章 11: Stethacanthus
Now his experience points had dropped back to 180 and the threshold for leveling up had risen to 8,000 points. However, for once Sobek wasn't focused on them. His focus was on other skill points.
Sobek had gotten to know how skill points worked during his previous hunts. They could only be supplied by animals that could feed on terrestrial vertebrates: for example, if they ate only insects, they were classified as 'insectivores', while if they ate only fishes they were 'fishivore'.
However, it wasn't necessary for an animal to be exclusively carnivorous to be worth skill points; if its size or its abilities were enough to allow it to eat terrestrial creatures with bones, than it was consider a carnivore. For example spinosaurs almost always ate fishes, but their size allowed them to feed on even smaller land animals.
As a result, Sobek had at his disposal a wide range of animals that lived in the river that could provide him with skill points. An example were crocodiles and snakes. But the larger fishes, even if they never left the river, were still able to eat a terrestrial vertebrate if it tried to cross the water, so they counted as carnivores for the System.
One example could be the onchopristis his father had captured: it was so large that it could eat compsognathus or other small animals if they tried to swim near to it. Of course, this was unlikely to happen since the onchopristis ate mostly other fishes, but it was possible and this was enough for the System.
However, Sobek couldn't start hunting onchopristis: even if they weren't a threat to him they were still bigger. He would never be able to get them out of the water like his father did. Even so, however, he had a wide choice: the river was full of fishes that in his father's eyes were too small, but which could feed on small animals.
Sobek moved a little away from his father, halfway between the center of the river and the shore, and waited there. He observed his father: to fish the spinosaurus just submerged itself and swam under the water. It hunted just like a modern crocodile.
Sobek started to think. He didn't like to fish like his father: to the large spinosaurus it was easy, because it hunted every fish it saw, but Sobek was much more selective. He wanted creatures that could provide skill points to him: river sharks, big piranhas, maybe some giant prehistoric fishes... he couldn't hunt casually if he wanted to catch the right preys.
The problem was that he didn't know how to prepare a fish trap. Humans had learned how capture fishes thousands of years in the past, but Sobek wasn't a fisherman when he was a human. He had no idea to how settle a trap. He tried to concentrate: what could attract the bigger fishes?
The answer were the smaller fishes, of course. But as living beings, they certainly wouldn't remain motionless just because Sobek wanted it. Even catch a fish and used it as a bait wasn't a good idea: it would take hours for a larger fish to bite. If he wanted to attract many big fishes he needed tens, maybe hundreds of little fishes.
Wait...
A strange idea started to form in his mind. Sobek wasn't a fisherman, but when he was a human he liked the animals very much, especially the birds, and so he knew how the birds fish. So just like herons or cranes, he could used his shadow to attract many small fishes, and so much fishes would surely have attracted many predators! Than he would only have to quickly lower his neck and capture them with his mouth.
That was a good idea. Sobek entered in the river again and he positioned himself in a spot where his hind legs still touched the river bed, and then he waited. As he predicted, in a short time the space below him was filled with small fishes.
And very soon a shadow began to approach menacingly under the water.
[Prey identified: Stethacanthus productus, stethacanthidae. Experience: 1,200 points]
Stethacanthus was one of the very first sharks. It lived at the end of the Devonian period and it was practically one of the founders of that immense lineage that had dominated the oceans for hundreds of millions of years. Because it was so ancient, however, it was very small: it reached just one meter in length.
Even so, however, it remained a shark, even if it swam in fresh water. Consequently, despite being small, it was already a considerable predator. Sobek believed it could earn him at least one skill point.
If he wanted to catch it, Sobek had to be fast and above all he had to hit in the right place, which is the base of the neck: if he had caught it in the middle of the back, the shark could have turned its head and bitten him. A shark's bite was always very strong: it might not caused him fatal wounds, but the pain would have forced him to let his prey go.
Furthermore, a particular feature of the stethacanthus was that it had a flattened dorsal fin, similar to a hammer, the tip of which was covered with quills. Sobek didn't know if these quills were poisonous; he was talking about a shark so it was difficult that it could produce poison, but it was better not to risk it.
