On the morning of his third day, Kivas crawled out of his home to stretch his body again, even though it wasn't necessary for his body.
'It seems like I woke up earlier. She is still in her portable tent.'
Usually, Kivas would commence his daily work out like some sort of muscle freak, but this time, he had another plan.
"Aaargrhrghrghrg…"
Vocal practice.
He didn't have the chance to do it yesterday because he was always in the vicinity of the rodent lass. He didn't want to intimidate the youth by saying random nonsense in case that he couldn't really speak yet after dying again and again without uttering a single word. Or, in case that the constitution that he got from the boon didn't really give him the ability to speak comprehensively.
It was just like how he could bark after he acquired the Cerberus' Constitution. He already had a hunch that it would go terribly if he were to speak anything with the vocal cord of the Taotie's Constitution.
'Yup, I can't even pronounce a proper vowel.'
After half an hour of practice, he ditched the idea of trying to properly communicate with the rodent lass.
'I'll just play the role of the silent monster for now.'
And so, Kivas prepared the campfire once again and began to catch some fish in the river by directly lunging into his prey. Sometimes, he used his pointy spectral crustacean limbs but because of how heavy it was, Kivas still had some problem on controlling the power after a fast acceleration, which disembodied the fish like a crushed pudding.
He felt a little bit nostalgic, even though the method of fishing was night and sky different from the fishing that he did in his former life.
'Yup, that is a nice charred skin.' Kivas rearranged the skewered fish to give an even cooking. 'It might be nice if I can get my hands on the condiments of this world. Maybe some soy sauce to dip in, I like how they do the mackerel in japanese restaurants.'
As he cooked the fish over the fire, Kivas noticed that it took quite a while for the rodent lass to wake up. Even until the grilling was done, the rat girl was still within her tent, sleeping quite soundly.
'Either that she was dead tired, or she had just recently started sleeping.'
Kivas then took the leaves of a plant that was greatly similar to banana tree, using them to wrap the grilled food after washing them by the river.
He then left the sector of his base of operation after writing a tame illustration of himself on the side of a big plank of wood used as the support for the skewer. It didn't really do much except that it gave a sense of safety for the rodent lass even when he was not around. Then again, it would probably lead to an even more confusion on Angravada's side.
'Yup! Time to continue my job as Wildlife Biologist!'
Kivas strode through the veins of the forest, trying to go to the place that he had not uncovered within the little minimap in his head. He was especially excited on this occasion because he thought that the glaring and the dance that Angravada did was some kind of communication, hence he hoped that he would acquire the [Tautology] boon, the only savior real blessing that he wanted to acquire after suffering from the unclear instructions of the boon.
He went to the east, passing through the river and climbed through the slope onto the higher ground from where the river turned into a waterfall near his home. This time, Kivas could sprint as long as he wanted without even trying to conserve his minimalistic strategy, so the pace of exploration that he commenced today was 5 times more efficient as a result.
Beside the usual Snappy Plants and the typical ambushes of the Hasty Chompers, Kivas didn't really find anything new. Of course, it was easier to deal with them now that Kivas had four Hellfire Missiles as legs that he could retract back before using them again.
'As always, I couldn't get used to the uncanny increase of acceleration that I can generate by contracting the spectral links.' Kivas then wiped his legs against the grass to remove the saliva and liquid residues of the impaled carnivorous plants. 'Well, I don't really want to do it as much as I do now, back then. But now that the stamina issues have been fixed, I can go a little bit wild!'
Kivas might be a veteran soldier who shed enough blood to turn an aggressive activist into a pacifist, but it doesn't change the fact that there was a clear difference of experience and feeling to fighting against an enemy that was still part of humankind, and fighting against something unrealistic, something of a fantasy where everything he knows were thrown out of the window, where moral and ethic could be reforged to possess a new foundation on a former human perceive the world.
To him, all of this was similar to a dangerous game. Something akin to a high stake gambling in a casino. There were consequences and opposition, but the act of gambling itself managed to dehumanize all players on the board. Just like in poker, there was no ally. Every man for himself, and every man or no man strives to win for themself.
