Liquid gold

Even though thoughts of killing the beast enticed him, he knew he wouldn't stand a chance, and had to come up with a plan. Jin needed to return home and couldn't idle his time. 

"I can't attack it," he muttered to himself, staring at the cave ceiling. "The armor might last a few seconds, but it'd pin me down and tear me apart. Escaping? Too risky. I can barely walk." 

Jin grew frustrated, what could he do? He had no resources, no help, his armor but that… suddenly an idea hit him. 'The only reason it stays here is because it has a food source, so if I get rid of it….'

————

When night arrived and the beast slept, Jin executed his plan, quietly crawling to the water's edge next to the waterfall. 

Looking nervously at the water and seeing a fish nearby, he slowly lowered his arm. Immediately it lunged and bit, Jin felt a flare of pain but the armor protected him. As the fish wrestled with his armor, one of its fins broke the surface, splashing loudly. Jin froze, heart racing.

'Did the feline wake?'

Tense, Jin looked at the beast, it was still snoozing away, the noise of the waterfall must have muffled the sound.

Exhaling a sigh of relief, Jin summoned his stiletto and pierced the fish's skull. 

[Common beast Silver Payara slain. Absorb Soul core for Ascension] 

Jin then carefully dragged out its corpse and repeated the process. When dawn broke, Jin had collected eighteen fish, each one stacked beside him in a stinking pile. He could've kept going, but a crack had formed on his armor's forearm. He wasn't about to risk it shattering.

Dismissing the armor, the stench of fish hit him like a wall. Nose wrinkled, he dragged the corpses back into the cave. The beast wouldn't be getting a free meal today.

Shoving the pile of fish into a corner, Jin was optimistic. At first, a fish would attack every minute, but as the hours went on, they got rarer. The last two had taken half an hour each. Considering the beast ate about ten fish a day, the pond would run dry soon enough.

The good thing was that Jin now had eighteen soul cores! Though, as surmised, he could only absorb five. Just like with the snails, there was a species limit. Still, he felt a bit lighter after absorbing them.

But the biggest boon wasn't even the soul cores, it was the beast armaments, and he had gotten 2 of them. 

When Jin summoned it he was shocked, as the armament was the Payara fish itself. The first time he summoned them they appeared in front of him, before falling and flopping on the ground. Jin quickly dismissed them not wanting them to die, but after a few experiments he did figure out they would follow his commands when he told them to flop to the left and right. 

Jin was ecstatic as it would speed up his plan, but for now he needed to sleep, being awake day and night, had its drain. 

When night arrived again, Jin re-summoned his armor. Looking where the crack on his arm had formed, it was gone. 'So the armor repairs itself, that's neat'. 

Crawling to the pond he summoned his two payara's and commanded them to hunt every fish within. Meanwhile, Jin resumed his baiting tactic. Every so often, a familiar notification rang in his ears, another kill by one of his summoned fish.

By dawn, he had 14 more corpses, only two of which were his doing. It didn't matter. What mattered was that the pond had been hunted to extinction, Jin had even gained another beast armament which helped speed up the process. 

Happy with his work, before he returned to the cave he wanted some revenge. Lowering his trousers a stream of liquid gold entered the pond, Jin sighed with satisfaction, Tomorrow he would finally return home. 

When the beast stirred at dawn and approached the water for a drink, Jin watched from the cave, a sly smile etched on his face. 

"Good boy, it must taste good, yeah go for another sip", he whispered.

He knew it was ridiculous, but he didn't care. This was his revenge, small, bitter, and petty. And it felt good.

Having drunk its fill, the feline bent down to hunt, and found no fish to eat. Jin could see the confusion in its remaining eye. 

'Haha bastard now you'll need to leave. What are you going to do, starve?' Jin mused to himself. 

But unlike his expectations it just sat at the banks edge looking at the cave, Jin was alarmed but two hours later he heard a deep rumbling noise and it seemed to be the beast's stomach, it had already gotten up, with hopeful eyes Jin watched it growl in his direction before disappearing in the surroundings, it had left! 

Jin felt on cloud nine, but remained in the cave for the next hour as it could be trying to lure him out. If the beast was smart enough to play such a ploy Jin didn't know, but paranoia got the best of him. 

When he was finally convinced it had truly gone, Jin prepared to escape. Before departing, his eyes landed on a small pile of marbles, 33 in total, gathered from the fish and snails he'd killed. They served no further purpose to him, but it felt like a waste to leave them behind. He took off his shirt, bundled the marbles inside, and tied the corners together to make a makeshift pouch.

Summoning his armor and stiletto, he cautiously crawled out of the cave, eyes scanning the area. Seeing nothing, he broke into a limping run, one leg dragging behind him. The pain was awful, but he didn't care. He was leaving. 

Jin somehow remembered the path back. After about an hour, the shelter came into view. Along the way, he'd passed a pheasant and even a bizarre three horned cow, but neither paid him any mind. More importantly, the feline beast that had tormented him was nowhere to be seen.

When he burst into the shelter, the few people inside were initially alarmed by the sight of a figure in white armor storming in. But once they realized he was human, their expressions turned to astonishment.

One man even tried to stop him, saying something, but Jin ignored him. Starved, sleep deprived, aching from nights on stone, and still injured, he made it to his room, tossed the marble bundle in a corner, and collapsed onto his bed.

Quickly returning back to earth, he immediately went to sleep again and when he returned to the other world all his injuries were gone, feeling refreshed he slept for 10 hours straight. 

He was finally safe.