Chapter 9: 9. How to fly 101

Maxim, stomach grumbled for the umpteenth time, and felt a flip switch inside himself. His ears spun in attention, his other senses also at their top performance.

He was surveying his surroundings if there was anything that might want to take his rightful prize, he learned this from a less-than-pleasant experience. 

Nothing capable of threatening him was in his immediate surroundings, but being cautious never hurt.

His ear flattened against his head to keep anything from entering them and he dug in with gusto, first, the flesh surrounding the brain then the brain, followed by the two protruding eyes. He was careful to not damage the connection between the head and the mantle too much.

He didn't want the best part to sink. He wasn't particularly interested in the muscles or flesh of the mantle but in the internal organs in it. 

Brain, hearts, gills/lungs, livers, intestines, stomach, etc, all were far superior to him than muscle meat.

Also if bones and the like were present they were higher on his priority list than muscle meat. 

Something he got used to pretty fast considering he ate absolutely everything in his prey as fast as he possibly could, so internal organs first. And they were the tastier morsel.

 

He was the hunter, butcher, and consumer, of course, none of the organs were cleaned and prepared since he didn't particularly have the luxury or even the need to do so, nor the want.

That's why a part of his mind was being careful. The body was still grappling to the ice; the six arms were very much 'alive' and were the only reason the body wasn't already sinking.

He soon started to eat the liver, as always the best part in his honest opinion. Followed by the three hearts, the gills, and pretty much every organ.

The chaotic temper of the cuttlefish was mostly caused by his saliva entering its bloodstream.

He wasn't venomous but his saliva caused the body of the bitten to secrete a dangerous amount of adrenalin, cortisol, endorphin, and a dozen other hormones. 

Well, it made the bite secrete the normal amount of hormones for his body when he was active, fighting caused it to skyrocket, but it was how his body worked not the one from others. 

So it's essentially thrown the balance of the sympathetic and parasympathetic system of the bitten into Lala Land and utter chaos. Causing them to rapidly go berserk, making them physically stronger but mentally impaired.

And it also caused nearly unstoppable bleeding thanks to the adrenalin kicks.

Of course, if it wasn't only that… surviving the first bite or following bites is already good, then running away when your mental capability was inhibited and you didn't die of blood loss, it was an exploit in itself but you wouldn't be safe. 

Your immune system will be greatly weakened, and since Maxim's mouth is full of bacteria, infection, such as his own brand of rabies. Harmless to him, even beneficial but not to others. 

Thus he has a very lethal bite in more than one way. One scratch against his teeth could lead to weeks of suffering before ultimately dying.

Two hours later.

Maxim swam out of the body through a hole he made in the mantle, his body covered in ink and blue blood, sharp row teeth fully exposed and an icy blue piece of cuttlebone between them he was mindlessly gnawing at like a puppy.

Nobody would believe that he was human barely four months ago or human at all for that matter if not for his eyes studying everything with clear intelligence.

He gnawed on the cuttlebone, not because it was particularly nutritious, but because it was one of the body's parts with the greatest concentration in bio-energy and thus one of the most delicious. And since it was incredibly hard, cuttlebone only in name, it was helping the constant hitch he had in his gums.

His teeth were always growing even if the one above were still here, causing the latter to fall to leave their place.

'I stink of blood… Well, I don't really care either way but the smell can be a bit problematic and attract unwanted attention.', he analyzed, his slitted eyes scanning the area.

His ears swiveled to the side as he heard something move indicating that he wasn't so alone anymore. He could also feel the heartbeat of some.

He was fully satiated, overfed even, so he didn't mind the hundreds of hungry eyes wanting to eat the rest of the dead cephalopods. They can have the leftovers for all he cared.

With a wave of his flippers, Maxim rapidly swam out of the black kelp forest, which was the territory of an Elder Dragon.

The peculiar black algae making the forest is in a symbiotic relationship with an Elder Dragon. One could not live without the other.

This essentially makes the Midnight Forest/black kelp forest an extension of itself. 

While it was hiding its presence from the pup because it didn't want to scare Maxim away, reckless little shit he might be, his senses were still sharp.

This Elder Dragon was a peaceful creature anyway. It fed through its connection with the forest, it didn't need to hunt. And a juvenile Elder Dragon was quite a rare sight.

