First Hunt!

About thirty minutes later, John found his first lucky break. It was at a clearing in the forest where a small spring gurgled in an alcove by a mountainside.

The spring was fed through a waterfall that could be heard crashing from higher up along the mountain.

Here, hiding by some bushes, John found a large crab crawling around the grass by the water.

It was pretty big. A lot bigger than any crab that John knew on earth, being almost half the size of an ordinary man.

Around the same size as John, and that, coupled with its thick, brown shell and oversized claws, meant it would be an incredibly hard fight for him to take.

He doubted his small needle teeth could even begin to pierce that shell, nor could his undeveloped, stubby claws do much of anything.

'Mel, what's that crab doing there by itself? I know that freshwater crabs exist, but it seems a little odd for it to be just there right on the forest floor in such a tiny pond,' said John as he peered at the crab sneakily in the midst of a bush.

He was becoming a master of hiding in bushes by now. Maybe he should start calling himself Bushmaster.

No, that sounded way too weird.

[That is a Mudclaw Crab. Earthen grade.] said Mel. [Known for its powerful claws that allow it to scale mountainsides to reach fresh bodies of water. It appears to have fallen off of its original habitat, leaving it stranded.]

'Fallen?' John narrowed his draconic eyes, the black slit pupils thinning to a near line, and zoned in on the crab's shell.

There were cracks lining it. Rather deep ones too.

'Hmm. Even with those cracks, I can't break through the crab with my own teeth or claws.' John wondered what he could do.

He might have been in a dragon's body, but he could still think like a human.

He looked around at his surroundings, and then he grew still in a eureka moment. If his thoughts were visible, a light bulb would have flashed atop his green scaled head.

A couple of seconds later, the Mudclaw Crab turned to a rustling bush, and then it would have seen a most rare sight indeed.

A crazy hatchling dragon charging towards it, but not on all fours with its claws and teeth bared.

No, it was on its two hind legs, awkwardly hopping forwards while its two front legs held a sizable rock above its head as it squeaked out a battle cry.

The Mudclaw Crab snapped its large claws menacingly ahead at the dragon hatchling, but before the hatchling got close enough, it tossed the rock down and slammed it against the crab's back.

John tumbled forwards in the ground as he got caught up in the momentum of his throw, rolling a few times behind the crab. His four-legged body was definitely not used to maneuvering on two legs like that, but that was the only way he could carry the rock and throw it like that.

'Oww,' groaned John as he felt pain heat up his legs. He had probably pulled or even torn a couple muscles moving unnaturally like that while carrying a rock almost a third of his size.

But it had all been worth it.

John shakily stood up on all fours as he saw the Mudclaw Crab.

The rock had landed splat on the cracks to its back shell, pinning it to the ground as its legs flailed around.

The impact had been lethal, the rock sinking deep through the crab's shell and into its white flesh, and its legs started slow in movement as it died.

John's stomach grumbled as he realized how hungry he had been.

Looking at the food in front of him, at the bare flesh ready to be consumed, the hunger almost completely overtook him, and it took almost all of his willpower and concentration to not just savagely lunge forwards and tear into the crab.

Instead, John circled the crab for a bit, making sure it was dead, before coming forwards, picking up the rock, and dropping it on the crab again for good measure.

And also to crack more of the shell for easier meat picking.

Once the crab was assuredly dead, that was when John went to feasting.

He picked apart the white flesh with ravenous hunger, his little claws digging into cracks in the shell to pull the stringy flesh and shove it into his mouth. He did not even chew most of the time, he just swallowed, but even then, the food tasted absolutely amazing.

Almost better than anything he had ever tasted back on earth.

Was it a draconic power to enjoy food this much?

No, John realized as he ate his fill, sucking out meat from the legs while his belly grew round and full, he had just been that hungry, and when he was hungry, anything tasted good.

Though there had been some adjustments to John's sense of taste.

Raw meat tasted good to him, and it did not repulse him where in his human life it would have been a definite no go.

Suddenly, letters appeared in front of John's vision. Bright golden letters.

-Essence consumed. Draconic Origin activating…-

>>>

*Essence Obtained +70*

Current Evolution Stage: Hatchling

Next Stage: Whelp

Essence Level: 70/100

*Origin Data Obtained*

Stored Origins:

-Mudclaw Crab

>>>

'Woah!' John voiced his surprise internally as he lapped up the last remaining crab juices from his lips with a forked tongue.

Numbers and words lit up in front of him in the form of a screen.

There was no doubt about it.

'I have a system!?' said John.

[A system?]

'Yeah, you know, numbers and levels on a screen. A system!'

[The Mudclaw Crab does not have any toxins within it. It is odd that you are experiencing confusion to this degree.]

'You know what, nevermind,' said John. He knew what systems were from being quite the connoisseur in transmigration literature, but it looked like nobody else in this new world had any idea about it.

[Regardless, consuming the Mudclaw Crab's essence has awoken your Draconic Origin, the power inherent within your bloodline.

All dragons obtain power through Wild Magic, the magic of the body that focuses on evolution.

In the case of dragons, our kind absorbs life essence from the creatures we devour to fuel our evolutionary growth.

When you obtain enough essence to reach your next stage growth, you must enter a state of Molting, shedding your old scales, and here, you may take in traits from the Origins of creatures you have consumed.

For example, with this crab, you may choose to harden your yet weak and soft scales with its sturdy shell.

As you consume stronger creatures with unique powers, you may even replicate their abilities.

Still, it is odd.

The way in which this power is perceived should be simply innate. A mere extension of your hunting instincts.

That you mention numbers and screens indicates something similar to the Origin Matrix of humans, but you are no human.]

'Er…yeah, you're right, don't mind me,' said John. It seemed like he was alone among dragon kind in witnessing his evolutionary powers in the form of a system, and he wondered why that was.

Was it because he was a transmigrated human?

Regardless, a game type system like this felt comfortable for John, so he was not going to complain about it. He also noted the fact that there were also humans in this new world too, though he was pretty sure they were not going to treat him too kindly.

Still, the more John waddled around this world, the more he started to feel better about it.

Sure, he was no nobleman's cushy young master son, but he had a system, he had a whole new world of strange beats and magic to explore, and he was a freaking dragon (soon to be)!

Things didn't seem THAT bad.