"Chickie nuggies! That's way too many beasts!" Lin Wu exclaimed.
He had expected for there to be many beasts in this forest but had never expected that there would so many in such a short area.
'I gotta be really careful or I may accidentally get stepped on and it will not be the good kind of getting stepped on.' Lin Wu thought.
Lin Wu then started formulating possible plans that he could use. He knew that he was not fast or strong enough to kill beasts in a straightforward way, thus would have to set up a trap. Though here came the question about what kind of trap he could make, since he did not have hands to make any complex ones.
The most obvious trap he could think of was a hole, in which beasts could fall in. But the problem was that he didn't know what other beasts there existed in the forest. If they were too big, then they would just escape the trap and also damage it, wasting the effort that Lin Wu spent in making it.
Hence he decided to see which beasts would be suitable for him.
"System, do you have data on what beasts are there in the area? If so, then can you tell me what small beasts are there that I can kill?" Lin Wu questioned.
~Ding~
—————————————————————————————————
ANSWER: There is data available on eleven common beasts that are found in the area. Of these eleven beasts, two fall into the category that the host has asked for.
These beasts are-
1. Leaf Wind Sparrow
2. Common Grass mouse
—————————————————————————————————
"Huh, that's it? I've already seen the Common Grass mouse and there's no way I can kill a bird, it will just fly away. The system is back to being stupid. Do you not have more information?" Lin Wu said.
~Ding~
NOTIFICATION: Please use the scanner function and obtain more data.
'It's useless. It doesn't have any more information, I guess. I'll just need to wing it and figure it out on my own.' Lin Wu thought.
'Though if I want to use the scanner function, I need more energy. But I don't want to use too much on it either or I won't be able to increase my cultivation.' Lin Wu thought.
As Lin Wu was thinking this his gaze wandered over to the corpses that were still lying there.
"That's it I can just eat these first, they should be able to provide me some energy at least." Lin Wu muttered to himself.
But just as Lin Wu muttered this, another notification appeared.
~Ding~
NOTIFICATION: The two corpses have been drained of their free energies and have been used for powering the processes of the system. The host is recommended to consume the corpses to obtain their fixed energies.
"Chickie nuggies! Why are you only telling me now, you stupid system? I could have eaten them before." Lin Wu cursed.
Now knowing what he needed to do, Lin Wu started his task. He started with the boar as he felt a little disgusted and reluctant to eat the human corpse, as he was a former human. But still, he knew that he would have to change his mindset as he was no longer a human and was in a life-threatening situation.
Lin Wu wondered how long it would take him to eat them both as they were pretty massive. The corpse of the boar was thousands of times bigger than his, thus he knew that it was gonna be a tough task.
Lin Wu came close to the boar's leg and chomped on it. Its skin was tough and covered with thin fur, thus it was difficult for Lin Wu to eat it. It took him a minute to even be able to gnaw through the skin. After the first piece was finally cut off, he swallowed it.
Forcefully ignoring the taste that was spreading in his mouth, Lin Wu kept on eating. Though once he had gnawed through the skin, it was easier to eat the flesh itself. Having discovered this, Lin Wu exclusively started eating the flesh.
Even though his size had increased from centimeters to almost thirty centimeters, it still took Lin Wu about twenty hours to finish the leg. By now he was feeling a little tired of eating and also a little disgusted. His body was covered in traces of blood and flesh gunk.
He crawled out from the leg of the boar, which was basically just skin and bone now, and relaxed on the ground. He curled up his body in a half-circle and lounged against the corpse.
~Haah~
Lin Wu let out a breath of tiredness after lounging down. He had gotten used to this body much faster than he had expected and now did not feel any discomfort as he used to before. Even the absence of his limbs was not bothering him as much.
'Is this just me adapting or am I forgetting my human body's habits?' Lin Wu wondered.
After having thought of a few things, he decided to see his data. He wanted to see how much energy he had obtained from the beast until now.
