When he woke he felt something tickle his lips. He opened his eyes and saw a small bipedal creature that was eating the remnants of his previous meals from his teeth.

[Prey detected: Eoraptor lunensis, compsognathidae. Experience: 750 points]

Apparently he had found a street cleaner. In the past as in the present there were always those tiny creatures that, in order to survive, went to eat in the mouths of the largest predators, and in return cleaned their mouths helping them with oral hygiene.

Sobek decided to let it do. Even though he wasn't afraid of tooth decay since his teeth were constantly replacing it was still nice to have his mouth cleaned sometimes. Besides, he doubted that the eoraptor could give him more than 0.2, or even 0.1 skill points.

They went on like this for half an hour, then Sobek decided that the little dinosaur had cleaned it up enough and got up. The eoraptor quickly fled as the spinosaurus moved. Sobek watched in amusement as he disappeared into the forest. If he remembered correctly, the eoraptor had been an early Triassic period dinosaur, so in a sense he was looking at his very distant ancestor.

He began to walk. It would have been more convenient for him to hunt in the water, but he had decided that he would hunt along the shore instead. He wanted to fully map all the surroundings of the lake to make sure he didn't encounter threats and to know the richest spots for preys. He also hoped to find the place where the spinosaurs had congregated.

Even though they were no longer properly 'his kind' Sobek still felt a certain affinity with them. The type of distant affinity you feel when you meet a third cousin: even if they are distant, you know they're part of the family.

Around noon he saw something moves in the lake and mistaken them for spinosaurs, but he quickly changed his mind. They were too small and stocky and had no sail.

[Prey identified: Hippopotamus gorgops, hippopotamidae. Experience: 8,000 points]

Apparently the first creatures he found were hippos. If it wasn't for the System notification and their size he would have mistaken them for modern-day hippos: they were virtually identical to those wallowing in the Nile on Earth in twenty-first century.

He moved away from that area. He had no intention of attacking the hippos: it wasn't aiming to level up for the moment, but to obtain more skill points. Furthermore, they were a kind of insurance: generally hippos chased away any predators in the vicinity, so that area had just become 'uninteresting' for him and he wouldn't have needed to visit it anymore in the future.

Even a sarcosuchus would have thought twice before approaching hippos, especially prehistoric ones. A single hippo would surely have been overwhelmed, but so many together could be very dangerous.

In addition, the hippos were very territorial, so they would also have chased away other herbivores in the vicinity, so it was foolish for carnivores to go to their area. Perhaps only sauropods wouldn't have been afraid of hippos, but which animal would have been interested in an adult sauropod after all? Attack such a colossus meant courting death.

Sobek continued, but that day ended without good results. His only preys had been a couple of deer, that he ate only to satisfy hunger since they couldn't give him any skill points.

Fortunately, the next day went better. After several hours of walking Sobek reached a side of the lake where the water was particularly shallow; half immersed in the liquid were resting large reptiles that looked like the fusion of a lizard and a crocodile.

[Prey identified: Proterosuchus fergusi, proterosuchidae. Experience: 4,000 points]

Sobek thought that they probably must have been some of the very first crocodiles, because they really had a lot in common with lizards: instead of crawling on their bellies, they would get up on their paws and walk with them.

They weren't very big, but unfortunately they turned out to be very fast: Sobek only managed to grab one thanks to his [Ambush] ability, but the others quickly fled into the lake and disappeared from his sight.

The proterosuchus only gave him 2 skill points, but he was confident that its companions would return, so he hid and waited.

When the crocodiles returned he decided to change his strategy. Attacking on sight was not a good idea because it allowed him to catch one crocodile at a time. However, it could block their access to the lake. His body was very large now, so if he attacked from the water and used himself as a barrier he would hold back their escape. With this plan in mind, he dived into the lake, took the long loop, and attacked them from the water. The idea worked: the crocodiles had been disoriented and this had allowed Sobek to kill three of them.

Unfortunately, after that event, the proterosuchus never returned. They evidently understood that this area was dangerous, leaving Sobek with only 8 skill points in hand. Although they were still a good investment, as they gave him a total of 12 skill points together with the hyneria, the spinosaurus felt frustrated.

He consoled himself. The lake was still very large and still to be explored. It would be redone in the next few days. With this thoughts in mind, he decided to rest for a while. Even if now he could stay awake for a long time thanks to evolution, he didn't want to run the risk of wasting too much energy. After all, the brain, like all organs, needed energy; Sobek feared that by staying awake for too long, the brain would start to consume energy destined for the legs or claws, leaving him much more vulnerable. Therefore, as long as the area was relatively safe, he wanted to maintain a normal circadian cycle, striving to sleep at least a few hours each day.

He was awakened by roars.

With his new finest hearing, Sobek could hear the cry of an animal far kilometers away. The roars made him jump to his feet like a spring: this was undoubtedly a carnivore!

Perhaps for the first time ever he didn't care the slightest about the risks he ran: all he knew was that he had finally found carnivores who could provide him with skill points!

