The next morning, if someone had been observing a small, nondescript part of a small, protected woodland, they would have been shocked beyond words.
Around a small heap of damp leaves, a young innocuous green lizard could be seen doing something amazing- it was deftly coiling its long tail around tiny pebbles and then with almost supernatural flexibility flinging them towards the trunk of a tree.
It was doing this again and again, just like how a human would practise shooting, with the accuracy and power of its throws increasing each round.
Crack!
Until it got strong enough to even split a small piece of bark from the green tree.
"Hahaha, yes! I was right!" The sight caused Anaxa to quickly let out a hearty chuckle, his scaly lips curving up, "I can indeed use my tail just like an extra limb! And it is so strong! With this, I can definitely hunt animals far greater than my size!@"
The test results of the new skill made the lizard almost wag his tail like a happy dog, as Anaxa even thought to himself, "How come I never thought to utilize it before today? Its length is even longer than my body and there are such strong muscles, yet… without the system's help, I might not have even noticed this."
"Hmmm… could it be that my brain is still thinking like a human's, forgetting to utilize this body's unique feature? That could indeed be the case. It would also explain why I find throwing the rocks so natural. I only started an hour ago and already I am so accurate. With a bit more practice…"
In this way, Anaxa became extremely satisfied with his choice, such that even that slight twinge of regret over missing out on the invisibility got erased.
On paper, he still thought the latter was indeed overpowered, and it was still his first choice.
But he had ultimately selected to go with the third option due to the former's extreme uncertainty. As pointed out to him, the camouflage ability was really a one trick pony and if it did not activate exactly as he anticipated, he would basically have no way out.
This was in contrast to the passive tail skill, which was always available to him.
And with the system refusing to provide any other hint, Anaxa chose to go for reliability over power.
Fortunately, the skill's results assured Anaxa he did not choose wrong.
"Sigh… if only the interest on the loan were not so steep!" The only slight hiccup he had, if any, was this, as he re opened the system window.
Skill- Flexible Tail- Proficiency- Beginner (5/100).
Bonus Task- Hunt a prey with Spirit of 0.1 within 3 days (decreased from original 5 days).
Note- The curse- 'Hunger' will automatically increase to 'Great Hunger' after 3 days. Host will additionally need to complete an additional task during the red moon.
Tip- Host is recommended to complete two bonus objectives before the week ends to maximise his chances of survival.
Anaxa had read these same lines of text who knows how many times. But till now it had done very little to assuage the bitterness within.
He could not believe how heavy the price he paid for just leveling up to Level 2.
He could have lived with a shorter time limit, he would not have minded having to complete an extra task during the red moon, and he could even swallowed having to complete a brand new bonus objective on top of the existing two. The only thing he was extremely reluctant to accept was the aggravation of his state of hunger. Because it meant having to go out more often and hunt more and more dangerous prey.
Anaxa would frankly admit he was a coward at heart and so did not want to do that. Yet that was exactly what happened- almost like the system knew exactly where to push him. Thus the news of the impending hunger pangs made Anaxa's nonexistent hairs figuratively stand up.
And the only reason he did not end up cursing the system was because he had been spared that pain last night, when, no sooner had he chosen his skill, the system beeped,
"Ding! Due to this being a loan, the host's body will be entering hibernation for a period. Please quickly find a safe refuge."
Anaxa scampered to his nearby bed at the fastest speed upon receiving the instruction.
And no longer had he laid down… it felt like two elephants had appeared on his eyelids. They felt so heavy that the small lizard thought he would not be able to fight that call of slumber even if his nest was on fire.
Anaxa only woke at the crack of dawn, whereupon he found his tail unnaturally nimble and his body a bit bigger than before.He recalled that the system had shown that the dimensions of the body had changed when he leveled up but nothing had changed then.
So it seemed the change happened later in his sleep.
Waking up, Anaxa initially felt like his stomach was going to eat him alive, so much so that he ended up eating the few leaves that made up his bed without even fully realizing what he was doing. And when even that did nothing to sate his voracious hunger, he quickly went out, hunting some small worms and bugs nearby quickly and eagerly.
All that was finally enough to get the man back some of his senses.
Usually, Anaxa would have continued the hunt till sundown, taking in biomass as it was constantly demanded from him by his system.
But today, Anaxa changed his routine, being far more interested to learn more about his tail.
Bracing his stomach to make do with the bare minimum, Anaxa first sought a safe place to practise, away from predators on the ground and sky.
Then finding a secluded part of the forest, next to a lake, he started off by slowly stretching and moving his tails around, waking the rusty muscles, before moving onto more complex and strenuous activities, such as grabbing and throwing.
Anaxa continued this routine for two days, all focused on singularly mastering one skill- throwing a rock with his tail. So that when the time called for it, he would be able to use it with his eyes closed, just like how we can use our hands in a fight instinctively without a second's thought.
Thus he not only spent hours on target practice, but even when he went out to hunt during the day, he would always try to kill his prey with stones or pebbles, striking them from a far off distance, rather than the usual tactic of sneaking up and launching opportunistic attacks.
In this aspect, Anaxa's eyesight came in quite handy, as water dragons typically possessed very good eyesight. They could spot a small insect from as far as 20 meters, or around the height of a 6 story building.
While for Anaxa, even an effective range of just 10 meters was enormous. After all, he was just a lizard 10 cm in length, including his tail.
If this ability were to be extrapolated for context with a human, then he would be able to accurately hit a target from a distance of one and a half kilometers or even more.
Thus it was only natural for the up until now downtrodden lizard to feel like he was invincible.
"*Splat*! Hahaha, another one! This is so easy! I can hit so many large insects and bugs without them even noticing."
Anaxa gave a hearty chuckle as he scored another direct hit on a grasshopper, leaving the poor creature splattered on the bark of a tree from the strike.
Then quickly climbing up the tree to reclaim his prize, he let out another cry of joy after observing the result up close,
"Haha, I hit it right in the head, just like I wanted to! Good, good! It seems my aim is getting better and better. Now I can accurately hit a target 50% of the time from even 10 meters. Ahhh…. if only I had this ability before, I would not have to have wasted so much time slowly sneaking up on all my enemies."
Anaxa then made this rueful comment as he recalled all the times when he was just about to pounch on the prey, but the slightest mistake alerted them to him, thus wasting all his time and effort.
Such intimate losses stung the man even to this day.
And now upon realizing the difference, sageously noted to himself, "I now understand why humans always tried to build longer and longer spears, then more and more powerful guns, then better and better aircraft and missiles. It had all to do with range. The bigger range you have, the better you are at killing your enemies. That is what makes a good hunter. And the best hunters rule the jungle."