At first, I thought that hunting was mostly a question of stamina, a little bit of technique, so… something like swimming.

It’s not this way with Alter Life hound hunt.

It’s more...

« Wouaf ! Wouaf, worf ! »

« Wouf ! Wouf ! »

« Rrhh... »

They say that, as I am minor in the real world, they put me a soft version of the game in which there is not too much violence.

Not too much…

To see a poor ram walking freely being jumped on by about ten dogs, on both paws, throat, face…

And next having myself to slaughter this poor animal…

“Go on, Jules! Here we go! Take the wool on one hand to raise the head and cut the throat with the other hand!”

I turn pale, gather my strengths, use the dagger Gandock gave me, and try to hold back this head moving on all sides, watering me with blood with generosity…

“It’s nearly no longer moving, keep on the good work until he stops!”

The truth would be, keeping this poor beast on the spot, it requires a huge amount of strength!

The hound was in charge of putting the beasts on the ground, but after that it’s required to hang on, empty them from their blood and once dead, going on the next step…

“Here we go! Your first hunting trophy!”

Job hunter unlocked.

Hunter is the most common job in Alter Life. It allows you to get meat and several raw goods.

You acquired your first prey.

STR +1

“And now, butchering!”

***

“Thissss, you can give it to the dogszzz, it won’t be of any uszzze here, but it’ssss nicssse if you want to prepare good ssssausages.”

“But it’s disgusting!”

“It’s nature, my little Jules. Man is an omnivore, and so a carnivore! That’s what did our ancestors!”

“Anyway, it’s still disgusting!”

I opened the ram from the throat to the pelvis.

Insides are a reward for the little puppies, who transforms themselves from small lovely cuties puppies to bloodthirsty carnivores.

I believe I’m going to have nightmares because of this…

“With thissss knife, you remove the skin thisss way…”

Nothing is lost, as they say.

The ram skin will be used to make leather, quite mediocre quality, and as Gandock wants me to work as a leatherworker, I will see the end of this story, I will know where these leather clothes comes from as I make them.

“Good, now, we will take the meat and put it in this bag.”

Not really a bag, more a bundle.

The butcher work, in a clearing area, in the middle of the forest, it’s not what I was thinking about when I connected this morning…

“We are not at half a kilo close. The most interesting parts, we take them, the rest, it will be for the dogs.”

I understand better why they seem so enthusiastic…

I thought they just loved running after other animals, but truth would be that dogs are born hunters who really love meat!

“You see this crystal? When you will be an undead, it’s what will really be of interest for you. It’s what you have to eat…”

Still leaking blood, Gandock took from the ram head a small crystal.

The monster crystal.

***

“Each and every monster and animal has in its head or somewhere in its body a crystal. Sometime it’s the heart.

“The monster crystal contains usually the soul of the monster and a part of its energy.

“Of course, every dog of my hounds has its own crystal! But don’t touch!

“When one wants to force a métempsukhôsis from a dead to a newborn, one has to use magic to transfer vital and spiritual energy from the monster crystal to the forming crystal of the newborn.”

“It means there are two souls in the baby body?”

“No, it means that the spirit of the newborn will disappear leaving the previous monster alone. The newborn soul can go to another forming crystal somewhere else.

“There are many advantages to keep the same spirit on various lives: a part of the memory is kept, a part of the experiences, learning of anything already learnt in a previous life goes much faster…”

“So why did you tell me to eat them when I am a zombie?”

“To get the vital energy!

“It’s considered a violation of nature laws, so you won’t make yourself only friends, but it’s undead work, isn’t it?

“they have their own role in the nature equilibrium: when a race “has” too many sools, it’s undead work to collect them.

“Zombies can seize the body energy, psukhôpomps absorb souls. It allows new souls to get space and the cycle starts again.”

“Psukhôpomps?”

“If you find a black mage, ask him to follow the psukhôstasis way!”

***

This small interlude only last a moment.

After having taken all the necessary on this poor ram corpse, and stowed preciously its crystal, we kept on hunting with a few more kilos of meat on our back, and went for hares, nutrias, marmots, even small grass snakes…

“Keep thhhhem well! Hey, you’re gonna let thhhhem flee!”

Vashslar is of course always here to coach me.

Keeping on the animals struggling, it’s really tiring.

Each time I get cramps on my arm, it’s the same ritual that keep on going…

“Okay, everyone in circle, it’s meditation time!”

On a hand, seeing blood leaking along the puppies mouth is nightmarish.

On the other hand, seeing them a moment later sitting kindly, pulling out the tongue and entering meditation, it’s…

It’s so cute!

I fall for those balls of fur.

I want so much to cuddle them!

Yes, it seems my fear for dogs went away.

But you have to watch their boil!

“Concentrate a little! You have to imagine the energy coming from your heart and going to the places where your muscles are the most tired.”

“But I already try!”

“We don’t ask you to try but to succeed. It’s quite easy, at work!”

I really feel them, my muscles.

It’s pulling strongly, stronger than I am used to in the real world.

Especially biceps and triceps, my arms pull terribly…

My forearms too.

But as I breath deeply, realizing where it hurts…

It already nearly no longer hurts.

“Okay, one last prey for today!”

***

One last prey…

My eye!

A prey, but which prey!

“It weighs at least on ton…!”

“No, 250 kgs max. Keep well your feet on the ground, and take the shock! It won’t kill you!”

“Mummy!”

It’s not a bear, not even a bull, nearly a boar.

A wild pig.

Solitary, hopefully.

He must not be an adult yet, or else, he couldn’t find a female!

The problem began when he tried to flee from the dogs.

Dogs who where on the other side of the wild pig, compared to me.

So the wild pig charged on me.

BOOM !

“I think something broke, maybe a bone…”

“No, certainly nothing! Stand up and catch up to him!”

With two dogs on each leg, he can’t go far.

But still, I’m rang.

He must have propelled me for at least two meters.

“If you where more stable on your feets, you would have stopped it, he wasn’t that fast! Stand up!”

I stand up, go for the wild pig that is fighting with the dogs, and jump on it, pulling the dagger in its throat.

It doesn’t let me go, so he turns on every side, throwing me in front of me, which allows me to open fully its carotide.

I have to go on three times, being bitten twice at least…

“It won’t leave you any scar, so don’t be afraid!”

A last startle, and the pig definitely cease moving.

“Yeah, I’ve done it!”

“Congratulations! It’s over for today! Good work!”