Chapter 323

Chapter 323: At First Glance, This Was No Ordinary Crocodile

Startled by the churning "swamp waters," Trilobite, still shaken, received welcome news!

The long-dormant "Trilobite Evolution Consulting Room" had finally reopened!

【New consultation request received. Accept?】

"Obviously! This was practically free profit!"

The consulting room appeared to be a gift from "Tritium Zizi"—the customer service representative at "Tritium" lake service area.

So far, it had opened twice, yielding substantial gains.

A massive "Kunpeng Pterosaur" had emerged through Trilobite’s efforts, while a Dilophosaurus was undergoing remarkable evolution.

Now, Trilobite was about to welcome a new customer after so long!

"Let me see!"

"Oh… you’re…"

"Yuan Crocodile!"

Just by its name, this species clearly shared close ties with crocodiles.

In fact, creatures bearing "crocodile" in their names—barring a few misidentified fossils that couldn’t be renamed—were generally crocodile-related.

Ah, except for the Choristodera order. Some members also carried "croc" in their names and resembled crocodiles, yet were distantly related.

Other "croc"-named beings…

Like Trilobite’s current form, postosuchus, and other Loricatosaurus species—though not true crocodiles, calling them unrelated wouldn’t be fair.

After all, they and crocodiles both belonged to pseudosuchians, making them evolutionary cousins.

As for modern crocodiles’ direct ancestor…

While certainly not the Triassic-ending Loricatosaurus, it likely was an early Jurassic land-dwelling pseudosuchian survivor.

The exact ancestor remained elusive.

But paleontologists speculated crocodile ancestors probably resembled creatures like "Yuan Crocodile"—terrestrial dwellers from the early Jurassic.

Perhaps "Yuan Crocodile" wasn’t the direct progenitor, but crocodiles’ ancestor likely looked similar and belonged to its suborder.

"Mhmm."

"So you’re the crocodile patriarch, huh?"

"How could I not know what you’d evolve into!"

Historically, crocodiles split into three branches: terrestrial crocodiles (Notohyus), sea crocodiles, and "classic crocodiles."

Terrestrial crocodiles included lineages like Cybosaurus. During the Jurassic, as dinosaurs grew larger, this group was suppressed, unable to claim the ecological niche’s peak.

Yet they endured, outlasting the dinosaurs.

Just as they anticipated a new era’s dawn—

Then came the true mammalian beasts!

Forced into geographically isolated South America beyond mammals’ reach, they waged a million-year war against dinosaur-descended "thief cranes."

As a result, the ice age operations on Earth wiped out almost all of the terrestrial crocodiles.

Their old rival, the thieving crane, managed to survive and even attempted to counterattack North America.

The pure sea crocodiles fared worse.

Although a batch of strong competitors like Dakron emerged as contenders for top marine predators, they ultimately lost in the Mesozoic Era’s hellish aquarium; they didn’t even last until the Cretaceous period before they all vanished.

The true long-lasting survivors, who held the top predator ecological niche for hundreds of millions of years, were only the third branch—the "classic crocodiles," which adapted to freshwater living.

In the end, freshwater became the solid foundation for this group of crocodilians.

Over millions of years, the various land rulers, including dinosaurs and mammals, came and went, but the top predator in freshwater always remained the crocodiles!

There were indeed challengers trying to seize the freshwater ruler status from crocodiles.

The toughest opponents were two—the giant freshwater snakes and early whales.

Of course, the final outcome was clear.

Giant freshwater Snakes like the titan python completely vanished; early whales abandoned crocodile-like body structures, instead evolving into fish shapes, boldly moved into the ocean, and didn’t linger in freshwater.

Today’s freshwater whales also came from species that returned from the ocean; their bodies now resembled fish, differentiating their ecological niche from crocodiles.

The crocodiles that secured their position in freshwater launched several assaults on the ocean from their base; although they ultimately failed each time, it was fine because their foundation was stable.

In places like Australia, where mammals were less competitive, the true crocodile subfamily of Crocodylidae crawled out of freshwater and challenged the ecological niche of top land predators.

With their base firmly held, what couldn’t they achieve on land or in the ocean!?

The only worry was that crocodile diversity had become quite monotonous compared to before; in the Jurassic period, members of the Crocodylia exceeded two hundred species, but now only three families, eight genera, and twenty-three species remained.

In contrast, the order Carnivora among mammals boasted eleven families, eighty-nine genera, and two hundred fifty species.

In summary, crocodiles became a rather declining group.

But still, surviving for so long was no easy feat; plus, while crocodile diversity was low, compared to larger endangered species like felines, surprisingly few large crocodile species were endangered.

