Chapter 506
Chapter 506
After his Kaiju emerged from the Behemoth Cavern, Jake took a moment to study it. The enormous creature looked like a saurian beast that walked on its hind legs.
While the Kaiju was huge and heavy, it wasn’t slow or awkward by any means. When developing this beast, Jake had made sure it would be quite agile and fast for its size. He hadn’t wanted his Kaiju to be slow and therefore vulnerable. A sluggish beast could get picked apart by sudden attacks and ambushes, so Jake had been meticulous about the proportions of the future Kaiju: limb length, muscle distribution, tail balance. Everything was tuned for agility and speed.
The beast towered over him, barely moving as it awaited any instructions from him. The cavern in which the Apex Hollow was located had a high ceiling, but there was just enough room for the Kaiju to stand on its hind legs without grazing the rock with the crown of its head. Had the beast been a little taller or the ceiling a bit lower, it would have been forced into a forward-leaning stance.
The saurian beast had four limbs, a powerful tail, and an elongated snout filled with jagged teeth. While the creature stood on its hind legs at that moment, Jake had designed it so it could lower itself onto all fours and move like a lizard. The creature was a perfect blend of raw power and incredible agility. Jake couldn’t wait to pit it against the ravagespawn, and especially against the Titans.
Satisfied with the Kaiju’s appearance, Jake summoned its stats. They immediately popped up before his eyes, and he took a second to study them.
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Name: Saurian Prowler
Type: Reptile
Rank: I
Special Abilities: Transfer Maw
XP: 0 / 50,000
HP: 1,245,000 / 1,245,000
MP: 900,000 / 900,000
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He’d named this Kaiju the Saurian Prowler for now. Sure, after it acquired more abilities, he might rename it, but for now, he decided to keep this name.
The current rank of the Saurian Prowler was I. The maximum rank was V, and since his Kaiju, just like any other creature he developed, could have one ability slot per rank, it could have a total of five unique abilities.
His Kaiju had been developed mostly without his intervention. When it required a certain amount of basic materials like biomass or rigidbone to grow further, some of his other creatures would add them to the Behemoth Cavern. The process was fully automated, so his supervision hadn’t been needed.
However, there was one time when he did need to step in to supervise the development process. It was during one of the final stages when another influx of basic materials was needed. The reason Jake needed to step in at that time was that his Kaiju was almost ready and he needed to give it its first special ability, which it was going to have after its emergence from the Behemoth Cavern.
So when it was time to pick an ability for his Kaiju, Jake had given the matter some thought. He wanted to grant his saurian beast unique abilities that could go well with its size and capabilities. None of the abilities he had unlocked for his regular creatures fit the bill, however. He knew that to find some new abilities, he needed to gather unique genetic materials and check them for possible combinations in the Genome Fusion Lab.
Sure, he had a collection of unique genetic materials his creatures had gathered over the past several days, but after checking them for possible combinations, he saw that none produced any interesting abilities that could be a good choice for the Saurian Prowler.
And to unlock some new abilities, he would have had to hunt down elite monsters, as only those produced unique genetic materials that could be used to unlock new abilities for his creatures. It could have taken a few days wandering around the city, looking for elite monsters, defeating them, and collecting genetic materials from them before he could have finally found some good, interesting ability for his Kaiju to learn.
But since he wanted to release the Kaiju as soon as it finished developing, he decided to put off searching for suitable abilities for now and just fill the first ability slot of the Saurian Prowler with one of the already unlocked ones. He knew that the choice was permanent, so he gave the matter some thought and after careful consideration, decided to give the Kaiju the Transfer Maw special ability, the same one his wyrmcallers had.
The reasoning behind this was simple. Just like him, all his creatures needed mana to survive. Since Dead City was going to become the Saurian Prowler hunting grounds, it could be problematic for it to replenish its mana, as this city was located a long way from the Apex Hollow. Mana logistics mattered. The saurian beast needed a way to be able to replenish its mana reserves on its own, without having to rely on the stash of mana located in the Apex Hollow.
One way to solve this was by granting the Kaiju the ability his managatherers had, which allowed them to locate mana clouds and absorb mana from them. However, after thinking about it for some more, Jake decided to give the Saurian Prowler the Transfer Maw ability intsead because this way, he could kill two birds with one stone.
So if his Kaiju ever got in a fix, thanks to that ability, it would be able to deploy combat units from the Apex Hollow. And when it needed to replenish its mana reserves, it could summon managatherers using the same ability. It seemed like a good idea for his Kaiju to be able to deploy combat units when needed, so he inserted the Transfer Maw ability into the Kaiju’s first ability slot, and after that, the final stage of its development began.
During that stage, Jake had made the final adjustment, instructing the Transfer Maw to be placed in the back of the Kaiju’s throat.
So, that was where it was located. Jake decided to take a moment to test the ability. He backed up until he almost reached the other side of the cavern. After that, he mentally instructed the Saurian Prowler to drop to all fours and teleport several crawlers from the ten-story lair in New Hope to the Apex Hollow.
The Kaiju did as it was told, lowering itself to all fours like an enormous lizard. Its elongated snout was just a few yards away from Jake. The saurian beast then opened its jaws wide, and Jake saw as the Transfer Maw located at the back of its throat yawned open. In the next second, several crawlers emerged from it. One by one, they scuttled along the Kaiju’s tongue and spilled from its mouth.
Satisfied, Jake instructed them to return to the ten-story lair and told his Kaiju to stand on its hind legs again. He then just watched the saurian beast for a moment, thinking. At that moment, his managatherers couldn’t actually transfer mana from their abdomens, where they stored it, directly to other creatures of his. To do that, a special ability was needed. All they could do was collect mana and store it inside their abdomens. But Jake was going to fix it shortly.
He checked the Kaiju’s stats one more time. Its HP sat at 1,245,000 and its MP was 900,000, meaning it had three times more hit points than he currently had and it had twice as many mana points as he had. The Saurian Prowler also had an experience bar. The Kaiju needed to gain 50,000 XP to level up. After which, Jake guessed, it would be able to evolve to the next rank.
Apparently, unlike the regular creatures he developed, the Saurian Prowler’s stats didn’t need to be improved in order for the Kaiju to evolve. It didn’t even have the same stats as his regular creatures had. Instead, to be able to evolve, the Kaiju needed to gain XP and level up, the way Jake did.
He didn’t know how much time it would take for the Saurian Prowler to gain fifty thousand XP, though. A few hours? Several days? If it was the latter, he might be able to find some interesting abilities for his Kaiju by the time it got ready to evolve to the next stage.
Anyway, it was high time to let his Kaiju from the Apex Hollow into the wild.