"Host Data" Lin Wu commanded.
~Ding~
——————————————————————————————————
HOST NAME: Lin Wu
AGE: 26 days
LIFESPAN: 2 months
HOST SPECIES: Common Mud Worm (enhanced) [juvenile]
HOST CULTIVATION: Third stage of the Body tempering Realm
-Vital energy required to upgrade = [000/400] units
QI STORAGE: Unavailable [Insufficient cultivation]
BLOODLINE: None
CULTIVATION TECHNIQUES: None
QI SKILLS: None
INVENTORY: Empty
BEAST CORE: Not formed
VITAL ENERGY STORAGE: 115 units
SYSTEM ENERGY STORAGE: 20 units
RAW BLOODLINE DATA COLLECTED: 1. Common Grass Mouse
—————————————————————————————————
The first thing Lin Wu noticed was the change in the energy storages. The System energy had decreased by 5 units, while the Vital energy had increased by 110 units.
"Whoa! That's a lot. I didn't expect that I'll be getting so much from just one leg. Nice, at least now I can upgrade to the next stage quicker." Lin Wu spoke with surprise.
Lin Wu thought about the potential energy that was still in the beast's corpse. If there were 110 units in one leg, then there should be at least an average of 100 units in each of the legs. Just the legs would be enough for him to progress to the next stage of the body tempering realm, not to mention the entire body.
' I guess, I'll eat all of the legs first and then upgrade, before eating the rest of the body. Though just eating the one leg took me an entire day. This is going to be a little tough.' Lin Wu thought.
After a few more minutes of rest, Lin Wu went back to eating the flesh from the other leg of the boar. He used the same method as before. He gnawed a hole in the tough skin and then crawled in to just eat the flesh.
Three days passed in a flash and Lin Wu had finally finished eating that last leg. He crawled out of the skin and curled up again. The corpse of the boar looked deflated and had also started stinking. It had obviously started rotting and was letting out a foul stench.
Though surprisingly to Lin Wu, the flesh was not disgusting but rather delicious. Even the taste of the decomposing flesh tasted better to him. He was surprised at first but then attributed it to him being a worm now. Worms were detritivorous, so it was obvious that they would like to eat rotting stuff.
"Host Data" Lin Wu commanded.
He wanted to see how much energy he had obtained in this entire endeavor.
~Ding~
——————————————————————————————————
HOST NAME: Lin Wu
AGE: 29 days
LIFESPAN: 2 months
HOST SPECIES: Common Mud Worm (enhanced) [juvenile]
HOST CULTIVATION: Third stage of the Body tempering Realm
-Vital energy required to upgrade = [000/400] units
QI STORAGE: Unavailable [Insufficient cultivation]
BLOODLINE: None
CULTIVATION TECHNIQUES: None
QI SKILLS: None
INVENTORY: Empty
BEAST CORE: Not formed
VITAL ENERGY STORAGE: 442 units
SYSTEM ENERGY STORAGE: 20 units
RAW BLOODLINE DATA COLLECTED: 1. Common Grass Mouse
———————————��—————————————————————
Lin Wu felt happy at seeing the increased vital energy. He had obtained 327 units of vital energy from the remaining three limbs. Each limb had a different amount of every contained within it and it all accumulated to for the number in front of him.
'Finally, now I can upgrade to the next stage.' Lin Wu thought.
"System, use 400 units of vital energy to upgrade my cultivation to the next stage."
~DING~
COMMAND ACCEPTED: Upgrading Host's cultivation
NOTIFICATION: The host will experience pain during the upgrade process, would the host prefer to be tranquilized?
"What? You asking me this time. At least your behavior has improved." Lin Wu spoke.
"Yes, I give you permission to tranquilize me." Lin Wu replied.
~Ding~
PERMISSION GRANTED: Initiating upgrade process
The notification window flashed in front of Lin Wu's eyes for a moment before his consciousness started to fade and his vision turned to dark.