Time quickly passed by. Alcott and Selena went to the church and secretly freed the nuns from the slave contracts. Ginger, on the other hand, brought the bad news of the dragon wanting sacrifice, and the nuns happily volunteered for it.
“Aella, did you see Arad?” Jack asked, looking around. “He went to the forest,” She replied with a smile, staring at the sky. “We must give him some time,”
***
Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud! Araad run across the forest in his draconic form, keeping low below the tall grass. ^I hear them moving toward the north,^
[Red bison, do you really want to hunt them?] Mom replied with an exhausted face, [You don’t need food, do you?]
^I don’t need it, but it won’t rot in my stomach anyway. I also heard their mean was a delicacy so I could make money and level up. Three birds with one stone,^
[Aella is an experienced hunter, and her bow is a useful tool,]
^I want to hunt like a dragon. Is that a problem?^
[Not at all. Keep low. We’re close to them,]
Arad stopped behind a tree, staring into an open grass field. The bison rested there, grazing on the fresh green grass. They were big, red, and got short twisted horns.
^Can I camouflage?^
[No, that’s a young adult skill. Your scales need to grow first.]
^They are pretty big and sturdy. Can’t I try it?^
[To camouflage, your scales need to be small and smooth. Otherwise, you will look like an obvious patch of rainbow colors.] &Authur addition: the scales are imagined like the pixels of a display. The smaller they are, the better.&
Arad prowled around the herd, searching for the weak and wounded beasts. He wanted to take it easy and test the water first.
^Mom, what about that one in the back?^
[A broken horns and a festering wound in the back leg, it won’t be able to run away.]
^A good target?^
[You would die. Look closely at the herd,]
Countless bisons checked on the wounded beast regularly, never leaving it alone. ^They are protecting it?^
[Exactly, attack it, and they will gang up on you,]
^What should I do then?^
[Do as I say. I will teach you the basic of hunting for a wyrmling. Those strategies will change as you grow older.]
Arad circulated around the herd and started digging a trench with his claws, using his stomach to hide the dirt. He then peeked out, ^Now, to drag one out, right?^
[No, we will take a bunch down simultaneously.]
Arad went back into the trench and started digging a tunnel while throwing dirt from his tail like a worm, sealing the hole he made. [As a dragon, you can travel by walking, flying, climbing, swimming, or digging. Use those movements to your advantage.]
^I can’t help but feel like am eating dirt and pooping behind me,^ Arad sighed, ^Are you sure this will work?^
[No matter how much big those monsters get, no matter how hard they stomped they can never shatter the ground. If you can dig. Then use it as a shield and a way to sneak close to your prey.]
A bison stood merely, eating the grass from the ground. CRACK! The dirt shattered, and Arad’s jaw emerged, biting it from the snout. MOOOOO! The beast cried as Arad pulled underground with extreme force.
MO? The other beasts stared for a moment, processing that the ground just ate one of them. MOOOOOOO! They quickly started to freak out.
The stupid beasts can’t see anyone, so they cannot fathom it was something to fight. Their default survival instinct was to run away.
As the beasts ran for it, they crossed over the trench Arad made, falling in and breaking their limbs. ^Mom, it’s working!^ Arad growled with a smile, digging his way back to the trench.
[Don’t get greedy. Pick the beasts one by one, and aim at the neck and nose.]
^I know, drag them underground where they can’t move and kill them there.^ Arad peeked his head into the trench, biting a beast from the back leg and attempting to drag it underground.
THWACK! The beast kicked Arad in the head, knocking one of his teeth out. GROWL! He growled, retreating to the ground.
[Idiot, I told you to go for the nose or neck! If you see a leg, get back underground and change your position.]
^Sorry, Mom. But I lost a tooth,^ Arad growled, checking his jaw with his claws.
[It will grow back in a day or two. Now get back to hunting.] She went silent for a moment, [Don’t cry about not being able to bite well,]
^I won’t.^
Arad dug his way around, quickly reaching the beast’s head and biting its neck.
[You didn’t go for the nose?]
^I just lost a tooth. I want to bite something soft at least,^ Arad didn’t want to bite the hard nose. Due to the pain.
[I told you not to cry about it. You’re a dragon.]
^I’m not crying about it. I’m being optimal with my condition,^ Arad replied as he pulled the beast underground, killing it.
[That was a solid answer. Keep it up.]
