It was already a week since the new age arrived, and it had also been a few days since Morgan died. Clover managed to survive in these past few days alone, with what he learned from Morgan, and through that, he was thankfully breathing.
If you say that it was through luck that he survived, then you are wrong. Since Clover encountered many beasts over these past few days, some of them were so vicious that they could take Clover his life with just their bite.
Instead of making it a traumatic experience, Clover savored it with a smile and accepted their challenges, and managed to beat them with his own. He didn't need to rely upon Morgan anymore, and it made him feel proud. While at the same time, the grief inside his heart still occupied it.
This was the reason why he didn't turn and run away when he could spot a predator beast and challenge it with himself. He was trying to use this method to slowly diminish the negative feeling inside him.
It made him feel uncomfortable, so he wanted to take it out. He couldn't do it forcefully, and just used this way to take its time to leave inside him. Even when he faced the monster who survived his killer move, he didn't run and faced it with boldness.
"If I can't beat it with my killer move, then beat it with my fist, and if my fist is immobile and can't punch it to death anymore, I will use my leg to kick its ass, and if the leg is immobile and I couldn't continue to kick its ass, then I will bite its ear, and let it bleed to death."
This was Clover's new improved mindset. His body already experienced the feeling of death, just like what he encountered with that mutated lion. Through many beasts he confronted, not all of them could be at the level of the lion.
They were like just a dog version of the lion, that's why he couldn't help but feel disappointed. Although the beast he meets almost takes his life, he still feels that they were not enough. Indeed it was just like a successful man who sought more than the fact he already achieved enough.
Now he was standing on the branches of the large tree, which could let him see the horizon of his present location. Even with this angle, he could still see nothing but trees, and not a single structure could be seen. He sometimes wondered if he was still on the same planet as before.
He took a deep sniff of breath and enjoyed the taste of the air that signifies the beauty of nature. The leaves fluttered from the breezing wind like a child showing its side of mischievousness, but a rustle below the bush interrupted it. Annoyed by this scene, he moved his left hand, and a knife manifested on it with a casual swipe of his limb.
Swoosh
The knife disappeared, and a sound of tearing mud reverberated. The leaves on the bush were also sliced as the knife went through it. It was then a crimson liquid slowly slithering out of the bush, with a great distance, Clover managed to inhale it and sense the rusty metal smell.
With a thud, a head laid down outside of the bush, with blood enveloping its body, the gore came out of where the knife penetrated it.
When the body was fully shown, Clover was ecstatic. Finally, he could now eat tasty yummy food. He was tired of eating the same food over and over again, and it made his taste dull, and he couldn't just eat the beast he killed either, he didn't know if they were edible or not, since they were ferocious. He also couldn't see another narcissistic deer anymore, he was left with the fish with no signs of mutations.
That's why when the thought of eating a lump of meat manifested in his mind, his stomach grumbled ā as if showing its impatience to digest it.
Awaken by the grumbling stomach, he hastily jumps down from the branch and approaches the food. Looking closely, it was a white rabbit with a size comparable to a cat. The rabbit had black horns, and its durability could compare to his knife. Thankfully, his knife hit the body instead it's head.
The rabbit died with open red eyes, which shows its beast side. If he fought this rabbit, with its known for agility, for sure it would be troublesome to kill it. Maybe the luck part about why he survived played a role in why he's still alive.
Taking out the knife from its body, the gruesome sight didn't make him feel nauseous but instead; exhilarated him. Taking out its intestine and its innards, he grabbed the rabbit and walked down to where the river was.
***
Night arrived as the darkness enveloped the wilderness. Clover was sitting in front of the light ā burning and illuminating the night surrounding him ā seriously contemplating what to do onwards.
Every bite of the meat from the rabbit, he savored and didn't waste even a pickle of it. All the meat that was glued to the stick, which was caused by roasting wasn't exempted. The meat also helps him gather his thoughts, and boost his thinking capability.
His eyes lost focus, as his mind wandered about Morgan's death which he regretted the most. If he wasn't being a coward that time and studied the carcasses of the beast he killed. Both of them could take away for murder, but sadly, fate was playing with him.
His deadly fatal strike was ineffective outside the human body, and without having an understanding of the basic structure of the beast's body, he couldn't upgrade the skill to that level. Though, it was still wondered if the skill could be upgraded.
Thinking of that, he asked God's Record, "System, could the skill be upgraded?"
[It depends on the classification of what skills it is. Yours can't be upgraded but will grow alongside you.]
"Okay."
He didn't need to control his voice volume anymore, as he was alone at the moment. A nostalgia appeared in his mind, which revealed a slight change in his expression. He couldn't help but be sentimental about the time he needed to control his voice, and sometimes couldn't control it.
Forgetting about it, his mind wander about the classification skills. Since his skill was a secret technique which was also a type of self-made skill, could only leave a possibility that this type of technique was a passive one, since it would grow alongside him.
He didn't ask anymore regarding other's skill types and their classifications, since he was afraid that he would become reliant on her from now. And regarding this, God said that they would be given a manual to them, and all they need to do was to wait.
He grumbled about how many days God needed to take, for him to spread it. He should have known the dire situation that the Earth become, wasn't it? As he already suspected that the population would decrease much.
Crunch
He sunk his teeth into the stick he was holding, as he didn't notice that the meat had long been dissipated, and being dissolved to his stomach. The stomach was greedily devouring the meat though, as it was also bored of eating the same food all over again.
Throwing the stick with annoyance, he looked through the burning fire before him that was being ignited through the wood. His gaze turned into a daze, as the booming voice descend once more, and a light pressure not like the heavy pressure before accompanied its descent.
Hearing that, a glee smile has shown on his face, as he murmured to express his delight, and said, "It's finally here."