2. A Taste of Power

A relatively long time had passed, and it was now nearing midnight. The moon bathed the forest in its ethereal glow, as quiet as it seemed, the forest was as active as it was during the day. Clifford's wounded and now recovering body lay on the forest ground near the walls, his blood scattered around him for hours.

The bloody scent permeated the air, traveling miles away, attracting hungry beasts lurking in the shadows. One of the nocturnal hunters was able to find Cliff's corpse; its current location wasn't too far nor too close to the city walls. As it came closer to the corpse, it discovered it wasn't the first to make it.

The beast's height reached two and a half meters. Its body resembled that of a deer, except for the fact that it walked on its hind legs with a hunched back. Its terrifying dark eyes, sharp teeth, and large antlers sent shivers down the other beasts' spines as they eyed the corpse. With its imposing display, none dared to oppose it, allowing it to immediately claim the corpse.

After carefully examining the lifeless body, it proceeded to drag it away, then turned around, making its way back to the nest. Approximately an hour later, the beast arrived at the entrance of its shelter. The damp smell filled what appeared to be a cave, although not very deep.

After depositing the corpse next to a small mound of skulls and bones, the beast's size started to shrink until it was one and a half meters tall, and its antlers were too small to notice. Once it was done, the mother continued moving forward, making its way to what seemed to be smaller versions of itself.

This was an ability that second-tier beasts and above retained. As for the Wendigo, which was a second-tier beast, it needed to revert its form to that of a deer due to the cave's depth from the inside.

The mother made her way to her offspring. Her six babies who looked no different from normal fawns lay close to each other, some even lying on top of their siblings. These babies were nearing two months old, the age at which they would start developing into wendigos; their nutrient requirements naturally included meat.

As the mother lay near them, one of the cubs awakened and made its way to its mother, proceeding to drink its milk right away. Shortly, the rest awoke from their sleep and went for their milk meal as well. After a couple of hours of playing around and wrestling, the younglings went back to sleep peacefully. As dawn approached, the mother slept next to her offspring.

The darkness devoured the light, bringing the night to its prime once again, and the wendigo went out to hunt once more. Shortly after, Clifford began to regain consciousness. Although it took a day to recover, his body was stiff all over as if he had gone through a long slumber.

As he opened his eyes, the unfamiliar scene surprised him. Small to medium bones were scattered around, and sharp rocks descended from the high ceiling. The place was dimly lit through a large exit not too far from his spot, and six small animals were sleeping a little deeper on the opposite side.

As Clifford realized what this place was, hunger struck him, screaming from deep within. Perhaps true hunger this time, since his stomach was growling along with his senses. Looking around, nothing looked more edible than the sleeping fawns. They had a faint hue around them, although different in color from the orb and humans back at the academy.

It reminded him of the feeling he had when he absorbed the orb's energy. It felt amazing as the object's energy coursed through his veins, bringing his body to life. If that hue had a relation to it, why not test it now?

"Better eat and leave; whatever brought me here certainly didn't do it out of goodwill," After making his decision, Cliff got up immediately and marched toward the sleeping bunch. After inspecting in silence, he picked the one separated from its siblings by the head.

With a quick twist to its neck, it was dead. At this moment, it didn't matter to him whether it was cooked or not; after all, he couldn't taste food. With mouth wide open, he bit a large chunk of flesh and started chewing on it. This newly found sensation brought him to climax; this one certainly had a taste, and he liked it. It prompted him to continue eating.

With each bite, he felt the object centered at his stomach spin more, generating more energy. It didn't take long, and the meal was finished, but Clifford was still far from being full, making him look at the babies with a greedy look, thinking, "If one is not enough, how about six?"

The sound of crying fawns spread through the cave like a murderous melody, pleasing Clifford and putting a smile across his face. One by one, they were being slaughtered mercilessly. He couldn't remain quiet after one of the fawns witnessed their sibling being eaten, which pissed him off.

His anger prompted him to kick the fawn as hard as he could, sending it flying and crashing against the cave wall, killing it right away. The display of defenseless prey getting wrecked pleased him to the core, which made him proceed to murder the rest similarly. Unbeknownst to him, that was the effect of absorbing the energy of the object in his stomach.

"Ahh, and more precious energy." How could he not like it? After all, it brought him back to life twice, and he felt his body getting stronger the more he absorbed. But how could he absorb it without getting wrecked all over? The question bugged him.

"Perhaps cultivation?" But then he had no idea how to do that, forcing him to think of a way later; food was the most important for now. Putting that aside for now, Clifford prepared to leave the cave after making up his mind. Although he thought about facing whatever brought him here, he couldn't do it right now for several reasons.

First, he certainly didn't know how strong it was; Second, he had no experience in combat—all he could do was probably kick and punch. However, that would be useless in most cases against an actual enemy. He planned to get wrecked once more and confirm the effect of that energy.

Just as he is about to ext the cave, the footsteps of something coming grabbed his attention, prompting him to freeze in his place, bringing him face-to-face with his first enemy.