Titan crouched in the brush, watching the jungle breathe. The air was thick with the scent of damp earth and pungent blood, but he chased something else, a shimmer of magic. He had been stalking magical beasts for days, studying their movement, learning their behaviors. He still was not the apex predator of these woods, and he knew it. The beasts deeper in the jungle were not just powerful—they were supernatural.

  As he stalked one such creature from afar, a flicker of silver-blue darted past his vision. Fast and precise, he shifted his body, tail bristling, but what emerged from the foliage wasn't what he was expecting. His guard was up since it was impossible to know if a beast was a threat just by sight alone.

  A fox stepped forward, no rger than an australian shephard, but it was no ordinary creature. Pale blue fur rippled like moonlight on water, and two elegant tails swayed behind it. Its eyes, a radiant gold, met his without fear.

  [Identify: Lunar Fox [Bloodline: ???] – Rank: D / Primary Stats: Agility, Perception, Intelligence]

  Titan thought the intelligence stat made sense. There was something uncanny in its gaze, measured and assessing. The fox tilted its head, as if sizing him up, and then gave a short bark, high-pitched and musical.

  Titan didn’t speak, 'Maybe the system has an ability I can buy that will allow me to talk to it.'

  The system menu unfurled at his command. Skills shuffled through his sight at an unfathomable speed till one new skill glimmered softly at the top.

  [Beast Tongue (3 SP): Grants spoken communication with intelligent beasts.]

  He hesitated only for a second before purchasing it. As the points were deducted, a warm rush filled his mind. The fox blinked, and then to his surprise, she spoke.

  “Finally. You’re smarter than you look.”

  Titan's ears flicked in shock.

  “…You can actually talk?”

  She huffed. “Of course I can. Took you long enough to figure that out. Name’s Selene. And you?”

  “Titan.”

  She nodded, as if approving. “You’re strong. Rough around the edges but strong, I can use that. I can tell you have been pnning something and I want to participate. I doubt you can do alone.”

  Titan’s interest piqued.

  The pn wasn’t simple. Selene had had the same idea as Titan, she had been scouting two magical beasts for days—creatures that guarded opposite ends of a shattered ravine deep within the jungle. Titan briefed her about a pn he thought would work, she also believed that if they could draw the beasts into a confrontation, they could weaken each other enough for the two of them to strike.

  They used several days to hone their pn for their coordination needed to be fwless. Selene was nimble, precise, and cunning, her tails able to cast brief fshes of illusionary light to confuse enemies. Her raw strength was cking, but Titan was able to cover that aspect. If their pn worked the way it was supposed to, they would need minimal amounts of effort to kill two magical beasts.

  Things are never as easy as they seem.

  Titan moved through the underbrush with careful, deliberate steps, his eyes scanning for movement. Titan had been trying to draw out a bark-skinned predator while testing luring tactics. Testing their response to scent trails and baited paths, he got one to lunge from the undergrowth faster than expected. Its teeth sshed across his tail, which ripped through the creatures mouth as the tail spikes dug into its mouth's soft flesh before he managed to kill it. Blood soaked the dirt, but with his mutation his tail healed while he ate. The tactic worked, but not as well as he had hoped.

  Meanwhile, Selene was high up in the trees, navigating a tangled canopy thick with stinging insects and brittle branches. A massive hornet nest, disturbed by her movement, exploded into a swarm. She flinched as one of the giant hornets dive-bombed her, its stinger narrowly missing her leg. Another came from behind, and she twisted hard, nearly falling as a burning sting nded on the back of her foreleg. Her tail caught on a branch, but manage to recover. Her fshing tails overloaded the insects senses and retreated.

  They barely rested; taking turns watching the tree line rotating sleep in half-hour chunks beneath fallen logs or inside drainage tunnels. They fought off coyotes, avoided poisonous animals and worked on helping each other at every new obstacle. The edge between survival and companionship began to blur, a trust was starting to form and they started to rex by each other no longer afraid that they would be consumed by the other.

  They began to rely on each other's strengths, Titan’s rger size was able to contend with most of the normal beasts providing Selene a rger array of food. Selene’s familiarity with the jungle territories and behaviors of some of Titan's favorite prey made hunting all the more consistent, what started as two strangers was now shaped by a common objective that has blossomed into a sting friendship.

  Finally, the day came. They stood atop opposing cliffs, staring down into the valley where the battle would be staged. Titan took in the monstrous creatures.

  To the west lumbered the a boulder-skinned goril-like beast, moss growing between ptes of stone along its arms and shoulders. Its fists shimmered faintly, glowing deep within the rock, enhancing its already terrifying strength. Magic pulsed through its form like a heartbeat.

  [Identify: Graniteback Brute – Rank: D / Primary Stats: Strength, Endurance, Defense]

  To the east prowled a saber-toothed feline cloaked in arcs of blue lightning. Its steps barely made a sound, but every few breaths, its fur would spark with magic, causing the air around it to hiss and ripple.

  [Identify: Voltmaw Hellcat – Rank: D / Primary Stats: Agility, Perception, Wisdom]

  Two predators, infused with primal magic.

  Selene exhaled. “This is going to hurt, isn't it.” It wasn't a question.

  “Then let’s make it worth it.”

  Titan and Selene split. He marked the Brute’s territory, cwing trees and roaring just loud enough to provoke it as he dragged a bloody haunch through the creatures territory. Selene danced through the Voltmaw’s domain, using its fshing tails to annoy it into a rage. They each baited their targets, leaving trails, breaking branches, taunting them through the undergrowth.

