Chapter 16

For half an hour, I sat wedged up in the tree hollow. My Pulse Sense had worn off some time ago. The last pulse I sensed from the Horned Cat, it seemed to be stalking me from a short distance, probably hiding in some undergrowth.

I checked my vitals to see that my mana was still only at 7. The recharge was so incredibly slow!

Minutes dragged on as I kept myself in this uncomfortable position, living with the fear that something very intent on killing me was out there just waiting.

Like a monster under my bed, I thought, relating this fear to my first life. I had not truly known this kind of creeping dread in my new life, so it made sense that’s the only thing I could relate it to.

I waited and waited, feeling the strain on my back but not daring to try to adjust my position. One slip and that cat could be snatching me out of the hollow in seconds.

All I could hope for is that once my mana finished recharging and I used my last Pulse Sense, I would find that it had gotten bored and moved on.

Then, my stomach let out a small rumble. With all the horrible things that happened today, I had nearly forgotten that I never got a chance to eat. We would have gone back to the den and all had dinner together after our hunt if…

If that bird never…

I felt tears stinging my eyes again, the memory of watching from a distance as those bat riders threw spear after spear into Dad’s body. It wasn’t fair! Then, when he was weakened and distracted, that other person dropped in and…

A whimper escaped my throat. I felt fresh tears welling in my eyes again.

With everything that happened, I was stuck hiding from a cat inside this stupid tree. It wasn’t fair! I wish I was stronger. I wish I had a skill that stopped that bird from snatching me. I wish I could have fought by Dad’s side and helped him! But no, I’m weak and helpless and scared, and I’m probably going to be something else’s dinner before morning!

No, don’t think like that.

I felt the sorrow running through me again. I had been able to fight off the horrible feeling in my heart by giving myself a mission and believing I could be proactive in my situation. Now that was all over. Mere minutes into my trek back I had been run into hiding, and all I could do was whine.

I needed to distract myself. I decided to take a look at my status screen.

Name: ???

Race: Hell Hound

Path: Veinseer Pup

Stage: 2

Level: 3

Body Development: 43%

Vitals

Health: 55 / 115

Mana: 7 / 50

Stamina: 70 / 85

Attributes

Strength: 17 (+3)

Dexterity: 25 (+8)

Vigor: 23 (+11)

Sense: 30 (+7)

Attunement: 20 (+3)

Active Skills

Pulse Sense LV 3

Passive Skills

Enhanced Smell LV 1

Basic Fighting LV 2

Poison Resist LVL 1

Traits

Predator’s Focus lvl 2

Bonus damage when attacking from stealth or targeting unaware enemies.

Camouflage lvl 3

Bonus to stealth when not moving.

Pack Bond lvl 1

You now gain experience from anything killed by a member of your pack during a hunt in which you are involved.

I guess I gained some good stats for not even going up a level since the last time I checked. That was something, at least.

That’s right, I just had to think positively. Things could be worse. I just need to get out of my immediate danger, and it’ll be smooth sailing back to my den. Heck, once my mana charges enough to use another Pulse Sense, I might find that the cat got bored and already left. Then I’ll go find somewhere better than this dusty, rotten hole to sleep in. I might even find some prey to fill my stomach. Then, in the morning, I’ll head back to my family.

I felt tears welling up in my eyes again as I thought of everyone.

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I’ll do some hunting on my way back. Might as well take the opportunity to catch up with Luke so I can beat him up next time we fight!

But Luke isn’t who I really wanted to get stronger to beat right now.

I thought about those people with the red masks and, most of all, the dragon rider himself. If I had the strength, I’d make every one of them pay for this!

If I could become stronger… Next time I’d be the one to attack them first. They wouldn’t be able to hide from me, because I have Pulse Sense. I’d get to see their heartbeats and know exactly how scared they are as I destroy their lives the way they did mine!

The thought calmed my tears somewhat. Thinking like that was the only thing that could keep the empty feeling away from my chest right now.

Then I remembered the system saying something about a help menu.

I checked my vitals, and finally, I saw that my mana had ticked up to 10.

Please, please, please.

I closed my eyes, taking a deep breath, praying that the cat had just decided to leave me alone.

{Pulse Sense}.

Instantly, dozens of creatures revealed themselves to me up in the trees. Even through the dense wood of this tree, I could sense many living things hiding out in the branches. But I ignored them and searched around.

I wanted to curse as I spotted it. A heartbeat matching that big cat, hanging out right where I had last sensed it. It seemed it had not moved at all and was just waiting for me to come out. It must have realized I wouldn’t even be able to sleep while I’m like this without falling low enough for him to catch me. After all, why go hunt new prey when one was just waiting to fall loose from a vending machine?

It seemed I’d be stuck here a while longer. I don’t think I’d be able to stay in this position until another Pulse Sense became available either.

I remembered the System saying something about a help menu, so I decided to check that out for anything that might help.

Lets see… uh… Help Menu?

As soon as I asked, a blue screen popped up in front of my face along with an achievement overlapping it.

[Achievement! Getting Some Help]

You have accessed the help menu for the first time.

+1 sense

I swiped away the achievement to focus on the help menu underneath.

