Episode 5. Predation (3)
If the existence of the tentacles was discovered, he would die; whether they were useful or not was a secondary problem.
Isaac wondered if he should run away right now, avoiding the eyes of the Codex of Light. He didn’t want his hard-won second life to end as nothing but ashes atop a pyre.
But where could he run?
‘Even the Order of Immortality hunts Nameless Chaos!’
Isaac gazed up at the night sky for a long while.
But soon, he realized he had to do something.
‘I’ll just have to hide well.’
No matter which order he joined, getting caught would be equally dangerous.
However, thanks to its broad inclusiveness, the Codex of Light was large in scale and commanded the most believers. It was easy to hide his identity there.
Paladins were also a profession that required proving one’s faith, but not as strict as monks. Since, unlike monks, it wasn’t a profession that involved being cooped up in a room studying all day long, personal training was more highly valued.
‘It might be difficult to receive miracles, but I might still be able to use the order’s authority……’
Moreover, if he invaded the territory of heretics in distant lands, he could become the lord of that land. Of course, the principle was to dedicate it to the order, but how could the order govern such a distant place? He would bring honor to the order while holding the real power himself.
Of course, he would have to establish a monastery or pay a suitable sum.
For now, he would gain everything he could to become a paladin, then hide for as long as he could. He could flee after being discovered.
No, to survive, he had to become a paladin.
Hide a tree in a forest.
If he became a paladin among paladins, one whom no one could doubt, then no one would think he was a follower of Nameless Chaos.
He would find the sacred relics, reclaim the holy land, and even completely destroy the Order of Immortality.
Then no one would think of him as some tentacle monster of Nameless Chaos.
Isaac resolved to mobilize every advantage, talent, and piece of information he possessed to become a paladin. No, he had to do so just to survive. If these tentacles were going to twist his life anyway, he’d rather be safer deep inside the Codex of Light.
‘I’ll have to fight with my own body, so I need to train hard…… but I’m still young, so I have plenty of time.’
A follower of Nameless Chaos becomes a paladin within the Codex of Light’s order.
The more Isaac thought about it, the more he felt it was a good idea.
As long as he wasn’t caught.
***
“You’ll help hunt rats?”
“Yes.”
Since he had made up his mind anyway, Isaac thought he needed a means to steadily supplement his protein intake. Ordinary monks were satisfied living on a single potato, but Isaac was not.
‘Even if I can’t taste with the tentacles, it’s a good opportunity to consume nutrients evenly.’
Isaac’s body was not stunted compared to other children his age. That is, the soil wasn’t bad. If he could consume sufficient nutrients, he would be able to grow quickly.
From what he had observed, prey he devoured was slowly ‘digested—absorbed’ by Isaac. He had checked while using the bathroom for several days, but things like fur, teeth, or claws did not come out.
It seemed he had absorbed them completely, literally. Thanks to that, his complexion improved beyond recognition, and he no longer suffered from hunger.
“I’m not so busy that I need to borrow a kid’s hands. Does rat catching look fun?”
“Besides rat catching, I’ll help with other work whenever I have time.”
Gebel handled a considerable number of tasks at the monastery. The monks were so lacking in practical life skills that Gebel took care of most miscellaneous tasks. He had been wondering if he should ask for help, and right on time, Isaac came looking for him.
“If I’m going to take a kid around, I need the monk’s permission. Did you tell him?”
“I spoke to Monk Alec.”
Anyway, working in the garden was less about actually helping and more about teaching children ‘labor’ itself. Rather, the work Gebel did was hard and unpleasant, to the point children avoided it.
But Isaac was different.
‘The only way I can take care of both my health and skills right now is by following Gebel.’
Isaac’s eyes gleamed with greed.
Rat catching was rat catching, but Gebel was a paladin.
Paladins were only recognized as official paladins if they could fight about ten regular soldiers with swordsmanship alone, not just with blessings.
‘Moreover, an old veteran rich in battlefield experience? I’d be an idiot to miss this.’
