When a monster learns to think, it marks a giant leap in the history of monsters.
The Terror Lord easily rolled up a massive rock on the ground with seven tentacles.
Its strength was overwhelming.
With such a massive body, it could move giant stones effortlessly.
What's more, its strength had been enhanced tenfold!
After picking up the boulder, it hurled it like a catapult toward the distant riverbank!
Its explosive force was tremendous—each boulder it threw resembled a meteor rocket!
At the moment its tentacles swung, a sonic boom was even produced!
Just imagine how powerful that was!
Several prehistoric herbivores were drinking water by the riverside, enjoying the rare moment of peace in the scorching heat—finding a water source was a blessing from above.
But the next second.
The sunlight dimmed with a shadow.
The animals' instincts made them quickly try to evade.
But it was too late.
The Terror Lord's explosive force made the boulder incredibly fast—it wasn't like a rock, it was a cannonball!!
"Boom!\~\~"
"Thud!\~\~"
"Thud thud thud thud thud thud!\~\~"
The crashing boulders instantly smashed the riverbank, sent waves gushing, and splattered blood everywhere!
They even directly severed the flow of a river!!
[Your creation, through deliberate thought, has awakened higher-level intelligence beyond its basic brainpower!]
[You have gained 100 Authority Points!]
"Holy crap!"
From a distance, Lin Han saw this system notification and was both shocked and delighted.
What surprised him wasn't the 100 Authority Points.
As a game planner, he already knew what level of achievement yielded roughly what kind of point reward.
What truly surprised him was the capacity of the Terror Lord.
It actually broke through its original brainpower and awakened higher intelligence!
What does this mean for a Creator?
The implications are profound!
This kind of breakthrough.
Wasn't the result of modifying or upgrading the brain.
But rather, a leap from a low level to a higher tier!
Like turning a wooden stick into an embroidery needle!
And not like grinding an iron rod into a needle!
An iron rod is already made of iron!
Grinding it into a needle still requires relentless effort!
But turning a wooden stick into a needle? That's nothing short of a miracle!
"Monster civilization truly hides surprises at every turn!"
After smashing ten prey to death, the Terror Lord immediately swung its tentacles and rushed to the scene.
It used its tentacles to move the rocks aside and dig out the prey corpses buried in the mud.
Then it began feasting!
It didn't need eyes to eat—while its suction cup teeth devoured the meat, it glanced at the blue-ringed octopus wife on one of its tentacles.
Having been out of seawater for too long, the little blue-ringed octopus was already on the verge of death.
This creature, after all, came from the deep sea.
Though highly venomous and aggressive, its oceanic nature hadn't changed.
Exposed for too long outside the sea, it would die!
It wasn't like the Terror Lord!
But...
This made the Terror Lord extremely distressed!
This monster possessed extraordinary emotional intelligence.
It really, truly loved the little wife it had found in the deep sea!
But the problem was...
If it put her back into the sea, she would self-harm. And while there was water nearby, it was freshwater—not the right environment for a blue-ringed octopus.
So—
The heartbroken Terror Lord, pained by his wife's suffering, secreted mucus from his suction cups and poured it over the blue-ringed octopus.
Its organs had long since become monstrous.
With its suction cups functioning as mouths, naturally they could also secrete unknown mucus.
This mucus helped the blue-ringed octopus receive nourishment akin to the ocean.
At the same time, a good portion flowed into the blue-ringed octopus's mouth at the center of its base.
It… ate the monster's secretions!
[Your creation has gained enhancement through consumption.]
[Your creation has gained enhancement through consumption...]
[Your creation has gained through consumption...]
[Your creation through...]
[Your creation...]
[You have gained a total of 56 Authority Points!]
Lin Han glanced at the system notification panel, then quickly turned his eyes back to the blue-ringed octopus, maintaining his attention.
He had seen creatures consume monster cells before—those always ended in parasitism.
But this was the first time he'd seen one consume monster secretions. What the outcome would be...
All he could do was watch.
Seeing that his beloved wife was willing to eat his secretions and finally agreed to feed—it was a good sign to the Terror Lord.
So—
He began to secrete frantically, feeding her nonstop.
Time passed, second by second.
After stuffing herself until her entire body was full, the blue-ringed octopus began to change!
Cracks began forming across its skin, and what burst forth from the gaps wasn't blood—
It was new flesh!
Black flesh!
With a texture like obsidian!
Simultaneously, the blue-ringed octopus's entire body rapidly enlarged!
Though not overly huge—just enough to cling to one of the Terror Lord's tentacles.
Eventually, its mutation stabilized.
Now each of its tentacles reached 90 centimeters in length. On every blue ring, a fissure had opened, from which black mutated flesh emerged.
Under the contrast of the blue rings, they resembled half-opened eyes!
Utterly hair-raising!
"Check its stats!!"
[Blue-ringed Black-marked Octopus: After consuming large amounts of monster secretions, its body has undergone mutation. It can now adapt to multiple environments. Its venom can be sprayed from its suction cups and mouth.]
"Eh… eh?"
Lin Han looked at the creature clinging to the Terror Lord's tentacle—it now looked like a bizarrely shaped ring.
Its biological classification was still not 'monster'—it remained a marine creature.
For a creature to be classified as a monster, at least 50% of its body had to contain monster cells.
But this blue-ringed black-marked octopus had no monster cells. Instead, the Terror Lord's secretions triggered a genetic mutation within its own marine genes!
This sea creature had always looked monstrous by nature, and though its appearance was now more horrifying, its essence hadn't changed.
The Terror Lord gazed at his beloved little wife too.
Though her figure had changed a bit, it didn't affect his affection for her in the slightest.
While finishing off the prey on the ground, he continued to carry her, moving upstream along the river.
After breaking through the barrier of intelligence once, the now-smart Terror Lord understood that following the river would help capture more prey!
He had to complete his mission in a short time!
Just a few steps forward—suddenly, the Terror Lord felt a wave of numbness from beneath one tentacle!
This numbness made him stop.
He slowly lowered his head and saw that there, in the water, was a ferocious fish.
Just a measly fish—ordinarily, the Terror Lord wouldn't even bother.
But it had attacked him first!
How bold!
The Terror Lord immediately extended a tentacle, sweeping up the entire school of fish in the area with his suction cup!
The barbed teeth inside the cup rotated like tillers, grinding them into pulp!
Then he devoured them all.