Chapter 4. Predation (2)

“Predation?”

It was a term Isaac was familiar with.

He remembered the description he saw when creating his character.

[Innards of the Dead God: Absorbs a portion of the stats and traits of the ‘consumed’ opponent.]

Was this the effect of predation? Now that he thought about it, a similar message had appeared when the tentacles devoured Kalsen.

“Does that mean my body has absorbed some of Kalsen’s abilities and traits?”

But Isaac didn’t have time to ponder this deeply.

“Murzik, what just…”

Isaac, in his panic, almost asked the cat for its opinion. But Murzik, feeling aggrieved, hissed and scampered away without looking back.

“So much for a cat!”

“Isaac?”

Isaac’s heart sank. Johan, who had been snoring beside him, was now looking at him. Isaac feared Johan had seen everything.

“Isaac…? What were you eating?”

“Ah, no. Murzik came in and must have been eating a mouse.”

Not a complete lie. Luckily, Johan seemed to have woken up due to the noise in his sleep. He nodded off again soon after.

Isaac couldn’t make sense of what had just happened.

“Tentacles from my hand? Eating a mouse? What’s increasing?”

He recalled the event from a month ago. He vividly remembered tentacles bursting out of his chest after being cut by the sword, sweeping through everything. If the same thing had happened now, all the children in the room would have been dead. Fortunately, that didn’t happen.

“What on earth is inside me?”

Isaac examined his palm. Unlike the scar on his chest, there was no sign of where the tentacles had emerged. It was like a dream.

But as if to wake him from that dream, a message window appeared.

[Touch of Chaos]

[A basic ability usable by the followers of the Nameless Chaos. Calls forth formless tentacles to tear apart enemies. Strengthens in proportion to health and faith.]

“……”

Each faith had its basic skills. The ‘Codex of Light’ could create light and fire, while the ‘Golden Idol’ followers could offer money for advice. Similarly, tentacles were the most basic skill of the Nameless Chaos faith.

“Well, that makes sense…”

Realizing it was a skill, Isaac somehow felt better. It was preferable to understand it in a game-like manner rather than thinking of some unknown monster inside him.

But then Isaac realized he was no longer hungry.

“No, it can’t be. I didn’t eat the mouse, the tentacles did.”

He lay back in bed, trying to deny what had just unfolded before his eyes.

***

He thought he wouldn’t be able to sleep properly after such an event, but he did. The body of a 14-year-old boy was honest in its need for sleep. Unwillingly admitting, his stomach was also somewhat full, so he drifted off easily.

The next day, Isaac was again engulfed in thought. It was about the tentacles, this world, his values, and how it all interconnected.

“How can I continue to survive and win?”

A frail body.

A lineage shunned by the gods.

A follower of a faith that, if discovered, would mean certain execution.

Tentacles that sprang out at any opportunity.

Of these, the faith itself was actually the most problematic.

Isaac didn’t know much about the Nameless Chaos. But wandering the outskirts in the Nameless Chaos game, one often encounters such quests. Ominous regions, eerie atmospheres, disappearing people. If a horror movie-like setting begins, it’s almost certain ‘they’ will appear.

Tentacle monsters.

The same kind of monsters that sprouted from Isaac’s body.

Such beings were treated as ‘special quests’ that must be eradicated, regardless of the chosen faith.

“I absolutely can’t be discovered.”

If discovered, he would be immediately executed, possibly burned at the stake or stoned.

Isaac imagined the now-kind monks hanging him on a cross, lighting a fire beneath him, stoning him, or throwing him into medieval torture devices.

[The Nameless Chaos is watching you.]

Regardless of Isaac’s shivering or not, the Nameless Chaos was watching him with interest.

He faced many dilemmas.

He could survive by hiding away somewhere, using any means necessary, but Isaac didn’t want to live like a barbarian in a cave.

He was a conqueror of this game. He didn’t want to start thinking about defeat in an ugly form.

His thoughts were always about ‘conditions for victory’.

What those conditions were, he didn’t know yet, but survival was the first step.

“I need to build up my body if I want to survive outside without perishing.”

But how? It wasn’t feasible to steal meat from the storeroom.

If there

was even meat to steal.

“Little one, are you ill?”

At that moment, a voice made Isaac turn his head.

He realized he was supposed to be working in the fields, and his hands were digging in the wrong place.

Turning, he saw a man with a rugged beard and rough appearance looking down at him. Isaac quickly remembered who he was.

Gebel.

Not a monk but somehow living in the monastery. Not studying scriptures or praying, but doing harsh chores and hunting, living as a sort of freeloader. Rumored to be a deserter, all the children feared him.

And for some reason, he often seemed to be observing Isaac. Startled by the sudden conversation, Isaac tensed up.

‘Huh?’

Then Isaac noticed something on Gebel’s body.

It was unmistakable. The belt Gebel wore around his waist belonged to the knights’ order. It was ragged, but definitely a knight’s belt.

“A real deserter? A knight deserter?”

Isaac remembered knights being treated almost like nobility, respected socially. They had many demands, but this was not the status of someone roaming around ragged. It was too risky to flaunt a stolen item so openly.

He likely had already retired or was temporarily seeking refuge in the monastery.