[Please Select an option]

Command List - Review available voice and mental commands.

Creature Encyclopedia - Displays entries on known species. (Entries update automatically)

Achievements - View completed milestones and their rewards.

Submit a Support Ticket - Unavailable.

Logout - Unavailable.

Okay! Let’s just ignore the submit ticket and logout things for now, because I’ve experienced enough trauma without poking into whatever existential horror that might induce.

Now, Creature Encyclopedia. Maybe there’s something about this cat thing that can help me out.

[Creature Encyclopedia]

Please Select a creature you’d like to know more about.

[Hell Hound]

[Bunny]

[Snake]

[Night Harrier]

[Wyrm]

[Homo Sapien - Blood Peak Tribe]

[Direwing]

[Gnarling]

[Furthrum Wanderer]

[Black Prowler]

Are these all the creatures I’ve seen so far? Huh, they even have “bunny.”

[Bunny]

A small creature that makes good prey for your current level.

Stat scaling - Unavailable

Weaknesses - Unavailable

Abilities - Unavailable

Known Locations - Cliffside Pass

Wow, not much information there. Uh, okay, so which one is the cat thing? Is it… Black Prowler?

[Black Prowler]

A large feline that is not good prey at your current level.

Stat scaling - Unavailable

Weaknesses - Unavailable

Abilities - Unavailable

Known Locations - Lost Vale Forest

Uh… seems pretty useless. Yeah, that doesn’t help me at all here!

But there is one there that’s grabbing my interest.

Homo Sapian, Blood Peak Tribe.

[Homo Sapian, Blood Peak Tribe]

A tribal human society with a proclivity for taming beasts. They have the ability to learn classes and rise to legendary status. Does not make good prey at your current level.

Stat scaling - Variable / Unavailable

Weaknesses - Unavailable

Abilities - Unavailable

Known Locations - Unavailable

I stared at the blue box with the information about humans. I felt a coldness in my heart.

Does not make good prey at my current level, huh?

Does that mean humans could be prey? I shouldn’t even consider such a thing, being that I once was a human in another life. Yet, somehow, the thought did not actually disturb me. In fact, as my mind rewound the battle I witnessed from atop that tree branch, and my dad’s likely death…

No, it didn’t disturb me at all. In fact, I felt that it was only right.

I went back to the help menu and this time selected command list.

Check Stat Screen— Check a full breakdown of your current stats and abilities.

Check Vitals— Check only your vitals.

Check Skills and traits— Contains helpful information on your current skills and traits.

Check Available Evolution Paths— Contains helpful information on available Paths.

Available evolution paths? Naturally, that one very much interested me. Hopefully it was a little more useful than the encyclopedia. If it could give me some direction on how to evolve again, then that could be huge!

I was about to select it when my Pulse Sense gave me an odd ping, distracting me from the help menu.

I dismissed the blue screen and focused on the pulse. There were actually three identical pulses walking together. They were a bit far away but coming closer.

As I continued to track them, I realized something else peculiar. The center of their pulse was rather high off the ground, and the lines that rhythmically buzzed around it moved vertically. It was as if they were standing on two legs, almost as if—

Humans? I thought.

Yes, they were definitely standing upright. It could be some other strange type of creature that I had yet to encounter in this world, but something about them was just so very humanlike.

Not only that… They were unmistakably walking directly towards me. As they got closer, I thought I heard… a voice.

My ear twitched. Yes, they were talking to each other, and most certainly they were human! Not only that, I understood their language as well!

“Should be just over there, but we’re getting close,” one said.

“Better be. Direwings can’t navigate these damn trees. Don’t wanna be stuck out here overnight.”

“Yeah, you sure we’re close?” a third, female voice asked.

“Am I sure? If I says it is, of course it is! Unless, you thinking some other stray Hell Hound is wandering around?”

They’re looking for me, I realized.

Considering how dense this forest is, they must have some kind of tracking skill. I wonder how effective it was, though. Would it pinpoint my exact location like my Pulse Sense can do, or would it just give a general area?

Come on! As if I didn’t have enough problems already!

But then, I realized their appearance may have been a blessing in disguise. I glanced towards the pulse of the Black Prowler (what I had previously been calling a Horned Cat), and I could see slow, subtle movements and a slight quickening of its pulse.

“Still, it was amazing seeing Valrok in action. Can’t believe he killed a god,” said one of the male voices.

“Not like he did it alone. About twenty of us died just trying ta’ get him an opening,” the female said.

My heart thumped, and my blood boiled.

Valrok.

Was that the dragon rider? It must have been. I would not soon be forgetting that name.

“Shush, quiet. It’s close… My spell’s pinging it somewhere over there.”

“What do you mean over there? That’s just a damn tree.”

“Maybe it’s up on one of the branches?”

I stiffened, stopping myself from breathing, for whatever good that might do.

If they kept looking around, they would eventually find me, but… But the Black Prowler was onto them now, and they clearly haven’t noticed it yet.

I watched the cat’s pulse. It was low to the ground, thumping with excitement.

Maybe humans were not good prey for me yet, but clearly that oversized kitty cat didn’t feel the same.