Chapter 13
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Chapter 13: I, the Jawed Fish, Have Arrived!
Trilobite felt super rich!
After finishing off the Abominable Worm and getting some unknown Chaos Energy, his total Chaos Energy jumped to 3360!
Now, he could buy everything he wanted!
But his first move wasn’t to shop; he sold off useless stuff instead.
He decided to ditch the extra limbs he kept for easier feeding and wipe off all the head armor plates.
That recovered 600 Chaos Energy, giving him a total of 3960 points.
"Not bad!" he thought. "That ‘good Samaritan’ keeps sending me Chaos Energy…"
"It was already at 4080!"
"Time to start buying!"
Removing armor plates didn’t mean Trilobite gave up on stacking armor.
His first task was still to pile on the protection!
Some folks might say stacking armor is a dead end.
But it all depends on the situation.
"For big creatures, stacking armor might be a bad idea," he reasoned.
"But I’m a starfish, only half a meter long!"
"When weaklings fight, stacking armor works great."
Think about it: beetles turned one pair of wings into hard "covers" to shield their soft wings and bodies. Isn’t that stacking armor?
Did it lead to a dead end?
No way! They soar high, dive deep, and rule as the top insect group—the biggest order in the animal kingdom!
So, stacking armor hinges on how you do it.
He pondered, "The original Trilobite armor was a chitin shell, too thin to stack thick. But the starfish’s armor plates are too basic, like teeth made of enamel—heavy and dense, slowing me down."
"Let’s switch to armored head!"
Whoosh!
500 points of Chaos Energy vanished.
It seemed pricey, but this lightweight, porous, rock-solid "artifact" cost only 500 points—a steal for the value.
What a bargain!
"With those limbs gone, time for pectoral fins!"
"300 points? Cheap!"
"Wait, pectoral and pelvic fins come as a ‘paired fin package’ with a discount? Only 500 points total?"
"Bought it!"
The pectoral and pelvic fins would help Trilobite stay balanced while swimming, letting him move faster and steadier!
Later, the paired fins and pelvic fins had huge potential for development—they were the origins of arms and legs!
“Then…”
“Cartilaginous vertebrae!? 500 points!?”
“Buy!”
This time, Trilobite’s vertebrae were no longer loose and primitive; instead, they were like a shark’s, giving him a real backbone for better movement.
Of course, this didn’t mean Trilobite had to copy the shark way; early fish had soft vertebrae, as seen in Duncker’s fish fossils, which only show an armored head.
…
So, the points were spent fast.
By now, Trilobite should have only 1980 points of energy left.
But actually, his Chaos Energy reached 2260; it seemed an unknown kind person was still sending him energy.
“Who is sending me Chaos Energy? They’re so generous.”
“I have nothing to give back now; maybe later.”
He needed to save some Chaos Energy for a big move!
“Replace gill openings with gill slits!”
“That costs 1000 Chaos Energy!?”
“Buy!”
This was a key step!
Because the jaw, a trait of all jawed creatures—the chin—came from the first two pairs of gill arches in the gill slits!
Next…
“Jaw…”
“1000 points!?”
“Buy… buy it!”
Trilobite felt his nonexistent “hands” shake a bit.
With a "jaw," he, Trilobite, would be far stronger!
Jawed vertebrates used their jaws to beat sea scorpions and defeat cornerstones, ruling the world!
Strange prawns were nothing next to a jaw!
“Whew…”
Then, Trilobite closed his Double Eyes slightly, feeling the strong energy flow over his body, sensing changes in bones and muscles, and experiencing new organs grow and old ones fade.
Finally…
“Ha—!”
Trilobite opened and shut his mouth, feeling his upper and lower jaws touch and close.
“Done!”
"I’m amazing!"
He opened the System to check his status.
【Current Form: Initial Jawed Fish】
【Status: Hungry】
【Magic Power: 300/3000 (Regenerates 25 per minute)】
【Chaos Energy: 16/1000 (Insufficient Chaos Energy, unable to evolve)】
【Skill 1: Flip the World Off (100 points Magic Power cost)】
【Skill 2: Ball Joint Armor (100 points Magic Power cost)】
【Skill 3: Unavailable】
"Initial Jawed Fish!"
"It seemed like adding a jaw really counted as a big change."
The Initial Jawed Fish was the earliest known jawed fish back then, and until new discoveries came, it could be seen as the ancestor of all jawed creatures!
From it, jawed organisms spread from Qujing in Yunnan to the world, pushed the sea scorpion off its top spot, and climbed to the top of the food chain.
After that, vertebrates stayed on top and never fell again!
"There was even an extra skill slot."
"Ah, but I needed to leave this place first."
After his surprise, Trilobite realized this "evolution," which gave him new organs, involved "molting." He had left a pile of discarded Bone Fragments and dead skin behind.
He was basically lying in a mix of mud and skin flakes.
Pretty gross.
"I should clean up my ‘room.’"
Trilobite’s so-called "room" was that world fragment—the "City of Dimensions."
He thought it wasn’t big, but it was okay; it felt a bit like living in a twenty-square-meter room.
"Hmm…"
"I’ll use this as the bathroom…"
Trilobite blew air and swept his fin limbs, pushing all the dead skin and Bone Fragments he shed to one spot.
