Lizard Lord - Chapter 1
Chapter 1 - Being a Lizard is Not Easy
Looking up into the distance, the green forest stretched out like an ocean, forming a continuous expanse. The trees grew lush and vibrant, radiating a vigorous vitality.
In a small clearing within the woods, a lizard was hunting for prey.
Its slender claws held onto the body of a grasshopper, and its small, sharp teeth pierced through its thin shell. Without hesitation, Tang Zhao lifted his head high and swallowed the hard-earned meal in a few bites.
Without savoring the sour taste of insect juice on his taste buds, he silently contemplated in his mind.
【This is the 220th one, and soon it will be enough.】
With this thought, he felt somewhat helpless. He glanced at the deep green semicircular mark on his left claw, and a column of white text appeared on it.
{Evolution Criteria: 200 grams of low-grade meat (198 grams), one inferior blood core.}
{Benefits: Physical enhancement and two random enhancements.}
Behind the white text were a row of black buttons, each labeled with "Physical," "Organs," "Spirit," "Creation," "Transformation," "Illusion," and other words.
Since being thrown into this unknown world and becoming an inconspicuous lizard in the forest, this mark had been branded on his left claw.
In the past month, he had shed his skin twice but failed to erase the mark. It seemed that the mark was imprinted on him in a purer and more intrinsic way.
The mentioned evolution was indeed real, and he had experienced it once.
Through eating, he could make his body undergo various forms of evolution. At this stage, these evolutions were unpredictable, and the abilities obtained were relatively practical but not extraordinary. However, it might not be the case in the future.
After consuming thirty grams of insects earlier, he underwent his first evolution. His body length increased from around four to five centimeters to over twenty centimeters, and he also gained night vision, which greatly aided his survival.
If he could meet the next evolution criteria, the benefits would definitely be greater, allowing him to survive even better.
Currently, he was in a forest area, which was not small, but with his current body, he could only catch a glimpse of what lay ahead.
One thing was certain: there were many powerful predators in the forest, some of which were so large that they defied biological norms. He had even seen creatures that had never appeared on Earth, confirming that this was not the familiar world he knew. It was highly likely that magic or similar phenomena existed here.
He had noticed humanoid beings flying in the sky a few times, riding on some winged creatures resembling griffins.
There were also instances where he witnessed a luminous dust floating in the forest, which he was certain was not a natural phenomenon like fireflies. For now, he could only classify it as a supernatural phenomenon.
Of course, in this world, it was possible that magic and the like were simply inherent parts of nature.
This had somewhat shaken him, but it wasn't too difficult to accept. After all, he had already transformed into a lizard, so Tang Zhao could handle whatever came his way with stable emotions.
The mark's power was incredibly strong, and Tang Zhao believed that he wouldn't just stop at just always fighting for survival. Hypothetically speaking, after undergoing multiple evolutions, his abilities might not be inferior to those legendary creatures.
A sound of rustling bushes came from not far away, causing Tang Zhao to lower his body alertly before swiftly climbing towards the nearest tree.
He was well aware of his ecological niche—a predator at the bottom of the forest, with too many existences capable of putting him in a life-threatening situation.
Using his claws to grip the various crevices in the tree bark, Tang Zhao skillfully climbed up this tree, which was at least five to six meters tall.
Lying on a middle branch, Tang Zhao's verdant body blended perfectly with the surrounding leaves, allowing him to rest temporarily in this spot. He would slowly digest the food he had just eaten while contemplating his next plan.
【The first priority is to become capable enough to survive in the wilderness. After that, I'll figure out the situation of the humanoid beings nearby.】
Unlike the relatively dim forest floor, the canopy was warm and dazzling, allowing Tang Zhao to see every scale on his body.
With a lizard head adorned with light-red patterns, small and delicate scales, a verdant body color, four limbs with slender claws, and a long tail, Tang Zhao considered himself quite handsome by lizard standards.
This was the current Tang Zhao. He estimated that he didn't have the bloodline of any ancient beasts or dragons—otherwise, he wouldn't have been eating worms and grasshoppers for so long.
However, since he could evolve, Tang Zhao believed that this situation wouldn't continue indefinitely.
Once he got through this "novice stage," the situation would greatly improve. As long as he steadily continued to evolve, the future would hold promise.
【The only question now is: what exactly is a blood core?】
He pondered this question incessantly but received no response from the mark despite asking it in various ways.
From the name, he could roughly guess that it was something condensed within certain organisms. However, after Tang Zhao carefully searched, he could basically confirm that insects and small fish and shrimp didn't contain such a thing.
As for stronger creatures, it remained a question mark since he didn't have many opportunities to encounter them.
