Chapter 4: The Escaped Beast

  "Huff, huff."

  The young red dragon hid in a stone cave deep within the forest, the entrance veiled by hanging branches.

  Cassius wasn’t sure if he had shaken off the half-elf padin's pursuit, so he kept fleeing further into the depths of the Bokara Forest.

  He didn’t look baor did he stop.

  He didn’t know how long he had been running until he nearly ran out of strength and found a more secluded cave where he could finally rex a little.

  When traveling away from home, caution is the key.

  "I should be safe now."

  Cassius pahough his tone was still uain.

  The s slowly unfurled again, dispying a three-dimensional trophy image.

  Achievement Unlocked: 【Escaped Beast】

  "The hunter is ing. Flee, leave this pce, and never return."

  Passive Trait Acquired:

  【Escapist】

  Agility +2

  Stealth +2, Athletics +4

  (Note: Years of honing have taught you how to flee skillfully; this is not a disgrace but a mere means of survival.)

  Instantly, Cassius felt a ent, breeze-like force pass over his body, visibly enhang it.

  Naturally, he gdly accepted this transformation.

  After spending several hours in the cave, the effect of the trait finally subsided.

  "Is this magic?"

  "No, I don’t feel the flow of elements."

  "It feels more like psionics."

  The red dragon examined himself ier:

  His limbs and torso were still packed with muscle, yet they had shifted toward a sleeker, more streamlined form.

  No longer did he have the exaggerated look of a "muscle-bound" red dragon; even his wing membranes had slightly altered to better allow him to harhe air’s elements for flight.

  pared to before, the red dragon noeared much lighter.

  The achievement system—it seemed this was uo him, allowing him to gain rewards by pleting specific events. Abilities like Metallic Scales and Escapist would remain strong even ie game.

  But uzzled Cassius was his tempte.

  In the previous life’s game "Erezaghe," pyer temptes and moemptes were entirely different.

  Before reag legendary status, pyers could level up through bat and quests by gaining experience (XP), resulting in thousands of superhuman warriors over level 12 who ged the game’s ndscape.

  Moemptes, oher hand, were native to this world, only growing strohrough self-discovery and aging.

  But as long as the panel was here, all was well.

  The translut blue s unfurled slowly.

  Cassius noticed that his prefix had ged.

  【Wealthy Young Red Dragon】

  Name: Cassius Cudious Norrixius

  Tempte: NPC (10 years, 1 day, and 4 hours until server unch)

  Type: Large Dragon, Lawful ral

  AC: 20 (Natural Armor, Metallic Scales)

  Attributes:

  Strength — 21

  Agility — 12

  stitution — 19

  Intelligence — 12

  Wisdom — 11

  Charisma — 14

  Skill Proficies: Stealth +6, Athletics +4, Perception +8, Hunting +2, Escape +4, Knowledge (Future) +4

  Damage Immunities: Fire

  Senses: Blindsight 10 ft, Darkvision 60 ft, Passive Perception 14 ft

  Languages: Draion

  As: Bite, Cw, Tail Attack, Flight, Breath Attack (Fire)

  Traits: Metallic Scales, Escapist

  Battle Equipment: Magiullifying Amulet, Swift Mage’s A Ring, Bzing Staff, Soul Amulet, Lava Spreader, Bde Resistance Ring, Silent Step Amulet, Owl-Beast Perception Mask.

  Challenge Level: 8 (3,600 XP)

  Description: "Even a young red dragon should never be uimated, or it will bee your lifelong nightmare. And this one is a wealthy young dragon with over a dozen magical items; one wrong move, and you’ll be under his trol."

  So, prefixes could ge?

  Iing.

  A yellow-browher drifted onto the red dragon’s nose, and he blew out a puff of sulfur-sted heat, scorg and blowing it away.

  "The cave’s owner is probably ing back."

  Cassius thought to himself.

  Sure enough.

