System: King Of Monsters - Chapter 4
Marcus looked at the eggs. In order to gather potential points, he could have gone for them right now since they are currently defenseless.
However, Marcus wouldn’t. Talking about gathering points from the eggs, it would have even been far easier when they are currently asleep and unmoving earlier. He could have attacked the eggs as early as when he discovered that he would get potential points from killing creatures.
And seeing the number of eggs. If he were very lucky and managed to kill all, he could have even gotten a hundred kills.
There are a few reasons why Marcus wouldn’t harvest the eggs for potential points.
First, is that he currently doesn’t know much about his body. He got a bunch of instinctual actions, but because of his human memories, he couldn’t really know how to make full use of his monster body. Having a few of the same specie as a guide, he could learn a lot.
Second, rather than being alone in an unknown environment, it would be good to work in groups. There could be unescapable predators around, and the only way to escape from them would be to make use of others as baits.
Third, is that he doesn’t know if he is strong enough to do it safely. Attacking someone might make everyone be alerted and start ganging up upon him. And when they do, let’s not talk about fighting them all at the same time, even escaping alone would probably be a challenge.
Then the last reason… is somewhat embarrassing. In his past life, Marcus doesn’t have any close friends and siblings, and the apartment he used to live in doesn’t even allow pets. So, the thought of having some siblings, even though as monsters, made him somewhat have some sort of expectations.
What a sad person…
Marcus looked at the eggs. He could see the creatures the same as him try to break out. Cracks and holes could already be seen from the eggs and…
‘Hmm?’
Suddenly, Marcus looked strangely at his siblings. He could see some of them eat the eggshell fragments they took from their eggs.
Marcus then checked the status of one of his siblings.
_______________
[Stage Completion] 0.1%
[Stage:] 1
[Name:] N/A
———-
Remarks:
A tiny bipedal lizard inside an egg.
_______________
Seeing the stage completion at 0.1%, Marcus has a strange expression on his lizard face. He then began checking the others and realized that they are indeed growing from eating the eggshells.
Marcus looked at his own eggshell.
‘It isn’t too late for me to eat that right?’
Not thinking anything further, Marcus then started to return to his own eggshell. If he took too long and waited until the others finished, they might even start eating his.
Returning to his home, Marcus then looks at a somewhat large eggshell fragment on the ground. There was even that disgusting liquid from before acting as a sauce.
‘Do I really have to eat this?’
Having second thoughts, Marcus looked at his siblings. All of them had already successfully made a gap in their eggs, but they weren’t in a hurry to leave and had just remained comfy inside while eating fragments. Checking their status, when Marcus saw that someone had already caught up with his stage completion rate from eating eggshells alone, he then immediately throws out the unnecessary hesitation away.
Putting the fragment in his mouth, Marcus then started eating.
On his past life, having his teeth grinding a hidden eggshell from his food could be said to be the worst part of eating eggs, so you could only imagine the shiver that suddenly greeted Marcus when he realized that he would have to grind his teeth on such a large fragment.
But to his surprise, it wasn’t as bad as he thought it out to be. Eating the eggshell somewhat felt like eating crackers. It was just that it was a little bit salty. And when Marcus thought that it would be disgusting because of the sauce, to his surprise, it felt… normal.
After eating the fragment, Marcus felt the familiar feeling of natural growth again. Checking his own status, Marcus then discovered that his stage completion rate has increased to 0.4%. It could clearly be seen that with just that fragment alone, it contributed the same growth as eating one whole squirrel.
Looking at his own eggshell, Marcus thought that the eggshells could be said to be real treasures. He was even tempted to attack others just to steal their eggs.
However, rather than disturb others, it was better to finish his food first. If he is too greedy, he could be left with nothing in the end.
‘Just eat…’
Not minding the others, Marcus focused on eating his own food…
…
Marcus had finished eating his eggshell, he was even one of the earliest to do so. After he finished eating, he then checks his status.
_______________
[Stage Completion] 5.3%
[Stage:] 1
[Name:] N/A
[Potential Points:] 0
———-
Remarks:
A carnivorous tiny bipedal lizard.
