Moments passed. With each breath, Diven’s chest heaved with pain. Pushing past the pain for an instant, he rolled on his back and turned his head toward the Cyclops.
A wash of relief spread through his body. The monster was lying on its back, unmoving. The shaft of Diven’s spear protruded out of its ocular cavity.
He had done it.
His heart slowed down, adrenaline left him and the pain intensified. He was on his own. He needed to examine his injuries.
His entire body was covered in superficial scratches, a few were bleeding but it wasn’t concerning. The real issue was the two massive bruises on his torso. One from the Cyclops hitting him and the other, lighter, from his collision with the tree. Deep red and slightly swollen, both injuries were tearing pain into him. Pain that was only amplified by every movement he made.
Yet, he had to stand up. He had to confirm the Cyclops was truly dead. He had to care for his wounds.
Nobody would help him.
Carefully, Diven used the tree as a support and pulled his body up from the ground. The process was excruciating, his movements slow to prevent the worst of the pain.
Once he was standing, Diven stepped closer to the beast, a hand holding his right side where the Cyclops stuck him.
The Cyclops was dead. There was no doubt to be had. He allowed himself to breathe in relief, making the pain flare once more.
Wincing, Diven noticed the light was fading. The sun was already falling. He made his way back to his camp. Thankfully, it was intact. The Cyclops hadn’t broken anything while chasing after him.
He wasn’t in a condition to take care of the corpse. He couldn’t even muster the strength to recover his spear.
He soaked a cloth in the fresh river water and pressed it on his swelling bruises.
It hurt.
It wouldn’t do much, but he needed to take every step he could to mitigate the damage.
Sitting away from his fire—being too close was painful—he waited for his wounds to feel better.
His stomach was growling. He was so hungry. He hadn’t eaten since morning and with how badly his fishing adventure went, he hadn’t managed to catch a single fish.
He had nothing left to eat.
No food.
At least, he had water, and he knew to drink a lot to help his body heal. But it wouldn’t be enough.
Night had fallen on the Wildlands, it was dark, and the noises of the forest were getting to him.
What if another monster showed up now?
He’d be done for.
His stomach protested, reminding him once more that he didn’t need a monster to kill him if he starved to death.
He had to catch a fish tomorrow. But without food, and with his bruises, would he even have the strength to do so?
There was another solution. One he didn’t fancy. But…
Thinking of the Cyclops body lying in the underwood, he gagged. He couldn’t eat that. Yet, it was meat ready to be harvested and it was so close to his camp…
Did he really have a choice?
No help was coming. He had to survive.
Diven steeled himself. It was disgusting, but he would have to eat the monster’s meat. It was better than starving. Hopefully.
Picking up a partially burned piece of wood that was still glowing on the extremity, he walked to his kill. The light provided by his makeshift torch was dim, but it was a good thing as Diven struggled not to throw up as he loomed over the giant humanoid carcass.
With his knife, he started cutting through the leathery skin of the one-eyed beast. He had never prepared a regular animal, much less a humanoid beast like this. Repressing the urge to vomit what little was left of his previous meal, he counted to three, and started sawing one of the legs.
The skin was hard to cut through, each stroke of his knife making the pain from his side ripple through his body. Eventually, he broke through the skin and the meat, hitting the bone.
Panting, he cursed under his breath. How was he going to break through the bone?
It was too late to hesitate. Despite it being as thick as a cow’s bone, he hammered it with a rock until it broke.
His grueling work finished, and with no strength to deal with the rest of the body in the dark, he took the leg and let it cook over the fire. He could only hope scavengers would stay at bay for the night, leaving him with the rest of the corpse.This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.
Sitting next to the fire, Diven was lost in thought while he waited for his meal to cook.
It was unfair. He shouldn’t be there. His place was in Kheiron.
Even if they expelled him from the clan, did they have to be so cruel? They could have sent him to another Ameian city.
He knew he had been sent here to die. Aside from the worst offenses, the laws of Kheiron mandated servitude over execution, and since he had committed no crime he couldn’t quite be enslaved. But there was always a workaround for the powerful clans and the Leios elders had chosen to kill him via exile.
From the two days he had spent alone, he couldn’t see how he would survive in the long term. He was already lucky to be alive after the Cyclops' attack.
Diven was angry, resentful. Even after taking it out on the Cyclops, it didn’t fade. Each spike of pain coming from his bruise reinforced his conviction.
He wanted revenge.
He wanted to get back at the elders for their heartless decision. But at the Ascended Rank, they were too powerful for him to challenge. Now, and probably forever.
Furthermore, he also wanted to return home, a vendetta against the clan would prevent that. For all their flaws, the elders were the backbone of the Leios clan. The rest would side with them, they didn't even like Diven in the first place.
Anyway, this would have to wait for later. At the present, he needed to focus on his immediate survival. If he couldn’t survive the next day, there was no point in planning for the impossible.
No, he needed the power to stand up to his clan. To make them accept him.
