Karlo spent over an hour studying his golden finger, only to find that this so-called system was of limited help, providing only a clear picture of his current strength.
He couldn’t find any clickable buttons or hidden functions. He guessed that the data behind the strength bar might be his experience points, as he remembered consuming about twenty demon eggs.
If each demon egg grants one experience point, and the lizard crab he defeated was worth two points, the math seemed to add up.
The evil value was likely calculated similarly, though he still didn’t know its purpose.
To test his theory, Karlo ate two more demon eggs, and indeed, his experience increased to 24, and his evil value rose by 20.
Karlo felt like he was playing an old online game he used to enjoy, where initially he was just killing chickens and pigs in the newbie village, except now he was smashing demon eggs.
Karlo began searching for more demon eggs, curious to see if reaching a hundred experience points would result in a level-up and what that might entail.
In fact, he didn’t need to search far. Demon eggs were abundant.
Karlo was on a cliffside at the edge of the demon sea. He had already destroyed all the demon eggs in his immediate area and was venturing further.
Inevitably, he encountered competitors.
Demons in the Abyss face a brutal survival of the fittest. Countless minor demons emerge from their eggs, only to be consumed by those born earlier before they even have a chance to open their eyes.
Typically, no new demons can hatch from the eggs around a fully formed minor demon, as they become nourishment for the demon’s growth.
Karlo was fortunate; had he not been the first to emerge from this batch of eggs, he might have been digested by now.
To Karlo’s left, a small demon about the size of a dog, resembling a dog but without legs, was eating. This dog demon had unusually thick arms and moved by jumping on its hands.
It was unclear who noticed whom first, but Karlo and this dog demon locked eyes.
The dog demon bared its teeth at Karlo, braced its thick arms on the ground, and leaped towards him.
Karlo, unsure of how to fight back, picked up stones from the ground and threw them at the dog demon. His aim was poor; after several misses, he finally hit the dog demon once. However, the dog demon seemed undeterred, shook its head, and appeared even more aggressive.
Karlo observed the dog demon’s sharp teeth and cursed inwardly: Damn, why does everyone come with built-in weapons? How am I supposed to fight with my bare hands?
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The dog demon was closing in, and Karlo retreated. Fortunately, his speed was slightly greater than the dog demon’s, or he would have been caught.
He needed a strategy to defeat it.
Karlo recalled how he had killed the first minor demon and picked up a demon egg to throw at the dog demon.
**"Smash!"** The demon egg shattered on the ground, its contents spilling out. The dog demon glanced at the broken egg, then at Carlo. After a moment’s hesitation, it continued its pursuit.
The plan was ineffective; clearly, Carlo was a stronger lure than the demon egg.
Carlo turned and ran, swiftly distancing himself from the dog demon. When he looked back from his original position, the dog demon was still relentlessly pursuing him.
What should he do now? Carlo was growing anxious. He noticed the corpse of the first little demon he had killed lying nearby. He had an idea and threw the body.
The bloody corpse landed a couple of meters away from the dog demon, causing it to stop.
Carlo watched closely, observing what the dog demon would do next.
The dog demon hesitated for a moment, then turned and hopped over to the corpse. It sniffed the body and began to feast on it eagerly.
As expected. Carlo’s eyes brightened. Between a live prey and a ready meal, the dog demon chose the latter.
Next, it was time to continue his specialty—using a club.
Carlo quickly found a hefty, though still manageable, large stone. Stepping lightly on the soft sand and rocks, he approached stealthily, making as little noise as possible.
The dog demon was engrossed in its meal, making "chomp chomp" sounds.
Carlo’s eyes narrowed. He raised the large stone and struck hard at the dog demon’s head.
“**Ugh~**” The dog demon let out a piercing scream and rolled away.
The stone was too heavy; Carlo didn’t manage to hit its head but succeeded in breaking one of its arms.
The dog demon glared at Carlo with resentment. With only one arm left, it couldn’t walk and floundered on the ground like a fish out of water.
Carlo didn’t approach but continued to strike with the stone. The dog demon couldn’t dodge, making it much easier this time.
After about ten minutes of heavy stone lifting and sweating, Carlo finally smashed the dog demon to death.
With a **gurgle**, Carlo touched his stomach—he was hungry again.
With the dog demon dead, its territory became Carlo’s. He smashed open three demon eggs and drank them dry, slightly regaining some strength.
Though he had considered eating the meat, he couldn’t bring himself to do it, given the bloody, mangled corpse.
He needed to find a way to start a fire; eating meat would help him grow faster, Carlo thought.
He checked his system template. It was still the same, but his experience points had risen to 30, and the evil value to 300.
The recently defeated dog demon, with a growth state similar to his own, had granted him three experience points.
Looking at the dead dog demon, Carlo stroked his chin and suddenly had an idea.
At this stage, little demons generally had low intelligence, about that of a two- or three-year-old child. He planned to continue using the "bait and smash" method to hunt other little demons.
However, he first needed a proper “club.”
Carlo searched for a suitable stick-like stone for a long time but found none. Eventually, he gave up and chose a piece of hard rock to grind into shape.
No club? Then he’d use a cold knife.
Carlo worked furiously to sharpen the stone knife, eating a demon egg whenever he was hungry. By the time he finished all the demon eggs in this area, the stone knife was completed.
Strictly speaking, it wasn’t a knife but rather a stone dagger. About a foot long, with the tip sharpened to a fine point, Carlo estimated that using this stone dagger to pierce a little demon’s head should be relatively easy.
Carlo admired his creation with satisfaction, then picked up the dog demon’s corpse and began searching for his next target.
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