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As for preserving the food well enough for transportation after bringing it back to base, Kyle already had a solution in mind – the Desham herbs that the town was famed for. It was the reason why the herbs were still selling so well in the Versia market, to the point that the government and local town council advocated for it so well.

Kyle had, of course, grabbed his hands on it while he was initially entering Desham, having to cross the fields filled to the brim with them.

[SYSTEM MESSAGE] Plant
[Desham Tuff]	A domesticated strain from the wild ones found in the Keru Forest, the spice provides a pungent aroma coupled with a slightly spicy taste when paired with meat Kills bacteria and mould and allows for a longer duration of perishable food

Kyle was no stranger to spices – The Galactic Era was filled to the brim with exotic spices from all over the galaxy, traded like hotcakes everywhere. Farmers back then tried to find unique environments to grow them, while genetic labs attempted to artificially create new spices that could sate the ever-demanding taste of both aliens and humans who were looking for new flavours.

He even recalled his favourite nutrient pack flavours, jammed to the brim with an entire slew of ingredients that would not be able to fit on the small printed packaging. But for now, his solution hinged on having the Desham Tuffs on his food in order to preserve it longer. He had no idea how much longer it would be, but that was not the only part of his plan.

Get the food first; worry later. Kyle flew through the air on the back of the venom-spitting hornet, searching for the rough locations that Hayden had marked out for him.

Soon, he finally spotted it, a large group of feral swine, their snorts punctuating the ambient crickets as they used their snouts to sniff the ground, finding something to eat. Kyle might have likened them to pigs if it weren’t for the fact that they were close to three times in size, nearly double the size of an average cow. More like a mammoth hog if you ask me.

The hair on the skin of the feral mammoth hog was sharp and pointy, easily scraping the tree barks off as they shuffled through, the young of their kind moving along right under them in protection. Roughly estimating the size and using a simple formula, he calculated that he could obtain about three hundred kilograms from the largest of them all, taking into account the weight of the skin as well as the increased density and strength of the bone structure in order to be able to get to that kind of size.

The skin looks very useful as armour as well. Is it metallic? Kyle spent a bit more time observing the behaviour and motions of the mammoth hogs as they moved in a group, the larger adults on the outside protecting the young.

This was not the only group he spotted in the vicinity as he continued to scout around, with three other groups of mammoth hogs spotted. Kyle noted down any similarities, creating a general pattern in his head as to their rough grazing pattern within three hours. The groups kept a wide berth of each other, being spread out more than three kilometres either way.

As Kyle was observing one group, he noticed a unique tree that was a bit yellowish in colour, a bark pigment that he had not seen yet in the Keru Forest. Granted, Kyle had spent most of his time running through it, and the forest spreads for more than three hundred kilometres, so there was still plenty to discover.

The yellow tree was even more unique in that it had no branches facing upward towards the sunlight. Instead, all of its branches drooped down into the ground, seemingly burrowing into the ground like a root as well. It was as though the bottom of the tree had been duplicated on the top. Hundreds of these branches were in a similar fashion. Kyle could also see something white at the base of the tree but was not close enough to see clearly.

Kyle watched as an adult mammoth hog followed a trail with its snout low to the ground, each breath coming out pushing away the dead leaves on the floor in a billowing vent. It soon came across the yellow tree, sniffing the bark closely before trying to take a chomp out of it.

In a flash, a hundred branches suddenly lashed out at the hog, wrapping them around the spiky skin as it squealed in fright, flinging its sharp tusks around while retreating, tugging against the branches which held firmly.

Two other adult mammoth hogs in the group immediately came to help, using their tusks and body to crush and snap the branches off. Instead of the branches being cracked off like a normal tree, a sickly pale white liquid spurt out instead, with the chopped-off end wriggling on the floor like a lizard tail.

Freeing the first hog, the three hogs banded together and charged at the yellow tree, which continued its frenzy of whipping branches at them. While they were occupied, the chopped-off ends somehow managed to slither their way under their large hooves, allowing them to reach the young that the large hogs originally protected.

They wrapped themselves around the young hogs, ensuing in a bitter struggle against suffocation as the young hogs tried to shake them off in vain, unable to fight their way out of the stranglehold. The strong grip also ensured that they barely made a sound, which meant the large hogs were unable to react in time.

As five young hogs were strangled to death, the entire top half of the tree suddenly shrunk in, retreating all of its branches and tunnelling deep into the base of its trunk, which actually turned out to be the hollow husk of another dead tree. A parasite? Or an animal that uses the dead trunks and burrows in?

With it hiding deep underground now, the large hogs could only continue to take out their anger on the dead hollow trunk, along with the remnants of chopped-off ends that were still wriggling around and attempting to lunge at the younger hogs.

