I would be lying if I said that I was excited to go hunting. I'd also be lying if I said I felt any emotion other then the bone-chilling hatred ever since my rebirth, so I'm not suprised.

That said, I am interested in knowing how it feels like to hunt down and kill something. From what I can logically discern from my previous world, cultivation should be very similar to mana, but it has different principles. One of them being that it doesn't really rely on pure knowledge alone, instead, the 'resource' pool has a much bigger impact. And where do you get this pool as a beast? You eat other beasts. How do I know this? Instincts of a beast. I think.

So far, us pups are just basic wolves. We have no energy in us, unlike our grown-up counterparts, who even they barely pass the 'normal' treshold. Normally, a normal beast that doesn't directly start out as a cheat race would never pass beyond being a normal, due to them dying way before gathering enough energy.

However, if I can mantain my level even after death, then I can simply spend a couple lifetimes simply growing, and then I can finally get started on a way to get rid of this curse and kill myself once and for all. It's a shit plan without foresight, but what can a 8-months old heartless pup do!?

Thinking so, I continued my hunt. Today, we were all sent out by mother to go and get our own experience. She did show us how to do it a couple times, but I don't think anyone was paying attention except for the ruby wolf and me.

The other pups had formed 3 groups of 2 each, with only me and the ruby wolf going alone. We weren't exactly discriminated, but in the minds of the little grey pups we were 'different', which leads to them not being as eager in staying with us.

As I tried to scuttle around as silently as my clumsy body could allow me. The surroundings of our cave are just trees, trees and more trees along with a small stream a couple hundred meters from said cave, and considering I never lived in the woods before, I have no advantage here.

Soon, I finally found what I was looking for. A small squirrel-like animal was hopping around, nibbling on some nuts.

Biting my lower lips in a strangely humanoid manner, I silently circled the animal, getting behind it. I had to be careful not to step on any leaves, else they make noise that could potentially alert my prey.

I prepared myself in a pounce position and simply waited. The small squirrel continued it's nibbling undisturbed, not even registering my presence. After a couple minutes, I slowly took a couple steps forward and when I was just in the right position, I pounced.

Only then did the squirrel finally understand the danger, and it quickly bolted away. Unfortunately, it's not called 'right position' without reason. I was merely 5 meters from it, and considering my already faster speed and initial charge, I quickly caught up with it and bit it.

My baby teeth did not really hurt it much, but some had already fallen and were replaced with sharper teeth, and those did hurt. Furthermore, once I had it in mouth, I shook my head ferociously up and down, slamming it into the ground and ripping it apart.

After I was finally done, I suppressed the feeling of satisfaction in my chest and quickly got to ripping it into pieces. People might be disgusted at how savage I seem, but I honestly couldn't care less. I want death, and for that I need power. I need something able to destroy my very soul, and that's not easy. In my old world, souls were considered indestructible entities, and I doubt it changed much in this world.

Still, that didn't change the fact that eating it raw felt... raw? I won't complain, but if I had a fire it would certainly help, considering that cooked meat does give more nutrition and it also aids digestion, if I do get my hands/paws on a fire I definetly will use it. Not that that's planned for anytime soon.

Satisfied with my first prey, I let out a small howl, focusing as much of my hatred it in as possible. It came out as a hateful shriek, making every sound around me abruptly stop for a couple seconds. In that time, I had already quickly bolted away. I am not dumb enough to let myself be discovered and, subsequentially, eaten.

After that, I spent yet more hours searching for prey. However, just as I was doing so, I abruptly felt goosebumps spread all over my body. Fear gripped my very core and I quickly bolted away. Not a second later, the spot I was just standing on was breached by a brown figure.

Not even turning around, I bolted towards our cave, taking sharp turns and using my small figure to pass through small points. I felt something chasing me, and that something could definetly kill me. Despite me being stronger then my siblings by a wide margin, I am still weak in the big picture. Very weak.

After 5 minutes that felt like 5 eternities, I eventually reached our cave and swiftly cried out. I know I'm a hypocrite for fearing death like this, but instincts and reason tell me that I need to preserve this life. I had luck being born in such a luck spot, and I absolutely won't waste this chance.

Just as the brown figure was about to catch up to me, mother intervened and rammed the figure down with her massive size. The creature didn't even stand a chance as it was ferociously bitten and clawed.

Finally, I took a look at my enemy. It was a rather big eagle, and it was fiercely struggling against mother, but it was useless considering how it was fully pinned down.

I had a titanic stroke of luck this time. By all means, I should have died. I was arrogant to even think that I was an apex and could simply stroll around like that. I was stupid, and I almost paid a huge price.

This was the first lesson I learned as a hunter that lived several lifetimes: You are never at the top, there is always someone stronger or more numerous then you.