A lush green valley hidden in the mountains

Heading out I quickly realize the grass is much much more… unkempt then I’m used to, as it is well above my head, it being more like a forest then the sparse treeline I see in the distance. At least if I can get to them, I can survey the area. Slightly nervous of running into something in the leaves or just getting lost, I push myself to enter it… and I quickly move through, slipping through the blades of grass, and over the uneven ground, with unnatural grace. The grass barely swaying more than if a gentle breeze started. In mere moments I come across a root, and quickly scale it, up to bark. And up I go it, my claws easily clinging to it as I run directly up in the air, soon finding myself on the first branch.

Pausing I take a moment to process what just happened, and how… instinctive it was. Not easy… just… I knew exactly what to do. In fact I didn’t even need to think about it, rather… routine actually. Wait… aren’t rangers good at navigating terrain. That’s likely the cause. Hardly seems like something a dragon would know instinctively… Though that does lead to interesting implications of classes if knowledge and even what would normally fall under muscle memory are just acquired from its possession…

Regardless I turn my attention to surveying from my new vantage point. The thick grasslands cover much of one horizon, though in the distance are some forested hills and further out mountains in the misty skyline. Scanning it, I realize I’m entirely surrounded by mountains. This is a valley? Well, being isolated from the world might be a good place to start out. Dropping my gaze, opposite of the forested hills, the trees become denser, in a more marshy area, and… I believe I can spy a river through the gaps between the sporadic foliage. Looks fairly far. If I was a human, it would probably take a fair portion of the day to get there on a trail. Probably much longer with the marshy lands.

I’ll have to get there at some point. I’m assuming I still need fresh water but something else catches my eye. A creature. Or… something that looks like one, but something is off. I can’t tell if it’s the distance I’m seeing it from, which honestly impresses me. I guess this is what hawks or other birds of prey must see with their incredibly farsighted eyes. However, I’ll have to get a closer look to confirm. Climbing down the tree I make my way over, quickly making it over the terrain. I’m honestly surprised how easily I can move over the terrain. I suppose that’s the strength of having four legs. Though when I reach the marsh I realize that they are far less useful than human legs… if for no other reason then they’re nowhere near as long. With my body slipping into the mud I hold my head high, as I kick my legs, more swimming in the layer of thick mud, then walking. Quickly I get to the nearest tree and take a moment to look around. Finding a root that leads to another tree, I jump over to it, and continue on my way. Progress isn’t exactly a straight line but much faster then if I was a human getting stuck in the mud. Regardless, the gentle babbling of flowing water greets me. Soon enough I break away from the marshy tree, The ground becoming more solid, though still moist. My claws clink into more and larger gravel as I climb up the shallow slope towards the creature I followed here. It didn't seem to notice me as it began to drink.

At first it looks like a rabbit, but it has far more defined muscles and the proportions are just a little… off. Less cute and more wild. It was larger than me by a decent bit, which was surprising. I know of some pretty large rabbits so… hopefully that’s the case rather than me being absolutely tiny. As I pondered, it snapped its head towards me revealing a large horn almost as long as its massive ears. Aren’t horned rabbits supposed to be cut- I dove to the side, the rabbit's horn pierced through the air where I had been standing just a moment before. I could feel the wind from its passing brush my scales, and I knew that I had been lucky to escape unharmed after my carelessness. With it this close I can truly appreciate its size. The rabbit was huge, its fur a deep, dark brown, and its eyes were a piercing red, filled with bloody rage.

My tail lashed out like a whip, striking it in the neck. The creature tumbled and crashed into the ground, before attempting to stand up but was overcome with dizziness. Taking advantage of the opening, I sink my teeth into its throat, rewarded with the taste of rich blood as I coil around its body to prevent it from escaping. The creature writhes as it dies, its hind legs kicking at me in a last-ditch attempt to throw me off, but its powerful legs did not even register to me. Finally it went limp, and a powerful instinct overtook me, as I begin devouring its flesh. I feel something calling me within the corpse, inflaming my hunger. Finally I discover what I crave. A small crystal within the flesh, nestled next to its heart. Greedily I rip it out and quickly crush it within my jaws. A rush of power fills me, and I regain control. What… was that?

A battle cry prevents me from breaking down what happened, as I turn my attention to the two more bunnies that show up, apparently looking for ****. Their speed is no longer a surprise, and after nimble dodging I slay them. Eagerly I begin tearing the nearest open to find another one of those crystals when I notice more of them approaching. Hurriedly dodging, I realize there were five more… and it sounds like even more were coming. I kept dodging, however this was not good. Before I even manage to kill the five, eleven more show up. There are two many to dodge and I’m **** to minimize their horned charges, leaving gashes along my flank scales, despite the ever growing pile of bodies. What the hell are these creatures! This is a slaughter so why am I being overwhelmed! Wait… that’s right. I have the God’s Eye. I point at one and activate it. A flood of information enters my mind, but I discard much of it, as I twist and weave out of the way of the flurry of furious charges, raking them with my claws where I could. But something does catch my eye.

