A New Hunt

Woke up to the familiar sight of his ceiling with last night still fresh in his mind, getting up and going about his normal morning routine, but with one new difference: trying to not wake his new partners up.

Emerging from his shack, Eric honestly was at a loss.

Everything seemed to be different.

He could see clearly even though it was still the creak of dawn shining into the clearing, but he could see clearly.

He knew people would have certain changes after getting a contract, but this was something that he could never imagine, but this brought a simple question to mind: what else has changed?

With the sun now high in the sky, Eric was sitting on the ground, panting.

After testing everything he could say with certainty, nearly every one of his basic physical attributes has undergone some sort of improvement.

Overnight he had grown faster, stronger and had better endurance, yet there was something else there, almost like a well of pure energy running through his body but every time he tried to interact with it something blocked him and he lost track of it again.

Moving on from his improvements or more accurately spurred on by a certain crow demanding food, he made a simple lunch and gave the birds some of his stash of jerky. After cleaning up, he decided it was time to truly test himself, hunting an elk.

Before everything changed, anyone could kill an elk with nothing but a gun and a clear shot, but now that was nothing but a pipe dream.

Bullets could no longer pierce anywhere but the weakest spots on any normal untiered beast now, making them entirely useless, with this alone massively crippled mankind's ability to fight back originally.

This made mankind switch back to more primitive weapons that could be made from the beasts that they could hunt.

This change made weapons like swords, spears, bows and other such weaponry came surging back onto the battlefield, but with tamer's newly found improved strength, it easily evened the odds.

Getting up to go grab his hunting gear, He quickly looked at the corvids sitting on a nearby log and asked, "You guys coming?"

With the first response, from a certain avian, that has a rather colossal ego,

"Why would I join a servant stocking up for my meal?"

The raven simply landed on his right shoulder and asking

"Where are we going?"

"Out hunting"

After grabbing his gear and departing, the duo remained silent.

After hunting in this place for so long, Eric almost knew it like the back of his hand with that knowledge and his newfound speed he easily reached the outside of the elk's territory.

Quickly getting down to work and fully focusing on looking for any hints of the elk, he quickly found some and followed the trail, finally finding himself at the edge of a clearing.

Quickly settling in some bushes to hide from view, looking out into the clearing, he could see twenty-five elk sows, each standing about two and a half meters tall.

A large male standing in the center standing a good half a meter taller than the sows, this bull elk was also much paler to the point of almost having an off-white coat with small bolts of lightning jumping in between each prone of his horns.

That single bull is the sole reason he had avoided hunting elk until now.

That bull was a common tier beast, something that was so far beyond his reach before that even trying to hunt any member of its herd was nothing but a death wish.

The biggest difference between untiered and common tiered beasts was simple.

Common tiers had access to either elemental powers or terrifying physical abilities. Unless one signed a contract with something, one could only ever dream of even harming a common tier.

But Eric knew he didn't have to fight it as he had just got a contract and had just gotten strong enough to be a treat from it, hopefully causing it to run from him.

Calmly, he raised his bow and grabbed two arrows from his quiver on his waist and quickly notched one and fully drew the bow.

Taking a deep breath and holding it, he aimed for a smaller sow away from the main herd.

Calmly waiting for the perfect moment to take the shot, finally ready, a loud crash rang out, causing all the elk to quickly raised their heads and stare at one spot across the small valley opposite of him.

A massive red-brown mass bulldozed straight into the bull elk, slamming into it and toppling it before Eric could even release the breath that he was holding.

A gnarly claw tore through the elk's neck with no resistance, completely goring it only to be slammed down on again with a load and bone-chilling Snap.

The mass slowly stood up, raising to its terrifying full height before letting out a blood-curdling growl, finally getting a clear look at it.

The mass was a massive bear standing about 12 meters tall that immediately locked eyes with him.

Eric knew no understood with every fiber of his being that this was death staring him in the face.

The only thing he could comprehend at that moment was his instinct to run fast and far or he would die.

The only thing he could do was turn and run and that's what he did, running harder and faster than he ever had and could before.

He kept running until the last drop of adrenaline had left his system, during that time the raven had left him and flew off somewhere, but that did not matter to Eric right now as he had collapsed in a hole next to a fallen tree trying to regain his breath.

After calming down a bit, he knew he need to create more distance between himself and that monster, but his body refused to move forcefully, sending him off to sleep.