Oliver knew that idling in bed could lead to his demise as the stone barricade he had recently erected would likely only slow down any nasties that had human munchies. Plus, the thought of any creature climbing the walls to get to him was nightmare inducing enough that sleep was ripped from him like a non-existent blanket.
He kicked himself out of bed and grabbed the propped up uncommon spear that leaned on the nearby tree. He focused his senses to see if an intruder had made their way into his camp. His perception seemed slightly improved from before due to the cumulative effect of the level up and the wall upgrade.
Nothing triggered any mental red flags. He started taking apart his backpack and stashing the non-essentials on his sleeping platform. What was left was the water bottle, the stone hatchet looped on his belt and enough empty space to store a few low level Devourer crabs. He made his way over the stone rampart, grabbing 3 extra spears that he could chuck at the enemy and not be too sad if lost.
The grass grew wildly around the pond, enough to hide very small creatures if they decided to crouch down. Combined with the darkness of the twilight biome, creatures could easily hide away from Oliver. He paused as he neared the edge of the campfire light and allowed his eyes to adjust to the darkness. He wondered if there was a skill that could help him see better in the dark. Perhaps he would be able to unlock it if he reached the requirements.
After a few minutes of keeping watch and the shadows gradually becoming separate entities instead of big black blobs, he was ready to go for a hunt. He held the uncommon spear in his right hand and the additional spears in his left. He should have made them shorter if he was planning on using them as a javelin, they were too awkward to drag around efficiently.
He had crouch-walked over to the other side of the pond and now saw the shadows of a few large rocks in front of him. He was cautious and observed as a gut instinct told him that some of these were most likely camouflaged Devourer Multipods.
Oliver stilled his breathing and squatted on his calves. Few moments later, as predicted, one of the boulders started to slowly shuffle towards the edge of the forest. The crabs really did blend into the stony shore of the pond when they decided not to move, only their movement could give them away.
He switched out his best spear for a mediocre one, gripping it tight in his right hand and dropping the rest next to where he crouched. There was no way of telling if this spear could pierce through the shell of the crab, Oliver had his doubts as those shells seem quite solid. It was best to try out the theory as he didn't believe in missing out on an opportunity to learn.
In a fluid motion, he arced his arm and flung the spear-turned-javelin directly at the scuttling multipod. The spear shot through the air as if it was thrown by a professional athlete, the force surprised Oliver as well as he wasn't a born athlete. He was fit but not to this extent, the level up of the scavenger class definitely had a profound effect on his physique. Maybe being an opportunistic feeder had its perks after all.
The spear hit the middle of the shell with a clang. The convex shape of the shell caused the projectile to skitter off into the brush, the impact leaving a white scratch mark on the brownish surface of the carapace.
The multipod lowered itself, protecting its legs and spun around to locate the threat. It was unable to make any noise but it paused when it saw Oliver's figure reaching to grab another spear. It sized up its attacker instantly and started to scuttle frantically in Oliver's direction, the legs scratching over the rocks and grass clumps.
Oliver's Aqua-form Biology skill came into use as he observed the behavior of the Devourer Multipod. Thoughts of its feeding habits, hunting patterns, and methods of attack came flooding into his brain. His first attack had been more of a taunt than an attack. Easily forcing the crab-morph to close the distance to him allowing Oliver to prepare.
Keeping a low power stance, Oliver kept the point of the spear pointed directly at the advancing foe. The crab desperately moved as fast as it could, its advantage lay in close quarter combat. The blender-like teeth could easily rend apart clothes and flesh if given the chance. If its target fell over and lost function of their legs, the crab could burrow into the vitals. This would be a gory and painful death for any creature foolish enough to give up a spatial advantage. Which is exactly what it thought Oliver was doing.
When the crab had skittered to about two and a half meters away from Oliver, it pushed all its front facing legs directly underneath it and propelled itself upward in a surprise jump attack. The underside of the Devourer Multipod became painfully apparent as its teeth were already spinning within it's cyclical jaws. The leap gave Oliver exactly the opening he was hoping for.
In one quick and powerful thrust, the one he had spent hours practicing, he drove the tip of the spear directly into the open mouth of the jumping multipod. The softer underside of the crab squelched as the combined momentum of its own jump and the thrusting spear caved in most of its viscera. The legs of the creature shook feebly towards the impaling stick and then went limp. Gastric juices, blood and fecal matter dripped off of it as the last remaining life energy drained out.
[Level 2 Green Devourer Multipod Slain. 60 experience points acquired.]
