The gigantic ass lynx started creeping closer. It was visibly hesitant to attack. Not too surprising, really. Big cats usually hunt by attacking their prey from behind.

That being said, they’ll still go for it if their prey seems to be sufficiently weaker than themselves.

Irena was bigger than the cat, but there was another criteria of strength, one that didn’t exist back on Earth – levels.

And both Irena and this murderous furball were pretty damn sure it outclassed her in that regard.

The gigantic lynx narrowed its eyes, tensed up, and lazily pounced.

Irena grabbed the deer on her shoulder, and shielded herself with it.

The feline quickly realized that the only thing he bit into was a literal meat shield, and renewed its charge, twisting in mid air. But Irena already infused her fist with [Ethical strike], and aimed it right at Giant Lynx head. As it already lost contact with the ground, it couldn’t dodge the strike.

The magically enhanced punch sent it to the ground - which turned out to be a bad thing for Irena, as legs of the avatar of feline hostility found support.

The Giant Lynx was no longer underestimating its low leveled opponent.

The next pounce was aimed right at Irena’s throat, and fast enough that she barely managed to block it with her hand, more out of reflex than as a conscious decision.

While it saved her from having her throat ripped out, Irena’s left hand became mostly useless, her thumb and pinkie finger no longer existing as its part. She had fallen off her feet, but thankfully kept her feet curled up, interfering with felines rear legs gutting Irena.

The cat bit down on it harder, clawing at her chest, shoulders and legs simultaneously. [Ethical strike] took two long seconds to charge up again.

With the help of mana gathered in what remained of her left hand, Irena violently twisted it from her opponents jaws. Thankfully, it seemed like the previous strike loosened some of the Giant Lynx’s teeth.

It’s fangs scattered, The cat yelped and broke contact.

As Irena had her legs near her stomach, she used them to roll herself into an upright position. She didn’t reach out for her machete. It would take too long to charge it up with [Ethical strike], and without it, the long blade would most likely fail, especially once the distance shortened again.

That’s why she reached to her right pocket. The plan was simple. Distract the [Giant Lynx] by jamming a knife into its neck when it pounces again, while simultaneously charging her foot with [Ethical strike]. Once the cat makes her fall again, use that foot to kick it in the gut or the pelvis, making further pouncing impossible.

But in her pocket, Irena found nothing except cloth and some dust.

Luckily, The feline wasn’t in a hurry to close contact again. It started circling her, making feint attacks, and displaying its superior agility in order to find an opening.

‘I’ll never hit this motherfucker with one hand.’

Irena felt quite frustrated. She was losing blood, and using mana to heal herself quickly would result in her being unable to attack, and simply getting hurt again.

‘It hurts’

Irena was in pain. And she was livid.

“I’ll fucking eat those quick legs of yours.”

She wanted to scream. And then it dawned on her. She looked at Giant Lynx’s ears. They were big, and the brushes on their ends stood proudly, detecting all.

‘Actually, why not?’

She directed her [Ethical strike] into her throat, tongue, mouth, teeth and lungs.

Irena channeled all the pain, frustration, even the fear into this one.

And did what any human learns even before they know the taste of mother’s milk.

­­­SCREEEEEEEECH!!!

The lynx physically recoiled, Its sensitive hearing suffering severe damage. It decided to retreat, and turned around to vanish in the forest.

But Irena wouldn’t have it.

‘This little shit tries to run after it ate my hand!?’

She pulled out her machete, and run after the cat. It did not expect pursuit, and its bleeding ears couldn’t detect Irena.

Which is why it couldn’t react quickly enough, to dodge her own charge. She pounced on the cat, partially immobilizing it with her legs. Before it could do anything, she struck.

Even a blow of a machete imbued with [Ethical strike] wasn’t enough to completely split the skull of a [Giant Lynx LV. ??!]

Which is why, once Irena heard the notification, It’s fur was already completely useless.

[You have slain a [Giant Lynx]. for brutalizing a foe 80 or more levels above your own, additional experience has been granted.]

Ding!

{[Giant longhunter] reaches level 18. Stat points awarded}

Ding!

[Ethical strike] reaches level 8

Ding!