“Wait a minute. A knight? Indeed, a knight.”

Isaac’s mind raced with a sudden insight, but his thoughts were interrupted by the man’s voice.

“Staring off into space like that, looks like I’ll have to tell the monks you’re slacking off.”

Gebel muttered in a teasing tone. Isaac quickly deflected.

“There’s nothing wrong. Please carry on.”

“What a strange way of talking for a little kid. And don’t crouch down like that; I almost kicked you.”

Gebel snorted as he walked past Isaac. At that moment, Isaac caught a familiar foul odor.

He pointed to the basket Gebel was carrying and asked,

“Is that mice, by any chance?”

“Eh? How did you know? The mice have been rampant lately, so I’ve been setting traps for them. Can’t let them eat all our winter food.”

Gebel chuckled mischievously and then thudded a basket full of dead mice in front of Isaac. Intending to scare him, Gebel was taken aback when Isaac, instead of screaming and running away, just stared at the basket pensively.

“It’s a shame, really. Autumn mice are plump and perfect for roasting…”

“Can you eat mice?”

Isaac asked, his eyes sparkling, and Gebel laughed as if he couldn’t believe the question.

“No, the ‘Codex of Light’ forbids eating mice, calling them creatures of darkness that spread disease. Of course, that hardly matters on a battlefield. But the monks would care about it.”

It was more about religious doctrine than hygiene. Isaac didn’t really care about religious laws. Bacteria were a concern, but if he wasn’t eating them the usual way, but using a different means…

Isaac looked directly at Gebel and asked,

“May I take care of them?”

“Take care of them?”

Gebel looked at Isaac curiously. Isaac couldn’t understand why he was looking at him like that. Both children and adults generally dislike working. Offering to help might seem strange, but there was something else in Gebel’s gaze.

“Hmm… I suppose it’s alright. The pit is already dug; just need to bury them. Even kids can do that.”

Gebel narrowed his eyes and warned,

“You’re not planning to play pranks with those mice, are you? If I hear any stories about you fooling around with mouse corpses in the monastery, you’ll be in for a beating.”

“There’s no need for that.”

Gebel stared intensely at Isaac and then muttered,

“I’ll let Brother Alek know. The hole is over there. Don’t forget to pour lye water on the corpses before burying them.”

Leaving the basket where it was, Gebel walked away.

Isaac was sure now about Gebel’s identity.

“He’s a knight, alright. Seems like he had a high status…”

In this world, the only ‘battlefield’ where people starved enough to be called such was the frontline against the Immortal Order near the holy land.

Understanding that Gebel might be a knight explained the other monks’ behavior. They had been cautious, not speaking to him unnecessarily, looking as if they were watching out for something more than just a laborer. He had thought they were too noble to talk, but if Gebel was a former knight hiding his identity, it made sense.

Isaac filed this information away, thinking of how to use it later.

“But that’s not what I should be focusing on now.”

Dragging the basket filled with mouse corpses, Isaac headed towards the spot Gebel had pointed out. There was a deep pit as Gebel had said. He just had to pour the mice in, sprinkle them with lye water, and then cover them with dirt.

Isaac first made sure no one was around. Although there were places to hide and watch, he could cover enough with his body.

Then he was struck by a final dilemma.

“Should I really eat this?”

Why not? Historically, people have eaten rat meat. There are even recipes and menus made from rat meat in France.

He also worried if the tentacles would appear again. The last time could have been just a coincidence, and it might not happen again.

Of course, if the tentacles didn’t appear, he had no intention of secretly eating the rats. But as if answering his dilemma, tentacles sprouted from his palm and snatched up the mouse in his hand.

Crunch, crunch.

[You have consumed a ‘field mouse’.]

[Consumption efficiency has increased due to the ‘Predation’ perk.]

[Resistance to low-grade diseases has increased.]

[Blessing will remain until digestion is complete.]

Isaac looked at the tentacles in disbelief. This time, he felt more like he was feeding a pet than being scared.

“Go ahead, eat. Eat it all.”

He muttered, half resigned.

He had to use this ability to survive. In this poor monastery, this was the

only way to supplement his protein.

He just hoped that Gebel wouldn’t decide to dig up this pit again.

***

Isaac pondered about Gebel, or more precisely, about the knight.

In this world, gods certainly existed and bestowed powers upon their followers. Power and authority in this world stemmed from the gods.

The monks performed miracles routinely, from lighting candles to heating water, both small and great. Although meant for spiritual practices, not convenience, the scriptures recorded even greater miracles.

Stopping the sun to burn an enemy city for a week, blinding heretics who performed sacrilege, or summoning apostles of light made from pure light to receive divine messages.

Naturally, the power of priests and knights was immense.

“Both are tier 1 occupations in the world of Nameless Chaos.”

Being a priest was fine, but Isaac was concerned about his low physical strength. However, knights had many survival skills. Considering his life was irreplaceable and had no retries, these survival skills were especially appealing to Isaac.

Furthermore, with the Nephilim’s high faith ability, he could potentially harness power comparable to priests.

“The problem is that this is a monastery of the ‘Codex of Light’…”

Tentacles.

Those damned tentacles were the problem.