Haruto sluggishly followed behind a limping Thomas. As he whined, “I don’t feel like walking back home. Why don’t you go rent us some horses?”  

I also do not feel like going on foot, but such is our world’s repression. I wonder when he will be back at full power. “It is, very late young master. Besides, we move quicker than any horse available in this village.” Thomas slowly inhaled a sharp breath of black aura.

“You don’t mean... Running, do you?” A chill ran down Haruto’s back as he envisioned having to run all the way back to the cave. 

Thomas verified as if Haruto’s question was not rhetorical, “I do indeed. If we run all the way back to my cave, our travel time will go from a day to about 6 hours.” Thomas popped his bones back into place. Exhaling the dark aura, Thomas chanted, “haste” and started to “lightly” jog. 

I forgot no cars existed in a reincarnated world. I just assumed I would be able to fly. Or have a giant carriage with beautiful girls to drive it. Where’s my OP mount. My pegasus or dragon, hell I’d even take a giant chicken. Screw this, I’m gonna be a shut-in from now on, no more traveling. Haruto cried to himself as he began to run beside Thomas. 

After a few hours of running, the two returned to the forest. Even though no sweat was coming out of Haruto’s body, mentally, he was on his last leg. Fast travel. For the love of Remsama, give me fast travel. Taking a breath, Haruto looked around his surroundings. 

The blue moon hung high in the sky, yet an armada of clouds forcibly concealed most of it. What little light that made it through illuminated the eerie forest. The once barren forest was now vibrant with activity. Haruto could sense numerous life forms. He raised this finding to Thomas, “It seems that the wildlife in the forest become more active at night.”

Thomas looked around and replied, “it is more correct to say that the monsters in the forest are more active at night.”

“Monsters?” Haruto continued to look around his surroundings until he saw a giant deformed rat eating a squirrel with fangs longer than Dracula. “Remsama, what happened here?” Even the muskrats don't look as hideous. Is this perhaps one of the isekai famous forbidden zones, where ancient monsters, treasures, and power await?

Thomas shyly smiled when he saw Haruto's interest had been peaked. “A few of my experiments may have gotten out back in my heyday and have since eradicated most of the forest’s natural populace. I can only claim half of the credit." If not for the meddling church, this zone would not be so enriched with death energy. Haha, I'm sure the pope did not foresee this.

Haruto looked around with pity at the abominations that have turned this forest into a hellscape. Ah, this is indeed a forbidden zone, but the only thing ancient here is this monster. Haruto scoffed at the embarrassed Thomas, “May have? That squirrel over there is a living vampire. And here I thought the ancient forest was dangerous.” 

Thomas gasped internally at Haruto's offhanded comparison. Has he been to the ancient elven forest? To make it here, from there without flying. Even traveling the continent is but a small issue for this being. Perhaps we can exchange our findings. "Fear not, young master, the populations here are low and under my control. Interestingly enough, most of the reported deaths are because of these creatures. Not me,” a dry chuckle came from the handsome face of Thomas.

Haruto retorted, “That’s not bloody interesting. An interesting fact is, did you know whales use echolocation to search their environment. Or roaches can survive a nuke. Not, I’m not actually a murderer; it’s just my freak science experiments.”

The noble faced Thomas formed a malevolent smile. “No, I’m still a murderer. It’s just not all the murders are mine. We all must make small sacrifices in the pursuit of knowledge.” 

Before Haruto could reply to this monster in human skin, he was cut off by a noise. In the distance, a blood-curdling howl was shaking the forest. It was full of blood lust and a tinge of craze.

Hearing the noise, Thomas became giddy. “Oh, lucky us, we get to see the greatest of my experiments. I had spent years perfecting these beasts. After they escaped, I assumed their metabolic rate was too high so they would quickly starve to death. But I guess nature finds a way.” As he spoke, Thomas brought out a piece of paper and a quill. I've been searching for these babies for years to think he attracted them. Good, I shall begin my preparations. 

Haruto’s eyes contracted as he began to search the path ahead, but he could only see darkness and trees. He questioned, “Where are they?” What is this? Jurassic Forest. Will it be the T-Rex or the indominus? Does copyright claims still work on other worlds? I know a few people who would have a word or two about this.

Thomas beamingly smiled, “even you young lord with your advanced body, can not see through their camouflage? Good, good I was hoping to make the perfect apex predator, and it seems my decades of research were not in vain. You see, in their genes are pieces from various species. Such as the dark chameleon who changes pigments to better hide in their environment. On top of that, I activated the blood essence in their veins to heighten their camouflage with magic. After many generations, they should have evolved quite substantially.” Thomas jotted down the ability to camouflage even when faced by a stronger foe. 

