A Wolf?

After gorging down on leftover delicacies from his unconscious rampage. Shadow was ready to depart from his hovel-like hole; he was excited but extremely anxious. It was his first time doing something so reckless, he was about to go exploring in a forest that, according to information available to him, was well out of his capabilities.

Maybe that was why the idea seemed so alluring to him. No longer at the top of the food chain, his life was now threatened by many things, it could be snuffed out at any moment, one wrong turn and he wouldn't see the next day. This was the most his blood churned since his first mission as an assassin.

{Be on the lookout for anything I cannot sense and notify me as soon as you can. My reaction time last time I was tested was around, 0.02 for conscious reflexes, so anything that can reach me beforehand, I imagine I stood no chance against them, to begin with}

[I can make better use of your draconic senses than you due to more experience and will be able to detect anything not too much stronger than you in a radius of around 300 feet in every direction}

{To cover 300 feet in a second is to move 244 miles per hour, with a reaction time of 20 milliseconds... I don't want to fight whatever is moving that fast, so let's be extra careful while we look around, what do you say?}

[Agreed]

{Glad we came to a mutual consensus, not, to end up paste in the forest before we saw what happened}

[Just assume we're on the same page in that field]

{Noted}

Slinking his way between trees and being sure to push his new senses to the max, Shadow discovered a part of living, completely hidden from him as a human.

He heard critters crawling on the ground with rapid heartbeats, birds flying high in the sky with rhythmic beats to their wings, and small mammals breathing heavily while foraging for food in his vicinity, unbeknownst to his presence several hundred feet away.

His nose picked up trails from creatures passing through days and even weeks ago, some of the stronger, yet faded scents, suggested something from months prior to his trek. It was liberating to describe it briefly. Even his balance was much firmer, the effect of his tail obviously. It felt rigid and powerful while simultaneously being fluid enough to his 7th limb.

His legs were perhaps the most perplexing of all of the changes. If he had to make a comparison between his current and human form, moving his arms, signified his tail, while his legs were draconic legs. The confusing part was, he only had one tail and owned 4 legs with wings being an entirely new appendage he couldn't tether down to something familiar.

He essentially had to create a new rhythm for his mind to follow in order to flow into a synchronized movement that he could then ameliorate into something worthy of fighting quicker and stronger entities than a bunny.

But he wasn't too upset over it, he went from a simple human to what seems to be a peak organism. Only by becoming something so powerful did he realize how useless his human form truly was, it essentially took all of a human's weaknesses, made them strengths, and amplified a human's strong points.

Even his thinking period was superior, if he kept thoughts as simple as possible, he could have 3-4 running at once, without issue. While more complicated thinking was too draining for now, he was but a hatchling presently.

But this brought the thought to his head that if he was this superior to a peak human back on Earth as a hatchling dragon with no bearings whatsoever, either humans were many times stronger here with some sort of energy infusion from growing up in the charged air on this planet, Which he was certain was true, however, it couldn't have been too much, or else they wouldn't have gathered an army for his draconic mother.

Since he could sense how much energy was in the air pretty delicately and he doubted that his senses were off, it shouldn't be enough to carry a puny human all the way to dragon level since dragons also are able to harness the energy; he's been breathing in the air and could feel it coursing through his entire being, enhancing it slowly.

All of this led him to the question; if dragons were this much superior, then why was my mother defeated by an army of them, the strongest dragon to ever live? Just how much energy had she used, to enhance her baby and send it away while bringing a stranded soul over, or why even bring a soul over anyway?

{Where did all of that energy even go?}

[What energy?]

{I was just wondering where the energy in the air goes after it enters my body}

[Oh, that. It just fuses with different aspects of your body, strengthening each one, without any outside control or manipulation, it spreads throughout your body evenly, but if you're skilled enough, you may focus it all on one singular point. Generally, we measure a person's ability either by how much their physical form has been enhanced by the energy or how much of said energy they can bend to their needs]

Aariv was truly happy to finally be teaching her son something. He seemed to be self-sufficient from the beginning, rarely needing her help with anything. With such a question, she felt a bit more like a mother, if only she could've just...

{Which one is superior?}

[ Anyone who takes the physical path is referred to as Somatics while energy-based users are cleverly named Telekinetics}

{Lovely, familiar names, even when you cross worlds}

[ A decently skilled Telekinetic can make use of the energy in his immediate surroundings, while an extremely talented one can stretch his domain to the area a few hundred feet around him at his peak. Somatics have to attempt to get close since they mostly fight physically rather than with ranged attacks to do anything toward a Telekinetic. This is an issue amongst the general Somatic population, but many have ways to combat it. Methods can range from extremely fast movement speed, so fast the Telekinetic can't perceive them, or creating a balance between Somatic techniques and Telekinetic ones.]

{I imagine this is by a human benchmark}

[Yes, it's a bit different with other races, that's where affinities, physiques, and racial abilities take hold]

While Shadow was absorbing new information about this new world, he heard a commotion in the distance, one that resembled human shouting.

{We might be testing the new information you've given me Aariv}

[If we're truly honest, we don't have to you know, the cave is back in the other direction]

{Where is the fun in that?}

[I don't remember this being about fun]

Aariv couldn't quite understand why her son was so adventurous, wasn't he supposed to be cautious? This wasn't adding up.

Shadow could see the humans after running for around 45 seconds. They were in the midst of a furious battle with, a wolf?

{Do you think the wolf attacked the humans while they were passing by? They also seem to be struggling pretty hard in a, one, two, three, four, five, six versus one battle}

[I'm not sure, a lot could happen in this world, but based on the cages they're transporting and the fact that the carriages are properly buckled down rather than just stopped, suggests they started this fight in the hopes of selling that wolf for either it's pelts or a slave.]

{I see, there seems to be a seventh back there, with his eyes closed and mumbling}

[He's preparing a spell, and by the looks of the incantation, if he's been doing it since we arrived or beforehand, it's a strong one, this wolf will die here]

{Pity, it looked strong}

Shadow wasn't lying, every breath the wolf took seemed to draw in surrounding energy like a vacuum. Muscles bulged with every swing of a paw and the wolf seemed to be keenly aware of its surroundings since circling the poor thing while bombarding it with attacks didn't work either. Adding onto what seemed to be Sematics jointly attacking the wolf, it just wouldn't go down.

{Tsk, resorting to such pitiful means of defeating one singular entity}

[Indeed, humans have always been revolting creatures]

Right as they were finished talking, the human finished his spell. Suddenly a piercing light appeared from the staff he was carrying and shot at blistering speeds toward the wolf. Simultaneously, the encirclement of Telekinetics battered the creature with as many attacks as possible. Once the smoke cleared the wolf stood, breathing heavily, with a hole in its chest, glaring menacingly at the humans. That didn't last long before it collapsed entirely.

"Welp, that took much longer than expected, the mutt just wouldn't die" exclaimed the perpetrator of the wolf's death.

He swaggered over to the corpse and began kicking it.

"You stupid dog, all you had to do was get into the cage, it didn't have to turn out like this"

"Sir, we should probably deal with our guest before we curse the dead," said an overly large and burly man with an axe in his hand. He was responsible for keeping the wolf from running into the woods by using his large frame which was surprisingly fast.

"Oh yea, kill it"

Shadow's senses flared, and he immediately jumped from his spot in the tree, choosing to dash into the forest and take advantage of any confusion, only to be met by the mountain of a man.

"A dragon? We can make tons of money off of this boss" called the mountain man.

"Be careful when you play with it, boys, we need this one alive"