I walk around the place, collecting the mana stones from all the wolves’ hearts and eating their souls while staying vigilant of my surroundings.

Their souls are rather small, with the smaller possible to take out right away without even killing them. I forgot to check before since I was absorbed in the fight, but it’s not a major problem, since not only I have defeated these guys while suffering barely a few scratches that will heal within hours, but also no one was able to escape me. I should remember to check that later on.

That said, though, while I didn’t suffer any significant wounds it couldn’t be said to be an easy fight. One small mistake on my part could have killed me, especially considering I am more focused on attack, but lack in terms of defense. Sure, I can turn my body to stone, but that won’t be effective against powerful attacks and restricts my movement greatly.

The eight souls boost my strength to another level, making it almost one and a half the size I had when going out. Laura’s souls should be around two and a half times larger than mine now. This speed of improvement, to be honest, is simply incredible, and I doubt anyone could recreate it, even vampires or other species that gain strength from killing other beings.

I already feel stronger than I was an hour ago, and it has been barely half an hour I spent here.

‘Hm, Master?’ – I ask in my mind. – ‘Is there anything particularly good in this bloodline?’

I noticed that the newly created ring is not much dimmer and thinner than that of my original human bloodline, so it should mean that I have a large part of wolf’s bloodline, probably over half.

{Hm, there are quite a few things actually. Sense of smell, sight and hearing and some improvement to muscles from battle-oriented things. Actually, I can get you wolf’s eyes, their ears and their tail. Would you like them?}

‘Um, would it provide me some advantage than if I didn’t take them?’

{Depends.} – She sighs. – {It will improve your hearing, your balance and most aspects of your sight, but it’s something quite noticeable and possibly even dangerous. And it will look a bit bad during the transition phase.}

‘Ummm…’ – I am a bit conflicted. I kind of want to take them, but I am not sure if it’s really a good idea, though I quickly set my mind. – ‘I am taking them.’ – I say suddenly, remembering Natria’s words from when I have absorbed my first Origin.

{Okay~.} – Natria replies in a happy tone. – {As a side note, they will be red just like your hair and current eyes. And speaking about your hair, wolf’s bloodline will improve it greatly, mainly make it much denser and firmer. Also… hmmm… well, it will improve your fertility, but I don’t think that’s your concern.}

‘Oh hell no, definitely not now.’ – I say decisively. – ‘I wouldn’t particularly mind having a girlfriend, but not children.’ – Then I realize what I said. – ‘Um, or… boyfriend? Fuck, that sounds wrong.’ – I scowl.

I hear Natria giggle with amusement. – {Don’t bother with that issue for now. If there is someone you love, gender doesn’t matter. Even ignoring the fact that there are quite many genderless races, hemaphrodites or other out there, for higher beings it is simple enough to have a child between two people of same sex, even two males. Truth be told, having a partner of the same gender in some places is even common and not only normal, so just don’t think too much about that, okay? You can prefer women and no one will kill you for that. For your information, I also prefer girls over boys.} – She giggles once again, giving me impression as if she was winking.

I take a deep breath with pink cheeks. – ‘Well, then let it be girlfriend for now. Not that I have any plans about that.’ – I turn around and check in which direction is the edge of the island. – ‘Anyway, let’s continue.’ – I say a bit embarrassed.

{Wait a second, get yourself some meat from these wolves.} – She says quickly. – {It’s not particularly good, but definitely better than rats and I don’t think you will find anything better soon. I recommend to take the liver, the heart and thigh for now.}

‘Um, what? I mean, why these?’ – I ask, dumbfounded.

{Liver is good overall with a lot of energy, thighs have a lot of meat and heart… hehe, I always take and eat that, it’s just… well, it has highest mana density, but it’s also my kind of quirk. If I eat a monster, or anything else, I have a habit of taking its core where mana stone is created, heart in most cases.} – She says, sounding a bit embarrassed.

‘Oh, I see…’ – I pause for a moment with raised eyebrows. – ‘Well, I have no response to that.’

I then proceed to take the parts Natria told me to take and put them to my backpack after letting the blood out and wrapping them in large, rounded leaves collected nearby.

Just as I am rounding things up I notice a sound of rustling foliage behind me and turn around to see what I knew would happen, but hoped to wrap things up before it did. And that is, the smell of blood attracted monsters.