You can be considered as a predator, but only for small animals.
_______________
Seeing his own growth, it seemed that he had a misunderstanding about his specie.
Currently, Marcus had grown about 50% of his original height. His original take that his specie is closer to those little dinosaurs in Jurassic Park was a mistake. If his growth rate will stand until he reaches 100%, then he would be more than 10x bigger than what he imagined him to be at first.
After eating the eggshell, his growth wasn’t the only thing that change… Marcus looked around and listened to his dinosaur siblings.
“Krrr!” (Delicious!)
“-KrrKrr” (No more food)
“Krr!” (More!)
For some reason, about a while ago, he suddenly could understand them. He could even start talking using the same language if he wanted.
Marcus looked around as his siblings finished eating their food one after another. All of his siblings almost looked the same, but there are a few who stood out from the hundred.
Suddenly, Marcus heard one of his siblings roaring.
“Gather!!!”
Marcus looked at the one who roared. It was one of the siblings who stood out the most. A sibling whose body was far muscular than everyone including Marcus. Marcus checked its status.
_______________
[Stage Completion] 4.9%
[Stage:] 1
[Name:] N/A
———-
Remarks:
A bipedal lizard with a variant trait.
_______________
‘Variant trait…’
Its stage completion was lower than Marcus, and the only thing that stood out is the remark saying that it has some kind of variant trait.
Marcus looked around this sibling. Many of his other siblings have started gathering around it. He could even see another one of the siblings who had also stood out to him also come near it. A sibling whose tail has some kind of blades growing on the sides resembling ice skating blades.
_______________
[Stage Completion] 4.7%
[Stage:] 1
[Name:] N/A
———-
Remarks:
A bipedal lizard with an advanced trait.
_______________
Marcus currently didn’t know the real difference between a variant and an advanced trait. The only thing that he could tell, is that the sibling with the advance trait somewhat resembles the description of someone having the [Bladed Tail (50)] trait from the System.
The one with the variant trait, on the other hand, could perhaps be someone with enhanced muscular vitality. But Marcus didn’t really feel that it was as easy as that. The remarks had said that it had some kind of trait, and its abnormality should be because of one. However, his system didn’t really have any traits that could enhance muscles to such an extent.
“Leader…” “”Leader!””, Marcus could hear the siblings gathering at the variant repeatedly say the same words as they started running around in circles around it.
‘A formation of a group’
Marcus then looked on a distance away and could also see another group forming. Unlike the variant earlier, the leader this time didn’t even have the need to roar in order to gather a group.
Marcus looked at the leader. Out of all his siblings, this was the one who was the strangest. Unlike Marcus and the rest which have dark green scales, this sibling’s scales are crimson.
_______________
[Stage Completion] 5.1%
[Stage:] 1
[Name:] N/A
———-
Remarks:
A bipedal lizard with a mana stone.
_______________
A sibling worth 250 squirrels…
You could only imagine Marcus’s shock when he saw such a remark. Mana stone, It was a trait that costs 500 potential points, making it far out of his reach right now. And seeing someone have it right now to Marcus, is somewhat akin to seeing someone driving a sports car in real life when you are riding an old bicycle.
Around the crimson lizard, Marcus could even see 4 other siblings with an advanced trait. 3 bladed tails and 1 with violet claws. The one with violet claws probably corresponds to the poisonous claws trait that he could buy from the system.
Marcus could see about 50 siblings gather around the crimson lizard, while the variant had about 30. There are currently only about 20 left who doesn’t have a group. Some of them were just rejected, and some still busy doing nothing.
‘Now, who should I pick?’
The variant or the crimson lizard?
Marcus shifted his eyesight on the two. A group with small numbers would make it less easy for them to attract attention while joining the crimson lizard would give him a close up on how the mana stone trait works.
However, as Marcus is pondering which group to pick, a tiny sibling about half his height suddenly started going around him in circles as Marcus could then hear it start repeating words energetically.
“Leader! Leader! Leader!”…