  Timing was everything.

  The beasts thundered toward the ravine, they knew someone was causing a ruckus in their territory and they had to pay. Drawn by the scent of prey and territorial fury, Titan and Selene staying just far enough ahead to be out of sight.

  As they entered the clearing, Titan and Selene went into a hiding spot they had constructed beforehand. The two of them were hoping that the beasts would be so mad at what they saw, that they would ignore their noses. Sure enough the Brute came thundering through to the clearing around the same time the Voltmaw emerged from the brush. The Voltmaw's eyes looked bloodshot from its anger at the clear disrespect shown within its territory while the Brute smmed his fists into the earth prostrating its superiority.

  The message was clear:

  Enemies are here. Kill or be killed.

  The two magical beasts turned on each other in a deafening csh of earth and lightning. The Brute stood like a monolith in the clearing, its hide the color and texture of quarried granite, mottled with moss and deep cracks. Its breath came in slow, furnace-hot gusts as it sized up its opponent. Then it moved.

  With a guttural roar, the Brute smmed both of its massive fists into the earth. The ground didn’t just tremble—it detonated. Shockwaves rippled outward in concentric bursts, fracturing tree trunks like brittle bones. Entire root networks lurched from the soil, and trees colpsed in thunderous waves, crushing under their own weight. The air was thick with pulverized bark and clods of dirt. Animals scattered. The earth groaned.

  The Voltmaw retreated to the branches off the jungle floor, then from the treetops the Voltmaw responded with fury.

  It unched itself from a twisted limb with blinding speed, a streak of bck and silver arcing through the air. Electricity crackled across its sleek form, tendrils of blue-white lightning snaking between its limbs. Mid-leap, it let loose a shriek that wasn’t just sound, a pressure that pulse of thunder that shattered windows in a vilge miles away and sent birds crashing out of the sky.

  The Voltmaw collided with the Brute like a storm hitting a mountain.Its fangs, illuminating from voltage, sank deep into the Brute’s shoulder. Stone sizzled and cracked as the electric current surged through ancient mineral, lighting up the fault lines in the Brute’s flesh like veins of fire. The creature roared, not in pain but rage.

  It swung one arm like a wrecking ball, but the Voltmaw was already gone, skittering across its back, cws tearing long, sparking gashes into the armored hide. Sparks flew as cws met stone, each ssh met with the sound of grinding granite and the reek of ozone. The air between them snapped with static, the hairs on nearby creatures rising as if anticipating the next bolt.

  The Brute, now turning in frustrated arcs, tried to bring both fists down again but the Voltmaw wrapped around its arm like a living lightning bolt and bit deep into its forearm, sending another jolt straight into the core of the creature’s structure. Chunks of stone burst off, steaming, and scattered like shrapnel.

  Neither combatant gave ground. One was raw, unstoppable force, the other an agile wrath forged of speed and storm.

  Around them, the forest bore the scars of the powerful monster's csh; smoldering trees, cratered soil, and a silence heavy with awe and fear.

  The Brute smmed its stone fists into the ground, causing shockwaves that shattered trees. The Voltmaw responded with a shriek of thunder, leaping with supernatural grace and tearing into the Brute’s shoulder with electrified fangs. Sparks flew as cws raked against stone.

  Titan and Selene waited and watched, ready to pounce on the weakened foes at a moments notice. The jungle trembled beneath the force of magic and fury. One wrong move, and they’d be caught in the crossfire.

  Eventually, both beasts faltered.

  The Brute’s armor was cracked, glowing runes sputtering as stone sloughed off its body. The Voltmaw’s legs trembled, lightning arcs fading, its once-lithe body bleeding from deep gouges. After nearly an hour the fighting stopped, both barely standing. The monsters had a sense that if this continued, they both would perish.

  Titan made the first move.

  He charged the Brute, leaping onto its cracked back and plunging his cws into the exposed runes. The beast bellowed in pain and swung wildly. Titan ducked a crushing fist and drove his spiked tail into its spine, and once imbedded forced them to unch further in.

  Selene dashed under the staggering Voltmaw, tails fring with light. An illusion flickered, three Selenes darted in different directions. The beast swiped at the wrong one.

  The real Selene pounced.

  Her jaws locked onto its throat, her tails wrapping around its limbs to trip it. With a brutal twist of her head, she opened a gash and Titan’s strong jaws soon followed, the creatures thrashed about trying to shake off their attackers, but with their long drawn brutal fight early, they couldn't muster enough strength.

  The jungle fell silent once more.

  Both beasts colpsed, one from blood loss, the other from a broken neck.

  Titan limped to the Voltmaw’s body, blood matting his fur. Selene was panting hard, one of her legs bleeding.

  “Still alive?” she asked, voice breathless.

  He nodded, "Not for long."

  [Level Up!] [Level 4 → 12] [All primary stats increased by 8] [Skill Points Gained: +8] [Unallocated Stat Points:24]

  They didn’t speak for a while. They just stood over the corpses, letting the rain wash the blood away.

  Then, slowly, they ate.

  Level: 12/15Title: Reckless Challengermutagens: devourerskill points (SP): 12unallocated stats: 24

  HP: 39/44Strength: 27Defense: 10Agility: 27Charisma: 26Wisdom: 10Intelligence: 8Perception: 11Tenacity: 12Endurance: 12Vitality: 18

  skills - Predatory Roar, Spike Barrage, Beast Speak