Winter Hunting

During the following days, Ryujin made several discoveries about the internal and external changes he had undergone.

His body felt lighter than ever, all his physical body processes augmented, all his senses became keener and sharper, compared to before.

There had also been cosmetic changes in his appearance. his skin looked suppler, more radiant and became almost effeminately fairer. He also seemed to have grown a few inches taller.

However, asides from all that, Ryujin couldn't find anything else that might reveal his breakthrough. It was almost as if his body was intentionally hiding all his physical improvements, waiting to rub it in the faces of any unsuspecting and unfortunate fool that might bother Ryujin.

Ryujin took note of all these changes, trying to understand what else had happened, but he was unable to notice; not even traces of any genetic traits his mother might have passed onto him.

Upon noticing this, Ryujin realized that figuring out the other changes that had occurred within him might take even more time.

Nonetheless, he had already noticed that, asides the volume, the quality of Qi he could now absorbed had also changed significantly, which in turn meant, his Vital Qi now contained much stronger life force within them.

This would definitely allowed him to burst forth with greater strength and speed. Furthermore, it also meant his immunity to illness, toxins, and harsh atmosphere had improved significantly as well.

Upon thoroughly scanning himself with his mental sense, he could now spot the presence of those tar-like material scattered all around his body; in his organs, blood vessels and even in the neural pathways.

Whenever he generated Vital Qi, he would watch as the atmospheric Qi squeezed tiny bits of these tar-like substance out of his blood and cells, before they would be carried along with the flow, while the bigger ones would fragment over time, into bits before following the same process.

Whilst this meant that he was currently improving, and also the fact that his nodes would always be clean, it also meant that all these tar-like substance would gather within every nook and cranny of his body over time, and then upon breaking through be painfully forced out of him once again.

Ryujin couldn't help but blanche at the thought of going through such insane amount of torment every time he was to breakthrough. But when he thought more deeply about it, he began to realize that it wasn't too bad a sacrifice to endure, for a sharp explosive increase in his physical prowess.

---

Confident in his new strength, Ryujin started going deeper in the forest, hunting bigger preys since he was no longer afraid of the predators roaming the forest outskirts.

In fact, instead of avoiding them, he started taking the initiative to look out for them.

Ryujin wanted his family to have enough fur to make a set of warm clothes for everyone. He was sick of being forced to wear so many layers of clothes during winter.

Even at the moment, he was current stacked with clothes that walking properly, felt like a training session on its own.

He had previously thought that his breakthrough would make him immune to the harsh winter weather, but reality had slapped him in the face. Coral Island's winter was nothing to scoff at, and is always savage and soul-chilling.

Last winter (which was four years ago), Ryujin had spent every day of the year indoors, sheltered from the cold by not only the house, but the warmth the food and fireplace brought and finally stacks and layers of thick clothes.

He had always felt like his mother was simply worrying and doing too much; however, now that he was bare face with this snow, he couldn't even mutter how he was feeling for fear of tearing his frozen lips apart.

'It's no wonder people rarely leave their houses during these times, much less go hunting.'

He thought to himself as he penguin-walked his way through the thick snow. His breaths freezing up the moment they left his mouth.

There were various reasons as to why hunters rarely go hunting during winter.

Simply put, the beasts that prowl the forest during these times were masters of camouflage, and as a result, finding a single beast might take weeks if unlucky, and several hours if lucky.

Even when one finds one of these beasts, there is always a 90 percent chance that they were either strong, fast, huge, a combination of two, or even a combination of all three traits.

Then one would have to consider the fact that, the difference in visibility between hunters and these beasts are like day and night.

In addition to that, the difference in their mobility within the knee-deep snow were also just as exaggerated.

Finally, all the beasts that roams the forest during these times are carnivores, as they are always seeking to drink the warm blood of their prey so as to not only keep themselves warm, but also grow stronger.

If one merged all of these demerits together, and sprinkle the expenses of resources on top, then it wouldn't be a surprise as to why hunting during the winter is a recipe for loss and disaster.

However, with all of that being said; it was also during these times that one can find beasts with thick, plushy, snow-white furs.

These furs were always super expensive, even up to the extent that even the King of Atlantea's wardrobes is packed full of coats and hats made out of them.

Their sheer scarcity made it such that, families and merchants from other islands, and even outside atlantea travel longs distances and risk falling into the hands of pirates just to get their hands on these furs.

Having these furs or wearing them serves as a testament of one's prowess and courage; after all, as the hunter who got them, this meant that one had ignored all the demerits of the weather, and braved the dangers of the forest to kill these beasts.

