Rue woke for what must have been the seventh time in her hibernation, but this time it felt different. She had not been woken by chance or the passage of time as per usual, no. She could feel, an instinctual readiness.

She was about to wake up.

Ding! Excess Essence Expended : Ending Forced [Hibernation]…

Rue’s eyes snapped open, darkness.

Her pupils dilated and absorbed the tiny amount of light in her cave. This revealed blackened walls, completely devoid of life and thick vines that had grown to cover the cave's entrance. They had been small before she slept, but now blocked nearly all the light save for tiny pinpricks.

With a stretch, she uncoiled herself from the ground, scales scraping across the black stone. As she reached her full height, something felt different. She snapped her jaws, moved her head around and tested all of her limbs, whipping her tail and wings through the air.

Soon she realised what it was, growth. Her head was significantly larger and now had faint bone lumps poking out on top of her head and cheeks, she felt them with her paws. Her entire head was heavier and probably looked much more intimidating.

Her overall size had increased significantly, where before she had been 1.8 meters long and a body size of a large dog she was now comfortably over two meters. From head to tail she was 2.8 meters long, her body taking up about half of that. This meant she was large, almost twice as big as before.

Rue let out an experimental growl, it rumbled out of her throat and reverberated around the cave. Echoing long after, it was still menacing, leaving an eerie quiet in the cave even after fading.

Rue decided to see what fruits the hibernation had born and see if her stats had returned to normal. As if sensing her readiness messages popped into her head, right as she was about to summon the system.

Ding! [1/2] Conditions Met For Species [Maturation] : Requires [2+ Meters] & [Lv 15]

Ding! +1 [Core Point]

Race

Level

Core

XP/Growth

Stat Points

Dragon [Red Dragon : Amber]

10

1 [56/130]

78/130 [-15 /pd]

0

Strength

Vitality

Dexterity

Intelligence

100 {51}

90 {49}

62 {35}

51 {27}

Core Level

Core XP

Core Points

1

56/130

1

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.

…..

…..

Her menu was still lacking some of the extra details such as the skill level by her abilities, but they still had the same descriptions. The core skill points and core itself didn’t seem to do anything at the moment and she decided to experiment later. She would have to go on a hunt to get her levels back, the message also seemed to imply she could reach her next growth stage if she reached level 15. She desperately hoped that would increase her cap as well. Being forever stuck as a Lv15 dragon would suck.

Especially after she had seen Lv33 humans.

Rue growled as that specific human popped into her mind. He had hurt her, a faint phantom pain sprang to life in her chest and rump, burning. She would get him, maybe not soon, but she would. She needed to be stronger, her body faster, flames hotter. She would become so strong she could toy with him, roasting him in flames.

Rue snarled and imagined eating his roasted flesh, it would be delicious. Saliva dripped down her maw and onto the floor with a soft patter. This thought of food was what made her very suddenly aware of her desperate need for food. She bounded to the entrance to her cave and burst through the thick vegetation covering it. Ripped vine and moss flew in every direction. She stood proudly in the now lush once more clearing outside the cave.

All of the grass and shrubs had grown back to cover the once charred earth, leaving a blanket of green nearly identical to the rest of the forest.

Rue drew in a huge breath reared up, and roared.

For a full 5 seconds, she let out thunderous noise into the forest. Birds and small animals scattered to the winds, the sound low and threatening as it echoed from the rocks and cliffs in the distance.

No more than five seconds after her roar faded she heard a similar yet different roar answering her own. She sniffed the air, inhaling the lush scents of the forest before bounding off in the direction of the call. Her longer stride and larger stature enabled her to cover ground even more quickly than before. She ate up ground like it was a squirrel.

As she headed in the direction of the roar he saw many small critters and burst still startled out of hiding. Many seeing her swift approach fled as fast as they could, but those not facing her or closer were not so lucky.

A squirrel on a low hanging branch was engulfed in a low-intensity blast of flame that set its fur alight but spared the surrounding wet vegetation. It fell to the ground dead from shock mere seconds after, Rue barely paused in her path as she snapped the squirrel up and bolted it down, whole.

Continuing her path she occasionally detoured to pounce on small game, still stealth prowling around the trees and bushes. Many more squirrels and birds fell pry to her, as well as a few rabbits. The mere hint of fire enough to drive them out of their burrows and into her waiting jaws.

But these were mere snacks and food, her real goal was to fight something big. Not for food, but the power she would gain. She had become full a few rabbits ago but was fuelled on by her anticipation of the fight to come.

Her detours had well over tripled the amount of time it took her to reach the area where the roar was, it was only the approximate area. She let out another thundering roar, and quickly another answered her. The beast came crashing into the clearing where Rue was waiting. Huge, brown and frothing at the mouth in anger.

Large yellow fangs protruded from its jaws as it growled at her. Great shaggy brown fur covered its entire body. Standing at about a meter in height and over two in length, it was thick limbed and muscular. Where most of Rue's length came from her tail and neck, this beast was practically a ball of muscle.

[Brown Bear Lv23]

Rue snarled showing her sharp maw of teeth in a feral grin. This was a proper foe, it would provide the strength she needed. Both beasts growled and snarled at each other as they circled at a safe distance. Each was an alpha predator and not to be taken lightly.

