Chapter 215: New improvements

"Old Li, call Apache. I have a job for him" Sobek ordered. The ankylosaurus did not have it repeated twice and ran away, albeit rather awkwardly due to its size. Sobek turned to Buck: "How's the recruiting going? And the training?" In the two weeks in which he had evolved he had not been able, for obvious reasons, to receive the daily report on how the increase in the troops of his army was proceeding, so he wanted to inquire immediately. "It's going well" Buck replied. "So far, about three hundred thousand dinosaurs have completed training and are ready for battle. As for recruiting... according to our scouts, only a few herds of dinosaurs have yet to join us. Our herd has now exceeded the figure of one million individuals" 'If that's the case, then it's shortly before he rises to the rank of beast lord' Sobek mused. "Very good. When all the dinosaurs on the continent are gathered and trained, we will have an army more than sufficient to oppose all of humanity" That, at least, was the original plan. Sobek initially aimed to make the truce last only two or three months, in order to complete the construction of his army. But now that he had [Teleportation] he had decided to change his plans. After all, it was not a bad idea that the peace lasted a little longer. Thanks to that skill, he could now go to other continents and recruit new troops. Moreover, with [Linguistics (3)], he could have built a real navy. Yes, peace wasn't that bad, at least as long as it suited him. Old Li and Apache arrived shortly after. The two pterosaurs landed in front of him awaiting orders. "I have a task for you" Sobek declared. "I'll do whatever you ask, pack leader!" the quetzalcoatlus responded. "Very good. Apache, you will recruit a group of twenty giant-sized pterosaurs. Choose two commanders who have your full confidence, then divide the flock in half. One of them will head to the continent to the southeast; the other will head towards the north-east one. They will leave tonight and will have to travel protected from [Ambush] at all times. Once they arrive they will have to communicate it to me through our mental connection and I will give them new orders" Sobek was obviously referring to the [Contract]: with evolution, his ability to share information through the mind had also improved. While before he could only exchange images and sensations, now he could also exchange a few words, albeit a few. His plan, of course, was for the pterosaurs to see the new continents and send him the images so that he could use [Teleportation] to get there. Giant-sized pterosaurs were tireless fliers and were not uncommon to cross the ocean; even though Eden's oceans were much larger than Earth's, they were still not an insurmountable difficulty for creatures with wings as long as those of an airplane. Apache bowed his head: "I will execute immediately. I will choose our best fliers for this mission". He seemed to be sorry he couldn't go personally, but he understood Sobek's reasons: after all, Apache was the air commander of the whole pack, he couldn't be away for long periods. If there had been an emergency he should have been present. "Good. Now you can go" Sobek said. The quetzacoatlus immediately flied away. "And this is done. And now..." Sobek turned to all the dinosaurs that were present: "I have to do something important. I'll be back by nightfall. Behave as you always did in these days when I was sleeping" "Yes, pack leader!" the dinosaurs confirmed. Sobek wasted no time and re-entered the warehouse, out of sight, where he could activate [Ambush]. Then he went out again, now invisible to all, and ran at full speed towards the river. He wanted to get his manger at all costs and needed to complete the [Food system] to do so. Ergo, he had to unlock the marine reptile feeder. To unlock it, Sobek would have to find the staple of the marine reptile food chain. The reason he hadn't already unlocked it when he was in the ocean months ago was that he was focused on finding fishes and large creatures. But the basis of the oceanic food chain wasn't the large animals, but the small fishes. In all animal genera there were large species and small species, but in order to unlock all his feeders Sobek had to look for not a random food, but one that even the smallest species of that animal genus could supply. Although there were giant monsters like the quetzalcoatlus, Sobek only unlocked the pterosaur feeder after finding food that even tiny birds and pterosaurs like rhamphorhynchus could feed on. Consequently, if he wanted to unlock the marine reptile feeder he needed the basic component of the oceanic food chain. This meant that he would not have to go to the open sea, but to an area more suitable for the survival of small creatures: the coral reef. Sobek had studied Eden's geography thoroughly and knew exactly where to go. He would have used the river to reach the ocean and from there he would have moved south, moving near the coast. His target was about fifteen hundred kilometers further south, but since with [Swim speed] he could now reach 340 km/h, for Sobek that would be a journey of just a few hours. It took less than ten minutes to go up the river to the estuary and reach the sea. The salt water bothered him a little because of his much more sensitive nostrils than before, but he ignored this and continued at full speed. In just over four hours he achieved his goal. The unmistakable outline of corals appeared in his eyes. However, it quickly became clear that something was wrong. Most of the corals were gray and many of their pieces were breaking away from the main body, creating a kind of dust that floated a few inches from the sea floor. Only a few corals had kept their bright colors. Around them were the remains of fish, crustaceans, molluscs, anemones and even small reptiles. Most of it was dead. Sobek wondered what could have caused such a death, but he soon realized. Just like the Earth, Eden too was suffering under the yoke of pollution and climate change: God had sent him there to stop humans. And coral reefs were among the things most susceptible to these plagues. A minimal change in temperature or slightly dirtier water was enough to kill the corals, which fed all the creatures that lived there. Although the coral reef was located thousands of kilometers away from every inhabited center, it suffered from human activity as if it were directly next to it. Proof that there was no place far enough away on the planet to be safe. Sobek had before him another proof of how much the life of Eden was in danger. Even though he couldn't feel it on his skin, climate change was accelerating rapidly, causing death and destruction in the most fragile ecosystems. He began to swim among the huge coral structures, once surely painted a thousand colors, but now gray and lifeless. The reef had an area of over 200,000 square kilometers, but most of it was now dead. Only a few algae