Along the way, Zeke saw a bunch of other animals but he didn't feel the need to fight them. With his enhanced senses, he could roughly tell their strengths and it was very low compared to his right now. He didn't bother doing senseless killings as it will just count as him wasting time. Also, Zeke was pretty much forced to use Cheetah Steps everytime just for him to constantly catch up to the cheetah. He didn't feel aggrieved about it but instead he felt delighted seeing as he's training something even when he's just traveling.
After surveying pretty much the whole outskirts of the forest, Zeke decided who he'd fight out of all the beasts. He instantly included the big gray bear he first saw as he knew its strength isn't something that could be compared to the other beasts. Zeke also planned on trying to hunt the big lion as well as the giant snake. These three were the only beasts that Zeke deemed worthy of fighting in his current level. If he fights any other beasts in the outskirts other than them, it wouldn't pose a threat and excitement to Zeke.
Zeke and the cheetah then traveled again to find one of the three beasts. The duo first saw the big bear slumbering in the middle of a clearing that now had thick vegetation. Zeke could instantly see the bear's gray fur and big stature even from a long distance. He started to feel his heart throb in excitement.
For safety precautions, Zeke laid a bunch of traps in the surrounding areas to serve as distraction should he decide to flee. He then gestured the cheetah to stay in the nearby areas and just watch. He didn't want the cheetah to get harmed since he already got fond of it. Although its speed is unrivaled in the outskirts, Zeke was still worried that the bear might get lucky and hit the cheetah. Seeing the cheetah's small physique compared to the bear's big burly one, Zeke didn't have much confidence in the cheetah's ability to receive a hit.
Zeke then carefully approached the bear. He already cast multiple body-protection spells such as Bone Strengthening, Water Barrier, and Light Shield. The multiple spells stacked up with each other, making Zeke look like a glowing rainbow stick. Unfortunately for Zeke, before he could even approach 10 meters around the bear, it suddenly woke up and roared ferociously, furious that someone dared to sneak attack it while it was asleep.
'Shit! This is not the common Gray Bear!'
*Yes, Zeke. Based on its detection range, it should be the mutation of the Gray Bear, the Silvermoon Bear. These bears are the 'adult' Gray Bears, and their notable strengths arent just their monstrous physical strength, but also for their keen senses. It was so keen that they could even cover a small radius around them even if they're asleep. Be careful, Zeke.*
'I see. I will, System.'
Zeke immediately backed off and rethought his plans. At first, he thought of fighting the bear in a frontal fight, but seeing as the bear's current strength exceeded his imagination, he changed back to his normal guerilla fighting style.
Zeke jumped backward and launched a multitude of spells against the bear. [Fireball], [Dark Slash], and [Electric Discharge] particularly angered the bear as these were projectile spells that the bear had no way of retaliating on. It then howled and charged at Zeke, who was surprised about its speed. In his mind, since the bear is big and bulky, then its speed must've suffered a lot, but right now, it was not the case. The bear, albeit big and bulky, also had the speed that was almost on par with half the cheetah's peak speed. One should know that the cheetah's peak speed could surpass Zeke's own by a slightly large margin, and the bear he's currently fighting right now has half of it. It was a lie to say that Zeke isn't feeling the pressure right now.
However, instead of feeling down and helpless, Zeke instead brimmed with excitement and vigor. Due to his Aura achieving a very high level, the killing intent radiated by Zeke could even be felt by the cheetah 30-40 meters away from them. It shivered and felt like it was in the cold depths of hell as it immediately distanced itself further away from the fight.
Zeke used [Deflect] on the Bear's charging ability. Seeing its own headbutt bounce off from its target, the bear was surprised about its strength getting deflected and it quickly became angrier. It howled and charged again but this time, before it collided with Zeke, it stood and swiped Zeke with its big paws.
Zeke immediately felt the immense power carried by the swipe. By his estimation, if he'd get hit directly by that, his body would be mutilated by the claws immediately. He didn't hesitate and use a backward [Jaguar Step] as he then tried to take the offensive. He took out his spear as he executed [Jaguar Step] again and appeared in front of the bear's chest. [Jaguar Step] had close to no cooldown which pleased Zeke initially but it was all at the cost of high mana consumption. Nevertheless, Zeke felt it was worth it to use it twice in succession just to injure the bear.
