Chapter 567 - 219: Start as a Dragon, Grow by Devouring! (2)

If I can just observe the information from version 2.9, or even 3.0, there’s a chance I could deduce the information for version 4.9. And with the information from version 4.9, I might be able to figure out the goals of the Intelligent NPCs and the Super Bosses. Otherwise, Red Heart A wouldn’t have brought me here. Of course, this is all just speculation. Shen Fei knew he would have to keep observing to know for sure.

But the problem now is, what version is the Dinosaur Era even on? If it’s just starting from 2.0 and has to update all the way to 2.9, that’ll take forever! The Dinosaur Era lasted for hundreds of millions of years...

As Shen Fei’s mind raced, a new problem occurred to him. It seemed—or rather, he was quite certain—that he simply didn’t have the lifespan to wait for this so-called "version 2.9" update.

Back in the modern era on Blue Star, I was the one who kept accelerating the version updates. Now that I’m in the Dinosaur Era, do I have to start messing with things again to speed up the updates here too?

Another idea surfaced in his racing mind, but he would have to figure out the specific method later.

SWISH!

After quickly mulling over the various situations and pieces of information triggered by that single bite of meat, Shen Fei’s gaze returned to his personal panel, focusing on the newly appeared quests:

[Restorative Mandatory Quest 2: Devour dinosaurs and become the most powerful dinosaur in the Dinosaur Era! Failure means obliteration!]

[Punitive Mandatory Quest 3: Preserve the flame of the dinosaur version!]

As the text on his personal panel refreshed, Shen Fei had no idea why he had received two new quests after Black Spade A’s bug fix. The only thing he could do was carry them out. He also took a moment to look at his "Quest 1." His Quest 1 was the one he already had, which had capped his level when he was trying to upgrade to level 200. The quest required him to reveal a long-buried historical truth. As soon as he completed Quest 1, his level would immediately rise to 200, and he would unlock a large number of level-up rewards.

Now, in addition to the pre-existing Quest 1, his panel showed Quest 2 and Quest 3. Setting Quest 3 aside for a moment, he looked at Quest 2’s description about "Devouring dinosaurs" and then shifted his gaze to the space above his head.

A line of text had appeared there:

—LV1

Seeing the display, Shen Fei knew it meant he was currently "Level 1." He glanced over and saw that No. 0, Xiaohong, and Black Tortoise also had "LV1" above their heads. Shen Fei then looked down at his own body.

By now, the strange transformation had ended. He discovered that he had turned from a human into a dinosaur! He was now a juvenile Tyrannosaurus, about the size of a puppy, that looked cute and was only "Level 1." Xiaohong’s form had also changed into a dinosaur, but she had become a Winged Dragon. And No. 0 had become a Triceratops.

Shen Fei’s pet, Black Tortoise, hadn’t changed its form, however. It was still a large tortoise, just shrunk down to about the same size as the others. It also had "LV1" displayed above its head.

What’s next? Just endless devouring? Go straight from LV1 to LV9999?

He saw that along with the LV1 display above his head, a temporary skill called [Devouring] had also appeared on his automatically opened personal panel. In the dense forest ahead, all sorts of health bars had appeared as well, with displays like "LV4," "LV12," and "LV912." Shen Fei understood. To complete the quests and find the information he needed in this special version 2.0 Dinosaur Era, he had to start devouring.

He couldn’t summon his Defense Towers or use his Superpowers. Now, thanks to a single bite of meat, he finally had a connection to this version 2.0 Dinosaur Era. Furthermore, all the buggy and then corrected version information had given him a new, different kind of ability. What he needed to do now was follow the quest’s instructions and start devouring. He would complete the quests while gathering information and assessing the situation. Now that he finally had an ability, it was much better than when he was investigating blindly before.

Having assessed his own situation, Shen Fei opened his mouth. A muffled voice came out as he asked, "Are you two okay?"

Although he had become a small dinosaur, he had no trouble speaking.

"How did this happen!?"

"How could this happen?!"

Hearing Shen Fei’s voice and seeing their own transformed dinosaur bodies, No. 0 and Xiaohong were still in a state of shock. A moment ago, the two of them had been the first to eat the meat strips from the version 2.0 Dinosaur Era. Then, their personal panels had opened automatically. Seeing this, they had quickly stuffed a meat strip into Shen Fei’s mouth, wanting his panel to open as well. But they never expected such text would appear. Not only had they been truly teleported to version 2.0, who knows how many years in the past, but more importantly, they had both turned into newborn baby dinosaurs. This situation made them both extremely uncomfortable.

"What is going on?! Have we gotten our Superpowers back or not!?" No. 0 and Xiaohong asked in shock.

As they spoke, they were both examining the new temporary skill they had acquired—[Devouring].

[Devouring: Instantly devour any creature of a lower level to grow, regardless of size! Devouring a target provides energy for growth and movement. Be sure to avoid higher-level creatures, or you will be devoured by them!]

Connecting this to their new quest to grow into the strongest dinosaur, No. 0 and Xiaohong carefully examined the skill’s information. After looking at it for a while, No. 0 couldn’t help but think of a game she used to play before the apocalypse. She even remembered that the game was endorsed by the celebrity Wang Baoqiang. The gameplay involved every character having a level above their head, and you would devour various creatures in a primitive tribe to raise your level and build a home. Now, their situation was the same, but without the home-building part—only the requirement for mindless devouring remained.

"Our Superpowers probably haven’t returned!" Shen Fei answered their questions, having heard No. 0’s comment about a similar game existing on pre-apocalypse Blue Star. He nodded, ready to act.

Although he had been turned into a dinosaur by a bite of meat and felt like he was being led by the nose by these quests, this situation was far better than flying blind like before. At least now he had a clear objective. As for the game endorsed by Wang Baoqiang that No. 0 mentioned, Shen Fei paid it no mind. With the sudden update to version 4.8, the entire Blue Star had turned into a Game World. Or rather, Blue Star had always been a Game World; it’s just that after version 4.8, everyone realized it. But none of that was important. Now that he had used the rare items Red Heart A and Black Spade A to teleport to this place, it was time to get to work.

"Let’s go!" After familiarizing himself with his new dinosaur body, Shen Fei opened his mouth and let out a roar like a fledgling dragon leaving its nest for the first time, then set off. "Let’s see how this devouring thing is supposed to work!!" He didn’t want to waste any time. No matter what, the first order of business was to devour his way to becoming the most powerful dinosaur. Since he was lucky enough to have this game-like devouring ability, he might as well devour everything he could.

Half an hour later, three small dinosaurs and one small tortoise were hiding quietly in a patch of tall grass, watching as massive, digitized dinosaurs with levels like LV432 and LV312 stomped past.

A small, pink dinosaur with wings spoke in a hushed voice, "Brother Fei! The four of us are too low-level. It’s going to be hard to level up at the start!"

From the grass, a small Tyrannosaurus whispered in reply, "Yeah! We should look for something that’s LV1 or LV0 first. Looks like we can’t devour dinosaurs yet; we can only go after small, low-level animals! Come on, let’s check the other side!"