The sun hung low in the sky, emitting scorching rays which penetrated through the dense forest canopy. Draylen trudged deeper and deeper into the Deepwood, drenched in dirt and sweat.

"It's been several hours now..."

"AND I CAN'T FIND ANYTHING!!!" He yelled in frustration, before slumping to the ground.

The boy sat back against a tree, panting, like an exhausted dog. Luckily, there was a mini oasis right in front of him. Draylen mustered up all of his energy to shed his clothing and leap head first into the glistening water.

Although Draylen was a tier 6 expert, the unbearable heat combined with the slightly humid atmosphere made him feel tired and uncomfortable, which was bearable but after a while it slowed him down greatly.

"I guess being a high tier Dragon Summoner doesn't make you invincible, huh." He muttered.

Meanwhile, an old man sitting in a dark room quickly turned away from his crystal ball in order to give the boy some privacy.

'Wait... What's that?' Draylen spotted a strange log floating in the water.

'That's not a log!' He exclaimed internally, whilst leaping out of the water in fright.

He cautiously waited by the edge of the water, but the 'log' made no attempts to attack him. After a while, Draylen became more curious than afraid.

"Life sense." He muttered.

[Oasis River Drake]

Gender: Male

Species: River Drake

Special Bloodlines: Weak Draconic Bloodline

Tier: 10 - Evolving

Age: 928

Life Span: 2600, will change after evolution

.....

Draylen's eyebrows shot up in surprise, before he gradually collected himself back up.

'He won't attack because he senses a higher draconic bloodline." He thought, thanking Charcoal for existing.

Draylen gingerly waved at it, whilst the Oasis River Drake respectfully blinked it's eyes, before sinking into the water.

'How does one respectfully blink their eyes? Well, at least he didn't attack me.'

'It's a bit of a shame that I can't tame him, but Charcoal will definitely surpass him one day, especially since he has a higher draconic bloodline.'

"Right, back to hunting then."

Draylen quickly threw on his clothes, before quickly walking through the forest. Eventually, he stumbled across a Cougar sleeping in a tree.

"Life sense." Draylen muttered.

[Sun Blessed Cougar]

Gender: Female

Species: Cougar

Special Bloodlines: Sun Spawn

Tier: 8

Age: 634

Lifespan: 1000

(Sun Spawn are greatly stronger when exposed to the sun but tire quicker.)

.....

Draylen was somewhat surprised. Mainly by the fact that this was the third time he had chanced upon a creature with a special bloodline, but also because he could see what it's bloodline did.

'Why didn't the Primal Macrauchenia's Primal Savannah Demon Bloodline or the Oasis River Drake's Weak Draconic Bloodline have any special effects? Perhaps I'll only be able to see if they are in the correct environment or something.'

He quickly deactivated his life sense eyes and cleared his mind.

'This will be a challenge.'

Draylen slowly and silently climbed his way up a tree which was a few metres away.

'Lucky for me, I'm down wind from this Sun Blessed Cougar, otherwise it would have already spotted me.'

-Shake

The resting monster's eyes opened as it heard a slight shaking from a nearby tree. Draylen froze in an uncomfortable position, one hand grasping one of the tree's branches, whilst his legs were flat against it's trunk. His back was arched and very soon began to ache.

Luckily, the monster quickly went back to sleep, writing the noise off as a falling branch.

-Phew

The petrified boy exhaled slowly, afraid of the monster noticing him. He made sure to be more careful, eventually making his way up to a good vantage point. Draylen pointed his Spirit Shooters downwards at the resting monster.

'Which element... I'll go with a flaming tornado again.'

-Shing

-Pew!

A yellow arrow appeared above the Sun Blessed Cougar, alerting it and causing it to jump up in fright. It leapt down from the tree at a speed which Draylen's eyes couldn't register and dug it's claws into the ground seemingly aware of what would happen next.

The yellow arrow transformed into a spinning vortex, pulling everything up like a hungry fat man at an all-you-can-eat buffet, however, the Cougar somehow managed to keep it's grip on the ground, resisting Draylen's attack.

His face darkened, before he quickly fired a flaming arrow into the tornado and then jumped down. Whilst Draylen wanted to finish off his opponent in one combo, the Cougar resisted the attack and had noticed him.

'It's too fast, I must make some distance between us.'

He had the thought of shooting it again, but his arrows would only be sucked up by the tornado. Thus, Draylen made a hasty escape into the forest.

-Groowwll

The Cougar was enraged, eyes turning bloodshot. The sun shone directly on it, now that the nearby foliage had been decimated by Draylen's tornado. A yellow/orange aura began to glow from under the monster's fur, making it seem like it was hidden behind a heat mirage.

-Poom!

