He got out of the water and air dried for a few minutes. He put on his clothes, which was a generous description of what was really just rags as his shirt and pants had been torn apart from his previous fight. However, it was either that or he was going to walk around naked. Which he preferred not to do unless he had no other choice. He made his way over to his teacher who was standing in the same spot as before with his eyes closed seemingly asleep.
As Havok got closer his teacher opened his eyes, "Now let's finish up. Based on that growl the hunger should be hitting you full force, especially with how much mana you used earlier. I will teach you how to clean up meat.
I will also tell you about how beneficial mana beasts are to rankers even more so for beginners as your body has yet to be enhanced by their meat. This beast in front of you had just managed to form its beast core not that long before you fought it. It's exactly what you are thinking. It serves the same basic function as a mana core for humans." His teacher continued as Havok kept working.
"The ranks from weakest to strongest are red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, violet, bronze, silver, gold and the last rank is an amalgamation of all the previous colors, it's called a complete core. However, you are very far off from the upper ranks, so I won't talk about them unless you get closer to them. Another important thing to remember as a ranker is that you have to know your limit. What I mean by that is know who you can and can't fight. Not knowing your limit could very well lead to your death. The weak and idiotic are the ones that die from not being able to gauge an opponent's strength and act accordingly. Inflated egos and pride cause the deaths of many rankers who believe they are stronger since they surround themselves with other dumbasses who don't know what real strength is-" His teacher stopped as he realized he was going off topic.
"Ahem. Anyways back to the mana beasts they rank up by consuming other mana beasts, humans, natural treasures or just living in an area that has purer mana. Their biggest fighting advantage is that they are physically stronger than humans at the same rank and their bodies are also tougher. The way to tell a mana beast's rank is to look at the color of their eyes, their eye color will match their rank's color. They don't have to worry about fussing with their mana core like other races do, when mana goes into their body it goes straight into their beast core. They do have a glaring weakness. They will choose a place with dense mana and go into a semi-hibernation state when they are advancing ranks. If someone is able to attack a mana beast that is ranking up, they would do major harm to their beast core, even if they don't kill them outright. Another weakness is that unlike humans who have several types of professions the mana beasts do not have that, they are all warriors."
"Moving onto their hierarchy, the ones with the strongest bloodlines rule over all the other beasts in their clan. Whoever has the purest bloodline is still groomed as the head of the clan, even if there are other beasts in the clan that have a higher rank." Havok, who was multitasking as he listened to what his teacher was saying, finally finished with the elk and sat down to listen to his teacher as he was fascinated by what he was hearing.
His teacher continued, "While this system can be stupid at times, for example, let's say you have a green core ranked mana beast leading a certain tribe. If someone gives birth to a baby with a purer bloodline, they will be able to tell as their own bloodlines will have a feeling of servitude towards whomever has the purest bloodline. Then that baby will become the next ruler of the tribe regardless of the fact they were just born and have not even made any contributions to the tribe next, and they don't currently have the strength needed to rule. Which I think is fucking stupid, but the reason for their fanatic belief in pure bloodlines is because of their inherited techniques."
"Humans inherit their techniques from their affinity. Think of it like a giant tree with an incalculable number of branches and each branch leads to different techniques for different people. No one knows for sure how it works, that is just how I have come to understand it. You need to rank up to get the truly powerful techniques. Mana beasts, however, have no such limitation on getting stronger techniques. As soon as they form their beast core, they gain their bloodline techniques."
"Humans are selfish, shitty creatures and only share things when they can gain something. Mana beasts are different, once they gain their bloodline techniques and are able to train it, they will then share it with their tribe. Which means that every beast that has even a sliver of their bloodline is able to learn this powerful technique, which increases the overall strength of the clan."
"This is the biggest difference between humans and mana beasts. Beasts think about their clan and aren't concerned with their own personal benefit. While humans only think about what they can gain as an individual. That is why I said that I can understand why they treat those with purest bloodlines with such reverence because of how they benefit the entire clan's strength as a whole instead of just worrying about themselves." He stopped as heard Havok's stomach growl again. He knew that the only reason that Havok wasn't complaining about being hungry is because he was too enamored with what he was hearing.
