Alpha Realm (OP.MC.|Harem|NSFW)

Name: Aizel Kadashi | Age: 19 | Level: 1

SE: 0 | HP: 100 | MP: 840

Race: Were-Dragon

Aizel really hated wasting food, but it was clear that he could not eat the whole giant deer; even if it were a normal-sized one, it would be a daunting task. He could have planned better, but let the excitement of the moment get the better of him. With some effort, he managed to eat most of the leg he cooked.

With a heavy heart, he left the body of the giant deer behind and began walking into the forest. The smell of blood was bound to attract something at one point, and he was low on MP. Not to mention he was only Level 1.

He walked towards the smell and sound of water. Looking around, he could only see small rodents and birds around; his senses gave him an accurate awareness of about five football fields, or about 1,800 chihuahuas lined up against each other. But he was just eyeballing the distance.

However, his sense of smell was so obnoxious that he had to ignore it. It was supposed to be higher than most human-races. And assuming a were-wolf/dog was anything like an Earth dog, then it meant that he could probably smell something that was more than fifteen clicks away. And that was assuming he was remembering how good a dog’s sense of smell was, since there was not really an explanation back in the Nerd’s workshop aside from a simple: Their smell nice. Or something like that. Not much to go off of.

Walking barefoot was hard and slow. Even if he could spare the MP to make scales, they did not cover his feet. So he was being extra careful where he walked. At least he managed to evade large arachnids and snakes, both of which had a large population.

Thankfully, small and large mammals evaded him; they were easier to spot due to the large thermal footprint they had.

After walking for around two hours based on his MP recovery rate, he reached a small river going north, away from the mountain range to the south. He was growing really tired, but he needed water.

He cupped his hands together and grabbed some water, casting (Purify) before drinking it. A gentle cyan flame with iridescent vapor ignited the water with a 'Fump!;' it stayed lit for half a second before dissipating. 'Oh, pretty!~' That single skill use took 25 MP away. Highly inefficient, but he was without a proper container that would probably allow him to purify more water at once, given how much mana was just wasted. But that was a problem for future Aizel.

His clothes were in one piece but filthy because of all the face planting he did when he was learning to fly. 'I wonder if Nerd chose this color scheme because he knew how much dirt I would get on myself.'

Using a damp hand, he went over his clothes to remove the excess dirt. Then took the T-shirt and jeans off and left them to dry on a rock.

The T-shirt had a couple of slits where the wings popped out of, and the jeans one where his tail did, it was similar to the one present on boxers so it was a little windy without the tail filling it. But the denim kept it closed enough while moving. He would have to make buttons or something. Or always have his tail out to not walk around with hole near his ass. At least the buttons in the front would be a good guide for a tailor to follow.

He gave himself a quick bath in the shallow part of the river where the water was clear. Without knowing what kind of fauna inhabited the river, he was not about to expose too much skin to alien piranhas.

— — —

After another hour had passed, he expected the sun to start setting soon. He mostly remembered the region Deez Nerd had thrown him in; it was on the Northern Hemisphere of the planet. If this place was similar to Earth, given the climate, he expected to have a short night. But without actually knowing anything about the planet, it was just a guess.

The sun seemed to be setting over the west since the mountain range extended from east to west on the Nerd’s map. Its size was also around the same as Earth's sun, but again, it could be larger and further away, or smaller and closer. Aizel did not really know enough about this even on Earth, so he just had to wait and see.

Before he could continue going in circles around a subject he knew almost nothing about, something caught his attention. Something was coming from the north, downwind from his position, so he could not smell it, but he could hear it. A repetitive pattern of crushing leaves, moving dirt, and shifting branches.

Whatever it was, it was careful; its movement suggested stalking behavior. He walked further up to try to get a glimpse of it. When the creature was about a football field away from him, he managed to see it. 'Of course it's a goblin.'

A small creature, around one meter tall or a bit less than half his size, came from deeper in the forest. It was almost bald, with some patches of small, thick black hairs in random places on its head, had green-olive leathery skin, a huge, pointy, and fat nose, and long ears. It was wearing only a loose loincloth. Not only that, but it had well-defined muscles that seemed strong and dense, like a chimp's

It was grunting and sniffing the air every few steps, clearly hunting for him.

