Grass

Even if there was something weird about the lizard king, there was nothing I could do about it with my current strength.

Since magic would never be an option here, it seemed the only path forward was to slowly train my body.

After backtracking to the more sparse terrain, my eyes were set on some of the small lizards, like the ones I had fought before.

My grip on the stake tightened and I set off into the sparse land to fight.

My first target was a lizard that was slightly bigger than the ones I've previously fought.

The lizard was on a small hill, nibbling at the few stalks of black grass that existed on it.

Like a ghost, my figure approached the lizard from behind. The lizard was none the wiser, nibbling on a plant.

My stake pierced the lizard's head. The lizard let out a screech for a few seconds before it stopped moving.

My eyes scanned my surroundings to see if any lizards would come near, but this was not the case. In fact, the smaller lizards began to crawl away.

If my plan was to eventually take on that lizard king, it would take quite a bit of time. That meant the amount of food I needed to consume would be high.

If the only thing to eat I could eat was a raw lizard, then the time I spent here might really be too miserable.

Out of curiosity and hope, I got down on one knee to pluck out a stalk of black grass from the rock hill.

My eyes closely examined it.

There was a thick stalk that gradually became three tiny strands.

Curious about the smell, my hand held the grass under my nose.

My nose gave a light sniff, letting me smell... nothing.

It was as if there was only air in my hands.

My mouth opened slightly to take a nibble out of the grass.

There wasn't any particular taste from the nibble, so my teeth ripped away part of the stalk.

There was a slight taste of salt, with a decent amount of water. The texture was a little crunchy and a little satisfying.

Then my hand just threw the whole thing in my mouth.

There was no particularly disgusting taste, but the slightly salty flavor could be better.

Nonetheless, it was much better than eating a raw lizard, so my hands scavenged for any piece of grass on this small hill.

The end result was about seven stalks of grass in my hand. Without much hesitation, a big bite was taken out of all of them.

The salty flavor was clear this time, but still underwhelming. After finishing the rest, I stood up.

Suddenly my eyes narrowed.

...It was almost unnoticeable. So small that it could've just been an illusion.

I stared into the palms of my hands.

My body... had become stronger.

Assuming that my brain wasn't playing tricks on me, my battle with the lizard king might not be too far away.

With renewed determination, my figure approached another hill.

This hill was bigger and contained more stalks of grass. Along with the extra grass, however, was an extra lizard.

The first kill was simple, one clean stab to the head. As the lizard screeched, the other lizard lunged towards me.

My hand let go of the stake, making the dodge easy. My hand pulled the stake back out and the lizard once again lunged at me.

This time, my feet were still. My hand gently lifted the stake, and the lizard pierced its own head through it.

After the lizard's screech died off, my hand pushed off the carcass from my stake. My feet kicked off the lizard remains from the hill, so they wouldn't cover any patches of grass.

Like last time, the lizards did not approach, so I could take my time to take out patches of grass.

After collecting all the stalks, fifteen pieces laid in my hand. These pieces were just a touch bigger than the previous ones but were otherwise the same.

Like before, there was only a salty taste as it went down.

After finishing the grass, I confirmed my theory from earlier.

These pieces of grass really did make my body stronger.

Though the difference right now was insignificant, it should make a difference soon enough.

...

I had remained near the outer edge to slowly get more and more grass to eat. After doing this process five times, there was a noticeable strength increase.

My body before was relatively weak, but right now I have enough strength to fight a wolf that had been hit with Evil Null.

Though it was possible to linger here for even longer to get more grass, it seemed my wanton killing has put some of the lizards on edge.

Most of the lizards in the area were on guard. I figured it would be best to move on forward instead of a battle with these extra vigilant lizards.

As my figure proceeded deeper into the expanse, there were times when a medium-sized lizard almost got a little too close.

Despite brushing so close to these lizards, it was as if they did not notice me. It seemed that these lizards relied mainly on sound to detect their surroundings.

Soon, my target was near. This was a bigger lizard, it appeared similar to a crocodile in size and was currently sleeping.

The hill it was resting on had much larger stalks of grass than the previous ones and was also more bountiful.

My silent steps slowly reached next to its head.

My strike was violent and much stronger. The stake had difficulty piercing the head but still went through.

This lizard ended up roaring, it was not dead.

Before the chance was gone, my hand pulled out the stake from the lizard.

The lizard quickly turned to face me and was lightly trembling.

My stake was readied for a pounce.

The lizard suddenly moved but did not pounce.

It chose a path that resembled a semi-circle.

For a moment, I was at a loss, but I wasn't just going to stand there.

My figure silently retreated and the lizard lunged towards where my position just was.

Before the lizard hit the ground, my figure was already rushing towards it. My stake punctured its body this time, making the lizard let out another roar.

My hand retrieved the stake, but that meant there was no time to dodge the tail sweep from the lizard.

Though my strength had improved, this tail sweep really had too much force behind it. The tail hit my feet, sending them into the air, and my face to the ground.

The lizard had pounced on me even though my body was still in the air. When the jaws were a few centimeters from my torso, a tight feeling wrapped around me.

My figure disappeared, leaving the lizard to chomp at the air. My body had reappeared on another side of the hill.

The lizard began aimlessly thrashing around. My original intention was to go back to attack, but it seemed that the lizard would just finish off himself.

It did not take long for the lizard to eventually bleed out.

After a small sigh of relief, a small smirk appeared on my face.

My harvest was pretty good this time.

After gathering eighteen pieces of grass, my eyes inspected them. They were noticeably bigger than the ones before, almost double the size. My hand was about to toss them in my mouth, but something was caught in the corner of my eye.

Looking closer, there was a tiny bulb at the top of each strand. It was black like the rest of the grass and was quite small.

This time I tried to smell the bulb, but there was still no smell.

My teeth ripped off a few of the bulbs.

The bulbs were sweet and salty. The taste was a little strong, but still better tasting.

After eating those bulbs, there was a little wriggle inside my muscles. It was not the most comfortable, but not painful.

My shoulders shrugged and a big bite was taken out of the grass.

There was a dominant salty taste with a hint of sweetness. The taste was definitely not something one would go out of their way to eat, but few would mind eating this to fill their stomach.

Shortly after consuming it, my muscles began twitching and there was an uncomfortable heat emitting from my muscles.

After it stopped, I flexed my muscles.

It felt pretty good.

My sights were then set on a much bigger hill. This hill had three lizards the size of a crocodile.

A plan slowly formulated in my head.

...

There were three lizards on a hill. Two of them were sleeping while one was nibbling on some black grass.

The lizard reached out its jaw to bite on some grass, when a stake suddenly pierced it's head.

The lizard roared and the two sleeping ones woke up.

One of the lizards' small eyes slowly opened, then closed again. A bloody hole appeared on its forehead, unable to even make a sound.

The two remaining lizards thrashed around. The lizard with a hole in its head gradually stopped moving as it bled out leaving one lizard left.

The last lizard vigilantly turned from side to side, slowly backing away.

Then a hole appeared on its forehead.

My figure appeared behind it with a smirk.