The creatures before him looked like bipedal cats. Their fur was primarily black, white, and gray, and they wore simple leather armor while wielding weapons fashioned from polished animal bones and horns.
After a careful look, Logan concluded they were Grimalkynes. For one, they didn't wear masks like the Gajalaka, and they were slightly taller.
These were peculiar Lynians. Though they looked exactly like cats, according to game lore, it was never explicitly stated that they belonged to the feline family. They possessed significant intelligence, knew how to use tools, could manufacture gunpowder, and, if around humans long enough, could even learn to speak.
The ones in front of him, however, hadn't reached that level yet. They let out frantic "Meow! Meow! Meow!" cries, stepping back nervously. It was understandable; anyone would be terrified if a behemoth weighing a thousand times more than them cornered them in a dead end.
Looking at these little guys who would have to jump just to reach his knees, Logan felt no hostility—only a sense of amusement.
He let out a low growl, restraining the eager Zhu Peiniang, and took a single step forward.
The invisible pressure was the breaking point. The Grimalkynes' frayed nerves snapped, and they reflexively hurled their spears.
The two-meter-long wooden shafts, thick as ping-pong balls and tipped with sharp points, whistled through the air, propelled by strength that belied the creatures' small size. They arched through the air like a school of gray fish, slamming into Logan's chest.
Clink, clank.
A series of crisp metallic sounds rang out, followed by a sight that drove the Grimalkynes to despair. Every spear was deflected by his hardened scales, falling uselessly to the ground. Even the sharpest among them left only an imperceptible mark.
Zhu Peiniang couldn't help but let out a chortle at the sight, but to the Grimalkynes, her laughter sounded like a terrifying roar. Fear sent them scurrying like headless flies, but with stone walls on three sides and a giant blocking the only exit, there was nowhere to run.
One of them, perhaps out of sheer terror, accidentally ran headfirst into Logan's leg. Upon realizing what it had hit, its eyes rolled back, and it collapsed, stiff as a board.
"Fishball was killed by the big monster, meow!"
"We're gonna be eaten, meow!"
This caused the remaining Grimalkynes to panic even more; some even buried their heads against the stone wall like ostriches.
"Scared to death just like that?"
Logan looked at the stiff Grimalkyne at his feet. He hadn't expected them to be so fragile. Is this a common feline trait? Physiological stress caused by extreme fear?
He extended a single claw, carefully pressing against the creature's chest. It was still breathing; there was hope.
After a moment's thought, he used a claw to scrape a finger-sized piece of sugar crystal from his dorsal spines and stuffed it into the Grimalkyne's mouth. Whether it worked or not wasn't his concern.
No longer interested in bullying the fragile little things, he stepped into his nest. He trampled around the bed he had lined with Tobi-Kadachi and Anjanath feathers, found a comfortable spot, and lay down.
Following Logan's lead, Zhu Peiniang ignored the furry intruders and went to the basin to drink water.
Seeing the path clear, the Grimalkynes became frantic. They shouldered their small bundles, grabbed their fallen comrade by the limbs, and vanished through the entrance in the blink of an eye. As for the spears? They didn't even dare think about picking them up.
Once they were gone, Logan surveyed the damage. Nothing important was missing—just a few mushrooms gone from the woodpile and an old jar that had been pried open.
These were trivialities. However, a spear left on the ground caught his eye.
The shaft was a straight branch from some shrub, stripped of its bark and polished smooth, gleaming with a brownish-oily tint from fire-roasting. But the tip wasn't bone or horn—it was a piece of golden metal that looked like pure gold.
If it really was gold, that was a rarity. As a precious metal, it was seldom found in such a large chunk.
Logan picked up the spear. In his massive talons, it felt like a tiny toothpick. He brought the golden tip close to his eye and gave it a hard scrape with a sharp nail.
Judging by the color and the weight in his palm, it was indeed gold, though its hardness suggested it might be a gold alloy.
He couldn't be sure, but it didn't matter. Logan ripped the golden head off the wood, gave the sharp end a quick trim, and swallowed it whole.
Gold is an exceptional conductor of heat and electricity with high ductility, playing an irreplaceable role in industrial fields. As Logan continued to evolve, his need for such metallic elements increased.
However, gold is chemically stable. With his current stomach acid, digesting it was possible but laborious. Consequently, Logan decisively invested all his current Evolution Points into his digestive and absorption capabilities.
As a familiar warm current surged through him, a vast network of nerve bundles began to grow within his stomach. These nerves connected directly to his electrical organs, allowing him to discharge high-frequency currents.
Once the gastric juices submerged the food, the nerves released electricity. A wondrous electrolytic reaction occurred, breaking the metal down at a microscopic level and accelerating absorption.
This process generated significant heat. To compensate, a layer of thermal insulation formed throughout his digestive tract to slow the heat release, ensuring his body could dissipate it safely.
His belly felt warm, as if he were carrying a small furnace—a nice way to keep warm, though the energy consumption was high. It felt like a waste to let all that heat dissipate; he'd have to find a way to utilize it later.
A flood of gold ions traveled through his blood and fluids, gathering in his nerves, bones, and scales, quietly altering their properties. The cozy, warm sensation made Logan drowsy, and his eyes gradually drifted shut.
As he fell into a deep sleep, a group of Grimalkynes gathered on the yellow sands just outside the cave, celebrating their narrow escape.
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