But after moving only half, he froze.
"Darn!"
"I’m in the ocean; piling trash and excrement here is pointless."
"If I swim lightly, the water stirs, and the mess still flies everywhere!"
"I should take all this outside the cave!"
With that, Trilobite wiggled his new tailbone and shoved all the garbage out of the "cave."
He even blew hard with his mouth!
“Whoosh—!”
The “metabolic waste” was blown out of the cave entrance, and large bone fragments scattered, crashing onto the ocean floor.
—-
“Bang——!”
“Ah!”
“Kill——!”
Near the entrance of the City of Dimensions, Sulya led the forming group of Solar Knights, fighting against an army.
Strangely, this army wasn’t chaotic demons or mutated, distorted chaos followers; it was a human legion like their own!
Against normal humans, the “Solar Holy Light system” still gave the Solar Knights a good edge, but it didn’t have that total power over demons anymore!
The Solar Knights battled a group calling themselves the “Church of Life.”
“For the God of Life!”
“For the path of Source Quality Ascension!”
“Drink——!”
These believers, followers of the “God of Source Quality,” were all huge, averaging about 2.4 meters tall.
Their muscles bulged and knotted, each with strength like a Giant God!
Back when Sulya lived on land, she had heard of this sect; their worshipped “God of Source Quality” was a true Order-side deity, part of the “Gods of Life” system.
But this sect stood apart, separate from the life god system.
They believed life’s core was “Source Quality.”
And “Source Quality” stayed unstable, shifting all the time.
People aged from Source Quality wear; diseases sprang from Source Quality chaos; children differed from parents not just by inheriting both parents’ Source Quality, but from Source Quality mutations.
Only by believing in the “God of Source Quality” could someone steer Source Quality toward their goals, finally reaching the “Source Quality Ascension” state.
The believers often put the god’s “divine grace” into their bodies to change themselves.
That change seemed worth it now.
Even with the god-given “Solar Holy Light system,” the Solar Knights only matched these “Source Quality believers.”
Of course, that was partly because these foes attacked by surprise!
“Despicable!”
“Why did the Order-side deities do such things!”
Sulya pushed her fist against a towering giant’s heavy hammer, her beautiful eyes burning with fury!
Just before, these “God of Source Quality” followers had neared the resistance’s mobile city, pretending to help; since all were Order-side warriors, Sulya had only taken basic steps.
Luckily, she had taken those steps; otherwise, Sulya and her team would have faced disaster.
“Hahahaha!”
The big man laughed loudly.
“Don’t blame us, and don’t ask us.”
“We acted only by the divine decree of the ‘God of Source Quality’!”
“Believers cannot defy their god!”
“And you call this despicable!?”
Sulya instantly grasped their insinuation!
“What!?”
She whirled around in shock toward the flank of the Solar Knights’ battle!
“Boom——! Boom——! Boom——!”
Hundreds of terrifying three-meter-tall “giants” were slowly emerging from the seabed!
“These are…”
“Giant Apes!?”
Sulya’s pupils contracted violently, her heart seizing with terror.
Giant Apes weren’t subhumans, but primates.
They stood three meters tall and weighed up to half a ton!
As for how they could move underwater…
The “God of Source Quality” was responsible.
These massive apes were originally herbivores, docile except during breeding season; but “divine grace” warped their Source Quality, turning them bloodthirsty, violent, and even adaptable to undersea life!
“Roar——!”
“Roar!”
The creatures charged straight at the Solar Knights’ vulnerable flank!
“You!”
Sulya could only watch helplessly as the Giant Apes descended.
“Hahahaha!”
The big man laughed heartily.
“Heard you found a new deity?”
“Let’s see if he bothers to save you.”
“Given the situation, your god’s likely a coward. He’d never—”
“Bang——!”
“Boom——!”
Before he could finish, the earth trembled.
A colossal head erupted from the seabed!
It lifted its massive skull, currents surging as it hurled boulders piled on its forehead!
The heavy, dense stones defied the water’s drag, crashing down toward the seabed—
Right onto the Giant Apes’ heads!
“Thud!”
“Crunch!”
“Roooar——!”
Screams tore through the water.
Incredibly powerful Giant Apes—capable of shredding small mechs—were pulverized into bloody paste. Gore and entrails swirled in the Giant God’s wake, forming a grisly mist!
Survivors fled in panic like monkeys fleeing a tiger.
“Damn it!”
The big man cursed angrily.
Yet he quickly grinned again.
“The Giant Apes’ sacrifice wasn’t in vain.”
“I’ll admit your god’s merciful—he tried saving you. But he walked right into my trap!”
Sulya’s pupils shrank to pinpoints as she looked up.
“What!?”
Above her, the clear seawater shimmered with unearthly light as a massive Divine Body materialized ominously!
“Swoosh——!”
Its tentacles whipped through the water, lashing at the Giant God who’d just emerged from the City of Dimensions!
“No——!”
Sulya screamed, her heart breaking.
A trap within a trap!
The very Giant God who’d granted them everything had been lured out by the cunning “God of Source Quality” to save his insignificant believers—only to be ambushed and plunged into grave peril!
