Insect Ruler
10 - Hunting

Ryuu is shocked when he awakens, waking up from his nightmare due to a nearby voice. The dream did not last long, and he immediately felt awake, immediately sitting down.

The night was almost silent, except for a few scattered insects and rustling leaves. The fire was small at night, though it still gave off enough light so that he could see his surroundings clearly.

Piles of stones, pieces of vines, and wood were located next to his campsite. After a moment of looking around, he saw what woke him up. From the edge of the forest, he saw a white figure approaching. Two eyes glowed softly in the darkness.

He picked up the two best stones he found, which he placed next to the place he slept on top of the pile of leaves he had collected.

Then Ryuu took a step to the side and carefully picked up the burning stick in his right hand, waving it for a moment from side to side.

His potential opponent was a big cat with white. To him, he looked slightly larger than a white tiger in general. He watched as the creature walked over cautiously, ryuu's heart skipped a beat.

After a while, another panel status box appeared at the edge of his view, and did not block his view.

..."[[.Macan White— Level?]"...

He hissed at her, a protracted and terrible voice that he did not know he was capable of. The big cat stopped.

Ryuu took a few steps forward slowly and waved his artificial torch. “Stay away from me!,” she exclaimed, trying to sound confident and intimidating. “There is no food for you here.”

The white tiger stopped. As far as Ryuu could tell, he seemed hesitant, probably wondering if the potential food was worth it. At least he wasn't as aggressive as that monster duck.

Ryuu took a deep breath, then focused on the feeling of energy within him. He focused his gaze on the bushel of grass right in front of the cat, then unleashed his magic.

It felt more difficult than any training, as if he had to break through the barrier actively fighting him, but after a while of struggling, he succeeded.

[Which: 80/100]

Burned reeds. The white tiger was not close enough to burn by him, but the white tiger kept retreating while hissing at ryuu.

"Groaar!!"

Ryuu should have a little more mana. But it will take longer than previous experiments, probably because of the long distance.

But he managed to do so, and the tiger seemed to understand the message. He stared intently at the object, without blinking, while holding his torch which was like a flashlight. After a while, he disappeared into the darkness of the forest which made ryuu calm again.

Ryuu put two new branches into his fire and sat back down with a sigh. He should have had enough firewood to last the night. And he clearly has better low-light vision than a human.

He continued to sit there for a while, listening to the sound of the night and observing the edges of the forest and the hills.

After some time when everything calmed down, he gave in to his drowsiness and lay back down, closing his eyes. It still took a while for him to fall asleep.

The rest of the night was silent, no more distractions. When Ryuu blinked his eyes the next morning and woke up, he saw he had slept for most of the day. He yawned and squirmed, still feeling tired.

Hopefully one day he can get a good night's sleep. But he woke himself up and started his day. There's a lot he has to do.

The egg seemed to grow overnight, at least a little. He found it hard to estimate how big the creatures inside were. It may be a little smaller than the egg.

"I should have paid more attention to him."

Not that comparisons will help. He did not know what was inside, but he really doubted that it was someone else who transmigrated into this world just like him. It doesn't feel right. But that's just an estimate.

Still, Ryuu felt a little anxious with the increase in size. If there were monsters inside the egg that turned out to be hostile, bigger monsters would give him more trouble. Still, his instincts did not want him to leave that egg. And they must know more about this than the humanitarian side of his mind.

He shook his head and left, returning to the forest to begin the plan he had made when he tried to sleep. Ryuu took a while to find another berry bush, and when he was hungry, he did not take all the berries he could reach.

They may have to endure for a while. He really wanted to get more meat, but he had to be careful. After that, he went to the river which was again empty except for a few birds, then returned to his tent.

He spent some frustrating hours trying to make simple tools and objects that he could use. It seems more difficult than setting a trap. He had a wooden stick and vines that he used as ropes, but did not know how to use them.

However, after a while he managed to put up some simple sling that was hopefully quite hidden, and another elaborate trap involving a young tree that he bent back and tied with vines.

They are all targeted at small wildlife in the forest. Ryuu knows he doesn't have much hope that his job can handle larger animals.

He also managed to make himself a rough spear, nothing more than a sharp stone hunk tied to the straightest stick he could find. He was a little doubtful whether it would work better than his claws.

