As far as I could remember, if I had to classify myself as a hunter or prey, I would be a hunter. As the only bounty hunter in my small county, I was the last person a criminal wanted to see. While I never had the luxury of actually hunting animals, I did hunt the most dangerous game.
There was nothing more dangerous than a cornered dog.
But while I was a hunter by trade, hunting men and hunting animals were two completely different things, I usually had all the knowledge I needed to know when pursuing criminals. A background, name places likely to visit. Something which I currently didn't have, even with the vastly informative inheritance, I had no intricate knowledge on the ecosystem of this sheltered realm.
Much less knowledge of where we even are. Although predators hunt by instinct, I could not say, I had such a thing. After all, until two days ago, I was merely a human.
These thoughts consumed me until we reached the entrance to the forest. I was almost thankful for the silence my sister provided.
I shook my head, clearing my thoughts. I shouldn't allow my anxiety to ruin this new lease on life.
My head turned slightly to my right, my sister close behind me, walking elegantly. Her head held up high, like she ruled the ground she stepped on.
I almost was tempted to go and stretch her cute little lizard cheeks. But alas, I had to maintain the dignity of an older brother.
Yet I couldn't stop my hands from moving by themselves.
[Bro-ther]
She managed to squeak out, looking at me with annoyance. Her little Lizard cheeks puffed out as she refused to look me in the eyes. Her pouting face was so adorable, I wanted to take a picture.
I stretched out my hand, causing her to flinch slightly before petting her. She seemed to accept my apology and pushed her head into my hand.
Was I sure that my sister was a dragon and not a cat?
As if on cue, she purred and wagged her tail.
Was I mistaken? A dog instead.
If she had heard my thoughts, she would have turned me into a roasted lizard. Thankfully, she wasn't a mind reader.
The one thing I liked the most about this new life, besides my sibling, was the beauty of this world.
I marveled at the beautiful red maple leaves, the fauna growing on the brown trunk, the faint noise of a running stream, the sound of birds chirping, and the scent of fresh dandelions.
It almost made me regret never leaving the city, but my past life didn't matter now.
If another dragon saw me now, they would mistake me for a country bumpkin, thankfully it was just me and my sister who was equally amazed at seeing new things.
A small part of me wanted to swear to uphold the sanctity of nature and pledge to stop anyone who wanted to disrupt order.
I quickly stopped the kindle that started to heat up.
I was never a righteous person, sure I worked as a bounty hunter, but I was no saint, it seemed like this new dragon body, was starting to change my personality.
But I wasn't all against it, and I was glad it was leaning towards the side of good.
I turned sharply towards the entrance, which a huge shadow loomed over of a giant maple tree, two of them seemed to stand guard, dwarfing the area needed to cross.
There was something funny about two dragons crossing a forest without flying. Why have wings if you weren't going to use them?
Thankfully, that question was easy to answer if we were to make a lair, naturally, the forest would come to be known as our territory. What type of king doesn't know their land?
[Come]
A part of me felt bad at only speaking briefly to my sister, but the dragon side of me thought it was natural. It wasn't the most pleasant feeling as I wasn't used to fighting with my own personality. I only wished to be kinder towards my sister
She nodded, and stuck close by me, we walked until we were a quarter in. I stopped and I turned towards my sister.
It was a miracle that we hadn't encountered other animals, but I had a feeling that it had something to do with a dragon's aura.
It was something that dragons were naturally born with; a sort of passive that makes lesser creatures instinctively cower in fear. That also didn't make sense at the same time. Why was a rabbit so unafraid of us?
The insects chirping and making noises, while the sounds of birds flying and singing were clear evidence that this forest was indeed teeming with life, but it seemed we were being avoided by the land animals.
Of course, I spotted the occasional squirrel, but the knowledge that it wouldn't fill me up made me not want to bring attention to it.
And I was sure that for my sake, my sister kept quiet. Oh, how I wanted to just spoil my cute lizard sister.
This time I resisted hugging the cute little reptile and showering it with pets.
I lamented her loss. Flashing her a small soft smile.
She gave me a dirty look at faced forward.
While it would be difficult to come across willing prey that suited us, I was still a hunter. It was time to leave my human side behind and embrace my animalistic instincts.
Although I spoke big, I had no Idea how to achieve said thing.
With trees so similar, and even spotting a rabbit, I had to assume that the wildlife in this forest was similar to the ones on my world.
[We are going to hunt Deer.]
My squeaky and majestic voice cut through the silence.
[Yes brother]
She paused and looked at me as if she wanted to say something.
[Brother]
I looked at her with expectant eyes.
