Chapter 299: Jungle Fever

"You know!" Drake huffed, "This isn't what I was expecting when I saw the next part of the quest! Why! Why do animals always want to kill me!?"

Drake sprinted as fast as his body was able without his usual skills through the dense jungle, bobbing and weaving through vines, brush, and large twisted trunks of trees. Doing his best to put distance between him and his pursuers.

He looked over his shoulder to see a golden lion or tiger or bear. Oh my. Drake wasn't sure of which since he never had a chance to get a good look at it before he was in mortal danger as it charged him, hoping for a quick meal.

"And if that wasn't bad, I'm stuck with you two instead of Natto!"

"You should just give up and let it eat you," Mir'phyra giggled, "If you die, I'm quite sure I will be allowed to leave this wretched place.

"Ok!" Drake shouted ducking under a hanging branch, "You were the first name on my shit list, but now! Now lady! You are getting a shiny new star next to your name!"

"Why are you conversing with this treacherous Dragon! And why are you running!? You shoulda face the beast like a true Asuran!"

Drake scoffed, looking at the other unfortunate companion he now had since the scenery change, his younger self.

"I've never hit a kid before, but I'm this close to knocking you the fuck out! Do you see this?!" Drake pointed to his left arm, four red scabbing marks running down it, "That's from that golden terror back there. And that was when there was only one of them! I don't know if you've noticed but there's four of those assholes chasing us."

"Those are good odds for a pure blooded Asuran! I could kill those monsters right now! How have you become so weak?!"

Mir'phyra laughed, "I am becoming quite fond of younger you."

"Cram it! You aren't helping!" Drake snapped.

"Oh? Was I meant to?"

Drake's breath was becoming rougher and rougher as he ran, only glancing over his shoulder now and then to see if he was still being followed.

"Isn't the difficulty too hard!? It's been a whole week in this place and my class skills are locked because I haven't killed anything, and I can't unlock them because, I CAN"T KILL ANYTHING!!" Drake yelled, "We haven't seen any other people, I can't find any skill stones to fill my empty branches and skills. This is as far up shit's creek without a paddle I think I can get!"

"I did tell you that you would be doomed with your current status didn't I?"

"Not the time Smokey!"

Drake jumped over a fallen tree, but was forced to slide down a small slope behind it. His body covered in dirt and debris as he tumbled down it only finally coming to a stop as he splashed into a small stream.

"OKAY! Jungles are officially on my list of places I never want to go again! Everything is trying to kill me! It's sticky, it's hot, I have dirt and leaves in places I didn't know I had! I'll take frozen wastelands over this!"

"Where is your Asuran pride? I had trained since I was old enough to walk to follow my family into battle one day. And… This is the result? What has happened?"

Mir'phyra scoffed next to Drake as his eyes thinned into a glare at his younger self.

"Yeah?" Drake grumbled, swiping his hand across his younger selve's face, only to feel his hand pass through the boy's head, "Susmaryosep! I can't even hit him! What the hell is this Han Kol guy doing to me?!"

"Speak not of my father! He is like a God to our people! And you should show respect!"

"God? The only similarities he has with God are that he's perpetually absent."

Drake's younger self recoiled slightly, unable to say different.

"He might be your father which means…" Drake hesitated for a moment, "Which means he's probably mine… But where was he huh? I saw what happened to Darri, Celine, your Mother. Why wasn't he there if he's so great?!"

Drake was becoming more heated, but was cut off by the sound of rustling leaves from the top of the slope.

He grunted in irritation and dashed as quickly as he could across the stream.

"A week… A whole week here and I've done nothing but get chased! I don't have time for this!"

Drake had to make up his mind. Did he bide his time until something in this Legacy Chamber changed, giving him some sort of direction as to unlock his skills and finally be able to progress. Or did he bet it all on fighting here with the very significant possibility of dying to a monster he couldn't identify the level or Rank of thanks to his skills and abilities not working?

He looked over his shoulder briefly but couldn't see his pursuer. However, that didn't shake the feeling that he was still being followed. It had felt like years since Drake last ran from a fight and he hated it.

Not just the fact that he was unable to fight, but battling with the feeling of wanting to fight. The gnawing want to turn around and prove himself in a fight against something stronger than him was eating away at the back of his mind. Something instinctual was telling him to lay it all on the line.

His younger self's words echoing in his mind. 

How long are you going to run?

"I'm not running…." he muttered under his breath.

But he was. Drake was running not only from the monsters chasing him, but the responsibility of his brother. The responsibility of being a leader to his city and giving justice for those families that lost their loved ones to Atticus.

He shook his head, gritting his teeth, "I'm not running…"

"Oh? Has the boy broken finally? It is about time, I can finally leave here," Mir'phyra sighed relieved.

"Screw you," Drake growled, skidding to a stop, "I don't have my skills but I started out not knowing how to use my spells. And this time- this time, I have stats."

He looked around, seeing vines and branches of trees, bushes he could hide in. And a plan began to form.

