6 months later Cyan had gotten used to his new body, he had grown, and was no longer the puppy he had once been. He was still rather jealous of his mother, with her opposable thumbs, but was quite content with the life he had been given. His physical stats had risen to 2, with the max of a level 0 being ten he was still a long ways away, but the normal standard was only 5, and he felt that with the remaining four months that he had he should be able to exceed that level. If he pushed himself there shouldn't be a problem raising them to at least 6.
However his mother had different plans for him, seeing that her son was content lazing around each day, while she had to look after his 5 now crawling siblings, she decided it was time for her to take action. His physical attributes might be on the low side, but his intelligence more than made up for his inadequacies in that department.
"Cyan, I did not tell you before because you were too young, but there is a way to increase your stats, not just relying on your natural growth. It is true that absorbing the cores of creatures you defeat will not raise your evolution points until you reach adolescence, but that's because you cannot gain levels until you reach adolescence. This doesn't not mean that the cores have no purpose to you though, they can be used to enhance your growth, raising your stats. The stat growth will be up to you, but will effect your future growth as well. Each level up to ten your stat growth will increase by what you stop at before you reach level one. Potentially you could max them all out.. though the amount of cores and killing you would have to do would be... intense. It is much better to simply focus on one or two stats. "
"You have four months until you have to go to the dragon, until then you will focus on raising your stats, I do not want to see you here during the day again. To the west of this mountain you will find the desert. It is hot, dry and sandy. You will find it very uncomfortable. However the beasts on the outer area are suitable for your advancement, but they are still stronger than you. Do not attempt to attack groups of them or you will die."
Vivi refused to say anything else as she escorted her son out of the cottage. He was greeted by the familiar sight of the small village he lived in. Several different types of beast man could be seen in the area, all of them walking on two legs, grasping things with their bestial hands. He, and he alone was the only bestial beast man in the village. The first time he had left the house he had gotten more than a few strange looks, even a few screams. However his mother had rushed to protect him from the group of villagers who had rushed to attack the invading beast. Only after repeated attempts to stop them, and Cyan communicating did they stop. He still received wary gazes as he walked through the small village, the other children avoiding him like the plague.
Sighing in his mind Cyan walked through the village with his head down. His mother had told him that to humans beast man were little more than beasts, and even in his own village he was treated worse than the humans treated the beast man. He looked forward to the day he would leave this behind to become the disciple of the dragon, at least it did not look down on him for his bestial appearance.
The demeaning looks from the villagers soon became a distant memory as he wandered into the woods. The sounds of nature surrounded him, putting him in an odd sense of comfort. The vivid scent of the forest gave him far more information than his eyes could see. Around an hour ago, a group of beast man had passed through here, likely out to hunt. They had brought with them several enslaved wolves. A growl escaped his throat as he thought of the evil they were putting the wolves through, the beast man themselves had just escaped their chains, and yet they quickly enslaved another race. They were the true beasts, the so called intelligent races of this world. Always trying to dominate the other species.
He left the forest behind him after a few hours, traversing the sparse vegetation was easy with his enhanced senses. Beyond the forest the desert began, it was much like what you would imagine a desert to be hot, dry, and full of sand. The sand gave him a pleasant feeling between the pads on his paws, but it was rather hot. Not enough to burn, but still unpleasant. Strange smells began to enter his nose, the smell of sand being the most prominent. He could smell the fading scent of the forest behind him, as well as the smell of creatures on top of the sand.
He advanced carefully through the desert, each step light, but being buried into the sand. As his front paw descended into the sand he felt it land on something hard. The hard object moved, and a large reptilian head raised from the sand. The sand colored snout reminded him of the pictures he had seen of alligators as a child. The massive teeth that appeared as the alligator snapped at him sending a shiver down his spine. "This is why I never went to Florida!!" He thought to himself as he rolled out of the way of the giant beast.
He attempted to run, but the sand slowed his movements, and the alligator swam through the sand like a fish in water. It was soon upon him, much closer than he would like. Its massive teeth once again approached him as the creature was determined to make a meal out of him. Once again he rolled to the side. He looked around, hoping to find something, anything to help him escape from this massive beast.
100 yards to his left a massive stone slab stuck out of the ground, cyan sighed in relief as his salvation was at hand. Struggling through the sand, he had to dodge the alligators bite several more times before he reached the slab, barely managing to crawl on as he avoided a lethal chimp from this demonic beast.
The alligator stared at him, unwilling to let such a tasty meal escape from its grasp. The beast leaped from the sand, causing the stone slab to vibrate as its massive body landed. The creature slowly advanced toward Cyan, its massive body at least 13 feet as it swaggered towards him, a look of hunger in its eyes.
Cyan slowly backed off from the beast, keeping out of reach of the massive jaws that wanted to devour him. His feet soon reached the end of the slab, and the alligator dashed towards his prey, determined to eat him. Cyan watched as the creature approached with wonder. The alligator was putting all of its effort into moving as fast as it could, and yet it moved at such a slow pace.
An evil plan began to form in his mind as Cyan slowly led the alligator around the slab, judging its movements as it would occasionally snap at him. The moment the alligator snapped, Cyan dodges to the side, then rushed to the back of the beast, moving as fast as he could. He jumped on the back of the alligator, close to its shoulder blades, and bit down on its neck. The bite did not make it through the scales, but he quickly jumped off again, luring the beast to attack.
He repeated the process over and over again, the stupid beast continually falling for the same trap again and again. Eventually the repeated attacks in the same place broke the tough scales, causing blood to flow. The injury enraged the beast, causing its attacks to grow more frantic.
The taste of blood in his mouth was all of motivation Cyan needed to continue the long fight, he knew that victory was within his grasp as he continued to harass the Alligator. The wound got bigger, and blood began to drench the stone slab.
The alligator began to notice something was wrong, and ignored the prey that had infuriated it so, and began to waddle towards the edge of the slab at high speeds. Well what qualified for high speeds for a sand alligator on land.
Cyan gave a wolfy grin as he saw the fleeing gator, running up it's back, sinking his teeth into the exposed flesh on the alligators neck. He ripped away his mouth, bringing with it a massive chunk of flesh and spurting blood. Resisting the urge to swallow, he spit out the flesh, and tore into it's neck again. The alligator roared in anger and pain as it dove into the sand, leaving a stain of blood on the sand, and a dazed Cyan shaking his head.
His daze only lasted for a moment, as the sand around him was dyed red, and a notification popped up in front of him.