  Soon, an angry roar came from the cave entrance.

  "Roar! Roar!"

  A ferocious beast pushed aside the branches—a dull ivory beak and muscur limbs covered ihers.

  Standing at eight feet tall, its massive body was covered in dense, dark feathers, easily rger than Cassius by several times.

  This was an owl-bear, a savage predator of the wilderness.

  Likely the creation of some mad wizard in aimes by bining a bear and an owl, now widespread across the ti. The owl-bear’s stats panel floated before Cassius.

  [Based on your power, you observe the following information]

  【Adult Male Owl-Bear】

  Type: Large Beast, Always ral

  AC: 15

  Attributes:

  Strength — 20

  Agility — 12

  stitution — 19

  Intelligence — 2

  Wisdom — 12

  Charisma — 10

  Skill Proficies: Listening +4, Perception +8, Hunting +4

  Senses: Keen Smell 14 ft, Passive Perception 16 ft, Owl Instinct 20 ft

  Language: None

  As: Grapple, Bite, Sm, Cw

  Trait: Master of Grappling

  Challenge Level: 3 (700 XP)

  Description: "The owl-bear is a notoriously violent predatenerally known for its aggression and bad temper. They tend to attay creature that moves without warning."

  Cassius looked at the beast before him, spread his wings, and used a magic item to cast Speak with Animals to test it:

  "Submit to me, owl-bear."

  However, the ferocious beast let out a roar, pounding the ground with its paws.

  It pushed its way into the cave and charged toward the red dragon.

  With only 2 Intelligehese creatures merely gauge body size and ot grasp the terrifying power within this young dragon’s body.

  Moreover, Cassius had not yet awakened his aura, making him appear even more "ordinary."

  "So, just a beast?"

  Cassius shook his head, unafraid of the approag beast, and casually opened his mouth.

  【Scorg Ray】

  The fire-element crystal within his staff glowed red, unleashing scorg magical energy to cast this level-2 spell.

  Although young and g spellcasting skills, his natural fire affinity as a red dragon boosted the spell’s potency as it passed through his throat.

  "Bang! Bang! Bang!"

  Three bzing rays shot out, all hitting the owl-bear.

  For a creature with such thick fur, fire was especially effective. As the fire rays touched the owl-bear, its fur burned, igniting instantly.

  "Awooo——"

  The beast howled in agony, rolling on the ground.

  But this did nothing to stop the raging fmes or prevent the young dragon from biting into its body.

  Even the "Heart of Lava" within Cassius’s stomach emitted a fiery glow, dealing additional fire damage.

  Soon, the cave filled with the st of charred fur and roasted meat.

  "Not bad."

  "Just a bit tough."

  Cassius took big bites of the slightly charred bear meat as the panel opened before him again.

  [Defeated adult male owl-bear, gained 700 XP]

  [Level up to Level 1]

  [Due to racial traits, leveling as a pyer will be more difficult, but you will gaier power.]

  Achievement Unlocked: 【First Blood】

  "Wele to this vibrant world."

  Pyer Css Panel Unlocked

  Warrior, Mage, Warlock, Monk, and several other css badges appeared on the panel, with numerous subcss branches under each.

  Cassius was initially stuhen overjoyed.

  He remembered that in the previous game, pyers had to plete a beginner quest in the Unknown Realm, "Kill a Turkey," to unlock the pyer css panel.

  Dragons crave power.

  But acquiring humanoid skills is not sed nature to them. They are proud and disdain knowledge from nons.

  Generally, drago learning the abilities of "lesser" species, g adva paths in their iance, relying instead on innate spells and insatiable greed for treasures.

  Pyers, however, could easily find ways to grow strohough their base panel imported stats based on real-life data.

  In the early stages, pyer stats were notoriously weak, with one unnamed barbarian famously starting with an 8 Intelligence "miracle."

  But Cassius could seamlessly bihe red dragon’s terrifying ialents with pyer csses.