Chapter 7: Berries?
After checking his inventory and reassuring himself of what resources he had, King closed the blue interface before him, steeled his resolve, and committed to continuing his relentless search for the Dodo. Those plump, oblivious birds were his primary target, the key to his development in this harsh world.
His journey stretched on under the scorching blaze of the prehistoric sun, which pierced through the shadows of giant trees like spears of blazing light. Fatigue seeped into his very bones, and his swollen feet screamed under the strain of the long trek, barely able to carry him another step. His body groaned with exhaustion, and the beautiful, primal landscape no longer impressed him, but had turned into an endless maze of trees and tall grasses.
He cast a glance at the system clock hanging in the corner of his vision and read the information that seemed to him like an excerpt from a mad historical book:
[Season: Summer]
[Day: May 20]
[Year: 600 Million Years Ago]
[Era: Prehistory]
[Time: 15:00]
He closed his eyes for a moment, absorbing those staggering numbers. Six hundred million years... that number was enough to shatter any sense of reality in an ordinary human, but King was beginning to adapt to the absurdity of his existence here.
King sat down on a decaying tree trunk, wiping the torrential sweat that poured from his brow like rain, wiping it from his eyes burned by salt and fatigue. His breathing was heavy, and his heart pounded violently as if trying to escape its ribcage cage.
"Hah..." A long sigh full of exhaustion. "All this fruitless walking, and all I've encountered are some carnivorous dinosaurs that want to eat my flesh, or herbivores that are good for nothing but being lunch for others. And not one of them meets the requirements of my mission!"
He raised his fist and lightly struck his tired thigh, trying to release his pent-up anger:
"Damn those Dodos! When I didn't want them, they were everywhere, filling the plains and crowding together like chickens in a coop. They wandered around stupidly as if the world belonged to them! But now, when they've become the key to my evolution... they suddenly vanished as if the earth swallowed them, or as if a mocking fate wanted to turn my journey into hell!"
He sighed a weary, trembling sigh, and looked sorrowfully at his trembling feet from sheer exhaustion. His toes were cramping, and his calf muscles quivered like taut violin strings. Ever since he left the site of the young raptor massacre, he had been running non-stop like a madman, traversing rough roads and slopes covered in thorns and sharp stones, without giving himself any real chance to rest. The fear of revenge from the parent raptors drove him like a whip, and now that he had distanced himself enough, here was exhaustion dropping him to the ground.
King finally surrendered to the weight of his body, throwing himself onto his back on the soft green grass carpet, stretching his arms out to his sides as if wanting to embrace the whole earth. He raised his eyes toward the vast sky, that clear blue dome that seemed so high, as if a colossal cosmic ceiling protected this strange world.
White clouds drifted slowly, like herds of huge animals in an endless blue sea. A cool, gentle breeze brushed his face, carrying with it the scents of damp earth and wildflowers, granting him a rare moment of peace amidst this chaos. The sound of giant insects buzzed in the background like a distant orchestra, and tree branches groaned softly with the blowing wind.
He whispered to himself in a low voice, barely more than a murmur:
"Maybe... maybe I need to stop for a while. See the bigger picture. I can't keep going on like this like a madman, searching for a stupid bird while I'm on the verge of collapse."
But while he lay there like that, contemplating the blue of the sky and trying to silence his noisy mind, his ears caught a barely audible sound. A distinctive cooing sound, strange, but familiar to him after all those failed missions.
"Goo... goo..."
His heart stopped for a moment. Then it began pounding violently again, but this time not from fatigue, but from excitement and hope!
King sat up like a bolt of lightning, turning his head swiftly like a hawk toward the source of the sound. A few meters away, behind a thick grove of giant ferns, there was a slight movement. Through the gaps, he saw a rounded, plump silhouette, wobbling with amusing grace on two short legs. A hooked beak, perpetually bewildered eyes, and a stocky, cushion-like body.
The Dodo.
King felt a euphoria he hadn't felt in a long time. He nearly shouted with joy, but he suppressed his voice with the wisdom of a seasoned hunter. He bit his lips, crouched low to the ground, and began crawling very slowly, careful not to make any sound or arouse any suspicion.