Just in northern Australia, the population of saltwater crocodiles reached one hundred thousand; in some areas, their density even surpassed that of humans!

Therefore…

"This is so easy to handle!"

"What path should we take? Do I even need to ask?!"

"Although I’m not an expert in ancient crocodiles, I’ve dabbled a bit."

"I need to adjust this for you…"

He observed the body of the Yuan Crocodile.

To be honest, it resembled later crocodiles a little; but at first glance, no one thought this was a proper crocodile.

Its four legs weren’t short, showing considerable terrestrial mobility.

The scale armor on its body wasn’t well-developed, offering barely any defense capability.

But that head…

It looked more like the head of a giant lizard and bore no resemblance to a crocodile with a long snout.

"I estimated that this crocodile was probably an endothermic animal…"

Crocodiles had a significant advantage in freshwater: they were actually ectothermic animals. According to biologists, their ectothermy was likely a result of active evolution.

This meant that the ancestors of crocodiles may have been endothermic animals, similar to Birds.

At least, their body temperature could stay relatively stable within a certain range.

But to keep a constant temperature while living in freshwater, there were two paths to take.

The first was to increase body fat percentage, like whales and pinnipeds, wrapping themselves in thick layers of fat.

This method seemed good but only worked for the deep sea, or at least deeper waters.

In shallower waters, a plump body became less agile.

The other way was to force a constant temperature.

A clear example was the otter, which had thick fur for warmth but still found it not enough; to stay stable, it had a very high metabolic rate, needing to eat food equal to fifteen percent of its body weight every day to avoid starving.

Normal predators, on average, needed food weighing three to five percent of their body weight daily.

Such food intake wasn’t suitable for growing larger.

So to adapt to freshwater, crocodiles simply decided: "I won’t be an endothermic animal!"

This true dragon ancestral constant body temperature and long legs, they didn’t need them!

"Alright, that direction is set!"

After thinking over the crocodiles’ inspiring and wise evolutionary strategy, Trilobite quickly started the work, helping the customer with "evolution surgery."

"The crocodile’s evolutionary path was simple, so it could be done all at once."

"But since the customer couldn’t pay enough Chaos Energy, I charged less this time and made a PowerPoint to show them."

The customer responded fast.

In just seconds, the System gave feedback.

【The customer paid 3000 points of Chaos Energy for the experience and effect preview.】

—-

"I’m… hungry…"

Morax felt the energy inside him slowly draining away, even some minor tissues of his Divine Body dissolving, turning into energy, released and Sacrificed to a distant unknown place.

The basic urge to eat was wearing down Morax’s reason.

He first wanted to curse Saraph for causing so much trouble.

But soon, the new situation pushed that thought far away.

"This is… the taste of Powers!?"

The Chaos Demon God felt the etheric liquid flowing through his body; he pictured himself swinging his wide tail, pulling his short limbs close to his sides, swimming in the river.

He saw himself covered in heavy armor, armed with sharp teeth, dragging his huge, solid Divine Body, sweeping across the whole "Chaos Swamp Realm’s" Ether Sea!

The once proud Ether Dragons shook with fear before his armor and teeth, backing off.

The high-up Chaos Demon Gods were scared by his giant jaws and sharp teeth; they feared his etheric magic and bowed to him, giving respect when passing through his land.

Anyone daring to challenge his pride, whether Ether Dragons, Chaos Demon Gods, or even strong ones from the "Endless Ether Realm" and "Primal Wilderness," would be crushed and defeated by his magic and Divine Body!

“Hahaha…”

“I was invincible!”

“Invincible…”

“Huh!?”

Just as she was lost in such a dream, a terrible thing happened.

That wonderful scene, the thrill of being invincible and the joy, was slowly fading away.

“No!”

“Let me experience it longer, let me…”

Having nothing was indeed sad, but gaining something only to lose it was even more unbearable.

Gimmerly was driven into madness by such feelings.

Fortunately, after paying a mad price, Gimmerly got everything she desired.

Now, she gleamed with pleasure in her eyes as she watched Morax step back onto the old path she once fell into.

Most Chaos Demon Gods had no idea of sympathy between them.

All they had was schadenfreude.

“Hmph, that ugly look really brought back memories.”

“But keep it up.”

“Whether you get what you desire next is up to you.”

At this moment, Morax finally pulled himself out of deep despair.

“To achieve that vision and get your guidance, do I need to pay a price?”

“Hehe, of course, that price can’t be paid by me!”

As he spoke, he glanced at Valaharl’s shattered Crystal Walls and felt the turmoil behind him.

“Sometimes, a guardian can do a lot too.”

Thinking that, he turned around.

“Oh, powerful Ether Dragons!”

“Why the rush? I have a proposal!”