Chapter 3: Hunting

The Collector hunted, and it was efficient, making maximal use of its new body and the heightened capabilities it afforded.

One thing that the Collector retained that made it supreme above most of the jungle fauna was its intellect. It could still think and strategize, drawing upon predatory instincts wired into its very genetic code to ensure that its movements were absolutely efficient, deadly, and quiet.

Over the next few hours of the night, the Collector slew a few more rabbits, found a small pond to slake its thirst, and even took down an entire deer.

It had even setup a massive web between the shade of two tree trunks, invisible to those not wary to provide another source of potential biomass.

Little bugs such as spiders and centipedes do not strike fear at their size, but when they are expanded to a meter, they become horrifying predators.

Normally, the Collector would not have been able to retain such a large size while utilizing insect genetic material unless it roamed a particularly oxygen dense world, but somehow, something in this world's atmosphere made it possible to retain its mass.

The Collector stuffed the last of the slain deer's red flesh into its jaws, its four arachnid arms picking apart even the bones of the creature clean. Then it dismantled the skeleton, consuming it piecemeal like crunchy snacks.

At this level of biological complexity, the Collector could recognize what tasted good or bad, and this deer most certainly tasted nice, as did most flesh at this point.

The more complex the Collector became, the more its appetite would become predatory and carnivorous, seeking out larger, stronger, and denser lifeforms.

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*Biomass gained (+10)*

Biomass Level 10/100

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The Collector clicked its mandibles in irritation. It would take a while to reach the next level. Progress was slow now. It needed more.

Intelligent life would help the most considering that intelligence was perhaps the most complex of evolutionary developments, but it could not risk fighting intelligent species.

If they had even one-thousandth of the power that being of light had, then the Collector stood no chance in its current state. Any insignificant tinkerer with even small munitions arms could destroy the Collector.

As it contemplated its future struggles, the Collector made its way back to its spiderweb. Before the web was even visible, it knew it had caught something. It could feel desperate vibrations in the air as something thrashed against the powerful silk.

The Collector scurried into leafy cover, nearing the trapped prey with stealth. It was best to kill whatever was trapped quickly and stealthily so as to prevent as much retaliation as possible. It did not want to waste any biomass on regenerating its wounds.

In the cover of a particularly thick overgrowth of vines that drooped down from a low branch, the Collector could make out the web it placed. In the middle thrashed a small, humanoid creature. Its skin was a black that glistened with sweat as it exerted itself, trying to break the silk.

However, it was too weak, being a measly meter tall with pitiful musculature and bone density.

It was bald with a large nose and beady eyes that glowed yellow in the dark, indicating nocturnal vision. Its mouth was lined with sharp teeth visible as it shouted gibberish in a high-pitched snarl.

The Collector recognized this thing was somewhat intelligent. First, it covered its privates with a ragged loincloth. Second, it wore a belt upon which lay tied a rudimentary stone knife.

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It kept squealing out the same set of vocal intonations, indicating an intelligible word to others of its kind. It also indicated that there were likely more in the vicinity.

The Collector, however, did not give the creature a chance to further vocalize its distress.

It took this moment to silence the creature before its cries could draw its brethren nearer. With a pounce, the Collector leaped through the vines and landed just in front of the bound humanoid.

The humanoid's eyes widened in a moment of fear before the Collector thrust one of its arachnid back limbs through the humanoid's throat, tearing apart its jugular vein.

The humanoid gurgled out a stream of blood, eyes even wider in death as it fell limp, tongue lolling out its mouth.

The Collector unraveled the humanoid from the web and savagely tore it apart, its four arachnid limbs extending claws that utterly massacred the body. It stuffed in chunks of meat and organs in its mouth as quick as it could, slurping off blood from its claws as it did so.

The humanoid was utterly delicious. Truly, this was an intelligent lifeform - its wondrous taste was evident enough of that. However, it was not nearly as intelligent as most of the species the Collector knew of.

The humanoid was a barbaric, simple-minded creature capable of little more than crafting rudimentary stone tools and shouting basic commands and requests.

The Collector froze.

It could sense additional presences nearing by. They were of similar size and build to this humanoid. Its brethren.

The Collector did not have time to consume all of its slaughtered prey's remains, so it took what remained of the mangled corpse and ran up a tree, using its spider limbs like picks to crawl across the bark.

From high above, the Collector looked down, eagerly assessing the situation.

The Collector witnessed with interest as the humanoids roamed below, their stone daggers drawn in alarm. There were only three.

One of them knelt by a bloody patch of grass - the only remnant of their companion. The other two circled around, wary for attack. They grunted to each other, and the Collector with its sharp hearing could barely make out their intonations.

It seemed that these humanoids were a little more intelligent than the Collector gave them credit for. They were engaging in a good amount of conversation, their faces animated with fear or concern as they squabbled with each other.

The Collector was curious. It checked its status.

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*Biomass gained (+10)*

Biomass Level 20/100

*Genetic Material Gained*

Stored Genetic Material:

-*NEW*Black Goblin

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-Black Ant

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10 per humanoid it consumed. Not a bad rate. Far better than even the deer. The three blissfully unaware humanoids beneath became all the more appetizing, but the Collector did not move yet.

It instead searched the black goblin it had just killed for knowledge.

When creatures became intelligent, it became far harder to extract their knowledge and memories.

Basic instincts were programmed with biology, but higher thoughts and memories were more delicate, harder to maintain within a body after death and even harder to absorb.

The great Collective Hivemind with its immense scale and power had the capacity to extract knowledge from entire species with its unparalleled psionic processing power, but the Collector itself, now cut off from the Hivemind, was limited to absorbing one key memory or fragment of knowledge from an intelligent creature.

However, this was enough. It decided to learn the language of these primitive creatures.

The unintelligible squabbling below became understandable, albeit a little faint with how high up the tree the Collector was.

"We get out now," said one of the two goblins guarding their friend still checking the bloodstains.

"No beast here," replied the goblin kneeling in the blood. "Strange. Very strange. Humans close, so no beast. So how Friki die?"

"No important," said the other goblin. It was shaking a little, its hold on the dagger unsteady. "Important is danger near. We leave to den. We tell Draug."

"We tell Draug," said the goblins in unison, nodding in agreement at the idea.

The Collector was pleased. So, there was a den of these creatures. Enough of them, and it could evolve straight to the next Metamorphosis Level.

But for now, it would claim the feast standing before its eyes already.

With a swift motion, it scurried downwards.

__________

"Up! Up!" one of the goblins screamed, but it was too late.

The Collector had landed on the goblin having launched itself down from ten meters up. The sheer weight of the Collector's dense musculature and carapace was enough to splatter the goblin on the forest floor, shattering its each and every bone.

The other two goblins took a look at the Collector, at its powerfully muscled, clawed and bloodstained hind legs, its six arachnid limbs protruding from the back like prehensile spines, and its insectoid head clicking with mandibles like axe-heads, all eight, beady black eyes poised with hunger at their defenseless forms, and froze.

The sight of the Collector, a repulsive amalgamation of mammal and insect oversized to hideous proportions, overloaded the goblins' fear instincts, and kept them still for a second.

That second was easily enough for the Collector to extend two of its arachnid limbs forwards, thrusting them through both goblins' heads simultaneously. With a slick pop, the limbs withdrew, leaving two neat, circular holes in the goblins' skulls.

Over in a few seconds.

The goblins were aided by their primal instincts, but they were also slowed down by them.

Fear had caught them, seized them by their throats, rendered their minds to mush and their feet to putty for a second, and that spelt the end of their lives.

In contrast, the Collector was not driven by instinct, no, it used instinct, used it as as an efficient part of its body just as it used its claws or limbs or tails.

It felt no fear, no hesitation, no mercy.

The Collector wasted no time in devouring the goblins. Even the fastest butcher in all the realm would have marveled at the Collector's speed in dissecting and consuming them.

The Collector had an in-depth understanding of the goblins' anatomies now, having consumed one and cross-referenced its biological structure across the Collective memories it retained, allowing the Collector to accurately predict where each and every one of the goblin's vitals were, where the joints were easiest to pop, the tendons easiest to slice, the flesh easiest to tear.

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*Biomass gained (+30)*

Biomass Level: 50/100

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A horde of these goblins would face no challenge to the Collector now, not because of strength - ten or so of these would have the manpower to injure the Collector - but because the Collector knew their behaviors, instincts, and vitals now and could exploit these to systematically execute them.

From the goblins it had just consumed, the Collector also absorbed key bits of knowledge: the location of their den, their numbers, and the being they called 'Draug'.

The den was not far from here. A little ways further in the jungle. In a safer area where no larger predators roamed. It was an underground network of tunnels and burrows that had been previously made by a different creature.

There were quite a few of these goblins. Twenty in total led by a much larger, stronger variant of the species called a Hobgoblin whose name was evidently 'Draug'

The Collector made its way towards by treetop, scurrying up a tree trunk and leaping from branch to branch. The goblins lived underground and did not pay much attention to the trees, so this would grant the Collector the highest amount of stealth in approaching.

As the Collector moved, it calculated its chances.

This 'Draug' could definitely challenge it in a test of strength, and when aided by his goblins, would have an upper hand. It was confident that should it face Draug in single combat, it could win provided it had the benefit of an ambush.

At the same time, the twenty goblins by themselves proved no threat either.

It was only when Draug and his goblins were together that they became a significant threat.

Then the solution was to eliminate one or the other.

Divide and conquer. Isolate and consume.

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