Some hours ago...

Setting out in the forest, Damian used his memory to find a place.

'Three trees in a line. Three trees in a line...' Moving to the only direction he had been moving so far: east, Damian looked around, trying to spot the three trees in a line.

Brave following after her master had her belly full of the half bread her master had given her in the morning.

She was skipping around in a good mood as she had always been in since the day she got her new generous master.

"I found it!" Damian exclaimed as he stood in front of the three thick trees.

The trees, set in a line with around a metre long gap between them, split the way ahead into two different entrances. Adjacent to the left and right trees were trees and thorny shrubs packed together to block the way.

Walking past the left entrance, Damian looked ahead...

Around three metres in front was a dry tree, broken down from its stem. Laying on the ground were its now empty branches, blocking the way ahead.

To walk past the tree, one could either walk by its side or crawl under the gap created by its basal lifting the broken end of the stem, but thinking of jumping through it would be a bad choice because, though hollow, the stem was thick.

Brave followed after her master, observing him as he observed the old tree. Suddenly, he walked to the start of the tree and fell to the ground. Getting up, he said, "One." After taking a step forward, he fell back to the ground again. Getting up once again, he said, "Two." Coming to a halt.

To Brave, her master's course of actions was beyond comprehensible. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn't understand his reasoning.

Unknown by Brave's thought process, Damian dusted his hands and looked at the tree, which was about 3.5 metres long since it could fit two of him.

'Now from the tree to the way.' Looking at the two ways, Damian got into the position of push-ups, marking his head. He used that as the next starting point.

'A square of 3 metres should be enough.' Done with the measurements, Damian chose a length he thought to be most fitting. Picking a twig, he drew a rough outline of a square of 3 meters, starting a step ahead of the fallen tree.

"Brave, come here." Calling Brave near him, Damian squatted down.

"Can you dig it?" Damian asked the question he had in his mind.

*Squeak!*

Brave tilted her head. Dig? What was that? What was her master saying?

Understanding Brave's confusion, Damian used the twig to dig the soil. As if struck by the realisation, Brave immediately understood her master's intention.

Brave pulled her upper body up with her sharp claws on the ground, and all Damian saw was the last moment of her claws, the soil scattering from them, and Brave disappearing into the hole.

To say that Damian was surprised would be an understatement. He was stunned! If this was the speed Brave dug at, then the trap would be ready by mid-afternoon.

*Squeak!*

Damian was snapped out of his surprise by the squeak from behind. Looking back, Damian saw the upper body of Brave coming out from a new hole behind him.

"You are amazing, Brave." Praising his hard-working rat, Damian dusted the soil on her head and continued, "Now, what you have to do is..."

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Stuffing the bunch of dry leaves in his 'T-shirt pouch'. Damian lifted it on his back and walked back to the location of the trap.

'Would Brave be alright alone?' Damian wasn't worried about her safety since he knew there wasn't even an insect in the range. He was worried if Brave would be able to complete her task without him.

Damian had invested hours in teaching her how to dig the square but wasn't sure if she would dig the same square he had outlined.

'Her condition is strange. Sometimes she is a curious child, sometimes a thoughtless animal.' Damian had begun to suspect that the intelligence stat wasn't as simple as it looked.

Putting the thought at the back of his mind, Damian went forward.

Reaching his destination, Damian couldn't believe the scene in front of him.

Something was passing through the one-metre deep square pit of three metres side, flying dust in the air. The thing was making the pit deeper and deeper with each passing second. That something was, of course, Brave, moving her claws at a high speed.

Motivated by the hard-working Brave, Damian silently dumped the leaves on the ground while walking back to the forest.

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.

Dragging the flat and long straight piece of wood, Damian didn't believe that this thing was natural, especially after seeing its plain surface. But no matter how much Damian suspected its origin, he was just thankful to find it thrown in the forest.

Using the wood to push the leaves into the pit, Damian made sure to distribute the leaves evenly from the sides.

Once the pit was full of dry leaves, Damian placed the wood in the middle of it. Passing through the left way to the gap under the old tree, the wood acted as a bridge.

Walking on it, Damian found that it wasn't as difficult as he had expected. Arriving at the other end, he put a stone under the wood.

He warped his T-shirt around another stone the size of his fist, leaving the end of it hanging.

Crawling under the tree, Damian ducked under it, putting the stem on his shoulder. He held the stone in his right hand. Taking a deep breath, he gritted his teeth and..."Uhh!"

Using all the strength he could muster, he stood up. The moment a gap was created between the stem and the basal, he quickly moved his hands, fitting the stone between them. Exhausted

Damian lay on the ground, looking at the cloudless afternoon sky.

*Squeak!*

Feeling the exhausted Brave sleeping on top of him out of nowhere, Damian let out a chuckle. Pushing himself up, he leaned his back on the tree.

"Finally done." Releasing a sigh of relief, Damian looked at the dry leaves pit surrounded by walls of soil from the left and right, blocked by the fallen tree from ahead, with the only entrance being the ways created by the trees.

Taking the water bottle out of his inventory, he stirred the last 100 ml or so of water it contained. Filling the 20ml or so cap full with water, he passed it to Brave on the ground.

Brave, laying on the ground, used the last ounce of energy she had to drag her mouth to the cap, licking the water.

Damian felt sorry for the energetic Brave of the morning like this, but looking in front of him, he felt it was necessary.

"Listen Brave." Getting the attention of the lazy rat in his lap, Damian continued seriously, "When I say 'Now', drop the fire sticks in the pit. Ok?"

Looking at the confused Brave, Damian decided to instruct her again, though he was pretty lax about it since he could do that much himself. All he had to do was pick up the fire stick impaled behind the soil wall and drop it in the pit.

Done with his explanation, Damian looked back at his trap.

"If the trap works, we would have roasted Wild rat meat for dinner." With a chuckle, Damian laughed at the silly idea. No way was he eating monster meat. He would just taste it a bit. How bad could it taste?

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Present...

"Not bad! Not bad at all!" As Damian chewed on the leg piece he had torn from the leader, he couldn't help but praise the quality of the meat.

At first, he had just thought of taking a bite to see if he got any defence essence, but now he was enjoying the meal. Unlike what he had expected, the meat didn't taste bad; in fact, it tasted like chicken.

Looking to his side at the Brave who was stuffing the meat in her mouth as if her life depended on it, Damian had an odd look on his face.

'Isn't this cannibalism?' As the question arose in his mind, Damian decided to drop it. No matter what Brave was, she was cute and that's all that mattered.

Gulping the meat down his throat, Damian picked up the sword he had received as a quest reward. No matter how many times he looked at it, it wasn't enough.

The shiny blade with a thick middle and the sharp edges on both sides gave a cold feeling to the weapon transmitted by the leather handle. Just holding it excited Damian. Why wouldn't it? It was a sword, a real sword used for killing.

Damian took a deep breath to calm his excited heart. Though he managed to calm himself down, it was only for now. He had got a whiff of his true desires. He had seen a glimpse of his true self, so no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't get rid of those intoxicating moments.

"Let's get some sleep, Brave..." Putting the sword back in his inventory, Damian got up. Looking down at the burnt bodies of the rats who dared to bare their teeth at him, an involuntary smile cracked on his face.

"Let's start the grind tomorrow." Turning around as Damian walked away, he left a trail of burnt bodies and ashes behind, along with a part of his old self, taking with himself a side of his he had yet to know.