The sun shone brightly, its light reflecting off the surface of the stream.
Lizarius had just finished eating and was flying forward to catch more fish when—
A Blue Scale Crocodile lying beside the stream suddenly lunged toward him, its jaws wide open.
Lizarius immediately reacted.
He swung his wings and flew higher, hovering in the air, safely out of the crocodile’s reach.
Looking down at the crocodile, Lizarius thought,
*A Blue Scale Crocodile.*
*I haven’t seen any since I got here, and this one is huge.*
He asked the system,
“What’s its rank?”
The system replied,
**”Rank 5 Late Stage Blue Scale Crocodile.”**
Lizarius continued hovering in the air as he looked at the crocodile.
*I thought it was going to be a Rank 6, considering how big it is.*
The crocodile was noticeably larger than any of the others Lizarius had encountered so far.
It was approximately five meters long, with a body roughly the size of a grizzly bear.
Lizarius slowly turned invisible.
*I’m just going to leave.*
*Since I’ve already obtained its Gene, killing it would be a waste of time.*
*I’m only going to get a few points from eating it, when I can get much more by catching and eating fish.*
Lizarius, now invisible, flew away from the crocodile.
After flying for a while, Lizarius landed beside the stream and continued fishing.
Night had fallen.
Lizarius had just finished eating another batch of fish.
He licked his mouth and asked,
“How many points do I have?”
The system replied,
**”45,260 Evolution Points, 50 Earth Tortoise Gene Points, 78 Blue Scale Crocodile Gene Points.”**
Lizarius thought,
*I would’ve gained even more points if I hadn’t avoided those crocodiles.*
During his time along the stream, he had encountered eight more Blue Scale Crocodiles and avoided every one of them.
Lizarius walked toward the woods, slowly turning invisible.
He spread his wings and flew onto a nearby tree.
Lying on the tree, still invisible, Lizarius said, “Fuse Genes.”
A shock suddenly ran through his body.
Lizarius asked,
“How many beast Genes am I fused with?”
The system replied,
**”The host is currently fused with 8 beast Genes, excluding the host’s own Gene.”**
Lizarius remained lying on the tree.
*Eight plus my own Gene…
that’s nine.*
He asked,
“Can you use the same amount of points to evolve each Gene?”
The system replied,
**”You can use 5,000 points to evolve each Gene, leaving 260 points remaining.”**
The system then asked,
**”Should I begin the evolution?”**
Lizarius remained invisible, curled up on top of the tree.
“Yes.”
A massive shock suddenly ran through his body.
Pain surged through every part of him.
Lizarius slowly closed his eyes.
The pain became unbearable.
Soon—
The sun was shining brightly.
The system announced,
**”Evolution complete.
Mutated White Scale Lizard, Rank 7 Low Stage Beast.”**
Sunlight filtered through the trees, casting dappled light across Lizarius.
He remained curled up and invisible on the tree.
Slowly, his yellow eyes opened.
Lizarius rose to his feet.
As he stood on the branch, he became visible.
His body was slightly larger than before.
His horns had also grown longer.
*Now I’m a Rank 7 beast.*
*I jumped six ranks.*
Lizarius spread his wings and swung them.
**WHOOSH!**
His body shot upward, flying out from above the trees.
He hovered over the forest canopy and looked down at the stream.
Lizarius slowly turned invisible.
He swung his wings and quickly flew forward.
*I gained a lot of points from eating fish, but I’m tired of eating fish.*
His yellow eyes glowed.
*I want to hunt.*
After flying for a while, Lizarius suddenly stopped.
He hovered invisibly in the air above the stream.
Looking down, he spotted three white monkeys standing beside the water.
They were approximately three feet tall.
Lizarius flew closer to the ground and asked the system, “What kind of beast is that?”
The system replied,
**”Rank 6 Mid Stage Beast — Red-Eyed Chimpanzees.
They move in packs and mainly use physical attacks.”**
**”They can paralyze prey by making eye contact, rendering it unable to move for a period of time.”**
Lizarius suddenly lunged downward toward the chimpanzee drinking water.
It remained completely unaware of him.
Suddenly—
The chimpanzee let out a low growl and coughed out blood.
Lizarius was invisible.
His jaws were clamped around its neck.
Lightning surged from his body and struck the chimpanzee.
**BOOM!**
The lightning tore through its body.
The other two chimpanzees, which had been walking toward the woods, immediately turned around after hearing the lightning strike.
They saw Lizarius.
He was now visible, standing beside the chimpanzee’s corpse, steam rising from its body.
The two chimpanzees immediately fixed their eyes on him.
Lizarius quickly stretched his wings forward, blocking their line of sight and preventing them from making eye contact with him.
Lightning began crackling around his body.
He swung his tail toward both chimpanzees.
**WHOOSH!**
Lightning-charged golden scales shot toward them.
The two chimpanzees were unable to react.
**PIERCE!**
The golden scales pierced through their bodies, killing them instantly.
Lizarius slowly retracted his wings.
His glowing yellow eyes remained fixed on the two corpses.
*As long as I don’t make eye contact with them, I can easily kill them.*
He turned toward the corpse lying nearby.
Without wasting any time, Lizarius opened his mouth, bit down, and began eating.