"...!"
Caesar stared intently at the black Rock Lizard licking moss.
The prompt of [Experience: 5] on the panel instinctively made it salivate.
This thing was experience! It was energy! It was its hope for survival!
It lowered its body, mimicking the hunting stance of felines from its memory, digging its four short claws deep into the ground, its muscles tensing little by little.
Charging directly wouldn't work; with its short legs, it ran like a rolling sweet potato, and it had already made a fool of itself once.
That lizard's reaction speed was clearly higher than the coordination of its current body.
Must ambush!
One-hit kill!
Caesar moved cautiously, using a protruding rock to shield its body, gradually closing the distance.
Its brain was calculating frantically.
Distance, angle, its burst speed, the opponent's possible escape routes... every variable formed a fuzzy model in its mind.
This was a player's instinct, etched into its bones.
Now!
Ambush!
Caesar's hind legs pushed off the ground, and its entire body shot out like a small grey cannonball!
"Puff!"
It opened its large mouth without hesitation and bit into the old comrade's body!
"Screech—!"
The Rock Lizard let out a sharp shriek of agony, struggling violently, its tail wildly lashing at Caesar's face.
My pine cone bouncing lightning whip... so hard!
Caesar felt its mouth fill with an earthy taste, its teeth like they were biting into stone.
But it didn't let go.
This was its first meal, its first meat, for survival; it absolutely could not let go!
The Gible used all its strength and violently shook its head!
"Crack!"
A crisp sound of bones breaking rang out, and the Rock Lizard's struggles instantly ceased, its body limply slumping down.
Success!
The Gible released its bite, looking at the dead Rock Lizard on the ground, an unprecedented sense of accomplishment welling up in its heart.
It, Caesar, had completed its first hunt in this world with its own wisdom and strength!
The cramping in its stomach grew more intense, and it eagerly lowered its head, preparing to enjoy its spoils.
Just then, a huge shadow completely enveloped it.
A foul stench, mixed with rotting meat and dirt, assailed it, making it almost vomit.
The Gible suddenly looked up.
A monster, twice its size, had appeared before it at some unknown time.
This thing resembled an incompletely evolved crocodile, covered in dirty brown scales, with a pair of cloudy and greedy eyes on its massive head.
It was staring intently at the Rock Lizard by Caesar's mouth, a low "gurgling" growl rumbling in its throat, and viscous drool dripped from the corners of its mouth onto the ground, corroding it with faint "sizzling" sounds.
Crocodile-shaped Sub-dragon.
A distant relative of the Earth Dragon, a low-level Dragon Clan creature whose brain was only focused on eating and mating, a common predator in this cave.
Fragments of memory from this body instantly flashed in Caesar's mind.
"Holy crap..."
Caesar cursed inwardly.
"Running into an exclamation mark monster right outside the newbie village?"
This Crocodile-shaped Sub-dragon was about to leave its juvenile stage and was clearly attracted by the scent of blood.
Its gaze was blatant, filled with undisguised threat and warning, as if saying: Drop the food and scram.
If it were any other newly hatched Little Earth Dragon cub, it would probably have been scared witless and obediently handed over its prey.
But Caesar wasn't.
It was an XP-free Pokémon Player, the future Garchomp!
Let it hand over the experience points it had painstakingly earned?
Dream on!
Instead of retreating, the Gible took a step forward, using its small body to shield the Rock Lizard, letting out a childish but fierce hiss at the other party.
"Aoo!"
This was a provocation!
A flicker of surprise, quickly replaced by fury, crossed the Crocodile-shaped Sub-dragon's cloudy eyes.
A mere Little Earth Dragon cub, just out of its shell, dared to provoke it?
"Roar!!!"
A roar, far louder and more oppressive than Caesar's, erupted from the Crocodile-shaped Sub-dragon's throat!
The sound wave, carrying a Blood Wind (foul wind), almost made Caesar lose its footing.
The opponent's size advantage was too great; those thick limbs, muscular body, and that huge mouth that could easily bite it in half... fighting head-on was suicide.
Caesar's brain spun rapidly.
What to do?
It only knew two skills now: Tackle and Sand Attack.
Tackle?
Using its small body to Tackle that iron-clad scaled body? That was no different from courting death.
Then there was only... Sand Attack!
A flash of inspiration struck Caesar's mind.
In the game, the effect of Sand Attack was to lower the opponent's accuracy.
This effect had always been criticized by players as useless, far less reliable than Flash.
But this was the real world!
What was the effect of throwing sand in someone's eyes?
It was blinding!
It was a forced deprivation of vision!
A daring tactic instantly formed in Caesar's mind.