The bear was surprised, but it couldn't completely react from Zeke's frontal attack with his spear. It swerved to the side which made it avoid a serious injury. The spear only grazed its shoulder but it was enough for the bear's patience. Its eyes went red, and Zeke knew it was going berserk.
According to the information Zeke read from some books, Silvermoon Bears have a kind of berserk technique that they keep as trump cards. It will only trigger its trump card when it was pushed to the edge, and right now is the same case as the books say. The bear got angry immediately since he couldn't take the humiliation of being injured by a being significantly smaller than it. It howled and madly swiped at Zeke, but this time its swipes were faster and random. It was the side effect of the Silvermoon Bear's berserk ability - they would gradually lose their consciousness and awareness the longer their berserk ability is kept active.
Zeke found it harder and harder to dodge but he was extremely aroused and excited inwardly. His blood felt like boiling as his entire body was very hot. Zeke didn't notice it but he was actually getting faster and faster while his reaction speed was also slightly increasing the longer he was dodging.
After a few more seconds, Zeke used [Spatial King's Domain] and teleported at the back of the bear. To keep the bear's wavering consciousness on its front for a bit longer, he had to leave his spear there and switch to another weapon. He then drew out a sharp sword and slashed vertically, injuring the bear's back. The bear looked back with a puzzled expression but quickly continued its flurry of attacks towards Zeke's new position.
Zeke felt it was getting harder and harder to defend the bear's continuous attacks so he activated [Thought Processing] and immediately divided his mind and attention to 16. 14 out of the 16 is used to look out for the bear's attack and quickly maneuver his sword to block it, while one is for looking for the bear's vital spots, and the last one for monitoring the surroundings.
Unknowingly, Zeke went into a strange state. His mind focused solely on defending that he didn't realize that his mind was actually recording his body movements. Throughout the bear's quick and random attacks, Zeke's arms and sword were quickly going around on his front trying to defend the onslaught. While Zeke was wholeheartedly defending, he didn't know that his mind was unconsciously recording and remembering Zeke's sword and arm movements, slowly creating a new sword style purely based on the bear's attacks.
Unknowingly, a whole 5 minutes have passed since the bear went berserk. Zeke noticed to his surprise that the bear's attacks are actually slowing down in a visible rate as its power behind every attacks also started falling off. Zeke heaved a sigh after 5 minutes of pure hell. He then noticed that the bear's eyes started to lose its reddish color, reverting back to its normal form. The bear's aura also suddenly dimmed, its bloodlust becoming weaker than Zeke's intense killing intent and bloodlust.
Throughout the whole battle, Zeke had to maintain his bloodlust aura to prevent himself from being affected by the bear's. To do this, Zeke had to match the bear's aura level, and thankfully, Zeke's current Aura level could barely equate the bear's. After the whole 5 minutes of intense bloodlust, Zeke's Aura also grew powerful, matching that of the bear's enraged aura and even showed faint signs of surpassing it. From level 15, Zeke's Aura instantly rocketed to Level 17. Such a development was a surprise for Zeke considering it was achieved in 5 minutes. If he were to estimate, He might've taken a year or two before his Aura became that. Zeke felt grateful to the bear as he gained a lot after just 5 minutes of intense life and death.
Sure enough, just after a minute, the bear completely collapses in front of Zeke. It was too tired to even stand up as it looked at Zeke with anger and killing intent. Zeke was also in rather bad shape, as his upper clothing further got ripped and torn. Zeke was also sweating profusely right now, and he was currently looking at the bear with yearning expressions. It seemed like the fight with the bear ignited the so-called dragon blood within Zeke who thrived and longed for battle.
Zeke then calmed down for a bit before thinking about what to do. He didn't feel the need to kill the bear this early as he noticed that a new sword style appeared in his mind. He set it aside as he then ran away from the bear. Within seconds, the unconscious bear was left behind in a devastated part of the forest.
Zeke went back to the clearing along with the cheetah, who looked at him with slight concern. It looked at Zeke's slightly bloodied chest but it knew it couldn't do anything so it just tried to comfort Zeke by rubbing itself on his legs.
