Chapter 303 Millienium Creature!
As soon as Lyrian exited the village, he began to run past it again. Even though he was distracted on his journey, he still wanted to travel out as far as he could.
He wanted to fight stronger beasts, and although he was traveling far out enough to see new creatures like the lizardmen, it still wasn't far enough.
Soon, the blood on his skin dried up and began to crack. The feeling was uncomfortable; it was itchy and pulled on his hair.
He withstood the feeling for a while until the landscape around him began to change slightly.
The trees became thicker, and vines started to show themselves. Although Lyrian associated a forest and a jungle to be pretty much the same things, he could tell the difference between the two when needed.
The place he was entering now was definitely a jungle. He ran across this land for a while as well.
Again, his surroundings began to change after a while of running. Now, shoots of bamboo started to scarcely spread out throughout the jungle.
Before long, Lyrian had entered a bamboo forest. Everywhere he looked, he was surrounded by bamboo.
The reflection of the sun off the tightly packed bamboo shoots made the air have a tint of yellowish green color, as Lyrian was forced to slow down.
He couldn't run freely in this new environment not only because of the bamboo that was so dense to get around, but also because he wasn't used to it.
Finally, he came across a pond in the middle of the bamboo forest. There existed about 20 feet of open grassland, with no bamboo on top of it, before the lake in the middle.
This was the case on all sides of the lake, which wasn't too large.
'A lake? I guess I can wash this blood off here...' He mused, deciding to take a bath in the water.
After taking off his clothes, which were also soaked in blood, he picked up a thin and long bamboo stick and poked the water with it.
He didn't want some crocodile or something to come up and hunt him, after all.
Splashing the stick around didn't cause any predator to show itself, which was a good thing.
On top of that, a beautiful scene showed itself as the subtle ripples waved across the light blue water.
Lyrian took a dive inside, and as he did, he opened his eyes underneath.
From what he could see, the pond had some fish swimming around, but there wasn't anything apart from that.
He started rinsing off the blood from his body. After he finished, Lyrian suddenly felt a large vibration from the middle of the lake.
'No fish that I've seen can make such a vibration...' He mused, poking his head underwater to see what it was.
From the middle of the lake, where a deep underwater cave hole looked to be, appeared a large creature.
Lyrian immediately broke his head out of the water's surface, as the thing coming out did the same.
Its body was furry but looked smooth due to the water. It was black and white in color and was round.
*SPLASH*
A giant crash of water sent forceful waves going everywhere as a giant panda revealed itself from the depths of the pond.
Lyrian's mouth was slightly open in surprise as he stared at the creature.
The panda immediately turned on its back and began floating in the water calmly.
However, Lyrian was more surprised at the aura of the beast. This wasn't the aura of some random creature... better yet, it was the aura of a powerful one.
'It feels like I'm next to a fully grown Pheon, or Kailion...' He thought to himself as he observed the panda calmly floating about in the water.
'Scan.'
┏━━━Scan━━━┓
Name: Pan
Species: Balance Panda
Age: 991
Overall Power (OP): 15
Health: 161/161
Stamina: 152/152
Strength: 155
Agility: 144
Defense: 160
Rank: Genesis: Layer 2
Special: Millenium Creature. Only one of these creatures exists per thousand years. It is a special breed sought by many adventurers, hunters, and organizations.
┗━━━━━━━━━┛
'W-what!?' Lyrian nearly blurted out loud in shock but managed to control himself.
[This creature tends to try its best to hide itself]
'I see...' Lyrian gazed at the creature a bit longer, before suddenly, the creature sniffed a little too hard a few times.
*Sniff*
It opened its eyes as they went to the side in slight confusion.
*Sniff sniff*
There was no doubt about it... the panda knew he smelt blood in the water.
He arose from his floating position and began doggy paddling while staying straight up, as his gaze met with a random young boy's.
The boy was staring at him in awe, and it looked at the boy for a while longer as an awkward silence followed.
After, the panda quickly turned around and exited the pond with a horrified expression on its face.
As soon as it moved, Lyrian swam after it and began following it.