After defeating the Cyclops, the bamboo grove in his inner world had grown again.
Skill leveled up: Spear lv3 -> lv4
Now the bamboo shoots were taller than him and too many to count. It was as rumored: seeing your garden grow was exhilarating. No wonder so many people risked themselves to progress their skills.
One thing was clear, the danger he was experiencing was speeding up his skill growth tremendously. And that wasn’t the only benefit, his Facet of the Hoplite getting closer to completion. It was hard to gauge, but the branch representing it was steadily growing, sooner or later, it would reach its full size, allowing him to choose a new facet.
In two days, he had progressed twice as much as he had in the last two months.
That said, a Basic Rank spear skill wouldn’t be enough. No matter how fast it leveled, if his opponents were literal monsters, he would not last long. While each level improved his chances of coming out on top, he needed something more. Maybe it would come with his next facet.
Turning over the Cyclops leg so it would cook evenly, Diven wondered if it was even edible. Even cooked, the meat had a green tint that wasn’t reassuring. He would have to risk it. Monster meat was a delicacy, but he never heard anyone bragging about eating Cyclopes.
Once it was ready, Diven turned off his brain. If he was going to eat the greenish meat, he would rather get over it as fast as possible.
From the enormous leg he had cut off from the Cyclops, only half remained after cooking. Still, it was too much for him to eat in one sitting.
The texture was firm, and hard to chew on. The taste was pleasantly absent. It wasn’t that bad, provided he didn’t fall sick in the morning.
Exhausted and having finally eaten his fill, Diven crawled to bed and fell asleep instantly.
The next morning was difficult. His whole body was aching and the bruise from the Cyclops didn’t look good. Having gone from red to blue, it was still very swollen, making every movement more awkward than it should be.
However, he had to leave his hammock.
The smell coming from the corpse was starting to get to him. The stench had seeped into everything—his clothes, his hair, his skin. A thick, sickly-sweet rot that made his stomach turn.
He didn’t know things could rot that fast. Looking at the discomposing figure of the giant from afar, the corpse wasn’t just rotting—it was transforming. Mushrooms, thick and bulbous, pulsed wetly over its flesh, creeping along its limbs as if devouring it.
His stomach twisted, at least the leftovers from the cooked leg looked normal.
He wondered if his bloodline had anything to do with what was happening. To his great displeasure, it probably was the culprit.
Regardless, he had hoped he could use some more meat from his kill but it looked like it wouldn’t be possible. He forced the leftovers down his throat, unwilling to let them go to waste.
He washed up in the river, the cool water helped a little with his pain. Then it was time to return to fishing.
But before that, he had a little harvesting to do.
Diven needed to recover his spear from the rotting mess that was the Cyclops' carcass. But he also figured that the rotting corpse would have some maggots he could use for bait. If not, he’d try with the meat itself.
From up close the smell was almost debilitating. Diven was forced to mask his face with a wet piece of cloth to avoid the worst of it.
He was taken aback by how severe the degradation was. He had never seen anything quite like this. Mold and mushrooms were growing all over the corpse which in itself was weird as it had only been a few hours since he slayed the giant. But the most disturbing thing was how much the meat was throbbing.
Just poking it with a stick revealed an army of worms and maggots crawling under the skin. Diven gagged but still managed to scoop a good dozen invertebrates on a piece of bark.
Back to the river, he tossed a worm in a relatively calm section and waited. It didn’t take long for a fish to notice it and approach. But it was once again too fast and Diven couldn’t catch it with his spear.
Undeterred, the teenager continued throwing maggots into the water. One by one, he exhausted his stock but he really couldn’t land a hit.
Every time he went to restock, the carcass of the Cyclops looked worse for wear. At this rate, there would only be bones left by the end of the day.
After five infructuous trips, Diven decided to throw caution to the wind and cut off a piece of the giant’s arms. Filled with crawling creatures, the meat was gross and smelly so Diven hurried to his fishing spot and threw the thing in the river.
This time, at least a dozen fish came to nibble on the treat.
He pulled his spear-wielding arm back and when the cluster of fish was closing in on the bait, he struck, impaling a large fish in the process.
“Finally!” He shouted to the wind.
As he celebrated his catch—bringing it ashore and making sure it was dead—he felt something move inside him.
In a hurry, he turned his gaze inward and entered his inner garden. The wind was blowing on the grassy plain. Ignoring the rotten tree, his gaze was drawn to his Spear bamboo grove.
The plants were dancing in the wind, swinging from left to right. Then, in an instant stretched in time, a pond formed in the ground, behind the brambles representing his Shield skill, the bamboo grove was now surrounded by water.
The wind blew hard once more. Pushing a single bamboo spear’s tip into the pond. It froze in place.
Skill Acquired: Spearfishing – Basic – Lv1
Joy, pride, elation, and countless emotions washed over Diven as he took in the information. A weight on his heart dispelled, and he relaxed a little. At least, he wouldn’t starve to death.