It wasn't the only movement I felt along my border. The Grizzled Spinosaurous was traveling in this direction. He skirted the edges of the territory, barely touching it, but close enough that it felt intentional. Like he wanted me to know he was on his way.

He stopped upwind of the other creatures that were poking at my border.

I moved forward a few more feet, trying to spot the beasts.

Two dark shadows stepped out between the trees. One of them was a dark grey color, while the other had dark green stripes running from the small spikes flowing down its spine. Both stood taller than the shuttle when landed, and both stretched just as long.

[Allosaurus, Level 41, Prey, Tasty.]

[Allosaurus, Level 39, Prey, Tasty.]

They hesitated, not moving deeper into my territory and flashing sharp teeth at one another.

Out of the corner of my eye, I caught sight of the Spinosaurus.

[Grizzled Spinosaurus, Hidden Presence, Level 40, Prey, Unknown.]

Now, that was great information to know. The beat-up guy had a fantastic skill. One I hoped my Stealth would get to eventually, given that I was the only one that had noticed him at all. His focus was on the two Allosaurus, and with their levels it made sense. He'd get good experience for it, while I wasn't sure I'd get anything, given the recent levels I gained.

The green, higher leveled Allosaurus caught sight of me and froze. It took the lower level one another few seconds to get with the program.

"This is my territory," I growled.

The green one stepped forward with a roar, fully crossing into my space.

"Fun time," Dengu growled under his breath, next to me.

Lenna tensed up in the tree, but she notched an arrow with a smile.

Both of them would grow as well with this fight. It'd be hard, but my money was on them.

The smaller grey one charged, and the green one followed, hesitating ever so slightly and moving just a touch slower than its more idiotic companion, like it wanted to see what we'd do.

Too bad for it.

The Grizzled Spinosaurous rushed the larger one, his long snout wrapping around the neck of the Allosaurus before the Allosaurus even realized he was there.

Dengu leaped to meet the smaller Allosaurus, who tried to move fast enough to chomp on him. He wasn't. Dengu dodged under the larger creature.

Three arrows penetrated the Allosaurus's head, making it jerk upright away from Dengu. It still blindly stomped toward me.

I just stood there casually with my spear. Ready if it reached me, but I really didn't want to enter this fight. Especially not with the level 39, it'd just be a waste.

Dengu leaped onto its side, his talons ready, making it clear why focusing on me was a dangerous move.

[Dengu, Bonded Raptor, Sharp Talons, Level 36, Prey, Friend Not Food.]

His talons dug into the back of the grey Allosaurus. Without the stripe of short spines running down its back, there was nothing to stop Dengu's assault.

Lenna fired a flaming arrow, which slammed into the side of its head.

I wasn't sure if she hit its eyes, but the flaming arrow finally caused the beast to turn away from the both of us.

It shook its head, trying to put out the flames as Dengu continued to damage its back.

The Grizzled Spino fight continued with the larger Allosaurus, but the Allosaurus was losing already. Grizzled tore up its neck, but didn't get a kill shot. The Allosaurus tore free, blood running down its neck, and bit at the fin on Grizzled's back. It didn't do any damage to the Spinosaurus, though.

Grizzled shoved it against a large tree, which didn't even move, knocking the Allosaurus free. He got his teeth around the Allo's neck again, and it was all over.

A large crackle announced the Allosaurus' death.

Dengu roared in pleasure as the smaller Allosaurus went down as well. Its head had at least 10 arrows sticking out of it, which still burned.

[Dengu, Bonded Raptor, Sharp Talons, Level 38, Prey, Friend Not Food.]

"Great job, Buddy!" I said with a grin as he dug into the back of the creature, eating a few bites before hopping off. Lenna stayed up in the tree, eyeing the Spinosaurus that was now standing over its own prey.

"Friend?" Dengu asked, looking at the Grizzled Spinosaurus with his head tilted.

Grizzled's head glanced at Dengu, and then me, before turning back to its kill.

"Nice work," I said after a moment, wondering what to do.

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

"Happy hunt." It nudged the carcass. "Want meat?"

"No, we are good, thanks." I paused and stared at him for a moment. "You can hunt the borders of my territory, just don't hurt the ones that look like me. They will not attack you first."

"Agreed." It bowed its head. "Alpha."

Dengu chirped and Grizzled nodded to the raptor.

"I think Dengu's going to stay here for a while," said Lenna. She easily climbed down from the tree.

[Lenna De la Dengu, Ranger, Level 35, Prey, Friend Not Food.]

I didn't need to keep seeing reminders that I wasn't going to eat my friends. It did make me grin, though.

"Sounds good. I'm going to head back to the camp and see what needs to be done."

Lenna joined me and we strolled back to camp. It didn't take long to reach the circle of crystals.

To my surprise, behind the circle parts of a fence already stood in place. It looked like x's of metal, with joints where they crossed. Hammy stretched out the X of metal until it was a certain length, then screwed it in place to an upright metal pole in the ground. It'd keep the bigger things out, and the crystals would keep the smaller things away.

The group had gotten fifteen feet of the metal fencing in place.

"You guys are hustling," I said with a whistle.

Hammy jumped, along with Randy and Benny.

"We heard sounds of fighting," said Benny, eyeing my armor and spear. "You guys good?"