^I thought you would be angry?^
[Not when you make sense. I get angry when you take an unneeded risk, play your skills badly or attempt to make a bad decision.] 𝓫𝓭𝓸𝓋𝓁．𝓬𝓸𝓂
^What do you define as bad?^
[Anything that could hurt you, your mates, children, or even growth in any capacity.]
^I see ^ Arad went to the next bison, biting it by the neck and dragging it down. ^Do all wyrmlings hunt like this?^
[No all wyrmlings can dig like you, Some ambush prey by leaping from trees and some scavenge after other hunters. To each their way of survival,]
^But don’t you think this is a bit too much? I don’t need over thirty bison, right?^
[Dragons are avaricious, consuming far more than they need. This is where those words started. If a lion hunts one deer, we hunt ten, eat one and store the other nine. If we need to eat once a week, we eat each day to grow stronger and bigger.]
^We are strange creatures,^ Arad sighed, slowly killing all the bison in his trench.
After the hunt was done, Arad exited the ground licking his bloodied claws.
GROWL! A growl came from the bushes. Looking closely, it was a pride of lions. ^Did they smell the blood?^
[Probably, this might be their hunting ground,]
^What should I do?^
[Nothing, if they dare approach, kill the male.]
^You sure?^
[We dragons don’t care about whose territory we’re in unless it’s another dragon.]
^What do wyrmlings do in those situations?^
[That depends on the type. Chromatic dragons would kill the male, eat him, and then mate with the lioness before leaving. Metalic would quietly retreat, respecting the lion and even leaving a part of the prey.]
^And we magic dragons?^
[Depends on the person. Your mother would kill all of them like any other prey. To her, they were but preserved meat.]
^That’s harsh,^ Arad sighed, growling at the lions and waving his wings, trying to look big.
ROAR! The lion leaped at him immediately, ^What? Does he want a fight?^ Arad leaped back, dodging the attack and smacking him with his tail.
The lion stumbled back momentarily, and Arad leaped on his back, pushing him down and biting the back of his neck.
^You’re a lucky bastard,^ Arad stopped without killing the lion. GROWL! He growled at him, moving away.
The lion slowly stood, staring at Arad, “Hush! Hush! You lost!” Arad turned away, throwing one of the bison corpses to the lion and his pride.
[You chose the metallic route?]
^This might be his land after all. And I already killed enough,^ Arad sighed, wiggling his neck and wings as he approached the trench.
[You better close this. It’s dangerous to leave it here.]
Using all the dirt in his stomach, Arad slowly closed the trench as the lions dragged the bison’s corpse away.
************
[Name: Arad Orion]
[Race: Void Dragon][Class: Draconic Mage]
[Level: 5/20][Exp: 720/14000]
[Sub-class: Void Knight]
[Age stage: Wyrmling] [Six months and ten days.]
[Stats]
[Available stat points: 1]
[Available skill points: 0]
[Strength: 15]
[Agility: 20]
[Constitution: 14]
[Magic: 20]
[Intelligence: 20]
[Wisdom: 20]
[HP: 123/135][MP: 150][SP: 122/150]
—————-
[Skills]
[Claws]
[Bite]
[Tail slam]
[Wing Slam]
[Glide]
[Innate Skills]
[Frightful presence]
[Void Magic]
[Void Power]
[Alternate Form]
[Breath Weapon]
[Void Biology]
[Void Eyes]
[Void Existence]
[Void Walk]
[Resistance]
[All Elements]
[Immunities]
[Time]
[Space]
[Magic]
[Blood Magic: Faint spell]
************
[Vampire skill tree]
Tier one skills:
[Night affinity][Locked]
[Blood-sucking bite][Unlocked]
[Blood magic: Faint spell][Unlocked]
************
[Wyrmwolf skill tree]
Tier one skills:
[Bestial aspect][Unlocked]
[Wild instincts][Unlocked]
[Moon rage][Locked]
************
I leveled up! Arad smiled. ^Let’s allocate that point to Constitution. I want to balance the stats a bit.^
[A wise decision for someone who a bison kicked one of his teeth out.]
—————-
[Stats]
[Available stat points: 0]
[Available skill points: 0]
[Strength: 15]
[Agility: 20]
[Constitution: 15]
[Magic: 20]
[Intelligence: 20]
[Wisdom: 20]
[HP: 123/137][MP: 150][SP: 122/150]
—————-