Contrary to the cheetah's worried expression, Zeke was very excited and satisfied with today's battle. Not only had he obtained a new sword skill, but he also progressed fast in his Aura while also consolidating his combat skills. He now had a precise grasp of when to use spells in close quarters combat.
Zeke then focused on his new sword skill. From the looks of it, it was a sword style purely for defense. When Zeke remembered the fight between him and the bear, only then did he realize that he indeed parried or blocked 80 to 90% of the bear's onslaught of attacks. This resulted in him accidentally creating a superb defensive style. When he further looked at every move of it, Zeke was even more impressed. With one glance of each of its moves, Zek could discern that its a sword style with very high potential. Right now, he already experienced a non-repetitive flurry of attacks, making this new sword style very potent in defending against randomized attacks.
*Congratulations, Zeke. Because of your fight with the Enraged Silvermoon Bear, I've had the chance of recording and compiling your defensive measures of the sword into one sword style. This sword style is already very good and very airtight for enemies weaker than you or enemies with the same level of swordsmanship as you. If this is to be rated, I suspect it could be a B- defensive sword style at the moment. As you progress and experience different types and trajectories of attack, you could improved this style and increase its ranking up to A+ or even up to S given sufficient battle experience. What would you like to name it?*
'Hmm. Since the moves all revolved around me, I'll call this style Sword Orbit, just like the sword moves that revolve around me, completely fending off outside attacks.' Zeke pondered for a while.
After recuperating for 2 hours, Zeke felt his body was a bit lighter than before.
'I'm stronger than before...'
*Yes, Zeke. As you ignite the dragon blood inside you, the more benefits you will get. Right now, the amount of dragon blood that you have ignited completely only amounts to 10 to 15%, and it already gave you a big increase in your sheer physical power as well as a considerable increase with your senses and perception. As you ignite more of your dragon blood, the more benefits and power could you have, and the more prestigious your future as a dragonkin will be.*
'Just that low? After that intense battle?' Zeke was a bit disappointed but it soon turned into excitement.
'This means I have a lot more room to improve. By the way, can you explain to me what exactly would happen after I awaken?'
*Yes, Zeke. Generally, dragonborns are born just like humans or beastmen, but as they grow up, they could have the chance of igniting and awakening the slumbering dragon blood inside of them. Like what your father said, people gain innate abilities after awakening, and it'll be added after every 2 tiers above tier 4. Dragonborns who awaken their bloodlines usually get one innate ability, but it isn't absolute. They only get one because they could only ignite at most 30 to 40% of their bloodline, resulting in a measly one innate skill. Based on what you have read previously and from Mr. Pandora's records, even one of the greatest dragonfolk back then could only awaken 80 to 90% of their bloodline, but that was enough for them to awaken a completely legendary bloodline of the second-generation dragons. Basically, the more % of Dragon Blood you roused, the more powerful the bloodline awakening will be, and the more innate abilities you unlock at first. Based on your parent's innate abilities, I could discern that your mother only awakened 35 to 40% of her bloodline, giving her only one innate ability. Your father, on the other hand, had awakened 50 to 55% of his bloodline, easily inheriting your Heavenly Flame Bloodline.*
'I don't understand. The more bloodline I awaken, the more powerful the type of bloodline I get? Wouldn't I just get my family's bloodline?'
*That's the basic and common rule of the common dragonfolk. However, it's far from that. Based on what your father has said and from the books you read, the Dragon Continent's ancestors were Noble Dragons, right? Well, Noble Dragons are dragons that have the perfect mana core as well as a bloodline that encompasses all the bloodlines of the current Dragonborns. It was only like this right now because the dragon blood got more and more diluted and untapped, making it so people could only awaken one element. This also divided the Noble Dragon's predecessors into different families and clans right now, just like your Flamehaven Family. If my guess is not wrong, your family should have the Heavenly Flame Dragon's bloodline, a dragon that is only second to the Noble Dragons' generation. The other royal families should also have second-generation bloodlines for them to rule the whole Dragon Continent. As for the other bloodlines, they are much inferior and got more and more diluted.*
'I roughly understand, but what does it all imply?'
*It means... based from Mr. Pandora's notes and conjectures, if someone could fully ignite all of their Dragon Blood inside up to 100%, then one could possibly become the next complete Noble Dragon Bloodline, also known as the Golden Dragon!*