The growl sounded like it came from something much smaller than the predator from the night before. Unfortunately, it still sounded plenty large enough to kill me. I didn’t even bother turning to look behind me before I dashed behind a nearby tree. I heard something softly impact the spot where I had just stood.

Fumbling for the knife at my side, I turned to face my foe. I only barely had time to glance at the leopard before it leapt towards me. I was mostly successful at dodging, suffering nothing more than a torn shirt.

I wasn’t quite so lucky when the big cat took a swing at me with its claw. Painful red lines marred my left arm as the claw raked over my skin. It didn’t seem terribly deep, but it was certainly distracting.

Even on my best day, I wouldn’t want to fight anything this fast. I knew that I didn’t stand a chance in a fair fight, as there was no way that I would be able to land a blow with my knife without getting mauled.

In my desperation, I pulled at the mana from my pool. I would have found the ease with which I could draw upon it astonishing were I not completely focused on not dying.

Normally, mana sense was a very carefully structured arrangement of mana that provided carefully tailored feedback to the caster. That wasn’t what I needed as I tore the formation away from my body and flung most of it onto the cat. The part of the spell I didn’t include was the limiter.

As the spell latched onto the leopard, I emptied every last wisp of mana I could into the predator’s face. It left me feeling strangely hollow, but I didn’t have time to consider it further.

The leopard yowled in agony and thrashed about blindly. The phantom pain from my overloaded spell probably felt something like being lit on fire. Fortunately for the cat, the spell didn’t inflict any real injury. The same could not be said for my knife as it sank into its neck.

I had to let go of my knife as the cat took a final, poorly aimed snap at me. I was lucky enough to have struck something vital, because the cat didn’t last long enough to attempt another bite.

After a tentative poke to make sure the cat was actually dead, I retrieved my dagger. I tried to calm my breathing, as I tore a strip from my eviscerated shirt. The strange feeling from emptying my mana pool was slowly fading as I bound my bleeding arm.

Wondering if the system had anything to say about the hollowness I was feeling, I tried calling up my interface.

Nothing happened. I tried again, only to get a similar result. My subsequent attempts also proved fruitless.

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As the hollow sensation faded away, my interface finally appeared.

Warning: System mana low. Some abilities may be unresponsive.

Name: Kyo —-----

Class: System Initiate (2/10, 58%)

Boons:

System interface

Mana Pool

I looked at the warning in surprise. In retrospect, it made sense that the system needed mana to function. When I tore out all of the mana I could from my body, apparently I accidentally took some of what the system needed.

I figured it would probably be a good idea to avoid overdrawing again in the future. The mana pool the system gave me saved my life. There was no way I could have mustered up enough power to stun the leopard without it. Unless absolutely necessary, I didn’t want to damage the system if it was going to give me more boons like that.

Wincing as I finished tying the bandage in place, I tried to figure out what to do next. A growl from my stomach answered the question for me. I hadn’t had a chance to eat after getting chased halfway across the jungle.

The cat had tried to eat me, so there was a certain justice in carving some meat for my breakfast.

Clearing away some of the vegetation from a circle on the ground, I set to work building a fire. It took me a few tries to twist the mana in the right way to make a spark, but soon I had a small fire going.

I scraped a few strips of meat from the cat’s belly and skewered them on some nearby sticks. I left the meat to cook over the fire as I looked for some water.

I wasn’t concerned about the nearby plants catching fire. Something about the mana inside them made live plants quite difficult to burn.

It didn’t take me long to find a small stream to refill my water skin and wash my face. As per usual, I was careful not to look too closely at my reflection in the water. The meat didn’t take long to cook after I returned, though I did have to chase a line of overly ambitious ants away from my skewers.

While I had eaten many less pleasant things in my life, the leopard was far from enjoyable. The meat was tough and the taste certainly left a lot to be desired. At least it was filling and would hold in my bag for a day or two.

I didn’t linger long after putting out my fire. Few things could draw predators quite like freshly spilled blood.

As I walked cautiously through the jungle, I considered my destination. It was extremely unlikely anyone from Sanctuary Valley had survived. No one would have willingly been caught outside the wards of the valley after nightfall. I also really didn’t want to see what was left after that… thing attacked.

Unfortunately, I would never be able to forgive myself for not looking. Perhaps one of the hunting teams was forced to find shelter outside the valley for some reason? Maybe some people saw the danger coming and evacuated?

I needed to see for myself.