Hunting and skewering the three rams took little to no effort from Adrian.
The little creatures hadn’t seen his attack coming until their horned heads were rolling on the floor.
As for the flames he used to cook the beasts, he just had Noctis threaten a fire spirit that was around to create one for them.
Was that evil of him?
Yes and he was very much aware that it was, but at the same time, he didn’t care. This was revenge for them ignoring the previous Adrian.
"You sure you don’t want some?" Adrian asked as he bit into another piece of roasted meat.
The meat was cooked over a small fire, the fat from the ram slowly dripping and hissing as it touched the flames.
Across from him, Noctis sat on a rock with its tail lazily swaying.
«I’m a spirit,» the cat replied flatly, «I don’t eat mortal food.»
Adrian hummed softly in acknowledgment before taking another bite.
The meat was surprisingly tender. The young ram’s flesh didn’t have the toughness that older monsters usually developed, and with the way he had seasoned it with some wild herbs he found nearby, the flavor was actually quite decent.
Years of living alone had taught Adrian many things.
Cooking was one of them.
When you lived by yourself, ordering food every day was expensive and inconvenient, so he had learned how to prepare meals properly.
It wasn’t anything extravagant, but it was more than enough to keep himself well fed, and compared to the packet noodles that many people relied on in his previous life, something freshly cooked like this was practically a luxury.
Adrian finished the last bite of meat before standing up and brushing the snow from his uniform.
The rest of the meat would be useful later, so he wrapped it carefully using a large leaf, waste was unacceptable.
Though, storing it would be a problem.
Noctis looked at him for a short while as he tried creating some sort of portable pouch from leaves, before sighing and letting its shadow extend.
«Put it in the shadows,» it instructed.
Adrian looked at it for a short while and then at the shadow on the floor. The moment he did, information on the technique immediately flowed into his mind, thanks to the glasses.
The technique was known as [ Shadow Vault ], it was technique that allows the user to store objects within a compressed pocket of shadow.
Within that space, time flowed a lot slower, almost to a crawl, so whatever was stored within, would take a lot longer to expire/spoil.
"Thanks," Adrian muttered as he lowered the meat into the shadows, his hand passing through the floor, which was a weird experience.
The moment he withdrew his hand, the meat was gone, safely stored within his shadow. He then stood up straight and muttered,
"It should’ve returned by now."
Adrian poured more mana into into his glasses before turning towards his left where he spotted a massive concentration of icy blue mana pulsed violently like a storm.
Noctis followed the direction of his gaze, «ah, I take it that’s the angry mother.»
"...Probably," Adrian said calmly.
«Are you going to fight it?» it asked again.
"Hmm," he nodded before turning in the opposite direction of the beast.
He could feel the ground shaking and hear the sound of trees falling, a clear sign that a very angry mother beast was charging towards him.
Letting out a sigh, he started.... running away?
«.....» the cat looked at his retreating back with an unimpressed stare before disappearing and reappearing atop his head.
***
So in summary, Adrian had been dropped in a forest with the task of making his way to the main estate, he got hungry, ate three ram beasts and now, he was being chased by their angry mother.
Now, Adrian could’ve just teleported to safety, completely avoiding the beast, but he didn’t want to.
Why?
Because he needed a fitting gift for his Renelle and her spirit....well, only for her spirit, but still.
The Ram-like beast, a Frosthorn Behemoth , let out a roar as it looked at its prey, the pest had finally stopped running, so it could now properly crush it.
"Ah," he murmured, "it’s a lot angrier than I expected."
«You killed its children,» Noctis said dryly from atop his head, «what exactly were you expecting? Gratitude?»
The beast stomped its hooves at the ground, kicking up more snow as it prepared to charge.
"Well, this is going to be inconvenient," Adrian muttered as he prepared for its attack.
The Frosthorn Behemoth roared and lunged forward, its massive horns lowering as it attempted to skewer him.
The sheer force behind the charge shook the ground beneath them, yet Adrian simply stepped to the side.
The monster moved past him, barely missing his uniform,a gust of icy wind followed its movement, rustling his coat.
Adrian turned slightly, watching it slide several meters before stopping.
"It truly is just like a charging bull," he muttered to himself, as he watched the Frosthorn Behemoth prepare another attack.
It’s horn started glowing as it let out mist through its mouth.
It then roared, charging towards him again, this time a lot faster than it had before.
Everywhere it stepped becamean icy ground and every second it stepped on said icy ground, it got faster and faster.
It closed the distance in a second, and its horns slammed into Adrian, immediately turning him to an ice sculpture before shattering into smaller shards of ice.
The beast, still unsatisfied, stomped on the smaller shards of ice, completely crushing it.
"Did that calm you down?"
The beast let out a small huff, as if giving a nod of affirmation before it suddenly paused and turned towards the voice.
Standing on the opposite side of the forest, was the prey that was supposed to be crushed beneath its hooves.
Before the Frosthorn Behemoth could let out a roar of anger or charge at him again,a large shadow spike rose from the ground, cleanly piercing through its skull and coming out on the other end.
The last thing the beast saw was a monster made of complete darkness slowly approaching it before everything faded to black.
"That was easier than expected," he muttered as he crouched close to the corpse.
«Of course,» Noctis said, «despite its size, the Frosthorn Behemoth is a lot weaker than the Frost Wolf.»
"I see," Adrian nodded, of course he knew this from the manhwa, that was the only reason he tried hunting it in the first place.
He then crouched down, extended his hand, and a small dagger made entirely of shadows appeared within it.
«Don’t tell me you hunted it to also eat,» the cat asked as he watched him cut open the the beasts head.
Adrian created shadow tentacles which wiggled their way into the hole he created on the beast’s forehead before they pulled back out, bringing with them a blue glowing circular orb-like object.
"This is what I need," he answered as he took the orb into his palm.
This was a beast core, it was otherwise known as a mana core because that’s where beasts store their mana.
Specifically, Adult beasts.
Though the core was even present in young ones, it was so small that it was basically useless, which was why Adrian didn’t bother harvesting them in the three young Frosthorn Behemoths.
Storing the core in his [ Shadow Vault ], he turned back to the beast’s corpse again, "...though it would be wasteful to leave the rest behind"
Noctis sighed.
«Please do not tell me you plan to butcher that entire thing.»
"Well, it would be improper to waste good meat," Adrian said as he crouched again.
The spirit cat stared at him.
«You are the strangest human I have ever met,» it paused before adding.
Instead of a reply, he simply rolled up his sleeves.
"Now then," he said calmly, summoning a thin blade of shadow again, "let’s begin."