The forest felt much calmer once the local tyrants had been removed. He didn’t have the same omnipresent feeling of being watched as he did before, even if he believed the plants themselves might be looking at him as he walked by. He was honestly more scared of the flora nearby than the fauna.

They could sneak their roots through the ground, or move motionlessly as they hang their barbed flowers from the air above you; probably all poisonous too. Was it venomous? Which one meant death if you ate it and which one meant death if it ate you? Fuck if he knew. He could only hope his memory would start improving with these small things once his intelligence was higher.

Sebastian was unsure as to why nothing had hunted him down for the carcasses over his shoulders, but he had some pretty good guesses, too. Maybe the beasts residual aura or scent from before they died still scares off other animals? It would make sense to him if it worked like that. After all, they hadn’t exactly been dead much longer than the last twenty or so minutes.

Turning around just for the sake of making sure nothing was following behind him stealthily, he checked the tree line, the bushes, the grass, and noticed nothing in particular. Just as he was about to turn back around and leave the forest though, he noticed something weird.

A small, blue line a few feet in length, moving- slithering, it’s way towards him. It had a small snake head that wasn’t looking at him, but the wolf corpses on his shoulders. The little bugger seemed to ignore him completely, something he wasn’t sure to be good or bad.

[Tier 1, Lv. 4 Juvenile Water Serpent]

He was being followed by.. a water snake? He couldn’t tell if it seemed intelligent because it ignored him or stupid for the same reason. The thing that truly surprised him was it’s tier.

It was already Tier 1.

At level.. Four.

He felt pity on the human race at the moment, because everything else clearly seemed to be adapting much faster in terms of strength. Humans were smarter, sure, but that didn’t always help you win a fight against a colossus.

Stopping at the edge of the forest, he crouched down to look at the snake. It did in fact have eyes, and it’s scales were an odd ocean blue. The creature itself was rather lithe, not having much issue maneuvering through the grass. It stopped a few feet away from him and looked him in the eye.

The serpent looked at him, then a wolf corpse, then back to him with a bow of it’s head, as if asking carefully for some food. Sebastian’s expression quickly turned odd when he saw this. A snake was asking him for food. In a world where all animals were currently trying to kill each other for food and power, this one asked nicely. To someone much stronger than it. He didn’t even see any bloodlust in it’s eyes.

With a bit of hesitation, he nodded. The snake perked up and stuck it’s tongue out a few times, showing what he could only perceive as happiness from the gesture. It slithered up a bit closer, before looking to the ground and then back to the corpse. It seemed to know what was good for it, because it kept asking for the Lv. 10, not the Lv. 12

Sebastian placed the corpse softly on the ground in front of the snake, only to see it slither up and begin to feast. It took small bites, yes, but it was fast. Wasting no time on chewing, it just bit and swallowed as much as it could. From this distance, he even felt water and ice attributed mana gathering towards the snake, but didn’t sense any form of control from the creature itself.

Not only did it have an affinity, it seemed innately talented in mana control. If this was the only beast with either, great. If it wasn’t, humanity really was fucking done for. Cooked. Kaput. He sighed softly as he watched it eat. It seemed rather content, and didn’t have much issue eating the Vitality rich meat.

Very quickly it looked bloated and slithered away from the corpse. It hissed again with a bright look in it’s eyes, before it gestured towards his hand and the ground. Sebastian could only guess what it’s request was and place his palm against the earth.

It hissed again happily and slithered over to his hand, and then slowly onto his skin. It’s scales felt cold, ice cold even, but he still didn’t feel any threat from the snake, and even the cold it emitted felt comfortable. Was it so amiable because of his title? No, the Winter Wolves ignored it- Maybe they wanted to eat him so bad because of his title?

He refused to believe Scorn gave titles for the sake of it. He was the first to awaken an affinity, which was Ice, so he got the Prime Aspect of Ice and Snow. To his knowledge, this gave him an increased affinity to ice beyond what most others could probably get.. Which means his Vitality is a better quality, too.

Shaking his head and removing himself from his rant, he felt the serpent slither and coil around his arm, moving up his body until it finally settled around his neck like a scarf. It curled up, wrapping around itself before nestling it’s head in and hissing with some content. Sebastian felt it was odd that he kept getting the idea of feelings from this snake, but it definitely felt like the animal had a rather intelligent mind.

