Leo was relaxing in the sun. He had gone looking for prey, but while he had been looking he decided that it was time for him to use his mutation points. Before he did that he decided to relax. He was on a muddy river bank absorbing the sun’s heat. He was sleeping in the way a crocodile sleeps. Very lightly. After an unknown amount of time relaxing he moved to his mutations screen and selected Armored. He felt an odd shift as his body locked into place. Then pain as he felt his scales and the bone underneath grow and expand. He bulked up and felt himself be weighted to the ground more than before.
The changed ended and he roared. He was now a very bulky crocodile. It felt like he had grown stronger to accommodate his new frame as well. He slid into the water and noticed that he left deep tracks on the muddy bank. He swam into the swamp looking for his new prey. He found one fish that he found to be quite large. He hurriedly swam at it and managed to get it by it's tail. It felt very heavy which was why he aimed for it.
[You have killed Adult Mudfish! 123 experience rewarded!]
[You have leveled up! You are now an Adult Saltwater Crocodile! + 2 Mutation points]
[New Mutations Unlocked!]
Leo felt it as he grew a full four feet. He was now a mature Saltwater crocodile. Leo swallowed the remains of the fish and realized that he was stuffed. He slowly swam his way to another riverbank as he looked through his status. He had unlocked new mutations, so he looked at those.
Available Mutations
2 points (157/1000 lbs)
Titanic- Double size per level [5]
Devour- Allows for digestion of inorganic mass as mutation points [10]
Jagged - Sharpens scales, claws, and teeth [1]
Gills- Allows breathing in water [3]
Wings- Allows for instinctual flight [5]
Running Adaptation- Lengthens legs to allow for rapid aboveground movement [2]
The only new mutation that he want to aim for was Gills. It would allow him to go travel the open sea. He was already near the ocean as it was. The land didn't hold much promise for him because it was just open desert, but the ocean was the origin of life. It was the place where animals naturally grew to enormous sizes. This meant that he would be able to make use of the ability to eat for mutation points. Most animals on land didn't satisfy the size requirements that were required for him. Although he felt like his best bet after acquiring gills was to acquire Devour. He would then be able to get additional mutations without maximizing his level. He didn't know if he would be forced to evolve once he maxed, but he didn't want to be caught unprepared just in case.
He rested until night approached. After the sun went down, Leo noticed that the delta grew noisier than ever. He heard several sounds that were very loud and sounded very scary. Almost as scary as his own roar.
He headed towards what sounded like the loudest roar. He slipped into the water and headed to the noise. When he got there, he peeked above the water. The creature was a large cat. It was tan with dark brown stripes. The cat was like a tiger, but it climbed trees like it was a panther. Leo had gotten lucky in that the creature was on a low hanging branch just above the water. He prepared for a classic crocodile strategy, the death roll.
If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it's taken without permission from the author. Report it.
Leo exploded from the water, using his tail to propel himself further out of the water than he'd ever done before. He crushed his jaws around the middle of the tiger looking thing's torso. Leo began the roll. The tiger tried to bite at Leo's body. Its teeth got stuck in the sheer mass and thickness of his scales. Leo continued to roll until the cat stopped struggling. Then he proceeded to eat it one large piece at a time, while he checked his notifications.
[You have killed Elder Swamp Tiger(T1)! 567 experience rewarded!]
That was all. He didn't level up and this was the strongest creature he had killed so far! He checked to see how close he was to reaching the next level.
Level 4/10
591/800 experience
From what he could see, the experience requirement doubled with each level. That meant he would have to take greater and greater risks to get stronger.
Leo decided that it was time for him to approach the ocean.
----------------------------------------
He had traveled through the swamp and found many creatures. More than a few were very aggressive towards him. That lead to him getting multiple snacks along the way.
[ You have killed Elder Swamp Snake(T1)! 550 experience awarded!]
[You have killed Adult Bullfrog(T1)! 347 experience awarded!]
[You have killed Elder Swamp Monitor(T1)! 890 experience awarded!]
[You have killed Elder Bullfrog(T1)! 789 experience awarded!]
[You have killed Elder Swampirana(T1)! 1020 experience awarded!]
[You have leveled up! + 2 Mutation points]
[You have leveled up! + 2 Mutation points]
[You have consumed 1000 pounds! + 1 Mutation point]
Two of those opponents were particularly difficult to kill. The Swampirana was very fast in the water. The only reason that he managed to catch it was due to its shock at being unable to bit through his scales followed by a quick tail blow and then dragging it to land.
The Swamp Monitor was a lizard like him. It was larger than him. At least 20 feet. He had found it lazing about in the water so he attacked it. He had grasped it around its skinny neck and bashed its head against one of the many swamp trees. This had broken its neck and killed it.
Leo reached the ocean. There was a long beach to either side of the delta. On the beach were crashing waves. He was now about 14 feet long. He should be able to battle any sea creatures that came at him, but just to be safe he would go on small forays into the ocean. He only needed one to two more levels before he was able to meet his target for points. He would hunt in the swamps until he reached the target.
Luckily, he saw a large sea turtle on the beach. Leo waddled to the sea turtle. The turtle was sleeping and it didn't bother to defend itself. He quickly grasped his jaws over the turtle's head and clamped down with the full strength of his crocodile jaw. With a bit of struggle, he managed to disconnect the head from the body. He was bombarded with notifications.
[You have killed Juvenile Zaros(T2)! 2458 experience awarded!]
[You have leveled up! You are now an Elder Saltwater Crocodile! + 3 Mutation points]
Leo was shocked. He had killed a Tier 2. He had no idea what the Tier system signified. What he was happiest about was his new mutation. He bought Devour immediately. He felt a strange tingling in his stomach almost like it was bubbling. He let out a loud burp and vomited out some nasty tasting stuff. It must have been his previous stomach acid. Just to test the effect he tried to eat some sand. He took a large chunk out of the dune and swallowed it whole. He waited to see what would happen. He felt it as the sand entered his stomach and seemed to just disappear. He noticed that he was no longer hungry. In fact just to check he attempted to eat his kill. He ate the Zaros. Its shell was very tough to crack, but with his full force he managed it.
He ate the Zaros and noticed that nothing that entered his stomach seemed to stay there. It was there for a few seconds and then it seemed to disappear in his stomach.
[You have consumed 1000 pounds! + 1 Mutation point]
He also decided to get the Jagged mutation since his next level should get him 3 Mutation points.
He felt his claws lengthen, harden, and narrow. His teeth became jagged and sharp in his mouth. His scales all flowed into a shaped spines look as they went along his back. He now had lots of traction on every part of his body. He looked like a spiky sharp crocodile. Each of his scales still maintained their previous level of armor, but now they were coarse, raised and jagged.
He layed on the beach. Relaxing and sleeping until the sun dawned. Then he broke through the waves into a world of blue.