Raven had finished consuming what he needed from the mutated wolf’s corpse and thought he might finally get a chance to rest.
He was wrong.
Out of nowhere, he felt completely watched, and Predator’s Instinct made him turn toward a distant section of trees.
Eyes appeared one after another between the trunks.
Four. Eight. Twelve.
Raven remained beside the corpse of the Nightfang Wolf, the bloodied metal fragment in his right hand and his left arm wrapped so tightly that every heartbeat became a painful pulse beneath the bandages.
Three creatures.
Maybe four.
He couldn’t see the last one’s body, only the occasional flash of something yellow moving behind the ferns.
Predator’s Instinct didn’t give him numbers. No arrow appeared to tell him where to attack. It didn’t turn the world into a video game.
It was something much more uncomfortable.
Pressure.
A vague certainty that arrived an instant before his conscious mind understood why.
The animal to his right was going to move.
Raven knew it before a single paw left the ground.
He turned.
The Nightfang advanced two steps and stopped.
It hadn’t attacked.
It was testing him.
Raven looked at the corpse.
Then at the others.
"Family."
One of the wolves growled.
The response vibrated through the trees.
Raven didn’t know whether the corpse had belonged to a member of their pack, a rival, or simply another creature of the same species.
It didn’t matter.
His left arm had four deep puncture wounds. His right shoulder was still partially injured. He had lost blood. And the first Nightfang had nearly killed him on its own.
Fighting three more wasn’t bravery.
It was stupidity.
The wolf on the left lowered its body slightly.
Predator’s Instinct reacted.
Raven took one step backward.
He didn’t run.
Not yet.
Predators chased.
If he fled before creating some kind of advantage, he’d have three faster animals on his back before he made it thirty feet.
He needed to break the pattern.
His eyes swept across the terrain.
Stream. Fallen tree. Roots. Uphill slope to the north. A trunk shattered by the first Nightfang’s magical blast.
And blood.
A lot of blood.
Raven looked at the corpse.
Then at the pack.
One possibility.
He slowly bent down.
The animals tensed.
Raven grabbed one of the dead Nightfang’s hind legs.
It was too heavy.
He wasn’t trying to move the entire body.
He only needed to reposition it.
He pulled.
The corpse rolled partially toward the stream.
One of the wolves immediately stepped forward.
Not toward Raven.
Toward the body.
Interesting.
Another growled.
The first stopped.
Raven watched.
This wasn’t mourning.
It was hierarchy.
The largest one stood farther back. A creature with a scar running across one of its upper eyes.
He didn’t need a degree in fantasy zoology to understand the dynamic.
Raven pulled again.
The corpse dropped into the water.
The current began slowly carrying it away.
Two wolves followed it with their heads.
The scarred one didn’t.
Its eyes remained fixed on Raven.
"You’re the problem."
Raven backed away.
The creature advanced.
Predator’s Instinct pulsed again.
Attack.
Raven threw the metal fragment.
Not at the wolf.
At the broken trunk to his right.
The metal struck wood.
CLANG.
Two creatures turned on reflex.
Raven ran.
Not backward.
Toward the slope.
The leader went after him.
Raven heard its paws sinking into the wet earth.
Fast.
Much faster.
He didn’t need to look.
Predator’s Instinct screamed through every nerve.
Right.
Raven changed direction.
Jaws snapped shut beside his ribs.
The wolf shot past him.
Raven kicked dirt into its eyes and kept climbing.
Another Nightfang appeared from the left.
Bad position.
Raven searched for the tree he’d noticed.
Leaning trunk. Low branches. About ten feet to the first fork.
It wasn’t an elegant solution.
It was a solution.
He jumped.
Caught a branch with both hands.
His injured arm protested immediately.
Sharp pain.
Raven clenched his teeth and braced his legs against the trunk.
Climbed.
The first Nightfang jumped.
Its jaws grazed his boot.
Raven kicked it in the muzzle.
The animal dropped.
He climbed another three feet.
A claw scraped bark beneath him.
Then another.
Nightfangs could jump.
They couldn’t climb.
At least not well.
Raven reached the fork and sat with his back against the trunk.
Breathed.
Below him, three creatures circled the tree.
