After yesterday's intense workout, Malong opted to rest today, doing nothing but continually catching and eating rats. From yesterday to today, he had already caught more than a dozen large rats.

Still, he felt his nutrition could barely keep up. No wonder wild animals basically did nothing but hunt, eat, and sleep—their energy expenditure was simply immense.

Yesterday, Malong had attempted to hunt a subadult capybara, but failed due to sheer exhaustion.

After resting for an entire day, Malong finally recovered most of his strength and managed to catch a small capybara weighing over a dozen jin.

Having eaten his fill, Malong felt satisfied. Staring blankly at his small paws, he felt as if he had overlooked something.

His mind drifted back to human combat videos. Boxing was certainly useful in animal fights, but right now he had no sparring partner—his mother was far too powerful for him, and his brother was far too weak.

Malong then recalled martial arts videos he had seen during his past life as a human. Hands could chop through bricks and shatter stone, while legs could snap timber and bamboo, displaying destructive power far beyond that of ordinary punches and kicks.

The principle was simple to grasp: consistent strike training on hands and feet against surfaces transitioning from soft to hard caused microfractures in the bone that repeatedly healed, ultimately reinforcing the skeletal structure manifold to astonishing levels of strength and density.

As a big cat, his bone density and muscle strength were already several times greater than a human's. If he intensified training on his forepaws and paired it with formidable paw strikes, the lethality would be terrifying—he might even inflict grave damage on opponents without ever using his jaws.

Repeatedly striking an opponent's head would undoubtedly risk causing a concussion, slowing their reaction time and diminishing their bodily control. When that happened, he could exploit the opening and deliver a fatal bite with his sharp fangs.

Moreover, this style of fighting was noticeably safer. Relying heavily on mouth attacks exposed his own neck to the opponent's counterattacks, making the situation far less controllable compared to utilizing paw strikes.

Crucially, big cats in nature did not utilize paw strikes to their fullest potential. Tigers used them the most, but their kinetic chain was too primitive; their bipedal stance lacked stability, failing to channel maximum power from their lower body. In contrast, Malong's ability to move upright was something other big cats could never match. Combined with the power-generation mechanics from his boxing career, he could surely become the strongest Jaguar. He could almost envision his future reign over the Amazon.

Having consumed the entire capybara, plus the dozen or so rats from the past two days, he had devoured ten kilograms of meat excluding bones. Malong felt himself growing visibly stronger and sturdier.

Once his stomach felt less bloated, Malong located a thick old tree and prepared to strike the trunk with his forepaws for palm-strike training.

Malong rose onto his hind legs, exerted a sudden burst of power through them, rotated his hips, and felt the force transmit seamlessly through his body before slamming his right paw violently against the sturdy trunk.

101 kilograms! Data Eye displayed the power behind the strike.

At around 20 kilograms, he was still too small, generating a force of only 100 kilograms.

Top-tier human boxers weighing 100 kilograms could strike with over 500 kilograms of force—and that was an average achieved with muscle density far inferior to a big cat's. Tyson could even unleash a devastating 800-kilogram left hook. Such was the importance of technique.

In Malong's eyes, a 1.5 to 2-ton strike from a massive tiger weighing over 250 kilograms seemed tremendously powerful on the surface, but it fell far short of their innate physical potential.

An exceptionally large Jaguar could weigh up to 150 kilograms and theoretically deliver a full-force strike of one ton. With regular technical conditioning, he should be able to produce far more than a ton. Of course, that was something to look forward to once he reached prime adulthood.

After pondering for a moment, Malong resumed his paw-strike training. His strike power steadily increased until a single blow reached 120 kilograms; evidently, his mastery over his own body was improving as well.

Watching her younger son repeatedly stand upright and frantically slap the large tree, Leopard Mom looked on thoughtfully.

She had never quite understood this younger cub of hers. Many of his actions were bizarre and unnatural, but she could not make sense of it—after all, a Jaguar's cognitive capacity was inherently limited.

Malong experienced his fastest month of growth since becoming a Jaguar. Throughout this month, he relentlessly carried out a composite regimen of speed, strength, bite force, and paw strikes. Later on, when food ran short, his mother had no choice but to hunt more frequently to keep him fed.

By four months of age, Malong's weight had reached 27 kilograms, his top speed reached 75 km/h, his reflexes were exceptionally sharp, and a single strike could deliver 170 kilograms of force.

Compared to his brother, Malong was visibly more than a size larger, possessing thicker limbs, a sturdier chest, and wider jowls. His brother weighed less than 20 kilograms, looking like a total runt beside him.

Sensing his newfound strength, Malong wanted to test just how much stronger he had become.

Narrowing his eyes, Malong locked his gaze onto an adult capybara weighing roughly 30 kilograms.

Lowering his posture and slowing his pace, Malong tiptoed toward the capybara. The foolish creature remained completely oblivious to the impending danger, even strolling in Malong's direction.

His muscles coiling taut, Malong pounced like an arrow loosed from a bow and sank his teeth into the nape of the capybara's neck.

