Panther Hunt!

"Whew!" John sat on the forest floor grass as he looked proudly at a sizable pile of rocks in front of him. It was his second day in his new life, and he had spent most of the early morning foraging around for food and, most importantly, gathering rocks.

This was because John realized that although the animals here were strong, they were just about as smart as normal animals on Earth.

That meant the whole planet had adapted to animals that did not throw around rocks to scout for dangers.

Not to mention that in a pinch, they could even be used as weapons!

John nodded at a tree trunk a dozen meters away.

Countless indents were cracked into it from John practicing his mean draconic throwing arm, tossing rock after rock at it until he figured he was good enough.

Thankfully, John's body coordination and reflexes were much better than they were back when he was a human, so learning how to aim and move was surprisingly not that hard.

This was John's ultimate secret move.

His supreme killing move: the rock throw.

Because who would ever expect a dragon to suddenly just stand up on its hind legs and toss rocks at them?

Yeah, that's right, nobody!

John had actually gotten good enough at throwing rocks that he could knock out the Plumed Rabbits from a distance, overcoming the fact that they managed to sense where he was before he could ever get close to them.

They never knew what was coming to them before almighty dragon rocks knocked them out.

On that note, John checked his status.

>>>

Essence Level: 200/1000

Next Evolutionary Stage: Wyrmling

Stored Origins

-Mudclaw Crab

-Quill Fern

-Plumed Rabbit

>>>

He had managed to hunt three rabbits total throughout this morning, netting him a total of 50 essence.

They were cuter animals than the crab for sure, but he realized that when it came down to eating, he could rather easily separate his compassion from the meal.

Maybe it was a draconic instinct, or maybe it was just an understanding that this was no different than eating grocery store bought meat back at home. In the end, the animals still died, whether they were cute or not.

50 essence was not bad, but that was just the warm up.

Was he really going to waste time hunting small and tiny things over and over again?

No, he was going to aim big!

The panther was next.

Around noon time, John observed that the panther would come around to a nearby stream to drink water from, usually after a successful hunt that slowed it down. He waited now to see if the panther would come by again, now with his rock pile ready to use.

Hold up a second, what actually would these rocks do?

John cocked his head as he stared at the hill of rocks.

John was no rock connoisseur, but he could still they were great rocks, for sure.

Nice, round and smooth ones. Some pointy. Some with tiny crystals (non-magical unfortunately) shining in them. Red rocks. Brown rocks. White rocks. Even a blue rock or two (again, not magical).

But against the panther which was faster and arguably stronger than John, it really seemed like the rocks would not be that useful.

Ugh. John had let himself get carried away just piling up rocks and wasting time. It had been strangely addicting just gathering the rocks and forming a neat pile to look at.

[It seems your draconic instinct to hoard treasure is beginning to manifest] said Mel. [Take care that it does not overwhelm you. Many a dragon has allowed their lust for their hoards to overwhelm them, leading to their demise.]

'I didn't know I'd have to deal with a hoarding addiction as a dragon. No, in retrospect, it kind of makes sense. Guess there could be worse things to deal with,' said John with optimism.

His vocalizations were a series of grunts, low growls, and tiny gestures of body language, but he seemed to innately know how to speak the draconic language.

'Mel, have you figured out what's happened to me? With the light shooting down from the sky and all that?' asked John. Mel had been largely silent throughout the morning, still analyzing John's condition on her own.

[Not entirely] said Mel. [But I am almost there. What I can tell is that your Draconic Affinity is completely outside the boundaries of normal dragon kind. It has been fundamentally altered into an affinity of Light which only the Angels should possess.

Thus, all Arcana you cast will be manifested through the Light. This alone is not much reason for concern.

The Light is one of the most powerful forces in the entire Realm, granting you access to an incredibly rare strength. But because of its power, your body is unable to handle it properly.

The exact cause of why your affinity draws to the Light seems to originate from something imprinted within your soul, but Angelic magic is extremely difficult to decrypt.

At the very least, I can ascertain it is not harmful. But I must conduct further analysis.]

'Let me know when you've got something for me, Mel,' said John as he perked up, his attention tearing away from his prized pile of rocks. He was picking up movement around the nearby stream. Something big splashing around.

Now was his time.

John, just to be safe, and maybe because he still faith in the power of rocks, gathered four of them by curling his tail around them, and made his way to bush cover by the stream.

John had planned out as much of the hunt as he could. He had picked out a good hiding spot. A bush, of course, because he was a master of hiding in bushes by now, and as he peaked his eyes out from under the leaves, his heart skipped a beat.

The panther was there!

The panther was facing away from John, leaning into a flowing stream to lap up water. Its glowing green saber teeth were retracted while it did this so that they did not get in the way.

John held down his breath as he felt fear rising up again.

When he was a Hatchling just half the size he was now, he knew that this panther could take him down in an instant and gobble him up.

That fear still stayed with him even now.

But not for long.

Maybe it was draconic courage, or maybe John had always had what it took to rise up to a tense situation, but he pushed away the fear and started to think.

Think, John, think.

How was he going to beat this panther?

