I walked around for some time before a very good smell assaulted my senses: cooking meat. And it smelled AMAZING. Sadly where there was something cooking, there was bound to be beings around cooking said food. Luckily they couldn't see me, I couldn't see me, so unless they had a form of vision that could see me then they were going to stay blind to my existence. I don't know if there was a form of vision or sense capable of finding reptilian or magic using animals like I now was, but I was too hungry to care at the moment.

I slunk closer to the site and looked around. It seemed that they didn't bring any sort of protection or shelter from any creatures that could've been inside of this cave, or maybe they previously knew that this cave had no dangerous creatures worth setting up a defense against? I noticed that there seemed to be three of them, all human, or at least humanoid: two were rolled up wool cylinders, on the ground, both males; and there was a third female that was dressed poorly, and they were the one cooking the meat...actually, it was burning.

...not my problem.

I noticed that the two men were sleeping opposite of each other: One was at the far end of the cave, and the other was closer to my side of the cave, and they both had their feet sticking out of the cylinders of cloth. Not that I would go about biting feet, but I'm sure plenty of other creature's wouldn't mind a nibble if it guaranteed them a meal...or two.

I went to the one closest to me, ignoring the burning meat for a second, as curiosity took hold of me. I found myself looking at a heavily tattooed, bald human warrior with extremely ugly tattoos on his face, around to the back of his head, and then it ended going down his back and neck. Parts of it showed on the shoulders sticking out of the wool blanket he was wrapped up in and I assumed the other was the same.

I wondered what would happen if I just slit his throat right here, waiting, while he bled out in his sleep. Yeah it's not very humane of me but I didn't feel any worse for thinking it, my instincts were telling me that killing these guys would make me stronger. And that it would be easier to do so while they were asleep than if they were active and awake. My human side was against such actions though as it was extremely animalistic and savage...not to mention rude. I let the thoughts pass and moved past them to the one that was currently falling asleep cooking the food, or trying to cook anyways, given that her eyes were closed and the meat was burning.

Maybe it tasted better that way...I'd have to test that later.

I was disappointed to see the other one was the same fashion of human: a bulky warrior with a bunch of tattoos, completely covered in muscle mass, and obscenely ugly. I glared at the irritation of finding two of the same things in one place. Honestly, I was kind of hoping for something else, something varied, not two of the same looking human warriors and what I assumed was a servant, or slave.

At least they were different.

I looked at the person sitting on a rock, unconsciously rotating the large piece of meat that was speared through with a stick, and I waited until they had stopped rotating the meat and let it drop into the flames. Then I waited for a little while longer just to make sure and the voice spoke to me again, surprising me, but I kept myself from yelping out in surprise as I didn't want to lose my breakfast:

(Skill: Patient Hunter Acquired)

I swear that the voice in my head said things like that at times like this on purpose...

I focused my breathing and when my heart rate was back down I checked on the person sitting on the rock and found them still sleeping. I soon realized that I could stand directly on the coals and embers as the fire and heat of them didn't harm or bother me -- it totally didn't happen from me falling into the pit when trying to reach the meat and watch her at the same time -- but I didn't focus on that too hard or that voice could come and mock me again.

I grabbed the stick holding the meat over the fire and skittered away, careful not to touch the figure sitting on the rock sleeping as I did so, and when I stopped I found out that anything that I touched didn't also turn invisible...thankfully.

I breathed silently in relief then slid off the meat carefully from the stick, and dug in ripping it apart savagely as my hunger consumed me. I can't say whether it was better burned than cooked or not, but more testing always fixed that kind of thing. I started to look around for something that looked like it held more meat like this one and I found another bag beside the figure, it had a long feathery, black tail sticking out of it.

I dragged the corpse over to the fire, looked to see if it was ready to be cooked, and seeing that it was I speared it through it's underside. Putting it back on the spokes holding the long stick in place over the fire was a task in itself -- with me trying to not be loud -- and trying to keep the whole thing steady while I maneuvered the stick back into the lady's hands was even trickier. But I did it!

With the new corpse now cooking over the fire my job was done and I had no reason to stay any longer. I was about to walk off when that voice interrupted me:

{Titles: (Thief) and (Stealthy Hunter) Obtained}
{Skills: (Stealth) and (Steal) Acquired}

I growled at that, who wanted to be called a thief to their face you stupid voice, I was hungry and I needed something to eat. I wasn't about to just go to town on those ugly guys, they didn't look that tasty. I got up and looked back realizing that I had just left the lady with what seemed to be a tail still  sleeping over a dying fire.