'It looks strong AF. I’ve seen videos of chimps, and this thing looks stronger. Where is my easy beginner-friendly monster, Nerd?'

When the goblin got closer, he could see it in more detail; the loincloth did not leave much to the imagination. Under it was a large club that was the size of the goblin’s arm. 'Is that a third leg? I really hope they are showers and not growers. Or, I pity female goblins'

Aizel glanced at his stats, MP: 260/840. 'With half a tail and wings, I would only have 10 MP to fly away… Do I risk it?'

But the goblin decided for him. When it was closer, it locked eyes with Aizel and started sprinting towards him at an outstanding speed.

'The heck? This fucking goblin is an Olympic runner!'

It closed the distance fast, and when it was right in front of Aizel, it jumped at him, gaining considerable height. Aizel immediately activated (Focus). The goblin had yellow goat-like eyes, small claws on all the fingers in its hands and also on each of its big toes, and large teeth that reminded him of a hyena’s maw.

The goblin was unarmed, but like him, when using his Draconian features, it had plenty of natural weapons to be wary of.

'My dragon bits could be considered natural weapons, though.'

Aizel chose to stand his ground, got low, and tackled the lower half while the goblin was midair. It tumbled and crashed into the gravel and rocks at the riverside, but all Aizel managed to do was enrage the creature.

"'GrwaA!!" With a guttural scream, it lashed out with its arms, clawing at the air. Aizel got into a boxing stance and began pivoting on his front foot, with slow hops. He moved back and around the rampaging monster, controlling his breath and trying to make it tire itself out, only using (Focus) in short bursts to measure the perfect distance to evade it.

With every swipe, the movements of the small creature began to slow down and became more sluggish. Once Aizel found a window, he lunged forward and struck it on its temple with his right elbow, materializing some scales over it for good measure. He immediately followed with a low kick that landed on the goblin’s thigh.

The height difference made his strikes a bit awkward. But they connected nonetheless. The skin of the goblin was tough, and it took both hits without much trouble, only losing its balance for a short moment.

"That’s Krav Maga and Muay Thai, bitch! Ever heard of them?" Asked Aizel. All he got as a response was grunting and screaming.

The goblin resumed its rampage, and Aizel continued to evade, trying it out more and more. The problem was that he was also trying fast; that, combined with (Focus) constant mana usage, meant that he needed to end the fight sooner rather than later. After seeing how the goblin was taking those hits without much trouble, he doubted that he could knock it out.

He would have to use his claws, but that required exposing himself to the goblin's own, and even with its size, it looked a lot stronger than Aizel.

Aizel swiped at the goblin’s throat, materializing three claws over his right thumb, index, and middle fingers.

It almost managed to dodge, but Aizel’s claw on his middle finger managed to cut into the goblin’s neck, leaving a shallow wound that leaked a few drops of black blood. 'Missed any important bits. Its skin is tough, leathery, and a bit elastic. I will have a hard time cutting through it or choking it before it gets me…'

The goblin stepped back and started growling and biting the air. It shook its head and assumed a low stance, preparing itself to jump at Aizel.

As it jumped, Aizel reached with his claws, catching it midair by the neck. He sank his thumb and index claws into the goblin’s neck, just below its jaw, where its jugular and carotid should be. The creature reached with its own claws, slashing and thrashing about with its hands and feet. Aizel reflexively covered all he could with scales, using up all of his remaining mana.

It was very strong; his earlier comparison to a chimp proved to be correct. It smashed, slashed, and pinched his scales. Aizel held it at arm's length as it rampaged. It was heavy, so eventually he had to lower it to the floor, where it tried to kick Aizel with its toe claws like a kangaroo, using the hand that held it for leverage. Aizel’s scales began to fracture from the blunt force, and others fell from the slashing and pinching. He was losing this encounter.

The goblin then stared at Aizel. Its mouth began to foam and fill with thick saliva that smelled rotten. Just when it was about to spit, Aizel threw him back and slashed its neck as he released it. He covered his face, but some goblin spit got into his arm.

Grabbing its neck, the goblin ran north into the forest. Aizel took a good sniff and tried to remember its smell. He had no experience as a tracker dog, but the goblin’s stench was hard to forget; it almost smelled worse than something dead, but that was probably his enhanced sense of smell at work.

