Chapter 02: Still a Scientist

  What a strange dream I had! There were some odd messages in my mind about things like evolving and selecting different traits. But then reality is even weirder as I am currently reborn in some kind of humanoid lizard body and living in a dimly lit cave with dozens of similar reptiles.

  Enough complaining! I am still a scientist after all and duty calls. Let me take a stroll and try to assemble more useful information about this place.

  I immediately find that the cuts and bruises from my previous fight have almost disappeared. I stare at my hands, feeling stronger, different.

  As I walk something about the heights feels very different from when I got out of the shell. I may have gone through some kind of enormous growth spurt because that once gigantic ceiling feels a fair bit shorter and the ponds where I gazed at myself before now appear to be only small puddles.

  Additionally, a small bud I had on my back near the hip has grown into a small greenie tail. Seems about right, since I’m kind of a reptile now. Considering my species is warm-blooded, should it be more accurate to call it a dinosaur? Go Dinosaurman!

  Having to interrupt myself, I gaze at the other lizards and am surprised to see a very noticeable distinction in their stature. There’s a small group that is a match in size with me, maybe six or seven individuals. But the others are all smaller, comparable in measure to what I probably was before I slept.

  What kind of phenomenon caused this discrepancy? My first guess would be food consumption. But even if some of them did not correctly eat, like the one I knocked out, I’m fairly sure that the number of lizards that stayed in hunger were not this many. So, there should be some combination of factors that I’m not currently aware of. This calls for some more research!

  The first thing to do would be to write a chart to catalog these individuals, but there’s nothing convenient like paper for me to do it. I may have to go petroglyph style and try to find a usable smooth wall and some sharp stones, but the work will be for naught if we get out of this cave soon. Maybe I’ll just count the eggs first as they are at least stationary.

  I go all around counting eggs and more than once am gazed with curiosity by the other lizards. I had a hard time because of the perpetual low light and the various egg conditions. There were a lot of them scattered in various pieces and others have not hatched yet. At some point I even discovered three dead bodies of the smaller lizards lying around with dreadful injuries.

  By the end of count I found that there should be 52 different lizards including myself and the three deceased, with six eggs still to hatch or most likely spoiled. So far there’s a high survival rate for our kind but something tells me it won’t be this easy from now on.

  A few hours later, when I am starting to feel pretty hungry, that same huge guy from before comes. As I imagined he appears shorter after my unusual growth spurt, but he is still at least twice my height. “Gather here shhhhhhhh shhhhh.” He went and shouted, as he previously did, but now I can strangely distinguish some words from it.

  With no time to think I joined the other lizard pushing to be in front of him as he carries the same sack of strange meat. And our expectations are duly met when he throws food all over us again. “Shhhhhhhh shhhhh food shhh dead!” He said some more unintelligible things and left but I really do not care for time being, since there are more important matters such as securing this nice piece of meat I have in my hands.

  Nothing is so easy though and I’m immediately attacked by three of the smaller lizards. Two of them surge from behind me and dive at my legs, biting them and trying to trip me. The third one, taking advantage of my poor balance, jumps aiming a bite at my neck, but I somehow manage to slightly dodge and get his teeth sunk in my left shoulder instead. In a desperate struggle to remain standing I throw various punches with my free hand, but the bastards’ teeth only sink deeper.

  Such a pain, how I hate being bitten! If this keeps up, I’ll just die again without being able to do anything. I need to stop thinking like a man and start acting like a lizard. Filled with rage I press my claw in the eyes of the one biting my right leg and bite with all my strength the neck of the guy eating my shoulder. After a few seconds both guys release me and start screaming in agony and the last one is smart enough to let go before I do the same thing to him.

  I’m bleeding an awful lot but once more I have the piece of meat tightly grabbed as my spoil. Still, I must wise up my tactics. If there was at least one more of those smaller lizards or even worse, one with my size, I’m confident that I would have died there and then. Taking time to look at the defeated lizards I can see how I inflicted them severe injuries. There is definitely a bad taste in my mouth for doing this, but they forced my hand. Survival is the priority here!

  I wait some more for things to cool down because there are still some crazed lizards locked in fights all around.

  As I walk to my usual spot, I see some results of today’s food battles and there’s a lot of gore this time. There are lizards completely mutilated by deep cuts and others screaming in agonizing pain with bite marks all over. Not so surprising there is even one of those that had my size with his eyes gouged and throat slashed. If I do not bleed to death in the next hour, later I’ll try to assess the damage to the population.

  This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

  So, I quickly devour my slab of meat and once more head for the ponds to tend the injuries. But as soon as the water washes the encrusted blood outside, I see that the deep bite marks are almost closed. And when I look at myself in the water even the scars from the first fight are gone.

  Immediately my dream returns to mind and its choice of evolutionary trait. I had chosen the Fast Regeneration one, thinking it would be the best option for long-term survival. But again, I thought it was only a silly dream. Does this mean that those messages in my head were not an inspired delusion of my mind but an actual part of this world?

