I'm Sensitive Right Now
On the eastern edge of the Gragor Kingdom, on the Iden Continent, there lay a vast jungle that connected to the elven woods.
Its name was the Verdant Grove.
The Verdant Grove was a place forever steeped in green—a special realm overflowing with mysterious life force and unknown energy. That was only natural, really, given that one of its tributaries was the Yunia River, which flowed from the World Tree itself.
A young noble lady reading a book titled The Verdant Grove lifted her head and asked a question.
"Father, are the monsters living in the Verdant Grove really that strong?"
Count Bloodmoon smiled at his daughter's question.
"And which monster has captured our little princess's heart this time?"
"Ugh! Would you please stop treating me like a child? I'll be old enough to enter the Academy next year!"
The Count gazed quietly at Lia, who was shooting him a sulky glare.
Cordelia Beatrice von Bloodmoon.
She was the second daughter of House Bloodmoon, turning fifteen this year—a child who had shown far greater aptitude for magic than for the sword. Perhaps because of that, Lia took an interest in rumors about monsters and magic that set her apart from other young ladies her age.
"Anyway, Father, listen. A long time ago, there was a beast that ate monsters and absorbed their power."
"You say you're about to enter the Academy, and you still believe in legends like that?"
Count Bloodmoon teased his daughter playfully. He knew the contents of The Dragon Chronicles well enough. It was nothing more than a fairy tale, wasn't it?
"Then do you know this part too? That beast longed for humans so much that it would sometimes visit human villages."
Of course he did. The tale of how a hero set out to subjugate the beast and only managed to defeat it after joining forces with a dragon was an extremely famous anecdote. He had been wondering why she was bringing up a story treated as little more than myth when Lia finally got to the point.
"The Magic Tower tracked the ruins and the legends, and guess what? On 'the night when the moon and starlight become one'—this year, that beast was born in the Verdant Grove."
"Good heavens! Is that true?!"
When the Count asked with exaggerated shock, Lia's cheeks puffed out dramatically. Regardless, the Count was already thinking of ways to tease his daughter further—until she said something that stopped him cold.
"Anyway! So I've decided to tame that beast."
"…Huh?"
The Count blinked at her. Tame the beast? Was that even possible? But his daughter seemed to have no interest whatsoever in whether such magic was feasible.
"You're going to tame a beast?"
"It's pitiful!"
"…Hmm?"
Lia spoke as though seized by a powerful sense of mission.
"It comes to villages because it misses humans, right? There has to be a reason. So I'm going to develop a magic that lets me talk to animals, based on Familiar magic!"
Faced with Lia's sparkling eyes and earnest attitude, the Count momentarily lost his words. She was always such a mature child, but moments like this made her look pure to the point of foolishness. And yet, meeting his daughter's gaze, he found himself a little ashamed of having thought, If the beast appears, we kill it. Why was that?
The Count chuckled softly.
"But will the monsters even listen to us?"
"We'll never know until we try, will we?"
"Hmm."
The Count thought it was impossible, but he decided to support his daughter anyway. If she threw herself into something with real passion, even failure would become valuable experience later on. Still, a bitter feeling lingered in his chest.
Even if, by some chance, Lia actually creates such magic…
Even if she somehow became able to speak with the beast—he could never allow her to take its side. The reenactment of myth was something that happened from time to time. According to the stories passed down, the history of the Demon King and the Hero appearing on the Iden Continent repeated in cycles.
So—
…If it was subjugated by a hero and a dragon, there must have been a good reason.
The Count did not want his daughter caught up in such a complicated conflict. Of course, it was something that happened only once every few thousand years, so the odds of it actually coming to pass were virtually nonexistent. Still… you never really knew, did you?
He looked up at the sky. The night when the moon and starlight become one. A week ago, there had indeed been a fleeting moment when the entire world was painted in darkness.
A beast…? No. Surely not.
Count Bloodmoon gazed toward the distant Verdant Grove, then offered a quiet prayer to Sol. He wished for peace for House Bloodmoon and for Lia—and that they would never, if at all possible, cross paths with anything like a beast.
And deep inside the Verdant Grove itself—
The very beast born on the night when the moon and starlight became one was currently—
"Grrng."
—waddling through the underbrush with tiny, determined steps.
Dark brown fur the color of tree bark, marked with stripes as if for camouflage. Those patterns, known as tiger stripes, were rare on the Iden Continent. Would you believe that the markings actually blurred the outline of the body? In short, this small, insignificant creature had skills like Camouflage and Stealth as passives!
And of course, that ridiculously overpowered baby predator was none other than me.
Good. Haven't been spotted, right?
I stretched out my already short legs and advanced a millimeter at a time. Anyone watching me crouch low and waddle along might have asked if I was baking a loaf of bread, but that would only mean they didn't understand this body of mine. Watch closely. I was about to demonstrate just how magnificent I truly was.
A tiger gives its all even when hunting a rabbit.
For the record, my target right now was an actual rabbit.
◈ Traits:[Horn], [Sensitivity]
◈ Skills:[Enhanced Leg Strength Lv.2]
◈ Status:[At Ease]
My opponent was a vicious little thing two whole levels above me, complete with a horn. A mutant rabbit with antlers growing from its head like a deer. That was how dangerous this jungle was. Even a mere herbivore was nothing to take lightly in this fantasy world.
As the first tiger to set foot in this other world, I could not stand by and watch this broken hierarchy go unchallenged. Which is to say: I was hungry, so I was going hunting. Sorry, bunny. I've got to eat too.
