A Cold-Blooded POV

Chapter 24 Biomass For The Taking

Ethoss checked his status as he moved throughout the forest.

Name: Ethoss

Level: 3(Red Core)

Strength: 60

Toughness: 55

Cunning: 50

Will: 27

HP: 50/50

MP: 32/32

Skills[Attack]: Lethal Venomous Bite level(II) 1, Tail Whip level 4, Claw Swipe level 4

Skills[Support]: Rapid Dash(II) level 1, Deep Night Vision(II) level 2, Discoloration Camouflage(II) level 1, Dig level 3, Mana Manipulation level 4

Mutations: Unmasked Jacobson's organ +5, Legs +3, Eyes +3, Scales +3, Claws +3, Teeth +3, Fire Gland +3

Species: Draco Aeternus Lacerta(Male)

Biomass: 1

Skill Point: 3

*Shish*

*Shish*

The crunching sounds of the grass and dead leaves continued resounding as Ethoss took each step at a time. His large and long body swayed left and right, making a low ?whoosh' noise. Ethoss had just woken up from a much-needed sleep and was hungry, he flicked his tongue, tasting the air molecules that floated in the atmosphere.

His senses pinpointed multiple monsters, however, he filtered out any of the scents that he had already targeted. According to what he learned during his evolution, biomass and XP would become much harder to obtain now that he evolved.

So his plan was simple, he decided to only target monsters that he hadn't eaten before. This was because of the way the voice rewarded him, every time he ate a new creature he would earn biomass, regardless of what tier of evolution it was.

If he would earn less XP and biomass then he choose to only target monsters that guaranteed him biomass. He also unlocked their monster profile in the process, and from Ethoss's experiences so far he had realized just how important information was. Being knowledgeable was also a strength.

He then took off running, activating his camouflage skill. Dashing through the forest his body was invisible with only the sound of his footsteps alerting others of his presence. Each time he passed a monster they would look up, cautioned, only to not see anything around them.

Sensing that he wasn't too far from his prey, Ethoss slowed his pace and deactivated his rapid dash skill. Even though he had his camouflage active, he instinctively crouched his mediumly-tall body to make himself appear as small as possible. Creeping ever so closely, he peeked his head out of the berry bush he had entered.

In his view were a few monsters, he saw a giant insect with several legs, alone fighting against three canine-like creatures with sharp stingers as their tails. The canine creatures had surrounded the insect, attacking it randomly each time it turned its back to one.

Although the monsters looked very aggressive, strong, and vicious, the only thing Ethoss saw them as was XP and biomass. They were monsters that he hadn't eaten yet, which is exactly what he was searching for.

As he watched the monsters fight, it was obvious who was winning the fight. The canine's attack strategy of overwhelming the insect was working exactly how they wanted it.

The large insect would snap its mandibles and claws at one of the canines but as soon as it tried there would be another canine right behind it attacking its blindside.

They were slowly chipping away at the insect's HP. Ethoss had run many simulations in his head, he had thought of a plan where he would wait till the canines weaken the insect and then intervene, killing the insect to take the XP for himself, once he was finished with the insect then he would face the canines.

However, he felt that these monsters were under him, he had just evolved for the second time, making most of the monsters in the forest expanse weaker than him. His pride wouldn't allow him to use sneaky tactics on prey that was this weak.

Ethoss stood up and walked out of the bushes. Hearing the bushes rustle, the canines and the insect glanced toward Ethoss, however, he hadn't deactivated his camouflage so they couldn't see him.

Ethoss's esophagus began to warm up, getting hotter and hotter, and the air around his mouth began burning. Soon he opened his mouth releasing a fire blast at the canine closest to him.

It cried in pain as it was hit by the fire attack. As soon as he shot the fire blast Ethoss dashed toward the other canines, his speed was too fast for the canines or the insect to keep up.

Tail Whip!

He slammed his large tail, hitting another of the canines.

Seeing the chance it had now, the insect that was once at a disadvantage before aimed its claw at the last standing canine, its large claws quickly clutched one of the canine's legs and snapped! The high pitch cry the canine let off alerted Ethoss and he turned around, his eyes narrowed and he rushed the insect.

?Its trying to take my XP!' he thought.

As soon as he reached within distance he lifted his claw and sliced off a couple of the insects' legs, however, he wasn't done yet, he then twisted his body and crashed it into the insect's carapace. The carapace of the insect cracked heavily from the strength behind his tail.

Suddenly one of the canines jumped on Ethoss from behind, landing on his back. It used its claws to grip onto his scaly back, fortunately for Ethoss, the claws of the canine weren't strong enough to dig beneath his scales.

He tried to shake the canine off, but that's when another ran up on him as soon as he lost focus, it curled its tail and stabbed it into the side of his underbelly.

Hiss!

Since the scales on his underbelly were weaker than the ones on his back the stinger pierced his skin. Again, Ethoss swung his body with all his might.

Tail Whip!

[Tail Whip has reached level 5, upgrade available]

[Would you like to improve Tail Whip to Reinforced Tail Whip? This will cost 1sp]

Ethoss didn't even think about it, he immediately confirmed, and as he swung his tail to hit the canine on his side his tail grew, becoming longer and thicker. It smashed into the small canine, hitting bit directly on its neck and a cracking sound was heard.

[You have defeated level 3 Scorpius Lupus Pup]

[You have gained XP]