She was walking through the forest in search of some interesting tracks to latch onto.
Her [Hunter’s perception] helped her notice things she would never see otherwise, even tiny stuff, like squirrel claw marks on tree bark.
But she was pretty weirded out by what she found around noon, the day after she finished smoking hogzilla.
(Speaking of which, trying different woods and taste testing brought her [Hunter’s perception] up two levels. This revelation was enough for her to jump with joy.
Who wouldn’t be happy from something like that. Getting to eat delicious pork, and passing it off as necessary action for raising her prowess?)
She could think of several people who would get very green from envy.
And now she discovered something just as interesting.
The newly found track were sinusoidal, and looked kinda like bald motorbike wheels, except for that to be true, the driver would have to had gotten dipped in a barrel of moonshine beforehand.
So yeah, they were interesting tracks.
Irena, being a curious lass, went after whatever made them.
Figuring out in which direction this thing was heading wasn’t immediately obvious. She had to go both ways first, and compare the intensity of the smell, grounds humidity, and such.
Finally, she picked the direction, and started running.
Ding!
[Untouching stride] Reaches level 6
Ding!
[Hunter’s perception] reaches level 9
‘Nice’
The job got easier.
Suddenly, she felt a gaze upon her back.
(Normally people shouldn’t sense something like that, there is no gaze receptors.
But sometimes, your body will come to weird conclusions seemingly for no reason.
We call it simply intuition, but it’s actually something much too fascinating to dismiss with just a word.
Multitude of different senses, half of which you aren’t even aware of, detect something, and your body arbitrarily chooses to inform you of danger, based on previous experiences, or ingrained instincts.)
That being said, all that fascinating crap is truly of no concern to someone who is ‘Feeling a gaze’ in a dark forest.
Which is why, Irena was only thinking of beating whatever decided to hunt her.
She focused, and charged up her [Ethical Strike], without pulling her machete from its sheath.
The moment she heard a noise, she dodged left, and drawn her weapon.
It was good that she dodged, because if she didn’t, a big ass snake would taste her ass cheeks.
She eyed the thing, immediately noticing its girth, length, and the way its muscles bulged under its shining skin.
It turned around to face her with its single eye.
She focused.
[Titanoboa LV. ??]
‘Huh. You look like a veteran’
The carnivorous noodle of doom seemed to be about twice as long as Irena.
She had to keep her distance. It was obviously a bad idea to start wrestling with this snake.
And it’s body looked much too firm to suffocate it with her bare hands.
The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.
Luckily, she brought a shovel.
[Ethical Strike] Already prepared, she decided to wait for another charge.
But it didn’t come. Instead, the snake turned around, flicked its tail, and started slithering away, leaving behind tracks much the same as the ones Irena was following until its attack.
‘This damn thing wants me to chase it just so it could ambush me again.’
She wouldn’t allow it.
Sure, maybe she was slower than a titanoboa, as it started gaining distance despite her best efforts to catch up, but that didn’t mean she had no tricks up her sleeve.
She might’ve been no longer human, but she could still throw shit. And other things.
The distance was still small enough to throw her machete with a no spin technique.
‘Please [Ethical strike] don’t dissipate before you hit that damn noodle!’
It didn’t.
The machete hit the snake somewhere halfway up its tail.
(Or was it a body? Where does snake’s tale ends and body begins, anyway?)
Ding!
[Ethical strike] reaches level 5
The murder noodle turned around, and this time, charged Irena. But its slithering was no longer swift.
‘The fucker has a broken spine now.’
If this noodle of suffocation got cut in half, it could probably still move swiftly for a while.
But it was forced to drag its tail instead.
Irena grinned ear to ear, and charged her opened hand with [Ethical strike] again.
The noodle of untamed appetite looked at her with unrestrained rage. One of its eyes was most likely lost in a battle fought in the past.
The other gazed upon Irena, and flashed with intent.
The snake shot in her direction, its fangs bare, but she grabbed it behind its head with full might of her forearm, and 50 points of mana.
It really worked and looked like those russian gunpowder powered shears, ripping a solid chunk of snake flesh off.
