That might sound like a lot but one had to remember that most creatures had a body trait of some kind so really I only needed to kill and devour the traits from a hundred or so creatures. That still sounds violent as fuck doesn't it? Well can't make an omelet without breaking a few eggs as they say. -
"You never did say how long you planned to stay this time boy." the old man said after dinner.
"A few days at most, I still have to stop by Athenas before returning to Pandora to make sure the planet doesn't explode for no reason. That reminds me but could you put up Mordy and Brick for a bit while i'm off on Athenas? They don't do great with sitting in one spot peacefully and Eden six has a variety of things to kill to pass the time." I said honestly.
"Hmm, I think I can put up with them for a bit but I want some more of that gut rot I know you have stashed." he said with a piercing look.
I just chuckled at that and took out a bottle of my tequila that I phase locked over to him.
"Ah now this I've missed." he said with a pleased look as he took a sip straight of of the bottle.
As promised the old man put us up for our stay with individual rooms since there were plenty in this mansion. Naturally I just went to my own room while Baldrin showed the others to theirs. The butler didn't even bat an eye at Ladon even after he got sniffed by the inquisitive reptile. Baldrin was no stranger to the egg the pseudodragon came from and thus had long prepared himself for dealing with a large reptile of some sort even if he wasn't sure exactly what said reptile would be like.-
If anything the butler seemed almost surprised by how well behaved Ladon was. Knowing where his egg came from the man had likely expected a barely contained package of claws and teeth only to get what was effectively a very curious dog. What was not so apparent to everyone other than me was the reptiles constant pinging of our connection about what all these new things were and what they tasted like.-
Outwardly the reptile seemed docile but I knew that the only thing stopping him from eating everyone here other than my friends was my constant restraint.
"I wouldn't suggest that mate. He might seem docile but if you go poking and prodding him not even I will be able to save you from him separating your body into multiple pieces." I warned Hammerlock who was about to try and intensively study Ladon.
The man looked startled by this mid outstretched arm only to freeze with sweat beading up on his brow as he locked eyes with Ladon and saw a VERY intelligent gaze practically begging him to give it a reason to eat him.-
"Hmm, yes well as they say caution is the better part of valor." he said to save face as he retreated hurriedly.
Ladon huffed in annoyance at that and gave me this accusing look like I never let him have any fun. I just rolled my eyes at the dramatic murder lizard before we went to bed. As it turned out the damned thing was an absolute bed hog if you tried to share a sleeping area with him. Stole all the covers and sprawled out like a fucking cat but was the size of Brick.-
I ended up saying fuck it and opened up my house to sleep in my bed there. In the morning we ate breakfast before I took my friends out on a tour of the local area. Naturally I took Ladon with me as it would be good to let the big fella stretch his legs and hopefully get out some of those murderous impulses.
"Watch out for those Jabbers now, they might seem silly at first but they are natural thieves and will rob you blind if you let them." I warned as I pointed out an orange Jabber hanging lazily off the side of a tree near the small town by the mansion.
"Shouldn't we kill it?" Lil asked confused when she saw i had no intention of attacking it.
"Nah, unlike Pandora where everything and everyone wants you dead most the creatures here are pretty passive unless you cross some sort of line or they are some sort of Saurian. You see anything that looks like a lizard you shoot first because Saurians absolutely will try to kill you at every given oppurtunity." I said with a shrug.
"What about bandits?" Roland asked seriously.
"I mean they exist here but not nearly in any real large capacity. This is a Jakobs planet and the old tree provides for those under it's leaves. Most folk here got no reason to become bandits and the few that do tend to be either outcasts or insane to begin with." I explained honestly.
"A corporation that ACTUALLY helps people? That feels weird." Mordy said with a funny look.
"Don't get me wrong now Jakobs got it's own bad parts but on the whole it's easily the most reliable of the lot in terms of supporting it's people properly." I said seriously.
"What kinda bad parts?" Lil asked curiously.
"Superstition runs rampant in it's people and like all corporations the company dips it's toes into some messy or dark businesses sometimes. Supposedly theres an outpost on Pandora that went dark a while back after some experiment with a virus got out even, though you didn't hear it from me." I said low so it couldn't be over heard.
"A whole outpost went dark!? And they haven't done anything about it yet!?" Lil asked in horror.
I shook my head "Nothing to do about it at the moment. Biological disasters are really just too damned hard to deal with." I said helplessly.
"Damned man I knew Jakobs had some dirty secrets but nothing like that." Mordy said with a seriously frown.
"Considering the sheer scale that the corporation operates on you should be thankful theres only a few such incidents. Look at Atlas that mistreats all it's people in various ways including experimentation and indentured servitude, which is to say slavery with extra steps and flowery language. Or maybe Maliwan who have so many issues with their R&D department that if it was put on a list on a single scroll the damned thing would wrap around Pandora several times." I said seriously and they all nodded.
We could all agree that while Jakobs wasn't squeaky clean they weren't nearly as bad as they could be. And while none of us would deny how shitty such things were we also knew well enough to leave it the fuck alone. We weren't so sort of purity group that sought to uphold truth, virtue, justice and all that grog shit. We were more or less mercenaries who killed for profit and power and who had to die didn't really matter to us so long as it wasn't someone we gave a fuck about.-
As I showed the others about we soon came across a group of Saurians and chose to watch how Ladon chose to deal with them since he was more or less of a similar species originally.
"The small ones are kinda cute." Lil said with a slight coo.
"Pollygrog, if hatched from an egg they are quite popular as pets since they don't get very big and are about as smart as the average dog." I said not surprised.
"The eggs sell good in the black market cuz of that." Mordy said casually.
"Think you can get me and egg, maybe pull some of your siren goodness on it to make it a bit less ugly?" Lil asked hopefully.
I nodded "Should be some nearby judging from the way that ones belly has stretch marks still. Probably laid a few eggs in the last day or so and the mothers of the species don't go far from the nests." I said pointing at a particular Pollygrog that looked almost the same as the others but as I said had faint stretch marks on it's belly.
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https://www.pa treon.com/user?u=81578854#:~:text=pa treon.com/pa treon_loskro
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Alexander Drake
Lifeforce: 1,181,320
Integrated Traits: [Clever mind-Rare grade],[Enhanced senses-Epic grade]X2, , [Supreme armored hide-Epic grade]X2, [Energy projection-Legendary grade], [Superior vitality-Epic grade]X3,[Lesser dragon breath-Epic grade],[Regeneration-Epic grade]X2, [Disease resistance-Epic grade],[Amphibious lungs-Uncommon grade], [Thermal sensing-Uncommon grade], [Water resistance-Common grade],[Active camouflage-Epic grade], [Eridian engineering expertise-Mythical grade], [Efficient lungs-Rare grade]x2, [Biometallic bones-Epic grade], [Quick thinking-Rare grade], [Minor spatial awareness-Epic grade], [Siren(Phaselock)(Altered)-Mythical grade], [Adrenal rush-Rare grade], [Mechanical engineering expertise-Rare grade]X3, [Gunsmithing expertise(degrading)-Common grade]X3, [Mechanical Savant-Epic grade], [Embodiment of destruction(partial)-Mythical grade], [Siren(Phasetrance)-Mythical grade], [Supreme body-Legendary grade], [Martial mastery-Epic grade], [Tinkering instinct-Rare grade]
Stored traits: [Agelessness-Legendary grade]