weapon and also train magic. Oh, and let us not forget killing monsters outside to earn Experience Points passively… Can I leave the task of ordering the plants to you, Gaia?" asked Ervas.

Gaia floated around and nodded.

"Muh, muh," she said.

"Thanks, I really appreciate your help. You're a good friend" said Ervas, patting Gaia's tiny body.

"Muuh…!" said Gaia, seemingly embarrassed.

Ervas's plants had yet to Rank Up, as they were still Rank 1 Plant-type monsters, but they were already completely domesticated by him. They easily responded to his mana and his commands with ease and had a fervent loyalty.

The taming of Plant-type monsters was often seen as very rare by the Tamers of the world of Kritias, only those capable of doing so were Dryads, which were considered a subspecies of elves, similar to Fairies.

This was because, similarly to Undead and Insect-type monsters, plants had very raw instincts and seemed to be impossible for them to listen to a tamer correctly or forge a bond with them. Only Dryads or very advanced Life Attribute Mages were capable of properly taming them…

Ervas could be said to be a prodigy in this, at the age of two, he had tamed over five plant-type monsters. Even if they were Rank 1, they were very loyal to him, and would probably continue to be so as they Rank up and become stronger.

As Ervas did all these tasks that he has given to himself, he thought about which names to give to them… The Vine would probably get the obvious 'Ivy' name… but the others were hard… perhaps he will use 'Memory Retention' to remember some mythological creatures of earth and name them.

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