Into the canyon

After successfully scheming against the dino and anaconda, Lucian knew it was time to be on the move again.

He had already prepared for the way ahead.

He had bathed in the giant lake, which he had scouted previously to be just outside the snake's dwelling.

After a clean bath, he rid himself of all the leaves he had fashioned to be inconspicuous in the jungle. And he had entertained the thought of coating himself in dirt for camouflaging his journey into the canyon.

But decided against it after not wanting to get dirty from just cleaning himself after a long time. And he knew that he most probably wouldn't find any water source in the canyon, he shouldn't have to be worried about covering himself in dirt because he would already be covered in a layer of one walking in the canyon.

This new world had made him appreciate hygiene a lot more than his previous self that spent days without a bath.

Looking back at the forest of which he had rid the alphas off. He took a deep breath and turned forward to the canyon.

He carried with himself his awl and a pouch as the only other belongings.

As the testament that he is always learning something from each of his battles, the awl had some changes done to it.

Nothing major, just that when he remembered that he had lost the awl during the fight, he had now tied the awl to a rope he had created from the skin of the anaconda intertwined with some strong vines.

The other sole belonging on him, the pouch, was where he collected his hunting trophies. Now in which two new teeth that were the two biggest teeth he had plucked from dino and anaconda respectively were added to the growing collection.

'Tch, I can still taste their brains and hearts in my mouth.' As he was entering the canyon Lucian thought of the still lingering taste while rolling his tongue to the inside of his mouth.

He would always eat the brains and heart of the monsters he would hunt.

Not because he had grown a liking to it, and neither was it to quench his hunger. No, because he had already realised he didn't need that to survive.

He eats the brains and heart of the hunts because of his theory that the kaiju's live on radiation. And after feasting on a lot of his hunts, he had realised that by eating the body's of the beasts, he could take a portion of the radiation they had absorbed in their bodies.

The brain and the heart were the organs that had most of the radiation concentrated on them. Well, actually the radiation of the brain and heart combined was still the second where most of the radiation collects; the blood of the kaiju's is which contains most of the radiation of the beast.

But he just couldn't get himself to drink the blood of the beasts, it was just plain disgusting in taste.

And he couldn't even light a fire, from the time he had been to this world. It was a lot harder than rubbing the stones to each other and most things usually break in his hand as he uses them. It was why he valued the awl so much. He had been using it for some time now, yet it still held itself together.

That aside, the radiation he savoured from the brains and heart was the reason he hunted the kaiju's. The predators though fundamentally different from the kaiju also had been affected by the ambient radiation thus collecting a lot of it in their vital organs.

Beggars can't be choosers, so when he was already being selective with which source he gets his radiated meals he added the predators that relied on the cycle of life way of survival to his list of hunting targets.

'From the first monster to all the monsters that I hunted and dined on has made me have an unhealthy obsession towards radiation.'

Knowing this, Lucian perpetually hunted whatever he came across. It was mostly attributed to the fact that his instincts tell him that it is significant for his growth. And also that with enough radiation he might be able to… complete himself. Finally find the thing that he feels he is not being able to connect to.

It doesn't seem foreign, but something of his very being, something that makes him (whatever he is)… him.

-

The sun is high and the surrounding land as dry as it could get. He could practically see heat waves bouncing off the ground.

Lucian had walked on this desertise canyon for days. Walking throughout the day and sometimes still continuing it into the cold of nights. In fact, he felt more comfortable in the cold of the night than the life giving light of the sun.

He also hunted pests that he encountered on the way, though none of them had any of the sweet mama source.

He had already crossed a lot of distance. The walls of the canyon had already almost vanished. If not for the vague outline he can see on the edges of the horizon, he would have thought that he already left the dip of land.

In the scorching heat and the welcoming freezing cold, he continued on this perceptually endless journey.

He didn't carry water with him, even though he could have stockpiled some from the forest that had abundance of it.

From the moment he realised he didn't need it for his survival, he had made it his goal to remove the subconscious need or want for all that his… mortal self had once needed to live on.

He knew that in this world he lived in now, there might be days that he would be able to find access to these mortal amenities.

But that doesn't mean that when he finds the delicacies his past self enjoyed he will walk past and ignore it.

Like right now, when he caught the sound of flowing water, he accelerated his steps towards it, to then practically running in that direction.

Reaching the place, he saw water flowing in a soft stream. He walked towards it, while also looking around for any danger.

Not finding any, he reached down to take some sips from the water.

While Lucian was drinking from the stream, if you see above his shoulder you would notice the ground in some places was moving in a strange manner.