Growth and Slumber

The sun in the sky was blindingly bright.

But at this moment, as it fell upon Kang Qiao's eyes, it was filled with a sense of nostalgia.

The glaring sun forced Kang Qiao to squint, and he began to observe the world before him.

The clouds in the sky were not particularly thick, yet the air still carried a familiar scent of sulfur.

Turning his head slightly to scan the horizon across the sea, Kang Qiao finally spotted the source of the sulfurous smell.

Not far from Kang Qiao, amidst the vast ocean, a lone island was spewing thick plumes of smoke.

However, no sparks accompanied the smoke.

So the surroundings remained relatively tranquil.

The seawater was calm, gently rippling with the sea breeze.

Gazing at the island and inhaling the sulfurous haze, once again driven by instinct, Kang Qiao swam straight toward it.

As he successfully crawled onto the island's shore, a wave of pleasure spread through him, originating from the very core of his being.

The temperature across the entire island was scorching hot.

There were no plants at all, let any marine life.

Before coming ashore, Kang Qiao could even see countless bubbles churning and swelling as the seawater boiled around the island.

The bubbles emerged from the rocks and crevices on the seabed, then burst upon the surface.

Such an environment naturally created a dense mist surrounding the island.

Looking at the barren island and the undulating seawater around it, Kang Qiao decided to head toward the volcanic crater at the island's highest point.

The intense heat here, coupled with the urging of his own body.

All of this told Kang Qiao that perhaps high temperatures were most beneficial for his growth.

Though this notion seemed somewhat absurd, recalling the past from his memories, Kang Qiao, now having fully regained his mature rationality, felt it was all perfectly reasonable.

What kind of creature am I, exactly?

An ordinary lizard?

Staring at his limbs and the outline of his body, Kang Qiao felt a vague sense of helplessness.

How could I possibly be an ordinary lizard?

No need for air, unafraid even of extreme heat.

Could this be a lizard?

But based on his past life's memories, no such creature existed in reality.

Not to mention that Kang Qiao was now completely immersed in the magma of the volcanic crater.

Yes.

Kang Qiao was currently soaking in a magma bath inside the crater.

In the magma, he felt even more comfortable than in the seawater.

In fact, at one point, Kang Qiao even drifted off to sleep in sheer comfort.

When he woke again, with just a slight exertion, he shed an entire layer of skin.

Indeed, with that single cycle of sleep and awakening, Kang Qiao began to molt.

And his body had grown to an unknown extent.

When he crawled out of the crater, his entire body even blocked the opening.

He struggled for a long time before finally squeezing out of the crater.

Lacking any necessary reference points or comparisons, Kang Qiao couldn't estimate how large he had become.

Without measuring instruments or any objects for scale, the size he perceived now was fundamentally different from what a human would see.

All he knew clearly was that compared to his previous form, he had now grown more than six times larger.

This conclusion came from a massive boulder on the island's edge. Earlier, when he had come ashore and looked at the boulder, his body length was only about one-tenth of it.

Now, as he returned to the coast, his body length had already surpassed half of the boulder's size.

Crawling up to the boulder, Kang Qiao pondered for a moment, then swung his forelimb.

The claws on his forelimb carried immense force, and with a crash, they carved deep, sparking grooves into the boulder.

Sharp!

Unbelievably sharp!

Kang Qiao lifted his forelimb, staring at the grooves on the boulder, momentarily stunned.

Had he completely turned into a monster?

He didn't know whether to be happy or worried.

Facing this desolate world, where aside from the island, everything was endless ocean, Kang Qiao felt each day pass like a year.

With the world unchanging, he had to find his own ways to pass the time.

At the bottom of the sea, Kang Qiao once again went on a rare hunt.

This time, Kang Qiao caught two enormous marine creatures.

Of course, "enormous" only meant they were the size of his forelimb's palm.

But that should still count as giant, because finding these two had kept Kang Qiao soaking in the sea for many days.

One was the shelled creature he had seen before—a Trilobite, most likely.

The other was a massive Anomalocaris.

With two decent catches in tow, Kang Qiao climbed ashore.

Then, as he returned to the crater, he skewered the already-dead creatures on his claws and roasted them into cooked food.

Not bad.

After so long without a cooked meal, Kang Qiao almost teared up.

That's right, this was the taste.

The flavor of cooked seafood, delicate with a hint of sweetness.

No need for salt, because marine life carried its own saltiness.

And that light saltiness made it taste incredibly fresh.

Unfortunately, for Kang Qiao, the Trilobite and Anomalocaris were only that big. Even if he took the smallest bites, they were gone in five or six mouthfuls.

And it felt like eating toothpick meat—way too little!

Having tasted cooked food again, filled with nostalgic flavor, Kang Qiao, now a full-fledged foodie, dashed back to the sea.

No matter big or small, he killed them all with one claw swipe.

Then he piled them up, grabbing some in his claws and carrying others in his mouth, hauling them all back to the island.

He had no idea how much time passed doing this.

Only when the crater's peak was piled high with a mountain of seafood did Kang Qiao finally stop hunting.

Then the next step was simple.

He dumped the massive haul of seafood into the bubbling seawater on one side of the island.

The water there was scalding hot, even boiling.

It was practically a natural giant pot.

After waiting a short while, not caring if it was fully cooked, shells and guts included, Kang Qiao gulped it all down in one go.

With his mouth full of seafood, Kang Qiao finally felt alive.

As a magma monster, just soaking in lava meant he never felt hungry.

But a life without the pleasure of taste felt too unreal.

It didn't even feel like being a living creature.

Just for this delicious seafood, Kang Qiao felt that being alive was truly wonderful.

His mouth full of protein, with the satisfying crunch of shells shattering like brittle bones, it was really good.

Then, the days that followed were simple.

When idle, he soaked in the lava at the bottom of the crater to rest; when craving food, he hunted in the sea.

Until one day, long, long after, when Kang Qiao felt himself growing sleepier and sleepier, less and less willing to move, he finally sank into a deep, prolonged slumber in the lava once more.

During this sleep, his entire body underwent changes. His outer skin seemed to transform into a giant egg, or rather a cocoon.

Like a butterfly larva pupating, when he awoke again, his body would surely take on a new form.

(Note: Godzilla's juvenile form is similar to a lizard, right? Those in the know should be aware of this; I remember seeing it in the encyclopedia before. Even if not, just treat it as a secondary setting.)