Chapter 65: New Foods

Karl placed the powder in his beast space and mentally formed a bowl to pour boar blood into. Hawk was already prepared, and happily drained the beast, then slowly swirled the concoction with his claws until he had the desired consistency and an even distribution.

A quick lick of the claws to clean them brought a happy trill, then he began to dip the boar meat in the bowl like he had seen Karl do with chicken at dinner.

Karl ignored the bird's antics and sat on his bed to meditate the afternoon away, continuing right through until morning as Hawk adjusted to the change in food and the feedback strengthened Karl's body and mind.

[It looks like we might not have to slow down, buddy.] Karl informed Hawk when his alarm went off for breakfast.

[I told you, we will be stronger than that Sergeant in no time.] Hawk agreed.

That was the first time that Karl recalled the bird calling her by Rank instead of just "Evil Lady" or "Not so Evil Lady". Hawk was getting smarter, he was certain, and he was beginning to remember names for people.

Fortunately for the both of them, today was the weekly day off, and they didn't have any major plans, other than continuing their basic training and meditation schedule.

But a lack of plans didn't mean they weren't going to do anything. First thing in the morning, before Karl had even gotten up to go to breakfast, the supply staff was at his door with a delivery of upgraded food products for Hawk, various meats, sausages with infused resources of some kind, and a pungent ointment that the label said should be applied to the claws to help them maintain their flexibility and not become brittle.

That gave them plenty of work to do after Karl had finished eating, as Hawk was a fairly picky eater when the food product was not meat. The sausages had been created with humans in mind, so Karl would eat them himself if necessary, but some of the order seemed to be completely plant-based.

It looked like meat cubes, but when Hawk poked them, they were just wiggly and soft, definitely not meat. Karl thought that they might be tofu of some sort, created with a magical plant to help strengthen the body, but Hawk resolutely refused to eat them.

The spicy sausages were an instant hit, and Hawk didn't care that they had visible herbs in them. The cheese sausages as well. He made a mess of himself as he tore apart the juicy cooked meat tubes, but Hawk was instantly in love with the flavour of cheese.

Karl made careful notes of the response to each food product, as well as Hawk's estimation of the absorbed energy content and any reactions that his body had to the food.

Only one caused an unusual reaction. The spicy sausages that Hawk loved gave him a stimulant boost and made him hyper, a fact that Karl noticed, but Hawk did not. They might be some sort of drug to the Windspeed Hawk, but his thoughts were as clear as always, just faster and more easily distracted.

Once Hawk had a sample of everything, Karl tried the rejects, and found that while they were edible, none of them were going to make his favourite foods list. They were all easy to digest, which was a small blessing, and Karl spent most of an hour meditating to burn through the energy before he got up to water the plants and check for any ripe fruits or flowers that should be harvested.

He still had to use the manual for that, as most of them were only just beginning to change from when he had arrived, but a few were more prolific. The berry bushes in particular seemed to be constantly flowering and growing more fruit as they were picked, and the tea trees constantly dropped leaves that needed to be dried.

That took him nearly to lunch, but he had a small collection of fruits in the beast space now, in addition to the berries that Hawk liked to season his meat with.

'I should go do something today.' Karl mused to himself as he finished eating again and meditated away the excess energy to improve the beast space.

It was really beginning to take shape, and he had most of a clearing worth of grass forming around the single tree already. Next he was going to create a small bush. Hawk liked to fly around the balcony and dodge the branches, so a bit more scenery would be good for him, Karl thought.

[How about a lake? A bit of water would be good, so I can practice my diving for fish.] Hawk suggested.

That shouldn't be too hard, just like the grass, he only had to focus on adding the lake bed to the nothingness of the space.

[Don't you think that it's getting larger in there? I swear that it used to be much more crowded, and you didn't have as much room to fly around.] Karl asked as he began to work on the lake.

[I agree. I used to have to make small circles around the tree, but now I can fly for a few minutes before I have to turn around. Do you think that this place will get bigger as we get stronger? I could have a whole world to myself once we get powerful enough.] Hawk suggested.

Maybe that was the goal? The space was getting more powerful and larger with effort, and naturally, it would become an impressive home for the Windspeed Hawk, but asking for a whole world was on a whole other level. Awakened level was only going to take him to a kilometre or so in diameter at this rate, and the density of the world inside the space seemed to be improving in a linear way, while the size had made a jump at some point that Karl hadn't noticed until now.

That would be another item to add to his mental list of things to track.