'Mel,' said John, completely in his mind now so as to not make a sound. 'What Core Grade is this panther?'

[Mystic grade,] came Mel's reply. [On the middle end of the grade. Once you devour more creatures and take their essence, you will gain a better understanding of Core Grade levels so that you may ascertain them yourself.]

'Thanks, Mel. I figure you won't be helping me out anymore than that,' said John.

[That is correct. Good luck, my child. This fight will be difficult, but I believe in you. May the Beyond be with you.]

John focused.

In a straight up physical fight, the panther was still superior to John. It was faster, more agile, arguably stronger, and even had glowing green teeth and claws that could shatter his crab shell.

But John had his one shot kill spell. The Arcana of power that shot down an orbital laser beam of solar doom at his location.

The only issue was that this almost incapacitated John when it was cast. He had to sleep an entire night just to regenerate enough mana to make up for casting the light beam of doom just once.

Once John cast it, the mana drain would make him a sitting duck for the panther.

Not to mention that the panther's belly was not full this time around. It was going to be at its peak condition and speed.

Hungry, too, ready to kill.

But what if John could use that hunger against it?

Ten seconds.

That was roughly how long John had calculated it had taken for the beam to arrive after he uttered the Arcana. And in the first five seconds, he would be fighting off dizziness and nausea from a rapid loss of mana.

If John did not land the light beam, he would die, no questions asked.

Ten seconds would determine whether John lived or died.

Was he still going to go through with this?

...

...

Of course he would.

Go big or go home.

John let go of the rocks he held with his tail and aimed it towards the still panther. He unleashed the Quill Fern thorns, and they whizzed through the air like mini darts as they stuck into the panther's rump.

The panther snarled as it whipped around, splashing in the water as it did so.

John curled his tail around his rocks again and then took this moment of surprise to ambush the panther, charging it. He lowered his crab shell helmeted head and drove right into the panther in a full body tackle, using the moment of surprise to prevent the panther from dodging.

John was pretty heavy, and his crab shell armor was like a suit of armor that made the tackle that much heavier, crashing both himself and the panther deeper into the water.

Theoretically, John had the advantage in water because he had gills, but even then, the water was not that deep, only reaching to the middle of John's legs, and would barely slow the panther down.

The panther growled and pushed back against John, and John felt like he was trying to move a brick wall.

Now that the panther had time to tense up its muscles and think about fighting, it showed just how much stronger it was than him.

John had an Earthen grade core right now, and the panther was a whole core grade above him.

So, this was the difference in a single core level's worth of power. It was almost insurmountable.

The panther swiped at John's head and knocked him down, making his vision spin.

Oh no!

John realized he had been tossed belly side up, and his armor was weakest here. The panther lunged at John and swiped into his stomach with its claws, and the glowing green blades easily sliced through his shell.

Pain shot out all around his stomach like red hot flames, but John gritted his jaws and used up all of his strength to flip back over, temporarily pushing the panther aside before it could sink its saber teeth in and gut him.

John turtled down, hunching into himself and curling into a compact, shelled up ball with his tail curled around his neck, and uttered his Arcana: "{Drokynthis}".

John held on for dear life as the dizziness and nausea hit him, trying his best not to fall unconscious while keeping up his defensive posture.

The panther hissed and swiped multiple times at John's back, digging out long streaks in his brown shell and rattling heavy impacts into him.

Thankfully, the dizziness eased the pain.

John was afraid the panther would just move away, but because it was hungry, it kept attacking John now, sensing that his mana was low and that he was an easy meal.

The tranquilizing agent in the Quill Fern seeds worked its way through the panther's body, but six thorns were not enough to put it down, only slow it down a little.

Even then, every single one of the panther's hits felt like getting hit by a truck, and John really did NOT want to be reminded of what it felt like to be hit by a truck.

Seven seconds passed, and John felt warm all around his body from the blood gushing out of several dozen cuts across his back.

Cracks lined all the plates of his crab shell scales, little pieces of shell falling off of him like he was a broken piece of porcelain.

It was at this moment that the panther used its tiny brain a bit and tried to bite down on John's comparatively thinner neck. The panther got on top of John's back for leverage, digging in its claws to root it while it opened its jaws.

John had his tail curled around it for an extra layer of protection, but that wasn't going to be enough!

The panther's saber teeth were long enough to dig in straight to John's throat if it aimed properly.

But just three more seconds.

Three more seconds. That was all he needed.

All John could do was hunker down and hope the panther missed. He felt the saber teeth dig into his neck painfully, but the bite was surprisingly…shallow.

The panther actually drew back its bite, spitting and coughing. John lifted one eye to try and see what was happening, and he saw that the panther was rearing its tongue out, spitting out rock shards.

John realized that the panther had bit into the rocks he was still subconsciously carrying under his tail, not only cutting the range of the saber teeth short, but also lodging them its mouth.

John's newly developing hoarding addiction had saved him!

Ten seconds.

"Now it's over, you oversized green cat!" said John triumphantly, though it came out as a loud growl.

The clouds above parted. The temperature around John grew hot for a single instant, confusing the panther, and then the world drowned out in blinding golden light.