Chapter 8: Chapter 7: A Feast for my Taste Buds.

You know, I thought I got pretty damn strong after my evolution. Kinda felt weird when my assumption was reinforced on the very first monster I appraised.

Name: *    Level: 7    Race: Wind Raccoon

Status:    Health: 71/71    Mana: 30/30

Strength: 31    Intelligence: 10

Vitality: 18    Wisdom: 9

Agility: 35    Stamina: 24/24

Information not available

<Proficiency requirement fulfilled. [Identify Lv. 3] evolved into [Identify Lv. 4]>

<Wind Raccoon: A raccoon that has control over basic wind magic. It employs a hit-and-run tactic when it fights. Rank F>

Its rank is the same as mine, but its status was far inferior. Is it ‘cause I’m a dragon or is it ‘cause I own the growth enhancing skills? Well, not exactly my problem and thinking about it was redundant at this point.

I thought while finally having the chance to explore this place to find an opponent I could test my new body out. After all, considering my new surge in power, I had to know how strong I actually have gotten, but this? This raccoon was too weak to act as a decent challenge. At this point, it might just be better to find a rank E monster to truly prove myself.

… Which would be something an idiot would say. As if I was stupid enough to get this cocky after a single battle. My memories wasn’t crystal clear — in fact, it felt pretty foggy after I was reborn — however, I was 100% sure I had never, ever participated in a single fight in my previous life. And I barely got out of my first battle by the skin of the my teeth.

Fighting will most likely become a daily thing for me. Hunting and defending myself demanded I get better. That random kobold encounter was proof things could just happen, and I’ll have to either fight or flee. I had to get more experience. Fighting experience, to be more specific.

I reflected on my first fight and boy did I just cringe at how terribly I handled it. I totally tunnel visioned on a single target, celebrating successfully outmaneuvering them for a second, before getting hit and panicking to the point I couldn’t think of anything but to dodge. I could have lost my life.

I do admit I had a tendency to panic when things went wrong during an audition or while training. I always wanted things to go the way I practiced it. No faults. But the moment I fucked up, I would just have no idea what to do. As somebody dreaming of becoming an idol, that was a no go.

The issue here is that it was merely a deal breaker back on earth. Now, it was a matter of life and death, something I had to overcome as soon as possible. However, haste makes waste. My dancing teacher always told me to take it slow and steady. Singing and dancing demanded me to practice hard and discipline myself into a training regimen, all to become su—

…Successful.

… And that should be how I conduct my current training. How I should go about learning how to fight and use magic. Even if this racoon wasn’t the best opponent, it could still be useful as my training dummy.

Learn the basics. Redo and iron them into your body and mind. Learn to think under pressure and how to unnerve your enemies. With a plan in my hands, all that was left is the necessary determination to pave my path to survi— success!

Thinking about it optimistically, this racoon could help me fine-tune my combat style, right? This racoon uses  a hit-and-run tactic, which was the same tactic I tried during the kobold fight. Shoot magic from a distance and avoid close-quarter confrontations. I have healing magic, sure, but getting my ribs and organ damage was not a nice experience, so let’s stick with this idea.

Of course, sneak attacking and ending a battle without a fight would be the ideal circumstance. However, even with the [Stealth] skill, those kobolds still found me out through smell. I can’t get out of every fight. I have to learn to fight properly!

… Still, in case this racoon has some weird skill which could turn the tables on me, I should think of a plan B. Guess rush down would be best? In most games or stories, mages aren’t too good in melee — just like me — since they have limited options to deal with somebody waving a giant sword at them right in front of them.

So, going for the jugular like the rabbits would be best. [Enhanced Claws] should allow me to kill it nice and swiftly, and if I use the [Haste] spell to speed myself up, it can’t possibly react in time. I even have a higher Agility stat, so it should be alright.

… Plan B, done. Alright, let’s calm down and do this!

With bated breath, I exited my hiding spot and slowly approached the racoon without trying to agitate it.

“Kraaa!”

I let out a cry to gain its attention. It might have been unnecessary, but if I just jumped at it, the fight probably would have ended too soon. Besides, letting out a cry was a good way to let out this pent-up anxiousness inside my chest.

“Kurerere?!”

G-Good, it’s looking at me. Okay, fir— Oh, jeez! Why is my heart beating so much. I think I’m about to explode.

No, calm down. Calm down. Just like the kobold fight.

