"Beep! Level up complete!"
Anaxa was woken up the next day by this familiar chime of the enigmatic system. And as he sluggishly lifted his cold blooded body up, he quickly found his whole body being filled with a brand new strength.
He felt faster, stronger and even taller, this was clear proof that the stat changes had been applied. Best yet, that huge wound on his leg seemed to have miraculously healed as well.
It did not hurt at all and as Anaxa deftly removed the leafy bandage, he found the place to be as good as new, i.e- those two massive holes were nowhere to be found, neither was there any sign they were there at any point.
This sudden discovery pleased Anaxa—perhaps even more than the stat increases themselves.
This was because he had been genuinely concerned about how he would manage to hunt with an injured limb, especially given his current mission involved catching a fish. Swimming with such an injury would have been quite difficult and Anaxa even feared the place getting infected from all the filth in the water.
But now, all such worries had been swept away by this boon, letting him muse out aloud, "Hmm… it seems that each time I level up, my entire body regenerates. Haha.. is that why I need to slumber!"
It was one of the few times Anaxa genuinely felt pleased with the system's service.
…
Anaxa's routine for the day followed the exact same pattern as yesterday- he first basked in the sunlight to get his body going, before trying out his new stats on the surrounding fauna.
He hunted various frogs, snails, worms, and locusts using his tail throw and was quite pleased with the demonstrated power.
"Mmmmm, my tail feels so much more powerful. The stones travel much faster, and I can now utilize much bigger 'calibers'. If I meet that rabbit again… I think I can hurt it a bit." Anaxa 'grandly' envisioned as he gleefully swung his tail side to side.
In a similar vein, Anaxa began to believe he could swim much faster now and even envisioned if he were to meet the water snake once again, he would not be so helpless even if he were under the same dangerous circumstances.
Perhaps this time, he would not even have to sacrifice his leg, as the swing of his much more powerful tail would let him put a much greater distance, giving him enough time to regain his balance.
This rapid increase in his power left the tiny lizard quite excited, "Hehe…how long has it been since I started leveling up? Half a week? And I am already this strong. Hahaha, if I can keep improving at his pace… I will soon have enough power to guarantee my safety. Maybe even become a top level predator."
Anaxa was thus busy filling up his heart with grand aspirations and daydreaming, when suddenly, "Hmmm.. what is that?" his attention was taken away by the potent smell of a ripe fruit drifting into his scaly nose. It tasted so sweet and alluring that the omnivore Anaxa quickly began to drool.
He hastily looked up in search of the source and they immediately locked on a bunch of beautiful, juicy, ripe mango hanging by the nearby branches.
Huge, succulent and very much within his reach, the tiny lizard's eyes lit up at the sight. He was soon unable to resist wanting to taste those shining yellowish green orbs.
"Ahhh… I have been hunting for so long... in this scorching summer sun. It is killing me. Let me freshen myself a bit." Convincing himself like so, Anaxa quickly climbed up the thick trunk of the huge mango tree, using his strong limbs and razor sharp claws to make the endeavor look effortless. Then once onto the branch, he quickly approached the low hanging stem bearing the fruit, licking his lips in anticipation.
Anaxa's parched throat could only imagine how juicy and cool this delicious fruit would taste.
"Squeak! Squeak! Squeak! Squeak!"
However just before he was about to dig in, a melodious chirping sound suddenly snatched his attention. And to his surprise, Anaxa found a bird's nest just on the next branch above him.
"Ding! Target located- Baby Coucals. Biomass- Total 30 micro units.
Spirit-1. Karma-1
Threat- None.
Note- —-"
Normally Anaxa would not have bothered to even move at such paltry rewards.
However that 1 karma point was a different matter. Given how rare it was and its great utility- without it Anaxa would not level up and his accumulation of biomass had no meaning- his eyes began to glow.
He instinctively moved the fruit to the dessert option and began to climb up to get his main course. "Haha… that system.. is being really nice to me today!" Anaxa grinned, thinking he had by luck landed on an easy victory.
"Squeak!!!"
However that cheerful thought was broken almost immediately as he heard a much sharper and deeper growl as soon as he began to approach the nest.
"Is it the mother?" The man's heart instantly skipped a beat at the most plausible explanation. He did not think he was ready to face a flying foe. He only had one stone and if that missed…. well birds were one of his natural predators, especially coucals!
"Tsk! Is that why the system lured me with that karma point!" Anaxa nearly shed a tear realizing this, strongly rebuking himself for being so gullible.
How could he have forgotten the simple adage- if it sounds too good to be true, it most probably is. The last time he got a karma point was when he was ambushed, so surely this time was going to same.
Thus the tiny lizard immediately readied itself for a fight, tightening his tail's grip on the pebble and hastily scanning the skies above for any signs of a large, predatory shadow.
"Squeak!!!"
He only let out a small bit of relief when he spotted the intruder actually introduce himself from the opposite side. It was not the mother of the chicks but quite a big mouse.
Gray, with a cute pink tail, this rodent was about the size of a palm and clearly displeased that Anaxa had intruded upon its feast.
"Ding! Target located- Vole, rodent (pregnant).
Biogmass- 25 micro units.
Threat- Regular.
Note- The mother is pregnant and currently feral."
Anaxa verified the system's information by observing the mouse's belly and indeed found that there was a very noticeable heavy bulge. So noted, "Hmmm, I do remember reading animals acting weirdly during pregnancy due to hormonal imbalances. I should approach with caution."
Anaxa was of course never going to lose a karma point just because it was being contested. The law of the jungle clearly dictated he fight and kill for what he wanted.
Squeak! Squeak!
While watching Anaxa steadily intrude into its personal space, one steady step at a time, the mother opposite vole let out several more hysterical screams as a warning, making the pair of round eyes sharper and looking at Anaxa full of malice and aggressiveness.
It was letting Anaxa know very clearly that if he continued to proceed, things were going to get ugly.
"Hmmp! Lizards like me eat your kind. So, who are you trying to scare?" Anaxa appeared completely unfazed in the face of the vole mother's hateful screaming.
In fact, the more the mouse barked, the weaker its bite appeared as he sneered, "Heh… if you had any sanity left and if you cared for your unborn children, you would have left already. I certainly could not have chased after you. Not when I need to keep my stone just in case the mother coucal returns."
Anaxa was not going to feel sorry for a foolish mother who let her hunger get the best of her. The rules of the jungle were written like that: the foolish were to be eaten.
"Squeak!"
While the vole mother's body began to slightly tremble once Anaxa crossed a certain threshold, as her animal instincts kicked in. The strong smell Anaxa gave off especially created a great impulse in the mouse to escape immediately.
However she also had a good reason for being here- she had not eaten in quite a long time and was starving. She feared that if she backed down here, she wouldn't be able to get such a lucrative meal anytime soon and might even miscarry due to lack of nutrition.
Thus the standoff continued until Anaxa got to only about half a meter distance. At that moment, suddenly, his body muscles tightened.
Shoo!
Bursting forth at lightning speed, Anaxa covered the rest of the distance in the blink of an eye,
"Bang" befoe sending his tail wrapped with that stone, hurling straight towards the head of the vole mother. He was going to smash open that skull like a coconut.
"Squeak!"
Yet, using her sheer reflex, the vole mother dodged back at the nick of time, and then...