Haruto pushed his senses to the extremes to pinpoint the creatures. His ears could faintly pick up the sound of numerous creatures approaching them. Haruto spat, “You are an idiot, aren’t you? Why on earth would you create such creatures?” 

Thomas looked at Haruto as if the answer was obvious. “Surely one as powerful as you have thoughts on the beings known as gods. We worship them, but why? Why do we worship? Why don’t we have beings who think of us as Gods? I say there is no reason not to. The difference between gods and mortals is strength. So I say look upon my creations in awe, for I am their god.” Thomas spread his arms in exhilaration.

Haruto looked at Thomas for a second, hearing such blasphemous words. He wanted to teach Thomas a lesson, but more pressing matters were afoot. Huh? He talks like a sadist in front of me? The sadist-slayer! Ok little false sadist-god on behalf of these creatures, I shall teach you a thing or two about empathy.

More curdling howls followed. Then crimson eyes shooting like lasers fell upon Thomas and Haruto from four directions existentially surrounding them.

Thomas jotted his thoughts onto the paper. “Ah, crimson eyes, this is new. That must mean their blood essence has made it to the eyes, maybe even the brain, who knows what changes this could mean. But, what I wonder is why they are attacking now, of all times. With you here, young master, they should leave us alone. Only under the threat of a predator actively attempting to steal their domain would they attack like this.” 

Haruto's mind flashed back to when the ancient beast of the forest roared at him upon entering for the first time. He coughed, “That might have been me. I may or may not give off a certain aura, but I’ve been in the forest before. What’s the difference.”

Thomas nodded his head in understanding, “That makes sense. The answer to your question is quite easy. When you were here before, it was day time. These beasts are all nocturnal, so they slumber during the day, and creatures that need abundant calories such as them, enter deep slumbers and are less likely to react. If I made life too easy, what need would they have for a god.” The eyes continuously penetrated through the darkness, ignoring the talking Thomas and locking onto Haruto.

“Well, this shouldn’t be a problem. I’ll just show them that the food chain has a new apex predator.” Haruto leaned into a fighting stance and unleashed his Shogun’s aura at full strength. Do not worry, little critters, I shall go easy on you. It is not your fault this crazy Skeletor created you.

The prying eyes dilated until a deep red that was almost purple locked onto Haruto. 

Thomas believed Haruto was a half-crazed being turned towards him and looked pleadingly into his eyes.“Remember, you can’t hurt my babies. They have a right to live like any other creature. Just defeat their pack leader, and everything should be fine.” How could I forget? Since he has traveled the cosmos, an eccentric being like him will not tolerate ant-like creatures bothering him.

“Fine.” Haruto only replied with one word as he sensed a large creature galloping towards his position. 

Emerging from the darkness was a set of purple eyes, belonging to a slick black wolf with canines longer than the squirrel. The wolf was gigantic and menacingly growled at Haruto. The wolf began to circle around them. From the darkness, the other wolves appeared but compared to the alpha, they were lackluster.

Thomas talked like he was in an active science experiment and wrote notes as if he was in no real danger. “They sure have grown in size. No wonder the number of deaths was on the rise. He should be the pack leader, quite a fine specimen, their evolution far outpaces the creatures created by the other gods.” 

The pack leader cautiously eyed Haruto and only continued to circle around him. 

Haruto also remained in his fighting stance but made no movement. Maybe he’ll just leave if I don’t provoke him, activate my "friend of nature" title. 

Unfortunately, Haruto, not making an attempt to attack, emboldened the wolf. The wolf let out a long deep howl, and a vortex of magic began funneling towards the wolf. The wolf started growing in size, and its canines enlarged until they were the length of a saber tooth tiger. A dark aura began to cling around the wolf’s fur, and its eyes became more radiant. With one kick from its hind legs, it darted towards Haruto like a shooting star.

 Fuck. This friend of nature title is worthless. Haruto punched towards the airborne wolf but held back to not kill it. The wolf’s magical fur was stronger than Haruto thought. 

The wolf arrived in front of Haruto, shrugging off the punch, and plunged its teeth into him.

“Combat Detected. Activating HUD.” “Name: ???. Class: None Level: Incalculable Basic comprehension activated. Recalculating. Danger rating: Yellow-Orange.

Luckily Haruto’s body was quite resilient, so only a shallow bite succeeded. Not bad for yellow. At least you are stronger than that idiot back at the tavern. But piss is still piss no matter the color. Haruto grabbed the wolf by the neck before it could escape and slammed it into the ground.