It was hard to control myself. At first, I thought it was me being hesitant to fight, but as I was trying to slow down my breathing, I was beginning to think it was excitement. And the moment I thought of it as that, it became a little bit easier to think.

Start the battle with [Firebolt] to have it attack me for a test. I need to know what it can do. Dodge the attack and trap it with [Earth Wall] inside a box. Safer that way. then I should just end the battle with another [Firebolt]!

Yes, that’s the plan! Okay, you racoon, let’s g— Hold on, where the hell did it go?

Did I just lost track of it while monologuing? What does [Enhanced Enemy Sense] say—

… it ran away.

…

Fucking hell! Nooooooo! You’re supposed to stand still while I’m thinking! Fuck! Haste!

I couldn’t believe I just let it run like that.

I should be able to catch up to it using [Haste]’s speed boost. With how far the racoon’s signal was from me, I really had to push my legs. In such a short, it really ran a decent distance, but not like this will dissuade me from catching it. As if I will let it slip away!

No matter how adept the raccoon was at fleeing, it couldn’t outrun me when I had both a higher Agility stat and [Haste] speeding my body up. The odds were against it. While closing into range for an attack, I noticed a green magic circle appearing above the racoon, before it released a small pocket of air like a bullet at me.

I only narrowly dodged, although it was still a glancing hit.

<Acquisition requirement fulfilled. [Wind Resistance Lv. 1] acquired>

<Proficiency requirement fulfilled. [Evasion Lv. 1] evolved into [Evasion Lv. 2]>

Although it wasn’t a direct hit, I still swerved my body around like an acrobat, delaying me. Thankfully, the distance loss was neglectable, but if I kept messing up, it will get away for sure.

While closing in again, I used [Earth Strike] under its feet to trip it. While coating my claws with mana, I landed a decisive claw attack to its neck, ending its life.

<Experience has reached multiple breaking points. [Young Dragon *] has risen from [Level 0] to [Level 4]>

<Attributes have increased due to level up>

<Acquired 400 skill points>

This feeling in my hand. Seems like I’m getting used to it? Haaaaa, still, I botched it, didn’t I.

I told myself to refocus. Monologuing like that was a mistake. If I had to think of a plan, I had to learn how to think of it on the spot. Big mistake on my part… Still, this would give me a chance to reflect on my plan and the execution of the chase. I would preferred if I hadn’t done that mistake, but I can’t bring myself down too much.

Naturally, a surprise attack would have been best. No questions asked. Like a real racoon, it was skittish. No idea why I thought being able to cast magic would make it braver. The next time, the best method would be to sneak up to it, but I decided to veto that idea. I can sneak if I have no other choice, but I still believed gaining practical fighting experience would be more beneficial than a quicker meal.

My need to think faster during a fight will become a good reminder for the future.

Raaaawr! You face ME, the mighty dragon! Prepare for your defeat!

Yeah, that's what I would like to happen in the future. Standing up to all threats with the confidence of a real dragon. If I keep sneak attacking everything, I’ll never learn how to stop panicking. I don’t think I have the talent to learn it without repeated confrontations.

O-Of course, I don’t want to say that in the future. It’s too embarrassing, but it’s about the point I want to convey to myself. I currently don’t have the mindset of a dragon, but that’s what I most likely will have to develop to survive in this place.

… Aaaaand now that I thought about it, if a dragon were to suddenly appear our of nowhere, wouldn’t I have run away, too? Why was I thinking every monster would accept my challenge. Not like animals on Earth did the same. If they felt overpowered, they would prefer fleeing than to fight.

Hmm, fight or flight, huh? If the racoon had ran away successfully, it would have ‘won,’ right? Fleeing is winning, too. Hmm, gotta remember that when something too much for me comes around.

In any case, all that was left to do was how I should prepare this racoon?

---

<Multiple proficiency requirements fulfilled. [Cooking Lv. 4] [Dismantle Lv. 3] gained>

“Kraah kraah kraaaah… Krasaghk!”

Oookay, can’t go higher than that.

Imagine being a singer who was pretty proud of her voice suddenly losing all that training to strengthen her vocal cords. Yeah, that’s my problem now. All that training, gone. If I want to sing again, I’ll have to retrainl,

But even then, can my reptilian voice reach my previous voice? I sound like a screeching blackboard now. Do I have to rely on [Humanization] to start singing practice? If so, then goodness gracious, I’ll be super rusty. Realizing my dream will take a while in this world, huh?

