After having killed the Sea Cricketeer in rage, Xu Shao's bloodlust has somewhat subsided, clearing his sense of mind. Feeling quite satisfied with his work, Xu Shao turned around to look at his younger sister, Xu Reya, checking to see if she weren't badly hurt that is.
His gaze met with Xu Reya's, who looked at him in admiration. You could see the dire state she is in, as her tortoiseshell was severely damaged beyond repair; full of web cracks, and deep dents. Tears dribbling down her face, as she cried in relief, fear, but also in awe. That was just how close she was in a near-death experience.
If it weren't for her older brother Xu Shao appearing in the nick of time, out of luck, to save her. She would have been slain and crushed to death by the sheer force of the Sea Cricketeer's brutal attacks.
Xu Shao was clearly worried, expressing his concerns for her wellbeing, "Are you alright, sis?", after having observed the serious bad state she is in.
Xu Reya lightly nodded her head in confirmation, reassuring her brother that she wasn't in a life-threatening state. For the most parts, it will be just difficult for her to journey home that is.
She replied, "I'm alright. I'm alive that all that matters.", thanking Xu Shao for his help. Whilst, hitting her on the sandy ground constantly in her stupidity.
Giving some thought, Xu Shao said, "I see... So are you able to walk home by yourself or do you need my help? "
Xu Shao asked his injured sister on whether she could walk home by herself, alone without any need of support, or he could just simply accompany back with her. Xu Reya then affirms to him that she can manage to walk by herself.
Xu Reya reassures him, "Yeah, I can manage somehow." In response, Xu Shao asked slightly curious about the matter, as to why she is out alone in the wilderness by herself, "I see. Are you by chance on your way heading home. Or just out to scavenge for food."
With her brother asking the question, Xu Reya kept quiet, her heart was in a state of turmoil. She was quite embarrassed to tell him the truth, that she was just looking for food, but was unfortunately managed to get caught in a struggle herself.
She couldn't find anything edible, laying around by herself. She doesn't know what is safe to eat and what is dangerous upon consumption by herself. So she hesitated a bit. This causes the food source around the base to quickly run out, as her sibling gobbled them up, that got there before her before she musters up the courage to compete.
Which now resulted in her current situation, of getting herself ambushed by a strong predator, twice her size. This is just literally bullying the weak, and it almost got herself killed in the process.
Now she was quite a shame to even tell him of the truth, and on how weak and inferior of a creature she is.
The gap between herself and the much older ones just keeps on growing, as they slowly grow stronger and bigger in size. Having risen in levels and strength steadily, becoming out of her reach.
So Xu Reya told a lie, "I was just... on my way home. Heading home that's it.", Xu Reya paused her speech in mid-sentence, afraid that he would belittle her for being weak.
It's only natural that in the wild, the weak die off, and the strong survive. The chances of him abandoning her, from being quite a burden, or too much of a task to handle after, is quite high.
So she changed her statement to something else, avoiding the subject at hand, despite how hungry and starving she is.
Xu Shao observed her from the sideline, her small figure was quite obvious, leading to him assuming that she is malnourished. That would explain her stagnated growth, and size, being timid and quite weak.
He finds it quite strange on how small her overall size is when compared to himself and the rest of his brethren's.
Every day, Xu Shao would closely observe the growth of his brothers and sisters, whether it is small, tiny, or some major growth spurt. Everyone is indeed making some growth of progress. However, Xu Reya still remains small tiny in size, almost like when she born.
So Xu Shao thought, 'Is she purposely starving herself. What for...'. This enigma indeed left him puzzled.
Why?
There was plentiful food lying, despite seaweeds running out, there are still other alternatives. Even leftovers of wild prey and dead critters are still better than nothing. So why is she starving herself?
The Ocean seashore is quite big and vast...
Even if you can't find food on land, there is still the sea; full of wonderful fishes, aquarium animals, oceanic wildlife, fauna and plants.
So Xu Shao preemptively asked her, "Are you by chance hungry, sis? I can share the prey I hunt with you. And teach you how to find food. Food is everywhere. Here and there.", worrying about her health, as an older brother would.
Upon hearing the mentioning of food, Xu Reya becomes immediately responsive. She looked at her brother with teary starry eyes. Drawing much closer in excitement and expectation.
She shouted excitedly, "Are you really sure, big brother?", and he replied with, "Yeah..."
Xu Shao drew closer to the corpse of the Sea Cricketeer he killed, dragging along its dead torso in his mouth, bringing it towards the direction of Xu Reya. The corpse being dragged along the sandy beach area, leaving behind a small trail in the wet sand.
He motioned, "Here.", dropping the corpse caught in his mouth, down with a thud. As Xu Reya looks at it with drooly lips, saliva almost overflowing out of her mouth.
She chomps and tore bits of the Sea Cricketeer's body off. Finding it quite hard to chew on the hard endoskeleton of the Sea Cricketeer. Nevertheless, she continued to chew breaking apart the thin endoskeleton, then into its meaty flesh.
Watching from a distance, Xu Shao looked happy and was indeed satisfied with looking at her happily eating her fill away.
Now changing the subject, Xu Shao then has a look at his Status, recently updated after his frequent level us. He should be now a lot stronger than his previous self.
He shouted, "Status", and a blue screen then appeared, displaying him his status screen.
-Status Screen-
Name: Xu Shao
Race: Baby Tortoise
Level: 004
Title: Lil' Straggler
-Stats-
HP: 27/27（Green）（Details）
MP: 15/15（Blue）（Details）
SP: 41/41（Yellow）（Details）
SP+: 49/41（Red）（Details）
-Attributes-
Strength: 18
Defense: 49
Agility: 19
Endurance:19
Intellect: 23
Luck: 9
Unallocated Stat Points: 12
-Skill List-
「Bite Lv5」「Hide Lv1」「Leap Lv1」「Defence Up Lv2」「Overeating Lv2」「Weak Acid Resistance Lv3」「Charge Lv2」
Xu Shao thought to himself, 'I have indeed become a lot stronger. But there are still more creatures here that are stronger than me. I need to be cautious and become stronger. Not unless I risk the chance of getting eaten myself.'
Xu Shao was already quite the intelligent lad as he is. Realizing the limit of his strength, and not being too arrogant as Xu Kaan was.
There are still a lot more monsters bigger and stronger than he is. Just by being able to level up doesn't mean that you are able to qualify yourself as being at the top of the food chain.
Xu Reya was quite satisfied with having the leftovers of Shao's kill, even if she didn't actually put in much work. That was something that doesn't happen quite often
At least she could rely on her big brother Xu Shao when the time comes if she needs help. If she is willing to learn from Xu Shao, correcting her weak mindset and lifestyle, and be able to survive on her own. Rather than being too over-reliant on him, that is.
Xu Shao looked over, and asked, "Are you finished?" Xu Reya replied, "En!", and nodded her head.
They both head home to the nest.
On their way home to the nest, Xu Shao pointed out the plentiful food resources, apart from Seaweeds and kelp. Edible seashells and wild critters commonly found by the seabed.
Xu Shao then grabs a few seaweed as a traveling snack, sharing it with Xu Reya on their way home.
Once they were inside of the nest and stone safety encirclement. It was already starting to get dark out. So they each began to go to sleep like the other tortoises within the facility. Reya was afraid of being alone by herself at night.
So she asked on whether could she cuddle up next to Xu Shao, "Can I sleep next to you?" Xu Shao then happily obliged, "Sure thing...", finding it not to be a problem at all.
Xu Shao then slowly digs a hole in the sand surrounding them, partially burying themselves within the sand, disguising themselves as still rocks. In an attempt to trick predators, if they were to be invaded and prey upon during the night.