His right hand slowly reached toward his inventory, feeling for the bolas. But he stopped suddenly.
He looked around cautiously. Where was the rest of the flock? Was there another Dodo? Were there predators lurking here too?
He remembered the lesson of the young raptors well. In this jungle, everything is interconnected. Where there is prey, there may also be a hunter.
He gripped the stone axe firmly in his hand, and began approaching his new victim with catlike steps, his eyes fixed on the oblivious Dodo who had no idea that his inevitable fate had arrived.
King stopped behind a thick tree trunk and watched the Dodo from between the dense fern leaves.
The bird was completely absorbed in its simple life. It pecked the ground with its beak at times, shook its stupid head at others, then spun around as if it had just forgotten what it was doing.
"As I expected..." King muttered softly. "Stupid as usual."
But despite his mockery, he didn't rush.
A full minute passed as he scanned his surroundings. No sounds of heavy footsteps, no suspicious rustling of leaves, no roar of a nearby predator.
He finally breathed a sigh of relief.
"Seems you're alone."
He reached into his inventory and pulled out the bolas. The stone-tied ropes settled into his palm, and he began swinging them slowly.
One rotation...
Two rotations...
Three rotations...
Then he released them.
Whoosh!
The bolas flew through the air and wrapped around the Dodo's legs.
"Goo?!"
The bird didn't understand what happened until it lost its balance and tumbled to the ground, rolling over. At the same moment, King lunged forward. He didn't need to kill it; he wanted to tame it.
He raised his wooden club and brought it down on the Dodo's head.
Thwack!
A terrified shriek rose from the bird.
Thwack!
A second blow.
Thwack!
Then a fourth.
And finally... the Dodo collapsed to the ground unconscious.
[Ding!]
[You have knocked out a "Dodo"]
[Do you want to tame the "Dodo"?]
King smiled as soon as the notification appeared.
"Yes."
The window vanished, replaced by a new screen.
[
[Type]: Dodo
[Gender]: Male
[Level]: 30
[Health]: 50.0/50.0
[Stamina]: 100.0/100.0
[Oxygen]: 150.0/150.0
[Food]: 450.0/450.0
[Weight]: 0/25.0
[Melee Damage]: 100.0%
[Movement Speed]: 100%
[Torpor]: 25.0/25.0
[Taming Requirements]: {Berries: 0/15} (+)
]
King raised an eyebrow.
"Berries?"
He had expected meat or something similar, but he quickly remembered that Dodos are herbivores.
"Well, that's easier."
He turned toward the nearest bush and began gathering the fruit quickly. After a few minutes, he returned with enough. He pressed the plus sign.
[Ting!]...[Ting!]...
[Berries: 15/15]
[Taming in progress...]
The Dodo's body began to glow with a faint white light. King sat beside it, waiting, and for the first time since arriving in this world, he didn't feel fear or tension. Rather, something closer to comfort.
He had almost completed the mission. And as the taming process neared its end, a new idea began to take shape in his mind.
If he could tame all the creatures here, would he become king over them all?
These thoughts swirled in King's mind a lot, so much so that he was eager to tame a Raptor, ride it, and conquer every region he desired without fear of its inhabitants.
He imagined himself riding that long-clawed dinosaur, gathering wood in massive quantities without having to rely on himself.
Why keep fighting alone?
Why gather his resources by himself?
All he had to do was tame these creatures, and they would do all this work on his behalf. His smile gradually widened.
Perhaps... perhaps the greatest weapon in this world was not the spear, nor the axe, but an army of obedient, sweeping creatures.
The moment the thought finished forming in his mind, the system's voice rang out.
[Ding!]
[Taming completed successfully!]
[Mission completed: Tame one Dodo]
[Reward: 150 experience points]
[Level up!]
A wide smile spread across King's face.
As for the Dodo, which had just regained consciousness, it looked at him with empty eyes full of its usual stupidity. Then it ran toward him enthusiastically... and crashed directly into the neighboring tree trunk.
"..."
"..."
King stared at the scene for long seconds before placing his hand on his face.
"Oh my god..."
"I really tamed the stupidest creature."