(CHAPTER UPDATE: Made the wolf a little smaller :) )
Zareth's hellish rage soon calmed down as his mother began to cook food.
Although he wasn't the happiest camper, he didn't dare to piss off Freya who seemed to already be in a gloomy mood right now.
Ever since being reborn, Zareth knew that he was eventually going to have to run away from this family. After all, there was no way he was going to formulate an actual relationship with them.
Why would he? It would be a waste of time, and they would only prove to be liabilities later on.
Zareth knew from his past experiences that caring for people only made them targets for your enemies that could be used to inflict pain straight onto you... it wasn't something Zareth wanted for either his parents or himself.
After waiting for what felt like an eternity, Zareth's dish of meat finally arrived to him.
Surprisingly, today's portion was large. It looked delicious, glimmering to Zareth's eyes.
As he took a bite, the adorned and savory flavor of the meat swam through his mouth, melting like butter as it touched his tongue.
Tears fell from his eyes as colorful rainbows formed in the background.
'Oh, how I've craved you so!'
Zareth did not waste any more time and inhaled all of the food in the blink of an eye.
Afterward, he began thinking about his next course of action. Right now, he wanted to hunt beasts during his training time at night, as this looked to be the only way to increase his level as of now.
However, Zareth quickly realized a big thorn in his plans.
From what he could understand, using Hale substituted for sleep, and not using it during the night would mean that he would be getting no sleep which would of course be detrimental to his health and growth, especially as a child.
Also, he couldn't exactly sleep all morning up until noon either because his parents may begin to suspect something was up.
He knew exactly what he needed to do, to train during the night for a shortened amount of time, so for only about four hours until 3 AM in the morning, and then from then on he would come back home and practice using Hale in his sleep.
Of course, this was going to be an absolutely arduous process due to Hale requiring an excellent amount of concentration and focus to keep working.
Taking into account that he was most likely going to fall asleep without using Hale for the many initial days of his practice, Zareth knew that his rank cultivation speed was going to plummet.
However, this was the only thing he could do in order to maximize his power gain output at the moment, he had no other choice.
With this plan in mind, the day quickly turned dark as Zareth used Stamina Absorption on his parents once again before escaping the home. They fell fully asleep at around 11 PM.
Today, or rather, tonight, he was going to achieve his first level up.
Even though his vision was limited in the midst of the verdant forest, he could still get a grip on his surroundings.
For now, he wanted to hunt a beast that was stronger than any normal beast. One that could have slight significance in terms of material value.
In the town center, Zareth had seen many elixir shops within the marketplace.
He knew that if he wanted to become powerful at the fastest of speeds, buying elixirs, which helped in his cultivation, would be the easiest and fastest way to gain high amounts of purified mana in small but short bursts.
Zareth decided that the plot of treeless land he cultivated the night before was a perfect place for an ambush.
It was clear of any places where an animal could potentially camouflage itself, so getting a good view of it would be easy.
Also, a clear plot of land would be a great battle arena since Zareth had not gotten used to fighting in the animal's domain as of yet, that of course being the forest.
As Zareth crouched within a large group of bushes, accessing how he would take the beast down, he calmed his breathing and concealed most of his presence.
Of course, his presence was not completely concealed due to him still not being fully accustomed to his new body.
After thinking about it for a while, Zareth realized there really was no smart strategy that he could use to his benefit within this dark forest.
It seemed that his sheer strength and skills were going to have to be his only aid in the battle.
Suddenly, Zareth heard loud rustling noises inside the bushes that he was in.
Looking to his immediate right, he noticed a single rabbit facing frontwards, also looking to be hiding from the predators of the night.
It seemed like Zareth had noticed its presence before the creature had noticed his.
His wide eyes were now locked on the rabbit like a hawk.
With subtle movements, Zareth slowly approached the creature, before quickly grabbing it by the back of the neck.
The rabbit immediately began to squeal as it kicked its feet chaotically, trying its best to desperately escape.
However, its efforts were in vain.
"Sorry rabbit, wrong place wrong time."
Zareth whispered under his breath before striking the rabbit's neck with his other hand, completely shattering its esophagus which caused it to suffocate to death on the spot.
He had assumed that getting the bait for this hunt was going to be tedious, but it turned out that the goddess of luck was on his side this night.
After ripping the rabbit's head from its neck, Zareth threw the bloody corpse right on top of the flat stone before quickly hiding inside his bush once again.
The blood of a creature was an extremely potent smell that could be smelled by predators from miles away.
Zareth simply hoped that the predator that came wandering over to the corpse was not too much of a powerful one, as he was of course still just a weakling.
However, he had taken this fact into account when setting his bait, as he knew this part of the forest was very clear of predators due to its location being so close to civilization.
Still, the smell of the blood seemed to be enough to lure in predators, as one walked into the treeless patch of land about two hours or so after the bait was set.
In the two hours, Zareth had gotten a piece of wood that resembled a baseball bat to wield as a weapon, although he didn't know how useful it would truly be.
The creature looked to be a large wolf that was over four feet tall in stature, having a thick mantle of gray fur covering its vascular body.
Looking at its savage face, Zareth immediately noticed the ferocious set of razor-sharp teeth in its mouth, along with the claws and muscles of the beast.
It was definitely enough to send shivers down a normal person's back.
'Damn... this bastard might be a little too powerful, however, I don't have much more nighttime left.'
Zareth contemplated for a couple of seconds longer, but he knew that in the end, he had no choice but to face the creature. It was another risk and a big one at that.
This was no longer about getting in trouble, but life and death.
He waited for the perfect moment before attacking. Looking at the beast slowly inch over to the rabbit corpse which was still quite fresh.
Just as its salivating mouth touched the fur of the rabbit, when its guard was at its lowest point, Zareth leaped out of the bushes towards the wolf with the thick wooden stick in hand before powerfully driving it into the skull of the beast from above.