He had to be patient and strike in the right place at the right time. Timing was the key.
Sobek waited for the stethacanthus to attack the fishes below him; that would be the moment when the shark would be most vulnerable. He also activated [Swim speed] early for more thrust.
Finally, the stethacanthus sped up and opened its mouth, grabbing a small fish with a long tail; the rest of the group quickly fled. While the stethacanthus was intent on gripping the fish with its jaws to kill it, Sobek made his move: like a heron, he darted his neck and muzzle and opened his jaws, grabbing the shark by the neck.
The stethacanthus struggled hard as soon as it realized it had been captured. Sobek was surprised at the strength the little shark possessed. He knew that in the water the fish always had the advantage: with a yank, he pulled it out of the river, lifting it into the air as his father did.
Sadly, spinosaurs' bite lacked the strength of a tyrannosaur's one: their jaws weren't made to kill their preys instantly. The pressure Sobek could exert was insufficient to cut the shark in half. The spinosaurus hunting technique, just like that of modern caimans and crocodiles, was to just grab the fish and drag it out of the water.
Sobek struggled to keep the stethacanthus suspended in the air as it returned to shore; the shark was struggling with extraordinary strength and Sobek was pretty sure that a pair of its teeth had broken due to the movements of the fish. Once he reached the shore he threw the stethacanthus on the beach and just waited for it to die. The shark managed to hold out for a full half hour before suffocating, but eventually its strength left its body and it died.
However Sobek couldn't eat it right now. His stomach was still full from the rugops, if he ate again he risked to rip it. There was therefore nothing to do but wait.
After a while his father stopped fishing and started eating the onchopristis it had caught. One after another they disappeared into its mouth. Sobek realized that this was its meal.
Once it was done his father lowered its head back into the water and when it pulled it out his mouth was full of little fishes struggling furiously: food for Sobek's siblings.
The two spinosaurs embarked on the journey backwards, Sobek holding the stethacanthus in his mouth, his father the little fishes. Once they reached the nest, his father handed the meal to his siblings, while Sobek lay down beside them and waited.
He had decided to take a rest while he waited to be able to eat the stethacanthus: if he went away someone could steal it from him. Unfortunately he couldn't put it back in the [Inventory] or it would lose its experience and skill points. Moreover, it was now impossible for him to play with his brothers and sisters: he had become too big and he could have hurt them. All he could do was stand still and let his little siblings climb onto his back and play to who first got to the top.
He had to sit still all afternoon before eating. In that period of time he became aware of a detail that he hadn't noticed in the previous days: his mother, as well as all the other females in the pack, had swap roles with his father and had immersed herself in the river. Apparently, just like some birds, the individuals of the nesting couple hunted at alternating times, so that the young would never be alone.
Sobek was surprised, but then he thought it actually made sense. Indeed, it was strange that he hadn't noticed it before: his mother had to eat in some way.
When it was finally evening he was able to devour the stethacanthus. The shark gave him just 1 skill point, but it was enough.
With 5.1 skill points, he could upgrade [Swim speed] to level 2/5. He could now swim four times faster than his maximum speed; since his current top speed was 7 km/h, once activated the ability could sprint at 28 km/h. That speed was enough to outpace several large crocodiles, so he now had an escape route.
Sobek had chosen to put his own survival first, so he needed to improve his escape skills first. From his past life memories he knew that some snakes and crocodiles, although not gigantic in size, could shoot up to 40 km/h. He then calculated that upgrading [Swim speed] once again could secure an escape route for any situation.
The small size of the stethacanthus didn't provide many experience points, but it did grant one skill point. Which meant that he only needed to catch five of them to upgrade [Swim speed] to level 3/5. At that point he could have focused on [Ambush].
Sobek had took his decision: the next day he would go back fishing with his father and concentrate on catching the freshwater sharks. They were relatively easy to catch and the inlet they hunted was free of predators that could chase him into the water: it was the safest place to acquire experience and skill points.
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