'I don’t think I dealt it a fatal wound… Fucking green kangaroo on crack. With a donkey dick, hard to forget that part.'

He went to the river and cleaned himself, looking at the damage dealt to his scales; he could see that the broken ones were leaking some iridescent mana vapor out, but they didn’t hurt. They did hurt when they got broken. Especially when they got pinched and slashed away, but there was no blood.

The scales lying on the floor, however, left him with an interesting sight. They were rapidly vanishing into iridescent mana vapor. He tried to reattach them or even absorb the mana from them, but they simply vanished like dry ice left to sublimate at room temperature.

He dematerialized the claws and scales before taking a look at his stats.

〔 MP: 30/840 〕

'I lost a lot more MP than I had when materializing them; even when taking (Focus) into account, I guess the parts that I can "materialize" are magical?… Good thing my clothes were drying. Though the boxers did catch a few slashes.' He got dressed and sat by the river, waiting for his mana to go back up.

— — —

An hour later. The sun started to hide behind the horizon. The goblin had not returned, but Aizel realized that he was without shelter, so he started to walk south. He used his hand to measure how much daylight he had, less than an hour if it worked the same as it did on Earth.

The were no monsters or large animals close to him. He climbed a small hill to get a better vantage point, but the few thermal signatures he caught were far away, deep inside the denser part of the forest. Aizel found a good spot in the skirts of the southern mountain range, where there was a clearing with a small depression in a vertical stone wall; there were few trees, and the wind came from south to north.

'My smell will get carried into the forest, but at least I won't freeze to death.'

With long sticks and vegetation, he made a small shelter, collecting dry wood in case it got too cold in the night. He was not feeling particularly hungry or thirsty, so he decided to sleep early, just as the last rays of daylight gave way to night.

— — —

He woke up when it was still nighttime. Glancing at his stats, he estimated that he had slept for a few hours based on his MP recovery rate.

It was an alien sight—that much was obvious, given how there were two galactic arms instead of one, and there were no constellations that he could recognize—but it was beautiful. The sky was filled with stars, like something out of a desktop background, clearer than seeing Earth’s night sky with no light pollution. Looking at the forest below was spectacular. When he saw that his race had some kind of night vision, he expected some black-and-white or washed-out image. But it looked as if one were to take a long-exposure photo. He could see colors and even shadows cast by the moon.

The moon looked similar in size to Earth’s. But it had a different topology. It also seemed to shine in different colors. But soon Aizel noticed that it was not changing colors, and it was just his eyes focusing on different wavelengths of light.

Looking back at the forest, he could see a lot of thermal signatures; some were moving around, and others were still. 'Yeah, Were-Dragons are clearly night predators.'

There was no question about it; he had not realized it during daytime, but the temperature was 'blinding' for lack of a better word; unlike now, even the smells and sounds seemed clearer. He could almost feel as if he could walk straight into a large animal and just kill it while it slept.

If he focused enough, he could make out the silhouette of some animals that shone like beacons in the night.

'No level up after acquiring four skills, killing the giant deer, and fighting the goblin… I thought I would get it after sleeping. I guess it did not die after all. Not only that, but I probably need to actually kill the thing, or stay close to it while it dies… It could also be a time thing. I haven’t spent a full day-night cycle here; I probably arrived midday yesterday'

His internal clock seemed to be working perfectly because not even a few minutes after waking up, the temperature started to slightly shift, and the sky seemed to start to grow hazier. There was still no light from sunrise, but he expected it before long.

He decided to try to acquire more offensive skills. His Draconian form was well-suited to hunting wildlife in the open; he could probably fight humans without issue, but monsters were another story. If goblins were a benchmark, he was not fighting anything stronger barehanded; even fighting a couple at once would be a death sentence.

The town that was supposedly past the southern mountain range probably had some weapons; a small sword, or even better, a hammer, would’ve made that fight a lot easier.

Focusing on the dry wood before him, he tried to use (Infuse) to make a new skill. He wanted to have a way to make fire, so he cleared his mind and began picturing how it would work.

'Fire requires three things: Heat, fuel, and Oxygen. I already know that I can move air with mana; air is just spread matter, so mana can influence matter… I already have the fuel in the form of dry wood. Furthermore, I just need heat. (Cook) Did use heat, but it used way too much mana.'