The battle was soon over but at a clear loss to the mammoth hogs. They left the dead young hogs on the floor as they quickly vacated the area, unwilling to linger there any longer. Instead of following the mammoth hogs, Kyle stayed around the area, watching intently at the five dead young hogs who were still wrapped tightly in the chopped-off branches.

After ten minutes, five branches reached out from within the hollow trunk out along the ground, latching onto the five corpses that had been caught and reeling them into the trunk, where the sounds of large molar teeth mashing and crunching the bones could be heard, the cracks and munching heard loud and clear.

Interesting, very similar to other alien parasites. Kyle knew of one such parasite in the Galactic Era, which used dead humans or any humanoid form in a similar fashion. Corpse-catchers.

He himself had used them to great effectiveness, allowing him to deter battlefield looting with ease.

However, this version here in the Keru Forest might be useful for defending the base, though he would have to figure out a way to use them or at least work around them. For now, he returned to his main focus of hunting.

The mammoth hogs respond fast – the moment I attack one, the others will come to assist. I must catch them off guard as much as possible, and in one fell swoop. They don’t seem to honour the dead just yet, so no signs of sapience. Kyle now had a plan in mind. He quickly dropped to the floor, finding a common fruit in the forest and some tree sap before gingerly testing its fluid with his finger, ensuring that it was not poisonous.

Once he had confirmed that no system debuffs had appeared, he quickly slathered his clothes with it, masking his scent of a human as much as possible.

As night fell, the mammoth hogs returned to their resting area, a small tiny clearing where the younger hogs suckled on the teats of their mother hog as she rested, the entire spiky skin heaving with each breath.

The snores and gurgles of the mammoth hogs, as they slept, were easy enough to pick up once Kyle had heard them once. He observed them again, waiting until the last young hog fell asleep before he dismounted the venom-spitting hornet, dropping to the floor quietly before sneaking in the midst of them, his footsteps careful.

With his scent masked, the large mammoth hogs barely noticed him while he walked through them under the dim light of the night sky, allowing him to sneak up to one of the younger hogs. In a slow movement, he quietly unsheathed his lightning sword before immediately chopping off the head of a younger hog.

As the blood began to spurt out of the neck onto the ground, the smell began to stir the large mammoth hogs slightly from their dreamy state. Kyle quickly chopped off another head before grabbing the two bleeding bodies and running off into the forest.

The large mammoth hogs finally woke up, aware of Kyle’s presence as his heavy footsteps’ thuds against the dead leaves crackled and shifted loudly.

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Kyle was already long gone the moment the large mammoth hogs had already got up, making them confused as to where the unknown assailant had suddenly disappeared to as the scent was no longer traceable. Instead, all they were left with was the heads of their two younger hogs, a loud cacophony of grunts as they tried to figure out what attacked them.

Meeting up again with the venom-spitting hornet, Kyle hoisted the two bodies to it before ordering it to drop it off at the base before returning.

It was not the best of plans – Kyle would have much preferred to have a silent kill as much as possible, but the strong scent of blood was a dead giveaway. He was definitely strong enough to strangle the younger hogs to suffocation, just like the branches, but he needed to dissect them first before assuming where their airways were. After witnessing the existence of the corpse catcher, Kyle was not about to make any assumptions about how to kill a mammoth hog just yet.

The venom-spitting hornet soon returned to pick him up, bringing him back to the base at full speed. Already the night shift members were at work, carving up the corpse as they sliced away sections of the meat. The former villagers were well adapted to butchering and hunting game in the forest, so it was nothing new to them.

“Did you catch this alone?” Hayden was surprised. Even if the venom-spitting hornet was helping Kyle, it should’ve been impossible to get past the adult mammoth hogs, much less outrun them. It usually took a hunting party of ten even to attempt getting anywhere near the mammoth hogs.

Kyle nodded without replying, focusing on the now dissected corpse. The structure is similar to that of a pig, so suffocation through brute force should work pretty well. Twisting their neck cleanly should prevent any blood from spilling and also prevent them from squealing for help.

“Pack the meat into a sack and stuff it with the Desham Tuffs to preserve it. I’m going out for round two. By the time I come back, I need these parts made.” Kyle quickly drew out a simple large cabinet for storage, but it was to be made out of three layers – steel, clay and then wood, along with what seemed like a slot for arcite ore.

Hayden instantly recognised the design. “If you’re trying to make an arctech cooling chamber to preserve the meat, we won’t have enough power here – we don’t have any active arcite ore. Everything here is depleted.” She motioned to a pile of useless arcite ore that was completely translucent, already drained of its arcia energy.

“That can be fixed. Once Feldon wakes up, tell him I want the parts of a mechanical regenerator ready to go.”

“Regenerator?”