Hmm? Mhmmm, yeah, that smells gooood! Oh boy, can’t wait to see how this tastes~

<Seared Raccoon Meat with Herbs: Raccoon meat that was cooked over a flame. Seasoned by herbs, it gives off a delectable aroma>

Doesn’t that sound amazing? And thank goodness, does it smell amazing.

Before I started preparing the meat, I was curious if there was something in the forest that could be used as seasoning. I didn't want to stick with bland steak, after all. So, after some searching, I found a few stuff that could be used in cooking, and these are the ones I used on the raccoon meat.

<Bloom Flower Petal: An aromatic petal from the [Bloom Flower]>

<Belzac Herb: A herb that possesses healing properties against wounds. Can also be used to alleviate head pains>

<Belzac Herb Seed: A seed from the Belzac Herb. It possesses a substance called capsaicin within it to ward off potential consumers>

They did wonders to help make my meal, at least, smell better. Initially, I wanted to throw the seeds away, ‘cause the spiciness was the same as burning my tongue with a hot rod. It was totally inedible.

It was out of pure coincidence that I learned burning the seeds with fire would denaturalize them into leathery, shriveled balls. The denaturalized seeds gave off a fragrant and sweet smell, with a now mild spiciness. A great contrast.

All I needed was a grill, and that was easily done with earth and fire magic. I created a small table from rocks using [Earth Wall] and lit up a fire underneath it with some kindling. Easy peasy.

Skin and dismantle the meat first and then I prepared the seasoning. As my salt and pepper replacement, I rubbed the crushed seeds onto the meat before placing some flower petals underneath it. I wrapped everything together with Belzac herbs and finally began cooking it on my stone grill.

After letting it cook a bit, the aroma began to exude out from the wrapping. Opening it, that appetizing scent just began overwhelming me. I thought I was cooking something up in the kitchen at home!

After giving it a beautiful crust, I placed it on a “clean” stone plate and sliced it open. And, ooooh boy, the juices! It was sadly a bit overcooked, but I can forgive myself since this was my third try cooking in this forest. But, all of this effort would go to waste if I don’t eat it!

Thank you for the food! Itadakimasu!

“Krramamph… Mhmm!”

Oh yeeeeeeees! This is food!

Meat definitely wasn’t wagyu or prime meat quality, but complaining about something like that would make me seem too posh. Still, it was better than bland meat and strawberries every single day. The sweet and spicy juices filled my mouth in a bath of serotonin, incomparable to the rabbit meals up until now.

Of course, the lack of salt and the fact it was well-done did decrease its value, but it didn’t make a difference to me. The whole meal was devoured within minutes. I couldn’t control myself. It was a shame that it vanished in a flash, but a full belly is a happy belly.

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Ahhhh, fuck my life, but eating it still amazing.

Now satisfied, I decided it was finally time to level up [Space-Time Magic]. A few chunks of raccoon remained, in addition to the ton of herbs and seeds I procured. The meat would definitely spoil if I didn’t find a way to preserve it.

With no fridge or salt, my only option was a hunch I had on this skill. A storage function — if I could get something like that, my life would become slightly easier. And the only way to level up a magic skill was to use its spells.

I will most likely drain my mana empty if I use [Haste] over and over again without a break. Unfortunately, that was just how this process worked. I needed enough “proficiency” to reach an arbitrary requirement to level it up. All of this while making sure my mana didn’t reach zero.

I guess I’ll wait in between casts to regenerate mana. Hopefully, this won’t take too long.

Haste. Haste…

Haste…

…

Haste…Haste!

…

Now it takes time, to fully, regenerate, yeah ♫

Haste…

My magic and spells that consume it all up. ♫

Oh, tell me, I don’t have to wait long. ♫

Let’s level up. Let’s level up. Let us level up. ♫

Haste! Yeah!

It’s annoying, it’s boring, the sun just went down. ♫

For storage I’ll be patient, as if I’m a saint. ♫

Recover, bit faster, oh my mana. ♫

Haste! Badum badum badang baam!

Takes too long, longer than I thought, baby! ♫

Just like that. The sweet streams of energy. ♫

My mana is flowing now, oh, it feels absolutely lovely. ♫

Haste! Oh hey, that is th—

<Proficiency requirement fulfilled. [Space-Time Magic Lv. 1] evolved into [Space-Time Magic Lv. 2]>

<Magic gained: [Storage Magic]>

Wooooooo, nice work, me! I thought I had enough time to write a whole song!

