Night fell.
Famu was resting on the shallows.
After eating and drinking his fill, it was time to sleep. For a Typhon, sleep not only conserved energy but also triggered the body's repair functions. It was a good way to heal old wounds.
"Secondary Biological Furnace Core detected. Initiating verification procedure. Verification code JE-8965."
"Verification failed."
Famu jolted awake.
He had heard a cold, mechanical voice.
That was certainly not a sound from the rainforest. It came from a long-vanished human civilization.
It was the Staff of Life!
Had the Scepter been activated?
Famu hurriedly called up the Scepter System within his body. The spiral tree had not changed, and no matter how many times he tried to control it, there was no response.
That sliver of hope was more tormenting than no stir at all.
Famu stared at the spiral tree all night. The Scepter System would not activate without reason, so he repeatedly considered and tested what had caused the change in it. While asleep, Famu had only heard the mechanical voice say "verification failed," but before that, there had been a long sentence.
There was only one conclusion.
The Biological Furnace Core had activated the Scepter System.
At the very least, the Biological Furnace Core was a variable in the Scepter System.
Biological Furnace Core...
There was another Furnace-Core Creature here. At that thought, Famu immediately sank into the water.
As dawn broke, Colin lay resting on a rock. He had eaten his fill and slept soundly. With the Horned Giant Rhino family gone, there was naturally nothing left here that could threaten him.
"Hm?" Colin narrowed his eyes.
His Furnace Core had reacted slightly.
Danger.
The threat of death!
The sound of something tearing through the air exploded as Black Typhon ambushed Colin from the shadows.
The deadly warning from his Furnace Core saved the old leopard's life. Colin left the rock where he had been resting in advance. He had no attention to spare for why Black Typhon had attacked him or what he should do next. He could only flee, escaping the range of Black Typhon's attack.
The Nightmare Leopard's explosive speed was famous throughout the Samei Rainforest.
Colin was the king of the Nightmare Leopards.
He sprinted so fast he became a blur, dodging Famu's attack.
Colin knew this place well. As the apex predator of these mountains, his speed and maneuverability made him a ghost among the dense trees.
However formidable Famu's strength was, it was not enough to catch Colin in the dense mountain forest.
Colin escaped.
Black Typhon silently watched the direction in which the Nightmare Leopard had vanished, then turned and returned to the Horned Giant Rhino mud pit.
Colin had been alerted and would never give him another chance to get close, nor would he ever show himself before Famu again.
But the rainforest had never lacked prey.
The encounter in the deep waters of the Mara River had been the hardest battle Famu had faced since his birth.
That Pitch-Black Giant Crocodile, whose back could spew searing flames, also possessed a Furnace Core—and a biological reactor far larger than Colin's.
He swallowed the remaining Horned Giant Rhino innards and broken bones along with the mud and sand, digesting the vast quantity of nutrients.
He ate, replenished his energy, and began thinking of a way to deal with the fire-breathing giant crocodile.
Just then, a hot spring flowed from a fissure in the earth.
Thick white mist rose above the shallows. Warm water welled from cracks in the rock face, and the silt at the bottom of the pool was a peculiar dark gold.
Famu remembered. Previously, his attention had been on the Horned Giant Rhino's Furnace Core, and he had forgotten what was special about this place. It was the so-called "blessed land" Colin had spoken of, where a savage species could become an intelligent species and develop a Furnace Core by receiving nourishment from Mother Earth.
Famu moved closer and examined it carefully.
Warm water washed over his scales. This energy was unusual.
Unlike the biochemical energy supplied by protein and fat, it was more primal and more immense, acting directly on organs and cells. It was hundreds of times more efficient at providing nourishment than simply devouring flesh and blood.
Energy from the radioactive hot spring coming out of the fissure underground?
Could it be—
Famu thought.
No way?
No, that makes sense. How did I not think of this?
As a researcher at the Scepter System Research Institute, Famu knew all too well what this was.
It was Earth Vein Energy!
He did not know how much time had passed. Human civilization on the surface had long since been reduced to ashes, but the Earth Vein Energy network that had once run through the earth's crust, wiped out humanity, and reshaped the ecosystem had never faded. It had become part of the present-day ecosystem, so much so that, over the course of a long evolution, creatures had evolved a special branch that fed directly on Earth Vein Energy.
Many things began to become clear to Famu.
Why could Typhons rule the rainforest with such enormous bodies?
What exactly was the so-called Furnace Core organ?
Typhons were essentially a super species whose primary fuel was Earth Vein Energy. No amount of flesh and blood could support a kingdom of Typhons; the rule of these super species was built on Earth Vein Energy.
The Biological Furnace Core was a biological reactor that organisms had evolved to receive, convert, and store Earth Vein radiation energy.
No wonder life-forms with Furnace Cores were called the masters of the rainforest, while beasts without Furnace Cores were merely savage species. Without a Furnace Core organ, they could never enter the upper echelons of an ecosystem built on Earth Vein Energy.
Typhons were not products of the rainforest. They were offspring of the earth veins.
The name of the Child of the Earth Furnace Core probably came from the earth veins as well.
Black Typhon coiled his enormous body tightly into the opening of the fissure, which spewed scalding steam.
Absorbing Earth Vein Energy was instinctive for a Furnace Core.
Savage species needed to spend long years gambling on luck to trigger a mutation, but once a Typhon reached adulthood, the reactor in its body would automatically resonate in sync with the pulse of this continent.
The final piece of the puzzle for hunting the giant crocodile had arrived.
Vast reserves of bone calcium, an ample supply of protein-rich flesh and blood, and this place filled with Earth Vein radiation.
Excellent.
Finally, he had a Biological Furnace Core running at full power to go with it all.
The pale membrane over Famu's eyes lost focus. He fell asleep, and in the darkness, modification blueprints flashed past his eyes one after another.
The Dragonization Modification continued, but he made some minor adjustments specifically for that giant crocodile.
Old teeth loosened deep in his gums, pushed outward by new ones.
The Child of the Earth reshaped his tooth roots, deepening the sockets, and new tooth buds rose from deep within his jawbone.
The first specialized tooth broke through the flesh. Its crown slanted backward and its cutting edge narrowed. Then the old teeth fell out in batches, and new teeth took shape in his mouth. This was a specialized set of teeth that combined mammals' specialization for killing with reptiles' advantage in piercing armor. After careful selection, Famu confirmed that these fangs could pierce the giant crocodile's skin, allowing him to nearly match it bite for bite.
Next came the large patches of charred, necrotic muscle on his abdomen. These areas had already been healing, and now they recovered even faster under the infusion of Earth Vein Energy.
New muscle fibers, thick as steel cables, intertwined and overlapped, shaping his abdominal muscles into multilayered, crosshatched armor.
This was to deal with the heat.
The previous battle had already proven that simply increasing his torso's strength was not enough to solve the problem. Famu also needed to withstand the impact of the heat at close range.
Of course, that was the worst outcome. For Famu, the best outcome would be to ambush and kill it.
To kill the giant crocodile before its Furnace Core released its power.
That would be difficult, so Famu prepared for a close-quarters struggle.
Scales, a keratin layer, connective tissue, an elastic fiber layer, and muscle—layer upon layer of heat resistance was added until Famu was satisfied.
Adjusting a Typhon's body might only be an auxiliary ability of the Child of the Earth Furnace Core, but for Famu, it would be his decisive means of making specialized adaptations against every enemy.
He was the true Death God, the natural enemy of all living things.