Chapter 85: Linguistics

Sobek put the cell phone back in the [Inventory]. He couldn't be more satisfied. Beyond the excellent figure that the director had made him do, the documentary would have guaranteed him a continuous influx of fame points. Every time it would have been aired or posted on social media, someone would have seen him. And since it was the work of a famous director, it was impossible for it to disappear from the scene very quickly. As a result, the number of people who would have been interested in him would have increased a lot. Sobek was more than certain that even if he didn't do anything more he would have reached the one hundred million fame points he needed for his third evolution sooner or later. However, there was one thing that worried him. The fact that humans had baptized him 'Spinosaurus superior'. Did that mean that the names of his evolutions coincided with those that humans would have given him? In that case, did it mean that before his next evolution he would have to meet them again? If he had a choice he would have avoided them, but it seemed that destiny had other plans. Or maybe he was wrong and it was all just an enormous coincidence? He decided it was best to not think about it. Anyway, if it was destined to meet humans again, he couldn't do anything to change it. Or maybe yes? It was really hard to distinguish his imagination from the reality since he got the System. If he had still been human, he would probably have gone mad for all the theological and philosophical questions that the System posed: it seemed to be the classic question mark between destiny and free will. Fortunately, even though he still had a human soul, Sobek now had an animal mind. And the animals didn't have big problems about freedom, the meaning of life or whether there was a God or not. Sobek obviously knew that God existed, but if the deity would have simply chosen to reincarnate him without any explanation and without showing herself to him, he would never have asked himself about the existence of such being or who had given him the System. He would just have gone on with his life, completely oblivious to such details. Sobek suspected that another great detail that distinguished humans from other animals was insatiable curiosity. Humans were always looking for questions to ask themselves, and this had allowed them to move from ordinary bald apes to a higher stage, making them excel over all other species on the planet. On the contrary, the animals hardly ever asked questions. All their thoughts were focused on surviving and making sure they have an offspring. The instant when something, anything, became useless for their survival, the animals simply forgot it. And in fact, it didn't take long for Sobek to stop thinking about the 'Spinosaurus superior' issue. "Mph, forget it. I'll think about it when the time comes. Now let's focus on something else. System, open the interface!" He was immediately satisfied. [Spinosaurus ingens] Level: 28 Length: 28 m Height: 9 m Weight: 14 tons Diet: carnivore, fishivore Strength: 66,220 Agility: 63,413 Defense: 62,112 Top speed: 29 km/h Experience points: 260,000/460,000 Skill points: 3 Fame Points: 82,000,000/100,000,000 Bonus money: 531,218 "Aaah ... a really good list" Sobek thought with satisfaction. He was now taller than King Kong and almost as long as a blue whale: calling him a giant was an understatement. "Wait... am I wrong or has the bonus money risen again?" He didn't remember he checked his bonus money from his accidental encounter with the Neanderthals some time earlier. At that moment they had risen only a little. What happened next? Up until that point, he'd thought that the bonus money increased every time he did 'good deeds', but he hadn't met humans since... "Wait a moment! Maybe now I understood. This is the reward I received for eliminating every possible danger in my family's territory!" he suddenly thought. Even if remaining close to the spinosaurus pack hadn't help him much and made him sad and nostalgic, Sobek still chose to stay there to protect his old family. It had been a completely selfless act, without any gain for him, so that was probably why the System had rewarded him! "Well... it makes sense" he thought. "After all, who ever said that 'good deeds' are only valid if they are done to humans? I should have thought about it when the bonus money went up after I helped the Neanderthals. After all, even if they look like the humans I know, Neanderthals are a different species from Homo sapiens sapiens. So, if bonus money is given away for all the 'good deeds' done to every hominid species, why shouldn't that be true of every other living species?" Sobek had never thought of that. After all, every his interactions with non-human species had been based only on hunting or being hunted. He had never tried to help another animal, so he had never noticed this detail. "Damn... this System really has more secrets than I imagine..." he thought. "Well, cut the crap. System, show me the skills!" [Open window: skill interface] Swimming speed: 5/5 Ambush: 5/5 Rapid digestion: 5/5 Regeneration: 5/5 Deadly Claws: 5/5 Fast consumption: 5/5 Reinforced leather: 5/5 Powerful bite: 5/5 Linguistics: 0/5 He looked longingly at [Linguistics], the only skill he hadn't even upgraded to level 1/5 yet. Talking to animals was the forbidden dream of any person, child or adult he was. And if these animals were dinosaurs, then the excitement became overwhelming! Before that moment he had waited because he was more focused on becoming the apex superpredator, but now that he no longer had natural enemies and all other abilities were maximized he could safely focus on it. He shuddered at the thought that he could finally understand what the dinosaurs were saying. Who knows what witty and philosophical thoughts the peanut brain of a brachiosaurus could conceive? Beyond the fun part, he also had his own mission to accomplish. He had been sent to this world for a reason and now he had no excuse to get busy: it was time to recruit an army. Also with the