Then for foreigners who traveled over to atlantea to get their hands on it, it was a symbol of their business connections, wealth and courage as well.

After all, atlantea is an isolated kingdom that contained four surrounding islands and the capital island in the center.

People within the kingdom barely know much about the outside world, and the little they knew only came from the foreigners who have stumbled upon their existence during their long voyages.

---

The problem was that Ryujin could not move quietly through the forest, due to the snow. Then there is also the fact that his presence was exuding a heavy pressure into the area.

Perhaps, these were one of the benefits (or problems) of his recent breakthrough, but since the pressure spanned about 33 meters and got heavier the closer one got to its source, it scared all the little games he would have otherwise, killed and gathered away.

In fact, if not for his Metavision and increased physical prowess, Ryujin might have found himself incapable of catching any prey at all.

'I'd have to do something about this aura. If I can control it and unleash it at will, then it would also be an addition to my repertoire of abilities.

If I'm then somehow able to merge it with my mental sense, then there is a high possibility that I can develop a mental technique out of it. I might even name such a technique 'Intimidation' or 'Fear'...'

Ryujin thought in stride as his Metavision kept relaying 3D UHD map of his surroundings into his mind.

Whenever Ryujin had gone too long without catching any prey, he would sometimes shoot down any bird that made the mistake of flying into the range of his Metavision.

Several days later, as Ryujin was exploring a new area of the skeleton forest in hopes of finding a fur wearing meal, he suddenly came across a small mound of thick snow.

However, despite seeming like a rock covered in snow, the infrared imagery of Ryujin's Metavision spotted three lifeforces hiding a few meters underground. They were not strong enough to be predators, but they were big enough to be perfect preys.

'If those are rodents or other smart animals, there could be more than one exit. I have no time to waste, I'll force them out!'

Upon climbing to the top of the mound, with his Metavision still locked onto his prizes, Ryujin clasped his fist and began to pump Vital Qi into it his arm with torrential surges.

Upon coming in contact with these Vital Qi, his muscles began t flex and writhe as they stacked behind one another like pieces of a nanotech armor.

Then as if being injected by steroids, his veins bulged beneath his skin, as an explosive amount of power that threatened to burst his veins gathered within his arm.

This was what Ryujin had been practicing on during his new training regime, and whilst his control were still clumsy and sow to initiate, the amount of power they provided him was nothing to scoff at.

Ha!

Ryujin punched out with a guttural shout.

Boom!

The ground tremored around him as the mound began to shake.

All the burrows, and the small tunnels that were linked to it collapsed in on themselves, forcing all the creatures within it into a state of intense panic.

Then out of fear, they began making their escape through the most direct route.

Ryujin bolted after them, running and dribbling through the thickets and hanging branches. His chase was no different to that of his movement routine.

He tracked and hounded their underground movements as close as possible, keeping them within the range of his Metavision at all times.

Then all of a sudden, out of a well-hidden hole near a bush, came out three big fat rabbits, two of them still wearing a pristine and almost glittering snow-white fur.

"Bingo!" Ryujin blurted in delight.

He grabbed out with a level of speed and flexibility that would put most serpent's to shame, latched his grasp around these rabbits' necks with the force of a lion's bit, before snapping them like twigs.

The last rabbit had tried to flee, but with a strong kick to its hind legs, it was immediately rendered immobile, as Ryujin proceeded to swiftly put it out of its misery.

"I'll keep the snow-white one for myself, and then trade the other two pelts with Luo Fei for some fur of lesser quality but much more quantity.

Today is really my lucky day."

Apparently, Ryujin was now getting so used to being alone in the woods, that he was now thinking out loud, in a bid to break the feeling of isolation.

He hung the rabbits to his belt by the ears and started walking in the direction of Luo Fei's house.

However, just after taking a few steps, Ryujin's ears suddenly shook, as they picked up an odd sound that seemed to be a mixture of stomps and snorts.

He had never heard it before, so he started looking around for its source, and soon enough, he could see two horses in the distance, galloping in his direction.

"Fuck! It seems the commotion I caused had been too loud. Fight or flight?"

To answer his own question, he shrunk his Metavision to a certain angular degree enabling it to cover a longer distance.

The horses were just horses, while the men riding them were far from impressive.

The one taking point was barely as strong as Luo Fei, while the one behind was even weaker than Raja, his uncle.

Ryujin forcefully hid his cruel smile.

"Well, well. My first encounter with complete strangers in this new world!

Are they good people?

I bet humans are humans everywhere, and that can only mean that they are a**holes!

I can't wait to find out!"

Ryujin muttered to himself as he stood there, waiting for them to arrive.