The four of them had been watching the whole thing, from it crashing into the ground to it getting hit by the lightning strike. When they saw it whole body covered in a deep violet color they were shocked but their shock only grew as they saw it get hit by the thick bolt of lightning.
Traves who had observed its level was shocked as well. He knew it was a level 5 but the only other monster he'd seen reach level five just grew in size and strength and was nothing like this, it was like one merely picked up a rock and skipped it across the lake while the other needed to take a mountain and toss it across the ocean.
Rowan, Jackson and Bruno had been told its level by Traves and thought it would be on par if not just slightly stronger than Bruno but it seemed like they were wrong, very wrong. As they witnessed the bolt hit the dragon in front of them Bruno noticed a stream of blood flowing from the creases of the dragons mouth, it was injured.
He looked towards the other three with a glint in his eye. "Prepare for a fight, its injured. Although it may be stronger than me as long as we work together we should be fine."
his hands slowly covered themselves in a thin flame as the gloves he wore burned off into ash. Jackson gave a low grunt as his body seemed to inflate and swell with his muscles bulging. Traves' metal gauntlets started to glow and let off a green light. Rowan lowered himself as his legs glowed with a black light.
The lightning stopped and the dragon was revealed. The injured weak state they were expecting wasn't there. Instead it was replaced with a perfectly fine looking dragon that suddenly glanced in their direction causing the four of them to slightly jump.
Bruno had an immense pressure weigh upon him as the dragon gazed at him. Although they were separated by a large distance it was nothing for anything above level 5 to cross that distance within seconds. Jackson, wasn't well off either as he was sweating literal buckets trying to maintain his current form. Traves and Rowan needed to back off in front of the pressure and retreated ten meters before they felt it was bearable.
Bruno tried staring at the dragon but his eyes would not meet its gaze. 'Just its looking in this direction gives off this much pressure...What would happen if it hit us?'
A powerful roar escaped its mouth as its wings once more unfurled and with a single flap it disappeared from their sight. Becoming a dot in their vision in a few seconds, Bruno fell to his knees as he gasped for breath as jackson immediately shrunk to his normal size and collapsed to the ground.
Rowan and Traves also collapsed while gasping for breath, they couldn't move a single muscle. It was a truly terrifying feeling. They felt like they were being stared down like they were prey.
They thought in unison. 'Damn you Bruno, telling us it was injured...'
---------------------
He stared at the four and two of them reatreated out of his vision but the other two stood at the edge looking like they were in pain. One was about to collapse while the other was trying to meet his gaze with difficulty.
'Why do they look so scared of me?'
[As a being with a higher bloodline than them Host can induce a pressure on them that makes them fearful of Host.]
'So I can suppress humans easily?'
[If they are of a lower level than Host.]
It was interesting thing indeed but he needed to get out of here before stronger people arrive. He unfurled his wings and flew out of the crater before soaring towards the the center of the forest.
------------
3 hours later....
'Is there a cave anywhere?'
He had flown towards the center of the forest because after he reached level five there seemed to be a force calling him there and he wanted to investigate. Thought had told him that it was most likely a being that had reached the pinnacle, those beings had reached level 9 and were bordering level 10.
Now he was merely searching for a cave to look at his new things. It was quite hard to find a cave opening to hold his body that had grown to 10 meters. Including his wings his width was around 40 meters.
'If I can't find a cave, let's make one!'
Landing next to cliff he charged up a [Venom Spit] and fired it at the stone. As it hit a loud sizzling sound was heard and it quickly ate through the wall of stone. He waited for it stop before firing another one...and another one....and another....
Eventually he was just spitting saliva as he had essentially drained his entire supply of poison. He walked into his new abode and could see that all of the surfaces had a green and purple tint to them. Getting comfortable he laid down on the ground and looked through the system.
[Level up!] x2
[You have created the skill [Poison Barrier] without the aid of a talent or organ, you have been awarded 2 points to Intelligence.]
