I heard that thing biting and grinding Mr. Snuggles in its mouth, the sound of bones grinding was the worst.

That sound of my pet's bones breaking filled the room.

That did it, the sound brought me back to reality. In that reality, I could be next.

I was under the table, my feet were facing the door, and my eyes were affixed on the thing.

Slowly so very fucking slowly, and as silently as I could, I moved from my sleeping position onto my hands and knees, my eyes affixed on the thing I didn’t even blink.

Strangely I started thinking like an animal, cold and calculating no words just feelings and images.

In that mind-set I know, I needed a weapon and to make a choice, kill or escape, escape could mean that more are outside.

An image came to my mind, me in the woods at night surrounded by others like this thing, which was all I needed to make the choice, my only choice, Kill it.

I used my aura pushing it from my left shoulder like tentacle to feel the crossbow on top of the crafting table, found it.

It's close, directly on top of me.

Knowing its exact location, I move my left hand up and out from under the table, my right hand on the floor steadying me, my eyes on the monstrosity.

Finally, my hand touched the crossbow, I slowly lifted it and pulled it under the table to join me and noticed the crossbow was upside-down.

I moved to a crouching position, flipped the crossbow and aimed at its back.

Shit, my aura is empty the crossbow is the only thing I have, it needs mana to activate the scroll, I can’t risk shooting a normal arrow.

I need a mana source, my own body can make mana, but I didn’t sleep long enough to replenish my aura, and my own mana is not good enough to activate the scroll in the arrow.

Only the pure mana from the modified cores can do that.

For a moment, I almost panicked, forgetting I have a core in my pocket.

The core in my pocket was charged and ready, I pushed my aura out from my hip and into my pocket, enveloping the core completely, and I took the mana.

Time slowed as the mana rushed into my aura, it was like a heat wave moving from my hip to my stomach and up to my left arm and into the crossbow.

With my aura, I pushed the mana into the scroll.

The thing was still focused on eating.

The crossbow was aimed at it, and my aiming was dead center, the arrow made contact with the monster, hitting it in the spine.

The arrow head triggered the scroll, activating it, releasing the lightning attack.

The room was illuminated in flashes of light from the electric discharge made by the scroll.

The sound that monster made as it started to spasm on the floor can only be described as a squeal, a shrieking sound from a pig suffering from years of vocal cord abuse.

Under the table I kicked the door closed, and I jumped out moving for the door, this time I locked it.

I had the time to only lock it with one latch.

Quickly I turned, the thing was still on the floor, and the spell was fading.

I grabbed a kukri blade in my right hand from the table and ran at the beast, pushing the last of my mana into the blade, and stabbed the freak in its side.

And as my blade sank into its flesh my hand fallowed deep in to it, I released a small lightning attack inside its guts.

It convulsed like fish out of water. And stilled.

Its organs completely burned, yet in a world of magic, I needed to check its pulse, I stabbed my blade into its brain just to be sure.

I pushed myself off of it and jumped away from it, I looked around me in the darkness of the room.

In the darkness, I started to feel anxiety.

I used the last drops of mana in my aura to make lightning sparks between my fingers like Taser that gave me the flashes of light I needed.

I moved, feeling for the light crystal on the table next to it, I found the core I was looking for.

I absorbed its power, I didn’t have time to look for an oil lamp, so I activated the light crystal and turned to see the monster.

Arms long enough to touch its knees, long fingers and long Sharpe fingernails.

A tail like a monkey with a pointy claw or a beak in its end point.

I took a sword from the shelves and walked to the thing.

It looked so skinny, like a starved man from WWII.

The eyes were completely gray, is it blind?

Its mouth was still full, I could see the rabbit’s body. Between it’s… “What the fuck”.

The teeth they looked like velociraptor claws, black claws, and its jaw is way too big.

"Oh god that mouth” I just looked, it was a horror, No lips just teeth.