'I can probably still use (Cook) to make a small fire, but there has to be a better way. I just need a tiny ember…'

He focused on a single piece of wood, having a clear image of what he wanted. He began to (Infuse) the wood and air around it. Then he noticed that the mana usage and difficulty of infusing something were related to his distance from it, so he reached out with his hand and continued infusing the air.

“Tk!”

〔 System: Basic Active Skill (Spark) acquired. 〕

A small spark shot from his hand. It consumed 5 MP, which, with the MP used while using (Infuse), left him with around half his max. The small spark did not stick to the piece of dry wood and did not last very long.

'Success?… Seems quite MP expensive for what it does, considering 10 is the base. Maybe I can make a smaller spark; I got a lot of control with infuse. It also does not hurt to try'

He focused on the (Spark) skill and gave it the minimum amount of mana he could. “tk” An even smaller spark was produced, consuming just 1 MP. 'That’s more like it, but I would need something dry and fluffy to light a fire with that one.'

'I suppose it must work both ways… I want to see if I can create a fireball, but I would rather not fight something while low on MP. Acquiring skills consumes a lot of it, even if later I can adjust it'

His shelter was too low for him to glide without using mana, so he decided to just walk down and head in the direction of the river once again. It did not take him long to walk there, but the first rays of daylight were already peeking over the horizon. Aizel’s first assumption that his current location was in the Northern Hemisphere, with shorter nights, seemed to be right, but he would not know for sure until he spent an entire day; thankfully, his mana recovery rate was a reliable way to tell the passage of time.

When he arrived at the riverside once again, he began walking north. He found the spot where he had fought the goblin not long after. He could not see any blood, but it was probably already covered by dirt since it bled so little. However, he could still smell it; it was faint, but it had a clear direction: North.

The smell was stuck on the path it took, on the floor, bushes, and trees. Small gusts of wind spread it a little, but he could easily pick it up again. The further into the forest he went, the stronger it got.

After two hours, based on his mana recovery rate, the sun was shining low over the east. He was getting deep into the forest, and it was getting increasingly annoying to walk barefoot, so he started collecting different types of cane-like vines. Cutting them with his claws was not very hard, even if they were still alive and green; his thumb claw was quite sharp.

He got a little too into his arts and crafts, but after an hour, he finished a couple of primitive sandals, with twisted cordage out of tree bark as pseudo-rope and vines for soles, thanking his kindergarten teacher for his weaving techniques and his bingeing nights on survival videos.

'Primitive technology at its finest!' He was left with a pair of ugly sandals, but that made walking much easier. He also thought about making some kind of weapon; spears were the easy choice, but judging from the skin on the goblin, he knew it would probably be a wasted effort.

Aizel needed something with reach; his claws were sharp, but the goblin fought like a twitching crackhead, so by the time his claws were close enough to damage it, he would be trading blows with it. Its skull was also quite tough; the elbow strike he managed to connect would probably have knocked someone out, but it felt like hitting a wall more than a living being. So punching was also out of the equation.

While he continued following the smell trail, he looked for a log that he could use or carve into a bat. If he had an axe, he could probably make one, but if he had an axe, he would not be in this situation to begin with.

— — —

He followed the trail for about an hour more. It kept going north and deeper into the forest. He did find a log that he could carve into some kind of blunt weapon. He was holding it with his left hand and using the claws on the thumbs of his wings in their shortest form to carve it as he walked; the thumb claws were surprisingly dexterous. It felt like having four arms, while the membrane on the wings made it hard to use them as actual hands; their shoulder joint was quite flexible, as if someone was using their hands from behind him.

The goblin smell was getting thicker, so he also covered his chest, the back, and the sides of his neck with scales. He could probably fly at a moment's notice, consuming a lot of mana in the process due to the smaller wings and not using his tail as a spring, but it would save his life.

Two more hours passed, around five since he woke up; his legs were starting to burn, and his hands were tired. Judging by the distance from the southern mountain range, he had walked about 10 clicks, with some hiking in between. The log he was carving looked like a cricket bat made by an angry beaver.

'Even my brain is thinking in 'clicks.' I suppose is the standard distance they use in Geas?'

When he finally found it, there were at least two others with it; they had taken residence on a mound that had a cave that you needed to climb towards. He recognized the one he hurt last evening. It had open wounds on its neck, but they were not bleeding. Aizel did not know if monsters could get an infection, but if they could, those would be prime candidates, given all the surrounding grime.

