Hunting

Aiden roused himself early the next morning hoping to start his morning routine sooner so that he could try the Snapfire pills again. Heading down to the shore Aiden slowed down as usual before exiting the vegetation, ever since encountering the Mud Snapper he was vigilant towards the water.

There was an unexpected visitor on the shore this morning. A long scaled body, smooth powerful muscles, and a large head housing fangs. There was a large snake sunning itself on the bank. The early morning sunlight streamed down onto its glittering scales. They were a deep green, with a black stripe running down its back. Its tail ended in a sharp point almost like a blade. Closed eyes sat within a large triangular head, if they were opened they would be an emerald green.

Aiden scanned through A Beginners Guide to Magical Beasts trying to match this snake. He soon located it, the Saber Tailed Viper. It was a wood element magical beast that had a paralytic venom. But that wasn't the most dangerous part of this beast. Usually when a warrior was fighting this beast, they would take into account that it was venomous and ward off its razor sharp fangs. That was the trap however, although the venom was paralytic it was pretty mild for those above the first stage of body tempering.

The real danger lay in its tail. The Saber Tailed Viper could whip its tail at extreme speeds, piercing right through the hardened flesh of a cultivator and swiftly ending their lives.

Aiden frowned, he needed to end this fast, and at a distance. He had brought the Snapfire pills with him, but there were only three. Judging by the length of the snake, it was in the late third stage. Just above him, but with the Snapfire pills and a little luck he should be able to take it down.

He carefully moved around to a better vantage point, one that was just above the snake but still with cover. If something went wrong he needed to be able to buy himself enough space to react. Snakes were known for their speed and agility in general and this snake had particular talent in speed.

Aiden took a deep breath and waited for the breeze to pass. When the wind was still and the sun bore down warmly, he made his move. With a smooth underhand toss, he lobbed a Snapfire pill over to the snake. He didn't even see it make contact, because before he could react there was a loud bang and then a burst of fire.

The snake hissed in rage and swung its tail furiously slicing through the dirt around it. A large gaping hole was torn in one side, blood splattering out. The snake swung its head around green eyes glowing with hate searching for what attacked it.

Aiden kept low, and when its gaze passed him he tossed another one out. Bang! This one was slightly off target as the snake was moving around. Still it tore through scales and flesh leaving another sizable gash in the snake. Another furious hiss, Aiden grew tense he only had one Snapfire pill left. After that he would be left with only close combat, which was the worst tactic against the Saber Tailed Viper.

The snake began to slither its way over to the treeline determined to find him. He tossed a rock at it, its eyes immediately lit up and it dodged out of the way, it tracked his location. Time seemed to slow, his mind came into extraordinary focus. His lips pulled into a slight smirk, blood rushed through his body in excitement.

He threw out the last Snapfire pill, it hit the snake dead on. The explosion was closer, but the sound seemed so far away. Aiden watched as the violent energy tore threw the advancing viper. It lifted it up slightly before the body slammed back down spasming.

His body flew out like an arrow from a bowstring, drawing the dagger, he plunged it right through the skull of the snake before rapidly retreating. Sure enough, a sharp tail plunged right through where he had been a moment before, one last dying struggle.

As its movements ceased, Aiden felt his legs soften and he leaned up against a tree, panting. That last moment when the snake was almost on top of him, his heart rate had sped up and besides fear he had felt a rush of pure excitement. With death so close, he managed to win. Aiden didn't know why, but he just loved that feeling of battle.

Different from the challenge of Alchemy, fighting was somehow freeing in the pure and simple violence of it. He could vent all the fear and frustration that he had built up, not allowing it to interfere with the much more delicate process of Alchemy.

Using the techniques in Gathering Materials for the Uninitiated, he carefully peeled off the scaled skin. What was intact anyway. That was the problem with using something so explosive, it damaged all of the material.

You win some, you lose some. It was much more important that he came out of that battle alive and well than the integrity of the materials. He drained the blood, separated the meat and bones and finally came to the tail. It was a hard and sharp bone that was covered in a thin layer of scales that angled slightly to help increase the sharpness.

This was the most valuable part of the Saber Tailed Viper, but also the most useless for the current him. The tail of the Saber Tailed Viper was used to forge all manner of bladed weapons, but he was an Alchemist not a Blacksmith. Still he wouldn't throw it away. When he got out of here one day he could sell it for a lot of money.

After laboriously moving everything back and forth, he smiled as he took stock of his gains. Many pounds of snake meat. Most of the ribs and spine intact. Two very sharp fangs. A saber tail. A small container of venom. And several patches of snake skin. This was an unprecedented wealth for him, and on top of what he already had, he was building up quite the small vault for himself. Aiden scurried around trying to find space for everything, his small cave was beginning to feel cluttered. When he had achieved some semblance of order, he sat down to cook some breakfast.