A Cold-Blooded POV

*Splash*

The sounds of rippling water awoke the reptile. He had been asleep for almost four hours. He slowly opened his eyes to look around. He lay at the edge of the lake with his backside inside of the water.

Glancing around he realized that he was not the only monster at the lake, there were all types of monsters, large and small, around drinking from the lake.

He reflexively jumped out of the water getting in a defensive stance, facing the closest monster near him, which was an odd-looking monster with over 30 legs.

It had large mandibles with a long shiny carapace. Noticing the lizard's hostility, it clacked its mandibles threateningly. Yet there wasn't any killing intent behind its threat, instead, it seemed like the monster was trying to say "I'm not here to fight, but if you attack me I will kill you!".

Seeing the lizard's confusion, it snapped its mandibles annoyed, and went back to drinking from the lake. The reptile was shocked. Were the monsters not here to attack each other?

He looked around, the lake was peaceful, apart from a couple of monsters threatening each other to keep their distance, the lake was in serenity.

Noticing this, the reptile subconsciously twirled his tail. Wait. His tail? Didn't he lose it in the fight against the tiger? He looked back at his rear end and found his long dark green tail there, seemly like it was never gone.

It didn't look bruised or injured. Thinking about this he also realized that his unbearable pain was gone, along with the wounds from the tiger's ice shards. How did he heal? Then he heard the sound of the lake's water again.

He looked to his right, back at the lake water that all the monsters seemed to be drinking. He also felt the urge to drink from the lake, and like before, the clear blue liquid seemed to be glowing.

It could have been because of his mutated eyes, however, he could not tell for sure. He walked close to the water and stuck his tongue in. It was good, really good!

He buried his whole snout into the water making medium splashes. The other monsters around the lake looked at the loud lizard, annoyed. Before he had come it was quiet, now all they could hear was loud splashes.

Some monsters stared at the reptile with rage, while others simply scoffed at him. However, none of the monsters broke the peace treaty that was at the lake.

The reptile paid no mind to them, he continued to drink his fill. The purified water flowed down his throat with a chilly feeling, almost like it was ice cold, yet the water was only room temperature.

It had a sweet, yet simple taste that was unexplainable. After a couple more minutes of washing down the water, the lizard lifted his head.

He had remembered that 'the voice' spoke about evolution. He also knew that he had tons of biomass that he could use now, along with two skill points. He licked the air in excitement. He decided to go to his cave, which was safe from any threatening stares.

…

Finally making it to the cavern entrance, he entered the tunnel leading to the cave. His belly wiggled as he walked. It had become chubby and wide from all the water he had drunk back at the lake.

He walked into the cave, the small mana crystals illuminated dimly. He sat in a comfortable position and started to go through the menu in his mind. He chose to get his mutations and use his new skill points.

[Do you want to purchase Teeth +1, Jacobson's organ +2, and Scales +2? This will cost 5 biomass.]

He confirmed.

The soothing feeling engulfed him flowing through his body. He even felt the oddly pacifying feeling of his brain becoming cold and frosty, however, it was far from a brain freeze. Shortly after, the lizard was back in his head looking through what skills would come into use to him in the future.

There were plenty of skills however he was looking at only the skills that would benefit him. He looked through all of them, but only the skill Dig was the most useful to him at this moment.

He had seen the skill Acid Spit but to him, who already had Venomous bite, he felt that the skill wasn't necessary right now. He chose to save his extra skill points.

[Would you like to purchase the skills Dig?]

He confirmed.

Then he checked his status to make sure that the skill was there. And there it was, suddenly while he was on his status the automated voice spoke.

[Would you like to use the Evolution menu?]

Here it was, the big mystery that he was curious about. He confirmed.

[Congratulations on reaching the maximum level for your current species. Evolution will allow you to change your form and increase your stats as a monster.

WARNING: Evolving will make securing XP and biomass more difficult as fewer rewards are given for preying on creatures less evolved than yourself.

Your evolution options are as follows:

- Mature Aeternus Lacerta

- Condense Monster Core]

There were two options available for the reptile. How would he know what to pick if he didn't even know what each of them was exactly?

Though he had an idea of what Mature Aeternus Lacerta could be, what was Condense Monster Core? As if sensing his anxiety the voice spoke once more.

[Mature Aeternus Lacerta - Advance from a Hatchling of your kind into an adult. Base stats will significantly increase, and new skills will be unlocked.]

[Condense Monster Core - Condense the mana you have absorbed into a monster core. The core allows monsters to store and utilize MP. It can also be utilized to empower custom evolution. 100% of the mana required has been obtained.]

The lizard flicked its tongue in deep thought. The first option would provide a significant increase in stats. This would allow him to hunt even easier, and easily kill monsters that are hard for him to kill now like the mother tiger.

However, the second option was very interesting. It would allow him to get his own monster core. Apparently, he had already gathered the required amount of mana. When did he do this? Wait, maybe it was from that lake. It did have a magical glow to it, maybe it stored mana inside of the liquid.

Additionally, the core allowed him to store and use MP. Which meant that he could start using the mana attacks that the mother tiger was using in her fight against him. He witnessed how lethal those attacks were, besides, this was a very beneficial investment for the future.

He could worry about growing bigger later on. Right now was his only chance to earn the ability to use magic. Why would he miss out on this opportunity?

[Would you like to spend this evolution to Condense your Monster Core?]

He confirmed.