And it’s the opponent I thought will be the most troublesome for me. It’s a large monster, commonly called Stone Beast. They have many variations of differing strength, but all of them are at least of E+ Rank and very resilient.

The one standing before me is a Stone Aberration, the most unpredictable type. They are a combination of various monster parts connected and covered by stone fragments. The one before me has disproportionally huge stone maws shaped like bear’s head, four narrow, yellow eyes shining with crazy glint within stone sockets, rather thin body with six legs, the front ones visibly larger and hind ones smaller. They have long stone claws, resembling those of a wolf. There is a ridge of stone along the monster’s spine extending into whip-like, segmented tail. Where stone doesn’t cover its skin there is short, extremely messy brownish fur and occasionally what seems to be a tiny, writhing tentacle with some dark purple fluid dripping to the ground.

The beast is almost one and a half meter tall and twice that in length even ignoring the tail. It comes closer to me and starts circling slowly fifteen meters from me, letting out strange snarls along with dull sound of its stone jaws hitting each other. Judging from its size and appearance it should be an E+ or D-, but it is better to be vigilant than die prematurely.

{That thing is not natural.} – Natria suddenly says.

‘Huh?’

{It was made by something or someone, quite a short time ago at that. Its soul isn’t properly attached to the body yet. You might be able to take it out forcefully despite its size, but be careful even so. Also, don’t rely too much on body strengthening, it will most likely be too weak if you get hit.}

‘Alright.’ – I nod.

I adjust my posture by tilting my body slightly to the back and wait for the monster to attack.

After a few second it suddenly pounces at me with speed equal to the Forest Assassin, so I jump back as fast as I can. Its claw swipe misses me and it jumps forward once again while opening its jaws wide.

I harden my hands slightly and catch both jaws with one hand each, then push upper one to the right and lower to the left with all my strength while stepping backward and to the right. I manage to twist its head, but it’s much too strong for me to overpower it and it jolts its head, pulling my arms with enough strength to throw me off balance.

I try to yank out its huge soul along the way, and I see it budge slightly, but I realize it will not give in without a fight.

The monster though is unable to land properly with its head twisted and slams heavily into the ground.

I quickly step forward and use the head as a foothold to jump upward and spin in the air, then harden my foot and kick into its eye with all my strength. The stones around the eyes crack with my foot pushing them inward, landing in the eye and splashing some liquid out of the socket.

I kick its head once again and jump back with a backflip just before it shakes its head and snaps its jaw in my direction while turning its body sharply on the ground. I continue to backflip and we land around five meters from each other.

The monster growls loudly and rushes forward, but just before reaching me it sharply turns right and turns its body. I, just in process of sidestepping the attack I thought would come, duck down as fast as I can when its tail actually extends into a four meters long whip and swishes above my head with more than enough power to blow my head off if it actually hits.

I then rush forward, since the Aberration has its back to me, plant my left foot into the ground and kick into its hind leg with all my strength. The monster, surprised by my earlier evasion, notices it and tries to evade, but is too slow, and my foot hits accurately into the unprotected joint, making a loud snapping sound and bending the leg in unnatural direction.

I jump forward once again, noticing the tail whipping back in my direction as the monster turns around slightly slower with limp leg. I jump over its tail and it passes harmlessly under me, then kick its rear and spin in the air, landing a kick on its other hind leg, snapping it in the same manner.

The monster falters, having lost support of its tail, and spins its body, slashing at me with all three right legs at me. I turn my body sharply, narrowly fitting between the hind and middle one, and catch its left middle leg that follows. I jump forward, using the monster’s belly as a foothold, and twist the leg strongly, almost ripping it off and definitely snapping it, producing a loud crunchy sound.

The beast then raises its head and twists its body, reaching out to me with its jaws, but I jump upwards and spin in the air. While the jaws close below me I harden my foot and kick in the second eye on the same side, digging my heel inside the socket and blinding the monster on one side.

The beast turns its body quickly and roars in pain and anger, slashing with its front legs at me. I sharply twist my body, and its claws pass by my side, but I’m unable to avoid the following shoulder as it slams into my stomach. I harden my belly without thinking, only a moment later realizing it might be a mistake, and soon enough I almost scream in pain and surprise as an unbelievably sharp pain pierces my stomach when I am thrown backwards. I land quite easily and smoothly around ten meters away with no further injuries, but my face is twisted from pain.

‘That was… the stone I turned my body into cracked, right?’ – I ask.