Even considering just his years of experience, there was a high possibility he had risen beyond an ordinary paladin to a commanding or even teaching position. If he followed Gebel around, became a bit closer, and built a connection, it would clearly be a great help on the path to becoming a paladin.
Gebel snorted loudly and snapped.
“If you get in the way, you’ll get your butt smacked. Got it?”
“Yes!”
From that day, Isaac followed Gebel and helped with the work.
Although it was called rat hunting, strictly speaking, it involved collecting rats caught in traps or burying the rats Gebel had caught in abundance somewhere.
More precisely, it was feeding those rats to the tentacles, but……
There was a lot of hard labor, but it was better than working in the garden or doing menial tasks that hardly mattered whether he did them or not.
Rather, it was simpler for Isaac than garden work.
More than anything, the feeling of gaining muscle day by day and the sense that things were proceeding smoothly excited him.
***
Gebel had been steadily watching Isaac’s behavior.
Actually, Gebel had been observing Isaac ever since bringing him to the monastery. His assessment after one month was nothing more than ‘a pretty but quiet and taciturn boy.’
‘The only child to survive when all the villagers were murdered…… but since the people from Calsen and the Order of Immortality had all disappeared as if driven away, I thought there was something to it—was it just good luck?’
There might have been another reason Isaac survived.
Thanks to that, the impression Gebel had of Isaac was merely a lucky survivor, nothing more. Gebel couldn’t help but feel disappointed, having hoped there might be more to him.
But over the past few weeks, Isaac’s attitude had changed somehow.
‘He’s quite capable…… no, he’s good?’
It was as if he had become a different person, as if until now he had simply been assessing the situation.
Gebel couldn’t help but raise his assessment of Isaac by several levels. He had intended to evaluate him positively if he merely showed a moderately diligent attitude, but Isaac was performing surprisingly well.
Many children had offered to help with his work until now.
Because they didn’t want to study, because field work was hard, and so on.
But Gebel’s work was dirtier and harder than field work. And since it wasn’t noticeable, it was difficult to get recognition for it. Yet Isaac followed Gebel every day without even skipping his studies.
For a fourteen-year-old, being able to read and do math meant he wasn’t bad in the head. He could have focused on easier work or studying later on, but Isaac poured all his spare time into helping Gebel. Thanks to that, Gebel had already lightened his burden considerably.
What was even more surprising was that Isaac kept trying to learn something from Gebel.
Isaac didn’t gloss over even a single simple thing; he sought to know the principles and reasons behind everything. It should have been annoying for Gebel, but since Isaac understood everything else after being taught just once, it wasn’t difficult.
How to chop wood, how to set rat traps, how to chase beasts, horse shoe management, distinguishing medicinal herbs, and so on—Isaac picked them up rapidly after seeing them just once.
Of course, this alone didn’t mean he possessed abilities befitting a ‘survivor from Calsen.’
Isaac was merely a child with maturity and talent beyond his age.
But separate from that, Gebel liked Isaac.
Before he knew it, he had grown accustomed to ordering Isaac around like an assistant.
Meanwhile, the other children watched Isaac with uncomfortable eyes, as he had begun to keep to himself.
Isaac was a child who had suddenly entered among the children and stood apart. Far from trying to fit in with them, he only associated with adults and almost ignored the children entirely. The monks liked the dignified Isaac, so he naturally became the target of jealousy.
But regardless, Isaac had no interest in his reputation among his peers to begin with.
He was stretched to his limit just to survive. He had no reason to watch the children’s moods on top of that.
He continued studying for himself alone in places where no one could see.
It was the study of the tentacles.
‘To stop this damned thing from popping out on its own, I need to know how to use and control it.’
From what Isaac had learned about the tentacles so far, it was as follows.
First, ‘digestion’ did not happen immediately.
Contrary to his expectation that it would all be digested when he woke up, he wasn’t hungry for almost several days, and the abilities obtained through ‘predation’ didn’t disappear either. Thanks to that, Isaac sometimes fell into a rather grueling situation where he had to force himself to eat even though he wasn’t hungry.
