Spending the rest of the night within the forest simply confirming the data he had already gathered, the sun soon fell below the horizon.
As this occurred, Torus finally decided it was time for him to head back to camp. As he took off through the forest, his journey back was unnaturally silent, no Ferocious Beasts coming out to attack him.
This was a sight that most would consider rather odd after seeing just how often he had been attacked while exploring the forest previously, the aggressive nature of the Ferocious Beasts was plain to see.
However, this was only the case for those that didn't understand what exactly Ferocious Beasts were - the evolved form of animals. What this meant, is that they received a boost to all their capacities, their intelligence naturally being one of them.
As a result, the beasts within the forest could now smell the blood that practically coated Torus; even if there wasn't any physically present.
As they could tell the massive amount of their brethren that had been slaughtered by him, the beasts within the forest chose to act far more cautiously toward him, realizing with their enhanced intelligence that he must be dangerous.
That was why, as Torus ran through the forest, even though he never suffered any direct attacks, Torus could feel the aura of beasts encompassing him.
Even if they were choosing to be cautious, they would most certainly attack him at any signs of weakness!
In response to this, Torus simply casually smiled, continuing about his stroll with an air of confidence about him. This confidence came from the simple fact that he knew these beasts wouldn't attack him, and he could handle the aftermath if they chose to do so.
The reason they wouldn't attack him was that they were looking for signs of weakness, which if any existed within Torus, were much too hidden for the weak Fifth-Grade Ferocious Beasts within this tiny forest to notice.
So, carrying on at his leisurely pace, Torus headed back in the way he knew he and Sofia had set up camp.
Within fifteen-or-so minutes of walking, Torus could already see the small light shining from a region, an obvious sign of a fire Sofia must've set up in his absence.
As he thought of Sofia, a gentle smile slowly grew on Torus' features, as he remembered the kindness she had shown him before. If not for her talking him out of his slump, Torus was afraid he would've taken much longer to accomplish all that he had today.
With all the information he had managed to collect, Torus was excited at the prospect of experimenting with something he theorized was possible. Afterall, there's no way that his mindscape was as simple as it seemed considering the animals he studied were contained there, right?
~~~~
Currently, Torus resided within the tent Sofia had set up in his absence, the gently slumbering form of her lying next to him.
Upon arriving back at camp, Torus had found her to already be asleep. So, after preparing himself a large meal and taking care of other basic necessities, Torus decided to join her within the tent.
However, his intentions weren't to join her in sleeping.
Instead, upon lying down within the tent, Torus took in a deep breath, entering a meditative state. At the same time, he felt it as the necklace he was currently wearing began to warm up, pushing him even deeper into his reverie.
Focusing inward, Torus headed into his mindscape far easier than he ever had before, the necklace helping to pull him in quickly.
Upon arriving within his mindscape, Torus' gaze slowly looked around, scanning his surroundings. As he looked around, Torus found himself once more within the forest of his mindscape, the location seemingly the same as where he had first arrived the last time he entered.
This time, he wasted no time taking in his surroundings, heading off into the forest in a swift stride.
As he walked through the wilderness, it took no time at all for him to find what he was looking for - Ferocious Beasts. Considering how long and how deeply he had been studying them, it was no wonder that the figures of these newly added Ferocious Beasts were a lot more corporeal and realistic than their earlier counterparts.
As he came across them however, there was one major distinction that was instantly apparent to him - these Ferocious Beasts seemed hostile!
Somehow, there was some difference between these ones and the previously formed animals and Ferocious Beasts. And if he were to guess what, Torus figured the difference must be in how they appeared here.
With the original animals and Ferocious Beasts, Torus had brought about their existence through self-studying; however, with the new Ferocious Beasts, he had brought them about by dissecting the real species and studying them.
Torus figured that this distinction must somehow impact their forms in this world.
If he were to guess why, Torus figured the answer must be something around their spirits.
The Ferocious Beasts he had captured now must've incorporated their souls into it, something he now needed to completely conquer before the beasts would settle down.
That was the reason why, as soon as he came across his first group of Ferocious Beasts, Torus found himself being encircled to the sounds of snarling and snapping, the Hell-Hound's around him clearly ready to attack at a moment's notice.
However, Torus could also sense the fear in them, this display of theirs being just as much a bluff as it was a genuine threat.
At the sight of this, Torus simply let out a slight chuckle, he had, afterall been the one to originally kill these beasts.
This meant he had nothing to worry about when it came to once more defeating them. However, this did bring something new to his attention - he would have to be careful about joining forces to kill Ferocious Beasts stronger than him from now on.
If he were to do so and it appeared within his mindscape after, he wouldn't be capable of fighting it off once more.
Before he could get lost in his thoughts, Torus was once more brought back to the present at the sound of snarling and snapping, the Hell-Hound's having gotten aggravated at Torus not doing anything.
So, they had chosen to attack him themselves, taking the initiative to all attack in a group.
However, all Torus did in response to this was to let out another slight chuckle, his hands lashing out. As his hands whipped forward, chains seemed to be flung out from his figure like the large heads of serpents.
As they wildly flailed about, Torus' hands clamped down on the point where the chains wrapped around his wrists, causing the wildly swaying chains to become far more controlled, as if he were a snake charmer.
Flicking his wrists downward, Torus sent the chains that were writhing about within the sky downward, rapidly slamming into the bodies of the group of Hell-Hound's.
Letting out slight yelps of pain, the group of Hell-Hound's couldn't even respond to the sudden attack.
Instant death!
The second Torus had chosen to attack, the group of Hell-Hound's had only one outcome - death!
However, if one were to pay close attention at the sight of the now-dead Hell-Hound's, they would notice a light encompassing them, before their figures once more slowly rose up.
Though the now-risen Hell-Hound's appeared slightly different than previously, their previous expressions that were frozen in a snarl, now appeared much more similar to a group of goofy dogs.
They had tongues lulling out as they happily panted, their large beady eyes staring at Torus with a happy expression. As he stared at the creatures now, Torus couldn't help but to gain a warm smile at the sight.
Moving forward, Torus reached out and began slowly running his fingers through the creature's fur, petting them.
As he slowly scratched at their heads, Torus could see the pure enjoyment on the creatures faces as their legs slowly kicked out. However, this sight only continued on for a little bit, before Torus finally moved on to what he had actually come here for.
"I need to examine some of your guys' cells, alright?" Torus gently asked, the creatures slightly tilting their heads at the question, confusion evident on their expression.
However, the group quickly devolved back into their naturally happy state, dopey smiles hanging on their faces. At the sight of this, Torus could only take this as acceptance.
As such, Torus let one of his nails slowly grow out, gently scraping against the tough fur of the creature, collecting some dead skin cells from one of the Hell-Hound's.
After collecting these skin cells, Torus' brows slowly furrowed as a look of concentration appeared on his face, his eyes closing as he focused completely on the skin cells within his hands.
As he focused on them, Torus felt it as his mind zoomed inward, zooming even deeper into the cells at a fast pace, finally focusing completely on the Nucleus, before then going even deeper, honing in on the DNA of the creature.