Turning his attention away from his grand ambitions for the future, Avery offered a moment of silence for the death of the first living beings of his world, reminiscing on what he had seen during his divination. Apparently they had not managed to adapt to the transformation of the world, and no longer fit the new order. History had been retroactively rewritten, and they had become inert landscapes.

  However, while they might not have survived, their legacy had. Their vitality, despite not being strong enough to transform them along with the world, was still extremely precious, and unique to this nascent world.

  As their body metamorphosed into rivers and mountains, that vitality had been condensed into five drops of divine blood, to be repurposed. It was from those five drops of blood that new life had sprung out, and started to repopulate the earth. Every creature in the world was a descendant of the divine beasts, carrying their bloodline throughout the ages.

  Of course, the bloodline had gradually been diluted to the extreme, and most creatures had very little in common with their divine ancestors. Despite this, the blood bond was still present, and many common physical traits came from them.

  Satisfied with this explanation of the divine beats' demise, Avery looked around, wanting to get a better understanding of the general situation of the world. He had previously created this world according to his memory of Chinese myths, so he had expected to end up with a version of the Prehistoric world, full of cultivators and famous figures like Hongjun, Nuwa and Kunpeng. It might be a little off on account of his sloppy memory, but should still be easily recognizable.

  This world, however, was completely different. There were a few references here and there, but it was clear that it was its own thing, and would follow a unique path suited for itself.

  The next thing he did was to check for any sapient life, and was thrilled to find that one had already appeared. After decades of solitude, he would finally have some company.

  Chasing the vague feeling he felt through the Dao, he managed to get a location, and immediately zoomed in on it.

  He had expected to find a small camp inhabited by a group of primitive humans, or maybe they would be replaced with beastmen, elves or even dragons if the world had taken a full fantasy route. The race of inhabitants was not important, but he expected to find a medieval settlement and signs of a relatively established culture.

  Instead, the only thing he found was a flat plain with a few boulders dotted around. He looked around in a confused manner, before delving back in the intricacies of his Dao sight, attempting to find out more precisely from where the vitality came. He wondered if the creatures were invisible or too small to be noticed, or if he had made a mistake in understanding what his new sense had told.

  Suddenly, before he had time to find an answer through the Dao, a dinosaur-like creature entered his field of view, distracting him. Hopeful that this was the intelligent being he was tracking, Avery turned to examine it. It was powerful looking, its shape vaguely reminiscent of a velociraptor. It ran on four legs, with a long scaly tail trailing behind it, counterbalancing the weight of its horned head.

  It was obviously a predator, with a mouth filled with a row of disturbingly sharp fangs, and a body built for speed, perfect for catching unsuspecting prey. A prey it was currently holding in his mouth, no doubt searching for a safe spot to devour it without worry.

  It certainly looked fearsome and full of savagery, but it did not look like it had a very high intellect. Not only did his eyes look devoid of wisdom, it also seemed to lack the necessary limbs to use any of its supposed intelligence. It simply didn't have enough articulation to perform delicate tasks.

  He supposed it could be like a dolphin, using its intelligence in complex social dynamics, instead of being like humans crafting useful tools and inventing technology. However, as far as he could see, this creature hunted alone, and had no companion.

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  He was about to give up and go back to searching through the insane amount of data his perception force-fed him to get clearer answers to all of his questions, when he saw the dinosaur stumble and fall, the grass beneath his feet giving way to reveal a deadly pitfall trap. Even its final cry was strangled as the unfortunate creature impaled himself on the array of sharpened wooden spikes that adorned the bottom of the trap.

  Already surprised by the sudden death of the creature, Avery was further shocked to see one of the huge boulders suddenly start to tremble.

  Slowly, the rock rose up from the ground, until there was enough space for half a dozen pitch black snakes to slither out from under it, presumably to enjoy the fruit of their patient hunt.

  However, there was something unsettling with these serpentine hunters. They did not have shiny scales, but a repulsive slimy skin, covered in disturbing mucus. Their very body shape was unnatural too.

  When they had first come out from under the boulder, they had seemed relatively small, with a diameter of no more than a few centimeters, but as the seconds ticked by, more and more of their body was revealed, with its diameter also slowly increasing. By now, they extended for more than two meters, with a width of almost half a meter at the rim of the boulder.

  It was as if they were coming out with their tails first instead of their heads. Not only that, but even the way they moved was unsettling, as they violently broke apart and burrowed in the earth to get a grip and drag themselves forward, instead of the graceful slither commonly associated with snakes.

  It took a moment for Avery to realize he was not looking at the hidden nest of a group of snakes, but rather the nightmarish tentacles of an eldritch creature. He wasn’t scared, as his new nature and thought process would not allow him to make a fuss over such a small matter, but it did elicit a kind of morbid curiosity.

  The tentacles were not particularly fast, but each movement exuded an unmistakable sense of weight, highlighting the tremendous damage a three meter long limb made out of pure muscles was capable of dealing.

  Finally fully extended, the tentacles suddenly dug deep into the ground, and they labourously started to drag their rock-like main body towards the pitfall trap.

  The lumbering behemoth was far from agile, and it left deep and unmistakable scars in the earth behind it, ruining all of its previous camouflage. This was why one last pair of tentacles was revealed, this one a dark green color.

  The color was not the only difference, as these feelers were also much thinner, and were constantly dripping with a weird green slime that tainted any ground it touched. As the cunning monster moved, these limbs extended back to cover up his tracks, flattening the earth behind it and using the strange substance it secreted to give back a green grassy look to the turned over soil. The sloppy disguise would not hold up to an attentive scrutiny, but it was enough to fool a careless animal.

  By now, it was painfully clear this wasn't a real rock, but rather the camouflaged shell of a huge tentacle monster. And now that he knew what to look for, Avery easily spotted similar tracks leading to every single boulder in immediate proximity.

  Evidently, he had found what he was looking for, but instead of a settlement of familiar humans or beautiful elves, fate had given him a group of cunning monsters, with a civilisation so primitive it could barely be counted as one.

  Not knowing what to feel, Avery silently watched as the monstrosity dragged itself towards the corpse of its prey. The journey was excruciatingly slow, as it was obviously extremely heavy.

  Finally, the monster arrived at the edge of the edge of the deadly pit. Avery was expecting it to use its tentacles to fish out its prey, and was curious to see how it would rearm the trap, but that was not what happened.

  Instead, the creature heaved itself slightly above the ground, and slowly maneuvered itself so that its body was perfectly covering the hole, at which point he let himself fall on top of it, making it disappear.

  Now, it would have all the time it wanted to enjoy his meal, which would even be preserved and stay fresh for longer because it was being kept underground, away from the sun and heat.

  Despite being impressed by their cunning, Avery was still slightly repulsed by the vile appearance of these creatures, but he knew better than to judge a creature by its appearance. He had done that once before, and had only resulted in him being banished to this god-forsaken land.

  Deciding he needed to try and interact with them, he tried to mobilise the powers he should have over this world, imagining himself appearing in front of the boulder, but nothing happened.

  Frowning, he tried to establish a telepathic link, followed by any other means of communication he could think of, but the results were always the same. He was a silent observer, with absolutely no ability to influence or enter into contact with the world he was ruling.