"Before I continue you need to eat before you pass out, now that you have cleaned and trimmed the meat, there are some pots and pans over there. Have you ever cooked anything before?" He questioned as he noticed the usually confident Havok looked unsure of what to do.
"Nope. I have never eaten meat before or had a hot meal, I have read about it before, but I have never actually done it. I didn't even know that food could be hot until a few years ago when I read about it." Havok said, as he shrugged and shook his head.
His teacher looked at him bewildered, "Then what the fuck have you been eating until now!?" He looked at Havok as if he was some foreign creature. Havok was also stunned, his teacher had not cursed since he met him, and he yelled for the first time. He chuckled seeing his teacher lose his cool. His teacher blushed as he was embarrassed as he lost the air that a person of his station should have.
Havok's response further confused his teacher. "Well, I grew up having this truly awful slop. They would gather all of the nutrients the body needs to be able to develop. I assume they got the cheapest and most disgusting versions based on the way it tasted. I can't describe the taste properly as it made me vomit multiple times, only those who have tasted it can know how truly revolting it was." His teacher just stared at him with a blank look as if frozen for a while.
"..."
"..."
There was a long awkward silence as they just stared at each other.
His teacher finally spoke, "I…I…I am not sure how to respond to that… The good news is that you won't need to suffer through anything like that again. As your strength grows so will the type of beasts you can kill. The rarer the beast is or the stronger the mana beast, the more delicious and succulent they are. You are in luck because cooking and eating are two of my favorite things. I'll show you how to cook and help you come up with recipes. Now let's get started." His teacher took the meat and made sure that Havok could see everything he was doing. He described what he was doing as he did it just to give Havok as clear understanding as possible.
His teacher sliced the meat like a professional and made it look easy. He got a fire started and placed the pan on it. He waited until the pan was smoking before he added the meat. As soon as the elk meat touched the pan a smell wafted over to him and filled the cave with a delicious smell. He didn't notice, but his mouth was wide open, and it was watering. It got to the point that it began to look like the waterfall in the cave as it flowed from his mouth.
He looked like a starving beast that just spotted the most delectable meal ever. He blocked out everything else and only focused on the meat in the pan. He even stopped listening to what his teacher was saying. His teacher noticed that Havok was no longer paying attention to him. He didn't mind it though as he couldn't imagine how he would react if he smelled cooked me for the first time ever. Havok was someone that had yet to eat a hot meal for the first 10 years of his life. He figured that his reaction would be even more exaggerated than Havok's reaction. He continued to add spices to the meat, and he finished a few minutes later, he placed the meat on a plate made out of wood.
Havok took the plate and held it like a precious treasure. He reached to pick up the piping hot elk meat. He was still in his trance right when he grabbed and immediately snapped out his trance. The piece of meat was about a footlong. It weighed about 5lbs. It burned his hand causing him to scream out in pain. "Ahh! Damn that hurts! Oww! Oww! Oww!" Havok screamed waving his hand around trying to cool it off.
'What the hell happened? I only remember the meat hitting the pan, getting a whiff of that amazing fragrance. It seems like I blacked out.' Havok was bewildered trying to remember what happened.
His teacher chuckled seeing Havok woken up from his trance. "Relax and circulate your mana to your hand to heal yourself. It's nice to see you finally woke up. Here is a knife and fork.
Do you know how to use them?"
Havok shook his head.
The teacher proceeded to show Havok how to cut the meat.
Havok did as he was told and gathered his mana in his right hand healing the burn marks at a rapid pace. He finished, turned around and watched how his teacher cut the meat. His teacher handed the knife and fork to Havok, and he started to cut up the food before he took a bite and his eyes widened. Havok was stunned and froze as he seemed like he didn't know what to do.
He swallowed the elk meat and stuttered as he turned to his teacher.