As the night went on and the sun started sprinkling its rays on the horizon, Magnus opened his eyes in his room.
His thick body stretched, making some cracking sounds with it.
He felt refreshed and agile.
"I can see much better and even my hearing has improved." He thought and looked around the room.
A smile etched on his face when he realized that the magic-infused meat he ate yesterday has improved his body so much.
"If not for my hypnosis power, I might have died of hunger in this word." He was grateful for his power.
With a smile, he stood up and moved straight towards the river, with the Eal hidden in the cloth.
"Old wang."
He stood up in front of Old Wang's made-up tent. He comes early in the morning to set up his tent and currently, he was setting up the bags in his shop.
The old man looked at him and grumbled a bit, he then threw a bag at him.
"Boy, if you catch another fish today, consider selling it to me." The old man said.
Magnus nodded and moved towards the river without saying anything.
Soon he reached the isolated area covered by a cliff and a tree.
He then took out his cloth and laid the Eal in front of him.
"Can you catch some magical fish for me? Try not to poison it." Magnus ordered.
The Eal nodded and slithered towards the water. Magnus then looked at the Blackbird, "You can start too." He said.
And soon enough both of his domesticated pets got on their work.
It hasn't been a minute since the first fish flapped in front of Magnus, it was a Charcoal Carp caught by the Black Sparrow.
Just as Magnus placed the Carp in the bucket, a plop sounded, and an Eal was thrown in front of him.
Half of its body was chewed away.
He looked at the dead body and his eyes widened.
It was none other than the Poisonous Eal he caught yesterday.
"Shit! It's dead!" Magnus's eyes darted towards the river and he could spot two eyes over the water, looking at him menacingly.
Magnus looked at the bird that was about to swoop down in the water and goosebumps raised on his body.
"Stop!" He yelled.
However it was too late, the giant fish jumped out of the water and swallowed his blackbird whole.
Magnus shivered as he looked at the giant fish, with razor-like jaws.
Its body was covered in metallic scales and its eyes were red bulging out of its body, it looked more like an alligator than a fish.
"Metal Slicer!" Magnus remembered hearing about this monster. However his memories of that time was hazy.
His heart ached as he saw the monster chomping on the bird in front of him, it was like the monster wanted to show it to him.
Tears almost fell out of his eyes, the bird was his lucky friend, and they developed a relationship on the last day.
"How can this dangerous monster be here?" He remembered that seeing monsters of such level in the vicinity of the village was rare.
As the reality settled in, his breath turned ragged and anger started flashing in his eyes.
"This fucker!" He picked up a rock from the edge of the river and threw it toward the giant fish.
However, it did nothing to it and made it even more enraged.
The fish bared its teeth and jumped out of the water, it then started crawling towards him.
"Fuck! It can walk on land!!!" He picked up his bag, his half-eaten Eal, and even the bucket with Charcoal Carp and started running away.
"Boy! Where are your running to? Give me my bag back?" Old wang saw him running and yelled.
Magnus looked at the old man and threw away the bag and bucket while taking out the Charcoal Carp.
He then ran away without looking back.
"Boy! Why are you in such a hurry?!"
"Run! Old man, if you love your life!" His departing voice moved through the bank and finally, Old Wang's eyes landed on the giant monster coming towards him.
Gooesbumbs moved on his old body and he started running away while cursing.
"What the fuck!"
However, when the monster saw that Magnus has disappeared it snorted in anger and turned around towards the river.
Old Wang, who gave up on his shop to save his life, when saw the monster retreating, let out a deep breath, and sighed.
"That dumb boy! How did he manage to provoke such a monster? Hmph!" He moved back and started packing up his shop.
"Old man, why are you closing your shop so early." A middle-aged man that just arrived at the river bank to fish, asked when he saw Old Wang packing up his tent.
"The shop will be closed for a few days." The Old man grumbled.
"Why?"
"The Metal Slicer has returned."
"Metal slicer!" The middle-aged man's eyes widened.
He has heard the name before and the terror it brought to the Raw Fish Village three years ago.
It was only after Village Chief's interference that the monster reverted back and now it's back!
A crazed expression appeared on the middle-aged man's face as he ran towards the Village.
"The Metal Slicer is here!!"
"The Metal Slicer is here!!"
He started yelling loudly to alert all the people from the Village.
Amidst the unrest in the Village, Magnus was sitting in his dilapidated room with his teeth clenched.
"Your death would not go to waste, one day I will take revenge for the both of you." He said as he looked at the mutilated body of the Eal.
Its tail was nowhere to be seen.
Suddenly Magnus's gaze landed on the small round object bulging out of the Eal.
It was its beat's core, purple and about the size of a pigeon egg.
It radiated a purple hue in the small room as Magnus took it out from the flesh.
"Thank you for your sacrifice." He looked at the beast's core and smiled.
He didn't have much affection towards the Eal, as he was gonna eat it anyway.
And as for the bird, after the years of Anhedonia, it was just an initial reaction, he was more angry by the fact that he won't be able to catch fish easily now.
"Fuck that Metal Slicer!" He cursed and popped the beast's core in his mouth.
From his memories he could tell that eating a beast's core was not harmful, although consuming it with a magical breathing technique was preferable, Magnus didn't have one as he was only a slum boy.
"For now I can only eat beats cores, although it gives less magic than absorbing it, it's still better than nothing."
As the beast's core settled in his stomach, he could feel a warm ecstatic wave moving through his body like he felt yesterday when he ate the Munch Fish, however, the effect was stronger, at least ten times.
A smile appeared on his face, as he felt his body changing, it wasn't a physical change but he could feel that he was a lot stronger than before.
"This is amazing!" An excited expression appeared on his face as he looked at Eal's leftover body.
He squatted down and started removing the skin of the Eal, He removed its poison glands and squeezed the poison out of it in a small bottle.
He then boiled the meat with some spices, and started eating the fish, he didn't even leave the bones and started chewing on them.
He could feel more and more power surging through his body.
He felt on the top of the word.
.....
A few hours later, in the middle of the Village.
There was a large mansion surrounded by the rock fencing, it was none other than Village Chief's manor.
In a lavish room inside the manor, there was a giant wooden table.
On one side of the table was sitting an old man with a long white beard and bald head.
His stomach was bulging, ready to tear his clothes apart.
One of his eyes was without an eyeball and he had thick lips.
On the other side of the table, stood a gentle-looking girl, with a serene expression on her face.
She was neither happy nor sad, her face was calm like a moonlit lake.
She was wearing a blue robe with a floral pattern, her chest was perky, and her backside demanded attention as she moved.
"Father." The girl looked at the fat man in front of her. "Metal Slicer was spotted again at the Western edge of the Village."
She said while still maintaining her serene composure.
The old man snorted and moved his finger toward his damaged eye.
"That beast, last time it got away, however, this time I will make sure to bring it back home as a trophy!" He said and looked at the girl in front of him.
"Isabella, don't worry, this time you can have that beast's beats core, for yourself. Then you will be able to enroll in the Golden Crown Magical Academy as a prestige student."