While I was curious about this new [System], I figured that sleep would serve me better than a marginally better understanding of it, so I decided to try to rest. Considering how my first day as a keelish had gone, it wasn't particularly surprising that I found myself unconscious in no time at all.

...

I woke to the now-familiar shrieks of my broodmates, and, upon opening my eyes, saw Greel stalking through the clump of unconscious bodies, purposely stepping on tails and baring his teeth in pleasure at the cries of pain. The bastard's a right... bastard, I guess. To be expected of a keelish.

I began to stir, in the hope of preventing myself from being stepped on, and stiffly tried to stretch. Different from my human body, my arms had much less mobility, and, as I stretched, I nearly lost my balance as my tail unexpectedly swung heavily to the side. I'm going to need to get used to this whole "not a human" thing. But, I realized that while it had apparently been a scant few hours since I had eaten my fill, I was already starving.

As I roused myself and noticed my hunger, I noticed that Oncli and Took had slept near me as well. They slept curled into ball, of sorts, their long tails curled around enough to rest their heads on.

"Hey, Oncli, Took. Get up."

They raised their heads and Oncli seemed inclined to stay down, but Took nearly jumped up, and, head cocked curiously, responded, "What?"

Wordlessly, I gestured towards the oncoming Greel. The squeals of pain and the sadistic look on his face seemed to convince Oncli to get up sooner rather than later. He, keeping his head subserviently low, approached me.

"So, Boss... Can we go with you on the hunt today? We'll do what you say, so please? I promise we won't drag you down. I'm confident that I can work hard, and listen, and..." He kept his head low, but I could see his eyes looking hopefully up at me as he droned on. I decided to interrupt.

"Sure. But you'll both do exactly as I say, when I say it?"

"Sure thing, Boss! You won't be disappointed!"

"Mm!"

It seemed like Took doesn't speak in full sentences not because she is incapable, but can't be bothered to. Well, just as well, as I'm sure Oncli's incessant squealing is going to wear on me. But, if I can ensure that I will have helpers when I find Viilor, it will all be worth it. Even partial deafness.

I looked (ok, probably more like glared) down at Oncli, and, while he was oblivious, Took was not, and unthinkingly slapped her tail into his ribs. She whimpered as her scabbed tail split open, and some blood began to course down her tail, dripping onto the floor. I only caught myself staring at the dribbling blood after maybe ten seconds. Took looked nervously up at me, but I'd like to think that I reacted rather stoically as I paid her no mind.

Looking around, I saw that Greel had gone back to the front of the space, and he yelled out, "Awright yeh shits. Git topside and git to feedin' yerselves. Yeh won't get any more food from me, so git huntin'!"

In the front of the hole, the spawnlings began to flow out. My group of three was in the back and I was inclined to wait, but Took was practically pushing me to make my way out, so we ended up pushing our ways up the exit and into the main nest. I would have enjoyed looking around, but in the pushing throng, I simply had to make my way to the exit.

Keelish, unlike other pack animals, didn't seem to treasure their young much, as the hatchery is almost exclusively found near the surface entry point. This nest seems to be no different, and it was a short 30 second push to get to the surface. It was strange to switch my vision back from the strangely hued thermal vision, but I was looking forward to it. As I did so, it was disorienting, to say the least. I recoiled, stunned by the colors, and realized that I was in a large clearing, filled with grass and surrounded by tall trees. I didn't recognize them, so I couldn't be anywhere near my old home. Or maybe, it was just that my vision was so fuzzy.

Upon reflection, my thermal vision was much more reliable than this, but it too was rather limited in the scope of how far I could see. Nonetheless, I wanted to try my best to see in the way I was more accustomed. As I looked around, I could see Oncli and Took, and saw them as they were for the first time. With my thermal perception, they were basically the same, except Oncli was smaller and Took's tail's teeth wounds were a different color, but with my light-based vision, I could see several differences.

They, like all keelish, were something like a bipedal lizard. As spawnlings, however, we all stood under .5m, whereas normal adult keelish would stand at or above 1m. We all had powerful back legs and thick tails for support, as well as smaller arms, mostly meant for smaller, easier tasks, as anything that required any sort of muscle would require we use our jaws. All keelish are covered by thick defensive scales, and we were no exception.

Looking down, I saw that my belly was a dark, almost steely grey, with speckles of brown. Oncli was an earthy red, and, now that I looked closer, was more hunched than most keelish I've seen. That, paired with the fact that he was already on the smaller side, made him appear to be the smallest of the brood. He continuously looked all around while fidgeting with his upper claws. Took, on the other hand, was a brown and green mix, almost the color of moss. Her eyes were a startling blue that stood out on her face, and, noticing me staring, she edged closer and cocked her head curiously. This time, I looked her in the eye and nodded.