The leader raised its muzzle.
Growled.
Raven looked down.
"You can wait."
The creature answered with a deep bark.
"So can I."
That wasn’t entirely true.
His arm was bleeding again.
Raven loosened part of the bandage.
Two wounds had reopeneded.
Pressure.
Readjust.
The situation was bad.
But he had learned something.
Predator’s Instinct worked.
It hadn’t made him faster. It hadn’t slowed time. It had simply shortened the gap between a signal and his understanding of it.
A shoulder tightening. A paw shifting position. A breath.
Tiny pieces of information Raven would normally have processed consciously now arrived as immediate instinct.
For an untrained person, it might have been a useful ability.
For him...
Raven looked down at the Nightfangs.
...it could become something significantly worse.
One of the creatures abandoned the tree and headed toward the stream.
Another followed.
The leader remained.
Raven waited.
Five minutes. Ten. Fifteen.
The creature didn’t leave.
"Persistent."
The Nightfang lay down.
Perfect.
Raven rested his head against the trunk.
He didn’t close his eyes.
His body needed rest.
His situation wouldn’t allow it.
So he did something Black Hound had taught him many years ago.
He waited better than the other guy.
Nearly an hour later, the Nightfang raised its head.
A sound came from somewhere deep in the forest.
Distant.
A long bellow.
The animal answered.
Then stood.
Raven watched it scent the air.
Predator’s Instinct didn’t register immediate hostility.
The creature looked at the tree one last time.
Then disappeared into the vegetation.
Raven waited another twenty minutes.
Not out of fear.
Common sense.
When he finally climbed down, his muscles were stiff and his left arm burned.
The first Nightfang’s corpse had disappeared downstream.
That bothered him.
Not because he’d grown attached to the animal.
Because he now knew he’d lost food.
And potentially something else.
Raven looked at his hand.
"Predation."
The interface appeared.
"PREDATION"
Authority Level: 1
Acquired Traits:
"Predator’s Instinct"
Predation Capacity per Target: 1
Experience: 14 / 100
Raven read every line.
Mentally selected the Trait.
"Predator’s Instinct — Passive Trait"
Enhances instinctive interpretation of hostile intent, predatory behavior, environmental danger, and combat-related sensory information.
Effectiveness increases with user experience and sensory development.
Raven closed the interface.
The feeling was still strange.
He hadn’t forgotten how he’d acquired it.
The system had identified the part of the Nightfang where that particular characteristic was concentrated.
Brain.
He’d had to crack open the skull.
Cut out a small piece.
And swallow it.
The flesh had been warm. Soft. With a metallic taste he could still remember if he thought about it too much.
Raven had done many unpleasant things in his life.
That had managed to rank surprisingly high on the list.
But it worked.
That was what mattered.
He hadn’t magically absorbed the ability by touching a corpse.
He had eaten part of the Nightfang.
And now something that had belonged to that creature existed inside him.
Raven ran his tongue along the inside of his mouth.
He could still remember the taste.
"I hope they aren’t all like that."
The system didn’t answer.
He needed water. Food. Shelter. Information.
And another creature.
Because he still had a question.
The Nightfang had mainly offered physical Traits.
If he found an animal capable of using that strange energy he’d seen...
could he eat its magic too?
Raven started walking.
This time, he wasn’t only looking for a way out of the forest.
He was also looking for prey.
The light came slowly.
It wasn’t a normal sunrise.
First, the red moon disappeared below the horizon. Then the sky shifted into a deep violet. Finally, a strip of orange appeared between the treetops.
Raven had been walking for almost two hours.
He had found fruit.
Hadn’t eaten it.
Mushrooms.
Those either.
A squirrel-like creature covered in bony plates disappeared when it saw him.
Another six-legged animal vanished into a burrow.
Neither was worth spending the energy required to hunt it.
The forest became less dense toward the west.
That was where he found something strange.
Ash.
Raven crouched.
It wasn’t from a campfire.
It lay scattered across the ground in small circles.
He touched one.
Cold.
There was another farther ahead.
Then another.
A trail.
He followed it.
Ten minutes later, he heard something.
Crk.
Pause.
Crk.
Not branches breaking.