[Self regeneration] reaches level 11

It helped, but not enough. In her fit of rage, Irena forgot to protect her own ears and whereabouts, which resulted in quite large amount of blood loss out of every orifice in her head. Not to mention the hand.

‘I don’t have enough mana to pump all of this with [Self regeneration]’

She quickly reached out for her belt, and stopped the bleeding from her left hand. All the [Self regeneration] juice went to heal damage to her head, which was reasonable.

‘You can live without a limb, but if you want to function without a working head, you have to join the parliament first.’

Ding!

Congratulations! [Hunter’s perception] reaches level 15. Choose a way for the skill to broaden.]

‘Broaden? Interesting. Show me the options?’

-[ Ability to sense upcoming changes in weather]-

-[ Ability to hear emotional state of living beings]-

-[Ability to sense whereabouts of your bonded items]-

‘Now, it seems like I did lose my knife. The question is, are the other options so much better that I would rather never see it again?’

It was a difficult question. “Hearing” emotions looked like it would be dependent on her ears, and therefore wouldn’t be of much use if there were loud noises. Then again, this thing would enable communication, ensure she would never get conned, and maybe even help with detecting people and beasts with stealth abilities.

Sensing weather didn’t look like much, but if Irena ever went to sea, I would be completely priceless.

But detecting bonded items would do much more than just ensure they don’t get stolen.

‘If I leave one of my things in my hut, I can always find my way back to the forest. It will be my navigational ability!’

Option three it is.

This was pretty nice. She could actually set out on a journey without fear of getting lost. But not before her abilities were in order.

Name: Irena Bestla

Class 1: [Giant Longunter] LV. 18

Stat points:32

Class skills:

[Hunter’s perception II] LV. 1

[Untouching stride] LV. 8

[Ethical strike]LV. 8

Innate skills:

{Size manipulation} LV. 1

{Faes’ shyness} LV. 1

{Self regeneration} LV. 11

General skills:

{Identify} LV. 1

{Maata Standard language, LV 3.}

{Linguistic Leap, LV 5}

{Flame manipulation. LV. 6}

{Dismantle LV. 3}

{Biological poison resistance} LV. 7

{Chemical poison resistance} LV. 1

Stats:

Vitality: 35

Endurance: 30

Strength: 80

Intelligence: 25

Dexterity: 25

Wisdom: 30

Health : 287/350

Mana 13/300

Stamina 213/300]

‘Alright. My endurance wasn’t an issue yet. My strength rises like crazy. My intelligence is actually my lowest stat, gotta change that. My wisdom needs a boost, I can’t heal myself after battle, because [Ethical strike] is getting costly and drains all my mana. Dexterity would be nice, I am yet to find something that hopes to match me in grappling, but it seems a lot of opponents can run circles around me just fine’

In the end, it became as follows:

Stats:

Vitality: 40

Endurance: 30

Strength: 82

Intelligence: 30

Dexterity: 30

Wisdom: 45

Health : 287/400

Mana 13/450

Stamina 213/300]

Satisfied, Irena got to work.

She retrieved her knife using her new ability and field dressed both the deer, and the lynx.

She had some difficulties in dragging them to her hut, because her hand was still a mess. Once she did, she got to eating.

‘Huh? Does my HP return faster when I’m stuffing myself?’

She was pleasantly surprised when further experiments showed, that yes, it did. And so did MP. It made sense, healing made her slightly hungry since the very beginning.

‘Well, good to know, though I don’t see myself eating during battle.’

Lynx’s rear leg looked cooked, so She bit into it.

‘Man, your meat is pretty shitty for such a tough fight.’

Indeed, it had a texture of disappointment, and aftertaste of broken dreams. Truly, it was fitting, seeing as Irena was injured, and her meal had a taste of hospital food.

She grinned, and decided to sacrifice some of her tastebuds, reaching for the roasted heart of her opponent.

Irena decided to discard the rest, and use all that smoked meat she accumulated to wait until her hand either grows back, or at least stops hurting.

‘Then, leave one of my things buried, and explore this place a bit further away than couple of hours by foot. Maybe I'll find spices that'll make even this discount lion taste good.’

She looked at her hand, and smiled. ‘Bet It’s gonna be fun.’