"We're fine," I replied with a smile, pointing over my shoulder. "We have a friend at the border. A Grizzled Spinosaurous, you can't miss the scars and broken fin. He's earned hunting privileges, and will not attack humans if you don't attack first."

"Dude, you made another friend?" asked Hammy. "Wait, is that the same one from near the lake?"

"It is. I think he's just trying to rank up."

Benny shook his head. "Don't care, that should free up John to help us with the shuttle. If he can get the upright poles into place, we'll move much faster."

"I'll check."

Lenna stared at the guys doing construction, watching them move the metal into place.

I left her behind, heading to the clearing near the cavern. The shuttle had already landed by the time I got there.

Doc frowned as I approached. "You didn't need us at all."

"Of course not. We…"

"That Spino helped in the fight," said John rushing off the ship. "Like, that just doesn't make sense."

"Beasts can become more intelligent if they want to. They have a set of quests, just like we do. That's how Dengu talks, just like that Spino talks. He just wants to level up and thrive, like us." Several people stared at me while I spoke. "He isn't going to attack any humans if they don't attack him first. He has no reason to. You don't get levels for attacking things too far under your level, and soon, he'll be even higher."

"It sounds like you have much more to teach all of us," said Abby, breaking the strange tension in the air. "Doesn't that mean the fence crew could use you, John?"

He blushed, grumbled, and turned back to the shuttle.

My father stood with Hawk near the entrance to the cavern. I turned to move in that direction when whatever slept at the bottom of the lake moved.

I froze, trying to figure out where it was headed, when it started swimming toward shore. I let out a sigh, then headed down the pathway to the water. The carcass of the aggressive Spinosaurus sat there with flies circling overhead. We still had a lot of slaughtering to do.

Hawk and my father suddenly trotted toward me, noticing something was up.

"Hawk, go back to the others and have everyone move away from the water," I said, keeping my voice low.

He turned with a smile, but then caught sight of my face. He nodded quickly and hurried back to the others.

"Another problem?" asked my father.

"Not a clue."

I stood facing the water's edge with my spear fully extended.

A dark shape appeared a long way under the surface of the water. The shadow was bigger than the aggressive Spinaoaurus behind me. It suddenly shrank, becoming smaller and smaller, until it was about the size of the shuttle.

A head popped up ten feet out from the water's edge, the body still beneath the surface. It reminded me of pictures of the Loch Ness Monster. Four flippers, large body, and long neck, plus tail. Yep, I'd found the Loch Ness Monster, who was a greenish blue color with tiny white spots that almost looked like stars.

[Nessetra, Elasmosaurus, Level Unknown, Undersky Huntress, Knowledge-Bearer, Predator, Unknown]

It stared at me, and I didn't dare move. I'd never seen a level Unknown before. Not even when Noseen had revealed his true form.

"Oh, hello little devourer, aren't you something…" The female voice shook me out of my stupor.

It used some sort of skill on me, but I couldn't tell what. The voice was like a grandma, or what one sounded like on tv shows back on Earth.

"And you defeated that idiot," she said looking at the carcass behind me. "Good for you."

I needed to say something and stop staring.

"I hope you don't mind that we plan to settle here," I said, trying to get my wits in order.

"Oh, not at all, I'm not one for the land. I'll fly above with the stars, eventually, but until then I'll keep helping those who want to evolve."

I had no idea what she meant, and having a conversation with the Loch Ness Monster was just too much for my brain to handle.

Manners, I reminded myself.

"Would you like some food?" I motioned the excess meat.

"I prefer fish, but I know some others that could use it."

"Of course," I said, stepping to one side. "We have more than we can use, and I don't want it to go to waste. Going hungry is horrible."

"I agree." Nessetra nodded. "Have you seen Grizzle? He ruled here before that idiot showed up."

"Ah, yes." I scratched the back of my head. "He's to the north of my territory, hopefully eating an Allosaurus. I gave him permission to hunt the edges of my lands as long as he doesn't hunt my people, they won't hunt him."

I wasn't sure why the words just tumbled out of my mouth, but I didn't dare stop. She felt like Noseen. Like if she wanted to, she could stomp us all out of existence and not even notice she'd done it.

"Smart, little one." She said as she reached forward. Somehow her neck grew longer and her mouth latched onto the tail of the Spinosaurus carcass. Then, she pulled it into the water, without a problem.

The blue water turned bloody as she let it sink beneath the water.

"I think I'll like living next to you," she said with a toothy smile. Then her head vanished under the surface, dragging the remains of the massive creature with her.

I couldn't help but stand there, watching until she vanished from sight.

"Was that the Loch Ness Monster?" asked my father beside me, his voice barley a whisper.

"No clue, but she seemed friendly enough." I turned to look at him. "You didn't say anything…"

"Couldn't. You had it handled."

Footsteps alerted me to company, and Abby strolled closer. Her eyes landed on my father's face before turning toward me.

"Does your new friend want more meat?" she asked. "Even with inventory crystals, we have too much. Denver is skinning everything, though."

"Everyone needs armor," he added. "Our uniforms aren't enough if we're going to be fighting."

"I think she's good, and our friend to the north has two Allosaurus to eat."

"Hawk and I wanted to know if you wanted to explore the cavern with us," said my father. "It's what we were going to do before all of that. It might be nothing but a good gathering space, or it might be something."

"Once cleaned, it might be a good gathering space," said Abby.

"No, there's something in there," I said, interrupting the looks passing between the two of them. "I can feel it."

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