When I appeared, I saw the lion rising from its lying position, surrounded by several lionesses. It stared at me majestically, its mane seeming to come alive as if it were in a movie commercial, with a miraculous breeze blowing in its direction.
'Is he trying to take Mufasa's spot? Or maybe he's a fan?' I thought, jokingly, but soon adopted a more serious tone.
"Roar!"
The flaming red lion, towering at an imposing four meters, roared thunderously at me. It had a powerful, robust body covered in dense fur that seemed made of flames. Atop its head was a 30-centimeter horn resembling blood jade.
If I could read its thoughts, I believe they'd go something like: "You hairless monkey—didn't I kill you before? How dare you show up before me again?"
Meanwhile, I was about to finish converting the chakra I had gathered into water.
The lion's fiery eyes locked onto me, as if waiting for something.
Right, my clone had attacked it head-on and hadn't used the Flying Thunder God Technique—just the Heavenly Cry.
But I recall that before being attacked and vanishing, my clone managed to inflict some injuries on the lion.
'I see…' I thought, looking at the flaming tree. 'So it used the tree to heal itself.'
"Roar!"
The lion seemed to have lost its patience. It crouched, and its blood-jade horn began to emit a bright red glow.
Without hesitation, I hurled the stone in my hand several meters above the lion's head.
I might be mistaken, but I swear I saw a mocking smirk on the flaming lion's lips. Then, a red beam of light, several dozen centimeters thick, shot toward me.
The sensation was akin to facing a Uchiha using Fire Style. However, this attack was far stronger than the typical Uchiha Great Fireball and much faster.
Without hesitation, I disappeared from the spot just before being hit, reappearing close to the flaming tree, right above the lion's head.
I'm skilled at hiding my presence. I waited for the precise moment when the lion's line of sight was obstructed so it would think it had struck me.
I watched the lion prepare to lie down, as if it had accomplished something trivial. I also noticed the lionesses doing the same; some even appeared to gaze at the flaming lion with admiration.
This feeling... I've experienced it countless times on the battlefield.
It's the same one I got whenever I saw my enemies grow overconfident, believing they had defeated me.
I gathered a significant amount of water in my stomach. Even without seeing my reflection, I bet my eyes were smiling.
Opening my mouth in a beak-like shape, I began forming hand seals while thinking: *'Water Style: Cutting Water Waves!'*
"Whoosh!"
Fast—very fast!
–
–
The flaming fur of the lion and the lionesses bristled as they sensed danger. However, when they noticed me, it was already too late: my attack had already struck three lionesses, slicing them into pieces. Moving my neck, I directed the cutting water jet straight at the lion.
"Roar!!"
Sensing the imminent danger, the lion roared and tried to flee, but I was faster. With a simple neck motion, my cutting shot reached him.
The lion's body glowed as if it were trying to create a layer of flames for protection. Maybe, given more time, it could have succeeded. But…
"Whoosh!"
"SHHHH-KRRAAASSHHH!"
The sound of flesh and bones being torn apart echoed through the air.
In its final moments, the lion looked at me with pain, anger, and resentment, much like the gaze of other enemies who had dared to underestimate me.
Blood splattered, and the body was completely split in two.
The surviving lionesses fled upon realizing the lion had been killed.
'No loyalty, huh?' I thought, but I neither blamed nor chased them.
After all, more than two hours had passed. I didn't want to risk being expelled from the hunting dimension before collecting my spoils of war.
Throwing a stone at the lion, which had begun turning to dust, I teleported the moment the stone was two meters off the ground.
As I landed, I watched the lion's ashes being carried off by the wind. Then, glowing orbs of light appeared, shimmering in the air.
Forming a hand seal, I summoned three clones to clear the battlefield. After all, there were some orbs left behind by the lionesses, and resources like that couldn't be wasted.
Meanwhile, in front of me, I saw twelve red spheres shining even brighter than those left by the lionesses.
There were also twelve radiant purple spheres. Moreover, I noticed a vibrant flaming red crystal sphere that seemed to overflow with vital energy.
'For now,' I thought, 'this matches what I remember reading.'
Finally, my eyes landed on a nebulous white sphere. It was an unusual mutation of energy, shifting from a sphere to a thread of energy with every blink, like a glowing white vein wrapped in mist.
After gathering everything, I stretched and took a deep breath before heading toward the flaming tree. With every step, the heat intensified. However, I didn't feel any real threat to my life, so I continued.
Now standing in front of the flaming tree's trunk, I reached out to touch it.
"BzzzzZZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzz!"
The next moment, the sound of burning grew louder, and my hand transformed into something resembling a black hole, absorbing the flaming tree, which converted into a red light.
I could clearly feel that all that red light was being transferred to my mental dimension.
"Huh?"
Just as I was about to finish, I felt my mind waver, and my body began to falter.
I glanced at my clones and saw them nodding before dispersing.
I opened my eyes and stared at the familiar ceiling.
Sitting on the edge of the bed, I felt as if I had just come out of a sauna. My body was strangely warm and sweaty.
Looking at the bed and noticing that the bedding was completely soaked with my sweat, I began to change it.
As I put on a new set of bedding, my mind wandered, reflecting on the fruits of my hard work in my mental dimension.
A small smile curved on my lips.
The sensation I experienced must have been similar to someone living in poverty suddenly discovering they had won the lottery.
My eyes grew warmer, and I began to hum as I walked toward the bathroom.
--
--
Sitting in the bathtub, with my head lowered, I observed my mental dimension.
At this moment, in addition to the orbs that made me feel like a dragon surrounded by treasures, there were flames in one corner and a thread of white energy.
The flame swayed and burned in the space. Even without doing anything, I could feel my chakra nature of fire element significantly improving.
Unlike before, I decided to try using the resources in my mental dimension without removing them from there.
First, I chose a purple orb from the lion, which contained denser energy. When I tried to use it, I realized I could digest it directly, making it disappear from my mental dimension.
I felt as though my mind entered a state of absolute clarity. Everything seemed simpler, and an unshakable confidence settled in, as if I could accomplish anything I set my mind to.
It was a strange and peculiar sensation, but not unpleasant.
Next, I used my mind to 'touch' the thread of pure energy.
As soon as I did, it felt like a forced transfer of pure chakra was happening within me.
Luckily, I had prepared myself by using the purple orb beforehand. The flow of purple energy helped me better understand the knowledge behind the thread of pure energy, refining it and distributing it throughout my body as I began circulating the chakra.
In moments, the feeling of being overwhelmed was replaced by an extreme sense of comfort.
It was marvelous!
Maybe it was just my impression, but it seemed like my cells were being rejuvenated. Even my bones seemed to be undergoing some sort of enhancement, especially the bone marrow.
My blood began pumping more vigorously and became thicker, while my mind grew clearer and clearer.
My entire body tingled, but in a pleasant way. It was like reaching the peak of pleasure — an intense sensation that could easily become addictive.
Time passed quickly. Minutes turned into hours as I continued circulating the chakra, feeling my affinity for the fire element improve even further. Additionally, the presence of the energy thread significantly increased my perception.
During the process, I also used the red light orb from the flaming lion.
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