“Wahahahaha, it was worth it, my life is worth it.”

James Carter looked up and laughed heartily. Dahei’s impressive combat power and its wisdom in killing monsters and offering treasures made him believe in love once again, and life was suddenly filled with sunshine.

“So cool, Dahei. From now on, your name is Heishuai!” James Carter was overjoyed, holding the giant bear crystal that Dahei had brought, and said proudly, “You keep watch, I’ll go refine the crystal.”

Dahei—no, Heishuai—understood very well this time and nodded smugly.

Seeing Heishuai act so roguishly, James Carter felt completely at ease.

There were tree hollows everywhere in the primeval forest. James Carter found a safe spot and calmed himself to refine the crystal.

Two tiger crystals and one giant bear crystal—all refined in 15 hours.

All three crystals were of the basic level, increasing his primitive genes by a total of 3 points.

James Carter also figured out a bit more: the gene increase from evolution crystals has nothing to do with their size, but is most likely related to their level.

Stepping out of the tree hollow, James Carter opened his eyes and grinned from ear to ear.

On the clearing by the mountain spring lay the corpses of four wild beasts!

Judging by the bloody holes on the bodies, it was clearly Heishuai’s handiwork.

Four new crystals were placed on a smooth stone.

“Heishuai, well done!”

James Carter patted the big black dog’s head, showering it with praise.

He even admired himself for the wise decision to painfully give the giant wolf crystal to Heishuai back then.

After digesting the silver wolf crystal, Heishuai seemed to have reached the strength of a mid-level primitive beast.

Excited, James Carter asked, “Did any battle skills or the like appear when you killed these four beasts?”

The evolved Heishuai’s intelligence had clearly improved; it seemed to understand James Carter’s question and shook its head.

James Carter wasn’t disappointed and reflected on the experience.

Perhaps killing primitive creatures, like getting loot from monsters in games, is random.

Looking at the four beast corpses, James Carter muttered to himself, “Strange, when I first arrived, I didn’t encounter a single beast for days. Ever since I came to this water’s edge, I’ve run into several… Could it be that the strong smell of blood nearby is attracting the beasts?”

He decided to experiment again. Over the next two days, he refined four more crystals.

During this time, he ate roasted meat every five hours, using knife practice to digest the raging blood energy.

James Carter ate meat, Heishuai gnawed on bones—the man and dog were perfectly in sync.

After two days, no new beasts appeared.

This meant James Carter’s experiment had failed; those beasts probably weren’t drawn by the smell of blood.

James Carter pondered for a long time, then suddenly had a flash of inspiration.

He remembered a scene from “Animal World” where many animals would gather at water sources to drink.

This gave James Carter a wild idea: if he went to the source of the mountain spring, would he encounter a large number of primitive beasts?

Chapter 8: Terrifying Creatures

Water flows downhill, people climb uphill.

James Carter followed the mountain spring upstream, searching for its source.

He walked and stopped along the way, and with the help of the blood energy from roasted meat and repeated practice, his Berserk Blade technique’s evolution energy reached 77/100.

Three days later, the man and dog arrived at their destination.

Ahead was an irregularly shaped natural pool. The water varied in depth—some places less than a meter, others bottomless. In the center, a column of water gushed up like a fountain—the spring’s source.

“Heishuai, retreat!”

When they were twenty meters from the pool, James Carter didn’t advance but instead retreated rapidly.

An indescribable sense of unease surged in his heart.

Dahei was even quicker than James Carter, sensing danger a second earlier.

After running a hundred meters from the pool, the sense of crisis gradually faded, and James Carter finally stopped.

He found a good spot to hide, stashed his backpack, gripped his Eighteen Chops, and lay low in a concealed place.

This spot had a wide view, allowing him to observe all the activity around the pool.

James Carter also discovered something new: primitive genes not only enhanced his strength, speed, and stamina, but also improved his eyesight. Now, his vision was extraordinary—within two hundred meters, as long as there were no obstacles, he could see everything clearly.

Moments later, the thunder of hooves sounded—a herd of wild cattle galloped to the pool.

It was just like scenes from “Animal World”—these wild animals really did travel in groups, relying on teamwork to resist predators.

Judging by their aura, the herd of wild cattle were likely basic-level primitive creatures.

Gradually, a cheetah appeared to the left of the herd, and two lions emerged on the right. The aura of these three beasts was similar to that of the silver wolf, likely mid-level primitive creatures. They stared hungrily at the herd, eyes full of greed, but did not attack.

It wasn’t that they didn’t want to attack—they were clearly wary.

There were more than eighty wild cattle, exuding a “strength in numbers” momentum.

The cheetah and lions couldn’t take on so many wild cattle, so they could only wait for a straggler to become their prey.