The next few days fell into a cruel but productive repeat. Ruk became a creature of the shadows and a ghost that lurked in the upper tunnels. He would wake up before the rest of the clan, his small and tiny frame slipping from his crevice while the cavern was still filled with the snores and grunts of sleeping orcs. He would spend the day in the high and narrow passages, a patient hunter and return after the hunting parties, his small gains in the chaos of their larger gains.
The Cave Hoppers were once a frustrating challenge and now became a reliable resource. His agility was now honed to a fine edge and allowed him to move with speed and silence that was not right for his size. He learned their movements, their favorite feeding spots and the signs of their presence. He no longer needed to set tricky traps for a single kill. He could stalk them, corner them, and snatch them from the air in his hands a blur of motion. Each kill was a small and sharp jolt of energy, a tiny step on the path to power.
[Evolutionary Energy: 90/100]
He was close.
The thought was a constant and thrumming hum in the back of his mind. "Ten more points, Just one more kill" he kept saying to himself. The anticipation was a physical tightness in his chest like a hunger that went beyond the need for food. It was the hunger for change and for a definitive yet undeniable step away from the pathetic being he had been.
His body was changing in small ways.
The sickly green of his skin was getting darker, it was taking on a more healthy and more vibrant color. The thin and skinny muscles of his arms and legs were becoming bigger and more defined. He was still small, still a whelp by the clan's standards, but he was no longer the walking stick he had been. He moved with a new confidence and a purpose that was a new look to the fearful creature he had once been.
And he was not the only one who had noticed.
He felt her eyes on him often. Nym, The silent and watchful female. She was a master of the shadows, but he was learning their language too. He would catch glimpses of her at the edge of his sight like a flicker of movement in a dark corner, a brief and intense stare from across the cavern. She never approached him and she never spoke. But her attention was a constant and unnerving presence.
One evening, as he returned from a small hunt, he found a small and perfectly shaped piece of flint lying just inside the entrance to his crevice. It was not a natural formation and it had been deliberately knapped, its edges sharpened to a razor's edge. It was a tool and a weapon. But most importantly it was a gift that no one in the clan would ever give to a whelp like him. There was no note or sign of who had left it. But he knew that it was a message.
I see you, i am not your enemy, i am… interested.
He picked up the flint knife with its weight being solid in his hand. It was a dangerous gesture of an acknowledgment of a secret alliance that had not yet been spoken. He looked across the cavern and saw her...standing near the fire with her face impassive. Her eyes met his for a fraction of a second and in that brief but silent exchange she gave a smirk. to him he took this as a new pact was formed.
His growing confidence had however felt like a a downside. It made him visible and nd it drew the attention of the one orc he wanted to avoid above all others...
He was returning from the upper tunnels with his mind focused on the ten skill points he still needed and he almost ran head first into Bor... the one eyed general was standing at the entrance to the main cavern with his arms crossed over his chest and his expression a was not a happy one.
He was waiting.
"You!" Bor grunted with his voice a low rumble. "Where have you been runt?"
Ruk froze in place with his heart pumping into his throat. He kept his head down and his eyes averted from Bor. "Exploring general..." he said and his voice a respectful murmur.
Bor took a step closer with his shadow twoering over Ruk like a shroud. He sniffed the air with his nostrils flaring. "You don't smell of fear anymore whelp", he said wityh a voice of suspicion. "You smell… clean. Too clean for a bottom feeder who sleeps in a crack in the rock!"
He reached out and grabbed Ruk's arm and his grip like a clamp. He ran a rough thumb over Ruk's bicep and felt the new hard muscle there. "You've been eating well" Bor said with his single eye narrowing.
"Where does a scrap like you find food?"
This was it... the moment he had been dreading for awhile a direct confrontation. He had no good answer to give... he couldn't reveal his secret hunting grounds and he couldn't reveal the System to anyone. Any lie he told would be easily seen through he thought to himself.
SO he chose a a partial truth. "I find what others leave behind" he said with a steady voice. "Scraps. Bones. I am a survivor".
Bor's lip curled in a sneer... "A survivor?" he mocked Ruk, he squeezed Ruk's arm harder and a spike of pain shooting up to his shoulder. "You are a parasite! A rat that scurries in the dark! Whatever you have found, it belongs to the clan. It belongs to the Alpha and itt belongs to me!"
