Is that a Wisp?

Even though Krune was raring to go, his mind was calm. The blood and killing he had done mechanically in the ocean waters ensured that the adrenaline didn't get to his head and make him form heated decisions. The moment he began to run forward, a hook flew towards him, aiming at his right thigh.

Krune directly activated his Neon Radiance soon after, causing his opponents to flinch while allowing him to see everything better and evade the attacks. He still wasn't used to only relying on the Sonic Radar to move around. After all, all his life, he had relied on his eyes.

Moreover, sensing through the eyes was faster when compared to the Sonic Radar. It was also more accurate, especially in cases like the hook and the thread connecting to it. In his Sonic Radar, such tiny objects weren't clearly registered.

Moreover, when stretched tautly, the thread vibrated, causing unnecessary sounds that further threw off his accuracy. So, Krune just decided to rely on his Neon Radiance. Through his prior probing, he determined that there were only these two Monster Geckos in this place.

So, as long as he didn't waste his time, he wouldn't get caught. And now, he threw a Whale Tooth Dagger with all his might, using its inherent weight to his advantage. As the two Monster Geckos screamed due to the intense light he emitted, the Whale Tooth Dagger he threw pierced the chest of one of them.

Sadly, it wasn't a critical wound. With that, Krune followed it up with a kick, lodging the dagger all the way in. His kick sent it flying, causing it to wheeze and struggle to get up. It seemed like the dagger had pierced through its lungs, preventing it from getting up for the time being.

Followed by a swift jump, Krune arrived at the back of the other Monster Gecko, stepping on its tail as he slid his hands under its armpits, aiming to do a chokehold. Once he had done so, he exerted strength in one hand while tumbling, using his body weight to cause the two of them to fall.

At the moment they fell, the impact pushed his hand further, dislocating the Monster Gecko's shoulder, making it scream in pain. He stomped on its other hand and pressed on its head using his hands, taking out the thread he had saved up.

Krune swiftly tied up its head, increasing the pressure he applied with his legs, soon dislocating its other shoulder in the process. Now that it was largely incapacitated, he used the thread to tie up its legs. He had used the thread from the fishing rods he had collected.

They were fairly strong, stronger than anything he could make in the current environment. After tying up the incapacitated Monster Gecko, Krune rushed towards the other Monster Gecko that was dragging itself over the ground, intending to escape.

He plunged the dagger into its neck, rending its life. Thanks to the light he emitted, Krune noticed that some of the blood pooled on the floor had moved towards a bone tree nearby, touching it. Then, as if it was vacuumed, the blood flowed towards the bone tree and was fully absorbed into it.

After pondering over what he had seen, Krune dragged the Monster Gecko's carcass and made an open wound of it touch the bone tree, watching the blood within be sucked out at an alarming rate. Soon, the Monster Gecko was devoid of any blood.

Upon noticing that the flesh wasn't affected, Krune went silent for a bit, dragging the alive one as he stopped before the bone tree situated right next to the one he had experimented on. And now, he made a tiny hole on its tail, gently touching the bleeding tip on the bone tree.

The same magical phenomenon happened once again. It seemed that the bone tree had the property to attract blood towards itself. Even though this property had a small range, only being around a centimeter from its surface, it was still pretty great.

Within a couple of minutes, all the blood in the alive Monster Gecko was sucked out. In any case, Krune could notice some differences. Unlike the other bone trees in the surroundings, this one began to develop scales over itself. Moreover, it was slowly growing in size. It seemed absorbing the blood of an alive one had differences as compared to that of a dead one.

Krune didn't know what the end result might be, but he sure didn't plan on observing it from such a close distance. After making sure he made a small marking on the floor nearby to point at the tree exhibiting such changes, Krune dragged the two Monster Gecko corpses with him. Along the way, he made a couple of discrete markings, stuff that one might not notice even if they stared right at it.

After all, there were numerous scratches on the floor, everywhere. It was like finding a needle in a haystack. But for him, he just drew a small image of the Pestlor. Since it was a unique item that he took a great liking to, he decided to etch that.

