Rue stared at the six humans before her. They were not the same ones that killed her mother. But they behaved the same way. Threatening her. They held their claws up and pointed straight at her. It still perplexed her how they could have such small bodies and yet such large claws.

She hissed at them and they twitched. At her current size, she was a little over half their size and this made her unsure, should she attack or flee. They looked flimsy and unprotected compared to the shiny variety she had encountered before, but higher leveled than the one she had killed.

This led to some indecision, attack or flee. The humans obviously sensing her indecision and seeing her not attack tried to intimidate her. With some grunts and gestures, they moved forward and one and thrust their claws in her direction. This action was far enough away from her that it would do no harm, but Rue found herself stepping back. The unity of the creature made it seem like she faced a far bigger foe.

She had to keep reminding herself that they were not a single animal, but many small ones. Although they were bigger, her growth meant she could probably take them. When they next made a move she streaked off to the left of the group closing the distance of the close one to her.

The others could not react in time to move but a streak of something narrowly missed her and thunked into the ground. It was only then that she realised she had seen that variant before. Just like the ones that shot wood at her mother. She quickly closed on the closest human, dodging a clumsy stab of its claws she bit its leg and began to drag and claw. It was heavy and while she was gnawing on it another creature stabbed her with its claws.

The long, very sharp digits stabbed deep into her rear leg, one of them hitting her bone. She yelped and released her grip on the human’s leg. He scrambled back, his leg torn apart.

The human that stabbed her was emboldened and came forward away from the group and made another attempt. Rue dodged back just enough for it not to reach her and then leapt at the creature's face. She flapped her wings and landed full on its chest. It had practically no protection for her teeth and claws as she raked its chest and tore her teeth into its throat.

It was dead in moments and flopped to the ground, strangely its claws dropped off as well. Riding his corpse to the floor she thought back to the other creature she killed, its claws had also dropped off. How strange.

Another claw came rushing at her and she avoided it by leaping to the side, only for another of the small wooden things to fly through the air and thunk into her side. This caused her a lot of pain as it penetrated deep, only the very tip of the object poking out from the wound. It did not bleed a lot on the surface but she could feel a wrongness inside her. Breathing became painful.

She fixed her gaze on the two that had fired the projectiles. She created it and blasted an unaugmented spray of flame at them. They were nearly 7 meters away but were still caught in the blast as they caught alight and started running and rolling about trying to put the flame out.

During this moment of concentration another creature had tried to attack her, its claws grazing her flank, they did not have the correct angle or enough power and failed to penetrate her. They did, however, bruise her considerably and made her back left leg go numb for a split second.

This allowed another creature's thrust to skewer her in the side. Rue was cut deep and long, the attack inflicting significant damage and triggering her panic response. She panicked and jerked about ripping the wound further open but dislodging the weapon, she sprayed another blast of fire at the offending creature, it took the blast in full.

It fell to the ground screaming for only a few seconds before it lay still and burned. The last creature was standing in front of her and only now seemed to realise that all of its companions had run. It looked towards Rue and perhaps thinking it would die if it ran, made one final suicidal charge. Her breath weapon empty after the prolonged blast she had no choice but to fight in melee.

The creature rushed with gargled high pitch sound and no regard for its safety. With a last moment of inspiration, Rue extended a paw and batted the long claw down. It moved easily and was deflected into the ground. It stuck and the creature looked up fearfully, no way to defend itself. Its claws detached as it fell to the ground.

Not letting this opportunity go to waste Rue hissed and pounced on her defenceless opponent. Rendingits flesh from bone. She tore into its neck with teeth and raked its torso with her claws. After a second of limp limbs flailing it lay still.

Rue clambered off its body, wincing and letting out a soft whimper of pain. Despite the fearsome wound she had suffered the bleeding would stop in the next 10 seconds or so. Many of the stab wounds would quickly coagulate and seal themselves.

She was famished and even in her wounded state forced herself to eat from the abundant sources of food. This was painful and she soon realised why. The wooden stick was still stuck in her flesh. Every time she breathed or swallowed sharp twinges would rack her chest.

