Chapter 14: Time to go

When the leveling up finished Sobek opened the main interface to check his attributes. [Spinosaurus aegyptiacus] Level: 9 Length: 9 m Height: 3.3 m Weight: 4.5 ton Diet: carnivore, fishivore Strength: 1,120 Agility: 1,085 Defense: 560 Maximum speed: 10 km/h Experience points: 3,600/30,000 Skill points: 2 Fame points: 0/1,000,000 Bonus money: 1,250 "30,000 experience points to the next level up..." Sobek grumbled in his head. He had hoped he could reach level 10 more quickly. If he found another baryonyx he could have gained a lot of experience very fast, but it was difficult. Even if in that world all the dinosaurs of all ages existed together, that didn't mean that he could found one of them every twenty meters. Like spinosaurs, each baryonyx established its own territory and stayed there. Tramps who had still not find their own place were rare. It was also unlikely that the baryonyx would have settled too close to the spinosaurs pod. If he wanted to find one he had to go further, but that too was a gamble. He didn't know what dangers he could encounter along the way: there was always the risk of encountering a large crocodile who could easily defeat him. However, he didn't have much of a choice. Although the territory where he had settled could feed him, it provided him with too few experience points. At this rate he wouldhave taken months to reach adult form, let alone evolve. As a result, if he wanted to improve quickly, he had only one solution: to abandon the safety of the herd and start traveling down the river to find bigger preys. It was a risk, an enormous risk, but after all life was made up of risks. As humans used to say, no pain no gain. Before leaving, however, he still wanted to stay in the reservoir for a while and this for a very specific reason: he wanted to boost both [Swim speed] and [Ambush] once again. The benefits of [Swim speed] had been key to beating the baryonyx; at its current level it could give him a boost of 60 km/h, enough to outpace any predator. Sobek, however, was aiming for 80 km/h, so as to be absolutely sure of being able to outrun the opponent. [Ambush], moreover, could make much easier for him to catch fish-eating dinosaurs: approaching without being seen would guarantee him victory without effort. The territory he had chosen abounded with amphibians and fishes suitable for the purpose. Though slowly he could get all the skill points he needed. Formulated his plan of action, Sobek spent the next week relentlessly chasing the big amphibians out of the reservoir. Thanks to [Ambush] catching them had become much easier: although the ability was only at level 1/5, he could get much closer before being spotted than when he didn't. Of course, none of his current preys gave him more than 1 skill point; generally they were between 0.5 and 0.7. However, they were sufficient for the purpose. In three days he was able to upgrade [Swim speed] to level 4/5, which allowed his hunting to increase again. In another four days he had gained another 9 skill points and planned to improve [Ambush] within another day of fishing. However, fate had come to his aid again: while returning to the nest he had come across another large amphibian swimming in front of him, and thanks to [Ambush] it hadn't noticed his presence. [Prey identified: Prionosuchus plummeri, archegosauridae. Experience: 12,000 points] From memories of his past life, Sobek knew that the prionosuchus was the largest amphibian ever to exist (or the largest known by the Earth's paleontologists). Even though it resembled a crocodile, however, it was not even near as lethal as they were. Even though it was at least eight meters long it was absolutly not a challenge for a nine-meters long spinosaurus. It was enough for Sobek to use [Swim speed] and throw himself on its neck to snap it clean from the backlash. The difficulty had been eating it: since night was falling, Sobek had to take the corpse back to the nest and he had to spend the night asleep to make sure that no one came to steal it. Fortunately, most of the spinosaurs were full and sleepy, so they ignored him. It took Sobek all night to finish the prionosuchus; the next day he was so tired that he didn't go hunting and stayed at the nest to rest. Thanks to the prionosuchus, Sobek had now reached 36,000 experience points, so he could go up to level 10. After the usual ten seconds of pain, he had become a carnivore 10 meters long and 3.6 meters high! Now he would have scared most people. He was more than three times bigger than a Bengal tiger or a polar bear, and about twice the size of a Nile crocodile. If he and a lion had met, the big feline would have had no choice but to acknowledge his superiority and abandon the title of 'king of the jungle' to him. Even if probably 'king of the river' would have been more appropriated... The prionosuchus had also given him 3 skill points. With them he was able to improve [Ambush] again. He still had 2 skill points left. Sobek wondered if he couldn't delay the departure a little longer: with just two days of hunting in the reservoir he could definitely maximize [Swim speed], which would have allowed him to swim at a speed higher than 100 km/h! With that speed, even the force with which it grabbed a prey would have been enough to kill it due to the kinetic energy that would have broken its spine. Eventually he made up his mind and returned to the reservoir. He found he was wrong: it didn't take him two days. Thanks to the presence of a catfish and a passing stethacanthus, he needed just one day of fishing to get the last 3 skill points he wanted. When he finally got the required amount, he couldn't help but feel a pang of pride in seeing [Swim speed] rise to level 5/5. It was the first skill he maximized! Sobek was proud of himself; he could say he was playing very well! The next goal was to maximize [Ambush]. However, to do so he would have had to leave: since it still took 30 skill points to bring that ability to the maximum, he couldn't continue to hunt only small amphibians and freshwater sharks. However before even aiming for [Ambush], he thought on his way back to the nest, perhaps it would have been better to improve [Rapid digestion] at least once. While it was not useful in hunting it could prove vital to his survival: on a full stomach he was more vulnerable, consequently digesting the meal faster could save his life. He decided he would have thought about it when he would have reached the required amount of skill points. That evening he was particularly cuddled with his little siblings. They too were growing: by now they had reached a meter in length and some even meter and a half. Although they were older, they hadn't lost the desire to play: as soon as he arrived they began to climb on him and pull his tail. Sobek let them do it, indeed he encouraged them to have as much fun as possible. That would probably have been the last time they would have seen each other: he wanted to leave a good memory of himself to his brothers and his sisters. Even if he would meet them in the future he doubted they would recognize him. He would have been a different creature when that time would have came. That hurt him. He wanted to stay with his new family, but he knew he couldn't remain. He had a mission. He had to grow and evolve, and quickly too. After all it was also for them that he was doing it: the more time he lost, the more the humans advanced. Sobek still didn't know where they were now or what they were doing, but since God had sent him to that world with such urgency it was clear that he couldn't afford to take it easy and waste time. That night he couldn't sleep. His eyes continued to stare at his parents and siblings' bodies illuminated by the dim light of the full moon in the sky. Intresting, apparently also in that world there were moon fases... When the sun started to rise, he got up and left. He didn't wait for them to wake up too, he didn't say goodbye and he didn't look back: he knew that this would only have made the farewell more painful. And he also knew that if just one of his siblings had looked him in the eyes he would have istantly lost the willpower that he needed to leave. He swam several kilometers to the west. The river was very long and branched out in several places, but he just kept going straight. Only when it was midday he started to slow down: he was now quite far from home and the pack. That's how his adventure as a lone spinosaurus officially began.