Elder Dragons are rare powerful creatures that have existed since ancient times. 

They defy all conventional classification methods set by the Guild, but one thing is sure is that all of them are living and breathing natural disasters capable of altering entire ecosystems by their mere presence.

Sometimes worshiped as Gods. Sometimes feared as Devils. Or sometimes both and more.

After one hour of Maxim swimming in a straight line at a 'moderate' speed of 120 kilometers per hour he attained his destination, one of his dens, the green and glowing ice was visible from kilometers away thanks to his inhuman eyesight that would put a bird of prey to shame.

He slowed down centimeters away from slamming his snout into the ice, yet again.

'Control, Maxim. Control.', he amusedly rebuked himself, he spat out the cuttlebone to let it spin before he bit it again so it wouldn't prevent him from entering. Like dogs with big sticks and doors. This was quickly followed by his falling asleep inside.

And just like this more than twenty years flew by without him realizing it.

During those years his life was simple: eat, sleep, hunt, play/train and explore, rinse and repeat. And the fight to the death here and there but that was globally it.

'What was Mom's name again?', the not-so-pup anymore, questioned himself. Flippers splayed on a makeshift bed/nest made of black kelp, bones, and random stuff he picked up from the sea floor.

He was still growing and far from reaching adulthood if he was a toddler before he entered the human equivalent of teenage years, and it would last way longer than for a human. Also, he is now around 14 meters (46ft) in length. He didn't fully realize how big he actually is compared to a human. 

He regularly questioned himself about random things from his past, to help limit how much and how fast he forgot things. Silly but he did it anyway. Not like he wasted time while doing so.

He didn't have a particularly bad memory but he was nearly as old as when he died as a human. So he forgot many trivial and not-so-trivial things, the finer details such as his hair color, how his sister looked like this kind of thing, and more.

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However, things from this life were crystal clear. Particularly the one related to his senses and mental map.

'I don't… I don't.. Remember… huh.', he thought, not even slightly saddened by this. It was to be expected.

However, he would always remember that at some point he had a human family that he loved and they loved him back, but more than twenty years living as he did and what he is changed him. He lived longer as a monster than as a human after all. He was at peace with this.

'Anyway… the plan for today is to fly! I'm so excited!', Maxim thought, it was for some time now that he felt a click inside his mind telling him this. Not that he didn't try before, it's all instinct.

Fish and shrimp scampering away. Muscles flexed as he swiftly moved out of the comfort of his lair, body riddled with generally small barely visible scars, the one on his right ear still here but nearly invisible.

He healed but wounds that were deep enough always left scars and he was proud of them. Why would he feel ashamed of them? It was a testament to his battle. It showed that he was superior to the one who inflicted them and they should feel honored by it. Never would they be forgotten.

Even if most of his scars existed because he was a reckless freak and didn't bother to dodge most of the attacks that he didn't deem as life-threatening, he knew it was beyond stupid but he was different in the heat of the action, also he has a small tunnel vision problem when in it.

Swiftly he cut through the water current he controlled with his homogeneous mix of Water and Dragon elements. He couldn't separate them in any case, it was more of an element of its own. A very versatile, and powerful but chaotic one.

He did many things and studying elements was one of them, he discovered that his second element is the Dragon element. And it was a puzzling and mysterious one. The most 'magical' of the six in his point of view.

He avoided the Midnight Forest, now he is way too big to comfortably move in it without becoming a Christmas tree of tar-like algae. That wouldn't stop him from entering to take a bite if hungry enough, though.

He flashed a feral grin directed at the heart of the forest, he knew something was inside, something like him. They are something above, fundamentally superior to other lifeforms.

The rapid blinking of the burdens indicated that the creature deep within knew he was there. But it still never showed up and hid its presence. He was sure that it was stronger than him by a large margin. 

But that didn't stop a part of him from wanting to fight it. On the contrary, it spurred it.

His triangular ears perked up in attention as he heard the familiar sound of waves slamming on the icy cliff above him. Below him was only the darkness of the deep sea, the only part of his body visible was his eyes glowing an intense yellow thanks to his cheerful mood and also his sharp teeth with his two long tusks.

A terrifying sight for sure.

Swimming higher he let himself be taken by one of the smaller waves, a 70-meter one. His body gliding on it with practice ease, progressively exciting the sea his ears were immediately assaulted with the sound of the winds.

