I ate five apples before I felt somewhat better, but the feeling of hunger was still there since apples alone weren't enough. I needed more, but for now, I was fine. I went back to the cave opening and memorized the position of the moon. It was starting its journey downwards, leaving me with another 5–6 hours of night.
I walked past the apple trees, which prolonged my life by saving me from complete hunger. Owls, snakes, and other life forms caught my eye, but they didn't bother me. I won't lie; I accidentally stepped on a spider, which scared the hell out of me, but who could fault me? Spiders suck, even if I know they are relatively harmless as long as you don't mess with them.
"ROAR!!!"
"GRRR!!!"
'Two animals fighting?' I followed the sound and quickly caught sight of the two within a minute. A black-brown bear with silver markings faced off against a black-purple panther with gold markings. The panther had purple eyes, and the bear had brown eyes, with both locked on each other, yet neither made a move.
The area was a flat opening with nothing but grass and flowers—nothing that seemed appealing to me, at least. 'I'll just stay here and watch. This will be a good chance to see how beasts fight in this world!'
"GRA!!" The panther roared and vanished from its position. An outline of the panther instantly appeared behind the bear, then the actual panther followed soon after! It attacked downward with its claws toward the bear's back. The bear didn't move, but the silver markings lit up, and the panther's claws made contact.
Ding~
'Huh? The sound of metal hitting metal? Then the panther's shadow movement. Are these unique abilities of the race or the individual?' I continued watching and observing. The bear countered the panther with a quick 180-degree turn and punched right at its core!
Fwoosh~
The bear hit empty air as, this time, the gold markings of the panther lit up, and it returned to its original position before the fight started.
'The markings seem to be an indicator of ability, but how can you even tell? Are the markings rank-related, or are they just a showing of unique ability?' My thoughts raced between the fight and my deductions.
The bear roared, and a reddish aura surrounded its entire body. It looked similar to a berserk state, but the bear seemed to have full control over its emotions. Then, the silver markings lit up once again as the bear stomped on the ground!
BANG~!
"W-What?!" A spiderweb crack completely annihilated the area all the way to the trees where I was watching from. I could feel my eyes widen! This opening was about 10 meters wide, and the bear's stomp broke at least 13 meters.
The panther wasn't fazed and just leaped into the air before the bear's foot made contact, waving its tail and manifesting three black spears around its body. The spears launched toward the bear at the moment of the stomp and made contact, piercing its left shoulder, right chest, and left leg.
The bear couldn't do anything and fell to its knees, but it didn't look close to giving up. Staring down the panther as it landed, the bear's eyes gleamed with a strange brown energy, which, for some reason, the panther didn't seem to notice despite it being apparent. The energy transformed into a semi-sphere, then manifested as a half-cylinder with massive weight that launched toward the panther!
BANG~!
The panther wasn't fazed and manifested again in front of the bear, but once again, a strange energy appeared before the panther did, and then the panther appeared in that exact spot. 'Am I seeing the activation of magic in real-time? Is that what these strange manifestations are?'
I couldn't be sure, but it seemed to make sense, as neither the bear nor the panther reacted to the energy forming, only to the physical manifestation. Anyway, the panther took its right paw and swung its claws downward toward the bear's left eye, but again, the bear hadn't given up!
"ROAR!" The bear's left hand curled into a fist and struck the panther at extreme speed—so fast that I only saw the fist after it made contact! A white flash coated its fist, and the panther, unable to resist, burst apart from the sheer force!
"What the hell?" I questioned aloud, which was stupid since the bear was still alive, and it even turned its hostile attention toward me. I would have been scared if it were in full health, but my eyes showed black gas leaking from where the panther's spears had pierced it. The bear's face even seemed more scared than scary.
I approached the bear, intending to kill it, but before I did, I wanted to try something. Before it could think to attack, the black gas strengthened, seemingly paralyzing it!
With my eyes, I analyzed the bear, but I didn't approach too closely. I was about 2.5 meters away, which, from what I saw of the bear's performance, was more than enough distance before it activated any of those abilities. I focused my attention more on the markings on the bear, which seemed natural, as if it were born with them. 'But if that were the case, do only monsters and animals have these markings?'
'Considering this, humans and other humanoid beings are animals, so why weren't we born with these markings?' One theory could be that the unique magic of more intelligent lifeforms could be our own markings, but why wouldn't it manifest physically like with beasts? A second theory could be that these beasts have a certain proficiency, which is why the markings manifested.
"Oh. I really shouldn't be thinking too much about these things yet. I haven't seen any other humans or races alike yet, so I should probably wait." I refocused on the bear and decided to end its suffering mainly because I needed food.
I coated my right hand in mana like earlier, feeling the air twist around it. I clenched my hand into a fist and punched right at the bear's heart, which it accepted, probably because it couldn't move. Unlike the bear's earlier fist, mine didn't shatter anything, but the bear coughed out blood, and its eyes lost their light!
Pa~
Watching the bear's body slump to the ground, I couldn't help but feel a pang of guilt. It had fought so fiercely, yet here it lay, broken and lifeless. Survival or not, taking a life left a bitter taste in my mouth.
I'm sure it'll get easier as time goes but man, this sucks.
I stared in silence at the corpse for a little longer before the feeling which had been driving the whole time roared once more. Hunger...damn I hate this feeling! Wait, there is a good source of meat in front of me.
I tried lifting the bear but couldn't even get it to budge due to my hunger. I didn't have nearly enough energy within me to move it!
"I'll just eat this thing here, then." I left and went back toward the trees, grabbing many branches from the fallen trees due to the bear's powerful stomp.
The air was heavy with the metallic scent of blood, and the warmth of the bear's body still lingered as I pressed my hand against its fur. The ground beneath me felt unsteady, the cracks from the bear's stomp making every step a gamble.
I placed the wood down and grabbed a sturdy branch, onto which I would skewer a piece of the bear's meat and cook it. But first, I needed to clean and ensure I could eat the bear. "Not to mention, I need to start a fire, which I don't know how the hell I'm going to do. Eh, whatever, I'll figure it out."