It looked at the encroaching, aggressive Crocodile-shaped Sub-dragon, deliberately showing a frightened expression, picking up the Rock Lizard from the ground, and slowly retreating while growling.
Seeing this, the Crocodile-shaped Sub-dragon's eyes gleamed with even more ferocity.
It thought the little cub had chickened out and was about to escape with its food.
So it quickened its pace, opening its gaping maw, ready to swallow the Little Earth Dragon and its prey together!
Now!
The moment the Crocodile-shaped Sub-dragon closed to less than two meters, Caesar violently flung the Rock Lizard from its mouth!
The muscles in its hind legs instantly burst, all its strength converging on its front claws!
It wasn't just simply kicking up sand.
But rather, it was driving that newly acquired power belonging to Gible!
"Get lost!"
"Whoosh—!"
A large handful of gravel, mixed with crushed rock and dust, shot out like from a high-pressure air gun, forming a grey-yellow fan that precisely plastered the Crocodile-shaped Sub-dragon's huge head!
"Aoo...?!"
The Crocodile-shaped Sub-dragon let out an extremely shrill scream!
Countless sharp grains of sand instantly filled its eyes and nostrils!
The intense stinging pain instantly drove it into a frenzy, and its huge head thrashed wildly, trying to get the damned sand out.
Its vision was blurred, leaving only a burning, agonizing pain!
Opportunity!
Caesar didn't hesitate; the moment Sand Attack hit, its body had already launched again!
It gathered all its strength in its head; its hard skull was its strongest weapon right now!
Tackle!
Its target wasn't the opponent's tough back scales.
But rather... the soft, undefended gap in the abdominal scales that was exposed when the opponent lifted its upper body due to intense pain!
That was the weakness of all male animals!
"Bang!"
A dull thud sounded.
Caesar felt like it had hit a resilient wall.
The immense recoil made it dizzy, and its entire body felt like it was falling apart.
But it succeeded.
The Crocodile-shaped Sub-dragon's massive body, struck by this forceful Tackle, lost its balance and crashed to its side!
"Rumble!"
Its heavy body hit the ground, kicking up a cloud of dust.
The intense pain in its vital parts and the stinging in its eyes plunged this usually tyrannical predator into complete panic.
It didn't know what had happened, only that this inconspicuous little thing was far more dangerous than it appeared!
Its beastly instinct told it to leave immediately!
The Crocodile-shaped Sub-dragon struggled to get up, not even daring to glance at Caesar again, dragging its heavy steps, fleeing miserably into the depths of the cave.
It won!
Caesar watched the opponent's fleeing back, its taut nerves finally relaxing.
A strong sense of exhaustion instantly swept through its body; it stumbled, almost collapsing to the ground.
That one Tackle had almost completely drained its stamina.
But an indescribable sense of excitement surged from deep within its heart!
It had won!
Challenging above its level!
Overcoming the strong with the weak!
This was what battle was all about!
Just then, the translucent panel reappeared before the Gible's eyes.
[Experience: 50/100]
A light blue experience bar rose from 0 to halfway!
"Combat... also grants experience!"
Caesar understood instantly.
It dragged its tired body to the Rock Lizard it had flung aside and picked it up.
This time, no unobservant fellow dared to disturb it again.
It walked to a relatively safe corner, lay down, and began to devour its spoils.
The Rock Lizard's meat was coarse and shriveled, with a strong earthy taste.
But in its extreme hunger, this was undoubtedly the most delicious food in the world.
As the flesh went down, warm currents began to spread through its body, rapidly replenishing its expended energy.
At the same time, the experience bar before its eyes slowly increased at a visible rate.
[Experience: 51/100]
[Experience: 52/100]
..."So that's it, both combat and eating can grant experience."
Caesar completely grasped the "leveling up" rules of this world.
Combat was the main source of experience, while eating replenished energy and provided a small amount of continuous experience growth.
It quickly devoured the entire Rock Lizard, not even sparing the bones.
Finally, the experience bar stopped at [Experience: 58/100].
One battle, one prey, only yielded less than two-thirds of the experience needed to level up.
Aoo?
This efficiency was a bit slow.
Full and satisfied, its stamina had also largely recovered.
The Gible, "Caesar," stood up and stretched its round body; the soreness from the recoil of the Tackle had significantly lessened.
It raised its head, its gaze sweeping across the dim and massive cave.
Those Sub-dragons roaring in the distance, those small dragon-blooded creatures darting through crevices, those of its kind tearing at each other for scraps... at this moment, they all changed in Caesar's eyes.
They were no longer threats, no longer terrifying monsters, nor pitiful kin.
They were... mobile experience packs!
Caesar's Dragon Maw split open.
The monsters in the newbie grass have appeared.
So... let's keep grinding!