—crakkkkk

In the depths of an ancient mountain, in the unassuming embrace of a pile of hay, a five-foot egg sat inconspicuously with a slight crack on its side.

—crackkkk

The egg shook and slowly began to leak a greenish liquid from within. It had been sitting here for who knows how long, but now it was about to hatch.

—crackkkkk

From a subtle shake to a fierce quake, the egg moved until it finally rolled to the floor and cracked open by the side. From within this five-foot-tall egg, what came out was not one, not two, but about 300 little lizard creatures with green scales and soft bodies.

They were small, about the size of a pinky, but they were numerous. This was the circle of life. They had been born; now all that remained was for them to eat and grow.

And so they did, from small plants growing in the subterranean hell that was the bottom of the mountain to the leaves growing from roots in the wall. But sooner rather than later, they ran out of food.

Born in an environment that didn't fit their needs, they began to starve and slowly die out, one after the other. Nature was cruel. They were destined to die not long after they were born...

However, one of them, in particular, was not ready for death. It thought of another way to survive.

Eat!!!

It had to make use of what was present... There were approximately 300 sources of protein around it. It would have to adapt, and just like that...

A herbivore turned into a carnivore overnight.

Slowly eating away at its own brethren... slowly growing, becoming more powerful, evolving.

Claws, teeth, and scales as hard as rocks... this creature kept changing. It had been blessed with the most precious talent of all.

The talent of evolution.

,,,

Time passed.

"Don't let it escape!" A young man shouted at the top of his voice while directing the men and women around him to attack.

In front of them was a monstrous lizard about 6 feet tall and almost 16 feet long. It was so big that it needed several fully grown men to even force it back.

—creeeeeeee

The lizard shouted in pain as a spear was thrust right through its tail, immobilizing its movements. It was going about its daily business when, out of nowhere, these men in furry hides had jumped out and attacked it.

"Rock hammer!"

While the giant lizard struggled, a lady in primitive wear appeared in the air right above its head and struck it with the force of ten men.

—Boom!!!

The force of the attack was so great that it caused a cloud of dust to pick up, and the surrounding men were flung backward from the shockwave.

The lizard creature whimpered as it slowly fell into unconsciousness from the impact, looking at the figure of the lady who had just attacked it.

After several hours of struggle, the monster was subdued.

"Pack him up, we're heading back to the camp," the lady commanded with a sigh. It was a fierce beast; they were lucky to have captured it.

Not long after, the men around tied up the lizard with ropes and proceeded to pull it onto a large carriage, whisking it away into the depths of the mountains.

"Creeee."

Soon, the lizard creature woke up inside a large cage with chains all over its body and whiplash marks across its back. It wasn't enough that they had beaten it into unconsciousness—these humans saw fit to beat its unconscious body on the way here, and for what?

It wasn't the one that attacked them, but this was the way of humans... and it wasn't new to the rules of the jungle, so it silently licked its wounds and rested its head.

There was nothing it could do. It would surely die today.

"The first elder's team is back!"

It watched as the humans brought in more and more creatures from the deep mountains. The humans were having some sort of festival...

In this world, festive activities were the insignia of humanity: bright lights, beautiful women, and booze. The creature had witnessed several of these in its younger days when it would sneak in at the dead of night to steal leftovers.

Humans liked parties, and what was a party without a sacrifice to their gods? Yes, that was why it was here—to be a sacrifice to their gods.

Or, if it was lucky, food.

"Bring the booze!"

"Hey, slave, come over here and kiss my lady's feet."

"Stupid beast, I'll have you for dinner next week."

They laughed it up and had a wonderful time while the giant lizard creature watched in resignation. It had accepted its fate at this moment...

But an unexpected turn took place—one initiated by the most primal of all existences.

Fire.

Before its very eyes, fire broke loose from one part of the camp, slowly setting ablaze the entire camp. In a matter of seconds, all hell broke loose... Fire did not discriminate; it brought destruction to all of existence.

Even it might not escape this fate... but there was no worse death than one of brimstone and fire.

It had to get out.

So it began to struggle. "Roarrrr!!!" It pulled at the chains and swung its tail into the walls of the cage, causing it to shake uncontrollably.

From birth till now, all it knew was struggle. From the bigger monsters that tried to eat it, to starvation and untreatable disease—this was not the time to stop.

"Roar!!!!"

It kept struggling, wanting to get out by all means necessary—and eventually, it heard a click from the door.

But it didn't expect that what opened its door was a young human male with a twisted look on his face who emerged from the shadows.

"You will be my ride out of this hellhole," the young man smirked. The creature didn't know this yet, but this young man was the reason for the fire.

A few days ago, he woke up in a strange land with strange people and a strange body.

He had transmigrated from another world, sadly into the body of a slave—an existence worse than death. But just like the giant lizard, he was unresigned to his fate, so he slowly bided his time, waiting for an opportunity to escape.

"Hmm." Noticing that this was an opportunity to escape, the lizard creature bowed its head and allowed the slave boy to saddle him.

And just like that, they made their way out of the human encampment, leaving it in a state of chaos.

They rode through the dark, gloomy underground, carefully avoiding any trouble as they escaped. Getting captured a second time would not end well.

Fortunately, they were able to get out of range soon enough.

"Now that I'm out of there, I can finally use my system to the fullest."

"Damn, I'm excited."

With his transmigration came a powerful system with the ability to bring him to the top of this world. He could complete tasks, kill monsters for EXP, allowing him to level up.

If he did this just right, he would stand at the peak of this world in no time.

As he daydreamed about his future in this world, he suddenly felt a jerk on his collar as a tail coiled around his neck and threw him to the ground in an instant.

"What the hell?!" He immediately panicked, but before he knew it, a shadow slowly eclipsed him.

Teeth as sharp as blades, skin as tough as stone, and claws capable of ripping the strongest iron sheets to shreds...

In the heat of the moment, he didn't realize what he had boarded wasn't some domesticated creature the humans in the camp used.

He had boarded a wild beast.

He couldn't even complete this line of thought before—

—grawwww

—rippp

—biteeee

The gigantic lizard ripped him to shreds, slowly gnawing at his flesh and bones. He couldn't do a thing about it other than scream. And so he did.

"Ahhhh!!!"

"Oh my god!!!"

"My arm!!!!"

...This world was cruel. Not long after transmigrating, he became food.

[System has found new host—synchronizing to new host...

Latent talent discovered—Evolution.

Plotting evolutionary path...

With this path, the host will gain the ability to evolve from eating and digesting the powers of others...

Ding, host has embarked on the path of Evolution.]