‘What kind of creature spewed that beam of acid?’

Even now could still hear the sound of things hitting things coming somewhere a short distance away. The only thing was the alien plants ranging from blue, green and violet possibly having the capability to attack him.

[ There are too many organisms here Izo. Should I limit my target. ]

[ Prioritize following me. ]

[ Roger. ]

Izo will just have to trust the Ural’s capability to protect his body from this beyond hostile biome. He jogged left always ready to shoot anything with the Maxima.

The plants did react to him by spewing more gas and some even trying to grab ahold of Izo. The tough metal of the Ural and its strength allowed him to simply ignore them.

‘Above?’

Izo had to go to another lake with a waterfall before having a specific direction to take. By now, he was covered by vines like a half-plant being or a Ghillie suit. There were even some of this hostile vine plants that were uprooted being pulled by him.

Another acid beam passed him overhead. This time he heard a water sucking sound before it appeared.

‘Thrusters would be too loud.’

Instead, Izo climbed the rock wall beside the waterfall by creating holds through the sheer power of the Ural. There were times when he almost fell since he knew nothing about rock climbing. He would just grab a seemingly secure rock then he would almost slip.

If Izo was more used to the Ural, he could’ve probably climbed faster through propelling himself with his arm. Maybe even jump as if a goat up the wall except he would create indentations himself.

He could consider so in the future but for now Izo managed to get himself up over this cliff.

[ Stop scanning until I say so. ]

[ Understood. ]

He saw ten spaced eye creatures surrounding a large plant with a two-meter mouth filled with teeth. They were battling on a shallow part of this lake as the plant thrashed with its vines, swinging as if throwing a tantrum. Other larger vines had their own mouths which were trying to bite off pieces of its attackers.

Neither of the two parties had seen him yet as he hid behind a rock near the cliff’s edge.

A piece of the plant fell near Izo, still raging like a lizard’s tail before it soon calmed down.

Izo removed the plants still covering him when he noticed something.

[ Does the two of these have a similar DNA? ]

[ Scanning! 92.7% percent similarity. ]

‘This small plant evolves to that?’

The spaced eye creatures were fighting in a way primitive humans would. Though they don’t hold any weapons like rocks or wooden spear.

Their webbed hands would glow green mixed with red. When they swipe the plant’s limbs, it would be cut through easily. As they fell, they were cauterized.

Izo could now observe the spaced eye creatures in full with their pink and green bodies. They looked covered in mold with folds of their skins on their joints.

Their bodies were lanky and tall with heads 50% smaller than it should be. They had two arms and two legs, at least the usable ones as they had small ones growing from their rib and hip.

Some had longer arms. One had a long tongue coming out of its mouth. None of them looked uniform.

These mammals seemed to know a proto-language as Izo heard them screech in higher and lower pitches. It must have been commands since they would change their behavior upon hearing it.

One of the creatures was hit by the acid beam. Its hands glowed green and red as the liquid was evaporated into gas. This was a slow affair that would’ve killed any other organism but the creature could resist the corrosion for a while. The little left that wasn’t removed in time burned through whatever skin layer was resisting and began eating through the soft meat underneath.

The corrosion only stopped when holes equivalent to the acid’s quantity was melted.

‘I must not be hit by that.’

Izo raised his wariness against the acid beam while continuing to observe this battle.

After 2 minutes, most of the plant’s limbs were burnt off by the spaced eye creatures. Even its liveliness was replaced by lethargy which got taken advantage of instantly. 20 hands punctured its main body before being quickly pulled back.

Acid leaked from the holes. Their hands got covered with the stuff but once more got evaporated.

The largest spaced eye creature screeched and they backed off.

‘They’re watching it die huh?’

Izo could see that they were familiar with this plant.

‘This might be more of a hunt than a sudden battle.’

Before long, the plant slumped dead. The creatures communicated once more and began moving as a group. Most of them took the plant to a cliff edge then let the leftover acid drip. It was reminiscent of how pig’s blood was drained back on Earth.

The separated parts strewn all over was collected too.

‘Is this the guy I saw before?’

Its nose was like very small. Looking more like mud that dirtied the space above its lips.

This spaced eye creature was searching alone and very close to where Izo was. When it was planning to go behind the rock, he sprinted out. He swept its leg making it fall face first. Confused, he covered its mouth with his hand and choking it out.

‘Phew. The others didn’t see it.’

Now, Izo’s only worry was his captive’s retaliation.

‘Is it working?’

This things biology might not work the same way as he thought so Izo was warily watching its response as he hid again behind the rock. Cut from air, it didn’t take long for the creature to lay limp.

Izo rechecked if the other spaced eye creatures saw him. Seeing that his presence was still not known, he tied the creature’s hands and feet, slung it over his shoulder and scaled down again.

Izo apologized to the creature as he brought it away back to the tunnel he came from.

‘I’m a kidnapper now. Sigh.’

[ Take this thing’s DNA. ]

*

Back at the inn, he dropped the creature on the first floor. It woke up once through the journey but was thankfully knocked out before it comprehended its situation.

The problem now was how to safely lock it up. It could burn the makeshift ropes quick so he needed another method to secure it.

‘Can I cut off its hands?’

It might die from it however.

Izo brainstormed an idea while looking over the information over his HUD. Multiple DNA analysis was queued.

[ Prioritize this thing’s DNA first. ]

[ Okay! Estimated time of completion is 1 hour 24 minutes ]

[ We might just know how to counter its ability. Maybe it has other ones too. ]

After thinking for a while, he only had one idea. He moved the vines tying its arms from the wrists to the elbows. The creature was moved to a face down position before stones were placed on its back. Some of it weighed down the vines, most were just to give Izo time to knock it out before it could stand up.

Izo studied the things body. He discovered the toughness of its skin. It was hard as a stone even if it had the flexibility of muscle. The creature was also heavier than its skinny look would make one think. Around 120 kilos to be exact. Red liquid also came out from its skin’s pores.

‘Is it sweat?’

He wasn’t sure so he continued observing for a while. Again, he was soon bored so Izo began reading the manual while maintaining enough wariness over the creature. It only woke up once and was promptly put to sleep again.

[ DNA analysis complete! ]

The orb finished its task after 1 hour and 33 minutes. Izo ordered it to continue onto other DNA before asking his questions.

[ How best should this thing be secured? ]

[ Formulating answer. Short term, it could be knocked out through a blow to the back of its head. Long term, an organ can be created to make it unconscious. ]

[ Notable things? ]

[ 73.1% percent DNA similarity to you Izo. ]

If Izo hadn’t guessed by this point about this thing being descended from humans, he might as well bash his head on the wall.

[ 70-80 years when there was a big change to it? ]

[ Correct! ]

[ Give me a rundown of what’s weird about it compared to my DNA. ]

[ It has evolved to gain energy from the same unknown source just like the grass. It’s also adopted other weird traits like being able to ingest stone then let it infuse to its skin, fishlike traits for swimming and channeling immense heat to its hands.

It doesn’t seem to be intentional however. It has also gotten bad traits like curbed intelligence, less fertility and slower healing. Though the last one also allowed its aging to be incredibly slow?]

[ Is this thing immortal?! ]

[ Calculating. Is 10,000 years immortal Izo? ]