She bent her neck down and around to see the tip of the stick in her. She gently gripped it with her mouth and tried to pull it out. She lost her grip dozens of times and cried out in pain even more, but eventually, she succeeded in ripping it free. A small spurt of blood followed it as it inflicted more flesh damage on its way out. This soon ceased to flow as her blood quickly congealed. Licking her wounds to clean them she began to lope off to her cave. It had been a victory, but it felt almost like a loss. Her mind was in turmoil the whole way back to her cave. Such few creatures, most not even much above her level had almost killed her. Once again her fire had been the saviour. Catching her enemy off guard and incinerating them.

It took her over two hours to make it back to her cave, her wounds had closed but still hurt and impeded her movement. The stick in her chest, although removed, was still causing problems for her breathing. It was not getting better and every few meters of slow walking she would stop and cough a splatter of phlegm and blood onto the forest floor.

The few small creatures that were attracted by the smell of blood were scared off by intimidating growls and flapping her wings. When she did so she looked several times larger than she actually was.

When finally reaching her cave she curled up in a corner and suffered. Every so often she dibbled or coughed some red spittle onto the floor.

Her only comfort would be her progress.

[Human {Herder} Lv 14]

[Human {Herder} Lv 9]

[Human {Herder} Lv 11]

[Human {Hunter} Lv 21]

[Human {Hunter} Lv 19]

[Human {Fisher} Lv 9]

Ding! For Slaying [Human Lv14] In Combat +144xp

Ding! For Slaying a Foe [4] Levels Above You Own [+4%] xp +6xp

Ding! For Slaying [Human Lv9] In Combat +63xp

Ding! For Slaying a Foe [1] Levels Below You Own [-1%] xp -1xp

Ding! For Slaying [Human Lv11] In Combat +91xp

Ding! For Slaying a Foe [1] Levels Above You Own [+1%] xp +6xp

Ding! For Slaying [Human Lv21] In Combat +315xp

Ding! For Slaying a Foe [11] Levels Above You Own [+11%] xp +35xp

Ding! For Slaying a Foe 2x Your Level [+20%] xp +63xp

Ding! For Slaying [Human Lv19] In Combat +259xp

Ding! For Slaying a Foe [9] Levels Above You Own [+9%] xp +23xp

Ding! For Slaying [Human Lv9] In Combat +63xp

Ding! For Slaying [Sheep Lv1-14] x17 In Combat +189xp

……………

……………

……………

…………....

Total Xp Earned From Combat Encounters +1256xp

Ding! Level Up x6 … [Stat Points] +30

Ding! Stat Points Allocated For Species [Dragon - Wyrmling] +36 {S12 V12 D6 I6}

Ding! Stat Points Allocated For Species [Red Dragon - Wyrmling] +36 {S18 V18 D0 I0}

Ding! Ability Gained +[Scaly Skin]

Race

Level

XP/Growth

Stat Points

Dragon [Red Dragon]

16

228/265 [-7 /pd]

35

Strength

Vitality

Dexterity

Intelligence

81 [+30]

77 [+30]

41 [+6]

33 [+6]

Ability

Effects

Roar

You have learned to let out a mighty roar from your throat, you will find it easier to intimidate opponents and prey. Increased effectiveness against opponents below your level. When combined with fire increases trauma.

Identify

Tells you the basic [Species] and [Level] of targets. Can appraise targets up to [30] Levels higher than you.

Dragon Breath

Racial ability, allows expulsions of biologically created [Ethanol] from glands near the stomach. This can be ignited via [Fire Magic]. Expending Mana the fire can be enhanced to have Magical properties. You gain Further resistance to [Heat] and [Flame] attacks and damage.

Den Sense

You have an instinctual sense for the direction of your primary [Den] and [Territory]

Scaly Skin

Your scales have reached the point where it can turn even the most fearsome natural weapons. The higher your [Vitality] the tougher your scales. Your scales become highly resistant to [Fire].

Rue had barely finished reading when she felt immense fatigue roll over her. Like energy being sucked out. Even the energy from the level ups seemed to be taken. She tried to stay awake but was dragged into darkness.