Chương 5: Nurture

Kyle tried to imagine the raw meat to be high-quality sushi or something similar as he hungrily gobbled it.

His eyes were shut tight and it didn't take long until he had forced both chunks of meat down his throat.

Thanks to the blood within the meat his thirst was quenched partially, but Kyle had trouble trying to resist the urge to vomit.

'It will take a while before both my body and mind will be able to accept eating raw meat…'

He knew that starting a campfire was not something he could afford to do.

First of all, he didn't have the necessary means to start the fire, but that was not even the issue.

Grilling meat would attract ferocious beasts as the scent would waft through the air and he would have unwanted guests to share a meal with and try avoiding becoming their meal!

As such, Kyle had to be patient and eat raw meat until he would be strong enough to cope with the dangers a campfire would bring forth.

'Maybe I should search for edible fruits. My knowledge should be enough to tell whether I can eat them or not.'

There were many things Kyle had to take care of, but for now, he had to rest!

After being fully concentrated and tense for several hours he felt exhausted.

As such, Kyle decided to climb up a small tree.

Lying on top of a long branch, he rested for several hours.

Still, he avoided falling asleep because he needed to be alert but Kyle felt energetic nonetheless.

As such, he took a look at the different materials he had at hand.

'What kind of beasts can I hunt without relying on my luck that saved my life a few hours ago…. Can I even defeat a beast let alone kill it with my current strength?'

Kyle knew that his current situation was not the best, but it could have been way worse as well!

As such, he decided to look out for a few small stones which he would use to shape the long boar tusks into some sort of short lance or sword!

While he rested on the tree branch, his eyes fell on the tightly coiled vines that ran along the length of the tree, leaving no branch unoccupied.

Thanks to this, he was able to act on the plans he had to put aside before.

Utilizing the largest wolf fang he had collected, Kyle slashed at them and collected as many vines as possible.

After that, he climbed down the tree before he searched for a few small stones to start working on the firm boar tusks.

Several hours later, one could see Kyle leaning against a thick and massive root, sewing a small backpack out of the boar hide and the vines he had collected.

'Thankfully, I took the sand wolf's fangs with me.' He mumbled as he wove the fang like a needle through the boar hide before pulling the longest vine through it in a zigzag pattern.

A long tusk of the boar lay near his feet which Kyle had tried to shape into a flat blade by bashing a stone on it for the last few hours, while he had given his best to straighten and sharpen it too.

While working on the other tusk he had broken it into two accidentally. Kyle could barely salvage it by sharpening the broken part to his best ability.

"I should have just made a stone spear instead...It's not like I miss out on anything to create one!"

Even though he complained, Kyle was happy to have taken the boar tusks with him.

Half of his mind had been occupied with keeping an eye out for possible predators so he had almost destroyed the first boar tusk during the grinding process.

Fortunately, he could preserve it somehow and make use of it in the future.

This left him with a short dagger-like tusk and a longer weapon that looked like a cross between a sword and a lance.

Once he had grinded the boar tusks and sewed a small backpack, Kyle spent his time turning the longest sand wolf fang into a knife that he wanted to utilize to cut meat and hide from future prey.

Taking a deep breath, he stored everything except the short dagger and sword inside the small backpack which he slung across his back afterward.

With a firm grip on his weapons, Kyle decided that it was time to take action.

He had to find out more about the surrounding areas, and see if there was another way to kill beasts indirectly through deceit or trickery instead of using brute force.

He was still physically weak so being shrewd by waiting for other beasts to kill each other, or creating traps with the vines would be far more feasible and wise.

The latter was something he had thought of while sewing the small backpack with vines.

Kyle was not proficient in building complicated traps, but a simple one shouldn't be that difficult to create!

Nevertheless, instead of doing something he was completely inexperienced in, Kyle would rather try to find a simpler solution!

His weapon proficiency was also not that great, but every Yadras received fighting lessons in their childhood as it was unknown when one's cultivation talent would awaken.

At the same time, it was likely to awaken one's Spirit Soul at an even later age!

Thus, Kyle's martial art proficiency was at an acceptable level despite having been untalented in cultivation!

He had always been hard-working and never gave up, even when others had ridiculed and beaten him up owing to him being both untalented and weak.

Kyle didn't know why someone would beat him into a pulp, only because he didn't want to give up on his dream, to begin with!

This was something incomprehensible for him.

In the end, he was just too naive to understand how bullies feasted on broken dreams and crushed hopes.

However, as he grew up, he began to understand that the world he inhabited was cruel and he couldn't expect others to be good to him just because he was kind. Thus, his earlier faith had begun to deteriorate slowly.

His unbending will had begun to waver.

Despite all of this, he was unable to fully give up his dream!

At that time he had been a simple-minded person who just wanted to achieve what he wanted, not knowing that power or strength came with its costs.

'Are others envious that they were unable to pursue their dream like I do, even though it's obvious that I will fail?'

But now, he knew that never giving up might bring more harm than good in some situations.

However, there could always be unexpected opportunities waiting to be tapped!

His second life was the opportunity he had sought and Kyle wouldn't accept receiving the same treatment that he had suffered through in his past life!

Right now he might be weak, but Kyle was confident in the potential both his Spirit Soul and 'Nurture' ability harbored.

Thanks to the meat he had eaten before and a few hours of rest, Kyle was able to test the Nurture ability for the first time.

He had wanted to test if it was even possible to grow his soul by utilizing the Nurture ability, or if his efforts would be wasted!

As such, he targeted his soul, which was surrounded by the faint outlines of the 'Egg of the beginning' with his Nurture ability.

A small portion of energy was drawn out of him and Kyle had to stop utilizing his ability only a moment after he activated it.

Otherwise, his entire energy would be drawn out of his body, making him much weaker than he had been immediately after his reincarnation!

Nevertheless, the results were as per his expectations and he couldn't help but be overjoyed at this!

The Egg of the beginning's outlines had thickened, which meant that the being within it had grown slightly stronger than it should have been before!

'With enough time and energy to nurture my Spirit Soul, I'll be able to receive more opportunities to pursue my dream! Surviving the dangers of the universe and exploring its mysteries won't be a problem anymore.'

There were hundreds, if not thousands of things Kyle wanted to see, feel, and get to know.

His knowledge might have been too profound for the Yadras race's standards, but Kyle knew that their race was weak in terms of cultivation talent.

Furthermore, Shima was a world created out of the energy derived from the annihilation of the entire old universe!

This meant that the planet was not only infinitely large but also filled with an unimaginable number of races he had never encountered before.

At the same time right before he reincarnated, Kyle had figured out that Shima's emergence had merged multiple universes together. This explained why billions of planets were revolving around it!

His curiosity about the new universe continued to increase. He was getting impatient to know how it looked and what kind of wondrous events his future would bring forth.

Furthermore, it would have been a lie to say that the accompanying dangers didn't excite him too!

There were so many new things that he could only figure out by cultivating, and it was finally time to enter the same realms of those who had ridiculed him in his past life!!