The next day, Vayu left the hospital. Although his body was still injured, he had no intention of staying there anymore. Even his form continued to shift every three hours and he was almost discovered once and he already had the black liquid to help him heal faster. Not wanting to push his luck, he slipped away and headed straight to the underground chamber to recover. Next day by the time he emerged, his wounds had completely healed.
With his body restored, his thoughts turned immediately to demonic crystals. He remembered how Ruru had killed the horned rabbits using nothing but her staff, with that in his mind he entered the forest once more. Vayu had no idea how to identify ancient or powerful trees, so he relied on instinct, striking down trees one after another, testing their resistance until he found one that felt different. It was older and tougher than the rest. He broke off a branch as thick as two arms, though it looked heavy, it felt balanced in his grip. The branch was thick at the base and tapered naturally toward the tip, so he snapped it and trimmed it down, adjusting its length before carefully sharpening the thicker end.
Vayu's village was not very advanced and he himself had spent much of his life in the forest. He could not craft refined weapons, but crude ones were another matter entirely. Before long, a strange-looking spear took shape in his hands it was thick, rough, with a pointy edge. The spear was slightly taller than him, but he was very excited as he had not held any weapon in so long and a sense of comfort and safety washed over him, he even felt nostalgic as he nodded in satisfaction. Without wasting any time, he set off toward the open ground. He intended to hunt the horned rabbits again.
Soon, Vayu reached the open ground. Horned rabbits reproduced at an alarming rate, reaching their full size within three to four months, so even after the recent slaughter had barely any effect on them as their numbers were still overwhelming. The moment they sensed his presence, they scattered in panic. Vayu chose a target and gave chase at once, but the rabbits were faster. He had anticipated that and threw his spear with full force, the spear whistled through the air, yet the weapon was crude and poorly balanced. After flying a short distance, it dipped suddenly and struck the ground far from its mark.
From morning until night, Vayu continued throwing his spear, again and again, without success. Not a single rabbit was hit by his spear. The same pattern repeated for the next seven days. During that time, he began to understand his throws more better, improving the angle and timing, the way the weight shifted in his hand but still no success. He crafted two more spears, each one was half the size of a normal spear, as they did not hinder his movement while running and allowed him to wield three weapons at once. Even so, the frustration gnawed at him. Seven days had passed, he had not killed a single horned rabbit.
Many times, the urge to activate Overdrive surged within him, but he resisted it because every time he crossed halfway into the open field, a rabbit would appear, holding a golden-colored carrot in its mouth, as if it was deliberately trying to lure him forward. The sight always made his chest tighten, it appeared every day without fail, but Vayu would stop instantly, turn back and retreat the moment that rabbit appeared, never crossing beyond open ground.
If a normal shapeshifter had been in his place, the strange behavior of that rabbit might not have drawn much attention, and they would have followed without much hesitation. But after witnessing the destruction of his village, Vayu had grown cautious to the core. That night, exhausted from endless running and failed throws, he returned with the bitter realization that he was getting nowhere like this. If he wanted to get demonic energy, he needed demonic crystals—there was no other path.
That night under the cover of darkness, Vayu slipped into an ironsmith's shop. Broken weapons and chunks of discarded iron lay scattered inside. He gathered as much as he could carry and fled back to the underground chamber. Then he selected a small, shapeless piece of iron. Although he didn't have ways to shape the iron nor he could sharpen it but he had the black liquid with him, the black liquid had a very corrosive nature, even the poison from the green snake was almost devoured by it. He worked through the night, shaping and sharpening the iron. By dawn, a perfectly balanced spear with a long iron shaft lay before him, along with it laid two crude but usable daggers. Many attempts had failed, he ended up destroying multiple weapons.
The next day, fully armed, Vayu returned to the open field. This time, he was not there to hunt. He was there to prepare. He was a hunter, and he would use everything at his disposal. If he could not catch the horned rabbits, then he would trap them. He broke countless branches and shaped them into sharp spikes, then peeled fresh bark and fibers from young branches to bind everything together. For the next three days, Vayu did not return to the city even once. He remained deep inside the forest, working tirelessly, carving and fastening spikes one after another. It was slow, painstaking work, but he was completely immersed in it. Hunger, fatigue, and time itself seemed to fade as his hands moved without rest. By the end of the third day, he had crafted more than a hundred crude traps. After gathering them in a single hidden spot, he finally made his way back to the city.
By then, Vayu had already learned many ways to survive without drawing attention. He stole money or slipping into the backyards of inns to take discarded clothes. The items he took were cheap and easily replaceable, hardly worth anyone's concern, and so his actions went unnoticed. In this way, he earned what he needed to survive while keeping himself completely in the shadows, unseen and unrecognized. After wandering through the city for two days, quietly searching for anything that might be useful, Vayu stumbled upon a small stall selling carrots. An idea immediately took root in his mind. If even Ruru had been tempted by that strange golden carrot, then such a thing must hold immense attraction for horned rabbits. Without hesitation, he bought a bundle of carrots along with a vial of golden-colored dye. Then he sat in the empty space behind the laboratory and carefully coated each carrot, laying them out and waiting patiently for them to dry.
The next day, carrying the painted carrots with him, Vayu returned to the area where he had prepared his traps. For the following seven days, he stayed near the open field, digging shallow pits and carefully arranging the spiked traps he had crafted earlier. Using an animal skin he had obtained beforehand, he marked the positions of each trap in his own way so only he could understand, memorizing the layout so he wouldn't fall into them himself. By the fourth day, exhaustion and hunger caught up to him. Ironically, the very golden carrots he had prepared became his food, one by one disappearing into his stomach. By the time his work was done, every carrot was gone, and every trap was set.
It was already afternoon when he finally finished, and fatigue weighed heavily on his limbs. He began the slow walk back toward the city. Along the way, he bought nearly fifty fresh carrots, spending the rest of the day carefully painting each one with meticulous attention. After eating a proper meal at last, he returned to his underground chamber and collapsed into sleep. When he opened his eyes again, the sun was already leaning toward the west, the afternoon light filtered faintly into the underground chamber.