Chapter 11: I Quit Being Human
The dragon egg had no beautiful patterns, yet it captured Jié Jié’s full attention.
He was admiring this dragon egg that made him look so disheveled, also praising his own courage and audacity. He always believed self-confidence was a crucial thing.
The sun began to set; it was time for him to enjoy the fruits of his labor.
Jié Jié pushed the egg away from the narrow gap. The thief dragon’s body couldn’t handle this dragon egg belonging to a large monster, so transforming into a scratcher bird would be better.
After transforming into a scratcher bird, Jié Jié’s first reaction was to lift his claw and probe his head. Indeed, his large crest feathers were all burned off. Then he twisted his long neck to observe his back. The wounds that had melted due to burns now formed blisters and scabs of various sizes, giving the scratcher bird’s otherwise smooth skin an ominous appearance. Even now, he could still feel waves of burning pain.
He refocused on the dragon egg, holding it and pecking forcefully.
Fine cracks appeared on the eggshell. Jié Jié gently applied pressure along these cracks, careful not to crack the whole egg and lose its nutrients. Finally, he chiseled a small opening and inserted his beak inside. The spines on his tongue curled up the sticky egg liquid and sent it down his throat.
It was delicious. And thinking about how it was most likely a black wolf bird’s egg made it taste even better. After drinking the egg clean, he broke open the entire egg and licked the inner walls, not letting a single drop escape.
After doing all this, Jié Jié felt his whole body relax. Today, he hunted the scratcher bird and narrowly escaped death under the beak of a black wolf bird. Wasn’t this too exciting?
Could it be the retribution of the avial species? If every day was like this, he wouldn’t be able to handle it.
The scratcher bird’s body began shrinking, transforming back into a limping thief dragon with half his body burned. He squeezed himself into the narrow gap and closed his eyes.
Although it was cramped, it felt secure. The wounds were pressed by the gap, seemingly less painful.
The pain nerves of a thief dragon are far less sensitive than those of humans, allowing Jié Jié to drift off into sleep. When he opened his eyes, he saw what he wanted to see.
The totem of the black wolf bird was indeed lit up, but only one-third of it. To fully light it up, one dragon egg seemed insufficient.
Jié Jié smacked his lips, exhausted and gave up thinking, falling into a deeper sleep.
…
When he woke up, Jié Jié wanted to stretch his arms but was hindered by the narrow gap. He could only glare and roll out of the gap. Unfortunately, with many injuries on his body, this roll shocked him awake instantly.
The temperature was still the nighttime temperature. Looking up, his line of sight barely pierced through layers of tree canopies, confirming it was still night.
The brains of monsters are far less active than those of humans; four to five hours is enough for a fulfilling sleep. This pleased Jié Jié. At the same time, he wondered if, calculated by the brain development level of monsters, he could truly maintain the wisdom of human complex thought. He had pondered this when reading about strange creatures in the past.
But since he could already traverse dimensions, what retained his wisdom wasn’t too important. What he could confirm was that after transforming, he could smoothly inherit the habits of monsters.
This should be a good thing, at least for now.
Jié Jié disliked being muddled, but he liked sleeping again. It was the best way to pass time. Close your eyes, and you wake up several hours later with full status.
Here was the ancient tree forest. He had the terrifying wisdom of upright apes and the diverse diet recipes of multiple species. Sleeping a little more wouldn’t starve him, right?
Praise sleep.
Of course, before sleeping, he checked his “dream space” and surprisingly found the totem of the black wolf bird seemed somewhat filled.
It looked unchanged, but sensationally, it was indeed filled. Just like a game progress bar where progress is hard to judge unless marked with percentages.
Jié Jié felt the totem of the black wolf bird was loading. Once the load was complete, transformation would be possible. This should be the mechanism related to the dragon egg.
Compared to the previous feeling that one-third was too far off, this was undoubtedly another surprise. As long as expectations were low, surprises were everywhere.
Holding this pleasant surprise, Jié Jié entered sleep again.
This sleep was much lighter. He could vaguely observe the outside world with the other eye, more alert, and more prolonged.
When he woke up, he felt much more relaxed, with his brain easily shaking off the haze.
Jié Jié woke up, unsure how long he slept. Anyway, when he woke up, the sun was big, and he was a bit hungry.
He wandered aimlessly in the dense forest but didn’t catch anything to eat. The small animals living here knew this place far better than him. Instead, he became the “great thief dragon” obstructed by the trees. The outer forests were the activity range of thief dragons.
But the outside was severely burned, and he could still feel some residual heat.
Most places hit by the black wolf bird’s fireballs were tree crowns, but the trees in the ancient tree forest mostly had broad leaves and were rich in water, making them hard to burn. Only the dry leaves on the ground caught fire and raged.
The burned area was vast, but it didn’t burn for days and nights as imagined.
Perhaps this land had already gotten used to the rampages of monsters, or perhaps there was humid wind near the sea at night.
Life always finds its way, just like this world.
Jié Jié stepped on the warm ashes, flipping them over a few times and uncovering a colorless crystal he hadn’t had time to take and study before.
Transforming into a hairy spider, he wove a web bag with silk and put a few crystals inside, planning to hide them in the gap where he hid.
There were some charred corpses of thief dragons here, but he didn’t want to torture himself, so he picked up some other animals’ charred corpses to eat. They were dry and not tasty. Eating made him thirsty, so he drank some water from a pond.
There was a giant hornet on the pond. How many hunters have been paralyzed by its stinger while stripping materials?
Jié Jié was no exception. He transformed from a thief dragon into a gas frog and comfortably squatted by the pond. At the right moment, he directly swallowed it into his belly.
If he hadn’t inherited the habits of monsters, he couldn’t imagine how smoothly he could eat insects, carcasses, and raw meat. These habits were subtly influencing him.
As long as it feels right.
After filling his stomach, Jié Jié transformed into a scratcher bird. A thief dragon’s broken bone was just like breaking a finger for a scratcher bird, not affecting much movement.
Thinking of hunters earlier, why not try to find one?
Could eating people turn him into a person? Jié Jié didn’t know, but he compared his life as a human with his current life.
I quit being human!
As for whether to go find a hunter? Considering previous encounters, Jié Jié clearly understood that this world didn’t have the balance seen in games. If you can’t beat something, you just can’t. If you’re going to get beaten, you will. The gap between monsters was already so great, what about hunters?
A hunter who could defeat a black wolf bird probably wouldn’t waste time battling a scratcher bird. They could likely end it with one finishing move.
Hunters, he’d meet them eventually. He was still in his growth phase.
