After going back and forth a few more times, Shift became easier for me. It also wasn't all that difficult to figure out how long a shift would last. The cooldown varied slightly, and it grew progressively more challenging to shift after about a dozen times, but I learned a lot in the process.
The only confusing part was the Status's reluctance to recognize the ant I'd killed as a suitable shift.
"Is it because it's too weak?" I wondered, glancing down at the ant I'd squashed by accident. It hadn't even been intentional. The tiny thing had simply been there when I walked around the Arok Serpent carcass, figuring out how to dismantle it, and it suffered the consequences.
"Sorry, buddy." My stomach growled, pulling my attention away from the dead ant and back toward the Arok Serpent.
The serpent was close to two meters long and about as wide as my calves. It was nowhere near as frightening as I'd expected. Still, how was I supposed to dismantle it? Eat it?
It had long, curved fangs that fit well into my hand once I pulled them free. The process was arduous, but the result was acceptable: two fangs that could be used as weapons if needed. The fangs were rounded, with sharp, pointed ends. They weren't perfect, but they were better than nothing.
"So… how am I going to do that now?" I grimaced and thrust one of the fangs into a half-broken scale.
Pulling the fang downward, the scale shattered and its fragments fell away. Unsure of what to do next, I removed dozens of scales, exposing raw flesh beneath. The fang dug into that flesh dozens of times, framing the exposed area and riddling it with deep holes. Last but not least, I pushed one of the fangs even deeper into the meat and used it as a lever to pry a chunk free from the carcass.
All the while, I grimaced, my expression mirroring my feelings. I nearly vomited onto the ground as the serpent's flesh stretched and tore under the pressure, but I managed to keep it down, eyes quivering as I stared at the piece of meat in my hands.
Desperate for distraction, I turned my attention to the fire. Yes, I managed to make one. No, I was no expert survivalist, no matter how much I wished I were at that very moment.
Instead, I found fortune amid misfortune in a flower–a flower that crackled and released sparks as sunrays filtered through the canopy. The sparks persisted as long as the flower basked in sunlight, so I gathered as much foliage as I could and set it alight.
Roaming around nearby trees rewarded me with a few dead branches, which I placed around and atop the burning foliage to start a proper campfire. And… well, I nearly set the rest of the forest on fire. The grass surrounding the fire ignited, and I was lucky to have some wet soil nearby to smother the flames.
Driven by hunger, I skewered the serpent meat on a stick and held it hovering above the smoking campfire. It wouldn't be the best meal I'd ever had, but it would fill my stomach for the first time in a week. Thirst was beginning to catch up with me as well, but I focused on the here and now. Right now, I still had a carcass to dismantle.
I needed to preserve this somehow. Or eat it all at once and stay hungry until another monster I could hunt would cross my path.
Not knowing anything about the forest was a problem. If I was unlucky, the Arok Serpent might have been the weakest monster in the area. In that case, I wouldn't be able to hunt anything else. And even if there were weaker monsters around, I'd be lucky to take one down armed with nothing but a pair of fangs and half-torn clothes that smelled badly enough for anyone nearby to notice me.
As bad as that realization was, it also confirmed that I was alone. Otherwise, some monster would have attacked already.
Even so, I scanned my surroundings every few seconds, searching for potential threats. Not that it would change anything. All I found were plants whose presence seemed more deadly than most monsters I'd read about in the town's Beastariums. That alone was reason enough to keep my focus on the serpent carcass. It wasn't massive, but it provided plenty.
And as strange as it felt to eat serpent meat, it wasn't all that bad. Almost like chicken. Juicy, too. If I hadn't burned half of it out of fear of undercooking, it might have been a great dish.
But it didn't end my suffering. My hunger only grew, and I spent the next few hours dismantling the corpse, pondering my next steps, and feasting on slices of serpent meat that tasted better with every attempt–all while continuing to scan the surroundings.
Once I was done, I extinguished the campfire. By then, the first sun was nowhere to be seen, and the third hung high in the sky.
"I wasted too much time." A heavy sigh escaped my lips, though it was hard to feel disappointed.
I'd escaped the earl's soldiers alive, killed a monster that would have easily killed me if not for my Power, and filled my stomach to the brim. All things considered, I hadn't done too badly. Several slices of cooked meat were stored neatly in a piece of cloth. My left sleeve had been sacrificed for the greater good so I'd have something to eat the next morning.
If I survived the night, that is. But while I'd been worried before, unsure of what to do with my life, something else stirred within me.
Hope.
I was hopeful once more, and maybe even a little excited.
My Power was strange, but that only made it more exciting. It held promise.
"Water next, then shelter," I muttered to myself, racking my brain.