Chapter 365: 365

Sitting by Alexander, Michelle wanted answers.

Why did she act like a child?

Why did she want to eat raw meat?

Why did she not remember it?

Why did eating bring her back to her senses?

When she asked Alexander, he didn’t know.

“I’m no monster…” he rested his head on Michelle’s shoulder as he spoke.

“There was never a reason for me to be curious about the details of their eating habits. I only know the basics which you already know.”

That made sense, so Michelle knew she had to turn to someone else with her questions.

And who better was there to answer than two powerful monsters constantly nearby, who saw what happened with her.

So, Michelle turned towards the window and spotted both Noctis and Unlucien nearby.

Both of them already knew that they were needed when her gaze turned like what it was at the moment, so they appeared within the room in a split second.

“Yes, My Lord, Milady?” though the one who called them was Michelle, they first greeted Alexander.

Partially, it was habitual, since he was the Dark Lord, but at the same time, it was to avoid Alexander’s possessive streak.

Who could know whether he wouldn’t get ticked off just because they looked at Michelle first.

With Alexander, one could never be sure, at least from the viewpoint of the shadow guards.

In reality, Alexander didn’t take them into account that much, so unless they did something extreme, he wouldn’t care.

But that didn’t mean he would correct their assumption.

Their distance from Michelle wasn’t something he was displeased about, so he decided to leave it as it was.

With Noctis and Unlucien in front of her, Michelle could finally get the answers she wanted.

“You both saw what happened with me. How does it follow monster logic?” she asked.

Even her way of asking questions was somehow lazy.

She didn’t even elaborate the question since she knew the two were smart enough to understand what she was curious about.

And she was right.

The two understood and explained.

So, what happened with Michelle was a symptom some monster species had.

When low on food or starving, to preserve nutrients and energy in their bodies, they would enter something like a half-conscious state.

They would move slower and much less, and, if they were able to speak, they would refrain from it.

Also, intelligent monsters would start showing signs of age regression, but only mentally.

That was usually a sign that in preservation, they even suppressed their cognitive abilities.

And that usually happened suddenly, not smoothly like someone could expect.

In that state, one of the cognitive functions that shut down one of the first was memory recording.

So the monster in that state remembered most of what it knew before the cognitive regression, but after it got out of it, it couldn’t remember that state.

Then, there was another very distinct thing about the state.

A monster starved to that point couldn’t hunt for itself.

Even if it seemed it had the strength and energy to do it, it wouldn’t unless someone managed to force it.

Instead, the monster would find a creature it deeply trusts and can rely on, whether another monster, a beast, or a human, and get extremely clingy.

If that creature doesn’t make sure the monster gets food, the monster will starve to death.

But monsters rarely knew a creature they trusted to not betray them in such a situation.

So they made sure to eat regularly not to slip into that state.

Because even if their consciousness trusted another creature enough to go to and rely on them, consciously, they knew the risks and avoided it at all cost.

After the explanation, Michelle had just one question remaining.

“When I slipped into that state, why was it that I tried to eat raw meat?”

Naturally, there was also an explanation to that.

A starving monster always seeks food even if it doesn’t go hunt it.

So, once it smells food, it will be pulled to it, even if normally, it would be repulsed by it.

That was another reason why monsters avoided the state.

With their conscious mind no longer in control, they could even resort to cannibalism.

And in that state, they wouldn’t notice if they swallowed a Life Stone, which, in turn, their dantian wouldn’t be able to bear and would burst.

In that state, a monster could kill itself by accident.

While talking about that, Noctis also explained the difference between cooked and raw food to Michelle and how and when monsters ate it, along with the fact that to a starving monster, it didn’t really matter.

Both could get them out of the state.

There was a bit of a difference in the process of regaining consciousness but that wasn’t all that important.

Basically, since raw food gave bursts of spirit energy, which were harder to absorb, the monster that ate raw food would stay childish a bit longer before suddenly getting back to normal all at once.

On the other hand, eating cooked food made the process smoother.

The monster would start returning to normal earlier, but at the end of it, it would be completely back to normal after the same amount of time as a monster that ate raw food.

Because, as the spirit energy would start getting absorbed from the beginning, the monster would also start slowly, progressively, regaining its consciousness until it was normal again.

With the explanation complete, Michelle looked at the pouch of cooked meat still in her hand.

It was a reminder of the fact that she herself didn’t even notice that her body was starving.

She didn’t feel hungry once until it was too late and she entered the state of cognitive regression.

Monsters called that state the Starving Cub because of the regression.

Thinking about that, Michelle’s mind wandered to Tenether.

He was a monster, but not once had Michelle seen him eat or ask for food.

And as far as she knew, he had been sealed in the lower realm for years, so he probably didn’t get to eat anything.

And he had been acting childish since the moment Michelle met him.

Did that mean he had been in the Starving Cub state since the very beginning?

The thought of that made Michelle’s stomach tighten with dread.

But at the same time, she was doubting that, because there had been quite a few times Tenether was near dead bodies, but he didn’t react even once.

“How long can a monster stay in the Starving Cub state?” she finally asked.

Noctis and Unlucien weren’t sure.

It depended on each monster.

Their species and rank could change, either shrink or enlarge, the period of time they could last without food.

And that naturally also changed the period of the Starving Cub state before the monster would starve.

Still, the longest both Noctis and Unlucien had heard about was five years and that was only an assumption.

It was a story about a powerful monster that suddenly disappeared.

It was found about five years later, dead.

Its body was starting to decompose and the smell attracted other monsters.

The monster, being powerful, was famous amongst monsters, so the story spread far and wide.

Still, no one could confirm whether the monster really went five years without any food.

It was confirmed it died of starvation, but no one knew what led to it.

Hearing that, Michelle was nearly sure that even if Tenether wasn’t showing all symptoms, he was in the Starving Cub state.

And she was even more sure after Noctis’ next words.

Apparently, powerful monsters that could survive the Starving Cub state for prolonged periods weren’t as passive as normal monsters.

They could even function normally, just looking a bit stupid.

Dismissing Noctis and Unlucien, she summoned Tenether from her space.

In his kitten shape, he snuggled against her like usual.

“Yes, Michelle?” the cat just meowed, but the words echoed in Michelle’s mind.

Normally, Michelle wouldn’t think much about that behavior, but after going through the Starving Cub state, her view was a bit different.

“Are you hungry?” she asked as she reached into the pouch and took out a piece of meat.

Nearly instantly, Tenether’s eyes gleamed and he bit down on the piece of meat, snatching it from Michelle’s hand.

So he was hungry, but was he in the Starving Cub state?

Michelle couldn’t know the answer until Tenether finished eating.

While Michelle fed the cat on her lap, Alexander sat next to her, watching everything closely.

There was no need for anyone to tell him what Michelle was trying to find out.

That made him think about what would happen if Tenether was indeed starving.

If he got out of the Starving Cub state, he wouldn’t remember entering a contract with Michelle, which would mean he could get aggressive against her.

The contract would protect her, but Alexander still didn’t like the thought of it.

Still, there was nothing he could do since Michelle was already feeding the kitten.

If something did happen, the most he could do was intervene at that moment and restrain the black fur ball until it calmed down and realized Michelle was its master.

And if that creature refused to accept Michelle and tried to break the contract, which would hurt Michelle, Alexander wouldn’t hesitate to kill it.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep