8 Cave

Marcus's eyes are currently looking at his followers, gazing at them strangely. Earlier, he had set himself as an example and had started using the grass to remove the little blood on his legs. Afterward, he had then ordered his followers to do the same.

At first, everything was alright. They just kept rolling on the moist grass and were doing things neatly like good children. However, after a few minutes, they had then started to play around wrestling on the grass.

Marcus looked at the behaved one-armed follower, and could only wish the others follow its example.

Now, Marcus knows how his teachers felt when his class used to fool around during serious discussions. He used to sleep in class and was one of the students who often laugh at their teachers' misfortune. Now, look at how the tables had turned. He could even imagine the old English teacher he had during high school snickering at him in heaven.

But considering that they are still managing to clean themselves during playing, Marcus let them be. As long as it works, he doesn't mind the details of the process. As Niccolò Machiavelli once said, 'The End Justifies the Means'.

It was worth saying, that ever since Marcus received his current body, there is one sense that greatly improved. And it was his sense of smell. Using this inhuman sense of smell, Marcus has discovered that what they are doing isn't just cleaning off the blood on themselves. Due to rolling in the damaged moist grass, their natural scent is being concealed by a layer of grassy smell.

Marcus is thinking if he could make use of the discovery. Well, natural progress is made through trial and error. He could only experiment.

"Attention!"

Calling the attention of his followers, Marcus then started to order his followers to damage more grass. Afterward, Marcus let them continue playing again. And the followers, just thought that it was just their leader's way of having fun and followed happily.

After a while, greatly satisfied, Marcus then continued to lead the group trying to find a base, leaving the massacred grass.

...

A bit of time after the group of Marcus left their wrestling arena...

A big black wolf arrived in the area with 5 of its kin following on its back. They took a little while to get here because they had to finish the donkey's remains. After they had finished eating, they had then followed the traces of the bloody scent left by the killers of the donkey.

These wolves could be considered as veterans of this forest, and they know the food chain in the ecosystem well. From the way the remains of the donkey looked, it didn't resemble any of the forest's inhabitant's work.

And from the tracks and donkey's wounds, it was probably the work of a group of small carnivorous animals.

The current leader of this pack of wolves, the big black wolf with a huge scar on its right eye, could feel that these creatures aren't that dangerous compared to the other apex predators living in the forest. But since it was a group of foreigners, the pack leader wanted to find out what these creatures are.

These pack of wolves has treated this little bit of area as part of their own territory, and these foreigners have just killed something inside it. And thus they must at least take some kind of action.

Following the scent of blood from the donkey killers, the pack had then managed to arrive on this grassy area. The pack of wolves could see the disheveled state of an area in the grass and could smell that the bloody scent only reaches as far as here.

However, the pack leader, with a better sense of smell than most could still manage to pick off the slight natural scent of the killers. The killers' scent had been concealed by a thick scent of blood before, and the pack leader could then tell that this natural scent could also be traced slightly right now even if it is currently being concealed by a thick scent of herbs.

Meaning, they could still follow the group of small animals. However, the pack leader, feeling the cunningness of these foreigners, was then thinking if it was worth the effort following their trace.

The foreigners are a group of carnivores, and they even had enough wisdom to make use of things to conceal themselves. The Pack Leader was even wondering if these group of creatures has already found out that they are being followed due to their act of concealing themselves.

The pack of wolves knew full well how dangerous cunning creatures could be. In fact, the hunting team used to be way bigger than just the 6 of them. And if it weren't for what happened, their territory wouldn't have been as small as they are now.

And now, discovering these cunning unknown foreigners...

The pack leader, the scarred black wolf, then turned around and said to the pack,

"Let's leave them alone for now"

By the direction the foreigners are going, they would probably leave their territory soon. By then, it would not be their problem anymore, but those green kidnappers' problems.

And most importantly, they already had their fill of donkey meat. At most, they could treat it as payment for their troubles...

'Whoever those foreigners are, I hope they won't return here again'

The pack leader then silently leads the pack back into their hideout's direction...

...

[Successfully killed the creature. 0 Potential Points received!]

"..."

'Fuck'

Earlier, after a while of leading the group, Marcus suddenly felt a movement on the ground near him. Thinking that he knows what it is, Marcus had then dug out the underground creature hiding underneath.

Successfully killing the earthworm he found, Marcus was finally about to be happy since he had, at last, killed an insect when in his shocking discovery, it didn't give him any potential points! He had not even gotten any additional System data while eating it.

'Taste like soil'

The taste of mother earth… The taste of disappointment… The taste of acceptance…

Chewing the lingering taste of calmness, Marcus then continued leading the group, exploring the forest.

After a while of exploring, they had then finally found another small lake of water. On it, Marcus had discovered 5 frogs and a lot of tadpoles. Comparing using his size to the frogs; To Marcus, the frogs were about as big as a shopping cart. Killing three of them, Marcus got 3 potential points in total.

At the start, after seeing them, Marcus had then immediately gone towards them. Marcus has killed the 1st frog so easily that it wasn't even worth discussing everything in detail. He just leaped towards it and bit it many times until it stopped moving.

The only thing that made him have a problem is the disgust he felt every time he bites the frog. It had those slimy skin that tasted 2 times worse than the disgusting fluid in the egg. The disgusting slime even made his mouth a little bit itchy in irritation. Still, for the sake of the potential points. Marcus took his time in killing the frogs.

Meanwhile, after seeing Marcus killing his first frog, his followers had then started attacking the other frogs. Though it still took them much harder than Marcus, enabling Marcus to kill steal 2 of them.

Marcus hadn't stopped the followers from attacking in order to accumulate potential points due to two reasons.

First, is because he was afraid that the frogs would be able to escape first before he killed them.

And Second, is because he wanted to train their group's teamwork. Particularly their attacking reflex. It was already clear earlier during the donkey's hunt that currently, Marcus could consider his followers as his greatest weapon. And during the donkey's hunt, there was a delay in his group's attack enabling only 7 to successfully leap towards it.

That's why the importance of their group's teamwork and growth has been moving up in Marcus's priority list. It was even to the point that Marcus had thought of changing the priority list of the traits and skills that he had to buy.

After the [Night Vision] Trait, [Pack Leader (100)] is one of the next in line. Marcus didn't really have that much of an experience leading a team. And Currently, Marcus had decided to better himself in regards to such.

Afterward, Marcus then managed to have his bit of filling towards two frog brains, acquiring a new set of traits and skills on the system.

2 Traits, [Frog legs (200)], and [Frog Eyes (50)].

4 Skills/Knowledge, [Frog Swim (15)], [Basics in Nurturing Tadpoles (30)], [Tasty Insects (20)], and [How to fight fellow frogs (50)].

Looking at the new traits and skills on the system, Marcus wasn't disappointed. For he didn't have any high expectations in the first place. He had just killed the frogs mostly for the potential points, his eating of the frog brain is just a product of his 'What Ifs' acting up.

Looking at the traits, specifically at the [Frog legs], even if the system were to be the one paying the potential points, he could say certainly that he wouldn't buy it. He had taken the time and had already begun growing attached to his current lizard form. Becoming a frog-dino chimera suddenly to him would be as heartbreaking as becoming a failed human-dog alchemy experiment.

Meanwhile, his followers, on the other hand, too weren't that much fond of the frog meat. The tiny variant even throws the frog it had killed far away in the air after trying to taste it. Marcus was even surprised, seeing such strength on a tiny body. The only one who had eaten the frogs the most was the one-armed follower; much that it had even eaten more than Marcus.

Back to the lake. Marcus had also crushed several tadpoles, but they didn't give any potential points. After leading his followers into drinking some water and even accidentally drinking some tadpoles on it, Marcus had then continued their exploration.

And then finally! After a long time of exploration. By following a scent he had received in the air a while ago, Marcus's group finally saw a cave! It was one of the best places to be used as bases. However, it seems that there are already others living on it…