D-do I call it tentacles? I mean, they’re moving, right? I flipped open my grimoire to find the name of the spell I saw before me. ‘Shadowbind’ it said. Similar to Binding of Bones, it restricted physical movement, but unlike the boney subjugation spell, it also instilled the type of fear that made it difficult for the target to run away even if I removed Shadowbind.

Speaking of fear, there was another spell I got that did the same, although this one was a lot more lethal. Shadowspear would shoot out a fast, shadowy spear, obviously, and even if it didn’t hit in a fatal place, the fear factor would cause the enemy to just stand or sit there and await death.

I inspected the new staff I got closely. Like the Scepter of the Lich God, Shadowsiphon could apparently transform, which was nice, because I needed it to be in staff form to get access to Shadowbind and Shadowspear. The top of the dark violet staff looked like the hilt of the dagger a little. The curvature and jagged edges were still there, running along the shaft, which gave it quite the quirky and grotesque look. This beautiful staff made sure my enemies were nicely giftwrapped in Shadowbind for me. I’d Consume them soon.

“So, uh, the undead! Ha, ha, ha, yes, the undead, and a dagger-staff thing.” The boy was as robotic as could be. Who could blame him? Even I wouldn’t know what kind of face to make.

“What’s your name anyway?” I asked.

“Me?” He pointed at himself. “I’m, Doran.”

“Well, Doran, you can call me Andre.” I had a looksee at my stomach and leg.

“Greater Heal.” He chuckled nervously.

“Wow, thank you!” That’s an adept spell! Holy shit, this dude is an adept healer! “Hey,” I brought my attention to the real issue, “how long was I out?”

He shrugged. “A few minutes?”

Ah, right. He healed me so I woke up fast this time. Okay. I took a deep breath. “Alright, since you saw all this stuff, I’ll let you in on my big secret. I trust you’re wise enough to never speak to anyone about it, hmm?” I gave him a wicked smile. “I eat raw meat.”

The statement threw him off a little, but I could tell by his reaction that he felt it wasn’t a bigger secret than using skills and spells, or fucking necromancy, or a transforming weapon.

I sighed, trying to figure out the best way to word it, but I wasn’t a very creative woman. “Look, man, I’m a cannibal. I eat people. But not exclusively. A-and trust me, I only do it because I have to.”

I didn’t even need to tie him up in Shadowbind for him to have a frightful look in his eyes. He backstepped just a little. “I see. That’s, nice.”

“You don’t have a lie. And relax,” I flicked my wrist, “I’m not going to eat you. You’re my Skaljorn guide after all.” I had a look at the corpses around me thus far. “Great, so now that that’s out in the open, time to start. Look away if it bothers you.”

Here we go again. After carefully dicing up the intimates that shall not be mentioned, I kept eating and eating, going through the whole buffet. Consume made it easy for my usually weak bite force to easily rip and tear flesh and crush bone. I wasn’t sure how my stomach could fit ten people, but it did.

In the HP department, I was now 490/490. As for MP, that sat at 4,700/4,700. I’m an apprentice wizard now. According to the grimoire, an apprentice should have around ten thousand MP. That means something is forcing me to go up in category faster than intended. I sighed. I really needed to focus on getting my MP in the right order. On average, apprentice spells cost 500 MP; if I was in a big fight, 4,700 MP wouldn’t be enough.

Until I could get 10,000 MP, I had to sit my but down and abuse Consume, and that meant I had to get over some mental hurdles like eating snakes. I would’ve died if it weren’t for Shadowsiphon; who knew what would happen if that strange being didn’t support me and force me into the apprentice category.

So, for the next month, we stayed in areas other people wouldn’t dare tread upon, like the mountains and valleys that the chimera lived in. I ate so many raptors, goats, coyotes, cougars, and even a few snakes, somehow, that I began to see a rather distinct difference in my strength. I was much faster, more agile, my footwork and technique became much better for close-combat, and my sheer muscle strength became a force to be reckoned with.

During that time, I taught Doran three spells I figured he’d need: Conceal, Camouflage, and Electrostrike. The lightning spell, although adept, wasn’t lethal unless the caster used it again on the same target. It was meant to paralyze the target for a while, and I figured that would be perfect for him. I knew the kid had it difficult because when hunting, he’d use himself as bait for predators and never once stopped to question that it might not have been a sound strategy. Sure, he’d heal himself and be fine afterwards, but it was still rather risky.

Once I officially invited him to my party through the grimoire, we shared a lot of the experience gained from my kills. After that month, we grew a lot. My HP and MP capacities were 1,010 and 16,100 respectively.

It was time to move on, and not because I thought I developed enough, but because the fauna was dwindling; my overhunting was coming back to bite me in the ass. On the morning of our last day near the mountains and valleys, I relaxed after breakfast and admired the birds. Some of them flew past us in the gorgeous cerulean skies above. Then some more flew by. Deer, rabbits, and some other animals and monsters skittered by. I raised a brow. Something was up.

Doran’s hazel eyes almost rolled out his head. He outed the fire in a hurry and took better cover, then looked at me like I was stupid. “What are you doing?! The big one’s coming! Hide!”