Upgrading [Reinforced skin] to the max had become an obsession. He wanted to do it at all costs!

Following the roars he moved quickly into the forest. He began to smell different smells, of which he unmistakably recognized the stench of a carcass. When he finally came near the source of the noise, he hid among the foliage and observed the scene. What he saw were three large theropods vaguely resembling an allosaurus trying hard to protect a stegosaurus carcass from five enormously sized crocodiles.

[Prey identified: Albertosaurus sarcophagus, tyrannosauridae. Experience: 40,000 points]

[Prey identified: Deinosuchus riograndensis, alligatoroidae. Experience: 55,000 points]

The albertosaurs were smaller than the deinosuchus, but decidedly more lethal: for this reason they were worth more. They were faster and more resilient, unlike crocodiles who were slow and clumsy on land.

The first time he had seen a deinosuchus Sobek he hadn't thought twice about running away. However, he was no longer what he used to be! He was now a top predator in the food chain and was only a few steps away from reaching the rank of apex superpredator. A deinosuchus could no longer worry him, and he had abundantly demonstrated this by beating the sarcosuchus, its even bigger cousin!

On the contrary, Sobek this time saw the situation as an unparalleled opportunity. The reptiles in front of him seemed to have every intention of dueling!

Carnivorous animals of different species rarely fought. Generally one of their encounters was represented by a long sequence of menaces that ended with one of the two fleeing with its tail between its legs. After all, a battle between two predators with similar size or strength was a huge risk for both of them. However, there were also exceptions. An example was the one in front of him: neither of the two, albertosaurs or deinosuchus, was willing to give up the carcass. And if they fought Sobek he would have an easy time against the wounded survivors!

That was practically a free feast of skill points! Both sides had to provide at least 5 skill points for each specimen. If he had been able to make good use of the situation, maybe he would be able to kill them all!

The albertosaurs made the first move. One of them attacked and tried to bite one of the deinosuchus.

But crocodiles, even if clumsy on land, were certainly not easy preys: the deinosuchus snapped and bit the albertosaurus in the neck. However, the dinosaur was still alive and capable of fighting.

The crocodile technique to kill the preys wasn't through the bite, but dragging them into the water and turning on themselves until they were torn apart. But they couldn't rotate on land, so they could only rely on their bites, which weren't enough to break the bones of an albertosaurus.

As if to prove that it wasn't afraid of them, the albertosaurus raised his body, lifting the crocodile's head and torso. The deinosuchus, however, didn't let it go. The albertosaur shook itself trying to detach it. Another albertosaurus stepped forward to help the companion.

But the deinosuchus had the strength of numbers. Three of them got in the way and blocked the passage of the albertosaurs, while the fourth ran to the aid of the other deinosuchus and bit the albertosaur in the tail, furiously pulling and then flipping belly up. With a crack, the albertosaur's spine snapped neatly. The animal fell to the ground: it wasn't dead yet, but it could no longer move. The deinosuchus didn't care: during a fight the interest of the animals was to make the enemy unable to fight, not to kill him; that could be done later.

However, in doing so the deinosuchus had exposed its most vulnerable part. One of the albertosaurs jumped and passed the other crocodiles, and in a few moments it was on him and bit its neck; the deinosuchus emitted just a few spasms as the predator tore out the jugular. The crocodile froze in spasms.

If the albertosaurs and the deinosuchus hadn't been focused on each other, they would have seen the bodies of the two wounded being dragged into the forest by a mysterious force. Of course, using [Ambush], Sobek was grabbing everything he could. He had never had a chance to test if the skill points unlocked only if the prey was killed by him, but since that was the case for the experience points he believed that this hypothesis was correct.

Now the deinosuchus were much more annoyed, but the albertosaurs had another advantage: cooperation.

While the deinosuchus may have seemed to have helped their mate, in reality they had only acted for themselves. The one who had bitten the Albertosaurus in the tail only wanted a piece of meat for himself, while those who had held back the charge of the other two theropods were trying to capture one of them.

On the contrary, the albertosaurs possessed excellent coordination: while one of them distracted the deinosuchus, the other attacked them from behind. With all the strength it possessed, the theropod kicked the nearest one by rolling it and knocking it into another crocodile, sending both of them bellies up.

Then the dinosaur ran without hesitation on the closest of the two and opened its belly pulling out its guts. It would have liked to do the same with the other too, but the deinosuchus had already got up. Obviously, in this case too, the dying deinosuchus was killed in the shadows by Sobek.

The third deinosuchus intervened behind the albertosaurus, biting its leg, but despite roaring in pain, the dinosaur used the opportunity to drag the crocodile towards it and attack it from above. The head of the deinosuchus was protected by strong plates, but the bite of the albertosaurus was very powerful. With some effort the theropod managed to break the crocodile's skull. The reptile's end was certain and would be a matter of seconds, but a claw concealed by [Ambush] accelerated the process.