It was no more trying to avoid cold eye contact from the enemies he shot. It was no more forcefully weighing down his heart to feel less sympathetic.
'Weird, there is a huge difference in the numbers of these Snappy Plants. than the other areas.' Kivas began to eat the bitter plants that he had beaten as he went on sending his sharp legs to the enemies.
Purple flare after purple flare that was sent from the torch, Kivas fended up endless waves of abnormally hungry plants. After a mountain of Snappy Chompers, the perpetrator arrived at the scene.
It was a Blue Bongus with the majority of its body colored in black. The mushroom on its dorsal mutated and began to form seven vine-like tentacles with razor sharp scythe at the end of it, waggling back and forth like a martial dance of death.
The intense scene however, immediately changed its tone after a wind chime along a flash of gold light was seen.
'Yeaaaaaah! Baby! That's what I'm waiting for!'
Kivas disregarded the threat of the mutated Blue Bongus as he sent out a wide swipe of all four of his spectral-wire controlled Hellfire Missiles the moment he hopped into the air.
The incoming army of the Hasty Chompers were taken out rather brutally along with their atypical leader. The boar-like body of the Blue Bongus was torn apart, launching the demonic mushroom and its visible complex roots into the air.
'Hmm????'
Just as he landed on the pile of carnivorous plants on all four, the mushroom had also landed on the ground on all sevens. Just like how Kivas hooked the ground in front of him and dragged himself in to move forward with great velocity, before launching a downslash from above to take down his enemy. The demonic mushroom did the same, mirroring the exact stance and speed of momentum.
Seeing the most efficient action available in his arsenal, Kivas merely opened his mouth wide open as he leaped forward, chomping the mushroom as a whole. There were attempts of resistance from the scythe tentacles that were still outside, but it all died down after Kivas crushed the main body of the mushroom.
'Hmmm, the taste is puke inducing, highly not fit for human consumption, even.' Knowing that his special stomach might be able to nullify everything that enters down his digestive system into pure energy, Kivas had no problem slurping the hanging tentacles and swallowing everything as a whole. 'Better than the crackers on military MRE, if we talk about a matter of preference.'
Seeing how there was an aggressive subspecies of the Blue Bongus that could control the carnivorous plant to do its bidding, Kivas spared no time to fulfill his self proclaimed job as a Wildlife Biologist.
'I'll name that atrocious thing as Dark Bongus.'
As always, his naming sense was a tad bit on the noose.
He didn't realize that the mutation of the Bongus was triggered by him. And without further ado, he immediately checked the content of his purple orb to further prove his theory about the boon requirement.
Beside an unknown Boon of Constitution that he didn't have any slight of interest by the slightest, was the [Tautology] that he was looking for like a lost child.
'Hahahaha!! I finally found you!'
[Tautology]
-The villain of the villain is the villain, aren't they? They who disappear into the ashes of wood, will someday leave a strange red liquid. It's late at night on New Year's Eve, and the chimney monster has died. They slept barefoot. It was like an artificial flower. The fake's fake is a fake, aren't they?-
-Sometimes, the original description of the boon doesn't make sense. Henceforth, thou shan't despair! For the rest acquired boons from this point onward, shall have a second description that precisely tells what they actually do. Like this!-
Kivas began to commence his weird dance that could be mistaken as a ritual to summon a demon. To replenish more of his energy, he began eating the leftover plant flesh of the carnivorous plant that was left on the floor. It might be useful, he thought. Afterall, what kind of gluttony that fed off bitter and non-fit-for-consumption things?
'I want to puke, but I guess it felt more refreshing than nothing? Is it weird that I thought of disgusting amalgamation to be refreshing??'
As Kivas tried to head more onto the east, he noticed that the ground became more and more muddy as he ventured.
At some point, he stumbled upon the pressed prints of shoes on those muds.
A whole lot of them.