"Are we being seen as food?"
Rin had already recognized the identity of this black bear. "C-Rank magical beast, Bombing Terror Bear. Do you have confidence to deal with it, Ogerpon?"
("No problem!")
Ogerpon was not fighting the magical beasts of this world for the first time.
Just a C-Rank level was not enough to make Ogerpon afraid.
"Good."
Rin quickly retreated to a safe position.
He stared at the Terror Bear in front of him, with a similar longing in his eyes. "If you want to eat us, then be prepared to be eaten yourself."
"Go for the kill, Ogerpon."
Rin: "It just so happens we're having bear paws today!"
("Understood!")
Ogerpon held her thorn vine stick, and green Grass-type magicules gathered throughout her body.
The next moment, the little one's figure had already vanished from its original spot.
"Swish!"
"Swish swish swish!"
Ogerpon transformed into a green stream of light, rapidly darting through the trees, causing the previously ferocious Terror Bear to instantly fall into a daze.
One after another, illusory afterimages made the Bombing Terror Bear unable to keep up.
"Now!"
"Poniii!"
Suddenly, a three to four-meter-long thorn vine stick, entirely composed of energy, descended from the sky and slammed violently onto the Terror Bear's crown.
"Boom!"
"Rumble~~"
Its skull shattered, blood splattered, and along with it, the Terror Bear's massive body, comparable to a house, collapsed.
"Poniii!"
Ogerpon leaped down from the air, landing steadily in front of Rin, not forgetting to strike a cool pose.
[Notification: Individual 'Ogerpon' defeated C-Rank magical beast 'Terror Bear']
[Unique Skill 'Growth' successfully acquired magicules]
[Obtained Existence Value: 3EP]
In just a few days, Ogerpon's magicules value had increased from an initial 6500 to 7000.
It must be said that the Unique Skill, Growth, is truly overpowered.
As long as she continuously defeats or kills opponents, she can gain magicules.
And magicules is key to a monster's evolution.
"Well done."
Rin praised her. "The application of magic and the control of power, Ogerpon, you've completely mastered them."
"Poniii un~~"
Ogerpon dissipated her thorn vine stick into Grass-type magicules. She shyly scratched her head, a little embarrassed by Rin's praise.
"Your magicules also increased by 500."
"If only we encountered more magical beasts, Ogerpon, you could become even stronger."
Rin thought of Rimuru in the original work. Predator was even more abnormal than Ogerpon's Growth.
Of course, existences like Rimuru and Ogerpon, who can grow stronger by devouring and defeating other monsters, are rare in the Cardinal World.
So, don't think that monster evolution is easy.
In fact, before Rimuru appeared, A-Rank Ogres were considered a legend that hadn't appeared among the Great Ogre Clan for a thousand years.
Although not many, it's also not few. If she can defeat another 1000, Ogerpon will be able to evolve into an A-Rank magical beast.
("Ogerpon just got a little bit stronger again.")
("I feel like Ogerpon has gotten so much stronger recently.")
Ogerpon hopped back to Rin's side, tilting her head, and curiously asked: ("Is it because I obtained this thing called magicules (EP)?")
"That's right."
Rin praised and patted Ogerpon's head, explaining: "In this world, magicules is closely related to a monster's strength."
"Normally, the more magicules, the stronger the monster will be."
Of course, this doesn't apply to humans.
Humans use more of something called technology, rather than skills like monsters do.
"The Bombing Terror Bear we just defeated was a C-Rank monster."
"And Ogerpon is B-Rank."
Rin told Ogerpon the information he knew. "After B-Rank comes B+Rank, A-Rank, and then the higher A-Rank."
In the Cardinal World, the general conversion between Existence Value and rank is as follows:
0-1000: E-Rank
1000 ~ 3000: D-Rank
3000 ~ 6000: C-Rank
6000 ~ 8000: B-Rank
8000 ~ 9000: B+Rank
9000 ~ 10000: A-Rank
Then, 10,000 is a watershed. Breaking through 10,000 Existence Value allows one to become an A-Rank monster and receive the evaluation of 'Calamity'.
10000 ~ 100,000: A-Rank.
The A-Rank span is very large, completely on a different dimension from previous monster ranks.
Generally speaking, an A-Rank Calamity-rated monster appearing in the human world could destroy a city by itself.
At the higher Special A-Rank, it becomes a 'Disaster' capable of destroying nations.
Breaking the 100,000 Existence Value bottleneck allows one to gain the Special A-Rank evaluation.
Of course, Special A-Rank also has different levels.
Among Special A-Rank, some monsters that haven't continued to advance are given the name of Disaster.
And a Special A-Rank that can break its own limits and continue to evolve will become what humans call a 'Demon Lord,' or Demon Lord Seeds, the moment its Existence Value breaks through 200,000.
In the original story, Demon Lord Seeds weren't portrayed as overwhelmingly powerful, sometimes barely qualifying as Demon Lords.
But here, humans didn't distinguish between Demon Lords and Demon Lord Seeds so casually.
A Demon Lord Seed is also a Demon Lord, an ultra-large-scale disaster that can threaten and even destroy a country.
Once such an existence appears, millions of people will perish, and tens of millions of humans will be displaced.
Let alone in the Cardinal World, even in modern society, it would be a major global disaster.
"Ogerpon wants to become a Demon Lord!"
Ogerpon's determination to become a Demon Lord grew even stronger. Her thought was simple: ("That way, Ogerpon can protect Rin even better.")
"Haha."
Rin felt a warmth in his heart.
"Come lend a hand, Ogerpon," Rin said, "I'll make you something delicious!"
Rin and Ogerpon couldn't possibly finish such a large Terror Bear by themselves.
But that was fine.
Rin had a Pokémon Space, where he could store the remaining bear meat without worrying about spoilage due to the passage of time.
The two of them weren't short on food. Rin's space contained a large amount of supplies purchased from the Pokémon World.
However, Rin had only heard of something like bear paws in his previous life.
Now that he had the chance to taste it, he certainly couldn't miss out.
"Hmm?"
Suddenly, Rin saw Ogerpon looking at the dead Terror Bear.
"What's wrong?" He guessed her thoughts and said, "Does it make you uncomfortable?"
("A little, but not much.")
Ogerpon shook her head. The Pokémon World also had normal animals.
She wouldn't kill a Pokémon because they were her kind.
But as for ordinary animals, there was nothing to care about.
This was similar to the relationship between monsters and magical beasts in the Cardinal World.
Monsters were intelligent, possessed their own language, could communicate, and had emotions.
However, magical beasts like the Terror Bear were monsters completely dominated by emotion.
They weren't even products of normal reproduction.
(To be continued.)