  That thing about evolving from a Minor Lizardling to Lizardling would explain my sudden enlargement and the lack of it in most of the other lizards. They simply had not evolved yet. And there is also the fact that I understood more words from the big lizard’s speech, meaning that the basic Lizardman language skill was true as well.

  I’m confused now! Is this some kind of game that gives me benefits for surviving and sleeping? This popup message definitely sounds like something out of one.

  All I can do is sleep again to see if I learn more. The fact that I am extremely tired has nothing to do with it. This is only to test a theo…

  Just as I lie down, I immediately fall asleep.

  Discrediting my previous hypothesis, I had an uneventful rest and woke up reinvigorated. And I may have slept for a long time because all the other Lizardling and minor ones are already in full activity.

  One thing that’s nagging me, now that I think about it, is the lack of day night cycle in this cave. It is always this same faint blue light that indicates nothing. Do all my species live underground?

  I want to explore further down the cave but I’m afraid that this could piss off the big guy. Also, no other lizard went even near that way, so I believe it’s best to stick with the paradigm in this case. Not to mention that I’m supposed to have my hands full for the moment.

  Firstly, I’ll proceed with my analysis of the population. I need to know how many of this group died in the last fight, how many suffered evolutions, and it would also be good if I could determine the traits they evolved with. It’s so damn hard because other than being evolved or not they all look the same to me.

  Despite those difficulties, I managed to do the job and can now have a better picture of the situation. I counted 18 deceased with their mutilated bodies left to rot, leaving currently 30 lizards alive with 20 still as Minor Lizardling and 10 Lizardlings including myself. There should also be some kind of gender distinction in our bodies but so far, I could not identify any.

  Of those 10 that evolved I could determine that four chose the Razor Claw trait simply because their nails are longer and have a particular lustrous metallic glow. Of the other five, three have scars on their body so by elimination they could only have chosen Venomous Bite, but I cannot determine which toxin they release. Then, there’s me and the other two that have no scars.

  Per my analysis, having no scars is not a definitive proof of choosing Fast Regeneration. They could just come out unharmed from the Food Battles, as unlikely as it sounds. I singled out those guys and will stay alert around them.

  In spite of this entire data gathering I still could be mostly wrong since there is no rule attesting that those traits are the only pathway possible. And if you consider more choices in a possible next evolution, the situation will become exponentially more chaotic. Shit! I already have headaches even before starting my second task.

  My second self-appointed job is devising ways to survive the Food Battles in the best and most secure way possible. That concept of standing in the front, grabbing the food and getting out makes me a direct target and I’ll do it no more. I’m very opposed to the idea of stealing but I have done it the first time and will probably have to do it again.

  Another thing to work around is the current cooperation between two or more lizards. In the last fight I had to go against a group of three oddly coordinated Minor Lizardlings, but it could very well be four or five in this one. I have not yet seen evolved ones sticking together but it can happen anytime for all I know.

  I conclude that my safest bet is to stealthily attack the winner of a struggle and claim his prize, as vile as it may sound. I should also bring some sharp and heavy stones to upgrade my offensive capabilities. Additionally, I shall not mess with crowds of Minor Lizardlings with more than three individuals or any group of Lizardlings if one appears.

  This is all I can do to prepare with the information and resources I gathered. Now I just have to wait for the huge lizard to come with food.

  The wait is short, and the big guy rapidly comes out bringing us the food bag. I stay a fair distance at the back waiting for the usual screech, but he does not say anything this time and just throws us the meat. Something is wrong with the pack though and the content got way smaller. I guess this means the big guy is enticing us to fight each other. As if we did not do this already!

  Groups of Minor Lizardlings charge first and there is even one with five lizards in it. Most of them grab their part and start running away but the Lizardlings intercept the escape. Most of the guys who stayed at the back like me now join the battle, transforming it into a gruesome melee where blood and even body parts fly everywhere.

  But I’m not in a hurry and take my time picking a suitable target. Some groups of Minor Lizardling manage to take down their evolved counterparts but suffer injuries and even casualties. Other Lizardlings are fighting amongst each other and there are some heavily injured already.

  My target presented himself as one of the Lizardlings I correctly guessed for taking the Venomous Bite trait. In his one-on-one fight against a Razor Clawed guy he attained victory suffering several cuts before ultimately managing a quick bite on the opponent’s shoulder that paralyzed him a few seconds later. I’ll utilize his weariness and deliver a crushing blow with the stones to incapacitate him. Then I just have to take his food and retreat to live another day. So simple and so efficient!

  I slowly walk towards the mark and extend my hand upwards to secure a clean strike on the back of his head. A few steps away now and he is still not aware of my presence.

  Three… two… one…

  Suddenly I feel a searing agony as something very sharp tears through my back.