Aliens!

John felt the radiant golden light envelop him, healing his body and showering him with warmth. All he could do now was close his eyes and bask in the glorious light, the praise the sun from which it so generously hailed from.

A moment later, the light died down, and John opened up his eyes, finding that he was once more sitting atop a smoking, angry red molten crater. Before the light stopped protecting him, he pranced out of the crater and trotted around, making a little circle in the grass nearby to make sure he was okay.

Nothing out of order. All of his wounds had been healed, too, he just had a really bad headache from draining his mana again. At the least, it did not seem like mana drain affected the physical body too much.

Now, then, thought John as he licked his lips.

Time for his well deserved feast!

John looked back to the crater and realized –

The light beam had basically incinerated all of the panther!

Wait, not all.

John followed the scent of cooked meat to chunks of seared panther scattered about. His nostrils flared and his hunger panged as he realized how much he had actually missed cooked meat. Raw meat was fine, too, but cooked meat, nothing could beat it.

John nabbed up the meat chunks he could find, but in the end, it was less than a tenth of the panther's original mass.

What a waste.

That was what John thought until he checked his status.

>>>

Essence Level: 150/1000 > 850/1000

Next Evolutionary Stage: Wyrmling

>>>

Wow! 700 points of essence just for a few panther bites?

'Mel, is this accurate?' asked John.

[Yes. The Helic Light of the Angels is one not only of destruction, but of judgement.

As heralds of the Supreme Father that embodies the might of body and soul, the angels are known to be able to contain essence, the summation of body and soul, into their Light.

You may consider destroying with your Light no different than consuming a creature manually as far as essence storage is concerned, though it will not nourish your hunger]

'That's super useful. And duly noted.' John felt a lot better about having not wasted any essence. The only issue was that he felt hungry because it did not seem like absorbing essence translated to actually physically eating enough food.

But that could easily be solved.

Now that John was just 150 points from his nest evolutionary stage, all he had to do was forage around, fill up his belly with fruits and small animals, and then go up to his nest and call it a day with a new evolution.

It was an amazing feeling to have struggled against the panther and won like that with his life on the line, but John did not like it so much that he would get addicted to it. A life-or-death scenario like that had an intensity to it that he did not think he could easily get used to, even as a dragon.

"Thanks for the meal," said John to the now deceased and disintegrated panther. "You fought hard."

It felt right to pay respects to the panther, especially when it had gotten John so close to reaching his next evolutionary stage.

'Mel, what can I do as a Wyrmling?' asked John.

[When you become a Wyrmling, you become truly worthy of being recognized as a dragon. Of our hatchlings, many do not pass the Whelp stage, and only those that reach the Wyrmling stage are considered worthy of further tutelage.

As a Wyrmling, you will unlock your Elemental Breath, which in your case will quite likely be related to the Helic Light.

In addition, you will obtain larger wings capable of proper flight, a small shard of your Inner World, and, perhaps most importantly, the beginnings of your Immortality Matrix.]

'Immortality Matrix?' asked John. Now THAT sounded like a totally badass power.

[Dragons such as ourselves are known for our devastating elemental breaths, impenetrable lairs that spell only doom to invaders, and our immortality,] said Mel. [All dragons are resistant to the effects of aging, many of us living for thousands upon thousands of years.

The mightiest among us live for time immemorial, with the nature of our immortality being far more advanced than the Vampires that require the blood of others or the Elves whose slowed aging exists only upon their home world.

All of our scales form a unified defensive network called an Immortality Matrix. This matrix not only blocks out the effects of aging, but it also grants an absolute defense against any and all attacks below a tier threshold.

The stronger you become as a dragon, the higher your core grade ascends, and the greater the threshold of your Immortality Matrix becomes.

Thus, dragons that become sufficiently powerful are considered immortal to other races not only in age, but also in power, for attacks from weaklings will do naught but bounce off our resplendent hides]

"So I'm just a couple of steps away from becoming a giant, sun breathing, totally invincible dragon? Now that sounds good to me," said John.

[More than a 'couple' steps away] began Mel.

John sighed. "I know, Mel. I'm just being optimistic and hyping myself up. Well, guess it's time for to work on my next meal. Huh-"

John's nostrils flared again as he smelled something sweet. Strawberries again. The scent of edible mana. Dragons were incredibly good at sniffing out sources of power for their hoard, and John was no exception, it seemed.

The smell was strong. Looks like John's next meal was going to be pretty soon. He looked around himself, trying to locate the smell, but it did not seem to be anywhere around him. He only saw the gurgling stream, some awfully tempting rocks nearby, and regular old grass and dirt.

Or wait, was the smell…getting stronger?

It was getting closer?

It was approaching him!?

But from where!?

John looked from side to side, tensed up, wondering whether something was going to leap out of the forest, and then he started floating in the air.

"Woah!" John growled as he flailed his legs around, watching as he magically just began to float.

"Am I flying, Mel!? Am I actually flying?" asked John.

[No, you are being abducted. Look up.]

"Huh!?" John finally looked up. He had been conditioned to look around him for threats in the forest that he never once considered looking up.

And there it was.

A giant grey UFO far above the treeline, beaming down a purple light that pulled John in increasingly faster the more time passed.

John struggled and thrashed around, but nothing helped! He was just floating, he had nothing to push off of!

And what the hell was a UFO doing here!? Wasn't this a fantasy world?

Wait hold, up, a UFO? There were plenty of stories about UFOs abducting animals, and so far everything about this place seemed to be following known tropes, and what was a known trope among UFO alien abductions?

The removal of the family jewels.

"You won't get my balls!" shouted John in a roar, but resistance was futile. He was getting beamed up, and there was nothing he could do about it.

As John crossed the treeline, getting closer to the spaceship, he saw the purple light taking him up sliding apart, revealing the dark innards of the ship before something flew right out. A purple, slimy blur of tentacles aimed right at John's face.

Now, what, chest bursting aliens too!?

Thankfully, John's reflexes were just sharp enough to bite down on the tentacle ball right before it got on his face, and he chewed and swallowed, feeling cold, mushy, stringy flesh between his teeth as he shredded the thing.

Tasted like raw fish. Not entirely unpleasant. Kinda like sushi, almost.

But maybe a mistake, because the next moment, John felt his vision tilt, then blur, then fade to black.