In the face of imminent doom, the 30-kilogram capybara erupted with immense strength. Malong clung to it tightly, claws digging deep into its hide while dragging his hind legs along the ground to anchor it.

Freeing his right paw, Malong struck wildly at the capybara's head, yet it seemed largely unfazed. He couldn't help but marvel at how wild animals possessed bone density and strike resistance far superior to humans.

Seeing that paw strikes had little effect, Malong did not panic. Once securing his grip with both paws, he tore fiercely into the back of its neck. After a month of bite-force conditioning, his tearing power was already formidable, though constrained by the length of his canines, a 30-kilogram capybara was likely the upper limit of what his current body could hunt.

Even though the paw strikes proved ineffective, Malong still felt his enhanced strength; holding down this adult capybara wasn't overly exhausting. After ten minutes of relentless mauling, Malong snuffed out the capybara's life.

Just as Malong was dragging the capybara toward home in high spirits, a chilling gust swept past as a Jaguar suddenly lunged out, charging straight at him.

Malong's fur stood on end instantly as he sensed mortal danger. At that critical moment, the fruits of his training revealed themselves.

His hind legs kicked off the ground with explosive force, his stride frequency instantly maxing out as he let out a frantic roar: "Mom, save me!"

The ambushing Jaguar halted beside the slain capybara, looking perplexed. It wondered how this cub could be so fast. A Jaguar cub of this size was supposed to have a top speed of only 50 to 60 km/h, which it should have easily chased down and killed. Yet this cub possessed speed on par with its own. As an adult Jaguar—even if being female made her slightly slower—it should have been impossible for a mere cub to escape.

Without lingering, the Jaguar clamped its jaws around the 30-kilogram capybara, preparing to leave.

Before it had even covered ten meters, the Jaguar abruptly dropped the capybara, tensing its muscles as if facing a mortal threat.

Leopard Mom had arrived in a flash.

Malong did not keep running either. Possessing both the means and the strength to flee if needed, he acted far more boldly.

The two adult Jaguars maintained a one-meter distance, both baring sharp fangs and snarling in a tense standoff.

Data Eye revealed that his mother currently weighed 63 kilograms; now that Malong barely required her provisioning, her weight had increased a bit.

The rival Jaguar weighed 55 kilograms, slightly smaller than Leopard Mom.

At that moment, the rival Jaguar felt an overwhelming threat; the female facing her was distinctly more robust.

The rival Jaguar lowered its posture and slowly backed away. Malong understood: that cat had no desire to fight his mother.

Once a safe distance opened up, the Jaguar immediately accelerated and fled.

Leopard Mom did not give chase. She turned her head toward Malong, signaling him to pick up his prey.

Dragging the capybara, Malong walked slowly, his mood devoid of the joy from taking down an adult capybara.

He understood now that without his mother's shelter, survival remained perilous and filled with hazards; he couldn't even protect his own food.

Had he not lived within his mother's territory, he might not even be able to sleep peacefully, constantly at risk of being ambushed and killed, let alone training with peace of mind.

The pride he had begun to harbor was doused with cold water once again.

Leopard Mom, however, felt entirely differently from Malong. Seeing that her younger son could already hunt such a large capybara and even escape an ambush by an adult Jaguar, her heart swelled with immense joy.

Upon walking dejectedly back beneath their usual resting tree, Leopard Mom did not comfort Malong over his low spirits, nor did she show any intention of praising him.

She understood that nature was brutal, where the weak fell prey to the strong. This was merely an appetizer on the path of growth; until he reached adulthood, comfort or praise was entirely meaningless.

During the previous Male Jaguar's intrusion, Malong had not personally experienced the direct threat of an apex predator. His mother had shielded him from the carnivore, and he only knew that she had suffered injuries while repelling the intruder during a dire crisis.

Back then, worry had outweighed terror. But this time, being targeted directly as prey and feeling that suffocating bloodlust struck his soul on a completely different level.

When a beast pounced directly at him, had it not been for the survival instincts wired into his own beast blood, he surely would have frozen in terror, his legs turning to jelly.

Pet cats, dogs, or humans who had never faced a wild beast would tremble to their very souls and lose all will to resist; in reality, many dogs attacked by predators ended up so terrified they wet themselves.

Had it not been for spending every day alongside his Jaguar mother coupled with the primal predator genes in his blood, Malong probably would have met his end right then and there.

Unable to finish such a large capybara on his own, Malong invited his mother and brother to share the feast. By his mother's side, the unease in Malong's heart eased considerably.

Two tranquil days passed. Malong continued his training step by step, feeling himself grow stronger by the day as the gloom and pressure gradually dissipated from his heart.

After scaring away the nearby rival Jaguar that day, Leopard Mom seemed to have lowered her guard slightly as well.

The capybaras in the surrounding area had dwindled significantly. Other animals had taken note of the new neighbor that had arrived a month ago, and many chose to abandon the area to evade the Jaguar's hunts, forcing Leopard Mom to wander a bit farther whenever she sought a large capybara.

At this moment, a grave peril began to close in on Malong: taking advantage of Leopard Mom's absence on a hunt, the rival Jaguar stealthily crept toward the two brothers' resting grounds.