The direction the Pestlor's head pointed towards was where the tree exhibiting the changes was. This way, he would be able to find it more easily. Eventually, he exited the forest, making a similar marking near one of the bone trees that he was sure he could identify thanks to its alarmingly stout branches.

He dragged the two carcasses and soon made it back to his cave, panting in exhaustion when he had finished dragging them. Transporting them through the narrow entry path was even more difficult than his hunt, leaving him utterly exhausted.

As for the reason Krune hadn't injured the second Monster Gecko, he was after its skin. After judging that camouflaging himself as one of them would be better than just roaming around almost naked, he aimed for one that was of a similar size to himself.

Krune set it aside for the time being, intending to practice on the damaged one first. He carefully looked around its jaws, noticing places from where he could pry open its skin and peel it off in one full stretch. Thankfully for him, its body was completely dry now.

With the blood siphoned off from the body, most of the substance he had to watch out for was now gone. So, Krune could peacefully work on it without suffering any injuries. Even though he made a lot of mistakes, Krune managed to determine the way he could pull out the Monster Gecko's skin wholly intact.

He first made pieces of the corpse he had butchered, separating the bones from the organs and flesh, placing the flesh separately while piling up the rest. He then wrapped the pieces of meat in the skin of the Monster Gecko after cutting it into desired sections.

When he was hungry, he ate some of the meat he had already cleaned and processed, resting for some time before beginning to work on the wholly intact Monster Gecko. He carefully peeled it in one piece, almost taking six hours to do so as he intended to do it without any mistakes.

As he didn't have much experience in skinning like this, Krune had to proceed carefully. Thankfully, his experience as a spiritual chef played a major part here. Even though there was a significant difference in performing the same action as a cultivator and a mortal, the experience of cooking for a couple of centuries was deeply ingrained in him.

Thanks to this, he managed to skin it completely without any observable errors. He set it aside for some time and separated the Monster Gecko's flesh from the rest, wrapping it up in skin sacks.

He then began to clean up the intact skin, setting it aside to dry for the time being. He still had to cut off the tail while designing it so that he could stitch the remainder. Krune planned to make an article of complete skin-tight clothing out of it. Moreover, when he felt the flexibility of the skin, he felt that it was doable.

As he had enough food to last a couple of weeks, Krune didn't venture out. He opted to stay within his cave and work on all his arrangements. As for food, as long as he sprinkled some drops of the water on the meat, they didn't spoil and remained fresh.

So, Krune basically didn't have anything to worry about. He used the bones of the Monster Geckos, trying to find anything useful out of them. Upon seeing their limb bones, he thought of a way he could use them.

He set them aside and took out a tail bone, using the Whale Tooth Dagger to grind it into a needle. He made needles of a couple of sizes, using one of them to poke a hole in the rest. This way, he finished creating some sewing needles for his use.

After that, he carefully cut the tail, leaving some material behind that he stitched using the threads wound around the fishing rods. After he had obtained two more fishing rods, he had enough thread to go around.

He then made numerous cuts and stitches on the face part of the skin, adjusting it to his size. Whenever he was ever confused, a stare in the pool's reflection while emitting his Neon Radiance was enough to determine his facial structure and the orientation of the eyes, nose, mouth, etc.

It took almost a week of careful sewing before Krune finished the entire skin armor. He tugged its surface once, feeling that it was considerably tough. Even though it could easily be ripped through using something as sharp as the Whale Tooth Dagger, it was many times better than being almost naked and defenseless.

After treating his wounds once using the ocean water, Krune began to wear the skin armor, grunting in the process as it was tighter than he had imagined it to be. Even though it was elastic, he had to be careful to not exert too much force in random directions and risk ripping it apart. After all, the sewing he had done wasn't really that thorough.

He had only done it based on the limited materials in his possession. In any case, after an hour of struggling and tugging, inch by inch, Krune managed to wear it completely, immediately feeling warmer with an added sense of security.

He arrived before the cave walls, using his knife to carve the words 'Skin Armour' and put a tick mark beside it. As he did this, he thought to himself, 'This is just the first step to establish myself in this environment.'