On the other hand, Thomas continued monologuing and taking notes. “It appears the wolf has evolved greatly with the magic and can sustain blood essence to the point of body transformation. The speed from the transformation would rank the wolf leagues above a runic knight. Bite force appears to be stronger than a low tier grand magus attack. The possible level of the wolf is a mid-tier blooded knight. Wolf has not unlocked the full blood essence of an ancient magical tiger.”

The wolf quickly rebounded from the slam and reintroduced distance between Haruto and itself, searching for an opportunity to strike. 

Thomas stroked his chiseled chin observing the scene. He made small amendments to his notes, “intelligence in wolves has increased greatly, and the wolves may contain mid to high tier basic problem-solving abilities.” 

Once behind Haruto, the wolf unleashed a magically charged howl to disorientate Haruto. Perhaps confident in the howl, it once again lunged forward, hoping to bite the back of Haruto’s neck. 

“Amazing, using magic to cover up differences in physical capabilities. Haha, just this move alone can be considered revolutionary. The question is was the move an instinctive response, or planned,” Thomas was in awe of the move. 

Haruto, on the other hand, merely turned around and grabbed towards the lunging wolf, utterly unaffected by the howl. 

Seeing this, the wolf forced its body to change trajectory and crashed back into the ground. Still, the wolf did not appear to be keen on retreating. Instead, it became more focused on battling Haruto. 

“I’m losing my patience, Thomas.” Haruto unleashed a bit more power and dashed towards the wolf and kicked it before it could stabilize itself. 

The wolf let out a yelp and created more distance. It now appeared the wolf understood the difference in strength between the two. Not everyone had a fancy HUD like Haruto to rely on.

The yelp caused the other wolves to close in. 

Thomas paid no heed to Haruto and continued monologuing, “I may have underestimated their intelligence. It appears the magic has already reached the brain, turning them into semi-magical beasts. Given time they may begin to show sentience, truly amazing. I need to conduct more research to fully understand their growth. Tonight is turning out to be quite fortuitous. My forced evolution, coupled with natural selection, has worked wonders.” 

Haruto, seeing the other wolves closing in, threw some heavy punches that broke their ranks with ease.

The pack leader howled a command causing the other wolves to quickly and orderly retreat a certain distance back. 

Thomas was bewildered and scribbled madly on his paper. “AH, did you see that? They can communicate, they can actually communicate, and it appears to be advanced, not just basic grunts or barks. From the looks, the howl is mixed with magic. Dear me, they are already fully sentient.” I have stepped into the hall of true Godhood. Now I only need their faith and subservience. 

“All I see is that these mutts don’t understand how nice I am. I am tired, and my patience is running thin. End this now, Thomas, or I will end it permanently.” Haruto’s eyes began to narrow, reminiscent of the serpent look he gave in the bar.

The malice behind Haruto’s threat woke Thomas up. “Fine, I was hoping to see more, but I will end it here.” Thomas pulled out a skeleton shaped whistle and began blowing into it. 

The wolves went mad once the noise assaulted their ears. Even the lead wolf became sluggish under the sound. Thomas cackled, “Lucky for us, the wolves are still vulnerable to soul attacks.”

 The wolves who ignored Thomas until now angrily stared him down, but once the whistle came near his mouth, the wolves let out a whimper and began to retreat. 

The wolf leader was reluctant to depart and let out one last howl to Haruto then slowly vanished back into the dusk. 

Thomas folded his paper and stored it in his pouch. He whole-heartedly commented, “It appears the wolf has a vendetta against you. How intriguing. For now, it will be best to travel during the day to avoid being slowed down again.” Must begin experiments. Must keep eccentric from experiments. Yes, with enough time, my strength will grow exponentially.

“Mhm. Thomas make sure not to bother those creatures again, or well I’m too tired to explain but you get the gist. How much longer until we reach the cave?” Haruto was extremely tired now and just wanted to fall over and sleep.

Thomas was so excited to get back and contemplate tonight’s findings to come up with some new theories, that he brushed aside Haruto’s threat. Pointing in the distance Thomas replied, “The cave is actually right past these trees.” The two quickly made it back to the cave with no more obstacles. 

Haruto’s brain had already begun to shut down. He mumbled, “Where bed.” 

Thomas was worried his free security may crash before serving its purpose. So he quickly shepherded the tired Haruto to the room, “I have one in the back, but it has obviously not been used in some time, so it may be dusty and a bit dirty.” 

Haruto only grunted in response then disappeared into the room.

Waving at the departed Haruto, a smile broke onto Thomas's face. “Now, I can begin proper research. I know those foolish mortals will send someone into the forest after us. Oh, my glorious creations be good, and show daddy more results,” Thomas walked into his study then chanted a few words. At the end of his words, giant eyeballs with wings appeared and flew out of the cave.