Stupid voice.

I rushed over seeing that the fire was almost out and the meat wasn't even half done yet. I looked around for something that would feed the flames and I found what looked to be a bag with a bunch of sticks, so I grabbed them and tossed the whole thing on the fire.

There. Give me something for helping...No?

I don't like you either.

The fire was going strong again and I was getting hungry again, so I found a piece of steak wrapped in cloth -- from the same bag that I found the strange looking bird in -- and stuck it, and my claws into the fire. When it looked done I took off with the steak that I had, it was about medium rare (and burned), but still tasty as I bit into it not even bothering to leave the camp-site entirely. I went over and did the only thing that I could think of...I whacked the one sitting on the rock with a stray stick with my tail and she stumbled awake looking at the falling stick in surprise. Unfortunately, this caused the other two to startle awake as well ripping apart their wool sacks with swords waving.

Oops.

I looked between the three and slowly backed away trying to make as little sound as possible while I escaped. The three of them looked around the cave for a minute but soon after the men lowered their swords and shrugged, relaxing. They put the swords back in scabbards they had laying against the walls and turned towards the...cat woman? So that's why I saw a long, black, thin shape snaking down the rock she had fallen asleep on. She even had the ears to match now that her hood had fallen off. I had to resist the urge to pounce on her tail as it snaked its way across the floor closer to me.

It's a Beast-woman, or woman-beast? Cat-kin? Was it one word? I didn't know.

She looked around confused and scared as the two marched over to her, the one behind grabbed her hair and forcefully dragged her off the rock and the other kicked her in the stomach, hard. I realized that I was still, miraculously, holding on to the last half of the steak I'd stolen, but I kept from devouring it and instead stored it in my storage, watching guiltily as they berated her and beat her with obscenities. 

"Stupid beast! What did we say about disturbing our sleep!" Ugly 1 yelled and then noticed the meat over the fire was cooked and done now. 

I thought he was going to smack her again but instead he just raised a hand and pat her head, between the two black pointy triangles rising from her hair. I guessed those were her ears? They twitched away from his touch but she didn't flinch away and instead stayed huddled against the rock she was on earlier. Even as he stepped away from her. 

I ground my claws into the ground -- I could feel them cutting through the stone easily and leaving deep gouges in it -- watching in silence. I didn't care about anything else other than using them to rip these punks apart...hopefully I got a chance to give her the rest of that meat. 

"Good job, pet." The first warrior, the one that smacked her, mocked.

Then he over to ugly 2, who had already grabbed the stick with the cooked corpse on it and ripped it off savagely. Not bothering to remove it properly; he and the first guy wrestled with it ripping the thing in half in a brutal savage display. Retreating with his half, the other guy howled at him like an angry bear but moved farther and started eating his.

How they hadn't alerted whatever else that was here other than me was something in of itself, and it made no sense. Perhaps this cave was truly empty...other than me and the giant mountain of riches that I'd captured. If it wasn't surely something would've come by now, even if it was something from outside would have be acceptable and expected. Maybe their savagery was keeping things at bay thinking this was a den of angry predators?

I growled internally at the two disgusting warriors as they ripped into the meat. Granted I wasn't much better, but I was starving! And they don't seem to have been...well, except for the cat-lady. The cat-lady just stared at them silently crying still against the rock, and I felt guilty. I should've saved the steak I stole instead of just eating all of it so quickly, without thinking about whether or not they were treating her kindly or not. 

Stupid, stupid, stupid.

I watched as they finished their pieces and then tossed the scraps towards the cat-woman. Then they started to pack up their things, well at least I thought that they were packing things up, but really they just kicked the scraps of cloth off to the side and stuffed the smaller things into the bag with what used to be meat. I watched, seething, as they stomped past me without a care in the world. The cat-woman trying her best to rip off skin and flesh from the bones that they gave her as she followed.

Those greedy, arrogant bastards. I decided then and there that I was going to follow them...that I was going to help her get free of them.

...at least they didn't seem to notice that they were missing a bag...

She tried to get more flesh, but it seemed to be just too hard for her, so she just dropped both of the skeletons, and sniffled following the two further into the cave. Were they looking for the large pile of gold, jewels, and other coins that I had already absorbed? If they were I really wanted to see their reactions when they saw it not there. They would certainly start blaming each-other, maybe even moving the blame to the cat-lady.

Hopefully they didn't do that.

Then they would hopefully set up camp again and go to sleep wallowing in their disappointment and greed, hopefully after exhausted themselves. I followed them as they continued onward, down the same path I took to them. Then arrived at my hatching site.