The wolf had a sizable chunk eaten out of it but still had plenty of meat left, so he picked it back up and went on his way back to Dallas’ Deals with a new snake companion on his shoulders. Mana seemed drawn to the little thing, which in doing so helped in increasing his vitality as it circulated and absorbed the mana he breathed in.

It did actually inspire him a little. Could mana also be stored inside the body? Another thing to experiment with, eventually. It would be a lot easier if mana could just be brought out from his body rather than forcibly control it from the air. Granted, he’d have to spend the time and effort controlling it from the air and gathering it in his body in the first place. You win some, you lose some.

He stopped for a moment as he walked, his expression suddenly going stoic.

Sebastian was pretty sure he questioned it before, but why was he so.. Okay with all of this? The blood, the gore, blowing up a coyote’s throat from the inside, burning a rat horde to death, it was all so.. Fucked up. And yet, he hardly cared. If anything he thrived here. Why? Hell, he’d beaten Jacob half to death before he was exiled, yet hardly cared at all.

Was it the power? Maybe, but he didn’t feel it was likely. It was oddly satisfying though; the fights, the adrenaline, the growth.

A face and a cry flashed through his mind as he thought, like a reminder. They told him what the answer was, why he felt at home so quickly amongst the changing world, killing whatever he needed to grow. To survive.

He was in control. Yeah, that’s it. It wasn’t the power. It was the control. Over himself and how he wanted to live. He got to make all his own choices now.

No one can tell him what to do anymore. Forcing him to make choices that would haunt him. Make him do acts that would remain in his memory forever. But that’s because he’s strong. If he stopped growing, someone else could come along and control him instead.

And honestly, he’d rather die.

Stepping through the debris into the parking lot, Sebastian was in a weirdly good mood. The snake hissed every so often, providing the comfortable knowledge that he wasn’t alone on his silent walk back. It hadn’t tried to choke him or bite him or anything, the little thing just stuck by him and occasionally nibbled a bit on the smaller, weaker corpse.

Which is why some shocked exclamations and gasps were heard when he returned carrying two massive wolf bodies over his shoulders and a brand new blue snake scarf on his neck. The serpent seemed to coil more tightly as it saw the other people around, but overall it didn’t act any differently around people, a fact that made the bladesman rather happy.

“Had an eventful trip?”

Hearing Dallas’ booming voice as he returned, a small smile formed on his face as he turned to face the man. His dusters were bloodied and he had a few wounds, but the man seemed okay.

“Quite. Attacked while I was gone?”

“Just a pack of wild dogs. Levelled a little high. You killed a couple dogs yourself?”

“Visited the park. Killed four Tier 1’s and their packs. Made some discoveries. We better hope we don’t see many forests in our time outside. They’ll literally eat us alive.”

The man’s smile froze a little bit as he heard Sebastian speak, leaving him speechless even as he was walked right by. Not only was the man killing higher tiers easily now, but he had been to the forest, a place no one else wanted to go. The idea of it terrified him a little, but it also motivated him.

Even if Dallas was the same level as Sebastian, he wouldn’t feel confident in beating him. The man had access to Vitality, an energy that no one else but Mariah had right now. It augments all his physical stats to basically match a recently evolved Tier 1, something he wasn’t at all confident in fighting.

Sebastian himself didn’t think nearly as hard about it as though, he just kept walking by with his soon to be meal and new companion over his shoulders. He wondered how eating a beast with the same affinity would taste; maybe he’d like the taste because of the affinity, or maybe the affinity didn’t have an effect.

What he did know was that the Crow he cooked tasted even better than chicken, and while he had never tasted dog and didn’t plan on it, mutated wolves filled with vitality were a different story. He definitely wouldn’t mind digging into some Winter Wolf meat.

He sat down against the wall, taking out his portable gas burner and setting it down, lighting it with his lighter. Skinning the beasts lazily with the saber and cutting their bones out, gutting them, and straight up tossing their heads to the side, he got himself ready for a meal while the snake slithered off of his body and found its way to the wolf heads. He didn’t mind letting the little thing eat from the heads if he got the bodies.

Sebastian had an odd feeling while he was sitting down, waiting for his meal to cook in front of him. Like he was wading through the gentle waters before a torrential storm; and he was ready to face it, arms wide open.