5: Spiny Catfish: Encountering a Boss in the Starting Village?
Li Qing paddled his four limbs, the water parting as smoothly as silk.
His evolved body was now a full meter long.
The blue spiritual patterns on the Turtle shell shimmered in the water; with every stroke, he shot forward two or three meters.
Li Qing had never experienced such exhilarating swimming; he felt as if he were born for these waters.
"Is this the power of a Spirit Beast?"
Li Qing marveled in his heart.
Through the Turtle's eyes, the underwater world became exceptionally clear.
Even the smallest plankton could be seen distinctly.
He tried to activate the "Water Control" talent, and the surrounding currents immediately responded to his call, forming a small vortex in front of him.
Although the vortex wasn't very large, it was enough to pull in fish and shrimp within a three-meter radius.
[evolution value: 0.05/500]
The evolution value provided by a small fish was negligible.
If he had to rely on small fish and shrimp to reach full evolution value...
...it would be a long and arduous journey.
While lost in thought, Li Qing looked toward the center of the river, where a more bountiful "feast" awaited him.
Just as he was preparing to swim toward the deeper waters, an unusual vibration came from the riverbed.
The current suddenly became turbulent, mud and sand churned—there was a big fish!
"Spined Catfish?"
Li Qing immediately became alert.
Through the perception of the Spiritual Patterned Turtle, he sensed that the creature's aura was several times stronger than before!
In the middle of the river, a giant catfish nearly three meters long slowly surfaced.
Its grayish-black skin was covered in wart-like protrusions.
A half-foot-long bone spur on its forehead gleamed with a ghastly white light in the dim water.
Its four short, thick limbs ended in sharp claws, which were currently irritably scratching at the mud on the riverbed.
[Rank One Vicious Beast "Spined Catfish" (Mutant)]
[Danger Rank: Medium]
The System prompt made Li Qing's heart tighten.
This guy actually mutated?
And the System even gave a prompt.
Previously, there were no prompts; did this mean the others were just Ordinary Species?
Did it complete its evolution after eating that ball of blue light?
It seems that ball of blue light was truly something extraordinary.
The Spined Catfish sensed Li Qing's presence, and its yellow vertical pupils snapped onto his direction.
When it saw the size of the Spiritual Patterned Turtle clearly, it was visibly stunned.
How did that little Turtle just now become so big?
No, this small river only has this one Spiritual Plant; it must be the little Turtle's elder.
Li Qing felt the Spined Catfish's confusion.
Have Vicious Beasts already developed intelligence?
The standoff lasted only a few seconds.
The Spined Catfish suddenly whipped its giant tail and charged like an arrow from a bow!
At this moment, it was thinking: eating it will bring benefits!
The bone spur on its forehead pointed directly at the Spiritual Patterned Turtle's head, its speed carving a white line through the water.
Li Qing didn't dodge, wanting to test the Spiritual Patterned Turtle's current defensive power.
He activated the "Armor Defense" talent, and the spiritual patterns on the Turtle shell immediately lit up, forming a visible layer of blue light film.
"Clang!"
The bone spur collided with the Turtle shell, producing a crisp sound like metal striking metal.
The tip of the Spined Catfish's bone spur actually snapped off! Meanwhile, not even a scratch was left on the Spiritual Patterned Turtle's shell.
The Spined Catfish retreated in pain, a flash of fear crossing its yellow eyes.
It couldn't understand no matter how it tried; it had already become a Vicious Beast.
How could a bone spur that could pierce even rock do nothing to a Turtle?
Li Qing wasn't going to give it time to think.
The Spiritual Patterned Turtle lunged forward, opening its large mouth to reveal a sharp, beak-like maw.
The Great Strength talent gained from evolution gave this bite the strength of nine bulls and two tigers!
"Rip!"
The Spiritual Patterned Turtle accurately bit into the Spined Catfish's flank, tearing off a large chunk of flesh.