With a quick check of his status he confirmed the scavenger class had received the experience and not the fisherman class. This brought his total exp to 100 for his current level, only 200 more to go for the next level up.
He plopped the dead, skewered crab off his spear by planting it on the ground carapace first. He then used his feet to pull off the endpoint which was firmly embedded in the Multipod's mouth. He then brought the dead creature towards the pond and gave it a quick rinse to remove the excess bodily fluids that seeped out of its wound. Lastly, he stored the carcass in his backpack, freeing his hands.
The Devourer Multipod's blood which oozed black in the dimly lit forest expanse had a thick and musty smell. An alarm went off in Oliver's head as he heard a skittering sound a dozen meters away. He thought quickly and realized he had made a mistake by washing the blood in the water of the pond.
His Aqua-form Biology skill reminded him that the multipod was a predator that often relied on sight when it was out of the water. The compound eyes of the creature could cover a vast area and could be moved individually to track different targets, but their lack of focus resulted in blurry images unless the target was within 10 meters.
In the water, the crabs relied on their sense of smell. They could easily pick up dead carcasses from a mile away and zero in on the location by tracking the strength of the smell. Essentially, Oliver had just rung the dinner bell for any crabs that were hanging out in the pond.
He looked out and saw many stone-like shells start to emerge in front of him. He counted close to 20 at a quick glance. He slunk away as the first crabs emerged out of the water and clacked their shells against each other trying to figure out which comrade was dead and would therefore be their next meal. Oliver observed from thirty meters away, hiding behind a tree that was large enough to hide most of his features. He thanked the system for giving these crabs poor eyesight.
When the Multipods had grown weary of trying to find a corpse that did not exist they started to become agitated. Those that were not completely out of the water had most likely read the situation and slunk back to the depths. Those that were on the shore however, they started to butt heads against each other. In this case the sounds created were loud clanging noises that reminded Oliver of hitting two rocks against each other.
One of the larger crabs grew tired of a smaller multipod's threats and used three of its legs to flip the smaller creature onto its back. The larger creature mercilessly started gnawing the legs that tried to fight it off, stabbing its own legs into the underside to pin the creature down.
As if there never was any internal conflict, the other crabs turned and watched as their smaller brethren was ripped apart by an older brother. They frantically joined in and gnawed off legs whenever possible, trying their best to get as much meat into their digestive systems. So much for family loyalty within this species.
Oliver used this commotion to move away from the fight, he might circle back and pick off any stragglers if he felt it was safe enough, but for the moment it was best to be nondescript. He would most likely be able to handle two or three shelled creatures at a time but this was more than he could chew.
He instead circled the pond until he found another Devourer Crab slowly skittering in the tall grass. Utilizing the same technique as before, luring and then stabbing when the crab demonstrated its soft spot, the kill was swiftly taken care of and a new carcass was added to his backpack. He repeated this process once more and added a last multipod to the tally.
The hunt had netted him an easy 160 experience points, a few more kills and he would level up. As he began to head towards the camp, his backpack full and unable to store more creatures even if he tried he saw a patch of flattened grass near the edge of the pond clearing.
Interested, he walked over and inspected the anomaly. He soon found traces of small paw prints, the size was akin to the ones a house cat would leave behind. Whatever this creature was, it had walked out of the forest and then sat in this area, explaining the flattened grass. The tracks then led towards his camp, sticking to foliage and leaf cover.
While Oliver was not surprised by the presence of something other than crabs, it intrigued him to think there might also be mammals that live in this biome. Unless there was a crab that had cat paws, in which case that would be utterly terrifying and would most likely stop any further excursion into the night biome.
He began to track the paw prints, the hunting skill provided by the scavenger class helped him greatly in doing so. He could not tell if the tracks were fresh or not, but they were clear enough to follow and so he did. The prints would occasionally disappear for a meter or two, followed by a heavier set of all four limbs. Oliver ventured a guess that the creature would often jump from location to location, perhaps it was a quicker way to navigate the shrubs.
Oliver had not realized how close he had progressed towards the camp until the shadows began to flicker due to the nearby fire. He looked up to see he was only a dozen meters away from his stone wall and sleeping platform. He casually walked over to his base, following the tracks with his eyes until he noticed that they looped back into the woods, this time going deeper.
He saw a flicker of movement in the corner of his eye as he stood looking into the dark woods. He turned his head immediately to figure out what had alerted him. It was then he saw two bright and yellow eyes watching him from a hanging branch.