It shot forward, completely disregarding the tornado of wind. The enraged Sun Blessed Cougar moved at speeds too fast for the human eye and as it passed the tornado, it dissipated completely.

"Crap!"

Draylen hurriedly invoked his Shadow Veil, turning to face the incoming monster.

'I'll pass through it and shoot it once I'm behind.' He thought.

The monster came closer and closer, moving tens of metres in a single second. Draylen crouched and prepared to attack but suddenly, he felt a strong impact in his abdomen.

-Boom!

The boy's Shadow Veil vanished into thin air and he was sent flying backwards, blood flushing out from his body like a fountain.

A single thought went through his mind.

'What?!'

However, the confusion was immediately replaced with alertness.

Draylen smashed into several trees, breaking through them until he eventually lost momentum. He quickly sent earth mana through his veins, repairing his wounds at a fast speed, whilst also creating a new plan.

The Sun Blessed Cougar's sleek face did something similar to a grin, whilst it slowly prowled forward.

"Your dark arts will not work in my domain, human." It said, it's feminine feline voice purred.

"You can speak?!" Draylen exclaimed in surprise.

"Don't insult me. I am a tier 8 expert. Of course I can speak." She gloated.

'I need to stall for time, my body is almost fully healed.'

"What is a domain?" He asked hurriedly, pretending to cough up blood.

"Should I tell you... Or should I not... Well, you'll die anyway." She answered menacingly, before stopping right in front of him.

"A domain is something which a low tier 8 being can create, they manifest their mana into an aura which empowers their abilities, whilst weakening their opponents. One can dispel their opponent's domain if they have a higher cultivation."

Draylen nodded slowly, taking in the knowledge.

"Get it?" She asked.

He nodded.

"What if both parties were of equal cultivation?"

"Then it would be a battle of strength and skill. Both sides would be strengthened and weakened at the same time."

'How should I get away... Wait, her Sun domain won't make her immune to fire will it?'

"Thank you for telling me, but I really must be going now." He responded with a pained expression.

The she-Cougar laughed, before staring at him.

"You will die here."

Draylen slowly shook his head.

"No, I don't think so."

The Sun Blessed Cougar looked at him hardly. However, Draylen merely grinned.

"Tell me, how will you escape?" She asked with mild curiosity.

Unfortunately, she was answered with a flaming arrow which scorched her eyes and fur.

Draylen grinned slightly, before quickly jumping up and running away.

-Groooooowwlll!!!

He heard a bestial roar behind him and quickly sped up his pace.

'She's too fast, I'll have to slow her down.'

Draylen turned and fired an air arrow, followed by a dark arrow. They fused to create a vortex of darkness, which caused everything that entered it to decompose.

'That'll do.' He thought, however, the entire black vortex dissipated in a flare of orange light.

The Sun Blessed Cougar emerged through the wispy smoke, but her appearance had changed greatly. Her body size had slimmed slightly, yet her muscles bulged even more than before, providing explosive running power.

The spots on her body seemed to glow as she ran, looking light torches in the darkness. Draylen panicked for a moment, before an idea popped into his head. He sped up to his maximum running speed, leaping through the forest in an agile manner.

Of course, he was in no way more agile or faster than the cougar, which had lived here it's whole life. She halved the distance in only a few seconds, causing a cold chill to run down Draylen's boiling hot back.

The boy hurriedly pointed his left arm backwards and fired a volley of ice arrows into the ground behind him.

-Crackle

There was a sound similar to that of glass breaking as a large patch of thick ice materialised beneath the Sun Blessed Cougar, causing her to slide and crash into a tree. Whilst she was very agile, her fast speed combined with the slippery ice meant that she wasn't able to evade or stop in time.

Draylen usually would have laughed, but in a situation like this, he had no choice but to hold in his mirth and charge forward.

'I've need to get there, otherwise I'm dead!'

He hurriedly began shooting ice arrows behind him, creating long slippery patches of ice.

'Now she has no choice but to slow down in order to catch me.'

However, once again, his pursuer crushed his expectations, she now leapt through the treetops, occasionally slowing down in order to get a better grip on the branches. Although she was a lot slower than before, she was still managing to slowly catch up.

'Are you a cougar or a baboon!?" He screamed internally.

'Calm down me, think logically.'

Draylen breathed to a steady rhythm, like the old man had taught him. This was so that he could run for longer distances, even in hot conditions such as this one.

'She's climbing the trees, so if I remove them, she'll have no choice but to run on the ice.'

'I've got it!'

-Pew!

Several air arrows turned into a group of tornadoes, sucking up all of the nearby foliage. Ice arrows turned these tornadoes into freezing ones, causing the temperature to immediately drop. The cougar stopped momentarily, before deciding to take the long route and circle around the entire area.

"Tch, persistent. Well it doesn't matter."

"I've made it!"