and anemones were still alive and struggling to survive. In the end, however, he found what he was looking for: a small group of ammonites was in fact suspended above the coral reef, perhaps to feed on the remains of the corals. As soon as he saw them in his mind, the notification went off informing him that he had also unlocked the feeding trough for marine reptiles. Sobek was a little surprised that ammonites were the basis of the marine reptile food chain, but changed his mind when he saw a group of myxosaurs, some of the smallest ichthyosaurs ever, attack the mollusks and feed on them after breaking them. the shell. And after finally unlocking the last manger, the notification he so hoped for arrived. [Congratulations! You have unlocked all the Food that the System can provide you. As a result, you got your own Personal Manger!] "YES!" Sobek roared triumphantly in his mind. Having obtained what he had done for, he turned back to return to Cartago. However, halfway through he found a distraction. A 21 meter long distraction. [Prey identified: Basilosaurus cetoides, basilosauridae. Experience: 350,000 points] "Oh, well. Since I am already here..." The basilosaurus, despite its name, was not a reptile but a whale, perhaps the largest predatory whale ever. However, it was worth nothing against Sobek. Killing and devouring her was quick and easy. The basilosaurus earned him a whopping 7 skill points. After consuming the carcass Sobek continued his return journey. When he finally reached the estuary of the river again, it was already getting dark. Once he arrived in Marsala, he made his presence known to reassure the dinosaurs, after which he rushed to the warehouse where he had carried out the evolution and there he bought his Personal Manger. He cost him 10,000 bonus money, but he didn't care about that cost: he had accumulated a lot of bonus money and could afford to spend some. His Personal Manger looked like an ordinary carnivore feeder, only it produced both meat and fish. However, Sobek was interested in something else. He grabbed one of the fish and swallowed it. Fortunately, exactly what he had hoped for happened: the fish earned him 1 experience point! That was an infinitesimal amount, but still it meant that Sobek had an endless supply of experience points! He hoped it was the same with the skill points; however he suspected that they were a bit rarer... He continued to eat to test his theory of it. Fortunately, thanks to [Fast eating] it took him less than a second for the food to disappear in his mouth. After gaining 10,000 experience points, equivalent to about three hours of incessant eating, he finally gained 0.2 skill points. This meant that to get a single skill point he would have to eat for fifteen consecutive hours. Since he needed 475 skill points in total to maximize all of his new abilities, he would have to eat continuously for almost 297 consecutive days, the equivalent of about ten months. Virtually almost a whole year. And since Sobek was still a living being, there was no way that this process was without pauses, which extended the time needed to complete it even more. Sobek again vowed to make the truce last as long as possible. Now that peace lasted at least a year was essential. Fortunately, the humans were compliant for the moment and he could count on Jocelyne's help. He began to eat as quickly as possible. Since he had already nearly completed the amount of experience needed to level up thanks to the basilosaur, he had already reached level 34 by the time the sun rose. However, he didn't stop: he had a long way to go to be able to upgrade even once. one of his abilities. ********* After more than thirteen days, Sobek managed to obtain the 1,060,000 experience points necessary to rise to level 35. He had finally reached the maximum record set by the Argentinosaurus: with a length of 35 meters and a height of 11.1 meters, he was now the largest animal that ever lived. Some sauropods such as the sauroposeidon still surpassed him in height, but his record was still unbeaten. During that time he had eaten almost non-stop, stopping only to be able to ascertain the current condition of the pack and to speak to his closest servants. Now, after nearly two weeks of eating, he urgently needed to stop for a moment. He could stay awake for months now, but still he felt the physical exhaustion. In all that time, he had only gained 21 skill points. They weren't even enough to upgrade a single skill! However, Sobek had learned to be patient. As he took a break he felt something appear in his mind. They were images of a coast above which stood trees very different from those of the Maakanar forest, and he could hear the words: "Arrived" One of the groups sent by Apache had come to another continent. And judging by the vegetation, very similar to that found in the sub-polar areas, they were probably the ones who had made their way to the continent to the northwest, which was the coldest of all five of Eden's landmasses. Sobek could not use too long sentences due to the limited nature of the mental connection of the [Contract], but this wasn't an impediment. "Fly around. Study the place. Learn everything that matters" "Yes, sir" Thus ended that brief conversation. Sobek smiled: now the pterosaurs would map the territory for him, so he would know exactly where to go once he got [Teleportation]. Unfortunately, the System came to enjoy the party. [Caution! You have reached the rank of beast lord. All the dinosaurs of an entire continent, and beyond, are under your control. As a result, the slots in your Inventory have increased to 6 and the amount of experience points needed to level up with each advancement has increased from 100,000 to 350,000] "Of course!" Sobek snapped in his mind, as he saw the 1,160,000 experience points needed to reach level 36 turn into 1,510,000. "Seriously, this System is getting more and more annoying every day!" Sobek grumbled. "Anyway, I now have 21.2 experience points. I need another 8.8 to be able to reach the amount necessary to improve at least once [Teleportation]" Like all abilities, [Teleportation] probably went in installments too. Which meant that if at maximum level it allowed teleportation to any corner of the planet, at level 1/5 it had to at least ensure that it could move a few thousand kilometers at a time. He made a quick calculation. He would need to eat until he had about 440,000 experience points before he had the skill points needed to unlock the first level of [Teleportation]. Which was equivalent to at least five and a half days of incessant eating from his [Personal Manger]. However, he could get on with another job that had been floating around in his mind for some time. "Old Li, call Buck!" The ankylosaurus promptly obeyed and after a few minutes the big t-rex was in front of him. "What do you want from me, pack leader?" "Very simple" Sobek replied. "I want you to find Snock and bring him back to me"