Chapter 8

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The Hunt

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It’s been a few days since he saw the snail obliterated by that dinosaur bird. It was similar to a Pterodactyl. Teng sighs. He knew it wouldn’t be easy, but now seeing such a powerhouse he is not sure how to proceed. Even with his new strength he doesn’t think it would be an easy fight. Unless he somehow drags the thing into the water.

Teng basically just stuck to his cave for mostly to digest his upgrade, but sooner or later he had to leave. He occasionally roamed a little under the trees. He even saw some more snails, and other new beasts.

Today he will head out to the river. Moving under the canopy of trees, he moves carefully. Hoping to avoid any attention. Reaching the river unharmed he begins his hunt. The enclosure needs to be fixed so he does that. Actually, Teng has found a few fruit trees that are useful, so he stored some fruit, for a more balanced diet besides just fish or other sea creatures. Although the enclosure is destroyed, he doesn’t really need to hunt this way anymore. With a bit of effort, his strikes become stronger with energy. It’s just basic use of energy, letting it flow through your body.

His law on the other hand is far more interesting. Sometime he can predict it will rain while being in his cave, no sight needed. He also found where water was just by his sense, and heard a cry of sea creature. Teng is prioritising to move faster in water, by creating sort of flippers on his feet. Fins are also useful for more flexible turning and movement.

Sitting down Teng starts to meditate. Thinking the rain is not always rain, but it becomes rain from the sea. It’s evaporated into the air, through heat, and once the humidity grows, the particles vibrate and then rain falls.

In a nutshell it’s the environment that changes that generates it power. If it gets stronger vibrations it generates lightning as well. Teng believes he can replicate this environment inside himself with energy, he will make another breakthrough. At the moment though the progress is slow. Slowly time passes, and Teng accepts the candy he receives.

If one day he gets strong enough, he might even control lightning, being a storm king. For now, he is happy with what he has received. Teng is starting to feel like he has become a monk. His face has even started growing a decent beard, more ruffled though. He still wears the same clothes that were washed, but it’s becoming a bit much. He thinks he might need to make some new ones.

At the moment he is wearing greyish cargo pants with pockets, a white t-shirt though now smothered in dirt, and a warm winter jacket. He also is wearing some shoes.

Suddenly Teng hears a large rustling near the riverside. A small boar charges out. After seeing it. Teng quickly grabs his Spear. Thankful he placed it over his lap, like he was a cultivator or something. The beast is dumb and charges straight at him. Teng side steps, his feet graceful as the water. Truly fighting in one’s home ground. Stabbing with one arm at its neck. Blood bursts from it.

Teng backs off wanting to wait till it loses energy. The boar turns around and charges again, Teng not in a hurry side steps and stabs again. His spear moves fluidly and stable. It seems though upgrades weren’t for nothing. Constant fishing prey underwater also improved his accuracy.

Teng continues for a while before it tires itself out and dies.

As it does though a large chunk of energy enters Teng.

Confused about the large amount of energy, it seems killing beasts provides him with a bonus. Unsure why fish didn’t give anything. Perhaps it was too small.

Teng is surprised he didn’t get flustered during his first encounter with a boar. Not sure if it was his life and death with the shark, or because the Pterodactyl made him not scared of these lower beasts. In fact, it was a good experience to digest his skills. Feeling hungry for more energy, and wanting to explore how he can use more of his skill in battle Teng leaves in search of bigger prey.

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Spotting a deer, Teng stays behind a bush. Hoping it might come this way, as the other angles look troublesome, heading upwards.

Not in a rush Teng waits. The deer continues foraging for plants.

Minutes pass. Soon the Deer leaves, heading upward. Teng becomes disappointed. However, this is normal in hunting. Nothing to do about it, he heads elsewhere. Although disappointed, Teng likes the idea of learning how to hunt. Having such a skill will prove beneficial in the future.

As he walks Teng thinks. His Awakening probably opened the door to sensing the water laws. While his body was automatically receiving the energy in from the rift. He feels with his understanding into the Law of Rain it healed his inner wounds, made him physically stronger, and gave him some new skills. Almost like getting a class in a game. As he progresses, he will just get stronger. Teng wonders if others are able to achieve a similar thing. Or perhaps he is the only one so far.

Teng really is curious about what might be happening to the rest of the world. The rift he is at, is in the middle of nowhere. Are there other rifts out there? Or his the only one? Will his island become a hot zone for military drops? He doesn’t know. All he knows he has found a sense of purpose in his life and is not willing to abandon it.

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Teng noticed during his hunting, after the third broken spear, he could imbue it with his laws. Not exactly energy, as his energy would transform into the law. His law, his insight, could be considered the theory, and the energy the means to manifest it into reality. Using his law made his spear more flexible, and sharper, but he still feels like he missing something.

Stabbing the last beetle, he calls it a day, feeling the rush of energy enter his body. It seems this island is more abundant in energy, but it will soon travel deeper into the sea and into the sea creatures he imagines. The land was a bioproduct and supposes it contains more rift energy. The rift is still there as well, a few kilometres in the sky. No signs of leaving anytime soon.