They stopped. Their bags slipping from their hands dramatically and they tore across the room going to the middle of where that large pile I had absorbed already had been. I snorted, those poor, poor bastards...not really. I'm glad that I went back for the shinies. Now all I had to do was wait till they tired themselves out, so I decided to climb up a rock and lay on it while they scrambled around in the empty, strangely dusty area where the pile once was:

First came the confusion, "Where is it? Where's our gold? Our Riches?!" They grasped the dust and dirt in their hands and watched it slide off back to the ground, their eyes crying rivers.

Second came the disbelief, "No! This has to be it. Maybe its just somewhere else and we missed it? Look everywhere!" They started to look around the place, as if they would find something. I looked towards the cat-lady and found her hiding behind a rock, out of sight. Good.

Third came the anger. They literally turned on each other, "You took this job knowing we'd find nothing. Damien, you fool. You wasted so much of our time! We could've made twice as much just hunting things around town and bashing heads in alleyways!"

"Like you're one to talk! You practically forced me to take it. Thinking it would be some super-score and no look what's happened!"

"Well who's the Brigdoll that took a detour and wasted half our money on a stupid slave!!" 

"At least the slave's been a better contributor than you! I haven't even gotten the chance to enjoy her yet!" 

Their fighting and accusations lasted for a good hour or so before they actually tried to physically maim the other. Geez, these guys had a lot of stamina, and they were powerful too, but again it was good for me as it made it easier to take care of them tonight.

Then came the exhaustion; The two crawled around opposite of each other and went still, blood, sweat, and something sweet wafting from them. 

Was that the smell of prey? Weakness?

They curled into themselves on opposite sides of the cavern and the cat-lady just watched all of this transpire with a strange mix of fascination and glee. Then she went towards the first one, and that was when I noticed something floating above all three of them:

Name: Damien
Species: Human
Condition: Passed out
(Class C-)
Estimated Rank: D+
Job(s): Warrior, Bounty-Hunter, Mercenary.
Personal Level: 43/100
Health: 950+/2000
Constitution: 200
Strength: 400
Magic: 110
Dexterity: 150
Mana: 1+/1100
Stamina: 1+/3000

Skills: Berserk (Lv. 3), Slash (Lv. 8), Stab (Lv. 4), Decapitate (Lv. 5)

Resistances: Physical Resistance (Lv. 20), Fall Damage Resistance (Lv. 14), Fire Resistance (Lv. 13), Pain Resistance (Lv. 18)

Titles: The Angry One, Older Sibling, Favored One, Twin, Lazy Hunter

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Name: John
Species: Human
Condition: Passed out
(Class C- Adventurer)
Estimated Rank: D-
Job(s): Warrior, Hunter, Mercenary, Skinner.
Personal Level: 40/100.
Health: 580+/1500
Constitution: 150
Strength: 380
Magic: 130
Dexterity: 100
Mana: 13+/1300
Stamina: -54(+)/2000

Skills: Berserk (Lv. 4), Slash (Lv. 7), Decapitate (Lv. 4), Torture (Lv. 8)

Resistances: Physical Resistance (Lv. 18), Fall Damage Resistance (Lv. 9), Communication (Lv. 6), Fire Resistance (Lv. 12), Pain Resistance (Lv. 20)

Titles: The Crazy One, Lazy Killer, Torturer, Unstable Twin

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Name: ------
Species: (Cat) Beast-Kin
Condition: Sleeping, Hungry
(Class D)
Estimated Rank: F
Job: Slave
Personal Level: 17/100
Health (Decreasing): 467-/2100
Constitution: 140
Strength: 150
Magic: 0
Dexterity: 180
Mana: --/--
Stamina: 1730+/4500

Skills: Minor Flame (Lv. 2), Heal (Lv. 6),

Resistances: Hunger Resistance (Lv. 34), Sleep Resistance (Lv. 26), Pain Resistance (Lv. 47)

Titles: Slave, Servant

I growled at the last part in the Cat-woman's information, and I wondered what my own status was, and as I thought the word 'status' a screen appeared in my mind. Don't know how to describe it really, but I could see it, and the things around me simultaneously. It would make it really strange though if I accidentally thought the word in the middle of a fight and it decided to be annoying...like it has:

Name: Sc'the---- ????????? ?????????
Species (Newborn): Invisible Reaper Dragon
Condition: Normal
(Class D Monster)
Estimated Rank: D+
Job: --------
Personal Level: 1/25
Health: 2000/2000
Constitution: 100
Strength: 100
Magic: ?????
Dexterity: 100
Mana: ---/---
Stamina: ---/---
Free Points: 0

Skills: Flame (Lv. 1), Toxic Slash (Lv. 2), Tail Smash (Lv. 2), Bite (Lv. 2), Flight (Lv.---), Toxic Breath (Lv. 1), Hindrance (Lv. 1), Stealth (Lv. 2), Patient Hunter (Lv. 2), Steal (Lv. 2).

