Chapter 49 Wilderness Survival 101: Raw Meat!
RB Chapter 49 Wilderness Survival 101; Raw Meat!
"How did you visualize your cells?" Bagyma asked after a pause.
"I temporarily made my cells into electrocytes and created a mental image of wherever the electric current passed. The entire silhouette of my body or you could call it a 3D drawing appeared in my mind." Eric explained.
"Good!!! This will be easier for you." Baguma gave a rare compliment.
"Repeat it and try to order the cells which you want, to do something, like grow a nail or something."
Eric once again entered his mind.
The mental image of his body was still there.
'Now that am free, I can do whatever I want! But first, I must become stronger! If I can master energy channeling, I will have become a little bit more safe!'
He once again willed the energy, this time in multiple cells around his finger. This time he didn't want to waste time moving it, so he gave vague commands to the supercells. The brain could instinctively convey what it wanted to the cells. Super cells were a step up from the past cells. Even though the brain couldn't control them, they could follow commands from the enhanced brain, as it too was made up of super cells.
A nail on his right index finger started elongating at a visible speed as he provided the commands and energy.
The nail reached about two inches before stopping. Eric had nearly drained the cells near the entire index finger for that to happen.
He opened his eyes and raised it closer to his face to see his handiwork.
"Good work. It looks like your body is indeed attuned to energy channeling." Baguma commented.
'What is that thing's plan, making him able to smoothly channel energy inside his body? I will need to be cautious!' Baguma was alarmed.
Elec on the other hand was still struggling.
"Haaa...I can't form a mental image! This is pointless!" He complained.
"You should work hard at it! If you don't, you will stay a weakling!" Baguma berated.
'Is energy channeling supposed to be this easy? Even Baguma did say that he has just gained a rudimentary understanding.' Eric was suspicious.
'I shouldn't dwell on something which I can't solve. I should put in more practice! Tomorrow we are going to hunt by ourselves after all!'
"First, eat!" Baguma ordered. He had just hunted a small beast and blood had been drained before reaching the top of the tree.
"Aren't we going to cook it?" Elec asked.
"In the wilderness, such things don't exist, things like fire. You must learn! Meat must be devoured raw for greater nourishment after all, you won't always have energy capsules on hand."
Elec and Eric had both of their faces turn pale. Even though they couldn't clearly see the meat in the dark, they still felt bile almost well up from their stomachs.
Being used to Lisa's cooking, even Eric found this hard to swallow. He loved food, something which had been brought on by her food, and now he was being told to eat raw meat!
"It will be up to you! If you lack energy tomorrow, you might die! I won't save you unless a beast which has mastered energy channeling attacked!" Baguma didn't force the two boys. He instead placed the carcass in the branch and went a ways off probably to practice his energy channeling.
(Growl!)
The scent of the raw meat elicited growls from the stomachs of the two boys. They felt a hunger start to build up as the smell of the raw meat tickled their noses.
Eric swallowed a mouthful of saliva.
'What's happening?' He wondered.
"The cells' basic instinct of devouring has been awakened by the super cells floating in the air." Baguma didn't turn back to look at the two boys.
The two boys almost had saliva dripping down their mouths but they were internally still struggling with...
Is this okay? Is this meat even edible? Why couldn't it have been cooked? Won't I become like a wild animal?
Such questions circled around in their minds causing multiple protests of their bodies in the form of growling stomachs.
Eric hesitantly raised his hand and made for the meat. When Elec saw that his had also raised at a fast speed and he snatched up all of the carcass.
Eric glared at Elec. He was tightly cradling the carcass with no intention of sharing!
'Are we cavemen?' Eric shook his head hard to get rid of the thought.
He decided to ignore Elec and his hunger for the time being and entered a meditative state to continue working on his energy channeling.
Baguma must have gotten a small critter for them to get used to the raw meat. He must have been worried that the boys might not be able to eat a large beast.
Eric tried moving energy from multiple cells to circulate around his body following his blood stream. Even red blood cells had the teleka storage space.
The night passed uneventfully like that. Baguma kept watch all night since tomorrow, the boys would have to do it themselves. Elec had devoured the creature, leaving only the entrails and the skin.
Eric's stomach had rumbled, but that hunger had been forgotten when he entered the land of dreams. The trek must have taken a toll on him.
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(Pah! Pah!)
Eric, who had been deep asleep and curling into himself was awoken by something wet falling in his face.
'What is that?' He woke up sluggishly before this mind notified him of the previous day's events causing him to jump up with a start!
'This is the wilderness, danger is everywhere!' He reminded himself.
He looked around only to see Elec still asleep and Baguma was nowhere in sight!
Something splattered on the branch causing his attention to move towards it.
It was a droplet of water and it caused him to look upwards.
The sky was dark and he judged the time to be around 6:00pm. Dark clouds were covering the sky with no end in sight.
Large droplets had just started to fall signalling the start of rain.
'Baguma must be hiding nearby!' Eric deduced before waking up Elec.
"Rain is coming, we need to climb down the tree!" Eric shouted while he forced the sluggish boy to stand.
He hurriedly jumped down by leaping from branch to branch.
Rain was coming, and he didn't know what the right action to take was. They just had to learn by grasping in the dark. But he understood one thing, being in a high place made you susceptible to being struck by lightning.
His inexperience manifested when, he lost focus and caused his hand to slip on the oil surface sending him sliding down a curved tree.
He was shocked and his heart abruptly sped up as he saw how high he was from the ground!
That's when his vision caught something out of the ordinary.
He saw Elec's airborne body overtaking him before crashing into multiple branches. He was screaming his head off!
'What an idiot!' Eric cursed in his mind as he followed. He managed to gain the rhythm of the slide and landed safely.
"Elec! Why did you shout?" Eric berated softly. He was vigilantly looking around.
He was using his All spectrum eyes to try and detect anything amiss as the forest below was still too dark and gloomy. Elec's scream had been too loud!
Last night, a few insects started emitting cries signifying that the terrifying wolf pack might have left this forest after losing their leader in fear of Baguma.
"Get up! We have to keep moving! I think we should hunt our breakfast." That caused a rumbling in his stomach as he had slept without eating any of the meat.
'I wish I could simply leave you here!' That made him enraged.
Elec appeared as a bright object in his All spectrum eyes. He stood up slowly. He was wincing in pain.
Eric didn't think he obtained any massive injuries except for a few bruises and minor scratches.
Seeing that Elec was taking too long and no dangerous creature was in his vision, he hurriedly helped him to his feet and pulled him along as they went deeper I to the forest.
He had managed to catch a glimpse of the dying embers of the sunset yesterday and was very confident that they were heading in the opposite direction of it, eastwards!
Every step was taken cautiously and they made sure to prevent any vegetation from touching their bodies.
Elec had read something which had said that more people died to plants than animals in the wilderness.
Baguma hadn't seemed to mind when he led them inside this jungle, but, he did slash a path through the undergrowth. It must have been intentional.
Eric didn't take any chances as he led the way. Rain had already started falling, turning the damp ground muddy and slippery.
Many critters appeared to be lively as the wet ground unearthed them. Everytime he stepped on a bug, Eric felt like retching. He even felt envious of Elec who couldn't see them.
TRIVIA
The wilderness is a terrifying place which has claimed many, a bug can just brush against your skin and you end up dead without knowing why! A little plant might harden its leaves and sever your legs, if you don't pay attention!