[What is a deer?]
Her face tilted slightly as her eyes widened, her already round eyes got rounder.
Truly an adorable thing.
[The color escapes me, a creature with two horns, that travels on hooves]
The banal response allowed for a wide description of the animal, in case it was different from his memory.
She nodded vigorously as if I had taught her the most renowned knowledge.
[So, it's like that thing]
She pointed behind me with her claw.
What? My face slowly turned around.
And there stood a deer that resembled one from my world, minus the giant antlers and the bigger size.
Its black, beady eyes stared at me with annoyance that could not be described.
The same pale letters and background showed up.
[Fire-Breathing Deer Lvl.4]
[The lineage of a fire-breathing deer can be traced back to Fire Lord Hael, an excellent summon for a novice. While regular deer are considered herbivores, these special fire-breathing deer are ferocious carnivores, and are known to try and eat any type of young from any species. These deer never hunt alone.]
I guess natural-born hunters have prey come to them. Although he doubted the deer saw itself as prey.
The hungry look in its eyes wasn't hidden by any means, and worst of all, it was not alone, but with a pack of five.
[Ready yourself.]
My words did well to mask my nervousness, this would truly be our first combat in this new world.
She nodded, curling up like a panther before it's about to strike.
Although I was naturally nervous for my sister, I didn't think we were going to lose, after all while the inheritance lacked general knowledge, it didn't lack combat methods.
[I will take three]
The deer stomped on the floor, and began a charge, as its head fell down, its antler were used as a sort of sword intending to pierce.
But what the deer lacked in intelligence I did not.
With a gust of wind, I launched myself into the air. I saw my sister lunge past me, taking on a deer on her own.
The deer tried to stop its charge when it saw me take flight, but it was too late. My legs grabbed hold of its back, my claws digging deep into its back. I refused to let go, much like a hawk would not let go of its prey.
No matter how much it tried to buck me off, I held firm. It was finally time to make due on my promise, I suppressed my human instinct and dug my teeth into its neck, the light from its eyes fading.
I half expected to get some XP from killing the deer, while I didn't get any from the rabbit, but I chalked it up to my sister getting the kill.
It seemed like the mysterious text didn't work that way.
Shaking my head of these useless thoughts, I turned to face another deer. I quickly checked on my sister, she was already fighting her last deer.
I couldn't be shown up by my own sister, so I charged at the last two deer's, and while I tried to swoop down to take out one quickly. I learned why they are called fire breathing deer.
The name was a bit wrong.
As a ball of flame gathered at the tip of its antlers, the deer seemed to step on the air, and the ball of flames burst in my direction. Now I had two options: either combat it with an actual breath of flame, or just dodge.
I however wanted to eat the deer, I was not interested in its charred remains. I had no faith in it winning its battle against a true dragon's breath.
So, I relented on my first kill with a dragons signature weapon, I dived towards the deer while the flames from its 'breath' engulfed me.
My claws digging in to puncture the deer's heart.
Little did this deer know that dragons had a natural resistance to their elements, and while I knew I wasn't a fire dragon, my breath was enough to know it wouldn't affect me at such a low level.
The deer plummeted into the ground, and the other one was on the cusp of impaling me, so I parried it with my claw, causing it to stagger back before I slit its throat.
Cool.
I nodded to myself before a thud landed next to me; it was my sister landing with a deer in her mouth.
She dropped it and nudged it towards me.
Aw, I swooned, my cute and adorable sister was offering me the first bite.
And surprisingly enough, she killed it humanely, aw my little lizard sister is a tsundere, she did indeed listen to her older brother.
A certain pride swelled up in my chest.
I didn't refuse, as the elder sibling, I had first pick of anything, so I took a bite of its neck and started chewing. Surprisingly, the urge to vomit never came; it seemed like the more time I spent, the less I started feeling discomfort. In fact, the raw meat even tasted good.
[You have earned 0.1 XP]
The text and voice made me stop in my track, the half-chewed meat still in my mouth.
This was the first time I had ever heard of gaining experience from eating, but I wasn't one to hit a gift horse in the mouth.
So, I continued to chew and swallowed, before giving the go-ahead to my sister.
She started to eat the deer; suffice to say, we weren't going to waste any part.
Even a baby dragon needs an exorbitant amount of nutrients.
After eating my first whole deer and swallowing it, I gained more experience. A fire breathing deer only gave five experience per carcass, or so I assumed.
I ate the second deer and received the same amount. Not that the numbers meant anything because I didn't know how much I needed to level.
I split the third deer in half and shared it with my sister, causing her to wag her little dragon tail.