After Frieda and I dropped the Macamme nuts back in the Dino Cave, she split one open with her long claws, popping the bright red fruit into her mouth, juices spilling down her fur.

Those kinds of hands are very useful, huh.

I wonder what Karavos used claws like that for. His were similar to Frieda’s, but he was way too big to be cracking coconuts for food.

Furball also offered me one of the fruits, and I tasted the juicy succulence. After both of us had a couple more, we tossed the shells in a pile and headed back out into the night.

You have developed your appetite.

Congratulations! You’ve unlocked the [Omnivore] instinct!

[Omnivore]- Consumption rewards will now apply to all types of foods.

Huh.

I wasn’t actually expecting to get anything out of eating the tiny balls of fruit, but maybe this world had more to reward me than expected…

I followed the furball as she lead me off in another direction from the Dino Cave, this time towards Sailboat’s territory. I was hesistant at first, but the darkness of the night, and the company of a friend made it sufficiently less terrifying.

Your [Nocturnal] has leveled up. It is now level 5.

Ah. Things were just slightly easier to see. Fuzzball, particularly. Dang, she was designed to travel at night, that much was clear. If I hadn’t known she was in front of me, and I’m sure if she didn’t want me to see her, I wouldn’t be able to.

After a while, we reached a river, maybe the same one as where I originally hatched, but it was nowhere near as far from the cave. Frieda hopped around the shallows as I watched from the trees, playing some game I didn’t understand. When she was tired of that, she started walking down the bank of the river, snipping leaves off of plants with her claws. When she had a bundle of them, she grabbed a long leaf from the woods, and wrapped them in it.

Oh! So this is how she gets the health packets, eh?

I made a mental note to observe the plants she was snipping later for their names, and Frieda kept at it, gathering a few different bundles of the leaves, and piling them near the river.

One plant, across the small river, grew proudly upwards in stalks, and Frieda scampered over to pluck it.

A flash in the darkness.

A black lizard with dark red stripes running down its body, the size of me when I was a Frail Baby Dino, darted out of the woods, gunning straight for her. My eyes opened wide in alarm. Then I shot out of the woods, dashing towards the fuzzball.

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Baby Night Stalker [Lvl 3]

Hailing from the shadows, this monster breathes fear. A creature that hunts at night, this dinosaur can see flawlessly in the darkness, but suffers from a weakness to light. It stalks the shadows, waiting for the perfect moment to strike at unsuspecting scavengers.

Okay. At least he wasn’t a threat to me. In fact, I was faster than him, and made it to the furball’s location just as the stalker arrived. With a kick to the surprised lizard’s face, I sent him sliding across the rocky beach, into the water.

I leapt onto him, pinning him to the ground, about to bite his head off for attacking my friend.

But just before I did, I looked up to Frieda, a smile growing on my face.

Come on, I gestured, indicating the stalker’s exposed throat. Kill him.

I now realize that might sound a lot more heartless than I meant it to be. After all, I wasn’t trying to make her into a murderer. But it was fact that in most games, the player who dealt the finishing blow would gain the most experience.

Eh. Kill stealers… But no, I was giving her this one. She could feast freely upon that glorious experience which I offered.

But I’d be consuming him. This was going to be part of my first gourmet meal as a dinosaur.

Frieda looked to me, then to the stalker, shaking her head.

“Raag,” I growled, pointing to his throat, and making the slicing motions with my hand.

Her wide-eyes flickered rapidly between me and the stalker.

For what seemed like minutes, we sat there, the stalker having given up squirming underneath me, and Frieda breathing rapidly.

I reached out with one hand after she’d reluctantly gotten close enough, and pulled her in, pointing at his throat again.

She closed her eyes tight. A single hand reached out on its stubby arm, and tapped the stalkers throat.

I glared at her after she opened her eyes.

She gulped, reaching out with the same hand, and moving it towards the stalkers exposed neck.

I let slip my grip as she slowly moved her hand closer, letting the stalker free.

“Shyaaaow!” he screamed, wiggling free and snapping at Frieda’s approaching claws.

With a squeak, Frieda jumped, the stalker leaping towards her.

Her sharp claws came slicing downwards, ripping through the stalker’s throat, and down his chest.

He landed on her, bleeding profusely, and she squeaked a bunch more, rolling the corpse off of her.

I observed her.

Frieda, the Gorlen [Lvl 4]

Frieda is a scavenger that lives in a cave inhabited by a predator. During the day, she sleeps, blending into dark surroundings with a build maximized for dispersing light that may cross her body. Very intelligent, but cowardly.

Observations: Excellent at remembering the locations of foods and useful herbs.

So it was true. She’d leveled up from that kill.

My grin widened. All I needed to do now was feed her mountains of experience, and I’d have a fluffy death machine on my hands.

Oh my Frieda, sweet Frieda. Soon you will be a force to be reckoned with, and all the land shall fear the wrath of Dino and Gorlen!

But right now, I noticed, she was in shock, her stubby arms shaking, and her eyes wet. So, with careful movements, I scooped her up onto my back, where she lay, breathing heavy. I managed to carry the stalker’s body in my mouth, and hold the leaf packets to my chest in what was to be a very uncomfortable return to the cave, both physically, and emotionally.

I didn't show it, but a bit of guilt weighed on my heart.