Several days passed after that fateful day, and since then, I've been doing everything I could to survive. At first, I didn't care about living, simply doing whatever my body wanted, but eventually, I came to respect everyone's sacrifices and decided to live… If not me, at least for them.
As I walked through the forest, searching for prey, I heard faint growling, causing fear to consume me, but it was quickly suppressed as an overwhelming sense of fury engulfed me. Using Indestructible Magic almost subconsciously, I snapped my head to the left, eyeing a singular, old wolf feasting upon a rabbit behind some bushes.
Visions of that fateful night flashed through my mind, causing me to gnash my teeth as I dashed toward the wolf before leaping over the bushes and landing near the wolf, who quickly reacted to my presence, aggressively growling at me.
Clenching my fists, I charged toward the wolf, making the first move while the old wolf lunged at me with an open maw. "Arghh!" With quick movements, it evaded my wild strike and bit my shoulder, pushing me to the ground and causing me to cry in pain. Pushing the wolf, I tried to overpower it, but despite it being old, it was still stronger than me and used its paw to force my arm down while digging its teeth further into my body, causing me to grunt.
"No! I-I can't die!" With both fear and fury consuming me, I focused on my magic, causing the comfortable warmth to transform into a blazing, intense heat while my skin faintly shimmered with a golden light.
"G-Get off!" With far greater strength than before, I freed my arm and forcefully pried open the wolf's mouth while slowly standing up; however, I didn't release him and continued to pull his mouth open, using all my strength as I broke the wolf's jaw. "Arggh!"
Tossing the wolf to the side, I grabbed my bloody shoulder, only for my whole body to suddenly start to hurt; it wasn't much, but it was enough pain that it confused me. 'Weird, why does my whole body hurt?' I looked down at my body in confusion, trying to figure out why I was in pain, but eventually, I shifted my focus to the old wolf that was still alive.
Approaching the wolf that tried to stand back up, I mounted its back and lifted its head before slashing at its neck using my nails, causing it to bleed profusely from its jugular. Once it died, I grabbed its leg and dragged it back home; as for the injury on my shoulder, it hopefully shouldn't take long to heal. During these days in this forest, one thing I learned was that I healed quickly, so while this was probably my worst injury so far, it probably wouldn't take more than a day or two to recover.
When I arrived back at my tree, I climbed it with the wolf and sat on a tree branch as I began to eat my prey; once I finished, I wiped my face and did a few tests regarding that faint golden shimmer, though what I found fundamentally changed my outlook on my magic.
To put it into an analogy, when I use Indestructible Magic, I'm only half-filling the cup. That faint golden shimmering was my magic or mana leaking from my skin as I had infused slightly too much mana into my body. It's like filling a balloon with air; if you blow too much air into it, it'll forcefully create an opening to expel the excess, though in this case, the mana is damaging my body to do so.
'So that's why I need good magic control. If I infuse too much magic, I'll damage myself, if not outright kill myself.' I rubbed my chin with a slight frown as I glanced at the faint golden shimmer on my skin, only to furrow my brows as it ever so slightly receded
Once the pain vanished, for the first time in days, I faintly smiled. It took a few hours, but I found the perfect balance: the most mana I could infuse into my body without causing pain, it was essentially my full strength.
"So if I want to get stronger… I need to train my body?" The thought of getting stronger wasn't something I ever really thought of; all I wanted was to learn magic and see what I could do with it. Of course, I'd probably get stronger along the way, but I didn't care about that; however, after that fateful day, I desired revenge… I wanted to kill every beast in this forest, and I'd need to be strong to do that.
Just that weak old wolf nearly killed me, and I could only imagine how strong a pack of fully grown, well-fed wolves would be. Clenching my fist, I stopped using mana and climbed down the tree, sporting a determined expression.
"The fastest and most reliable way to get stronger is to fight… Fight and kill every beast I come across." With a hardened, bloodthirsty gaze, I drank from the dirty pond and leaned against the tree, resting until my shoulder healed.
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In order to get stronger, I would need to fight, and that's precisely what I did. In the beginning, I was cautious as I was weak; I picked and chose my battles, ensuring I didn't bite more than I could chew, but as the weeks passed and as I got stronger, my hunger grew, and I slowly got reckless, which led to my current predicament.
Lying atop six large wolf corpses, I gasped for breath while staring at the sky with blurry vision from the lack of blood; bite marks, claw slashes, and bruises littered my body. I got reckless and fought a decent-sized wolf pack; I should've run and fled, but I didn't. Running away made me remember that fateful night, and I hated it with every fiber of my being; it was a stupid decision, one I'm fully aware of, but I no longer wished to flee.
"F-From this m-moment on. I-I, C-Cooper, w-will never f-flee a fight!" I weakly raised my arm and spoke with conviction; from this day onward, I'd never turn my back on whatever opponent I faced.
I practically just sentenced myself to an early death, as one of these days I'm bound to come across someone or something I couldn't defeat, but that was something the future me would have to deal with, and if the present me got strong enough, then the future me would be prepared.
Faintly smiling, my arm dropped to my side, and my consciousness faded; I just hoped I would still be alive when I woke up.
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Weeks turned into months, and months eventually became a loss of time, as after five months, I no longer bothered to count.
In the beginning, I would fight beasts and then take some time to heal, but as I continued to grow in strength, I stopped taking breaks until, eventually, my everyday routine was to wake up, fight, eat, fight, sleep, repeat. Every day was like this, and every day, I could feel the fruits of my labor; my strength never stopped growing. However, what changed the most wasn't my strength but my character; at first, I fought for revenge, but as the months passed and as I left hundreds upon hundreds of corpses in my wake, before I knew it, my desire for revenge eventually died off, and instead it was replaced by a passion for fighting.
As I tore through beasts, a ferocious smile graced my face while my white hair flowed in the wind; my muscular body surged with strength while I ripped a hawk in half from its leg, causing its guts and blood to rain down onto me.
Tossing the two halves of the hawk onto the ground, I turned around, glancing at the large reddish bear that slashed my back with its thick claws, yet it hadn't left even a scratch upon my Indestructible physique. "It's not even fun fighting weak opponents. I can't get stronger, and it's just a waste of time." I said with an irritated expression while glancing at Bear before lunging forward and stabbing my hand into its chest; clutching its heart, I ripped it out of the bear's body, causing it to lifelessly collapse to the ground while I took a bite out of its heart.
I've grown accustomed to the taste of raw animals; as a matter of fact, I even forget the taste of cooked food. Tossing the heart onto the ground, I observed the tens of corpses that surrounded me before clicking my tongue as I headed deeper into the forest, searching for whatever beast I'd yet to kill.
Fixing my bracers, which were made of rabbit pelt, I tightened my makeshift belt made from ligaments connected to a small cat skull that served as my belt buckle; as for what my belt held up, it was the bearskin of the first bear I killed.
Brushing my long, thigh-length white hair, I licked my lips while my reddish eyes glowed.
"Where are the strong beasts!?" I shouted with a feral smile while violently erupting my magic power, causing a golden aura to envelop me while my long hair rose to the sky.