Chapter Nine: Figuring Things Out

Fate had gotten what she needed out of the bandit. The question now is what will she do with this information. She had gotten a lot, but she also had more questions.

Firstly, she wanted to figure out what she could do with this strange power. She wondered if it might be some sort of bloodline magic that Fenrir gave to her. Magic, in essence, was the manipulation of the laws of nature.

But this was different. She was able to significantly increase her physical attributes with this energy. An ability that seemed almost tailor-made for Fallen since their physical aspects are their greatest strength.

One thing she noticed was that she felt… empty after using this power. Almost like a part of her was missing. But, she felt that warmth slowly refilling itself within her. She wondered what would happen if she expended all of this power. Time to experiment.

First, she expelled the energy from her pores, creating that shroud of energy and pressure there was before. Then she infused it into her bones, muscles, skin, and nerves. She was doing everything she could to spend this power. And it was working. All it took was a few minutes of doing this until she felt all of this power burnt up. And then… she blacked out.

Fate woke back up feeling like her stomach was nothing but an empty husk. She was absolutely starving. So much so that she was tempted to eat the humans she killed. However, since she was a former human, that would leave a bad taste in her mouth.

She looked and realized that it was now night time. There was a blue, crescent moon high in the sky surrounded by what seemed like a nebula of stars. It was an incredibly stunning and beautiful sight, but Fate didn't have time to take it in. She needed to find food before her stomach devours itself.

She left the ruins and went into a deep forest that surrounded them on all sides. She was armed with the knives she got from the men she killed. Despite feeling hungry and fatigued, she was able to jump from tree to tree with ease and grace. Her tail acted like a balancer, making it much easier to travel through the trees than with her former body.

Finally, she came across a pack of deer feeding I the middle of the woods. The deer rose their heads. They could tell that a new predator entered the territory, but they couldn't locate it. This was because Fate was concealing her presence. But this too was far batter than her last life.

That warm energy in her seemed to seep out of her body. But by absorbing it into the core, which turned out to be her heart, it help her conceal herself. It also seemed to help her recover that energy faster.

'Strange,' she thought to herself as she looked down on her prey, a large buck.

The more she used this power, the more she wondered what it was and what it could do. But for now, she pushed those thoughts aside. She dropped down next to the buck and stuck her knife in its brain before it had a chance to move. The other deer ran as their strongest was taken out without so much as a fight.

Fate pulled her blade out the deer's skull and moved it around in her hands. She flipped it in between her fingers. She threw and caught it a few times.

"Interesting. Using knives doesn't feel comfortable for me anymore." She looked at her furry hands and slightly muscular arms, "My body is obviously built for speed and power, just like a wolf's. I guess I'll have to start fighting bare-handed from now on. It's a good thing I'm pretty much a master in several forms of martial arts."

Fate took the deer corpse and dragged it back to the ruins with ease. She then gathered some fire wood and flint and steel from the men's bodies. However, the hunger proved too much for her to handle.

She could feel her consciousness starting to slip as she tried to prepare the fire. She couldn't concentrate and ended up hurting herself trying to create a spark. Finally, she blacked out again.

Fate woke up with a full stomach. The moon hadn't moved much so she deducted that it hadn't even been an hour since she lost consciousness. Looking to her right, she found nothing but a pile of bones(most of which were missing) and fur. She had devoured almost every ounce of that deer.

"That's a bit terrifying. If I ever go to a populated area, I need to make sure I'm well-fed. Otherwise I might end up eating a person. Damn."

At this point, Fate had a rough idea of how this power worked. She could use it to increase her physical abilities to about triple their ordinary level. However, using it is like burning fuel. She needs to make sure she doesn't expend too much, otherwise she'll collapse. By eating, it seems as though this power is recovered, but it can also do so naturally with time. The natural process is simplest absorbing the energy from the air around her through her pores.

"So there's mana in the air as well as this unknown energy as well. Maybe if I find more Fallen I'll learn more. I guess I can stay here and train to use this power until I find something else to do. I don't want to go out in the world only to get myself killed by a stupid magic user."

Like that, Fate decided to stay and train in these ruins for a while. At least until she got fully use to this body and this power. She didn't want to be caught off guard in this new world.