Chapter 2

Morning!

I’m currently sunbathing. It feels really nice, you know?

Let me first catch you up on yesterday’s events. After eating the dragonfly, I continued moving, and soon came across a sizable rock. It was late afternoon already, so I got up on the rock and just laid there, sunbathing. I’ll be honest with you, I nearly fell asleep halfway through, until a shadow passed over my head and set me on alert mode for the rest of the day. That night, I dug myself a small hole underneath the rock and slept there for the night.

Ahhh…sunbathing just makes me want to melt away into a puddle of warmth and coziness. Yesterday’s stress is all but gone now, and now I’m at 100% condition! I’m pretty much set in the food department for the next few days because of the fact that I’ll most likely be in cold-blooded mode for most of the day. Anywho, if I ever felt peckish I can always just flip over some rocks to find bugs or find a few more of those blueberries to eat.

Mmm…I should probably explore today. I want to get a better picture of where I am and I mean getting sent to a different world doesn’t happen every day, does it? I want to savor the ecstasy of adventuring! Either way, I need to raise my levels to get Magic Manipulation. Alright, I’ve decided. Five more minutes of sunbathing, then exploration!

…

T-Ten minutes actually. Ten minutes!

…

……

I wish I can sunbathe some more, but I need to work to ensure my survival and to sate my curiosity. Haaahhh…

I reluctantly slide off of the warm and comfortable sunning rock and begin crawling in the general direction that I was heading yesterday. Nothing much happened, to be honest. I did encounter another fire dragonfly though I defeated it easily now that I was level 2 and I knew of its tricks. I say easily because I didn’t suffer any major injury, but it did take quite a while for the dragonfly to tire itself out since I didn’t manage to jump on top of it like last time. I leveled up after the fight and finally got Body Enhancement as I ate the dragonfly.

Welp, I guess it’s time to test out Body Enhancement! I cast it on my legs and instantly notice my mana draining. It consumed 20% of my mana, and a steady stream of mana was being supplied to the skill. I feel that I can keep this up for approximately fifteen minutes before I run out of mana. With Body Enhancement on, my legs feel invigorated and powerful. I was able to crawl at a faster pace all the while using the same amount of energy as I was using without the skill on.

A message greets me around ten minutes after I had activated it.

Body Enhancement has leveled up to level 2.

Nice! I can sense that the mana upkeep for this skill has decreased, and going off of gaming logic the cost for casting it has probably decreased as well. I grin and trudge on.

At around the fourteen minute mark, my head began to feel a bit woozy. The feeling got worse and worse until I turned off Body Enhancement. Seems like getting to low mana will make you dizzy, and I deduce that running out of mana will end in unconsciousness, which in a place like this is more or less a death sentence. I should keep this information in mind at all times.

I need to replenish my mana supply somewhat. I look around carefully for any sign of danger, and plop myself down amidst the tall grass for a short nap. My skin is a brownish-grey color, and from a distance I look like a small rock, so I was pretty well camouflaged here.

Two hour later, I was ready to go. My mana pool had replenished to around 70%, so I felt it was safe to move. I continue to walk through the tall grass.

Twenty minutes later, I come to a halt. I was standing at the edge of the field of tall grass I was walking though for the past 2 days; what now lay before me is the savanna’s true beauty unleashed. A vast plain with a few trees scattered here and there, a large but flat-looking mountain off is off in the distance. Strange birds fly across the blue, cloudless sky as a herd of unicorn zebras moved together with a herd of what seem to be long-legged gazelles. And amidst all this, I see a group of lizards lying lazily under the sun a fair distance away.

I’m able to cast Identify on the lizards from where I was standing.

Gyarian Lizard --- LVL 23

Lesser Gyarian Lizard --- LVL 10

Greater Gyarian Lizard --- LVL 13

Most of the lizards were either lesser gyarian lizards or gyarian lizards, but one particularly large lizard stood out.

Fire Tylapera --- LVL 4

That lizard looks quite a bit different from the other gyarian lizards. For one, it was around three meters long, basically a meter longer than a greater gyarian lizard. It was also bulkier as well. The fire tylapera is a lot more reddish in color, and had a long red strip running down its spine and tail. I bet this guy is an evolution of gyarian lizards, and a fire variant at that. I kinda wish I can become something more than a giant lizard though. Hopefully I can evolve into a dragon or something, heh. As improbable as it may be, a girl can always dream!

I’m debating whether or not I should join them, to be honest. I know lizards don’t often live in groups, and only live with family at most, but this is another world. Maybe lizards here live in groups like wolves or lions, you never know. But I think I’ll take the risk and go for it. If worse comes to worse, I think I’ll be able to escape with my size and wits. I mean, they wouldn’t chase off a beautiful young female of their species, right?

…Right?

Steeling my nerves, I exit the tall grass and make my way towards the group.