It sounded more like small stones striking each other.
Raven advanced in a crouch and slowly parted a fern.
The creature was on the other side.
At first glance, it looked like a large lizard.
About three feet from snout to tail. Low body. Reddish scales. Four thick legs ending in black claws. A ridge of dark plates ran along its back.
But the interesting part was beneath its neck.
An orange sac of skin slowly inflated and deflated.
Every time it did, tiny sparks escaped between its teeth.
Raven watched.
The creature bit into a round fruit that had fallen from a tree.
Chewed it.
Then opened its mouth.
A small burst of flame appeared.
It scorched the fruit’s outer skin.
Raven remained perfectly still.
"There you are."
Magic.
Or something close enough.
Predator’s Instinct wasn’t reacting nearly as strongly as it had with the Nightfang.
That suggested a lesser threat.
Not enough of a reason to get careless.
Raven studied the terrain.
Lizard. Thirteen feet. Rock to the right. Fallen trunk behind it.
The sac beneath its neck looked important.
If the system required him to eat the part responsible for an ability...
he’d rather not destroy it.
He picked up a small stone.
Threw it to the left.
Tap.
The lizard turned.
Raven moved.
Three quick steps.
The creature noticed him.
The orange sac inflated.
Raven saw the sequence.
Throat. Jaw. Deep breath.
The magic wasn’t instantaneous.
The lizard opened its mouth.
Raven had already moved out of the line of fire.
A short burst of flame passed beside his arm.
Heat.
Effective range: roughly six feet.
Raven kicked the creature in the side.
The lizard rolled.
Its tail struck Raven’s leg.
Moderate pain.
He drove the metal fragment behind one of its front legs.
The creature shrieked.
Tried to bite him.
Raven pulled the weapon free.
Stepped back.
The sac inflated again.
Two seconds.
Maybe three.
The Nightfang had been far more dangerous.
Raven let it fire.
The burst of flame caught a bush.
Leaves ignited.
Raven advanced immediately afterward.
Knee against its torso.
Left hand trapping the jaw.
Right hand positioning the metal point at the base of its skull.
He pushed.
The creature thrashed.
Raven adjusted the angle.
Second thrust.
The point punched through.
Its body went rigid.
Then still.
Raven remained on top of it for several seconds.
Nothing.
He pulled the weapon free.
"Better."
He placed a hand against the scales.
The interface appeared.
"Compatible defeated organism detected."
Target: Cinderback Lizard
Level: 4
Rank: Common
Predation available.
Raven sat beside the body.
Compatible Traits detected: 3
First option.
"Heat Resistance"
Required biological source: Dermal tissue.
Increases tolerance to environmental heat and minor thermal damage.
Second.
"Cinder Scales"
Required biological source: Scale bed / dermal tissue.
Slightly reinforces skin against cutting and heat.
Third.
Raven stopped.
"Ember Spark"
Type: Magical Trait
Required biological source: Flame Gland.
Allows the user to convert a small quantity of internal mana into flame.
Power scales with Mana, control, and Trait development.
Another message appeared beneath it.
Current Predation Capacity: 1 Trait
Select Trait to DEVOUR.
Raven looked at the orange sac beneath the creature’s throat.
Then back at the description.
"Ember Spark."
"Ember Spark selected."
To initiate Predation, consume sufficient tissue from the Cinderback Flame Gland.
Warning: Trait acquisition will destroy the consumed biological material.
Raven remained still.
He had expected the instruction.
Even so...
He looked at the lizard.
Then at the system.
Then back at the lizard.
"Of course."
He drew his knife.
Carefully opened the skin beneath its throat.
The smell hit immediately.
Blood. Warm meat. And something resembling sulfur.
Raven separated the tissue until he found the gland.
It was an oval sac of dark orange flesh threaded with small black blood vessels. Even after death, it remained warm.
He touched it with the tip of his knife.
The system reacted.
"Cinderback Flame Gland"
Trait present: "Ember Spark"
Raven cut off a small section.
A thick reddish liquid seeped from the opening.
He smelled the piece.
Mistake.
Up close, the odor was even worse.
Burned meat. Metal. Sulfur.
Raven held it in front of his eyes for a second.
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