Rue assessed that it was slower than her, it's sheer weight slowing it down. Her sleek and powerful body was far more manoeuvrable. In a sudden burst of motion, she darted forward, slipping bast the beast as it tried to turn to follow her. She was faster and reached its flank while the dangerous head was still trying to follow her.

She opened her maw and bit down onto to beasts rear leg, raising her front paws to rake at its side and rear. Her teeth sunk into its flesh like hard clay, creating puncture wounds, she failed to lacerate the flesh with her teeth and only scored shallow cuts with her claws that barely bled.

She retreated letting go of the beast before it could bring its huge head round to her. They went back to circling each other, the bear much more cautious now. With her almost halved stats she would find it hard to inflict any real damage to the bear, the was hardly even any blood on its fur.

Rue licked her teeth clean and bear growled at her. Then to her surprise, it made the first move, a deafening roar burst from its maw. Ten times louder than anything either of them had used before and Rue felt herself stumble as the sound assaulted her ears. What she caught out of the corner of her eye as she shook her head nearly caused her to bolt.

A huge furious mountain of fur was thundering towards her, gathering momentum and speed. She tried to gather her thoughts but her head was still ringing and she only took basic evasive manoeuvres. Stumbling to the side at the last moment she only received a glancing blow from the beast as it barrelled past her with its momentum.

The claw clipped her back leg and spun her rolling to the side. A large gash was opened in her back thigh, not bone deep but long and jagged.

Roaring in fury Rue turned to watch as the bear hit a solid tree and thumped to a stop, some of the bark was ground and pummelled off the tree and the bear didn’t seem any worse for it. A few leaves fell from the tree and vibrations travelled along its branches.

Rue realised then that it would take more than physical prowess to defeat the bear. Her wound was healing, she could feel her mana flowing into the wound and clotting the blood. There was an itching as it began to pull together. It was using her mana quickly though and would still take a few minutes to heal. It would not allow her to fight this beast.

The answer of course was to avoid close combat and use her secret weapon, her favourite weapon.

Fire…

She breathed a deep breath and flexed the correct muscles to spray her burning liquid. As it reached her mouth and spark of mana ignited and a torrent of fire rushed forth.

It was her first time since her growth that she had used her fire in full force, the volume of fire was double what it was before and the liquid fire was far more forceful in its ejection. The fire blasted in a narrow cone reaching a peak of twelve meters from Rue. It marginally overshot the bear but managed to cover the entire beast in flame.

She roared after she finished breathing fire and the bear let out a pained yelp. Rue had another two or three shots of that power left in her. She waited for a few seconds to see what the beast would do.

It was flailing around, blind. It crashed around the clearing rolling and roaring, trying to put the flame out. Its fur was alight and its flesh was starting to burn. It choked and wheezed as it breathed in hot air and smoke, but did not fall. After twenty seconds the fire was out and a very angry red, black and smoking bear was lying crumpled in the clearing.

As Rue approached it got to its feet, seeming to sense her, pointing its blackened face towards her. It swayed its head back and forth. Deciding that it still had some fight it Rue decided to release another blast of flame at it.

She used some of her mana this time and that flames came out even more powerful and deadly than before, they were a hot white with angry red whisps of mana that seemed to glue the fire to the ground and the bear. It howled and tried to roll around to extinguish the flames. The magical fire would not be put out even in the slightest, it simply spread over the bear steadily. Burning for far longer than it should have and long after the bear stopped struggling. Rue finally walked over to the smoking corpse, rearing up and placing her front paws on the pleasantly warm surface.

She let out a massive roar of victory, the surrounding forest vibrated with it.

Bending down she took a celebratory chunk of cooked flesh from the defeated enemy and waited for her rewards. Her wound was already closed and beneath scab, the flesh knit itself back together.

The days hunting missions flooded into her mind, she reeled in satisfaction.

Ding! For Slaying [Squirrel Lv2] x3 In Combat +27xp

Ding! For Slaying a Foe [8] Levels Below Your Own [-8%] xp -2xp

……

Ding! For Slaying a Foe 5x Below Your Level [-50%] xp -14xp

Ding! Total Xp +0xp

Ding! For Slaying [Squirrel Lv3] x7 In Combat +88xp

Ding! For Slaying a Foe [7] Levels Below Your Own [-7%] xp -6xp

……

Ding! For Slaying a Foe 3x Below Your Level [-30%] xp -26xp

Ding! Total Xp +38xp

Ding! For Slaying [Rabbit Lv4] x6 In Combat +105xp

Ding! For Slaying a Foe [6] Levels Below Your Own [-6%] xp -6xp

Ding! For Slaying a Foe 2x Below Your Level [-20%] xp -21xp

Ding! Total Xp +78xp

Ding! For Slaying [Bear Lv23] In Combat +377xp

Ding! For Slaying a Foe [13] Levels Above Your Own [+13%] xp +49xp

Ding! For Slaying a Foe 2x Your Level [+20%] xp +75xp

Ding! Total Xp +501xp

Ding! Total Xp Earned From Combat Encounters +617xp

Ding! Level Up x4 …

Stats Restored….[20] [20] [4] [4]

Race

Level

Core

XP/Growth

Stat Points

Dragon [Red Dragon : Amber]

14

1 [56/130]

29/234 [+10 /pd]

0

Strength

Vitality

Dexterity

Intelligence

100 {80}

88 {68}

62 {58}

51 {47}

Core Level

Core XP

Core Points

1

56/130

1

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.

…..

…..