Three dead bodies were spread across the patch of land, one polluting the small pond, one lying under the tree, and the last one under my feet.
The entire area was covered with blood. Both mine and theirs.
My leg grew back.
I immediately cut all their bellies open so they wouldn't explode.
"That's that I guess." I sat down against a tree.
"I expected it to be a lot easier. Maybe you're weaker than I expected." Liu landed on my shoulder pulling the grimoire along.
"You literally keep track of my strength."
"I- nevermind. Aren't you going to eat them?"
"I'm pretty full, I'll just let my hand consume them." It was something that I realised. I had two mouths now. One was my branding and the other was my actual mouth. As long as the substance went inside either, I would get the power. The hand was just more convenient as the beasts didn't occupy my stomach afterwards.
My hand started to glow as it started to extract the blood from all around me. I felt the mana flowing into me. And at the same time, the area around me was clean of all blood... except mine.
The process wasn't as simple as eating them. The process took a decent minute, and then the grimoire opened up in front of me.
{ Strength - One/Ten - D }
{ Agility - Nine/Ten - C }
{ Endurance - Ten/Ten - E }
{ Dexterity - Seven/Ten - E }
"Ah, I should announce the rest since I'm not in the grimoire anymore." Liu stood up and hopped on the grimoire. "Let me see, you got the skill ( Foresight - E ) out of those wolves. And well, the standard, you can't summon the wolves because of the lack of mana."
So they could see into the future after all. I was literally an actual pawn on the chess board.
"That aside, how do I even get that mana?" My branding was starting to calm down after taking its fill. "I felt mana flow into me just now, so how much more do I even need?"
"You don't need any more. You just can't use it yet."
"But you said lack of mana."
"Tomato tomato. You have muscle under the fat, doesn't mean you can claim to be muscular."
"Is that so." Her plain face while answering was unnerving. It felt like I was talking to a doll.
"You'll be able to get it as soon as you get the Intelligence trait. And how do you do that? Well, by fighting an intelligent being."
"I'd say those wolves were pretty smart."
"That's why you don't have the intelligence trait yet." Liu jabbed at me.
"Uhh huh, then what about the guys I killed back in Rottheim."
"Did you take the time to let your arm absorb them? In all honesty, you not having the intelligence trait is somewhat on me. If I had let you kill Rumie back then, you would have definitely had it." She flew right in front of me. "But believe me, she will be of importance to you in the future."
I didn't really like that idea. Rumie was the type that I despised the most. But as an individual I was starting to dislike her less.
"The skeletal form was able to summon them." I mumbled.
"It's best that you don't think of that body as your own yet. Anyways, get ready, we need to move again."
The grimoire flipped its pages to the map.
"Already? It hasn't even been five minutes yet."
"You need to beet a God after all."
As I got up to start my next hunt, my blood started to turn black and evaporate, and vegetation started to cover the carcasses and my leg. As if the forest was eating it. As if it was detoxifying.
Vines were overgrowing and the blood in the pond was now clear as day.
Pristine.
No wonder this place was so clean.
"Keep your foresight on at all times. That's the best skill you- Wait. I can do this." Liu slapped her hand on the grimoire as it started to glow.
[ Combining ( Foresight - E ) with ( Natural Predator - C ) to create ( Peak Predator - C ) ]
"Use it!" Then she turned around to look at me. That was the most emotion I had seen on her face. And it wasn't even that expressive.
"Peak Predator." I called out and the entire world got darker and lighter at the same time. As if the contrast had increased a hundredfold. A leaf from a tree a couple of meters away fell. And as it did, 6 more originated from that same body, falling a bit faster.
It didn't take a genius to realise what that was. Predicted images, of where the leaf would fall from that point onwards. And sure enough, as more seconds passed some of the routes not taken, started to vanish and new ones started to form. And the leaf fell to the ground just as I predicted.
No wonder the wolves were so efficient.
"There." Liu pointed at a new pack of wolves. This time with four members.
"Another one?"
"These are the only beasts you are capable of fighting right now with your abilities and are also the prime targets to get your peak predator up."
"Alright." I bent forward and charged straight at them.
And a similar pattern of events took place. The only difference was that I saw mirages of where the wolves were headed before they could even make their move. Sure they weren't the most accurate, but I had an idea now.
My movements were frisk and my strength was noticeably higher. A single point in the grimoire meant a lot.
Anyways, I had a new strategy now.
Divide and conquer.
I took blows, but taking those blows created opportunities, a second of gaps. A second that I used to knock back some wolves just enough for them not to be able to help their pack out.
As soon as the other three were pushed back, it was one against one.
I placed a spike in every direction that the other wolves could have possibly taken holding them. back. Once I killed the first one. The task got even simpler.
It was no longer a pawn against four knights. It was a knight against four weaker knights.
After I took one of the wolves, down it was already time to take down the next one.
And with that one rinse and repeat workflow, the four other wolves died.
I consumed their carcasses, and moved on to another pack.
And then another. And another. And another.