After a long stretch of bread-baking posture, I finally managed to get behind the thing. Was this what it felt like to set up an ambush? My fur stood on end of its own accord as I dropped even lower.
One, two! Heave!
I coiled power into my hind legs, crouched, and launched myself off the ground.
BOOM!
A ground-shaking impact that was hard to believe came from my tiny body sent my form shooting forward like a bolt.
Enhanced Leg Strength Lv.1
Did you catch that? My brand-new skill! And I wasn't stopping there. If your skill count goes up, you naturally use combos. I was a proud tiger, after all!
"Grrrngh!"
Still airborne, I unleashed an infrasonic roar and swung my forepaw. The rabbit, which had sensed something with its keen instincts and tried to flee, went rigid for a split second. I seized that opening, and my paw struck its skull dead-on.
SMACK!
The incredible reflexes of a feline! Missing was never even an option.
"Squeak!"
Before the half-dead thing could scream after taking that hit to the head, I clamped down on the scruff of its neck. It was supposed to be a finishing attack, but I was so small that I ended up dangling from the rabbit's nape instead. Undeterred, I raised both front paws high.
Pah-pah-pah!
A three-hit cat punch combo, you bastard!
"Squee—"
The rabbit collapsed without even managing a proper scream. Hah. Did you see that? The sheer power of this body!
"Grrng!"
I squared my shoulders with pride and reviewed the results of the hunt. No injuries, no failed stealth, and a perfect attack. At this rate, shouldn't I be getting a title like Rabbit Slayer or something?
………
Tch. Fine, whatever.
Anyway, I was in an excellent mood. Overreacting over one rabbit? You wouldn't say that if you'd faced one of these things yourself. The first time I hunted a rabbit, I made the mistake of letting it scream—and the other beasts that came running nearly killed me. That experience taught me that suppression and capture mattered more than the attack itself. That was why predators always went for the scruff of the neck first.
Drag, drag, drag.
I started moving with the rabbit's scruff clenched in my jaws, just like a proper predator. With my formidable bite force and strength, I lifted the rabbit—but its legs still dragged along the ground.
…
Ah. That looked pathetic. My mood took a serious hit. A predator's dignity was supposed to come from its size, after all.
"Grrng!"
But there was no need to despair. I had already found a clue for growing bigger—and that was exactly why I kept hunting rabbits.
"Grrng! Grrng!"
After dragging the rabbit's corpse back to my den, I hurriedly shoved it inside and erased the trail left on the ground. I carefully checked the surroundings, hid in the brush, and only after confirming it was safe for a while did I finally return to the den to sample my catch. Whew. Exhausting. So exhausting.
"Chomp chomp chomp chomp!"
And then—at last—the message I had been waiting for appeared.
Yes!
Honestly, I hadn't been sure it would work—but it actually succeeded. The number of rabbits I had caught so far totaled a full six. Through six hunts, I had obtained not only the rabbit's Enhanced Leg Strength skill, but its trait—Sensitivity—as well.
How did I even get the idea that killing rabbits would give me skills and traits? It all started with the "acquisition conditions" I learned after taking down a mole monster.
…
Through your first act of predation, you have discovered the acquisition conditions for [Claw Sharpening Lv.1]!
Right after that, I checked the acquisition conditions and learned that they boiled down to "accumulating karma."
Accumulating karma?
In plain terms, it meant stacking experience. If I hunted and ate creatures that possessed Claw Sharpening, I gained a chance to acquire it myself. That merit piled up and up until it hit a certain threshold—and then, ta-da! Just like now, I could obtain that creature's skill.
For the record, I never saw another mole monster after that… Turns out Big Bro Mole was a unique monster—weak, but packing a great skill. Big Bro. I miss you.
Anyway!
I flinched. The moment I acquired the Sensitivity trait, my awareness of my surroundings sharpened by a full degree. In other words, I was now a predator equipped with a herbivore's keen senses. Plus Enhanced Leg Strength! Stronger again today!
"Mrrrow!"
Of course, there was a price to pay.
Acquiring a trait has reduced your karma.
That was why I still hadn't leveled up despite killing six Level 4 rabbits.
But I've got everything I wanted now!
The Horn was still left, but that trait was a completely different color. It probably required special conditions to obtain. Setting the disappointment aside, I decided to focus on leveling up first. Bigger creatures generally had higher levels, so if my level went up, maybe I'd get bigger too?
Just you wait! Bulk-up time!
But life never goes according to plan.
I stared up at the sky with thoroughly dead eyes. You know those jerks in online games who show up at beginner hunting grounds just to harass newbies? Would you believe that was exactly my situation right now?
"Hooong—!"
Ah, crap. That bastard's back again?
Damn thug.
There was a reason I called that thing a thug.
"Ptooey!"
"Hoo-rook—!"
For the past few days, the creature had been showing up in front of me and demanding "tribute" in the form of whatever I had hunted. Unbelievable. Even here, there was a schoolyard-style bully shaking people down for their lunch money.
Damn it.
Blinking back tears, I set down the rabbit and slowly backed away.
"Hoo-rook-koo-koo-koo!"
At the sight, the eagle owl puffed up its entire body and laughed at me mercilessly.
This little shit?
They say a gentleman's revenge is never too late even after ten years. A tiger's revenge starts right now. That thing had no idea what it had done—messing with a sensitive tiger was a one-way ticket to hell. And for the record, I planned to stay sensitive forever.
I began carefully observing its level and the animals in the area.