[DING! Host killed an American Lion. Gene Points +150.]
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A staggering 150 Gene Points. This was officially the largest single payout James had ever secured since arriving in this brutal era.
Unfortunately, this method of hunting wasn't something he could easily mass-produce; it simply required too much time, labor, and environmental luck. Otherwise, James could have just spent his days directing the beaver to dig holes and sat back waiting for prey to drop from the sky, completely avoiding the exhausting grind of active tracking.
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[DING! Detection of an organism suitable for gene replication nearby—American Lion.]
[DING! American Lion blood collection complete. Stored in the System gene bank. Gene replication requires 50 Gene Points. Please view the system gene bank for details.]
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"Another lottery!"
Then again, it made perfect sense. The American Lion was the undisputed sovereign of the Pleistocene plains; its genetic code was bound to catch the System's attention. James immediately opened his interface and scrolled to the newly added option.
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[American Lion Gene: Skeletal Reinforcement. Cost: 50 Gene Points.]
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Only a single upgrade path was listed this time, but it made James's eyes light up.
Skeletal reinforcement meant a comprehensive, top-to-bottom structural overhaul of every single bone in his body—including his skull, ribcage, spine, and long limbs. This was a massive biological restructuring, nothing short of a complete physical rebirth.
James had no intention of triggering it right here in the open field. He needed to get back to a secure location before letting the System tear him apart and rebuild him.
When James and Zack finally dragged the blood-mottled carcass of the American Lion into the family den, it nearly scared the parents out of their skins.
Their eyes locked onto the two deep, unmistakable saber punctures tracking straight through the giant's cervical vertebrae. The mother and father knew instantly that their eldest son had delivered the killing blow.
But how a lone yearling had managed to drop a 350-kilogram nightmare was a question their primitive feline minds couldn't solve. Fortunately, they didn't care to press for details. The simple, undeniable reality was that the lion was dead, and the threat to their territory was gone. That was enough to let the tension drain from the cave.
James lingered in the den for only a short while longer before bidding his family farewell once more.
Reunions in the wild were always fleeting. He had grown past the stage of a dependent cub, and while a part of his human soul felt a lingering nostalgia for this warm family unit, his path lay elsewhere. Before the twilight could fade into absolute blackness, James led Aurora and the Giant Beaver back toward his own reservoir.
By nightfall, the beaver had retired to its tangled lodge, and Aurora had settled into a corner of the main cave to sleep.
Animals lacked the complex human concepts of boundaries; as a sub-adult female, Aurora felt no hesitation or discomfort sharing a den with a strong male of her own kind.
James didn't disturb her rest. He slipped out into the midnight air, finding a secluded, silent ledge overlooking the water before calling up the interface.
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[Warning: This reinforcement will completely restructure the host's entire skeletal framework. The process will induce extreme physical trauma. Does the host wish to proceed immediately?]
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The System offered a final, warning.
"Yes."
James steeled himself, bracing for the worst, and gave the command.
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[DING! Deducting 50 Gene Points. Beginning gene replication!]
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The moment the notification chimed, James felt his entire skeletal architecture slip out of alignment and begin to vibrate violently. The sudden displacement dragged the attached skeletal muscles, tendons, ligaments, and joints into a localized, agonizing spasm.
In that instant, it felt as though the fluid pumping through his vascular system was no longer blood, but boiling volcanic magma. Even with his mental preparation, the sheer, intensity of the agony shattered his ability to process thought. His vision flipped, his eyes rolled back, and he collapsed onto the stone, completely blacking out.
While he lay unconscious, James remained entirely unaware of the radical metamorphosis reshaping his anatomy.
The epiphyseal plates—the growth centers situated at the ends of his bones—were suddenly flooded with a massive, artificial surge of growth hormones derived from the lion's DNA. The chondrocytes inside the plates began to multiply at an exponential rate, laying down new layers of cartilage that rapidly calcified into dense, reinforced bone tissue.
Under normal circumstances, James's physical dimensions were already approaching the standard baseline for an adult Smilodon fatalis, meaning his growth plates were beginning to fuse and close, signaling the end of his development.
But the foreign American Lion genes overrode his natural biological clock. The genetic stimulus delayed the closure of the epiphyseal lines, forces driving both linear extension and lateral bone thickness.
As his framework expanded, James's muscle mass and hide stretched to accommodate the new scale, his body expanding like a sponge absorbing water.
It was well into the following morning before the structural overhaul finally stabilized and drawing to a close. James's eyes opened against the bright morning sun.
"God,It's finally over... that felt like being run over by a glacier again and again."
He forced himself to his feet, performing his standard morning cat stretch to test the new alignment.
CRACK. SNAP.
A succession of deep, sharp pops echoed from within his frame as his joints settled into place. James looked down at his forelimbs, a look of genuine surprise crossing his features. He had grown visibly taller and wider.
His linear length had stretched by at least 20 centimeters, pushing his total length close to 2 meters. His mass had surged dramatically, clearing 180 kilograms.
Through the interface, he reviewed the data of the upgrade.
The structural importance of a robust skeleton was absolute—it served as the primary armor for soft internal organs and provided the mechanical leverage required for heavy locomotion. The integration of the lion's genetic code had forced his mature bones to reactivate their growth phase, not only increasing his overall mass in a matter of hours but fundamentally altering the density and impact resistance of his entire skeleton.
Over the coming weeks, his framework would continue to adjust, making it entirely possible for him to eventually bridge the size gap between his own species and the gargantuan proportions of an Ice Age lion.
"Real physical restructuring is where the true power lies,"James thought, his amber eyes flashing with satisfaction.
Upgrades like tooth regeneration or enhanced cellular immunity were useful utility traits, but they were merely decorations. True dominance came from reinforcing the core physical attributes—the hide, the jaws, the claws, and the bones. That was how he would shatter the biological constraints of his species.
Beyond what he had already upgraded, his sensory organs, core muscle fibers, and internal visceral systems were still waiting for further development.
By late afternoon, James led Aurora out of the timber to begin a coordinated patrol for prey.
With a partner now sharing his territory, James could no longer afford the casual, low-energy lifestyle of a solitary hunter. Both cats were in their peak developmental stages, driven by high metabolic rates that required a constant, heavy intake of protein and fat.
This was their first official joint hunt. Their coordination and non-verbal communication would have to be forged through the reality of a live strike.
For their target, James chose an undisputed titan of the open grassland.
An **American Bison** (*Bison antiquus*).
Hunkered down inside a patch of low-lying brush near the reservoir's edge, the two cats watched a solitary, massive bull bison foraging through the scrub.
The fact that this bull was alone wasn't a sign of age, disease, or physical weakness. In fact, the reality was precisely the opposite. Many solitary bulls were in the absolute prime of their health and strength; they intentionally left the crowded main herds to seek out richer, undisturbed grazing patches to maximize their energy intake.
Moving with a herd of thousands meant constant competition for choice forage. For an ambitious bull looking to build maximum mass and contest the alpha position before the breeding season arrived, breaking away to feed alone was a calculated risk.
And looking at the colossal, humped shoulders of the bull ahead, that was exactly what this beast was doing.