Chapter 96: Discovery

The next day, I woke up to my father's loud snoring. Annoyed, I open my eyes and turned to glare in his direction. He was sleeping in the deeper parts of the cave, quite a distance away from where I was at, yet his snoring was akin to the clap of thunder causing me to wake up.

Glancing about, the cave was illuminated with the rays of the early morning sun, a few dust particles floated peacefully in the air where the sun shone. Essie was already gone, I could roughly guess where she was at, probably in the sky above the mountain.

Shaking my head I mumbled drowsily, "She has too much energy early in the morning," Surprisingly, even the lazy Immy was nowhere to be found, leaving only me and father behind in the cave.

'Looks like Sidus and Ynos are still not back,' I noted as I stood up and lazily stretched my limbs. I was feeling rejuvenated after sleeping, 'Looks like I was really tired,' Shaking my head to clear out whatever drowsiness I had left, I slowly made my way out of the cave.

If I could, I would have definitely preferred to sleep for a bit longer, yet with father snoring in there, that quickly became impossible. I suddenly found myself missing my mother, father never snore when she was here, she didn't let him.

I was momentarily blinded by the bright sun rays that assaulted my eyes the second I walked out. Squinting my eyes, I slowly walked down the tall mountain path. Glancing at the sky in curiosity, 'Sure enough, she's there,' I mumbled as I spotted Essie's tiny figure happily dancing in the sky.

It was then that my stomach growled loudly, 'Ah, that's right, I still didn't eat anything. Well, I guess I'll go hunt something for breakfast,' a yawn escaped my lips, I was still a bit sleepy as I made my way down the broad mountain path before I reached the edge.

Glancing down, at the forest below, I slowly willed my heart energy towards my eyes causing the world to change before me as more colors suddenly appeared. Scanning the forest, I was easily able to spot a few glowing dots between the trees, potential prey, yet none of them picked my interest.

'Let's head south, there's a lot of monsters there, I'm sure I'll find some that are delicious,' With that in mind, I immediately jumped off the ledge as the familiar feeling of weightlessness overtook me, although It wasn't my first time experiencing It, my heart still thumped excitedly in my chest as I opened my wings, using the momentum from my dive to push me further ahead.

The weather was perfect with clear blue skies and no sign of clouds whatsoever, It wasn't too hot, nor was It too cold, just perfect. I closed my eyes as I enjoyed the feeling of the wind brushing against my scales, momentarily losing myself in the sensation of freedom It gave me.

'I can see why Essie like It, still to be able to stay in the air for a whole day, she truly has a monstrous stamina,' I noted.

I continued flying further south all the while scanning the forest below for a prey that picked my interest, soon, however, I found myself in an area I had never reached before. The sinister energy that leaked off the Shades was more prominent here, causing me to frown.

Just then, I effortlessly dodged a huge shadow that lunged towards me from the forest below. It was a large wolf almost the same size as me, the peculiar thing about It was the two obsidian wings on its back, alongside Its completely black pupils giving the monster a sinister air to It.

"Well, you don't look very tasty but still, you came looking for me yourself so don't blame me for what's about to happen," I spoke lazily. The wolf was a tainted monster, although It was still not a very high-ranking one.

Saliva dripped from Its maw as the wolf glared daggers at me, a low growl escape its mouth. I, however, wasn't about to wait for him to make the first move. I instantly coated my claws with water mana causing them to glow with a bright blue color.

I wasn't planning on using magic to finish him off from a distance since I just woke up, I needed a bit of a warm-up, and since this monster so kindly delivered itself to me, I wasn't going to refuse. Lunging forward, my wings flapped as my body disappeared from my place reappearing before th giant wolf almost instantly.

He was startled with my speed, yet still unconsciously slashed at my face with his claws, I calmly blocked his attack with mine, the moment our claws met, however, his entire arm was instantly frozen as I willed my mana to rush towards It causing the wolf to yelp In pain as h tried to fall back.

Before he could do anything though, I gracefully twisted my body mid-air using my tail to strike his head and send him crashing down to the forest below. I didn't give him any time to recover as I dived headfirst towards him easily pinning the giant wolf to the ground, my claw on Its neck.

Unable to accept his defeat, the wolf struggled furiously, "What a dumb animal, you already lost your senses to that wicked energy," I shook my head and instantly decapitated his head with one swift motion causing blood to splatter, a few drops managed to land on my face causing me to frown.

I used my claw to wipe It off. The blood was red with a few black spots mixed with It, "Hmm, so It taints the blood as well," I mumbled. Just then my eyes suddenly widened in realization as I recalled something.

"Wait! Blood, blood, Blood! That's It! The energy!" I shouted excitedly as I finally realized from where I felt that energy to be familiar. The human knights used a strange energy and caused their swords to shine brightly, this energy although small was still rather dangerous.

Still, I always felt like It was familiar from somewhere, and now I finally figured It out. Five years ago when I was testing magic, I attempted to control blood while It was still inside other living creatures, still I failed to do so, the reason being a strange energy that seemed to prevent me from tampering with the blood, It almost felt like a law of sorts.

And It was precisely this energy that I felt the human knights use before. "Now that's interesting, does that mean I can also use It? Or is It something that's special to the humans alone?" With such thoughts on my mind, I jumped back in the air ignoring the corpse of the fallen monster as I left in search of fresh prey to taste my theory on.