【A blood core should be an item extracted from within a living being, possessing some special value. The entities capable of coming into contact with and preserving these things likely have intelligence, which means humans, and perhaps other humanoid races, may exist.】
In Tang Zhao's view, only intelligent beings would be able to store such items. Even if ordinary beasts found them, they wouldn't be able to retain them.
Over the past month, he had become certain that humanoid beings would visit this forest because he had seen flickering flames rise several times at night. From various angles, they all looked like campfires.
However, it seemed that his location was too close to the depths of the forest, and the campers were far away from him. Added to his limited mobility, he had yet to come across them directly.
In order to encounter those humanoid beings, Tang Zhao would move among the treetops every night, getting closer to the direction where the campfire had previously risen.
From the constellations, it seemed that this world was no longer Earth, but there was still a bright star that looked almost stationary like the North Star, guiding Tang Zhao's direction at night and preventing him from getting lost in the forest.
After a while, the insects at the entrance were mostly digested, and the sunlight heated his blood. Tang Zhao stretched his claws and prepared to climb down from the canopy for the next hunt. One grasshopper wouldn't be enough to satisfy his hunger.
Just as Tang Zhao was about to pick a place to strike into the ground with disgust on his face, a deer's cry came from the nearby forest, followed by a burst of cheers that even he could feel the excitement and joy from.
Emotions represented intelligence, and in Tang Zhao's current view, intelligence was almost equivalent to humanoid beings.
He swallowed the earth-covered earthworm in two or three bites without hesitation, then opened his claws and immediately ran towards the direction where the shouts came from.
The distance wasn't too far, and although Tang Zhao was small in size, his speed through the forest was not slow. In no time, he arrived at the scene.
The first thing he saw was several men dressed in half-leather armor and linen clothes, equipped with short bows and short spears, resembling hunters from medieval Europe.
In fact, they were indeed working as hunters, using small hunting knives to skin the deer that had just been killed, with fresh blood still flowing from the neck wounds.
"Not bad, we won't have to worry about food for the next half month..."
Probably due to the mark, Tang Zhao could effortlessly understand the hunters' conversation.
Of course, Tang Zhao couldn't miss this good opportunity to gather information. He quickly approached and listened attentively, afraid of missing any crucial information.
Although it was just a conversation between a few hunters, upon careful analysis, there were still substantial gains.
Firstly, from terms like "southern migration of orcs" and "griffon knights," it could be inferred that this was a magical world, but the specific level or situation was still difficult to determine.
Secondly, he finally figured out where he was.
The location where he currently resided was called the Azure Crown Forest, near the capital of the Kingdom of Orlan (Åland). The Kingdom of Orlan was a feudal state. However, there was some bad news for him.
The third princess of the Kingdom of Orlan was preparing to gather warriors for a competition to collect powerful or rare creatures. Many respondents were expected to gather.
As the forest closest to the capital, the Azure Crown Forest would be the first target for a large number of respondents who came nearby to hunt.
This was also the important reason why hunters ventured deep into the forest. Taking advantage of their familiarity with the area, they hoped to try their luck. Once they caught a cherished prey that was bought by the royal family, they would have no worries about food and clothing in the future.
【It seems that I need to hurry and leave once I have the ability to migrate.】
Tang Zhao was inconspicuous at the moment and could easily blend in, but he needed to continue evolving. Inevitably, he would become powerful and cherished, making it highly likely that he would be targeted by those respondents as prey.
He knew very well that he couldn't contend with a large number of humans, so it was necessary to keep a low profile and seize the opportunity to run as soon as he could.
...
During the process of cleaning the deer meat, a middle-aged man with a goatee used a hunting knife to open the deer's belly, then cut and discarded the organs that were of little use to them.
Under Tang Zhao's eager gaze, the middle-aged man searched inside the deer's body cavity and finally took out an irregular, light red crystalline object. After a simple cleaning, he put the crystal into a pouch made of animal skin at his side.
From the moment Tang Zhao saw that crystalline object, his gaze couldn't leave it completely.
No matter how you looked at it, it resembled the blood core that Tang Zhao was looking for, which was the necessary material for his next evolution.
Staring at the pouch for a while, an unprecedented intense desire appeared in his eyes.
What he needed to do now was to find a way to obtain that item.
Either search for occasional animal remains in the forest or take advantage of the present moment to figure out how to steal the blood core from the middle-aged hunter's pocket.
There was no need to hesitate. Tang Zhao chose the latter option. The ready-made item was right in front of him, and the news of the respondents about to arrive gave him a sense of urgency. He no longer had the patience to wait for that elusive possibility.
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