Grant assembled the firewood together and lit it using magic. Then he parted the snake in slices, careful to remove the bones as he went. By the time he was done, it no longer resembled a massive snake, but slices of ribs. He then skewered them and started roasting them on the fire. All the while Castus' stomach rumbled in anticipation.
Grant started pulling the now slightly charred skewers of meat of the fire and handed a few to Castus while taking a number for himself. They ate in silence. Castus was only able to eat two of the massive slices of meat before he couldn't eat anymore. The meat was tough, but the taste was something he had never had before. It was similar to beef, but it had a unique flavor that Castus couldn't put his finger on. He had never eaten snake before. Once they finished up, they sat around the fire. Grant was the first to break the silence.
"You know I don't like doing this right?" He spoke without looking away from the fire.
The words hung in the air as Castus looked up wondering what Grant was talking about.
"I hate the way that the church enslaves people like you. I know at the end of the day you're not much different from us. It's mostly fear from the Chrol wars that happened a few hundred years ago." Grant sighed and absentmindedly pushed some twigs into the fire. Castus' curiosity got the best of him. "What happened?"
Grant looked at Castus and raised an eyebrow. "For as long as history records, people from other worlds would appear here. For a long time, they were considered boons. You brought new technology, innovations. But a few hundred years ago, something changed. The people that came were malicious. They craved power, control, wealth. They used the blessings they came here with, grouped up and tried to subjugate a couple of surrounding countries. At first, they succeeded. But others like them tried to do the same and bloody war ensued. Nearly every country banded together and hunted down your people. Until there were almost none left. The technology and innovations were deemed dangerous and corrupting. Most of it was destroyed. Ever since then when we believe we found a transplant you're locked up and controlled." Grant leaned forward getting close to the fire. "Problem is, it's been hundreds of years and I haven't seen or heard of another transplant acting the same way that those did back then did. Every one of you that I've trained has been peace loving people just trying to survive. Just like most natives here." Grant closed his eyes for a moment.
Castus looked at Grant with pity. This wasn't a man here to force pain on him. This was someone doing a job that he didn't want to do. "It's alright Grant. I understand why the church did it." He sympathized with the man. Castus still wanted his freedom, but he now understood more about why they were taken. Sure, they were useful, but the church was scared of transplants. The world was. His ancestors had tried to conquer the world and now as a descendant he was paying for it.
Castus' word caused a slight smirk on Grant's face. He looked at Castus in the eyes. "Get some rest. I know this sucks, but it just might be your salvation in the end." He paused, before turning back. "Good luck Castus."
They rested for the rest of the day and night recovering from their injuries. Surprisingly Castus felt a lot of the pain in his arm recede by the morning. Turning to Grant he asked. "Grant. Why do I already feel like I've healed a lot?" Grant looked at Castus with a frown. "Thats normal here. It may have been different where you came from, but for your level a day or two will recover most flesh wounds if they aren't fatal." Castus nodded then looked to Grant's body. He took a step back in realization. He still only had one arm, but most of the burns on his body were gone and the cuts were also healed. 'That's unbelievable. He should have been in an ICU for months to heal that, but a night of sleep took it all away.' Castus reeled.
Grant put out the embers of the fire and looked in a direction like he had the first day. "Castus, run in that direction. I'll follow and subdue things for you to kill along the way." Castus, much more receptive to Grant nodded and started a jog.
They continued the pattern of Castus jogging in a direction, luring out monsters, Grant subduing them and Castus landing the final blow and then resting at night. This continued for three months uninterrupted. At this point Castus had reached level 7.
Castus Gliston
Race: [Human]*
Level-7
[Attributes]
Strength-10.5
Vitality-11
Dexterity-10
Intelligence-47
Luck-7
Mana-247.5
Stamina-70
[Skills]
{Passive}
-Basic Ryden Language
-Basic Noble Manners
-Poison Resistance (minor)
-Marathon Runner: The skill owner's body has adapted to running long distances. The skill owner consumes less stamina while running long distances.
-Danger Sense: After being ambushed constantly, the skill owner has developed heightened awareness to threats.
{Active}
-None
{Racial}
-Not awakened
{Blessings}
-Blessing of Creation: One of the many possible Blessings that can be granted to transplants from the Soul Transplantation Corporation. Expand to see more detailed information.
Stat points: 0
Skill points: 6
All the running had given Castus a new passive that made it much easier to run for long periods of time. This made the hunting with Grant far more efficient. This came with the bonus of two vitality and twenty stamina. He had also obtained danger sense, which was a byproduct of getting ambushed in the forest so often. It had been helpful to get out of the way of attacking creatures.
As usual he followed the same strict requirements the church imposed on him for stat point allocation. The good news was he now had sufficient mana to easily create items, which seemed to have been the goal. He had taken the time he had to refine his original spear to have a sharper head, a more refined shaft and and reinforce parts of the spear. Castus saved this spear as a blueprint and named it primitive spear. He felt he could make many improvements, but for the time being it was enough.
Today when Castus awoke Grant did not point him in a direction to start running and actually let him sleep a bit longer than normal. Castus rolled over and got to his feet. His arm had healed up, only leaving a nasty set of semi circular scars around his shoulder. Standing to his feet he found Grant sitting patiently waiting for Castus. He shuffled over to Grant and sat by the burnt embers of the fire from last night.