Behavior: Dire Horned Rabbits will viciously attack anything that enters its territory, no matter how many of their number must die to achieve victory. After which they enter a breeding frenzy which rapidly replenishes their lost numbers, especially if they incapacitated a female humanoid. As such, very few predators bother hunting them despite their relative weakness, as the overwhelming horde typically means they leave empty handed and injured despite killing many.

Well… Fuck this then. I need to escape… However at this point the entire bank is covered with these screeching spikey kamikaze furballs… Except for the river. Without a moment's hesitation I leap into the water, diving deep into the lazy currents until I feel the silt of the river bed. It seems like they did attempt to skewer me on the way as several cannonball above me, but they seem quite poor swimmers and unwilling to dive to the bottom. Good, but still I better be far away before I resurface or else they might pursue me. Even the other side of the river is unlikely to deter these nutcases. As such I half swim, half crawl along the bed. My vision isn’t… great under here, but I can still keep my eyes open while I move, as I have no idea what monsters might be down here. Luckily I only see very large fish, and probably quite tasty but that’s to find out another day, I’m already running low on air. I compose myself as I push forward, before allowing myself to drift off the ground and towards the surface, forcing myself to only gently ascend, poking the tip of my… snout out rather than bursting through the surface. My nose opens which… is a bit weird and I didn’t realize I could close it, much less actually already did close it. Regardless I bring fresh air into my lungs and resist sighing in relief, slowly swimming as I nearly hyperventilate. Fuck that was too close… Though I probably shouldn’t let my guard down until I get back home. Of all the things I wasn’t expecting bunnies to cause me trouble. I do review some of the information I skipped previously. Interestingly enough, there is information that isn’t… strictly unique to them. Simply by… scanning them for lack of a better term, I not only get all information relating to them, but also all information relating to their… attributes. Dire, for example, is one such attribute that essentially distinguishes the monstrous versions of animals from their more vanilla versions. They don’t usually have any unique powers, but are pretty much immune to pain and are quick to fight to the **** with a strong bloodlust. They are also larger than their animal counterparts… Though this varies greatly. Not only by species, but by individuals. ‘Greater’ Dires are simply ones that have grown even larger than the more typical Dires.

The next thing I notice on review is… Well… the ease I could think despite the frenzy I was in… I do have parallel cores… and that did say I can have two streams of consciousness at once… That’s… actually terrifyingly powerful. This is more than just action economy. I basically have become an unparalleled multi-tasker… However… that means I was only using half of my available processing power on that fight. Perhaps I could have won with some ultra-instinct level shit…or at least not flee so shamefully if I knew how to apply both streams of consciousness to the fight. As it stands, this is basically the equivalent of having a multicore CPU but only being able to apply one core to a program… Of course… I do only have one body so perhaps there is a limit to that… Once I learn magic though… Regardless it is clear to me that the potential of my cheats is greater than I know how to leverage at this moment.

I freeze as I notice movement in the water. A large reptilian creature lazily swam near me. Large fucker, like a massive crocodile but with arms and legs that could bench press a car. Not wanting to fall into the same trap as before I immediately use God’s Eye.

Caikin
An amphibious sub-race of lizardfolk with alligator and/or crocodilian features. They are larger than humans and incredibly strong but somewhat slower in the mind. As such while they use tools and weapons they are typically of lower quality. Despite their size and strength they prefer to ambush their prey, striking from the water and dragging them into their element as they tear them apart. Perhaps because of this they aren’t particularly aggressive beyond protecting their territory, especially their young or their nests. One major change from their animal cousins is that they are far more communal, and will care for each other's children with no hesitation.
Similar to goblins and other highly heterogeneous monster families, they can give birth to a variety of different variant races depending on circumstances.
Race: LV 37 Caikin Hulk

Gender: Female

Current Disposition: Non-hostile, and concerned.- - - - - -

Well, non-hostile is a good start but it’s very high level with stats to match and I’m getting away from it before it changes its mind. I begin moving away, towards the shore, when I notice it turned towards me. And it was FAST! Before I can react it opens its maw and scoops me up. I panic and try to scramble out, its teeth forming a prison around me as I try to scratch and squeeze through them, but I begin to come down when I notice it not only hasn’t bite me, but it’s not trying to and not trying to swallow me… And God Eye confirms it’s not hostile but… Concern has been upgraded to Maternal Concern which is… Did it mistake me as a baby croc? I mean… I am a baby reptile, technically. But… where the fuck are we going? I can’t see through the water but I can tell it’s getting darker quickly.