next evolution he would have unlocked the [Armor system]. With it, the [Weapon system] and hundreds of thousands of dinosaurs under his command, he could have launched an offensive against humans! Dinosaurs armed with firearms and covered with armor: could there be a scenario more tamarro than that? He knew more than one trash movie producer who would have made false papers to get hold of such a script. "However, once I can understand what dinosaurs are saying to each other, it may become problematic for me to hunt..." he reflected. Dialogue was the basis of any society. Whether they were a pack or a whole nation, understanding what others were saying meant feeling part of that small group. Consequently, once he understood the language of all the dinosaurs, would he still be able to kill and devour them without any moral scruple?Well, even if he didn't succeed, it didn't mean that he would be left without experience or skill points. It still had the prehistoric mammals, the fishes, the crocodiles, the reptiles that weren't dinosaurs... He decided he would thave thought about it when the time came. Just to upgrade [Linguistics] it took 15 skill points and he only had 3. He had to hunt for a while longer if he wanted to get that skill. Over the next few days Sobek remained closer to the spinosaurus area, but after a week he decided that it was better to move on, partly because he didn't like it, partly because he still felt part of the pack and not being able to get close hurt him, partly because that part of the lake wasn't particularly popular. Even though he was no longer interested in leveling up over the next few days, he hunted everything: he wanted to prove himself as the apex superpredator that he was. All those herbivores he had previously feared, such as triceratops, streak saurs, olorotitans, ankylosaurs, polacanthus and so on, had now become a simple challenge. The only ones he hadn't tried to attack yet were the sauropods. Even so, his experience points had gone from 260,000 to 420,000 in no time. A little longer and he could have climbed to level 29. By then he would have been 29 meters long and 9.3 meters high, an extraordinary and unprecedented size for any predator. Even the megalodon and the mosasaur would have seemed small compared to him! He had even managed to catch some carnivores. He had found a pair of majungasaurs while they were drinking and he hadn't thought twice about devouring them, gaining 5 skill points from each of them. Now he only needed two skill points to upgrade [Linguistics] for one first time. He hoped to find them quickly, hope that after a relatively short wait resulted in an australovenator that quickly disappeared into his stomach. Finally, Sobek was able to update [Linguistics]! However, he was again seized with fears. The first level of [Linguistics] would have allowed him to speak only with giant carnivorous dinosaurs, namely carcharodontosaurs, giganotosaurs, and so on. Others like carnotaurs or even ceratosaurs would have remained incomprehensible to his ears. But the giant carnivores were the ones that provided the most skill points; while they were quite rare, they were a godsend to him every time he found one, especially now that he had become an indestructible war machine. Would he still have been able to kill and eat them once he understood their language? Sobek had thought about it in those days. He had found that he had never had any qualms about devouring human beings although he understood what they were saying and he himself was a human in the past. Consequently, it was unlikely that it would be any different with the dinosaurs. But humans were a completely different species from him, even belonging to another class of animals, while the other dinosaurs were much closer family members. Was he really sure he would have absolutely no remorse for eating them? Logically, the answer was no, there was no reason to worry because he wouldn't have any qualms, but the heart rarely followed logic. It was the only doubt that kept Sobek from clicking on 'update' immediately. However, he wanted [Linguistics] too much. He was too curious to know what the dinosaurs said to each other. It was a mouthful too greedy to not want to bite it! Eventually he decided to update it. If he saw that it would have caused him trouble hunting, then he would wait until he had enough points to maximize it before updating it again; in this way he could still have continued to hunt medium and small carnivores, as well as obviously all herbivores. Under his excited gaze, the skill rose to level 1/5. Sobek was in seventh heaven: finally he wouldn't have to do things alone anymore! He could have built his own army! However, he discovered with disappointment that at least apparently nothing seemed to have changed. Unfortunately, there were no large carnivores nearby, so it was of no use. He had to find one in order to test the skill. Initially he thought of returning to the spinosaurs, but he rapidly changed his mind: in addition to testing the ability he also wanted to verify that understanding the words of the dinosaurs didn't create moral scruples. So he had to find a large carnivore and eat it. He didn't want to risk devouring a member of his family. He began to smell the air in search of a scent that distinguished the great predators. For more luck, he went into the jungle, where he knew carnivorous dinosaurs hunted. It took him almost a day to find one: he wandered halfway through the forest, smelled all kinds of animals, even traveled several kilometers in every direction, but without identifying anything. When evening came, however, his efforts were finally rewarded because a pungent smell warned him of the presence of a large predator. And it wasn't just any big predator. Sobek had only smelled her once but he had carved it into his memory. Once he would have run away, but now he had nothing more to fear! The place of king of the dinosaurs had been taken by him, and it was time for the old king to acknowledge defeat and hand the crown to him! Game on, tyrannosaurus!