In addition to improving his skills and attributes, Nick spent some time every day checking out what the islands’ beasts were up to. They still had a great deal to teach him, and he didn’t want to be taken by surprise if their behavior changed before the last phase of the tutorial.
Although the swordclaws could be found throughout the woodlands, the majority were concentrated in the western forest. The crabs were doing surprisingly well in their campaign against the ravenous creepers and their partner, the great sleep shroom. The powerful crustaceans had established a foothold after invading the territory of the carnivorous plants and fungi.
They must have innate resistance to pollen and spores, likely from having evolved in the same environment. The creepers aren’t nearly as dangerous when their prey isn’t disabled by their pollen, and the crabs’ shells are hard to crush, while their claws are perfect for severing vines.
As the swordclaws preferred to dine on fungus now that there was less seaweed washing up along the shore, the encroachment of the crabs made the edible mushrooms scarcer but the berries more plentiful. By the end of the week, the crabs had driven the creeper vines deep into the heart of their territory, exposing hundreds of bushes that were previously inaccessible to Nick and his lemur buddies. It let him supplement his diet of dried meat with ample portions of fresh fruit for the first time in weeks, reducing the time he needed to spend hunting to maintain his stock of provisions.
While exploring a strip of woodlands that the crabs had annexed from the creepers, Nick finally found the remains of the missing cruncher. The swordclaws had stripped the corpse down to the bone, but by now he could recognize the remains of the beasts he had encountered by examining their spines, hips, or skulls.
He was glad to have solved the mystery, as it meant there was one less deadly beast out there that was hounding for his blood. He still kept an ear out for the crunchers’ yips as he traveled across the forest. While Nick had seen no signs of them yet, there was no guarantee that the pack he had defeated was the only one on the island.
While the ravenous creepers were in decline, the komos were thriving. It turned out that there were far more lizards living on the isle than he had originally believed. Fortunately, most of them were arranged in smaller prides and generally remained within their established territories. But there were two prides that were home to dozens of the giant lizards.
The biggest pride was led by a hulking, scarred reptile that Nick had dubbed Komo Alpha. It was a brutish, vicious beast that Size Up insisted was more than capable of slaughtering him if they were to face one another head-on. He took the warning to heart, and he went out of his way to avoid the clearing claimed by Komo Alpha and her pride.
While he had to remain on guard against being surrounded, running into solitary komos had begun to feel less dangerous. Nick had eventually decided that their camouflage simply wasn’t designed to work against eyes that could perceive color and contrast as well as his, or he would have been under the constant threat of ambush wherever he went. Their teeth and claws were still bad news, but he had long since learned how to anticipate the lizards’ reactions, and he could reliably beat them one-on-one in a straight fight.
He assumed that he was leveling faster than most of the komos, thanks to his experiences in the dungeon and in defeating the bonecruncher pack. His physique had undergone some drastic changes since arriving on the island, and the improvements to his gear were even more pronounced.
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Nick had gone from being nearly naked to moderately armored, armed with a variety of weapons and tools. He had begun his adventure overweight and out of shape but was now lean and toned, stronger and tougher than he ever thought he could be. The lizards had definitely grown bigger over the last three weeks, but it wasn’t enough to counter the cumulative effects of Nick’s increased attributes, combat experience, and the extra reach provided by his sword.
The lemurs had been growing even faster than the komos. By his rough estimate, they were nearly twice the size they had been when he had woken up on the beach. Their growth had slowed over the last week, but the furry primates still seemed to be leveling up, becoming more agile and resilient as the days ticked past. Nick was glad that food had become plentiful on this part of the island. Under no circumstances would he want to compete with the tribe in order to survive.
He was reluctant to make enemies with the lemurs, in part because he had come to genuinely enjoy the company of the only creatures on the island that welcomed his presence. But even more important, Nick was sure that the lemurs would absolutely destroy him in a serious fight. He was fortunate that he had developed a friendly relationship with Bandit and the rest of the tribe early on.
Near the middle of his week of training, Nick had hosted another barbeque session at the tribe’s insistence. As he was heading back to his cave for the night, Bandit had appeared out of the bushes. His furry friend had taken his hand, then led him over to the great tree, where a pair of slain swordclaws and a mound of lesser crabs were piled up by the firepit he had dug. The lemurs let out a boisterous greeting when he arrived, and he started grilling with a smile on his face.
To his surprise, this time the lemurs had done some of the cooking themselves, prying open shells and cleaning out the guts, then holding the meat over the fire once Nick had arranged it on the spit. As clever as they were, the friendly primates were still a little weak on the concept of grilling. Most of their crabs came out of the fire raw, burned, or a bit of both. But their stomachs were stronger than his own, and the lemurs devoured the crabmeat with gusto regardless.
While he was out checking on the other beasts, Nick had devoted considerable time to learning everything that he could about the lurk, investigating the tracks and other trail signs the beast left in its wake. He had begun mapping everything out on the floor of his cave, eventually forming a working model of the shaggy predator’s behavior.
He held no illusions that he would ever be able to defeat the lurk in a straightforward exchange of blows, so his efforts were geared toward allowing him to avoid the deadly beast. He needed to investigate the highlands before the tutorial’s next phase began, and right now, the lurk was in the way. He had an idea how to deal with the problem, but Nick wasn’t ready to put that plan into motion just yet.
The final beasts that he was tracking were a colony of giant spiders living in the woods a few miles east of his cavern. The colossal spiders seemed to be thriving, which wasn’t too surprising as Nick hadn’t run into anything on the island that was capable of invading their territory. Except for the lurk, who had no reason to mix it up with the lethal arachnids with every other creature on the isle on the menu.
While Nick stayed as far away from the spider colony as possible, he still patrolled the border he shared from a distance using his spyglass. He needed to spot any changes to their behavior as quickly as possible so that he could retreat from the area if he had to. He knew that the colony was well fed, as he spotted komos, swordclaws, and the occasional lemur trapped within their webs.
There was, however, one worrisome anomaly. Near the end of the week, he started spotting signs that one of the spiders was scouting out his valley, eventually catching sight of the beast from a distance. Fortunately, it was just a single spider, and not one of the truly colossal ones, but it was still an unwelcome and dangerous development. In addition to the threat of the spider ambushing him, Nick was afraid that if its encroachment were left unchecked, the rest of the colony would follow suit, forcing him to retreat to the island’s southern shore, where the komos were thick.
He suspected that he would have to drive the spider off sooner rather than later, but he was hoping that the beast would leave of its own accord. Regardless, Nick had a feeling that his week of relative peace was coming to an end.