Anaxa's eyes turned a bit wide in excitement at the system's quick response. He did not think it would come so readily.
All that talk about loans and incentives was really Anaxa's last roll of the dice. Given how reticent the system had been now, even he doubted its efficacy.
But somehow it seemed to have worked. Not only that, he even got a brand new second screen.
So not wishing to look a gift horse in the mouth, he immediately began to absorb the brand new information presented to him, going through his stats first.
Health: 0.1, Defense: 0.05, Stamina: 0.2, Agility: 0.5, Spirit: 1, Strength: 0.5
Anaxa could not help but half mock himself upon finishing it,
"Man these numbers suck. Am I really this weak? Sure, I was not expecting anything grand to begin with, but still…. a defense of 0.05? Really? Is my skin softer than even tissue paper?"
He frankly lampooned his pathetic state, feeling a bit dejected.
But at the same time, he knew the system was not cheating here. Comparing his current abilities to some of the other animals he knew about, the numbers seemed about right.
Take for example the stat for his defense.
Chinese water dragons were not known for their tough hide, unlike their cousins.
Rather their skin was quite thin, more suited to keep them dry and warm.
The former was to help the amphibious lizard quickly shed water after they get out of ponds and lakes, thus preventing excess moisture, fungal infection or bacterial growth on their skin. And the latter was to help the cold blooded reptile quickly warm up under sunlight. There were even dark patches on it to further aid in the 'quick activation'.
Similar evolutionary justification lay for the other 4 physical attributes. A juvenile lizard like him naturally had a very fragile life, was quite slow, became quickly tired and had such a weak bite that it could not even pierce human skin
The only 'high' stat number Anaxa had was 'Spirit', but he did not know exactly what it did. And when he tried asking the system as was typical of it, he got no response.
And the same went for the 'Karma' scale.
So the best Anaxa could do was have his own guesses using surrounding clues and try and find their uses through experiments.
Finding the exact state of his body made the small lizard get a burning itch to improve himself. Hence Anaxa finally moved to the most important part of the screen- the skill choice!
The options available excited him even more than anticipated.
He thought that the system would just stick him with any random ability of its choosing, who could have guessed it would actually give him a buffet of 4 to choose from!
This was not at all like the reticent system.
The only slightly sticking point for Anaxa was the lone skill point he was awarded, meaning he could only afford 1 of them. If given the chance, he would have taken them all, as all four seemed very fundamental to his survival.
However the lizard man quickly understood he was getting too greedy and immediately shut such thoughts down, He was afraid the system that could read his mind would smite him out of anger.
So he instead turned his full focus on each of the choices, diligently reading the text description given next to the skills,
Stone Skin- Temporarily hardens the scales, making it resistant to damage. Chameleon Camouflage- Temporarily turns the host invisible. Dextrous Tail- Allows host to flexibly use his tail for a variety of purposes. Swift Swimming- Host gains the ability to swim faster and last longer underwater.
Then after going through all the options,
"Hmmm….none of them are really bad, but if I had to judge, stone skin has no use for me right now." Anaxa eliminated the very first option from the start, reasoning, "My defenses are so weak right now that it does not matter how much I improve them! Anything with a good bite will be able to snap be in half regardless."
So he moved onto the next skill, "Chameleon camouflage- hmmm gives me the ability to turn invisible. This is indeed great. In fact, it might be the best skill out of the four… period. The things I could with it…."
It did not take long for Anaxa to come up with all the various ambushes and surprise attacks he could launch on unsuspecting prey using this power. The thought was so tempting in fact that he was ready to accept this power without even looking at the remaining two.
He only stopped at the last second, saying to himself, "Okay, okay, let's not be hasty. I have enough time on my hands and there is no harm in at least considering them. So let's see… hmm… the third skill lets me utilize my tail. " Anaxa suddenly turned his focus to his tail, feeling the presence of the majestically coiled meat on his back.
"Now that I think about it, I have never given this thing much thought, have I, even though I have had it for so long. What use does my tail have? I remember using it to balance myself when I move between branches and also when I swim. But other than that…"
Anaxa tried to move his tail as he said this, but found it was hardly as maneuverable as it first seemed. He was quite restricted to a few, very basic movements.
But this was also exactly why the third option suddenly began to seem appealing to him. He began to see new horizons open up to him as he imagined all the things he could do if he were allowed to freely use this long, meaty appendage.
"Hmmm… moving my tail is really difficult right now but what if I could easily do it… what if I could use it like a hand? The text does not specify this, but I somehow feel like this is exactly what it is pointing towards. If that is the case then…."
Anaxa started to become very excited thinking about all the possibilities, so much so that he quickly dropped the last skill out of consideration, not even giving it much thought.
"Swimming faster is useless to me right now. Whatever fish have 0.1 spirit or more will still be light years speedier than I. If I tried to hunt them now, I would only end up as a snack… not even lunch!"
Even though Anaxa was amphibious by nature, for now he preferred to stay on land, one due to his previous memories that gave him a sense of familiarity and security here, and two, the aerodynamic shape of the fish made them extremely fast and deadly predators for him in water.
So the only time he tended to enter puddles and lakes was either to escape predators or to cool off, as he was cold blooded and could not regulate temperature by himself.
Having eliminated the first and last option, Anaxa thus turned to the remaining two, and soon a fierce storm began to rage about them inside his head.
"Hmmm, objectively speaking, invisibility is definitely better. I can easily ambush enemies using some bait or even just sneak into their nest and eat their eggs! I recall seeing the stats on some of those and they were extremely delicious." Anaxa subconsciously salivated at the thought, his hungry stomach rumbling.
He could almost see himself gulping down a bird or snake's egg.
"The only problem is the 'temporary' status of this skill." But before he got carried away himself, he glanced up with this comment, thoughtfully asking himself,
"What does this term exactly mean? How long does it last? Can I control it? Is the time fixed? Does it depend on one of my stats? Or is it all arbitrary? What is the cooldown period?"
Loads and loads of such questions sprouted inside Anaxa's mind.
"...." Yet just like so many times before, when he tried asking the system for some sort of clues, it was of no help at all.
It was like it had spent all its magnanimity on the loan offer. So all of Anaxa's queries fell on deaf ears, leaving him to figure it out all on his own.
This resulted in the formation of two opposing voices inside his mind.
"Voice- 1: Take the invisibility! Then you can easily eat a bird's egg and complete the task in one go. All your other worries can wait! Do not jeopardise your life for some small misplaced misgivings!"
"Voice-2: No! This is too risky! You will be putting all your eggs in a single basket. Take the dexterous tail. If you can learn to use it like a hand… imagine all the possibilities. You can use it not just for hunting and throwing rocks, but also for making tools and traps. It is a much more versatile skill, in and out of battle!"
"Ding! Host has chosen- Dextrous Tail!"