Aizel took a rock and threw it across to the other side. One of the goblins turned towards it but did not go to investigate. He felt how his wings gave him extra leverage as he threw the rock, contrary to what he expected, so he also materialized his tail to half its max size.

He slithered his tail around and found another rock. It was extremely dexterous and strong; it grabbed a large rock and could probably throw it with it, but the angle was weird, and he would rather not risk his position.

The second rock struck with a louder thump, closer to him and the goblins. This time, one went to investigate. It got close to the rock and started looking and sniffing around. It did not spot Aizel, so its vision was probably not great; his hiding place was not that good.

With another rock, he guided the goblin closer to him and away from the cave. It got closer, but then started making growling sounds and calling for the others.

Four more goblins came from within the cave. Two stopped by the entrance and stood there, sniffing the air. 'Definitely scent hunters.' The other two started to creep closer towards the first one. Then they started to creep away from the mound.

Aizel took a look around and quickly found a spot where he could fly away from if he needed it. He would try to engage them one by one, but they were fast runners, so he needed an escape plan.

He materialized a single claw on his right index and waited. Once the two other goblins were further away, he began creeping towards the one closer to him. He threw another rock behind it. Small enough to make it turn but not loud enough to alert the others.

When the goblin turned, he rushed towards it. Two handing the rough pseudo-cricket bat; he used (Focus) when he got closer. The goblin turned in slow motion; the bat landed on its temple in full swing and with Aizel’s whole body weight behind it. Before it fell, Aizel stabbed it in the throat with one of his wing thumb claws; it was larger than the one in his hand, even at half its max size.

The goblin fell, facing the dirt, its blood quickly making a black puddle under it. 'It's done for unless some magical shenanigans save him'

The other two quickly turned and started to run towards him. The first to arrive did the same jumping thing towards him, just like the one he first encountered. Aizel activated (Focus) and swung his bat at its shin while side-stepping. He felt the bat crunch the goblin’s bone before it fell and started to trample in the dirt while holding its leg.

'At least the green crack head feels pain.'

A third goblin quickly closed the distance between them. It did not jump at him right away, choosing to stand and scream just out of his range.

'It's stalling.' Glancing at the cave, he could see the other quickly making their way down.

When screams of the thrashing goblin on the floor made the one in front of him glance at it, Aizel took his chance and rushed it. He one-handed the bat and swung at it from above and slithered his tail under the creature, entangling its leg.

Just as his bat connected with a raised forearm, he took a step back and pulled the goblin with it. Before the goblin could claw at the tail and while it was unbalanced, Aizel dematerialized his tail, then he swung at the goblin, this time with two hands. The rough bat landed in the creature’s forehead with a crunching sound. It looked stunned, so Aizel slashed it in the throat with his wing claw. It also fell, bleeding out on the forest floor.

He re-materialized his tail at half its size and walked towards the one with the broken leg. As he got closer, it started to growl and slash from the floor, crawling towards him.

'It's even more dangerous on the floor; at least it can't do shit to me unless I approach it…'

Aizel was tired, exhausted; people don’t often know how tiring even quick fights like this were, and after all the walking, he was quite in need of some rest. He glanced at his mana. He decided to come back for the others at night. Rushing to the small clearing he spotted earlier, and gave his wings and tail their max size.

One of the goblins stopped to check the wounded one, and the other kept running at him. With a jump aided by his tail, he took to the air, then he did a few loops around from a medium altitude, keeping the mound in his view and glancing at the goblins on the floor. The other two goblins left the wounded ones they were and returned to their cave.

He landed as softly as he could on top of the mound, above the cave where the goblins nested. It was about fifteen meters above the cave, but it would be really hard to sneak up on him; they would have to run all the way around the mound to climb it from behind.

The goblins left the suffering with the broken shin on the floor. It cried and howled for a while before shutting up. Then it started to crawl on its three working limbs back to the cave.

Looking around, it seemed that it would be easy to spot this mound from the air, so he took to the sky once again and flew south, taking mental notes of the landmarks to easily find the mound again to finish the rest of the goblins later.

