Editing Dark Elf:Volume1 Chapter1 (section)

===Part 6===

Once the relief hit him, so did something else.

A previous problem was back with a vengeance. He staggered and placed a hand on a large tree trunk, but that wasn’t enough to support him and he slid down to a sitting position. He grimaced and held his stomach.

…''Damn. It wasn’t enough.

His camouflage magic required a magic derivative. That meant he needed to eat a Witch Pumpkin stem to activate it. But he had only bitten into a Ghost Turnip’s flowers as an imperfect substitute. And when he didn’t have enough of the derivative, his power would run wild inside him and his health would suffer. It felt a lot like dehydration.

…''Come to think of it, I’m missing any memory of how I was carried to that clearing after they captured me or how Slender helped me escape that clearing. I’ve been assuming this all happened in one day, but what if slept through an entire night without realizing it?

Most magic came with risks and Camouflize was no exception.

This had never really felt like a threat before. When he had been safely researching in the royal capital, magic derivatives had been readily available. So much so that the mere sight of a pumpkin stem smoothie was enough to make him feel sick.

But things were different here.

“This…is bad.”

His voice was barely audible.

He had slipped down onto his side. He was stuck in that unnatural position.

''He could use magic.

''But it was far from all powerful.

He could barely move, but his breathing rang irritatingly loud in his ears. He didn’t lack strength – he couldn’t control it. His heart was racing and cold sweat poured down his brow.

…''Is there a pumpkin stem nearby? Or any kind of magic derivative?

He could fuel up by eating a magic derivative made from several stems, but it wouldn’t last. He would use it up when he used his camouflage magic, but it would also gradually reduce over time. He would lose any magic derivative he ingested after about 24 hours, but if he wanted to always be ready to use his magic, he preferred to resupply at least twice a day to make sure it never dipped down to zero.

He preferred not to eat more stems than he had to since they weren’t exactly tasty, but if he really wanted to compress as much of the derivative into his body as possible, about five was probably the limit. Any more and it would actually destabilize the power inside him.

But all of that was moot when he was too weak to tear off a hard Witch Pumpkin’s stem.

Ghost Turnip flowers were an imperfect substitute, but he couldn’t even find any of them.

…''Am I going to die like this? Not in a trap and not because they hunt me down, but because I used my magic at the wrong time?

Reality was cruel and no one was guaranteed a dramatic death. He hadn’t come anywhere close to infiltrating the dark elf village or escaping the forest. He could never marry his future wife like this. He had always taken a cynical view of the plays he had seen in the royal capital, but he finally understood what the playwrights and directors were thinking. People wanted some drama and emotion when they died, even if they weren’t consciously aware of the desire.

Suddenly, Klaus Knockburn sensed some eyes on him.

This was not the dark elves. These eyes were close enough to the ground that he was on their eye level while lying on his side. He no longer had the strength left to move his head. This thing had been in front of him from the beginning and he had only just now noticed it.

What was that creature tilting its head at him? It was a Palmtop Mouse with its round body and distinctive buck teeth. They were a popular choice at the royal capital’s pet shops. But just like with goldfish, this was his first time seeing one in the wild. Its small front legs held a piece of orange Witch Pumpkin it had found somewhere.

He sensed only fear and death from this forest, but the Palmtop Mouse didn’t seem worried as it walked over to be his friend.

No, ''it didn’t want to be his friend.

“…”

He realized the truth.

And he realized it too late.

He heard a gnawing sound. He could see his limp hand lying on the ground. His hand had to look huge to the Palmtop Mouse, but it held out its front legs like it was asking for a handshake and picked up one of his fingers.

That was when the gnawing started. He also saw an unnatural red color.

When dealing with markings and camouflage, it was imperative you did not place too much trust in your own eyes. It was a human thing to think of Palmtop Mice as cute. Even they were wild animals that had optimized themselves to avoid danger and acquire food.

''Oh,'' he realized.

He didn’t need to subconsciously reject this thing as a candidate. Out in the wild, everyone searched for food. Even the tiny Palmtop Mouse had survived this long by obtaining food from weaker lifeforms. Of course Klaus would be targeted by other animals when he was on the verge of death. And there was nothing strange about him doing everything he could to survive either. Not one thing.

The Palmtop Mouse had tried to eat him first anyway.

So he would play by the same rules. If the rules said the strong could eat the weak, then he wouldn’t be accepting any complaints.

He clenched his fist with more force than he thought he had left. He felt something being crushed in his hand and heard the rodent’s shrill screech. He must have broken some of its bones. In the royal capital, this animal cruelty would have horrified him, but he did not bat an eye now that he was following the animal’s rules.

He carried it to his mouth.

Yes, if this thing was holding a piece of Witch Pumpkin, then it must have chewed through the thick skin and feasted on the skin and the innards. That meant it would have the contents of the stem inside its body.

Only the human body could break down a magic derivative.

Was it his rotten teacher who had said a pufferfish’s toxin was not created inside the pufferfish? The process was known as bioconcentration. As bugs ate Witch Pumpkins and Ghost Turnips and rodents ate those bugs, the magic derivative would be spread across a wide variety of lifeforms. Klaus only had to take that derivative for himself. Eating the stem directly was guaranteed to work and safer too, but an indirect source was better than nothing.

He may have been concentrating so much on the theory behind it to distract himself from the raw sensations he was experiencing.

He bit through something hard and forced it down his throat. It was awful. It tasted rusty and weirdly bitter. A brush-like mass of hair caught in his throat. He gagged over and over before he got it down his esophagus, but he managed it in the end. Tears spilled from his eyes as he forced himself to swallow with an audible gulp.

He had eaten it.

He smiled weakly afterwards.

Normally, you would skin it first. You would remove the organs and blood and preserve it for a while. When you did eat it, you would wash it well, season it, and cook it. In fact, most people didn’t eat mice even if they did have meat. Even crayfish and snails were more acceptable as gourmet dishes.

But he had eaten it all the same. The blood, organs, bones, and everything else were circulating through his body to give him the strength he needed to move. Only then did the revulsion hit him. He writhed around in disgust, scratching at his throat, but then he noticed the symptoms akin to dehydration were fading. The rodent had indeed contained the magic derivative.

That was why he had the excess strength and willpower needed to roll around on the ground.

“Damn you.”

There were no enemies in this forest. The dark elves and the forest animals were only doing what they always did to stay alive. Klaus was the only one struggling so hard in the unfamiliar forest.

Nevertheless, he had survived.

He felt like he had altered the fate of the world, but he was only curled up and trembling.

“Goddess damn you all. I will survive no matter what happens out here. I’ll survive and escape this forest…ugh, sob.”

He looked like a creepy clown with the popular pet animal’s blood around his mouth. And he cried, forgetting all about the fact that he was still being pursued by the dark elves who had tried to execute him.

''No one could hear him.

''His sobs simply vanished into the deep forest.

He was so very alone. The royal capital had been overflowing with products and services, but here he had to be self sufficient or he would die. The forest itself was a deadly monster threatening his life.