- - - - -

The fire tylapera yawned. Its lounge had recently taken down a young prairie mammoth and were set for food for the next week or so. Although gyarian lizard lounges don’t have a leader, usually it was the strongest individual that did all of the decision making; thus the fire tylapera, being the next evolution of gyarian lizards, was the de facto ‘leader’.

The fire tylapera was currently trying to grow the lounge larger to be able to compete with the other well established lounges, and preferably gain a larger territory.

Just as it was closing its eyes, it detected a scent. A lone gyarian lizard was moving towards them, and from the smell it didn’t seem that it was a part of any other lounges. The fire tylapera perked its head up and studied the figure. Approaching its lounge was a young female lesser gyarian lizard, and a beautiful one, at that. The female's coloration blended in perfectly with the surroundings, much better than most of the other lizards here.

The female stopped in front of the tylapera, almost as if it was asking to join the group. Of course the tylapera wouldn’t complain about another female joining in. There were only 3 females in the first place, and more is always better than less. The tylapera looked away from its lounge’s newest member, closed its eyes, and fell asleep dreaming of a bigger territory.

- - - - -

Welp, joining the group was pretty darn easy. To be honest, I almost pissed myself when the fire tylapera looked at me. Just by looking into its eyes, I could tell the thing could kill me hundreds of times over easily.

I shiver as I walk towards the rest of the group. A few lizards took a glance at me before going back to sleep. I guess it’s rest time? One of the lesser gyarian lizards approaches me and nudges my snout. My instincts tell me that this is a gesture of greeting, and so I politely return it. Looks like I’ve been accepted pretty easily by the group itself.

Since I have nothing much to do, I guess I’ll just laze around for the time being. I’m pretty darn full myself. Not needing anywhere near the amount of food I took in back when I was a human sure is handy for surviving.

* * *

It’s been a few days since I joined the lizard group. If I do recall correctly, a group of lizards is called a lounge, right? Setting that aside, nothing much happened in these few days. I'd occasionally hunt a dragonfly or two and share it with that one gyarian lizard that greeted me on my first day here. Most of the time was spent sunbathing and ‘socializing’, which consisted basically of couple of snout nudges here and there. Either way, something out of the ordinary is happening today. The fire tylapera (the lounge’s leader I'm guessing) has ordered that we set out to hunt. This is great since over the past few days I’ve been pondering: what should I do with this new life I was given? Obviously I want to use this to make up for my previous life, but in all seriousness, what should I aim for? Right now, I’m looking to get as strong as possible, and hopefully get a nice and high up position on the food chain here. This is another one of the reasons I decided to join this lounge. Safety in numbers!

Also, as much as I want to become a ‘1000000 ATTACK DAMAGE ONE-SHOT SUPER OP NEEDS NERFS’ being, I need to keep in mind that this, as much as it seems like one, is not a game. I’ve only got one life (well, technically two but I've already spent one), and if I die I’ll die. The end. No restarts. I need to get as hard to kill as humanly (lizardly?) possible. And how can I do that? By power leveling, of course!

By the way, I’ve leveled up to level 4, and my Body Enhancement has leveled up once more, and I’m saving up my skill points to buy Magic Manipulation. I’m confident I can at the very least keep myself safe during our hunt. Speaking of safety, because I’ve gotten so darn good at dodging the fire dragonfly’s attacks, my heat resistance hasn’t leveled up yet. I also don’t have any other resistances yet. I will need to hurt myself one way or another to get and level up the resistances.

…I’m not looking forward to that at all. I’m not much of a masochist to be frank so…

A-Anyway, the point is I need to get stronger, and this hunt is perfect for me to farm some experience points safely in a group. Although I’ll probably get a much smaller share of experience points, safety is always number one priority.

The fire tylapera sniffs the air, grunts, and sets off. The rest of the group gets up and begins following the tylapera.

In no time at all, I see what we are to hunt. In the distance was a lone ox. Yes, ox. In the middle of a savanna. It has a brownish yellow color, and had three horns, two like a normal ox and another on the top of its head. I cast Identify on it.

Gyarian Savanna Ox --- LVL 16

The tylapera growls at us a couple of times and surprisingly enough I understood it all. Split into two groups. One group follow me and meet the prey head on, the other sneak from behind.

As much as I want to fight the ox head on, I know I’m probably not strong enough to do anything significant against it. Since I'm not sturdy enough to take a hit, I follow one of the greater gyarian lizard towards the ox’s behind.

The tylapera’s group had managed to get approximately nine meters from the ox before it notices them. The ox grunts and takes up an aggressive stance, pointing its horns at us all the while grunting and stomping its front legs. Luckily, the ox hadn’t noticed the rest of group two and I, and we are able to slowly creep up on it. We managed to get to around two meters from the ox before it finally noticed us. It jumps in shock and in a panic charges towards group one.