It has claws in its fucking mouth, if I was sleeping exposed, I would be in that mouth. That idea gave me a chill.

As the chill ran up my spine.

I lifted the sword up and swung it down on its neck, cutting the head off, ‘and now it’s probably dead’.

Thank god I played all those VR games, my brutality saved my life.

The smell of blood and burned flesh filled the suddenly quiet room.

Only the sound of wind coming from the door.

‘THE DOOR’.

I turned to it and locked it with the other three latches, I looked at all the four latches on the door, and made sure I actually did lock them.

Yes, this time all four are deep into the walls.

I pushed mana into the wards on the door, this should make it more dangerous to attack from the outside.

I listened, silence, nothing outside.

I backed away from the door, just the idea of what could be outside was good enough to keep me up all night.

Sword in hand, I looked at the door, waiting for something to hit it or open it.

Nothing.

Apparently I was still veiled, or they are waiting for me to open it.

A home is like a veil, and just like a grave can veil you in death, a home veils you in life. My one room home is my life’s grave.

I just didn’t want it to actually be a grave.

If I keep the fucking door closed, I might keep that as metaphor.

The mana rush or the adrenalin faded, and I started to get dizzy.

I found the other cores and absorbed more mana, I have a feeling I will need it.

I didn’t want to waste any more mana, so I picked up the oil lamp on the table and turned it on and stopped giving mana to the light crystal.

The mana condenser was outside, but it had no core, I removed it when I crafted the crossbow, so it was just a lump of metal outside.

A vertical lump of metal that can expose my location to anyone with an IQ above room temperature.

”fuck”

Just its movement with the wind can draw in the eyes to it.

If civilization still existed outside, this monster thing could be a new thing, amarys and the villagers lived for long time in this place and neither of them faced things like this ever.

Amarys has no memories of something like this, and I would know even in his blurry memories this thing would be something to remember.

And the villagers would have been more cautious or at least talked about it, if they know about this.

The smell was back, and I can’t take it, this thing can’t sleep with me and I can’t open the door.

I looked around me, “I need a body bag”, I spoke to the empty room.

I did not have one, so I settled for the next best thing.

I pushed the freak’s body to the right corner, used a rag and water to clean the conjuring circle.

After I finished up.

I conjured more aluminum and toke it to the crafting table, I shaped it into a big sheet of aluminum and made that into a big barrel 1 meter in height. And 50 cm in diameter.

These dimensions should be enough to hold the body, I just need to help it fit into it.

With a meat cleaver.

I made an extra-large meat cleaver, its dimensions were 45 cm long by 12 cm.

I dragged the barrel into the corner next to the body.

I went to work, it was a grim job, the smell from this thing, the blood, the guts and some of the rabbit was still in the mouth of it.

First I started with the joints, I cut the legs and tossed them into the barrel.

As I cut I found out that I killed a male, from its strange anatomy I guess it’s a male because all I could find was the balls.

I didn’t investigate thoroughly, because I wasn’t interested about solving this mystery.

One more mystery, I will name this one the missing shaft puzzle.

I continued dismembering the monster.

This is way better than opening the door to the outside.

I cut and cut, thanks to mana I had superhuman strength, temporarily.

I looked at the thing, it was without its legs, now I will cut the arms, and the torso will be in the center of the barrel surrounded by the limbs.

I lifted it and placed it in position.

Along with the torso, I added the arms.

Lastly I cracked its skull in search for this thing's core and didn’t find any, I tossed in the head with the other body parts, and now the blood, I cleaned up as good as I could using rags and water.

It wasn’t perfect, I used the shovel to scrape off the top layer of the floor, because I don’t want any dark stain of blood on my new floor.

Soon it was scraped-off, and I collected all the blood stained sand, and tossed it into the barrel.

After I tossed the rags into the barrel with everything else, I sealed the barrel.

Pushed it into the corner and ignored its existence.