Fortunately, that was enough to tame it's charge. Irena grabbed it in her arms, and squeezed.
She and the snake had a bit of a disagreement. The serpent wanted to live, and Irena, well... disagreed.
The argument was going to be brought to a closure with a squeezing contest.
The snake almost managed to envelope her body with its formidable girth, but not before Irena charged up another [Ethical strike].
It spasmed, almost breaking her ribs and a leg in the process, but after that short struggle, went still.
{You have slained [Tytanoboa]} {For defeating a foe 30 or more levels above your own, additional experience has been granted.}
Ding!
{[Ethical strike] reaches level 6}
Ding!
{[Hunter's perception] reaches level 10}
Ding!
[Giant Longhunter] reaches level 10} {Stat points awarded.}
'Wow, that gave me a lot of levels. Is it because we were both hunting each other?'
'Anyway, take that, you shitty snake. Noodles belong in spaghetti.'
She unraveled the firm, long body of the animal to free herself, and grunted in pain.
Ding!
{[Self regeneration] Reaches level 4}
'Yeah, one step closer to losing and regrowing my limbs like a lizard! Even if I'm lacking in tail department.'
She looked at the slain snake.
“Okay, maybe I have enough tail for now, even if it’s not mine.’
She had to figure out how to prepare food out of it. She hailed from a relatively cold country, and her experience with snakes was very small.
Nonexistent when it came to eating them.
‘But that’ll never stop Irena Bestla’
She grabbed the serpent carcass, and began dragging it away. It didn’t take much effort, as most of it could easily be dragged along the ground.
It was easy to handle, as once tense body of the one eyed snake went limp after the climax of their battle.
Once Irena dragged the carcass to her humble abode, she dumped the body on the ground.
The [Dismantle] skill was a beautiful thing. There was no way she would normally be able to butcher a gigantic snake correctly, but her skill had shown her the way.
She stripped the snake of its skin, and disposed of the entrails.
She assumed the serpent to have bled out sufficiently when it was being dragged by its tail.
She cut it into portions.
Ding!
[Dismantle] reaches level 3.
She would smoke most of it, and try to roast the rest. But first, she would go over her status.
Name: Irena Bestla
Class 1: [Giant Longunter] LV. 10
Stat points:24
Class skills:
[Hunter’s perception] LV. 10
[Untouching stride] LV. 6
[Ethical strike]LV. 6
Innate skills:
{Size manipulation} LV. 1
{Faes’ shyness} LV. 1
{Self regeneration} LV. 4
General skills:
{Identify} LV. 1
{Maata Standard language, LV 3.}
{Linguistic Leap, LV 5}
{Flame manipulation. LV. 6}
{Dismantle LV. 3}
{Biological poison resistance} LV. 1
Stats:
Vitality: 30
Endurance: 25
Strength: 66
Intelligence: 20
Dexterity: 20
Wisdom: 20
Health : 300/300
Mana 200/200
Stamina 250/250]
She had to distribute those stat points again.
The strength stat was pretty cool. She couldn’t just dump everything into it, but increase in strength made her life a lot easier. It made sense, now that she knew she was a giant.
If the dryad told the truth, Irena was at least four times taller than a regular person. Maybe five.
Which meant being anywhere from sixty four, to one hundred and twenty five times heavier than normal people.
Of course her strength was high right off the bat. She wouldn’t be able to move otherwise.
Her wisdom needed touching up, now that her [Ethical strike] would cost her 60 MP every time she used it.
Vitality would be nice.
Dexterity could wait a bit.
Intelligence wouldn’t.
Stats:
Vitality: 35
Endurance: 25
Strength: 70
Intelligence: 25
Dexterity: 20
Wisdom: 30
Health : 350/350
Mana 300/300
Stamina 250/250]
‘Done. It’s meal time.’
………………..
Once she tried the meat, it appeared gamey, like a mix of chicken and pork, with heavy hint of fish.
‘I really need veggies and spices.’
She was lucky to find at least stuff like a stinging nettle.
'Let's level up and see the faces of locals when a giant strolls into some town and asks for cooking equipment.'
Irena couldn't wait.