'Always feel strange the way the sound sounds when passing from water to air. It's so much clearer in the sea.', Maxim remarked, the air started to replace the water flowing in his gills but it didn't bother him as he could still breathe just fine thanks to how his gills never dried up.

A deep rumble of enthusiasm escaped his throat as he now surfed on the wave, pectoral and back flippers oriented slightly he started to gain altitude.

'That's quite the indescribable feeling… that's awesome!', tips of his tail finally leaving the sea. He glided in the air, the bio-energy inside moving instinctively to where it was needed for flight.

With a mighty flap, he soared higher, blue blood pumping faster in his body from the euphoria of flying for the first time.

He dodged a particularly big wave by abruptly raising his snout, going up hundreds of meters in a few seconds. Clearly enjoying the moment he dived right back into the sea breaking the same gigantic wave. Gills filled with water he jumped out again taking flight, aiming to break another wave.

He loved this feeling of utter freedom, from the sky to the deepest part of the sea nothing was out of reach.

Three months later Maxim could be seen gliding above the floe taking in the view, in the far distance he could see dozens of tall mountains covered in snow. 

Surprisingly the floe wasn't a desert bare of any life, red, purple, and pink ice tunnels made by pigrons were present with pigrons of respective colors around them, they were sunbathing, sleeping, always one that was on guard ready to alert the herd of any danger, danger like him. 

He just needed to fly a little lower and all of the herd will immediately flee into their holes. While he could force his way inside he was likely to get nothing as they would have already disappeared in the labyrinth that was the tunnels. Only very young pups, the sick and old ones were easy to catch.

Trees and plants were also present but they were rare and clustered together around the tunnels. He continued to fly for some time.

'Is that a village of mini yeti?!'

His eyes boggled out as he saw a small village made of ice from the pigrons' caves and snow, a big igloo-like structure was in the center with multiple half-circle entrances. Smoke spewed out of a chimney in the middle indicating that there was a fire inside.

All around it was small bulky bipedal creatures, with thick white fur. Most wore wood masks with horns and tribal paintings, some had weapons such as crudely made spears and hammers. They were running around in panic but not because of Maxim.

This is a tribe of Boaboa, a Lynian subspecies. This Monster Class can be divided into two categories, cats and apes 

In the cats, there is the Felynes, the one with the most interaction with humans, such as being cooks or helpers like the palicoes. It's a job name, not a species.

In the case of Boaboa, they are in the ape category. The common point between Lynian is that they all are fully sapient, and have their languages and cultures. Just like humans, wyverians, and the other humanoids sapient species.

He could see everything clearly with his eyesight and from what he could see they were in the middle of being attacked by what looked like a white-scaled sabertooth wyvern hybrid, an adult barioth. The wyvern sight made his stomach grumble, food made the world go round, particularly his.

And he did want to study the little biped, he was incredibly curious about what they were.

He lowered himself traveling the two kilometers that separated him and his prey. The harsh and cold wind announced an upcoming blizzard.

The barioth slammed its wings on the snow in anger, the spears of the apes bouncing off its scaly hide. It looked up and snarled in hostility as it saw a flying fish…? Its confusion was short as the said fish snarled back and stopped right in front of it. Hovering in place, flippers blow most of the Boaboa away.

Maxim was smaller than the barioth by three meters not that it would change how this confrontation will end.

He loudly growled, saliva already uncontrollably dripping from his half-open mow. Falling on the ice making it melt like it was burned by acid and then turning green when it solidified right after. 

The breath ears flattened against the ground in fear, the body taking on a more submissive stance in response, walking slightly backward. Looking for a way to flee.

'So I can fly like this too, even if it breaks most of the rules of physics from my past life… That's neat.', he thought, lazily flapping his flippers. Yellow-slitted eyes stared with hunger at the cowering breath.

'My tusks are better...'

*ROAR!!!*

The wyvern caught itself up realizing that what it was doing was only wasting precious time and that instead, it needed to be as intimidating and menacing as possible, to show that he wasn't a prey worth the risk of potential grievous injuries.

So it roared in defiance chest puffed up and clawed wings spread, using its plated tail as leverage for a more bipedal stance to appear bigger, fangs bared with the two huge tusks on each side for all to see.

Hoping that the fish will fly away.

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