Not to self, [Haste] consumes a shit ton of mana, but, who cares? I have my fucking storage~

What a bloody relief it was that my guess was correct. Fortunately, [Storage Magic] came at level two and not level-whatever-number-above-two. It could have been pretty discouraging if it didn’t come this soon.

Nevertheless, while celebrating was okay for now, I shouldn’t forget that its very likely that [Storage Magic] will demand a high mana cost in some way. For the future, I should focus on getting my Mana capacity up, especially if I decided to stick to being a mage. Anyways, how do I use the storage?

Identify.

<Storage Magic: Creates a space-time storage with the capacity dependent on the caster’s maximum Mana capacity. Storage space will increase automatically whenever the maximum Mana capacity is increased. Mana will be consumed whenever an item is placed inside the storage, determined by the size and density of the object>

The description was thankfully longer than the other skills, but I still had the feeling I was missing certain information due to my lacking [Identify]. However, it didn’t discourage me. In fact, since I was anticipating this ability from the whole [Haste] session, I was super in the mood to learn everything I could.

First thing I did was to conjure up my very own [Storage Magic]. A grey magic circle appeared in front of me before it disappeared after a few seconds. It was then that I felt something connected to me, as if a link was created between me and something else. If the description of [Storage Magic] is to be believed, this should be my storage.

I focused on this link, even asking System Voice to tell me if my storage was there or not.

<Storage List: None>

Oh yeeeah! That’s what I’m talking about!

Next thing I did was to focus on it — I presume, sub-space — and told it to open up before trying to place the leftover racoon meat into it. The air suddenly swirled up like a small wave created after throwing a stone into a pond.

However, the attempt didn’t work out. The meat seemed like it was being eaten by the air, but I suddenly felt something stopping me from doing it any further. That feeling was my mana. It wanted to leave my mana, but couldn’t. I probably didn’t have enough mana to do so.

As such, I tried putting in the herbs and seeds and it worked out successfully. Mana was taken away from me and the items vanished into the air. When I tried to take them outside, I noticed I didn’t lose any mana, which was good to learn. Too bad I couldn’t place them inside again as my Mana was at 5/370 now.

Welp, that’s how it went. In any case, I have a lot to test out but the sky was beginning to turn orange. Better pack up and find a secure place to sleep for the night. Otherwise, I’ll be turned into somebody’s dinner, ha!

______________________________________________________________

Name: *    Level: 4    Race: Young Dragon

Age: 0 Month

Status:    Health: 120/120(+20)   Mana: 370/370(+68)

Strength: 62 (+16)   Intelligence: 55 (+16)

Vitality: 38 (+12)   Wisdom: 42   (+12)

Agility: 86 (+20)   Stamina: 63/63  (+16)

Effects: None

Skill Points: 400 (-200)

Skill:  Magic skills and related:

[Mana Control Lv. 3] [Holy Magic Lv. 4] [Fire Magic Lv. 3]

[Earth Magic Lv. 3] [Space-Time Magic Lv. 2] (New)

[Primal Magics]

Physical skills and related:

[Mana Strike Lv. 2] [Enhanced Claws Lv. 1] [Enhanced Fangs Lv. 1]

Senses and movement skills:

[Stealth Lv. 5] [Enhanced Enemy Sense Lv. 3] [Evasion Lv. 2] (+1)

Resistances:

[Physical Resistance Lv. 3] [Pain Resistance Lv. 3]

[Holy Resistance Lv. 1] [Fire Resistance Lv. 1]

[Earth Resistance Lv. 1] [Wind Resistance Lv. 1] (New)

Stat growths and related:

[Enhanced Mana Growth Lv. 2]

[Enhanced Strength Growth Lv. 1]

[Enhanced Intelligence Growth Lv. 1]

[Enhanced Agility Growth Lv. 1]

Others:

[Identify Lv. 4] (+1) [Cooking Lv. 4] (+2) [Dismantle Lv. 3] (+1)

Spell List: Holy spells:

[Minor Heal] [Cure] [Modest Heal] [Smite]

Fire spells:

[Fire] [Firebolt] [Imbue Fire]

Earth spells:

[Earth Wall] [Rock Blast] [Earth Strike]

Space-Time Spells:

[Haste] [Storage Magic]

Other spells:

[Shine]

Titles:  [The Light] [Bearer of Kargryxmor’s Blood] [Otherworldly Reincarnator]

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