Chapter 12 - Exploring the waters

A month has passed since Spencer had an encounter with the creature that governed the skies, killing it to take its traits for himself and evolve them.

In the past month, Spencer had learned many tricks that came with his abilities; he found out that he could manipulate how the traits are expressed and used. The wings, for example, could be sprouted from his back, leaving his arms free to use in combat. He could even turn parts of his body completely into the limbs of another creature.

He also learned more about how his absorption of essences works. He doesn't need to absorb the entire creature to gain its traits, but if he doesn't absorb enough of it, the traits gained will only be temporary.

Standing near a lake, Spencer could be seen fishing near the borders of the lake, morphing his mouth into a beak as he waited for the fishes to approach him.

To cease his boredom, he took up fishing as a way to pass the time in his new home. Already conquering the lands and the clouds he was bored; no longer having a challenge in either.

Focusing on fishing, Spencer was oblivious to a creature stalking him from behind a tree waiting for the right moment. Seeing that Spencer was focused on his activities, it slowly crept closer and closer to his back, prepared to pounce at the right time, and kill him.

Once it was close enough, the creature jumped at Spencer with its claws aimed at his back and its fangs aimed at his neck.

*BANG!*

As it got closer, Spencer had sensed it as it arrived within his sensory range. Casually swinging his fist back he sent the creature flying into a nearby tree cracking it. The creature receiving this blow was fatally wounded and was now suffering from internal hemorrhaging as it struggled to pick itself back up from the floor.

Fear visible in its eyes, it began to limp away as it was casually defeated and fatally injured in the hand of Spencer, fading into the forest.

Not losing focus, Spencer continued to observe the lake in search of fishes. After some had passed, he was still crouching there motionlessly as he still couldn't find any fish in the lake.

"This is pointless…" He grew annoyed.

Picking himself up, he reverted his mouth to normal as his attempt at fishing was proving to be a fruitless endeavor at its core. He has been crouching in one place for the past several hours and still, no fish could be seen anywhere in the entirety of the lake.

Scratching his head, Spencer turned around and began walking around the lake to see if he could find anything at its edges.

Scanning the rest of the waters, he could see no fish and absolutely no signs of life. Spencer was growing bored as he no longer had anything to challenge his title as the strongest creature on the planet. He had already killed and absorbed any possible threat both on land and in the skies, leaving him to a fate of deep emptiness.

In his mind, this was the truth, but he didn't know how wrong he was. Lying at the bottom of that very lake he was scanning, was a beast many times bigger than anything he has ever seen on the surface. A super predator that ruled the waters in this ancient, prehistoric world.

Growing curious as to why it was empty, Spencer took a deep breath and dove into the lake, swimming to its bottom, growing more and more puzzled the deeper he went. It got harder and harder to see as the light was dimming the deeper she reached. However, aided by his ability to see in the dark from the many predators he had already absorbed, these changes were negligible to him.

Reaching near its bottom, Spencer slowed his descent and began to observe the bottom of the lake in search of some form of life he could absorb to further evolve himself.

Swimming at the bottom of the lake, Spencer still came across no signs of life and was growing bored in his search for anything he could find at the depths. HE soon collided with what felt like a rock as he wasn't paying attention to what was in front of him.

'The hell?'

Scratching his head, he looked up to what he collided with.

Seeing what appeared to be an underwater hill, he just decided to swim around it, since he was still in search of life at the edge of the jungle. Swimming for a while longer he came across an opening at the bottom of the lake's edge. Curious by this discovery, he journeyed into the opening to see what he could find.

.

.

.

.

It has been 20 minutes, and Spencer was still swimming through the pathway that the opening had led to. Reaching its end, he could see another opening where he could exit out from.

Reaching the exit to the pathway, Spencer arrived into a much larger body of water, roughly five times the size of the previous one, not just in size but depth as well. However, unlike the previous lake, the one he was in now was filled with schools of fish or what appeared to be fish, though they were much scarier looking than any he had ever seen before.

'About time…' he inwardly exclaimed.

Ecstatic by his find, Spencer began swimming around to see if he could catch any of the fish to absorb it and gain the ability to breathe underwater. His lungs might be able to allow him to hold his breath for hours on end, but that doesn't mean it was comfortable doing so.

Swimming at the nearest fish he tried to catch it, only for it to escape from his grasp within moments. He then tried to catch other fishes but he failed every time; they were just too fast in their natural environment.

After all his attempts at failing, he decided to hide behind a rock and wait for one to come by and pass him. Extending his claws he lied in wait for his unsuspecting prey.

After about five minutes later, a fish spanning 20 feet in length, sporting a thickened layer of bone-like armor on its face swam in front of the now coiled-up Spencer. Wasting no time, he rushed at the creature as fast as he could and sunk his claws deep into the side of the creature.

The creature receiving Spencer's attack began to thrash around in the water in an attempt to shake him off. Not giving it the chance, he latched himself onto its back and continued to stab the animal in its side, rending its flesh in the process.

The creature was beginning to bleed out and lose more of its vigor the longer Spencer held onto its back. Soon succumbing to its injuries, the fish stopped its trashing and could no longer resist its incoming demise by Spencer's hands.

Stabbing the creature in the eye, it finally died. He decided to absorb it immediately as he had no intention of wasting any more time.

Fusing with his body, Spencer's frame began to warm up, causing the water around him to bubble from the heat he was generating. Struggling to hold his breath due to the pain, he held his neck as the pain concentrated there. Lines started to form on Spencer's neck, soon opening into gills, allowing him to breathe, his feet son growing webbing to aid in his swimming.

Realizing this, he took a deep breath and sucked in a large amount of water. This held no ill effects anymore, thanks to the changes his body has just gone through from absorbing the fish. Inspecting himself, his upper body was now covered in armor made out of a bone-like material, similar to the creature he absorbed.

Inspecting himself further, he was not aware of the current situation he was in, the blood of the fish he had killed attracted a beast vastly greater in size than what he had just killed, rushing in his direction at high speeds.