{Yeah, that’s exactly what I was talking about before.} – Natria replies with urgency in her voice. – {I will patch it up that after the fight, but try to finish it without turning back since you’re almost cut in half now.}

I nod my head.

That’s the biggest disadvantage of my ability. It’s not exactly reinforcement, since it doesn’t strengthen the body, but rather hardening that sacrifices flexibility and bounciness. And stone my skin is turned into, while hard, is fragile and withstands attacks with pure strength, not mitigated by flexibility and other factors, and thus is susceptible to shock and blunt hits. So it will crack or even shatter if hit hard enough, and that’s exactly what just happened.

I look at the monster that turns its body around and looks at me with hatred in its eyes while tilting its head slightly to the side to see me better.

I was all this time trying to pull the soul of this guy out, and it seemed to budge each time I pulled, but I wasn’t able to really yank it out.

The monster growls loudly and walks forward slowly with limp hind legs dragging on the ground and tail stretched forward to fix its balance, choosing more cautious approach. I in exchange rush forward straight at it, surprising it slightly.

The monster jumps forward and opens its jaws wide, attempting to bite me, but I slide down, landing a passing, barely effective blow on its jaw, then land on the ground with my back and kick its throat with both my legs, grimacing as the pain from my stomach intensifies.

The monster lets out a strange wheeze as its throat caves in greatly and attempts to pin me down with its arm while slowing down, but I spin my body around and slide between its legs, then kick its only unharmed middle leg, producing a loud sound and bending it slightly backwards.

The beast falters and slumps down, having suddenly lost its balance and with two front legs not strong enough to properly support it. I roll aside, avoiding being crushed under its body, and spin around, kicking the side of the monster’s head.

My heel digs straight into what seems to be a small, deformed ear, partly covered by stone, and the Aberration’s head shakes. I continue the attack with my fist, hitting the same spot, crushing the stone and drawing blood, making the monster even dizzier.

I jump above the front arm that swipes diagonally to the ground and kick the monster in the same spot for the third time, spilling more dark red blood around and caving it in significantly to the sound of shattering stone and likely bone. The monster spasms and roars in pain, then starts thrashing around, forcing me to jump away with no way to predict its moves.

I notice my feet itching and take a glance to notice they are partly covered in the dark purple fluid dripping from the monster’s little tentacles and are red around these areas.

‘Hm, is it acid?’ – I wipe my feet with a leaf I pluck from a plant nearby and the itching remains, but is already much weaker.

After around a minute of watching it vigilantly as its moves slow down it finally goes limp and slumps down. I approach its rear carefully from the side and, noticing no reaction, I reach out my hand and feel its soul.

It is very large, around twice the size of the current me and almost as large as Laura’s, so almost twice the Forest Assassin’s and around eight times of a typical zombie. It’s almost completely dark red with yellow and white spots and seems very rough and twisted.

I pull it and this time it comes out almost effortlessly, then I drop it in my mouth.

My legs give in and I curl up on the ground, holding my legs tightly with my body twitching and desperately trying to avoid moaning loudly in pleasure. After a few seconds of the taste I have never felt in my life before, and half a minute of heavy breathing, I slowly stand up with wobbly legs and flushed face, then get beet red with my face twitching, feeling my crotch moist.

{Oh, I haven’t told you before. With time your body will take eating souls very similarly to sexual pleasure. It is much more distinct if a soul is larger than yours.} – Natria comments in a deadpan tone.

‘…You’re telling me that now!?’ – I scream after a second with even my ears getting red.

{Well, yeah. You didn’t feel it before so I wasn’t even sure if it will be the same in your case as it is in mine.} – She says without a change in her tone and gives an impression as if she was shrugging her shoulders. – {In case you are wondering, Yana takes that this way from the beginning because she is a vampire, and her reaction at first was so strong because she was unaccustomed to it.}

I take a deep breath through my teeth. – ‘Well, fuck that. Or hell no!’ – I grit my teeth as Natria fails to contain it and laughs loudly at my poor choice of words.

Half a minute later, after confirming that my soul just got around twenty percent larger, passing the size of the Forest Assassin by a large margin, I approach the dead body’s chest. – ‘Will this thing’s mana stone be at its heart?’ – I ask with my face still pink.

{Yes, though normally you will need to check. If it wasn’t here, it would most likely be in the forehead or at the back of its head, just like with zombies.}

I nod my head and approach its chest. After a moment of deliberation I raise my leg and start kicking methodically where its heart should be, slowly but surely cracking the layer of stone on its front.

