After a hurried night of rest, Lore and Luna were placed in a hidden dense forest,
while the Mother Zinogre went out to search for new food.
For various reasons, the female dragon did not go too far,
which gave Lore an opportunity to move freely within the limited time and space.
Watching Luna, who had fallen into a deep sleep after being tossed about all day yesterday, Lore tiptoed out of their hiding place.
The Zinogre clan’s noses were much more sensitive than most monsters; after sniffing around and finding no threats nearby, Lore let out a heavy sigh of relief and strode outside.
Since obtaining the system yesterday, Lore had restored his physical strength to a normal level by relying on the [Leftovers] that refreshed in a short time, and his body had also become healthy with the influx of energy.
After finding a pool of water, Lore began to experiment with the pokémon skills provided by the system.
“Now I only have one [Growth] skill…
let me try this one first.”
Lore moved his mind, and the special energy provided by [Growth] began to surge out from within his body;
he clearly felt his muscles as a small sub-adult cub beginning to grow, and even his undeveloped Volt Absorb shell began to accumulate electrical energy!
“The so-called Physical Attack +1 and Special Attack +1 are actually such a simple and crude way to strengthen my body?!
Well, that’s not bad either; this is real, tangible combat power!”
When Lore looked at his reflection in the pool, he was shocked to find that his body was clearly a size larger.
This was the additional effect brought by [Growth].
However, when Lore intended to cast [Growth] again, he felt a bit of fatigue.
Perhaps this body was still too young, its weak flesh unable to frequently cast enhancement skills in a short period.
However, to test his limits, Lore endured the soreness in his muscles and cast [Growth] once more.
Sure enough, the strength of his muscles and Volt Absorb shell was even greater than before.
The effect was just like in the game; it could be stacked!
At the same time, a stronger sense of fatigue and muscle soreness followed.
Enduring the strain the skill placed on his body once again, Lore used [Growth] for the third time!
This time, a pain like a cramp surged from Lore’s still-developing muscles, and his Volt Absorb shell uncontrollably leaked pale blue electricity.
Although he could barely move, Lore knew this was his limit for now.
Three times.
However, to his surprise, under the enhancement of three [Growth] uses, his small sub-adult dragon body seemed comparable in size to an ordinary adult Zinogre!
Only the soft, long down that hadn’t shed yet indicated that his current size was merely a proportional enlargement of a dragon pup; he still needed the baptism of time before truly becoming an adult Zinogre.
Next, Lore tested how long the [Growth] state could last.
Unlike in the game where Growth could last until the end of the battle, Lore knew clearly that his body could likely only hold out for a while.
As he had expected, within an hour, he was drenched in sweat and could only grit his teeth to maintain his puffed-up appearance.
“This size and duration are already pretty good for a little boy; if this were in a doujin, I could be pushing the big cart.”
He silently cheered himself on in his heart, then released the power of [Growth] from his body.
In an instant, fatigue and soreness washed over him; were it not for his tenacious willpower, he might have truly collapsed and fallen asleep.
Just then, one childish call after another rang in his ears.
“Awoo~ Awoo~”
Urgent and panicked.
Lore recognized it as Luna’s voice, so he gave up on the practice and turned to walk towards the temporary nest.
In the grass, Luna spotted the slightly weary Lore and ran over, full of concern.
She walked alongside Lore, using her shoulder to support his body, hoping to ease his burden.
Feeling Luna’s gentleness once again, Lore rubbed his nose against her cheek and released a faint static charge to signal that he was alright.
This instead made Luna slightly angry, and she let out an “Awoo” to express her dissatisfaction with Lore,
seemingly because he had left her side without a word, which made her extremely uneasy.
Walking shoulder-to-shoulder, leaning against each other back to the temporary nest, Lore finally couldn’t resist the sleepiness of his body and gradually fell into a deep sleep.
In a daze, he saw Luna gently push him into her embrace; the slightly damp, milky scent now became a comforting aroma that put the dragon at ease, causing Lore to instinctively squirm a little…
…
The hunting of Mother Zinogre was not all smooth sailing.
Generally, only the males in the pack would frequently go out to hunt as individuals, bringing the prey back to share with the pack after the hunt was completed.
This resulted in the female dragons being smaller than the males, with far less muscle strength and even hunting skills that were not as refined as the males’.
Coupled with the weakness caused by starving for three days, Mother Zinogre, who was not adept at hunting to begin with, could not obtain much food.
Fortunately, as an Area Apex, she was not too weak.
Mother Zinogre hid in the shadows, her green body blending well with the jungle; relying on the Thunderbugs symbiotic with her, she attracted some small birds to come and peck.
Taking advantage of the small birds pecking at the Thunderbugs, Mother Zinogre seized the opportunity to release an electric current, wiping out those little guys in one go.
Today, her luck was not bad.
She caught seven or eight.
In these times of scarce resources, this was already a feast.
Carrying the hard-won food in her mouth, the female dragon returned to the nest.
Looking at the recovering Lore and her cute dragon pup, Mother Zinogre felt genuinely happy, no matter how exhausted she was.
An affectionate call woke the sleeping Lore.
As always, the Zinogre family started their meal.
To be honest, these small birds were not enough to fill Mother Zinogre’s stomach alone, but she still chose to eat last, so that the two dragon pups could consume enough food to grow up healthy.
With the boost from the Leftovers, Lore only ate a little bit symbolically.
Whether it was yesterday’s rotten Popo or today’s small birds, they were unexpectedly delicious to Lore.
Perhaps after becoming a Zinogre, his sense of taste had completely changed; he wondered if food made by humans would have a unique flavor.
Seeing that Lore had only eaten a little, Luna and Mother Zinogre were still worried and placed the bird meat in front of Lore.
However, Lore naturally wouldn’t be greedy and pushed the bird meat back to Mother Zinogre, signaling that he was full.
Shortly after the bird meat entered his stomach, a system prompt suddenly rang in Lore’s mind.
“Ding!
Congratulations to the host for obtaining life energy, LVUP!
Congratulations to the host for reaching LV10!
pokémon skill draw count +1!”