Ves’ra returned to the adventurers guild early in the next morning, her funds were still running out. She realised she still had to pay for Arvog's lodging, which meant she had to get a target to hunt now, she'd be able to continue her reading lessons once she was back.

The next half an hour was frustrating, there were four request boards in the guild, each for different quests. She asked one of the people which was for monster hunting and spent some time deciphering one of the requests. Once she did that things became easier, she searched for a monster less powerful than a wyvern - she'd have more problems with land based enemies, and they lacked the extra difficulty a wyvern gained through flight.

Two hours later she decided she’d go and hunt an elder lynx. These large cats were relatively powerful, and their fur was coveted by the rich, being softer than most other beings as large as them. Ves’ra slept in her bed for the last time in the next weeks and went to get most of her funds early next morning. Once said funds left her hands and wandered into the care of the familiar inn she left the city, happily skipping forwards - she missed the wild.

She followed the road south for the next week, finding nothing noteworthy until she had to leave the road towards the east. Only a day after having left human controlled lands the wildlife became a lot more versatile and dangerous. She had no problems finding and killing prey for both herself and Arvog to enjoy, she just killed their food from the air, using magic though her familiar.

Now that she left the human city she could feel herself advance once again, the steady increase of her total mana had stopped to a mere trickle in the human city. She’d have to make sure not to stay in human cities too long.

She met only a few monsters in the grasslands, making sure to hunt all of them and taking proof of kill for those that had a constant rewards for killing, something she had learnt in the class she visited. Having an eye in the sky was liberating, a feeling of oppression she didn't know she had in the city finally being lifted.

After another week of travel through the grasslands, orienting herself with the help of the sun, she arrived at a forest edge once again. She knew it wasn't her forest - it was on the opposite side of the city - but couldn't help but feel home in the familiar environment. Ves'ra ate a few leaves and bark to color her scales according to the environment, taking a short break in her trek. Once her scales absorbed the colors from her environment she continued on her way east, actively searching the forest for powerful predators.

She found a lot more monsters than she could ever anticipate, it seemed the powerful beings simply didn't bother with beings as weak as kobolds. She was glad they did - some of those she found could swallow her in the blink of an eye.

Ves'ra still had to shudder remembering the footsteps of a canine being which had to be big enough to eat a whole wagon in one bite. She ran into one group of goblins, having to kill the incredibly aggressive beings again, and fought all the weaker beings she could find. She needed another week to reach the estimated destination of her target, severly slowed down by her constant hunting, and started tracking her target.

She informed herself of elder lynxes before leaving the city, so she knew she wouldn't find any traces on the ground. She groaned, finding traces of a cat like being up in the canopy did sound like a giant pain in the ass. She did accept the quest, so she’d have to fulfill it, she could only get started.

Assuming her prey was a predator like her, something she was pretty sure of, she’d have a better chance of finding her prey by stalking its prey. Ves'ra further assumed the elder lynx was a normal being like her - it didn't burn its food before eating it - so she was confident to find it.

The next week was filled stalking the beings in the vicinity, using her knowledge of the elder lynx and herself to judge their worth as prey. Elder lynxes were normal lynxes that actively sought power, much like her. That meant she excluded all beings that she would only hunt for food, whittling the list down by more than two thirds.

That smaller list included a pack of dire wolves - not something a lone hunter would want to attack, a big bear, a really strange deer that didn't do what nature intended for it and hunted its own brethren, a huge lizard, two packs of lizards walking on two legs and a few more lone beings. She was sure there were several beings that eluded her, she didn't catch a glimpse of the lynx either, but she wanted a real challenge.

Ves’ra assumed the most likely target was the bear, the deer seemed to terrify everything, even the direwolves. If nothing happened for a week she would kill the bear herself and continue afterwards, so the time wouldn't be lost either way.

---

Ves'ra was in luck, as she and Arvog slept in the vicinity of the bear’s cave, protected and masked by her magic, she was woken by sounds of fighting. She moved forwards slowly, still marked by her magic, and managed to see her target for the first time.

The lynx was terrifying, nearly as big as the bear, though much more slender and two times as fast. It certainly was beautiful, but also as deadly as anything she ever fought with. The lynx danced around the bear, swiping at its legs and darting back again and again. Its prey was clad in its own blood, making for a terrifying sight with its angry, or pained roars.

She found it eerie, how it did not make a sound even once, despite fighting a being like that bear. It didn't need to - it was obviously superior in all ways that mattered. Ves’ra was tempted, very tempted to attack it while it was fighting, but she had a plan and that did not involve attacking two foes so obviously superior to herself.

Just as the battle was about to be over, the bear was only staying conscious by the will to survive when the lynx made a mistake. Only a small one, but when fighting on this level even a small mistake spelled doom. It didn't retreat back fast enough, and was hit by the swipe of a paw.

The lynx was thrown backwards, unsteadily landing on its feet. After shaking its head for a few seconds it refocused on the bear again, destroying her hope the bear did her job. It wouldn't be able to do so anymore - the last attack had been a last effort to survive and the bear collapsed.

Ves'ra could attack now, but she wasn't sure of her win - one hit on her would be able to kill her - and she was not confident to kill it with one hit, or dodge one for that matter. So she watched in envy as the lynx gorged itself on bear, eating nearly a third of the powerful predator before dashing back onto the trees, fleeing the scene of its hunt as she could hear other predators approaching.

She wanted some of that meat, but she didn't know how long it would take to find the lynx again if she did. As she set out to follow the lynx through the forest, aided by the trail of blood, she cast a spell on Arvog, enabling him to fly in the night. She told him to eat as much as he safely could - no need for both of them to miss that meal.