He shoved Ruk hard with his hand sending him stumbling backward. Ruk caught his balance and his new agility saving him from falling. He stood his ground and his expression carefully neutral, but inside a cold and hard anger was beginning to burn.
"Everything I have is for the clan general" Ruk said with his voice a low murmur. It was a lie but it was the right lie for this moment.
Bor seemed to be about to say something else and to press the issue against Bor but then a sound came from across the cavern. One of the other warriors was gesturing to him with a question about the evening's guard rotation. Bor grunted with annoyance and his feeble attention was diverted. He gave Ruk one last look of pure hatred.
"I am watching you runt", he snarled at Ruk one last time. "One misstep i will personally tear you limb from limb and feed you to the Grawlers myself"
He turned and stomped away with his anger, Ruk stood there for a long moment with his arm throbbing in pain, and his heart pounding. The danger had passed for now... But the threat was clear. Bor saw him as a rival, a tiny rival, but a rival nonetheless andnd Bor was not one to tolerate rivals.
He needed to level up now and he needed the power to defend himself against brutes like Bor. He turned and without a second thought scrambled back up the rock wall and into the upper tunnels. The clan and the danger of the ranks could all wait.
The only thing that mattered now was the hunt.
He moved with a new urgency with his senses on fire. He found a chamber crawling with Cave Hoppers and their chirps echoing in the enclosed space. He didn't bother with traps. He didn't bother with stealth motion his hands snatched the creatures from the air with a speed that would have been impossible just a few days ago.
He was a predator unleashed.
He caught one, then another, devouring their bodys on the move, the small jolts of energy fueling his frenzy.
He cornered the last one in a narrow area. It was larger than the others and its exoskeleton was a deep iridescent blue. It chirped at him with a sound that was less fearful and more defiant. He leaped with his hands closing around it. It struggled but he held on.
He activated DEVOUR.
The rush of energy was different this time. It was larger and potent. it carried a strange quality, and it was enough.
[Evolutionary Energy: 100/100]
[Level Up! Host has reached Level 2.]
The world exploded in flash of light and the System interface flashed, filling his vision and a wave energy surged through every part of his body. It was painful and it transcended into something else.
It was the pain of transformation.
He felt his bones shift and harden. He felt his muscles tear and put themselves back together. He felt his skin thicken with energy flowing through it. He screamed a sound that was lost in the silent stone of the deep earth. The energy was rewriting him, the last pieces of the weak and pathetic creature he had been and replacing it with something new.
The process lasted for what felt like forever, but was likely only a few minutes. When it was over, he was left kneeling on the ground and his body slick with sweat, his breath coming in harsh gasps. He felt… different, solid and powerful.
He slowly got to his feet with his new body feeling strange and unfamiliar. He looked at his hands and they were larger, his fingers thicker and his nails harder and sharper. He was still small but now he was no longer weak.
A new series of notifications pulsed in his vision, the text glowing with a brilliant golden light.
[Level: 2]
[All stats increased by +2]
[New Skill Unlocked: Analyze (Tier 1). You may now analyze any creature, object, or substance to gain basic information about its properties, strengths, and weaknesses.]
He stared at the words with his mind racing. Analyze? It was the perfect skill for him. a skill that rewarded intelligence, observation, and planning. It was a skill that would allow him to turn his greatest strength into a weapon.
He looked at the dead Cave Hopper at his feet, the one that had pushed him over the edge.
He focused on it and mentally activated his new skill.
[Target: Alpha Cave Hopper (Deceased)]
[A rare, dominant variant of the common Cave Hopper. Possesses higher agility and a mild neurotoxin in its bite. Essence is more potent than its lesser kin.]
He smiled with a slow and cold smile. The smile of a predator who had just been given a new set of claws.
He was Level 2.
He had a new skill.
He had a secret ally.
He had an enemy who was watching his every move.
The game had just changed, and Bor...he thought with a thrill of anticipation, had no idea what was coming. The whelp was growing up, nd he was still hungry, so so very hungry... He would need to be more careful now because Bor was watching him. But caution would not stop him itt would only make him smarter and more dangerous.
The next time Bor came for him he would be ready and he would not be the one who backed down. The spark had been lit and soon it would become a fire...