‘Can this thing upgrade my ability?’ – I ask in the meantime.

These stones are not stronger than me when I use my ability, but that’s because of comparatively huge amount of mana I use. It might have stronger base structure or material.

{Hmm, yeah, actually, it will allow you to form a layer of armor on your body if I do that correctly. That said though you would need to kill at least a few more. It will also allow me to strengthen your bones and muscles. And tail. And I will also be able to improve your blood, and saliva.}

‘Alright.’ – I nod, not thinking deeply about it. – ‘I take its stone, and heart maybe, and I’m outta here.’

{Yeah, you should climb a tree. There are quite few monsters there and you should be able to rest for a while. And I will heal your wound, it will take some time. Actually it would be for the best if you slept now.}

I nod my head and continue to rip apart the monster’s ribcage.

A minute later I take out a large, gray mana stone, much over twice the diameter of the zombie’s stone, containing over ten times its mana.

I sewer the arteries connecting to the heart larger than two my fists combined and take it out, wrap in leaves and put in my backpack. I then stand up and look around, then choose a close tree and climb up quickly, though I am slowed considerably by my petrified stomach.

After around a minute I get to the crown of a forty meters tall tree with a thick trunk, wrinkled bark and very long, thick branches. They are scarce with a lot of leaves on the tips, but there is enough space for me to lie down on the branch close to where it connects with the trunk.

It’s not particularly comfortable, but I take my cloak off, since I have no plans to go down anytime soon, and put it below my butt. I then take off my vest and shirt I procured with spare money, ending up practically naked, but there is no one who would see me here, and even if someone comes Natria will warn me.

They are hardly bloodied, with only one long stain each since my skin blocked the blood outflow, but they are torn almost from my neck up to my lower ribs, and I don’t think they are in proper condition to use them. Not that I have anything more to wear, but it would be good if I could patch them up a bit. Especially considering the three long wounds from this wolf go through my breast so I would end up with it exposed.

That said, though, they are not yet healed, but all the bleeding was stopped at the very beginning and it’s not a deep cut, so I might as well leave it as is. My stomach is a bigger problem, because, while it didn’t crack more after the initial shock, it is almost as bad as a cut through my whole stomach, especially since it stretches from one side to the other almost vertically at the height of my belly button.

Actually, it is only now that I realized how good of a move it was to leave my spine flexible as is, since turning my whole stomach and back into stone could have even resulted in separating my lower body from upper body.

{Good. Lie down now and slowly release the reinforcement. I will keep everything together if necessary and heal you slowly. It will take at least ten minutes, so bear with it.} – Natria says calmly. – {Good you kept your blood in normal state. A bit leaked out since your blood vessels were also snapped, but at least you haven’t corked your whole lower body.}

I nod my head, placing my folded vest under my back and adjusting the cloak, then I lie down and look at my belly.

It’s still stoned, so it’s grayish and rough, and I can easily see a thin crack from one side to another with some red blood dripping from it.

‘Hm, Master, you said something before that you will be able to improve my blood and… saliva?’

{Yeah. Relax your body and slowly release the reinforcement. Blood is generally a very good magic conductor, but it has a bit limited uses since it is a liquid. This Stone Aberration’s blood is significantly better than human’s in this department.} – She says while releasing a small spell as I do as she says. – {Saliva meanwhile is naturally corrosive. I will be able to improve it by using the purple acid from this thing. Brace yourself, this will be the most painful, after that it won’t be half this bad.}

I clench my teeth as she says that and soon feel a wave of pain surging through my body, almost as bad as when my stomach cracked. After that the pain remains, but is much more bearable.

{Good.}

‘Hm, isn’t slime also corrosive?’ – I ask.

{It is, but it works on different principle. This is a normal acid, but a slime dissolves things directly into energy using mana, so it’s not suitable for saliva. I used it instead in your stomach. It’s not working well yet, but right now you are able to eat practically anything and dissolve it into energy. As a side note, I will be soon removing some of your insides because of this reason.}

‘Oh, I see.’

{Okay, now we only wait. It will heal by itself, I am only speeding up the process now.} – Natria says a bit weakly when the pain recedes almost completely and I relax on the branch, but just then my chest tightens a bit.

‘…Sorry.’ – I mumble.