I wasn’t tired not after what happened, I found that the dark reality am in with its multiple attempts to kill me can work as a very potent motivational pill.

I looked through the door cracks the sun was up, I looked at the trees grass looking for anything strange and deadly, nothing.

Yeah, I feel very much awake.

I don’t believe I can ever sleep again when I know that things like it exist, and they lurk just outside my door, “those shaft-less bastards”.

I resolved myself to kill them all, I won’t be eaten.

I backed away from the door, it’s time to take a step back and re-plan this.

The door, the weapons, food, mana.

I was lucky, my empty aura didn’t expose my location when I woke up, and I didn’t get a seizure and lose my consciousness and get eaten in my sleep.

Getting used to my aura and how to control it helped, I didn’t panic or lose control when I absorbed the mana from the core.

But I was stupid, not only did I leave the death door open, I exhausted myself using mana too much, and forgot to bush the door latches.

I have an oil lamp and instead of using them I used the mana hungry light crystal, because I was used to modern powerful light.

The book clearly shows that it should be used only for important jobs that require good lighting and time can’t be wasted waiting for the sunlight.

I was slowly exhausting myself.

The conjuring and the sculpting, I lost myself in the work, and in the moment.

From the experience to the false sense of safety and accomplishment.

“Shit.”

Mistakes like this can kill, and almost did.

I took a moment and forced myself to relax, and started to think.

After considering what to make to stay alive, I came to the conclusion that I need more energy.

i must stop using mana like Duct Tape, it fixes anything and everything, the door the conjuring my aura, and I need more of it.

MANA is currently my top priority.

This time, I won’t just absorb mana like an idiot.

It takes one hour for a core to recharge I have three, so I will absorb in turn not on mass and if I modify all the cores I will absorb mana from two at a time depending on the work.

I modified all the cores into a high purity mana cores.

I have modified all the seven cores, now I need another mana condenser, yet this one won’t be powered by wind.

I can’t go outside, so the condenser needs to work inside.

And I know how to solve this problem, I smiled, at least failure of imagination won’t be what kills me.

My big idea was a mini Tesla Turbine, Easy to make and less complex than any other engine.

I organized my tools and brought the oil lamp closer to my work place, I need to see clearly, and I will use the light crystal only if I had to.

I started my work.

The Tesla Turbine is a bladeless turbine and unlike normal Tesla Turbine, this one will have no disk warping problem because I will be using mana reinforcement wards on the disks.

The mana consumed should be way less than the mana collected and purified, it would be like a fuel pump, it pumps fuel and uses some of it for energy to continue the pumping.

I made the tubes for the steam to go in and out, and a small boiler the size of water bottle.

I will boil the water using wards, as well as for cooling the steam exiting the turbine, it will pass a ward that will cool the steam into water, and store it in a second boiler to be reused.

That was the turbine part, as for the condenser part, I collected the components I wanted, on top of the table.

Two small magnets, connected to the turbine, as the turbine spines the magnets will orbit a copper cylinder.

The magnets will naturally collect wild mana faster than the core could, and the spinning adds to that process.

The copper will act like a sponge sucking the extra dense wild mana.

The wild mana collected will overflow to the core.

The core will purify the mana fast, naturally cores after death become slow at collecting and absorbing wild mana, the condenser solves that for it.

Allowing the core to focus on purifying the mana.

Now the important part, collecting the pure mana.

I was wondering what I can do to gather mana and purify it without a core.

There is a section in the ward book about using wards like cores to slowly, very slowly gather and store purified mana as a liquid.

I still can’t find a way to replace the core and purify it.

I made the necessary scroll and another bottle, and rolled the scroll around it.

Using the copper wire I connected the purifier to the bottle, over time mana will follow the wire and drip into the bottle.

Pulled and stored by the ward without it fading into the world.

The purified mana will overflow from the core to the collector ward, and it will condense it into a liquid, that liquid will be stored in a bottle.