Drake ran to the tree, pulling on the vines and testing their strength, "They won't do alone but if I just…"

Twining the vines together quickly, Drake pulled on them again satisfied with their durability.

"Now the unpleasant part…." he grimaced.

Drake looked at the tree, grinding the palm of his hand against it.

"Fuck this is harder because of my stats but," Drake winced, but quickly turned to a pained smile, his palm leaving a red streak against the tree's bark.

"Good."

"What are you doing?" his younger self asked.

"I'm laying a trap kid, take some notes."

"A trap? That is no way for an Asuran to fight!"

"Yeah well, I'm not an Asuran. Well I guess I am, but this is how I fight, so get used to it. Use everything you can to win, every tool at your disposal. You can only complain while you still breath."

Drake began running with the vines in hand, his other rubbing against the trees every so often. He was unsure of how many monsters were following him now, but just like in the tutorial. It didn't matter.

He only needed to find one alone. Alone long enough for him to face it one on one.

Stopping after a few minutes, Drake began to double back, again spreading his blood on the trunks of trees, seeing his health tick down only to regenerate back to full after a brief stretch of time.

Satisfied he stopped, grimacing again but steeled himself. Gripping onto his forearm he dug his nails in, the puncture wounds oozing out significantly more blood at the base of the tree. Once there was a small puddle, Drake released his arm and let out a sharp breath.

"You are mad…" his younger self said astonished.

"Really? I find it quite amusing, he reminds me of Han in the early days…" Mir'phyra mused.

Drake's younger self gave an unamused look at Mir'phyra as Drake climbed the tree, holding onto the end of the vine rope he placed around the puddle of blood. His hand had already begun to heal thanks to his stats even without a skill to help the regeneration.

"Darri would never allow me to fight in such a way…" younger Drake muttered.

"Yeah well, maybe that's why Darri is dead kid," Drake said absentmindedly.

There was no response as they waited for the monsters following Drake to catch up and hopefully fall into the trap. He looked over curious only to see his younger self biting down on his lower lip, tears welling up on the sides of his eyes.

Drake groaned slightly, realizing how insensitive he was being to his, well, himself.

He had forgotten that this version of himself was still barely a teenager. Drake wasn't sure what that meant for a Primordial race, but he was still a young kid and his last memory from what Drake gathered was of his entire planet falling to the High Lich Vandielu.

"Look kid. I didn't mean to say… I'm sure Darri is fine. Your brother, I mean… Our brother was really strong right?" he said, trying to console his younger self, even while struggling to admit Darri was his brother.

Drake wasn't still convinced of anything, still unsure if this whole quest was some long con by Mir'phyra or some other person, but there had always been a soft spot for kids in his heart.

The rustling of leaves forced Drake's attention back to the moment, the low snarling of a beast emerging from the bushes beyond.

A brief moment later the shining golden fur of a monster protruded from the brush, two elongated fangs curving down and out of the monster's mouth.

This was the first time Drake had the chance to really look at the monster. Sleek golden fur covering its entire body with two sun-like eyes slowly observing back and forth as its nose stuck up in the air.

But Drake's eyes kept going back to the two serrated fangs going well past its mouth like a sabertooth.

The monster crept forward cautiously, the sound of it breathing in the air coming in short sniffs. It finally found the puddle of blood, its lips curling in distaste and disappointment, one leg inside the vine rope trap.

It's now or never! Drake shouted internally, yanking on the rope and jumping down off the branch.

The monster yelped in surprise, its leg caught in the rope as it was pulled upward, its whole body flailing in an attempt to get free.

Drake quickly tied the end of the rope to whatever he could find sturdy enough to hold the beast.

He reared back his fist willing his Martial Skill to activate like normal, only to click his tongue when not only the skill but the normal sensation of his spirit tattoos failed to activate.

"I'll just have to use brute force to beat the shit out of you!" he roared.

Throwing the fist, it connected with the monster's golden fur only to give a dull impact.

Drake bit back a groan as he felt like he had just punched a steel beam. But he had no time to complain, the struggling monster quickly began to tear at the rope, doing its best to angle its way to successfully swipe at the vines.

"Oh no you don't! My fingers like arrows! My arms are like iron!"

Trying to cast a spell, he cursed at the habit when nothing activated once again, but still brought his hand and fingers to a point. Hoping desperately that his stats would back up his efforts.

Throwing his spear-like hand into the monster again, he grunted with effort trying to penetrate the monster's tough hide that seemed to be made from steel.

"Just die already!"

Drake howled, winding up another stab with his hand, however just as he threw it forward the sound of the vines snapping were accompanied with searing pain.

The monster's claws ripped through the vines, swiping down as they tore through Drake's left shoulder.

Drake retreated backward, nursing his shoulder with his right hand.

"Damn thing isn't a low level E-Rank! With my stats I should at least be able to hurt it!"

Mir'phyra scoffed next to him, watching the fight completely entertained.

