If Logan had made a list of creatures to avoid, wyverns would top it. Their aerial dominance, volatile tempers, and devastating flame breath meant getting caught in the periphery of their battles was a death sentence.
The only thing worse than encountering one wyvern was encountering two.
With a rush of beating wings, a second emerald-green form descended from the sky, landing heavily on a thick branch of the broadleaf tree. It glared down at the first Rathian and let loose a piercing, territorial roar.
ROOOAAAAARRR!
The sound wave vibrated through the air, visible as a ripple. Even from a distance, the force made Logan's tiny bones hum.
The Rathian on the ground responded with fury. She reared back and spat three explosive fireballs. They slammed into the trunk above, detonating in showers of sparks and scorched bark, igniting patches of wood.
The fight was on.
The two wyverns collided, using the colossal tree as their battleground. Branches thicker than Logan's old car were torn loose and sent crashing down. Flames from errant breath attacks licked up the bark. The entire forest giant shuddered under the assault.
This is their mating season? Can't these overgrown lizards take their drama somewhere else?!
The tremors in the bark and the rising heat were urgent warnings. He couldn't stay here and hope the giants missed him. He had to move.
Peering down, he took a shaky breath. The ground was a dizzying distance away. It was a desperate gamble.
He coiled his newly strengthened legs and leapt into open air.
Wind whipped past him as he fell, the forest floor rushing up. He splayed his limbs and tail wide, using his body like a crude parachute to slow his descent. Fear was a cold knot in his stomach, but he forced his eyes to stay open, searching for a landing spot.
Closer… closer…
Thwump.
He hit the broad, springy frond of a giant fern. The leaf bowed deeply under his weight, cushioning the impact before rebounding, leaving him swaying gently.
I made it. Survived another minute.
Relief washed over him, leaving his muscles weak and trembling. All he wanted was to lie still.
CRASH-BOOM!
A massive, flaming branch—three meters thick—smashed into the earth barely twenty paces away, sending a shockwave of heat and debris through the undergrowth.
Rest time's over.
Logan scrambled. He jumped from the fern and hit the ground running.
His recent evolution proved its worth immediately. His strides were longer, more powerful, propelling him forward in quick, darting bursts. He was a grey blur skittering over roots and through shadows, putting distance between himself and the wyvern war zone.
He didn't stop until he'd covered nearly two kilometers, his tiny lungs burning. He slumped against the mossy side of a massive, fallen tree. Spotting a cavity where the wood had rotted away, he wasted no time wriggling inside.
The hollow was filled with soft, damp wood pulp and smelled of sweet decay. Safe. Finally.
He lay there panting, his exhaustion quickly overridden by a fresh, sharp pang of hunger. Just as he was contemplating his next move, a faint vibration trembled through the rotten wood.
What now?
Cautiously, he crept forward. In the dim light filtering into the log, he saw it: a fat, pale posterior rhythmically wriggling.
It was a beetle grub, but on a scale that defied logic. While most were finger-sized, this one was as thick as a child's wrist, its segmented body coiled deep in the pulp like a grotesque, living sausage.
Even the bugs here are monsters.
Saliva flooded Logan's mouth. The grub was a feast, but its tough, rubbery hide was a problem. His current teeth and claws were meant for soft aphids, not this.
But he wasn't just a lizard. He had a human mind, and human minds used tools.
A memory surfaced—a strange plant he'd glimpsed during his frantic escape. He backtracked out of the log and soon found it: a broad-leafed plant resembling a giant bromeliad. From its center rose a stiff stalk topped with several oblong seed pods.
One pod had matured and split open in a star-shaped pattern, revealing clusters of long, needle-like seeds. Some had already fallen, their sharp ends embedded upright in the soft soil like nature's own caltrops.
Needleberry pods. Hunters use these for scatter shot.
Selecting the straightest, finest "needle," he clamped his jaws around its middle and pulled. It came free—a ten-centimeter shaft of black, wood-hard plant material with a wickedly sharp point.
Weapon in mouth, he returned to the log and his prey.
He backed up, took aim at the grub's oblivious rear, and charged.
The hardened seed-tip punched through the grub's tough hide with a soft pop. Logan drove it deep. A gush of thick, creamy hemolymph oozed from the wound.
The grub convulsed, its body thrashing in the confined space. This only worsened the damage, grinding the embedded needle against its internal organs. Soon, the writhing ceased.
Dinner is served.
Logan was about to dive in when a translucent blue notification flickered at the edge of his vision.
Consumed Beetle Larva. Evolution Points +1.
There are points in bugs too?
Then he remembered the Insect Glaive weapon and its Kinsect companions. In this world, certain giant, symbiotic insects were powerful enough to harass elder dragons. They were a vital part of the ecosystem. Of course they were worth points.
Without hesitation, he invested the new point into his Accelerated Growth trait, feeling the familiar warmth intensify his metabolism and nutrient absorption.
Then, with single-minded focus, he turned back to the bounty before him—the first real feast of his new life.
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