At first, I thought the lizards would try and move away to avoid the charging ox, but the tylapera gets up on its back legs and managed to stop the ox by grabbing two of its horns and biting the ox’s snout. The ox cries out in pain and anger, and begins to push back the tylapera all the while thrashing around in a fierce manner. The other lizards, not knowing what to do, were only able to slowly circle the ox and look for an opening, occasionally jumping in to bite the beast or dodging back to avoid the ox's kicks. Thinking that it'll be quite bad if the tylapera gets hurt or incapacitated, I activate Body Enhancement and rush forward. I jump up and land on the ox's back and bite down, injecting as much venom as I can. The frightened and hurt ox starts thrashing about more and more fiercely, and I was soon thrown off, landing on the dirt a good few meters away.

The fire tylapera, taking advantage of the now weakening ox, breaths fire right into its face and shoves the bull onto the ground. Not wasting a second, the tylapera and the rest of the lounge sprinted forward and doggy (lizard?) piled on top of the winded and weakened ox. I stare in awe as the living mass of claws and teeth rip the ox to shreds. The crazy thing is, the damn ox is still alive! It kept on kicking and thrashing about even when its guts were being ripped out. I snap out of my trance and run towards the downed ox. I bite down onto one of the legs sticking out of the lizard pile and start injecting the beast with my venom once more.

Your team has slain Gyarian Savanna Ox LVL 16

Venom has leveled up to level 2.

Venom has leveled up to level 3.

You have gained enough experience points to level up. You are now level 5. You have received 5 skill points.

You have gained enough experience points to level up. You are now level 6. You have received 5 skill points.

After a couple dozen more seconds of struggle, the ox finally goes limp.

Nice! Double level up on both my own level and Venom’s level! All this without me getting hurt at all, more or less!

I quickly cast Identify on all of the other lesser gyarian lizards to see if I am able to see level ups with Identify or if it doesn't display anything special.

Lesser Gyarian Lizard --- LVL 10

Lesser Gyarian Lizard --- LVL 13

Lesser Gyarian Lizard --- LVL 8

Lesser Gyarian Lizard --- LVL 5 (+1)

Lesser Gyarian Lizard --- LVL 11

Hmm, I guess the plus next to the level is the changes in level since I last Identify cast on them. It seems like experience is partitioned based on contributions. The level five lesser gyrian lizard was the same level as me before the hunt but is now one level below me, and the other lessers haven’t leveled up. I check the fire tylapera.

Fire Tylapera --- LVL 4

No change. I guess the fire tylapera is already plenty strong, and the experience points given from a team-killed gyarian savanna ox just isn’t enough to let it level up. This also confirms my albeit obvious suspicion that levels doesn’t dictate strength, but species does. I basically confirmed this way back when I first fought a fire dragonfly since it was level six while I was only level one, but I wanted to be 100% sure.

Anyway, the fire tylapera had started eating the savanna ox while I was doing my little experiment. The other lizards, although hungry, did not approach the carcass even though it was right there in front of them. My guess is that the gyarian lizard eating order is the leader, then everyone else. The tylapera ate quite messily. It didn’t care about sanitation, and just dug in right then and there. Its face is now completely covered in blood and gore with bits and pieces of the ox stuck between its teeth.

Finally, after a couple minutes, the tylapera had finished eating. It ate quite a share as around one fourth of the ox was eaten by it, but no one was complaining. Perks of being the leader, eh? As the rest of the lizards rush towards the carcass to grab a bite, I activate Body Enhancement jump towards it. I land squarely in the ripped opened rib cage and quickly rip a chunk of meat from it. Because I wasn’t that hungry, I turn around and jump once more, meat in mouth, out of the carcass to avoid the onslaught of hungry lizards.

I watch the ox’s carcass disappear in a matter of minutes under the mass of lizards as I swallow my piece of meat.

- - - - -

The fire tylapera looked at the newcomer curiously. Although it was only level 3 when it first joined, it quickly leveled up to level 4 in a matter of days, and then played a pretty big role in taking down the savanna ox. Although Venom and Body Enhancement were very common among gyarian lizards, the newcomer had the brains and guts to use these two skills to their full potential. The tylapera was glad that this little gyarian lizard was a part of its pack and not something it'd face during a territorial skirmish. Also, if this little lizard continues to grow at this rate, the tylapera would claim it as its mate by the time breeding season rolled around…

The tylapera grunted loudly, signaling the lounge to move once more. They had finished the ox a while ago and were now relaxing under the hot savanna sun. Night was fast approaching and they needed to be a fair distance away from the carcass as it would certainly attract the attention of stronger predators. As strong as the tylapera is, it is no match for some of the stronger species in the Gyarian Savanna. It knew a couple of said species prey specifically on gyarian lizards and tylaperas. The tylapera shook itself to clear its head of these thoughts. It grunted once more and marched off towards the tall grass, its lounge following closely behind.

- - - - -

Nameless Lesser Gyarian Lizard; Level 6

Status Effects : Content

Unspent Skill Points : 15

Skills :

Identify: LVL 1

Night Vision: LVL 1

Venom: LVL 3

Regeneration: LVL 1

Body Enhancement: LVL 3

Resistances :

Heat Resistance: LVL 2

Traits :

Bi-blooded