7 After the Feast

What happened then, is as what Marcus had predicted. Painful muscle cramping on his body and the falling out of his scales.

Afterward, dark new scales grew out to replace the old. And he could then feel the stronger explosive power being contained in his body from the enhancement of his muscles.

The process of enhancement was painful and agonizing, but all of it is worth it in the end. So, Marcus took it all silently. No pain no gain. And what he is getting is already far better than what used to be years of suffering and waiting for natural growth.

He must grow stronger, or else, he could be the next cool donkey…

No matter how cool you are, if you aren't strong enough, then you will just die in the end.

After suffering from the side effects of the System upgrades, Marcus then began experimenting to see the changes.

Marcus did a bite, claw attacks on the air, and a few jumps to test his newfound power. And base on his discovery, his strength and speed had doubled. The combination of the two then worked like magic, making his attacks exponentially stronger.

Marcus then moved his tail towards his mouth to test out the hardness of his scales. Biting it gently, it wasn't as hard as he thought it out to be. Though since he had forgotten to test out the hardness before the change, he didn't really know the precise details of the improvement.

'Should I try biting the fallen old scales?' As Marcus was thinking with his tail still on his mouth, he then tried to look down and realized that someone is currently looking at him.

Marcus could see a red tiny lizard looking at him strangely. Well, to be specific, it was the tiny variant which currently had its body dyed fully red by the donkey's blood. It is currently looking at Marcus biting his own tail strangely. Looking at it, Marcus also realized that similar to him, it also had a bloated stomach due to overeating.

"What?..."

"Leader, Strange!"

Feeling awkward for unknown reasons, Marcus then slowly retreated his tail from his mouth. He then whipped it on the back three times to remove the saliva on it.

"You. Strange... Red..." Marcus talked back towards the tiny variant, trying to say that it looked stranger than him. But it only started running everywhere while chanting words.

"Leader, Strange! Tail Bite! Tail Bite! Tail Bite!"

'You, kid... I hope you won't get appendicitis from running around with a full stomach'

Taking off his mind from the energetic tiny follower, Marcus was finally about to test the hardness of the old scales when suddenly, he saw another lizard coming towards him.

"Leader. Offer..." After saying such words, the lizard then puts a large piece of meat in front of Marcus.

Marcus looked at this follower of him, it was the one-armed lizard from before. Looking at its stomach which was different from the stomachs of others which are currently bloated, he could see that it hasn't eaten as much as everyone.

Marcus had thought that this one-armed lizard would be able to interact with this group easier since most of them are fellow rejects by the other groups. But sadly, it wasn't the case. The one-armed lizard was being isolated.

These lizards are far more social than Marcus thought them to be. Cliques have already been formed, with the groups having 3 to 5 lizards at most. Excluding Marcus and the happy go lucky variant that could interact with any group, the one-armed lizard was the only lone lizard, becoming an outcast.

Marcus was looking at the one-armed lizard's offering, the piece of meat was useless to Marcus. He had already eaten the donkey's brain and doesn't really have enough space for more. And even if he was hungry, he could just take meat by himself, why would he need someone's offering?

Still, this lizard is too pitiful, Marcus looked at the eyes of the one-armed lizard and then started saying words seriously.

"You. Weak... You. Eat... Get. Stronger..."

Then Marcus continued, "Stronger... Fight. Better... Contribute. Better..."

Marcus then turned his back towards the one-armed lizard with the final words, "You. Also. Have. Talent..."

Walking away from the one-armed lizard, Marcus was thinking, 'Holy crap, that was cool...'

At this point in time, Marcus has already completely forgotten about finding out the details of the scale's improvements.

Feeling his own greatness, Marcus walked away silently...

"Leader, Strange! Leader, Strange! Leader, Strange!"

'Damn that energetic munchkin... it's still doing that?'

Marcus then looked around his followers. Most of them are currently resting, while a few are still trying to snack on the gored donkey. Due to the blood spill, parts of their body are currently soaked red.

In a serious note, Marcus is currently thinking about the possibility of danger if they remain here. Looking at the remains of the donkey, Marcus is thinking that they could attract strong predators from the heavy smell of blood.

He didn't know about the surrounding forest's ecosystem, but it wasn't really that impossible for some wolf-like predators to exist.

And since he also had no night vision trait, it was probably better to find a safe place to settle somewhere before night arrives.

'Still, does this world even have the same time cycle as earth?'

Marcus had read some stories about reincarnation and transmigration before, and it wasn't really that rare for such details to be different world to world.

Right now, Marcus is currently clueless about everything, it was one of the reasons why he was also a little bit expectant on the donkey's knowledge. He could have gotten something akin to Forest Map Knowledge or monster almanac. And as long as he could afford it, he would have bought it by then.

Sometimes, Knowledge is Power. And such knowledge is really important in regards to his survival and growth. However, it seems that he was still not lucky this time.

'We should rest for a bit of time, then continue exploring afterward. It might be a bit of a waste, but we have no choice but to leave the donkey's remains here alone'

This is why the 'Item Box' from games is such a convenient feature if someone were to have it from the stories. He could have just put the remains on the item box, and he wouldn't have to think about wasting the meat. Thinking about convenience, Marcus then thought about the expensive Mana Stone Trait.

'I wonder what kind of skills needed mana here'

He had gotten 27 potential points from the donkey alone. And as long as he had enough time, it shouldn't be that hard for him to gather the 500 points in the future. But first, he would have to get a few essential traits and skills first.

With his mind on the essential traits and skills, Marcus's had decided that his next target is the [Night Vision] Trait. It was a trait that is necessary during the night, it is an important survival trait.

'It might be possible that someone from our group could have a night vision trait already...'

Thinking about the lizards with advanced traits before, it was indeed possible. But the only question is whether such a trait is considered as advanced. Since as far as Marcus knows, no one from their group had an advanced trait. They only have one variant one.

After resting for a bit of time, Marcus then thought that it was finally time to get moving. Roaring,

"Awaken!! We're! Moving!!"

Due to Marcus's recent upgrades, it seemed that his vocal cords are even stronger, enabling him to have a louder roar. Waking up the followers from resting.

The strong roar of their appointed leader contained an unknown power that they could feel deep on their bloodline, making them instinctually want to follow.

"Follow!!"

When Marcus saw everyone standing, he had then started moving...

As Marcus leads the group, he was thinking about his current plans.

The main plan, for the time being, is to find a safe place to be used as a base. Then along the way, if they could find a creature worth killing, then they would hunt it down. They always needed more hunting experience for better teamwork and growth. At the same time, he could also gather potential points that way, killing two birds with one stone.

'Still, mysteriously. I'm having a bad feeling about something…'

Marcus then looked at the followers currently soaked with blood. He could smell the bloody scent around. And with such. Perhaps, not just predators, they could even alert potential prey.

'Just to be cautious, I think that they needed to take off that bloody smell first'

Thinking so, Marcus then looks at the surrounding grass. Since they still didn't saw any lakes of water, and the previous is already so far. He wonders if they could take off the bloody scent around their bodies by rolling in the moist grass.

'Well, we could try'

"Halt!"

...

A bit of time after Marcus's group took off...

A creature could be seen sniffing on the donkey's remains. Its nose had received the scent of the donkey's blood from far away, and after arriving here, it could even smell the donkey's blood on several traces.

It was a big black wolf...

And behind it, is 5 more of its kind...