Jacob didn’t have a team. More people would only encumber him by his side. What he had, instead, was complete freedom to roam the Black Forest on his own.

He looked at the trees: they were much taller than normal, as if someone had magically grown them out, which was pretty much what happened, with ‘someone’ being the universe itself.

Many had speculated on where the change came from, but no one had ever reached any plausible conclusion. Humans had learned to accept the fact and simply go along with it.

This forest should cover only around fifteen kilometers from St. Peter to Blacksoil, but it appears that the change has finally made Earth bigger.

Few people had noticed, but the change didn’t just bring Demonic Beasts to Earth. It had also brought changes to Geography, Flora, and Fauna.

Biomes had been somewhat preserved. Deserts were still deserts, and oceans were still oceans, and so on. However, everything had been magnified. The Black Forest had been a spot for couples to make out before the apocalypse, a few woods to hide and be naughty.

Instead, it appeared that the Black Forest had extended his area by at least three times.

Even with a Qi empowered body, it would take around three hours to get to Blacksoil on foot. And that was if you knew where you were going, and you were able to run fast for three hours straight. So for most people, the journey from St. Peter to Blacksoil through the Black Forest took half a day.

Jacob had a little piece of parchment he had made from a Hellspawn Chameleon hide and started chanting. A little drop of blood exuded from the parchment and started moving toward North.

The Ancient Ruins should be in that direction. The drop of blood is quite slow, though. Considering what should be inside the Alchemical Garden, it should have shot toward that direction. Mh, that’s weird.

Jacob started walking and gathering a few Spiritual Herbs here and there. He had already been in this specific forest more than once, but he had never ventured too deep. He had sorely needed some rest.

Now, he could finally use a mini-version of the Sword Aura without hurting his own body. The Crohn’s Disease still made it harder for him to absorb the energy from his concoctions, but he could already tell he was better. He would need a specific Pill to cure himself, though. And the ingredients for that pill were in the Alchemical Garden.

Jacob rubbed his hands while walking and thinking of all the Alchemic concoctions he could create. And not just that, he could finally experiment with higher-level Alchemic dishes—creations. Ha was hungry just thinking about it.

He looked down toward some tracks and stopped dead. The moment after, he was running.

“OH YEAH!” he shouted, never this happy since he had been reincarnated in his past self. “I’VE WAITED FOR THIS MOMENT FOR SO LONG!”

Jacob felt every single cell in his body burst with energy, ready to pounce on his prey. He couldn’t believe his luck. The idiots who had been scouring the forest hadn’t found one in a whole month. And now, he takes a casual stroll in the direction of the Alchemical Garden, and he finds the tracks after barely an hour?

He could smell them. He knew they were close. He followed the tracks of the beasts like the most relentless hound. Jacob’s limbs moved with surgical precision even while he stared at the ground, engorged in the feeling of the hunt, already tasting victory on the tip of his tongue.

There was no emotion comparable to this. This was better than anything, from a long-term relationship to a night of crazy sex. It was the most endearing feeling a red-blooded man could experience, the apex of masculinity, maybe of mankind altogether.

God, I missed it so much. So, so, so much.

Jacob stalked trees, sniffing bark and licking it to better taste the prey he was stalking. He pumped his legs so fast his muscles burned with passion.

If someone saw him right now, they would probably get scared of the famished gaze that possessed his eyes.

They are close, oh so close. I can feel it. I CAN FEEL IT. YOU CAN’T ESCAPE ME.

Jacob's crazed frenzy didn’t stop there. He climbed a tree to get a better view of the direction he was going toward. The ground had turned harder, and the track was harder to spot. But he wouldn’t stop for anything in the world right now, not even a second horde of Charybdes. He would cut Gods and Buddhas who stood on his path like his aunt would ofter say lately.

He was cried a little when he reached a deep ravine and saw mud prints by a small river bank.

I am going to fu**ing whip the scouts who missed this.

He was angry, happy, baleful, joyous. But most of all—hungry.

“OH YEAH BABY! WE FOUND IT! WE FOUND IT!” he sprinted madly toward the cavern while screaming so loud that some Demonic Beasts who had been eyeing from afar ran away whimpering.

There was a primal hunger in his voice, a deep wanting for something he had missed so much in his life he couldn’t believe he had gone so long without.

“PORK! I FOUND PORK!”

Multiple oinks from Demonic Boars came from the cavern while Jacob knocked all the bastards unconscious with his bare hands, too high on adrenaline to remember about his weak cultivation base and Qi.

“OIIIIINK!” a scared oink echoed in the ravine.