Mohan immediately sensed movement inside the tent after he asked the question. He saw a robust man who seemed to be in his thirties stepping out of the tent. He sported a bewildered look on his face when saw Mohan. The man never thought the one who asked this question to be so young. Being cautious, he invited Mohan inside the tent. Mohan followed him inside as didn't think anything could happen to him inside the settlement and he was confident of himself that he could at least escape if the man had any ill intention.
Inside the tent, both stared at each other for a full minute as if to read each other's minds. The man who introduced himself as Ramesh couldn't hold on anymore and asked,
"Did you eat?"
"Yes", answered Mohan after hearing Ramesh's question.
Although Ramesh speculated this would be the answer, hearing straight from Mohan surprised him.
"Why did you eat?" Ramesh asked again.
"Now that I have answered your question, answer me first. Did you do it or not?" Mohan questioned him.
"No I did not", Ramesh said with disgust after hearing Mohan's question.
Hearing Ramesh's answer Mohan contemplated few seconds whether what he did was right or not. But after he thought about the change that occurred he knew what he did was right and didn't want to waste any more time thinking about the matter.
Seeing Mohan's blank look, Ramesh knew he must be thinking about something.
After getting the answer he wanted from Ramesh, Mohan was not interested in the reason behind Ramesh not eating the morph, as he looked at him and said "The World has changed if we want to survive we have to adapt to the changes otherwise we will be left in the dust". Mohan left after leaving this comment.
Ramesh was left there alone and had a pondering look on his face after hearing the statement.
Mohan knew that he didn't see or know all the changes that had happened but he knew that while stray dogs and cats might look harmless what about the wild animals that had evolved? He knew for sure they wouldn't leave us if they got an opportunity to take a bite. He also didn't know whether any other new species had emerged after all these changes. He only hoped that the humans as usual adapt to the new changes and survive further or it might lead to the end of the reign, as the top species on Earth.
He decided to stay in the settlement for the time being and hunt the morphs nearby. Although morph turns savage when they face humans they are inherently intelligent in the core, so they avoid the settlement here and attack those who were stranded alone.
A week passed by in the settlement, and people became increasingly panicked about their situation as food supplies were running out. If this goes on all the supplies will be over within two to three weeks. During this time Mohan also went out in search of morphs and he hunted five more morphs around the area. He also saw Ramesh going out a few times but he didn't know whether it was to hunt morphs or in search of food.
During all this hunting he noticed the lack of his combat skills, as every time he killed only using his increased strength like an amateur in a brutal manner which led to blood spilling all over his body. Due to this, he had to change his clothes regularly as he couldn't walk back to the settlement with blood stains all over.
So decided to think of a way to kill from a distance, the most suitable way he could think of his using a bow and arrow but both getting or making one is difficult in the current scenario. So he went the alternative of using a sling which was much easier to make.
One may think why not use guns instead which is much easier than both options but after the "DESCENT OF DARK" as many people quoted about the invasion of black miasma of Dark energy, all the guns failed to work because all the gunpowder in the ammunition were burnt up destroying the magazines and guns altogether causing a devastation on their own.
Thinking about the disappointment he experienced when he got his hands on a police pistol made him grimace, as it was the first time he got his hands on a gun he was so excited about it. He thought about how cool he would look shooting using guns like in the 'Thupakki' movie's iconic shoot scene. But the result was much worse than a dummy Deepawali gun. It was like wet crackers that couldn't burst upon ignition no matter how you dried them.
Mohan searched for suitable wood to make a sling which turned out to be easier, as he looked for it to have strength to withstand the force applied on it. As trees changed too due to Dark energy, the bearing capacity of the wood of all the trees also naturally increased. But what was difficult to find was the right material with good elasticity, normal rubber easily tore apart if he tried to expand it using his full power.
Instead tried to use vehicle tires which were much harder and durable. But in turn, it was much more difficult for him to work with it, so he had to soften it further by heating it and simultaneously using it to train his muscles to increase his strength. He felt that just absorbing the dark energy from morph couldn't help him drastically increase his combat strength and only by simultaneously training his body could he unearth his full potential.
So he started exercising early in the morning for three hours daily. After that, his target training using his slingshot to get familiar with it. He also started to do meditation for an hour before going to sleep as all the problems made him unable to sleep peacefully.
Two weeks passed by…
Everyone in the settlement decided that it was time to move on from this location. During the two weeks, lots of things happened in the settlement. The number of people in the settlement long touched two hundred members and a temporary system of government was also implemented. It was like a council of thirteen members with one being a leader along with two vice-leaders. Ramesh known for his fighting became one of the vice-leaders.
There were not many rules to be followed as everyone's focus was to survive till the situation turned stable. The two things that were focused on were gathering food and night patrolling as there was a case during one of the nights in the past two weeks when a daring morph entered the settlement and killed a man in his fifties and left silently. Only in the morning, the incident was discovered due to the blood trails left on the floor.
During these two weeks, the number of people who have killed a morph also increased from the former two, even though the number did not seem to exceed more than twenty. But it is unknown whether they ate the morph or not as no one was willing to discuss the matter publically even if they ate them.
Mohan also had considerable improvement in his skills. He also hunted ten more morphs in the two weeks which would have been higher if not for all the training he has been doing. Also on the fifteenth kill, he got a new NALLA System message.
"1 % COMPLETED…"