After everyone finished their battles, the rest of the day went by peacefully and quickly.
The next day soon arrived, and there was no lecture along with it. But something else did come along with it.
Sebastian was sitting in his napping spot, the one where he heard the roar before he found Cindy's egg. The peaceful sound of flowing water made this area peaceful.
Something interrupted this peace.
Grumble
Sebastian looked away from his book to see Cindy staring right at him.
"What's wrong?" He asked.
Grumble
Her stomach answered the question for her.
"You're hungry, huh?"
Sebastian expected this. For a newborn carnivore, you were supposed to feed them a good amount of meat every other day unless they demanded more or less.
It had been two days since Cindy ate, so it was feeding time.
"Let's go kill something then."
Sebastian could have headed back to the village and easily acquired some meat, which the elders so graciously supplied unless they wanted you to do some hunting, but this was a good opportunity to bond with Cindy.
They quickly headed away from the peaceful area and started slowly combing through another area of forest. Sebastian had the idea of heading to a part of the forest with a lot of small game for Cindy to hunt; it also had grass that was taller than the rest of the forest.
"Okay, Cindy," Sebastian started while they were moving. "I want you to complete the kill."
Sebastian didn't bring any tools, and punching a beast to death with his bone knuckles would take time and be extremely messy if he could even get close to the nervous creatures.
Even after living in a pretty peaceful forest for years, they were still considered prey. They were naturally anxious creatures who didn't let anyone get too close.
Sebastian led the hunt, and they found multiple sane beasts along the way, but they were still too big for Cindy to hunt.
After around an hour of searching, they found a small brown rabbit bouncing around. They stopped a good distance away from the nervous animal to not alert it.
Both of them were crouched in a bush and watching the prey when Sebastian made an observation.
Sebastian noticed that Cindy was enjoying the process of finding prey incredibly enjoyable. Once she realized they were hunting and not just running through the trees, her body language went from relaxed and playful to tense and serious.
Her stance naturally lowered when they neared any creatures, and her usually mobile tail stayed still. When they found the bunny, the sun was still high in the sky, so Cindy's eyes had plenty of light to work with. They were still in their usual state of tiny red slits, but once she saw a good animal to try and kill, they dilated and expanded into big round pupils.
Sebastian was sure Cindy already got the idea, but just to be safe, he pointed at the creature. Cindy set off instantly.
She decided to use her usual strategy and calmly made her way into the trees. She slowly maneuvered closer to the oblivious animal until she was on a branch she could easily pounce onto the rabbit from.
She instinctively activated her bone powers and jumped off of the tall branch towards the rabbit. Cindy gracefully soared through the air straight at her target.
The bunny suddenly stopped eating the patch of grass it was consuming. The eyes located on the side of its head effortlessly spotted the white creature in the green environment while it was still airborne.
Before Cindy could even get halfway to her target, it had already begun moving from its original position. By the time she hit the ground, the rabbit was 8 feet (2.4 m) away from her and still accelerating.
Cindy tried to chase, but the animal's mobility in the forest was second to none, made clear by the way it zigzagged around the trees.
She had to give up the chase and made her way back to Sebastian.
He had seen Cindy be prideful in many scenarios and expected that pride to be wounded by her failure. But Cindy approached him with a fire lit in her eyes.
She didn't even take a break; she immediately set off for another animal to hunt. Taking the lead from Sebastian and combing through the forest just as they were before.
Sebastian didn't mind at all and actually enjoyed the show he got to watch.
Soon they found another rabbit, one of a slightly darker color than the last. Cindy did everything the same as last time except for one thing.
She arrived on the branch near the rabbit, and it still hadn't spotted her. Instead of her bone armor activating, this time she stayed in her usual state. Cindy launched at her prey from the high branch and was spotted once again, but she managed to get much closer this time.
By the time she hit the ground, the rabbit was only a few feet away, and Cindy actually got somewhat close to catching it during the chase.
Sebastian watched from a bush, visibly impressed.
'Wow, she really is smart.'
Sebastian had watched plenty of the elders beast hunt in the forest through the years and even followed some of them around as they did so because he found it entertaining.
He had realized that they always activated their abilities when they were about to attack their prey. It was so instinctually ingrained into the beast that they didn't even think about it. Not that the elders beast had to worry about not catching their prey. The animals in this forest were easy for them to hunt.
But Cindy was different.
When she thought that she might be able to move faster without the armor and could still rely on her claws and fangs to kill the animal, she quickly decided not to activate the bone armor and attacked.
The ability to go against such an ingrained instinct and rely on her mind displayed high levels of intelligence.
Even though she didn't catch her prey, it was still an impressive feat.
Just as Sebastian was about to walk over and console her on her failure, she blasted off and began running through the forest.
Sebastian was surprised and began following her around the trees. She stopped once she saw one more rabbit, munching on grass, from a distance.
This time she opted for an entirely different strategy. Instead of scaling a tree at all, she lowered her body to the ground and used the grass to make her way closer to the beast. She still used the trees at times to hide her body.
She very slowly got close to the creature, who was still unaware of her existence. She pounced onto the bunny, and her fangs cleanly punctured the area right behind its head.
The rabbit didn't even get the opportunity to run away before it met its swift demise. Sebastian once again watched all of this from farther away and was in shock.
Sebastian was awestruck.
Sane creatures in the wild had to be taught how to hunt by their parents. Since thoughtful creatures had more intelligence than sane creatures, they didn't have to be taught how to hunt. But the method that they hunted in was simple and familiar to them. Just like how Stinger would only attack by flying straight towards his target and trying to sting them.
Sebastian assumed that because he found Cindy's egg in the forest/near it, her species naturally attacked from the trees.
Sebastian was awestruck because Cindy strayed from that strategy. Not only did she stop using her bone powers, which shouldn't have happened due to her instincts. She examined her environment, formulated a plan of attack utilizing the things in her environment, and then implemented it, once again, while not using her abilities.
All of the evidence was overwhelming. Sebastian had no choice but to admit that Cindy was not only smart but more than likely a genius compared to every creature he had ever met. He didn't even know if her species naturally hunted from the trees or if that was a strategy that she came up with herself.
Cindy walked back over with the rabbit in her mouth and her tail wagging back and forth happily. Sebastian gladly reached a conclusion at that point.
"If that was you in that dream I had, then we are going to do great things together."
He patiently waited while Cindy enjoyed her prize. After eating, she stood up and blasted off again to find another creature.
"How can one little girl eat so much?"