"What's so funny?!" Drake scowled, his eyes darting around for anything he could use.

The monster lunged forward with both arms and swiped down only to tumble over itself after Drake dodged, the monster tripping over the remaining vines still attached around it's leg.

"Of course it isn't a normal E-Rank. It wouldn't be sporting to have just regular monsters training cattle," she snickered.

Drake looked to his younger self for answers but he shook his head.

"I do not know what monster this is," his younger self answered.

"I thought you were trained from birth!" Drake snapped, his hands going around the trunk of a small tree.

"I was trained to fight. I had not gotten to learning monster ecology of other planets yet!"

"Some help you are!" Drake grunted in effort, a vein popping out of the side of his head as he pulled with all his strength on the tree.

"Bjorn, I'm taking a page out of your book, you red headed behemoth!!"

The monster got up once again snarling in irritation as its fangs and claws began to glow a verdant green.

It lunged forward at Drake, closing the distance faster than before. Drake struggled with the tree for a fraction of a second longer allowing the monster to swipe at his back.

He screamed in pain but managed to separate the tree from its home in the ground, swinging it up and close lining the monster in the side of the skull.

The monster yelped in pain, thrown to the side and skidding against the ground as it broke through bushes, fallen branches, vines, and logs.

However the monster had not perished just yet. Shakily getting to its feet Drake cursed and looked at the broken tree in his arms.

"Stupid tree, stupid golden tiger, lion, bear thing!"

He scoured the area looking for something else to use and suddenly stopped his gaze on an elongated fang at his feet, still dripping a small amount of blood from the broken cavity.

Drake's blow had managed to break one of the monster's long fangs.

He scrambled for it, dropping the tree in his hands and grabbing the fang like a dagger in his working right hand.

The monster had barely recovered as Drake moved to pounce on the creature, barreling down on the golden beast with its own fang. Again and again.

[You have subjugated Sun Touched Lion Level 34 [E-Rank] [Temporary Experience earned.]

[Experience has been stored.]

[Congratulations, you have reached level 31 Weakened Magic Tempered Asuran Initiate] [50 FP has been awarded]

Drake roared in triumph, heaving haggard breaths when more notifications poured in.

[You have reclaimed a small portion of your Asuran heritage. +100 points to all stats for your temporary vessel.]

[You now have access to your Main Class Skills and Subclass Branches.]

[You now have access to your temporary vessel's inventory.]

[You have received Title: Tooth For A Tooth]

Tooth For A Tooth

You have killed a Sun Touched Lion with its own fang. Unusual but effective. +5% Damage to Beasts.

Drake, distracted by his victory and the flood of system messages, couldn't notice the snarling beast lunging for him until the last second. Another Sun Touched Lion's maw was mere inches from his face, long fangs moments from embracing his face when the monster was caught mid-air by something and then impaled on a nearby tree..

He held his breath, the image and sound of the jaws snapping shut like a steel trap closing on itself flashed in Drake's mind. Realizing just how close he was to dying again.

Drake's head turned to the beast on the tree, blood running down the trunk.

"I told you I smelled blood Gnobin," a voice said.

"What's this? We got another deserter playing in the woods?"

"Just report the idiot and let's get going. If we're out here for too long it will be our asses."

Drake turned toward the voices seeing people walk out of the brush. Some dragged similar looking monsters alongside them.

He was amazed to see what the people looked like. Some with blue skin, some with tanned red skin. There were beastmen who looked like Leon, however they were covered in fur from head to toe. They all wore similar ragged clothing, green vests, pieces of scratched armor covering their forearms and calves almost looking like a modern rendition of a roman soldier.

"Cattle…" Mir'phira groaned in disgust.

"I don't know these races," his younger self added, "They are not purebloods. They are not even half bloods."

"So what are we going to do about him? He looks half dead already," one of the men said.

"Yeah just kill him, we get the coin for every deserter's head we get anyway."

"How we split it?"

"Flip a coin."

"Just don't give Kuuwei his share, he's going to lose it at shards later anyway!"

Laughter filled the area and Drake rose from on top of the Sun Touched Lion, the fang still in his hand, ready to fight.

"Oh! We got a fighter! Who's placing bets?"

But a softer voice came from behind the men. Despite the soft tone it silenced the laughing and the banter.

"Enough."

Walking through the group of men a slightly shorter man moved in front, looking back at Drake with blood red eyes, long ears, and green hair.

He stopped in front of Drake, just a food between them with not a care in the world. As if he didn't see Drake as a threat.

The man looked Drake up and down before speaking again.

"I don't know you. What is your name?"

Drake didn't speak.

"Oi, Tan asked you a question."

A man behind Tan spoke up, pulling a large sword from his back.

He still didn't answer.

"Take him. We won't be killing anyone today. We need all the bodies we can get…" Tan sighed.

The men behind Tan all chuckled and smiled.

"You heard the man Goldilocks, looks like you just got re-drafted!"

Drake braced himself to fight, putting up his guard. But he was flung forward his vision darkening.