Ryu tried to sleep, but his senses allways came back and checked Zhu. It was not that he feared a sudden attack from her, but he had the feeling she couldn't sleep either and lyed down there pretending to sleep.
He didn't know what she really was, although he did not dare to ask her, because it may be unfriendly.
When the sun rose, she stood sleepy and went out of the cave.
After lying awake the whole night Ryu was tired and fell asleep on the spot without the will to fight back.
Tyu woke up again when he heard a crackling fire next to him. Zhu already prepared a lot of food for him. It was a bit less than yesterday, but he was already hungry again.
All this food was so delicious. Ryu swallowed all very quick without leaving anything behind.
"So where are we going to travel?", Ruy asked. It was a question he thought about a few times the last night.
"I am planning to travel in direction west to a big forest. It should be a little bit hotter in this area, although it will take a bit to get there.", Zhu answered.
After putting out the fire they left the cave and walked next to each other through the forest. On some parts the whole ground was burned and ashes which was a bit strange, but he didn't though much about it.
From time to time they talked a bit while walking. Ryu learned, that he was on a continent called Azeroth. Many races live in Azeroth. The humans, elves, dwarves and many beast races. The elves and dwarves live in smaller parts while the humans have most of the territories.
Most races strive to get stronger in their lifetime through cultivation. Cultivation was the reason why stronger humans could live way longer than weak humans. That was one of the reasons everyone tried to get stronger and get more powerfull Zhu told him.
It was a bit embarrassing for Ryu to walk next to her because he was stomping on the ground with his big feet and Zhu did not even make any sounds by walking.
"How can you walk so silent on the ground?", asked Ryu Zhu, who twist his head toward her.
"I am just normally walking, it is natural for me to be this silent to not attract attention. I think we should soon try to find a place to rest for the night." Zhu said.
They walked near a huge rock in the forest. In the rock was a indentation which provided a bit of protection, it wasn't as perfect as a cave but better than nothing.
"You can wait here, I will come back later with something to eat.", Zhu mentioned, but Ryu didn't want her to hunt for him, it would injure hus proud.
"Thanks for your care, but I prefer to hunt my food by myself. As a proud dragon I can't accept getting fed by you all the time."
Ryu could feel that she was stunned for a second by his words and questioned himself what was so strange, but before he could ask Zhu gave him his answer"Then I will kust hunt for myself, just come back here again when you are finish.".
Then they parted to hunt in different areas of the forest.
When he walked a few hundred meters away it was as if Zhu completely disappeared out of the forest. He couldn't sense her at all.
This was probably the style how she was hurting her prey without them noticing it. Ryu also thought about what he wanted to eat. He wanted to fight a strong beast again. With his new strength the former beasts he fought shouldn't shouldn't be a big match for him anymore.
Then he thought about, he sensed a beast which was way stronger than the ordinary ones in this forest.
By getting closer he saw that this beast was a huge deep blue snake with blue stripes.
Although Ryu thought he was gigantic, this snake was more than twice as long as him. Even in his past life he always hated snakes, it was not that he had a bad encounter with one. It was rather that he always their slippery form and their movement.
When the huge snake saw him, she let out an angry shriek. It wasn't nearly as intimidating as Ryu's roar but the high vibration was making his ears half deaf. All the sounds around him were so quiet.
After letting out the shriek, the snake didn't rush blindly foreward as Ryu expected. Two ice sharp ice spikes formed in the air next the the snake and charged with energy.
Before he could think of a new plan, the two stury ice spikes shot toward him. He predicted that they would probably fly toward him, but not with such a speed. They were several times faster than the swords from the humans.
Without time to dodge the first spike hit his back and the spike bounced off and left a bit scar on his scales. Luckily he stood sturdy on the ground and the impact wasn't enough to blast him away.
Unfortunately the second spike hit him completely unprepared. It striped the upper part of his left front foot. The protective scales had tiny gaps to not restrict him by walking around and the spike sliced a few centimeters deep in his flesh before it bounced off from his scales. Hot deep red blood dripped down from his foot and melted the ground under him. It wasn't a big deadly wound, but it was the first time an enemy managed to add a bleeding wound.
After a few seconds the wound closed, but the ice snake already prepared another two ice spikes. With a satisfyed grin the snake shot the second salve toward him but this time did not hesitate and activated his divine ability [Dragon King Scales].
All of his scales were suddenly shining with an brighter golden light and Ryu felt as if nothing could hurt at this state.
Ryu arrogantly walked foreward right in the flight rail of the ice spikes, but when they hit his scales they shattered into tiny pieces and vaporized into white watersteam.
Ryu kept walking toward the ice snake with a scornful smile on his face.
The snake felt that something wasn't right, but did not withdraw. This was her territory and she couldn't simply back down by an strange enemy.
While Ryu kept getting closer, the snake also prepared to strike when he was in range.
Ryu arrogantly rushed foreward and swung his claw toward the belly of the ice snake.
Out of his expectation, the snake wringgled away and bite in his backfoot with her venomous big teeth. At the same time several large ice spikes hit his front.
The snake quickly retreated dozens of meters.
The ice spikes weren't the problem, but he felt that the venom was preding in his body and paralyzing him. Just when he thought under this conditions his lost was unavoidable, something in him started to awaken.
The paralyse effect disappeared and a sudden anger raged out. Without being able to think his body advanced toward the snake in big steps and he bite through the upper body of the snake. To confirm the death of the snake he mercilessly sliced through the head of her and split it into two halves.
[Exp Gained! ]
[Congrats: You reached level 3, +50 Stat Points, +10 Skill Points]
Without knowing what he did he killed the demonic ice snake. He quickly ate the whole snake and headed back to the meeting point with Zhu.