Fully armed, Ryuu set out on a bit of exploration, to get to know the surrounding region better. He didn't want to go too far away from that egg, but there were still some places he hadn't explored yet close enough.

It took him a few hours, as he walked slowly and took the time to carefully inspect the places of interest, as well as return to check out his campsite periodically.

He saw a few more predators or monsters, but only from a distance, and avoided them as best he could.

The most interesting thing he found was some other plants given by the strange system's panel status. To him, none of them looked as useful as vines.

Perhaps the drugs had health-related effects, but the blue box did not mention them and Ryuu had no interest in experimenting on himself. He still carefully remembered the location and appearance, just in case it turned out to be relevant.

Maybe it will be useful for some experiments later. It smelled just like any other forest plant, and he wasn't sure if it smelled enough to recognize it.

He hoped his inhuman sense of smell would help him protect himself from monsters, but the white tiger last night appeared against the wind from him. Other hunters may be smart enough to do the same.

In the end, Ryuu was quite familiar with the surrounding area. When he returned to his camp, he drew a rough map on the ground with a stick, though he didn't really need it to remember what he had seen.

It seemed that the surrounding area was mostly forest, with the river splitting it with a slightly meandering path. The best marker besides that is its own location.

Farther west, he found another cluster of hills, which slowly grew more frequent and turned into a low, mostly forested mountain range. He wasn't entirely sure, but he thought there might be a larger mountain range in the distance.

He needed a day with clear skies, no dust in the air, and a strategic place to check it out. Hopefully he can see those mountain peaks more clearly, if that's what he sees.

He had not found any signs of civilization so far, but he also could not see deep into the forest to the east. It was possible that there was a village in the open just a few kilometers from here and he would not know about it.

You might even reach the end of the forest and some small towns or big cities are no further away than that. At least that's ryuu's hope.

Of course, there did not seem to be any air pollution he could detect, and he saw an extremely clear sky with countless stars at night.

It was much more than what Ryuu thought he had seen before, and he could not remember the specific incident. This suggests that he was far in the wild, far away from any city, or that the local civilization was at a low level of technology. He's not sure which one he chose.

But apparently, if he felt he really had to leave, he could always throw some tree trunks into the water and try to ride them down the river.

But for now, he had access to water, at least food, and had not been eaten by monsters. This place isn't too bad, if she has to be stranded alone in the wilderness.

Ryuu remained outside until daylight began to fade again. Then he rested for a moment, collected more firewood, and decided to immediately check his trap before he went into the river again.

To his surprise, one of his traps caught something. It was a circle made of vines that now held a small hairy beast hanging on a tree. He carefully stabbed her with a stick before starting to lower her.

The catch looks like a rabbit, or maybe a rabbit? Ryuu is not clear of the difference. He thought his ears were a bit short and his teeth were a bit too sharp, but all he knew, it was actually normal.

He rearranges his traps as best as he can, as these are his most successful traps so far, before he brings his prey back to his camp.

Arriving there, he used the sharpest stone he could find to try to skin him. His claws might be better, but he didn't like the idea of using his fingers for this bloody thing.

His instincts strongly encouraged him to eat it, and he had to swallow his saliva regularly. But he wants to keep his skin, if he can.

Unfortunately, the stone was not up to his task, and he made it a little messy. At least he managed to avoid getting his intestines pierced. He took it out and threw it aside, grimacing because of the smell. He should bury her later.

This job is bleeding more than he wants. But, as Ryuu knew when he involuntarily licked his claws clean, his blood did not feel too bad.

He stopped thinking about it, then shook his head and continued. He carefully pulled out the rabbit's teeth and some of its veins. Then he finally succumbed to the temptation and cut off a piece of meat to eat directly.

"It feels good."

He was afraid that there was something about the monster that made it taste good, but perhaps the species only liked meat. Raw meat. Ryuu grimaced and immediately put a larger piece on top of the stick in order to cover the fire.

He waited impatiently, slipped the stick between some stones and used the other stone to dig a hole for the trash. Then he took his food from the fire, though it was still a bit undercooked, and ate it.

Still good. Looks like the species can at least eat cooked food.

If only he had a drink, tonight would have been more fun.