'I need that soul!' He was ecstatic. Not only was this a strong creature, but also a rare one that he could add to the team.
For some reason, however, the Balance Panda ran from him instead of fighting.
As soon as it got on land, the panda began running on both of its hind legs and swayed its hands in a human-like manner.
As Lyrian chased behind it, it panted while running, looking back behind its shoulder at times at the boy on its tail.
The scene could be considered comedic to some, as Lyrian was butt-naked, chasing a 10-foot bear that was running on its two stubby and chubby back legs--through the middle of a bamboo forest, no less.
"Stop! Fight me! Why are you running!?" Lyrian yelled at the beast in bewilderment.
However, the panda didn't stop running. Soon, the bamboo forest cleared up again, and Lyrian noticed a giant hut made of bamboo high in the shoots of bamboo.
The panda ran over to a shoot underneath the giant bamboo ladder leading up to the giant bamboo hut and grabbed a giant magical contraption.
It looked like a half circle, and it quickly placed it over its mouth as it stopped and turned around to face Lyrian.
"AHHHH! LEAVE ME ALONE!"
'That thing,' Lyrian looked at the magical contraption that the panda held over its mouth, 'It translated what it said? How did it get something like that?'
"Leave you alone? What are you talking abou--" Lyrian was about to say how much stronger it was than him, but the panda didn't pay attention.
It ran toward its ladder and quickly climbed up it in its human-like posture.
Entering its own tree-house in the bamboo shoot tops, it soon climbed back down.
"I'm not supposed to be found yet! This is horrible!" He yelled to himself as it walked down with a coconut in hand.
"Here! Have this!" It exclaimed through the magic contraption, throwing the coconut into Lyrian's hands.
"Take it and leave!"
Lyrian looked down at the coconut in confusion with a brow raised. "Huh?" He muttered, 'Scan.'
┏━━━Item Scan━━━┓
Name: Sweet Coconut
Description: A rare fruit that occasionally grows in the bamboo forest. It is renowned for never spoiling. It has a sweet and refreshing taste, which cleanses one's body from nearly all diseases. This fruit is extremely valuable.
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"Wow... this is very useful." Lyrian was surprised to read its hefty description.
He looked back up at the panda, who exclaimed, "Yes... It is very useful. Take it, and leave me be."
Lyrian paused for a moment before replying. He had many questions right now.
"You said you were supposed to be caught yet? Does that mean you're supposed to be caught in the future?"
"Yea--well, look... I'm a millennial creature... If I'm caught before I even reach a thousand years of age, I'm a failure! Still... I don't ever want to be captured or seen... yet, here I am today!"
The panda cried in misery, disappointed at itself for being caught.
"I see..." Lyrian stored the coconut in his ring, "I'm sorry, but I'm not here for the coconut." He changed his tone.
He continued what he was saying before, "You are far stronger than me... so why are you running?"
At that moment, the panda leaned back in shock.
"Oh... you're right. I got so caught up in the fact that I got caught, that I forgot my own strength after all these years."
'What in the world...' Lyrian mused confusedly.
At that moment, the panda looked down at the ground, shadowing its face.
Its body and face began to suddenly twitch almost uncontrollably, as it shook the ground beneath it.
Lyrian looked down, feeling the rumble under his feet. He then looked back up to see a ferocious expression on the panda's face.
Before, it looked like a teddy. Its expression was completely harmless, like a cartoon's. But now, its face resembled that of a monstrous predatory bear.
The panda didn't growl, however. It only furrowed its brows in complete seriousness.
"What the--it completely changed its demeanor... skillful? Or did it turn into another being entirely?" Lyrian couldn't tell.
"Weakling... you're dead for trying to hunt me." The panda menacingly spoke. Its voice exuded power and killing intent.
Lyrian was leaning more toward the 'other being' option after it said this.
It stomped one leg forward, and then pointed its palms toward Lyrian--one at its waist, and one in front of its face.
It looked to be some martial arts stance that the bear perfectly displayed.
As it breathed out, small clouds of smoke released from the sides of its mouth.
"Panda Kung Fu; First form. Tiger!"
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