Special Skills: Void Storage (Passive/Activated), Spy (Lv. 3), Reaping Slash (Lv. 2), Soul Devour (Lv. 1), Invisibility (Passive/Permanent), 

Resistances: Toxin Resistance (Lv. 2), Hunger Resistance (Lv. 3), Physical Resistance (Lv. 2), Magic Resistance (Lv. 1), Fire Resistance (Lv. 5).

Titles: Thief, Hunter, Observational, Destroyer, Reincarnated One (Hidden), Powerful One (Hidden), Newborn, Curious Soul, Good Natured.

Okay then, I had a lot of skills, and I didn't know what the dashes in Mana and Stamina were, or what that giant sections of Question marks were either but at least I knew my name now. I'm guessing that the dashes are either considered infinite or just can't be shown for some reason like the rest of my name? Maybe my Titles had something to do with that? 

Either way those two humans were already dead in the eyes...

{Title: (Judge & Executioner) Obtained}

Great. Now the system itself is mocking me of being judgey. 

I growled quietly and tossed the my thoughts aside, going over to the weaker of the two -- John it said was his name -- and dragged a claw across his throat. Yeah, sure. Call me evil. But I'm doing it so that the cat-lady can be free of her abusers and their tyranny...I just hoped that she wasn't mad that I did it myself...

I watched and waited -- holding the man down as their eyes shot open and they started struggling around -- as the blood drained from the mans body. Thinking about how easy it was for my claw to cut through the skin and muscle of his neck even though he has a fairly high Physical Resistance. I suddenly saw something bright floating from the body. It force activated the Special Skill (Soul Devour) and my mouth opened on it's own, sucking in the light and deactivating. Suddenly the voice resounded in my head once again...interrupting my thoughts about what just happened. 

(Experience Gained)
((Level Increased)x11)
(New Titles Gained: Merciless, Cutthroat, Reaper of Souls)
(Skill Levels Increased: Toxic Slash (Lv. 3), Hindrance (Lv. 2),
Stealth (Lv. 4), Steal (Lv. 3), Soul Devour (Lv. 2), Spy (Lv. 4))
(New Skill Gained: Reap (Lv. 1))
(Free Points: 110)
(Extra (soul) points: 30

Wow, that one guy gave me 11 levels! And increased almost all of my skills, there were a few titles that I didn't like seeing, but they couldn't be helped, or avoided. I looked at my Status once again.

Name: Sc'the---- ????????? ?????????
Species (Newborn): Invisible Reaper Dragon
Condition: Normal
(Class D Monster)
Estimated Rank: D+
Job: --------
Personal Level: 12/25
Health: 2000/2000
Constitution: 100
Strength: 100
Magic: ????????
Dexterity: 100
Mana: ---/---
Stamina: ---/---
Free Points: 140

Skills: Flame (Lv. 1), Toxic Slash (Lv. 3), Tail Smash (Lv. 2), Bite (Lv. 2), Flight (Lv.---), Toxic Breath (Lv. 1), Hindrance (Lv. 2), Stealth (Lv. 4), Patient Hunter (Lv. 2), Steal (Lv. 3).

Special Skills: Void Storage (Passive/Activated), Invisibility (Passive/Permanent), Spy (Lv. 4), Reap (Lv. 1), Soul Devour (Lv. 2), 

Resistances: Toxin Resistance (Lv. 2), Hunger Resistance (Lv. 3), Physical Resistance (Lv. 2), Magic Resistance (Lv. 1), Fire Resistance (Lv. 5).

Titles: Hunter, Thief, Observational, Destroyer, Reincarnated One (Hidden), Powerful One (Hidden), Newborn, Curious Soul, Good Natured, Judge & Executioner. 

Killing him so easily at that level made me wonder how high everything could get for a human at level one hundred, or past a hundred...Was that possible in this world? I wondered if evolution was even possible for them too seeing as I could...

I wasn't done with what I needed to do yet, so I pushed my thoughts away and used (Stealth) to slither over to where the other warrior was sleeping. I decided to use something else this time...

(Soul Devour)