But while this state lasted, Isaac could retain the abilities absorbed from his prey. Moreover, no matter what he ate, it was absorbed into his body with fairly high efficiency.
It was an effect difficult to feel immediately, but in this era where people died left and right from malnutrition and minor causes, it was quite a useful perk.
Second, the ‘tentacles’ were favorable to Isaac for some reason.
It was strange to say that tentacles bursting out by tearing through his skin were favorable, but in reality, the tentacles were kind to Isaac. The moment he unconsciously reached out to grab a cup that had fallen far away, a tentacle shot out, grabbed the cup, and brought it to him.
It was fortunate that no one else was around—it was a moment when Isaac’s heart nearly dropped. But thanks to that, he learned that the tentacles could be brought out even outside of ‘predation.’ Though it was named like a skill, it was essentially no different from another arm.
‘How should I use this properly?’
Not simply to use it, but to survive.
Nameless Chaos was an enemy not only of the Codex of Light but even of the Order of Immortality. Isaac would have to survive alone if his identity was ever revealed. In the end, the only one he could rely on was himself. And these tentacles, whether he liked it or not, were ultimately bound to him by fate.
Monk Alec had said that ‘Nameless Chaos’ still churned its tentacles beyond the horizon to invade this world.
And now those very tentacles were writhing and devouring rats.
‘Still, without this thing, I’d be chewing on potatoes.’
Crunch, crunch.
Isaac watched the tentacles swallow rats in front of an empty pit. The tentacles somehow seemed thicker than before, and the number of strands appeared to have increased as well. As Isaac grew healthier, the tentacles grew stronger too.
‘First, I need to learn how to properly control this.’
When he wished for the tentacles to disappear, they quickly retreated beneath his skin. It was fortunate that they disappeared promptly when wished away, but the moment they appeared was hard to control.
‘Mainly when they want to help me, or when it seems like they would be helpful, or when I’m in crisis……’
Isaac suddenly thought the tentacles might not be as stupid as they looked. If they had burst out every time those conditions were met, Isaac would have been found out and hung long ago. But that hadn’t happened. That meant the tentacles had some sense.
It also meant they had some level of self-awareness.
Whether that was good news or bad news, he couldn’t tell yet.
‘For the time being, I’ll have to trust the tentacles’ sense and find a way to control them.’
***
A rat was hovering near the bait of a trap. It seemed interested in the bait, sniffing and lingering, but hesitated, soon gave up, and turned around. The smell of dead kin already filled the surroundings.
Click.
In that instant, the creature sensed something strange and began to run frantically. However, in that very moment, its body was pierced along with a sharp sound cutting through the wind.
Crunch.
The rat pierced by the tentacle trembled before going limp. Isaac watched the tentacle chew and swallow the rat with a bitter expression.
‘They’ve definitely gotten thicker and longer than before.’
The more protein he consumed, it wasn’t just Isaac’s body that grew healthier. The tentacles were growing thicker and longer too. However, while Isaac’s body was constitutionally slow to become healthy, the tentacles were quickly growing thicker and longer.
‘This might be related to faith ability.’
The tentacles were clearly an authority bestowed by faith in Nameless Chaos. The fact that they displayed power unbefitting of his level likely had to do with the Nephilim’s inherently high faith stat. For now, it seemed useful for situations like this, when he was without a weapon.
Isaac examined the traps as the rat was devoured.
Gebel preferred to use snare traps that tightened the moment rats took the bait installed on paths they frequented, and barrel traps greased with oil with bait inside.
They were decent traps. Inside, three or four rats were already caught and submerged in tar.
‘The numbers have decreased a lot compared to before.’
Until now, the results had been quite good, but the efficacy was gradually fading.
The number of rats had decreased, but it was also because the cunning rat packs had begun to learn how to bypass the traps. Fewer rats caught meant reduced protein supply, so Isaac took this problem seriously.
‘I’ll have to examine the state of the rat traps.’
As Isaac observed the traps, he thought he might be able to tinker with them a bit.