[You have broken through the extreme limits of your level and have angered the Heavens! A skill has been created!
He became gloomy at the thought of having to suffer from a Tribulation like that each time. He needed a way to protect his body from the inside as well as from the outside, he needed more skills.
'But how can I get skills?'
[Host has forgotten that the shop is open.]
He smacked his forehead with his claw. 'I did..'
He opened the shop and looked at the skill tab and sorted them by the cheapest to the most expensive. The cheapest were those of the physical kind while the most expensive kinds seemed to be those dealing with the laws of the world.
He picked the ones that would benefit the current him, although he couldn't buy them currently he could save points until he could.
[Bone Forging]-Passive
[Mental Barrier]-Active/Passive
[Poison Control]-Passive
[Poison Magic]-Active
'These are the ones I need the most.'
The [Mental Barrier] is especially useful as now he wouldn't be looked down upon by anything with a lower level than him. The [Bone Forging] was just to increase his Strength and Constitution so he wouldn't go down as easily while the [Poison Control] and [Poison Magic] were to increase his deadly poison to unfathomable level.
The only thing that was bad were the prices. Each one cost over a thousand points. It would take him quite a while to gather that many points but he needed to anyway. He needed to check the quests after he confirmed some things.
He did need to know what this Essence the skill spoke of was though. He could think of it as mana but he didn't want to make accusations. 'Thought, what's this Essence thing?'
[Essence is an energy that exists within most things, living and nonliving, even Host is made of Essence. An Essence Sea is a metaphorical organ that is in the head and it contains the Essence type of the User.]
'So its like Magic?'
[Yes.]
He thought about it and realised that not everything can be called what you want it to be called. Although it would be easier to call it Mana he live with it anyway. 'I haven't checked my stats yet.'
A screen appeared before him and his expression burst into a grin. His mandibles clacked together in happiness as he looked at the screen.
[Name: N/A]
[Race: Unknown (No name has been given)]
[Level: 5]
[Stats]
Strength: 324
Vigor: 216
Agility: 351
Intelligence: 272
Constitution: 378
'How the hell did my stats reach that high, didn't you say that the average stats of a level 5 was 81!?'
[Yes, the 'average'.]
'Why'd you exaggerate average?'
[After a creature hits level five, if they have an unawakened bloodline from aeons ago it will awaken within them causing their stats to skyrocket.]
'So how would I rank among those that have awakened stat wise?'
[...Garbage.]
He shook his head as he was shocked at what thought just called him. 'What was that thought? I would rank what?'
[Hosts current status is nothing that most beasts can handle at level 5, but compared to the beasts that have awakened their ancient bloodlines hosts current stats are worthless.]
'So, among fifth level awakened beasts, I'm nothing but a bug?'
[Host is correct.]
He sighed as he thought about his current predicament. He needed those points but he also needed the stats required to gain those points. It was a truly sad thing. Thinking this he opened the quest tab and tens of quests appeared before him.
[Hunt ten creatures that are equal to or higher than your current level.]
[Kill a creature one or more levels above you.]
[Create a new skill.]
[Explore the depths of the forest.]
Scrolling through them he noticed that it seemed like there was a sudden increase in difficulty after a while. 'Do quests get harder as I level up?'
[As Host levels up more quests are added, these new quests are suited for the current host but there is one that is added that may be difficult for host. The quests that are difficult for Host are marked with a red border.]
'I see.'
He nodded as THought explained he had seen a few of these 'Hard' quests while scrolling and they were quite eye catching. Though since they would be difficult for even the current him he ignored them.
He chose the first four as they each gave around 200 points while the one for creating a skill gave 750 points and it was a recurring quest. He was going to take his time so that he could grasp his strength as he did them but Thoughts emotionless voice rang out.
[Quest(s) have been accepted. Host has 1 week to complete all of them.]
'Damnnit.'