Seed of Titan-Chapter 117: Deer Hunting

’A deer?’ Drai exclaimed. The animal he saw was shaped like one, but its hind legs were overly supple, and dark green stripes covered its whole body in a motif similar to a tiger’s fur.

Drai’s stomach suddenly rumbled again, as if urging him to make a move.

’Fresh meat for breakfast, huh?’ Drai thought as he kept his eyes locked on the strange deer.

Although Drai loved meat, he had never hunted before, so he was a bit unsure on how to proceed with the hunt. After deliberating briefly, he finally decided to treat it like a normal fight.

’I’ll just dash in and smack its head. Hopefully, he dies on the spot or at least passes out.’

Having settled on his strategy, Drai carefully lifted a rock from the barricade, trying his best to stay quiet as he stored it in his bracelet. 𝒻𝓇𝑒𝘦𝘸𝑒𝒷𝓃ℴ𝑣𝘦𝑙.𝒸ℴ𝘮

However, Drai had underestimated his prey’s hearing. The moment he removed the rock from its position, the deer’s long pointy ears suddenly perked up. A second later, it bolted in the opposite direction from Drai’s hiding spot.

"Wait up!" Drai yelled as he launched himself forward, blasting through the rocks. He looked a bit flustered, not expecting the strange deer to be so sensitive and react this quickly.

Unfortunately, the deer was too fast for Drai, who had a rather low agility. Swerving deftly through the foliage, the deer would only need a few more seconds to disappear from Drai’s sight.

’Looks like I’ll have to use my skill,’ Drai thought upon realizing that he was about to be left in the dust.

Without hesitation, Drai rapidly enlarged until he was double his original size. His now wider strides proved to be effective, as he was closing the distance between him and his prey at an impressive rate.

Soon, he was only a couple yards away behind the striped deer, which seemed to be running even faster.

After calculating the distance, Drai launched himself forward, pouncing at the deer with his right fist clenched.

"Gotcha!"

But unbeknownst to Drai, the deer had a trick up its proverbial sleeve.

After noticing the incoming attack, the strange deer suddenly braked, its front legs digging hard into the ground. With its body tilting forward slightly, the deer slammed its bulky hind legs backward.

Drai was caught off guard by the deer’s counterattack and didn’t have time to defend. However, his face didn’t look too bothered, as he believed that his tough body would easily shrug of the impact.

Or so he thought.

The moment both of the deer’s hooves struck Drai’s chest, a light flashed, and a force blasted him away, sending him spinning through the air.

With a loud thud, Drai’s back slammed into a tree.

"Ouch!" Drai yelped as he fell to the ground.

Meanwhile, the strange deer quickly ran off, dashing between the trees before leaping over a bush, disappearing from sight.

Drai sat up, looing pretty baffled. He had never seen an animal use such an ability before.

After a short moment, he finally shook his head and deactivated his skill, shrinking back to his normal size.

Lowering his gaze, Drai saw a scorch mark between his pecs. He brushed his finger over it and felt a little sting.

’Luckily the power was pretty weak. But I didn’t expect it to blast me away like that.’

Drai lifted his finger from his small wound and sniffed it.

’Hmm... It kinda smells like grilled meat. Oh shit—now I feel even hungrier...’

Drai stood up and inspected his surroundings, but he couldn’t spot any other animals.

’So much for my first hunt...’ he sighed. ’I wonder if the other animals here also have some sort of offensive ability. It’s pretty interesting, though. The wild animals back in Pontia were mostly harmless. Otherwise, Mom wouldn’t have allowed me to train alone around the hill.’

As Drai was pondering this, his eyes abruptly widened as realization struck him.

’Mysterious substances in the air, towering trees, no comm coverage, strange animals with powers... Holy shit, am I in a wilderness?!’

Drai glanced around once more, taking in the sight. The surrounding jungle had suddenly become far more fascinating to him.

The wilderness was something known by nearly everyone, as most people had heard of countless stories regarding such places—some captivating, others terrifying.

All Preps in Rivideria also made sure to adequately inform their pre-evolved youngsters about the dangers lurking within these various wildernesses. After all, one could easily overestimate their newfound power and venture recklessly into a wilderness, not realizing that nature was often much more powerful, savage, and unforgiving.

But Drai hadn’t spent too many years in the Prep, so he wasn’t as apprehensive toward the wilderness compared to the average person. Rather than fear, he was filled with exhilaration.

Smiling in excitement, Drai skipped toward the tree that he had slammed into earlier and eagerly rubbed its rough bark.

"Come on, tree. Show me some abilities worthy of a wilderness..."

But to Drai’s disappointment, nothing happened even after he kept molesting the trunk for a whole minute.

With both hands on his waist, Drai eyed the tree up and down, looking slightly perplexed.

"I thought all the trees in a wilderness would have powers like the Deepwilds Siproot. Is this not the case? Hmm... Maybe this isn’t enough to trigger its abilities. Let’s try attacking it then."

Having said this, Drai sent a quick jab, causing the tree to shake slightly.

He waited ten seconds more seconds—nothing happened.

"Still no reaction, huh? Then how about this?"

Drai twisted his body and launched a hook. With a sharp cracking sound, his fist broke through the thick bark and deeply punctured the trunk.

Keeping his hand lodged in the tree, Drai waited for another half-minute before sighing in disappointment.

"So, either not all the things here have special abilities, or this place might not actually be a wilderness at all..."

Drai let out another sigh and was ready to retract his arm, but upon gazing at his lodged hand, he suddenly had an idea.