Chapter 69: Survival In The Forest

Author's Note: This will be the last chapter for today. This will be about the general things that Alex is doing before we go back to Luscia. There will also be a bit of information coming from Astaroth in this chapter as well. The next batch of chapters will be coming out next week on Monday. Enjoy!

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(Starting off with Astaroth)

The modifications that I made to Animus was completely needed by him. The pain he endured will definitely be worth it as the extra ability I gave him will work wonders with his new mission.

Animus is a 48 year old man who enlisted in many monster hunting expeditions in the past. He was most likely hungry for fame and glory when he was younger, which drove him to join these kinds of expeditions.

Well, it didn't work out exactly the way he pictured it, I imagine. In many of the training corps created to combat the rising threat of monsters these days, he was usually one of the last survivors in many of the more dangerous ones.

Actually, his ability to survive every one of them made me think his ability was an unusual amount of luck before being told otherwise. Anyway, he had lots of traumatic experiences, which led him to seek shelter from this group.

Why this specific one, out of all others, was chosen is not something I know. What I do know is that is was very lucky for me for him to have joined this one. He was able to cope with his PTSD for a long while as this place was relatively peaceful but, suffered panic attacks every time he sees a monster.

Since he didn't participate in the attack on the Proving, I specifically chose him knowing his condition and his ability. There will inevitably be death so, I don't want him to freeze up at the most important times. So, I gave him the ability I called Emotion Manipulation. I gave him that ability as it would let him turn off his capability to feel remorse and guilt when killing. It could also probably be able to block his PTSD as well.

People like him would rather do anything than try to face his own inner demons. They are selfish as they would rather inflict pain on others than to feel the pain they felt years ago. That's why they are rather easy to control. This, combined with his natural ability called Cloak, which lets him erase his presence, makes him the perfect assassin.

After all, a person who can dehumanize their enemies is one of the best killers out there. It is fitting, really. The man who didn't want to kill was given the option of killing his feelings so he could fulfill the mission of 'saving the world'. He could even manipulate the emotions of anyone in direct contact with him in any way, giving him extra over people.

There was another factor I considered when I gave him Emotion Manipulation aside from his strengths and weaknesses. It was also, partly, from the weird dream I had. Since it was a dream, it was unrelated to reality, which meant that there was no way the girl stayed with her father.

I wanted to see if someone would still do the same thing, even when under the influence of the ability I gave Animus. I do have an odd habit of obsessing over the things that interest me, especially my opponent. I know I said it would be inevitable that I would win but, what if I knew for sure.

For some reason, a theory came into my mind. Something that I have never heard about before yet barges in unannounced. It was a pretty interesting hypothesis that came into mind. If one was able to calculate the position, movement, momentum, speed, etc. of every particle in the universe, would they be able to predict the future?

It is truly unexpected for me to suddenly think about this but, it is, sadly, something I wouldn't be able to do. I may be powerful but, I know exactly what my limits are. The only other being I know that could possibly do it is Tekko but, I doubt he has enough processing power to do it. The real question now is, where did this idea come from, and why does it sound so familiar?

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(We haven't seen the MC known as Alex in so long!)

"Ah yes, what a wonderful catch this time."

You might be wondering what the hell am I talking about right now. To answer that question, we must go back a few days, maybe a few weeks already. I said that I was going to free all of the Divine Beasts as soon as I could, right? Well, I got hit by reality. It was a very, very, very hard hit.

I realized that living in the wild was something much harder to do that I expected. I have an unconscious habit of underestimating the trouble I would have with a certain problem so, I should work on that. Anyway, living in the wild has been pretty rough for the very first days.

I wanted to be a man who kept his word so, I desperately tried to survive for the first few days but, Mother Nature eventually overpowered me and I was forced to obtain new skills which would suit this new environment, like finding the things I could eat.

I was able to do that easily but actually catching those things was hard. I could always find plants, right? In case you forgot, I was in all alone in a desolate forest on a mountain... in the Alsius season! There are no edible plants here!

The forest is completely filled with evergreen trees that have all adapted to the cold temperatures, or so Calido told me. So, finding food will be really hard. Thankfully, or maybe unfortunately, I fell down a steep cliff. You can't blame me as I am blind and I wouldn't be able to know if there was a ledge if my tendrils were waving above ground.

I fell all the way down and miraculously survived due to the accumulated soft snow at the very bottom. I kept trudging through the snow (and falling multiple times) until I finally reached a forest that was a bit more abundant in resources and much lower in altitude. I thought that I could stay there until Alsius ended and became Ruina as, even though it will still be cold, the temperature will at least warm up a bit.

And so, that was how I got to the forest I am still living in. I naturally taught myself to hunt but, it was hard as I didn't have any weapons aside from Aether and, he will eventually rust if I keep slicing up animals with him so, I made myself some tools. I fashioned a fishing rod from wood and tied up needles from the trees around here; a net from the exact same leaves; and some sharp rocks I use to keep Aether from becoming dull.

I had no need to worry about wild animals and the temperature due to Calido always being with me. Animals will never get close to me when he is around so, I let him stay away when I start hunting. He is also like a personal body warmer as I can just hug him when I sleep. By the way, I sleep inside of a hollowed out tree with a bed made out of leaves I could scavenge.

He is also useful for eating as I always have roasted food for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. I'm also so glad I was a butler in my past life and did so many different tasks around the base as I would never have been able to create my tools are cook my food properly otherwise. It's even more amazing how I can do this while blind, even though Calido acts like my eyes.

The only other things I do daily, aside from surviving, is training myself. Even when I am in situations like this, I must always train to make sure my skill won't rust like my sword. Calido also trains with me but, I don't think he will be able to fight like the one who fought Glaive as long as he has that body.

That reminds me.

(Calido, can you change how you look?)

(Well, I can kind of change sizes but, I don't think I can change my appearance. Why?)

(Just anticipating the future.)

(You know, I have pieces of your soul in me. As long as you are a blank slate, I might be able to do it.)

(Oh, that's a relief.)

(Hopefully, I don't look too much like the guy who wears a jacket, a cape, AND a scarf.)

(Hey, that's mean! It's cold!)

Mental regression is really progressing fast for him. This must be a sign that I must work fast so I can get a Divine Beast that is wise, like the past Calido. Speaking of my clothes, Luscia really did think of everything, huh?

My jacket seems to have a small Anti-Freezing charm on it as well. Since my scarf used to be part of my jacket, it is also pretty warm. She even anticipated I would get stuck in a cold place. She is either a visionary person or someone way too worried about my safety. I hope she is doing alright in whatever she is doing right now.

I would then spend my days in this forest for a few more months until Ruina finally ended and Inscone began, turning the forest I called home into a beautiful land of green, according to Calido. As per my plan, I continued following a river until I would reach some sort of civilization.

Though, the civilization I did eventually come across was one neither me or Calido expected at all.