Dark red blood immediately began to spread through the river water.
Feeling the sweetness of the flesh in his mouth, Li Qing swallowed it in one gulp.
[Devoured Spined Catfish meat, evolution value +0.5]
[evolution value: 0.55/500]
"One bite is 0.5?" Li Qing was pleasantly surprised.
This three-meter-long Spined Catfish was practically a walking evolution value!
The Spined Catfish twisted its body frantically, its four short legs scratching wildly, leaving a few white marks on the Spiritual Patterned Turtle's back, but it couldn't cause any substantial damage.
What was going on?
This small river was just a tiny tributary of the nearby Great River.
How could there be such a powerful Turtle!
Realizing it was no match, the Spined Catfish turned to flee.
"Want to run?"
Li Qing immediately controlled the water flow, forming a rotating wall of water in front of the Spined Catfish.
This was an application of the Water Control Talent: Vortex Barrier!
The Spined Catfish crashed headfirst into the water wall and was instantly spun around by the turbulent currents, becoming disoriented.
It wagged its tail desperately to break free, but the Spiritual Patterned Turtle had already caught up and took another bite out of its back.
[evolution value: 1.05/500]
Blood dyed the area of their fight red.
In its death throes, the Spined Catfish used all its strength to whip its tail at the Spiritual Patterned Turtle.
This strike was heavy and powerful, knocking the Spiritual Patterned Turtle back several meters, but it also exposed its own soft underbelly.
Li Qing seized the opportunity, lunging forward to bite the Spined Catfish's throat.
The sharp beak-like mouth pierced through the scales like a knife through tofu, sinking deep into the flesh.
The Spined Catfish twitched violently a few times before finally going still.
[Killed Rank One Vicious Beast "Spined Catfish" (Mutant)]
[evolution value: 15/500]
[Obtained ferocious beast essence blood x1]
"I'm rich!"
Li Qing excitedly swam a circle around his prey.
Fifteen evolution points!
And there was that "ferocious beast essence blood."
It sounded like good stuff.
Plus, with such a large Spined Catfish corpse, the evolution value was bound to be high.
Li Qing impatiently bit into the Spined Catfish's thick tail.
"Squelch!"
The Turtle's mouth closed, and a large chunk of fish meat was torn away.
As the Vicious Beast's flesh entered his stomach, it immediately turned into a warm current surging through his entire body.
[evolution value: 16.1/500]
"Delicious!"
Li Qing praised in his heart.
The meat of the Spined Catfish was unexpectedly succulent, without any fishy smell, but rather a hint of sweetness.
He feasted heartily, every bite bringing a 0.05 increase in evolution value.
In just a short while, Li Qing finished eating the three-meter-long Rank One Vicious Beast.
Even though Li Qing was only one meter long, he could eat the three-meter Spined Catfish.
He didn't feel stuffed even now, though he had been feeling full the whole time.
It felt as if everything he ate turned into evolution value.
[evolution value: 26.1/500]
This Spined Catfish's body had increased Li Qing's evolution value by 10 points.
Adding the prompt from when he killed the Spined Catfish, it had brought him over 26 points of evolution value in total.
Looking at it this way, a thousand evolution points didn't seem like much.
Li Qing thought happily to himself.
"Oh right, there's also the ferocious beast essence blood!"
Li Qing suddenly remembered.
"System, extract ferocious beast essence blood."
The System flashed before him, and an amber-like little blood bead appeared in front of Li Qing.
"This is the essence blood?"
Li Qing controlled the Spiritual Patterned Turtle to carefully hold the blood orb in his mouth.
Upon contact, the blood orb turned into liquid and flowed down his throat.
In an instant, an unprecedented heat exploded within his body!
The Spiritual Patterned Turtle's body visibly expanded, growing a bit larger!
Li Qing looked around; he had grown to about 1.2 meters.
He didn't feel anything else, but he felt his Turtle body had even greater strength.
This essence blood could enhance his Physique!