"Boss, are we gonna get food? I'm starving. I could eat all of Took and still be hungry. I really want some food. So are we gonna..."

"Shut it Oncli. Yes, we're going to get food. Took, if he talks about eating you again, I give you permission to do whatever you want to him." Took smiled at Oncli wolfishly, seemingly taunting him.

As we and many other spawnlings hesitated at the mouth of the den, we heard Greel's shriek from within and started off towards the surrounding forest. I don't know why I was surprised by this, but I saw nearly every other keelish joined with a group that set off together. In fact, with the exception of seven spawnlings who were alone, we were the smallest pack. As we loped towards the tree cover, I saw the seven joining together and seem to argue about who would be in charge.

Regardless, as we approached the treeline, I gestured to slow down. We entered the forest proper, and while I was still underwhelmed by my vision, I was overwhelmed by the sheer amount of smells. The earth, differing flowers, feces, urine, plants, and more all threatened to rob me of thought. However, with a bit of time to adjust, I could begin to sort out the smells, and focus on the ones that will allow me to fill my growling belly.

As I lowered my head to find a particular scent, Oncli spoke up.

"Boss, I can smell that there's something small that came from up ahead of us and went off towards where Took is. I think we should hunt it. I'm sure it'll be tasty."

"Oncli, thank you. Shut up now."

"Yes, Boss."

I sighed. Whatever, he was helpful this time. After his words, I realized that I could more or less pick out that same information from one of the scents, but I was surprised that he was able to pick it out so quickly. I hurried in the direction of the scent, and the others followed as we went deeper into the forest.

Judging off of the size of Greel and assuming he was a rather average sized adult keelish, I assumed that we were about 40 cm tall and maybe 60 cm long from snout to tail. So, after about 100 m, Took nudged me with her head. Initially, I thought that she was so hungry she was going to take a bite, but I fortunately realized she was trying to slow me down before I did something drastic.

"What?"

"Look."

"... What?"

After looking for about 10 seconds, I realized I could look with my thermal vision, and decided to switch. With the jarring change, I realized that I saw things quite differently now--there was a glowing orange spot about 7 m away, and when I looked with my normal vision, I could see--it was a frog with a huge mouth, easily 20 cm wide, with mean teeth poking out.

I motioned for Took to circle to the left and Oncli to the right, and initially, I thought they understood. How wrong I was.

Took seemed to understand my meaning, and stalked through the undergrowth towards our prey. Oncli, however, bulldozed his way to the right, startling the creature, and, after about 20 steps, made a loud, obvious beeline towards the frog. The frog jumped to my left, nearly landing on Took. She took it by surprise and nipped at its back leg in an attempt to hamstring it. What actually happened though was she latched onto its knee and was thrown backwards as it jumped again, this time, back towards Oncli, who was now barreling towards both. The frog easily jumped over Oncli, who ended up colliding with Took, who was attempting to get up after nearly having her teeth ripped out of her skull by the force of the frog's jump. They fell in a twisting heap of thrashing tails and struggling limbs as I approached the frog.

As I stalked towards the frog, it seemed to gloat over its victory over its would-be predators, and reared up to make its escape. It was then that I made my appearance--sinking my teeth deep into its front right leg. It hissed in pain, and, after a brief moment's panic, sunk its teeth into my tail and began to pull.

My first instinct was to let go, but, in a moment of clarity, I sunk my teeth deeper, feeling the scraping of bone as I attempted to lock my jaws. I tasted iron, and knew I was drawing blood.

[Bloodlust Skill Activated]

I felt my vision narrowing, and stopped feeling the pain in my tail as I instinctually began to grind my teeth, causing the frog to release my tail as it began to squeal and attempt to hop away. Once, twice, thrice, I felt my body lift off the ground and slam into the ground as the frog attempted to flee. On the third hop, however, it screamed again, and I took the opportunity to latch on higher on the leg, and pulling and tearing with all my strength, ripped the arm off at the shoulder.

With the frog hobbled, I tore into its ribs, and finally noticed that Took was now successfully latched onto the beast's back left leg while Oncli was running to begin tearing into the frogs left side. As it shrieked in pain and frustration, Oncli and I relocated ourselves to its belly and began to disembowel it. In a corner of my mind, I felt this might have been inefficient, but the rest of me enjoyed tearing into the tender, unprotected flesh of the frog's belly. As I ripped and tore, I ate whatever entered my mouth, and, eventually, the frog stopped struggling, and Oncli and I were joined by Took, as we began to eat the suffering amphibian.

As I began to descend from my blood high, I noticed a flashing notification in the top right corner of my vision.

[Growth achieved. Status updated.]

What now?