Chapter 108: Developing Animal Intelligence

For a period of time after that, peace returned to their lives.

Lu Chen resumed his former routine, spending his days mining spirit stones and hunting, living a rather leisurely life.

The spirit stone vein at the bottom of the deep pool was much easier to mine than the one in the crevice of the giant kelp forest, and the quality of the stones was far superior.

As for hunting... having learned his lesson from last time, Lu Chen did not venture outside for the time being. Instead, he set traps targeting the mutated overlord salamanders deep within the underground caverns.

He had tried using animal flesh as bait, but the creatures simply refused to take the bait.

Later, Lu Chen pondered the reason for his failure. The underground cavern was teeming with fish, so the mutated overlord salamanders never lacked food.

Thus, he decided to switch the bait to spirit stones.

As expected, spirit stones possessed an irresistible attraction to all animals.

Within just half a day of placing one in the water, a mutated overlord salamander was lured in.

This one was even larger than the one from two months ago, weighing a full fifteen hundred pounds.

Lu Chen had to expend some effort before he successfully killed it.

At the same time, he felt secretly relieved. Fortunately, these creatures dwelled deep underground and rarely came ashore, let alone traversing the upper levels of the caverns.

Otherwise, if Boss Croc and the others had ever been targeted, they certainly would not have survived to this day.

Over a thousand pounds of high-quality flesh was enough to sustain him for two or three days.

With his food problem solved, Lu Chen found himself temporarily with nothing to do. He simply used his claws to scratch out a simple "Frog Jumping the Well" board on the floor of the cavern hall.

The game was very simple: the board was a square with two intersecting diagonal lines drawn in the middle, leaving one open edge as the "well." Each player held two pieces, and the goal was to corner the opponent's pieces to win.

Once the board was drawn, Lu Chen called Blackie over and gestured to teach it how to play.

On one hand, he did this out of boredom, wanting to bring some fun to the monotonous lives of the little ones.

Since transmigrating as a saltwater crocodile, Lu Chen had always held a core belief: life should not be about killing alone; it ought to be rich and colorful. Because of this, he highly supported Boss Croc's efforts to learn painting.

He had even considered that if the conditions allowed in the future, he might secure a tablet or something from the human world so the croc could learn from videos.

On the other hand, he also wanted to improve their thinking abilities. They now possessed a high degree of spirituality, and thinking and learning could help fully develop their brains.

Wisdom, after all, was also a crucial component of strength.

Lu Chen had a faint feeling that with the arrival of the era of great change, the level of intelligence would be extremely important for the future evolution of animals.

Despite his premonition, Blackie's intelligence once again astonished Lu Chen. In just two short minutes, the fellow understood how to play "Frog Jumping the Well."

It used its beak to pick up and move the pebbles quite smoothly. After a few moves, it actually managed to corner Lu Chen's pieces completely.

The three saltwater crocodiles were also highly interested in the game, crowding around to watch. Before long, Boss Croc was the first to grasp the rules and tried his hand at a match against Blackie.

Then came Second Croc, Little Sister Croc... Over the next few days, "Frog Jumping the Well" became an absolute sensation.

The little creatures never grew tired of it. Whenever they had free time, they would gather around the board for a game or two, even arguing incessantly over who won or lost.

This only showed just how monotonous their lives had been before.

Of course, Lu Chen did not forget about hunting.

He did not know how many mutated overlord salamanders were hidden in the underground river, but over the next few days, another two actually came to deliver themselves to their deaths, giving him quite a feast.

"Squeak, squeak! Hiss, hiss..."

"Hiss... hiss..."

Just as Lu Chen returned to the cavern after filling his belly, he heard Boss Croc and Blackie arguing.

Indeed, a mutated magpie and a saltwater crocodile were having an argument.

There was no need to guess; it was definitely over the board game.

Blackie was highly intelligent with a fast reaction time, winning far more games of "Frog Jumping the Well" than it lost. Boss Croc, on the other hand, won at most two out of ten games.

Looking at the current situation, Boss Croc was clearly exasperated from losing.

Lu Chen shook his head speechlessly and ignored them.

Though these fellows bickered and made a fuss, they would never actually come to blows.

Today, however, was different.

After bellowing for a while, Boss Croc's eyes suddenly turned crimson. He spun in circles on the spot, his mood seemingly growing violent and restless.

Startled by this, Blackie hastily shut its beak.

Boss Croc suddenly aimed his head at an open area inside the cavern and opened his mouth.

A massive torrent of water surged forth.

With a series of sharp crackles, the rushing water froze into a layer of ice within just a few seconds.

Had this fellow awakened a mutated ability?

Just from losing an argument, Boss Croc had awakened a mutated ability!

Lu Chen was instantly dumbfounded, feeling a sense of utter disbelief.

He relied on his system panel, constantly spending energy points to strengthen his body, and only then did he obtain his ultimate weapon, the Compressed Energy Bomb. Yet, Boss Croc had mutated simply because he couldn't win an argument. It defied all logic.

But once he calmed down, Lu Chen knew things were not as simple as they seemed.

It was the same old principle: quantitative change leads to qualitative change.

Boss Croc had consumed plenty of spirit stones lately, and his body had been undergoing a gradual transformation. It was only natural that he would eventually evolve a mutated ability.

Still, for a cold-fearing saltwater crocodile to awaken an ice-based mutated ability was somewhat mind-boggling.

***

As night fell, Lu Chen drifted off to sleep.

Although the cavern was spacious enough, the four saltwater crocodiles were accustomed to huddling together to sleep. Blackie hopped around on top of them before finally choosing a comfortable spot to settle down. It tucked in its wings and buried its head in its feathers.

Ever since consuming a few spirit stones, the bird's body had grown rapidly. Now, its body length exceeded one meter, and its wingspan approached three meters, making it the absolute aerial overlord of this forest.

"Chirp! Chirp!" At some unknown hour, Blackie suddenly let out a bizarre, piercing shriek.

The abrupt sound startled the four crocodiles awake, their reptilian eyes widening as they scanned their surroundings.

The cavern was pitch-black, with only a faint sliver of light filtering in from the entrance.

Did this little guy have a nightmare?

Did birds dream? Lu Chen didn't know either.

He hissed in annoyance a few times and went back to sleep.

Soon, Boss Croc and the others drifted back to sleep as well.

Blackie, however, was not sleepy at all. On the contrary, it seemed highly alert, its eyes glowing with an eerie red light.

It stared outside the cave for a moment, then flapped its wings and quietly flew to the entrance.

Looking up at the sky with its crimson eyes, the bird's pupils showed a mixture of confusion and excitement.

Chirp, hiss... It returned to the cavern once more, rushing up to the four crocodiles and letting out urgent cries.

After calling out repeatedly, it flapped its wings and flew back toward the exit.

What on earth had happened to make this fellow fuss so much?

Disturbed by Blackie's noisy cries in the middle of the night, Lu Chen lost all desire to sleep. Helplessly, he crawled out of the cave, with Boss Croc and the others following closely behind.

The sky... was bright!

Seeing the bright light outside, Lu Chen froze.

Then, he turned his head to scan his surroundings.

The dense shrubs and vines nearby, the towering trees dozens of yards away, and even the rocks hundreds of meters away were clearly visible... and further still lay the hazy, rolling mountain ranges.