Even with the hills and trees, it was quite easy to find his way. He even flew, describing an S pattern, but found it quite easy to locate the mound, even all the way back to his shelter, thanks to his enhanced sight.

It took him half an hour to fly from the goblin nest to his shelter at the base of the mountain; his mana consumption was not that bad.

He was not feeling particularly hungry; if anything, it was the thirst that was doing him in, so he flew back to the river and started to find materials to make an improvised bucket. It did not need to carry water for long, just hold it for long enough to use (Purify) on a larger volume than his cupped hands.

He turned back into his half-dragon form—smallest wing and tail size, with some scales for protection—and began collecting materials for a bucket. He tried to find some kind of bamboo to make a round shape, but found nothing. 'Even if I did find one, just with my claws it would be a nightmare to make good cuts,' So he settled for making a vine and bark one.

He was planning to make a large bucket, but he was not feeling particularly motivated, so he settled for one that was around a hand-sized wide and tall, just large enough to carry a small chihuahua. It was made with peeled vines woven together and smooth bark on the inside. It could contain some water, but it leaked a lot.

Using purify on the small container still cost him 25 MP, but it was way more efficient this time. He was feeling quite satisfied. The sun was in the middle of the sky in the south, not quite hidden by the mountain range, but they were still casting shadows, so he returned to his shelter that had a nice shade because of the mountains.

Aizel planned to do both his hunting for food and goblins at night, so he decided to take a nap. He was still Level 1, even after the two goblin kills, so it would probably take him a while to grind up to Level 10. So changing his schedule would benefit him, seeing how his senses worked better at night.

— — —

He ended up sleeping for a few hours; he woke up feeling rested and with a full mana pool, so he could not tell exactly how long he had slept. There were still a couple of hours left in the day, but he had nothing to do and did not want to waste mana on trying to get more skills; he would leave that for before he went to sleep next time.

Materializing his wings and tail to full length, and some scales in strategic places for protection, left him with around half his mana, since he was not using his horns or claws. He started to call this his 'flight mode'. He took to the skies and started looking around for something to eat.

His mana consumption with his current infusion-driven flight used around 5 MP per minute, give or take, depending on how aggressive he was.

There were a lot of animals between the mound and his shelter. Hunting with a bow would probably be a walk in the park, but he did not remember how to make one in a primitive style. It would probably require more tools than he had anyway, so that would have to wait until he found civilization. Deez Nerd did mention that there were firearms, but he also implied that they were rare. Aizel had experience with both bows and guns, and with his dragon senses, hunting at night would be a breeze.

It took him around 20 minutes of flying around until he found a deer in a clearing. He had found a few before, even a small herd, but they were not in a convenient place where he could just descend for the kill, often covered by trees or too close to rocks. This one was a loner, not as large as the giant from before. No, this looked like a normal Earth deer that was just walking by.

Without losing too much time, Aizel dived and flew low. Since there was no slope this time, he could not reach its neck with his wing claws without crashing into the ground, so he just did a fly-by and whacked it in the head with his pseudo-bat as he passed.

The goblins gave him a twisted perspective on how strong a skull was because the deer’s head split open from the hit, dying instantly.

"Damn! Well, at least it did not suffer" He said to himself.

He landed and started cleaning the creature, taking good chunks of meat. His claws were sharp, but not as long as a proper knife. The thumb claws on his wings were larger and good at slashing and stabbing, but were awkward to use for this kind of cutting, so the meat ended up badly butchered, but still usable.

Aizel took his time to extract the meat, then collected some stones, dry wood, leaves, sticks, and kindling. Using a 5 MP spark, he made a campfire. He waited for the larger pieces of wood to become charred and placed the meat directly over them since he did not have any kind of cooking utensil or even a skewer. He probably could make a larger fire and a proper contraption out of wood, but he would rather do that in a more permanent spot and not in the middle of nowhere.

After overeating once again, he lay on the floor. Aizel was confident in his new senses to detect predators coming with enough time to flee. Aizel did not know if killing animals counted towards his level-up, so he would not kill them unless it was to eat them. A lot of meat was already wasted with each kill, hoping the forest would consume what he left. a better way to preserve it was needed, probably smoking it or making a drying rack away from the forest floor, higher up in the mountain than his current shelter was.

But that was for later; right now, the sun had set, his mana was full, and he had unfinished business with the goblins.