The surroundings were thick with dense underbrush, and the ground felt dark and damp. Rays of the scorching sun pierced through the dense canopy, leaving only scattered patches of light.

Brandon lay motionless in the tall grass, only his eyes darting around to survey his surroundings.

After a while, he slowly began to move, crawling forward cautiously.

His front limbs barely touched the ground, his expression was alert, and his tail swayed gently in the air, moving with a lightness and agility.

It had been two weeks since Brandon transformed into a lizard. In that time, he had grown from a mere two inches in length to about half a meter.

His Golden Bell Shield technique had also progressed rapidly, reaching the first level, a milestone that took his previous self an entire year to achieve.

His body now appeared sturdy and agile, distinctly different from the typical slender lizard form. His limbs had grown more powerful, especially his hind legs, allowing him to support his entire body while walking. His claws had become more flexible through practice, capable of grasping anything with ease. The sharp nails occasionally gleamed with a cold light, leaving no doubt about their lethal potential.

His entire body was covered in scales of mixed green and yellow, which appeared more compact and solid, exuding a mysterious sheen. It was clear that these scales provided excellent defense. However, the scales were not a single, unbroken layer; they were in small patches. Some were completely shattered, with new, denser, and tougher scales growing beneath them.

This wasn’t due to shedding skin or being torn by another animal, but rather from the daily physical training, where he whipped himself with his tail. This, combined with his cautious demeanor, gave him a somewhat forlorn and pitiful appearance. As he ran, his thick tail occasionally swayed through the air, its mass indicating formidable destructive power.

As Brandon crawled past a decaying giant tree, he suddenly stopped and looked up. This tree had been dead for many years, its trunk entwined with withered vines, appearing colorful with various mosses and fungi growing on it.

Brandon tilted his head uncertainly, listening for a moment. Sure enough, there was a faint chirping sound coming from within!

“There must be prey inside,” Brandon thought to himself. But where was the entrance? He circled the giant tree and finally discovered a small hole about 40 centimeters wide, hidden behind some dead branches, three meters off the ground.

Brandon extended his sharp claws and quickly scaled the tree to the hole. The entrance was neat, free of moss or fungi, with only a few fallen feathers scattered around. “It must be a bird’s nest,” Brandon concluded.

The hollow inside wasn’t very deep, only about half a meter. At the bottom was a nest, filled with a group of newly hatched chicks.

They were still featherless, their eyes not yet open, and upon hearing noise outside, they opened their tiny mouths, eager for food. Brandon grinned inwardly, knowing he was in for a feast today. There were four or five chicks and one unhatched egg. Brandon carefully picked up the nest in his mouth and quickly climbed down, heading back to his lair.

The lair was no longer as rudimentary as it had been at first. The space had been greatly expanded, covering an area of about five square meters and standing one meter high. It served as a bedroom, dining room, and training area all in one. The walls were lined with countless whip marks from where Brandon had trained his body with his tail.

This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

At the bottom of the lair was a bed—if it could be called that—lined with a layer of dry grass. On the left side of the lair was a one-meter diameter pit, filled with fresh leaves, crawling with green caterpillars—Brandon’s food supply.

Though the lair was simple, it was a monumental project for a juvenile lizard. Over the past week, aside from training and foraging, Brandon had spent all his remaining time expanding the lair.

Carrying the nest in his mouth, Brandon carefully avoided the traps he had set outside and used his claws to push aside the branches covering the entrance, returning to his home.

Brandon first set the nest aside, then grabbed one of the chicks, killed it with a swift swipe of his claw, and gulped it down.

He couldn’t afford to eat anything alive in this place; without fire, he had no choice but to swallow his food raw, something he had reluctantly grown accustomed to.

Still, it made him a bit uncomfortable. He grabbed another chick, killed it, and swallowed it too. Feeling his stomach start to fill, he stopped.

Looking at the remaining three chicks, he realized they wouldn’t be eaten today. He then picked up a few caterpillars from the pit and fed them to the chicks, grinning to himself, “Eat up, so you’ll be even plumper tomorrow.”

The caterpillars in the nearby grass had nearly been wiped out by Brandon, forcing him to seek new food sources.

Plus, the caterpillars were getting too small for his growing body, now more suited as snacks.

Yes, snacks would do just fine, especially the ones that had just eaten fresh leaves; they had a refreshing grassy flavor.

The thought made Brandon involuntarily swallow. “How embarrassing,” he muttered to himself.

After his afternoon nap, Brandon began his body conditioning routine. The external martial arts training system focuses on muscle strength training, which involves increasing weight resistance and the number of repetitions or using external strikes to stimulate muscle growth, unlock the body's potential, and enhance the strength of muscles and tendons.

On the other hand, the internal martial arts training method avoids weight resistance exercises altogether. It emphasizes using internal Qi to promote the growth of muscles and tendons.

Through standing meditation and other specialized techniques, internal Qi is cultivated, accumulated, and circulated within the body, simultaneously stimulating the tendons and bones to undergo secondary growth, making them as strong as iron.

This leads to what is described in martial arts texts as "the strength of a tiger or leopard," or the effect of "internal strengthening."

The Golden Bell Shield technique perfectly combines both approaches, training the muscles, bones, and skin externally, while cultivating Qi internally. The two are complementary and indispensable. The internal Qi of the Golden Bell Shield strengthens the damaged body, and a stronger body can hold more internal Qi, thus promoting the accumulation of internal Qi.

After finishing his external training, Brandon enthusiastically resumed his digging activities. He planned to separate his bedroom, training room, and living room, intending to carve out a bedroom on the left side of the cave.

Brandon’s strength now rivaled that of a full-grown giant lizard, and when it came to digging, he felt as efficient as a pangolin, feeling a sense of pride.

By nightfall, he had completed about half of the work. Too tired to hunt, he ate two of the remaining chicks and a dozen caterpillars.

The next day, Brandon woke up from his meditation, and the familiar hunger returned. With a swift kick, he got up and performed a somewhat clumsy set of Arhat Fist.

His joints cracked loudly, as his rapid growth was making itself known. It felt like he was growing bigger every day. Brandon walked over to the bird's nest and grabbed the egg he had left from the day before, ready to pop it into his mouth.

Suddenly, the egg started moving, causing him to fumble and drop it.

Chirp, chirp, chirp!

A small bird broke out of the shell, letting out crisp chirps. As Brandon leaned in closer, ready to eat it, he noticed that the bird had opened its eyes right after hatching. Its tiny eyes were lively and alert, staring right at him. Seeing this, Brandon hesitated.

He thought to himself that raising a little bird might not be a bad idea. Living alone was really lonely; even Robinson Crusoe had a companion in Friday. It seemed that loneliness could be a powerful weapon in itself. With that thought, he grabbed a few caterpillars from his food pit and fed them to the bird. "Little bird, you’d better grow up quickly," he muttered.

（reprovision）