Chapter 6 - First Hunt
Emboldened and motivated by the notable increase in strength, Tara left the cave searching for new opponents.
As she continued to swim, Tara noted that she was acclimatising well to her new form.
Figuring it was likely another intention brought about by the immortal, or she was just more adaptable than she believed, she soon came upon suitable targets.
At the bottom of the water on the swamp floor, a muddy and uneven surface filled with turtles ate the algae, plants, and small insects that skittered around.
Despite their large size, they did not seem dangerous on the surface.
She was even starting to wonder how such a slow, cumbersome being could survive such a dangerous place.
That was until she saw a familiar creature near them.
A {Razor-tooth Eel} of similar size to the one she met before was floating around some rocks near the turtles.
The eel was swimming with intent while hunting the fish, and despite being a distance away from the turtles, it did not seem to view them as a threat.
Though the turtle's eyes creepily never left the eel as soon as they noticed its presence.
And Tara saw evident hunger in those eyes as the turtles synchronously fixated on the eel.
Tara was puzzled about how they intended to catch the Eel.
The turtles were ridiculously slow, and with the Eel's speed, it could easily evade if they approached.
That was until she saw the largest turtle stare at it with a crafty gleam.
Instinctively using {Insight}, she viewed its information.
[Species: Snapping-Turtrake
Cultivation: Qi Gathering 6]
Leading the {Snapping-Turtrake}, who was about to make its move, suddenly felt uncomfortable.
The turtle's gigantic head began to search, looking around suspiciously.
Tara remained low profile, hoping the {Snapping-Turtrake} would continue focusing on the eel, which it did after a short while since it could detect nothing amiss.
Realising it seemed to have noticed her meddling, she paused. Need to be careful about relying on {Insight} too much, Tara thought.
The largest turtle gazed at the Eel for a while, and Tara figured the staring contest would continue until the thing finally moved.
If Tara were to describe a {Snapping-Turtrake}, they were similar to snapping turtles in appearance, though super-sized with a gigantic head, a long tail, and covered in a highly thick shell that was a mix of dark green and brown.
It had bony ridges of scales along its head that seemed drake-like; unlike the dark green, they were an azure blue.
The most significant {Snapping-Turtrake} movement was a blur; its neck abruptly elongated an absurd distance, crossing over 5 metres, with it latching onto the eel with its maw so fast it barely had the time to react.
Tara then saw the Eel get crushed in the turtle's eager maw, as the others seemed to watch with envy as the enormous {Snapping-Turtrake} ate it up with a few gulps.
'Nope, I'm not going anywhere near those things.' Tara thought, turning around and running away without shame.
Previously, she had the idea of slowly poisoning the large, slow and seemingly immobile turtles, but seeing an Eel that was more agile than her get crushed in one bite, she realised her previous thoughts were highly naive.
Not to mention, a snapping turtle on earth can usually extend its neck to a length similar to its body, demonstrating the size of those turtles.
Her poison would also be useless if she were to die from the first attack the turtle made with intent.
She did not plan on dying a mutual death with the turtle, having to make the thing swallow her to poison it.
Though this did not mean she gave up on the large turtles, she just decided to wait until she was stronger before acting against them.
Marking this area in her mind, she continued to search for suitable targets.
Eventually, she found just the type she was looking for, as a small swarm of around nine fish with large red eyes raced.
The fish had jagged, sharp teeth that appeared threatening, but they were minor compared to her.
They had a mixture of darkish green, brown-coloured scales with eerie crimson stripes that resembled blood.
Using {Insight}, she brought up their information.
[Species: Blood-striped Piranha
Cultivation: Qi Gathering 2]
Unlike the first few times she utilised {Insight}, the {Blood-stiped Piranha} seemed none the wiser she utilised it on them.
She was unsure if this was because she now shared similar cultivation to the target or if the Piranha's intelligence was too low and did not pick up anything.
Deciding this was the perfect opportunity to utilise her new skill {Poison Secretion}, she approached the group of fish whose eyes lit up with hunger as their gaze laid upon her.
Magical beasts always hungered for Qi-rich flesh, and these piranhas were no different.
Approaching her rapidly. The piranhas seemed mindless, only intent on filling their hunger.
Quicker than she could blink, the first {Blood-striped Piranha} was upon her, narrowly missing it with her claws. The fish tore through her flesh with ease as its razor-sharp teeth ripped off a large chunk before swallowing it.
Before she knew it, the other Piranhas had surrounded her, each rapidly taking chunks of flesh out of her as they moved impossibly fast to track. The nimble fish seemed to be set off in a frenzy by a mixture of her blood and the Qi it contained.
Eventually, she managed to catch one, skewering a too-eager Piranha who strayed too near out of greed, yet by this point, she was left highly bloodied and in a terrible state.
The notification came by immediately.
[You have defeated {Blood-striped Piranha}, gaining 5 EXP. You are now 7/100 into progressing to Level 3.]
Similar to defeating the Eel, she gained five EXP. However, she wouldn't have lived long enough to benefit from it if the poison had not taken out these Piranhas soon.
Eventually, after she lost a great deal of blood and flesh to the small swarm of Piranhas, they, one by one, began to slow before they finally stilled, dead.
The notifications went off again and again before stopping.
[You have defeated {Blood-striped Piranha}, gaining 5 EXP. You are now 42/100 into progressing to Level 3.]
'Finally', Tara thought, relieved. She had no idea how long she was going to last.
Those piranha teeth were absurdly sharp and torn through her flesh like butter, making her consider investing in {Iron Scales} for her next mutation.
Only the poison that drastically slowed them down from their first bite and the {Regeneration} trait that kept her alive that she could now reap the rewards.
She knew she required the energy to improve the effectiveness of the trait. That magical beast body that possessed Qi improved its effectiveness going by when she ate the eel; she would have to eat those Piranhas to help her recover.
Moving over to the carcasses, she began digging into the piranha carcasses, which, despite being at a similar cultivation stage to her, were each a bit smaller.
It demonstrated that the cultivation stage did not seem to be ultimately everything.
There was a difference in strength in each magical beast, with the Piranha being weak individually for their cultivation because they were swarm-based creatures.
It was the reason she was consuming them now instead of dragging them back to the cave. She knew the blood might attract predators, but the Piranhas were small enough to eat within a few bites, filling her up quickly.
Now complete, she decided to recuperate safely in the cave before returning outside to hunt again. After all, she did not want to get killed dumbly due to being ill-prepared.
Her encounter with the Piranhas demonstrated the effectiveness of {Poison Secretion} in dealing with numerous but weak enemies. However, she did not know how it would work towards an enormous, strong, magical beast like the {Snapping-Turtrake}.
Tara felt satisfied with her first real hunt, deciding to expand on this after she fully healed. Maybe a few upgrades would come along, and then she could make short work of those turtles.