The small fire beneath the tree roots was still burning when the sound of heavy footsteps echoed through the forest again. Bayu immediately realized that the firelight had made his hiding place far too easy to find. He took wet soil and slowly piled it over the embers, then covered the remaining smoke with a layer of damp leaves. After a while, the orange glow disappeared completely. Bayu held his breath and shut down the Temporal Displacement Unit's display, leaving only the most basic biological indicators active. The forest sank back into darkness. There were no insects. No birds. Even the sound of the river in the distance seemed to have vanished. Only the heavy footsteps remained, growing closer with every passing second. Bayu crouched behind a massive root, gripping his small knife. "Don't move. Don't make a sound. Don't leave your hiding place until that thing is completely gone." He whispered so quietly that it was almost as if he were giving orders to himself rather than speaking. After his encounter with the Allosaurus, Bayu knew that fighting a predator of this size was not an option. Tonight's only mission was to survive until morning. But there was one more thing he wanted to make certain of. "If I survive this, we're changing the way we live tomorrow. I can't keep relying on the forest for food. We need to start producing our own." A massive silhouette finally emerged between the trees. Bayu could only see part of its body because it was obscured by bushes and the nighttime mist, but its size alone was enough to make the hair on the back of his neck stand on end. Its body reminded Bayu of an Allosaurus: an elongated head, massive jaws, powerful hind legs, and a long tail used to maintain balance while running. But its proportions were far more extreme. It stood more than four meters tall at the hips, with an estimated body length of over twelve meters. Every step caused the ground to tremble faintly. As its head moved closer to Bayu's hiding place, its two short forelimbs became clearly visible. Its jaws opened slightly, revealing rows of serrated teeth far larger than those of the Allosaurus he had encountered before. Bayu slowly activated passive scanning. BIOLOGICAL IDENTIFICATION DESIGNATION: APEXORAPTOR CLASS: THEROPOD ESTIMATED MASS: 6,340 KG BODY LENGTH: 12.7 M KNOWN SPECIES MATCH: 0% GENETIC CLASSIFICATION: UNKNOWN PREDATORY EFFICIENCY: EXTREME Bayu held his breath. Six tons. Even heavier than his previous estimate. The creature stopped not far from the tree where Bayu was hiding. Its head slowly moved from left to right, as if searching for something. Its nostrils flared. It was smelling the air. Bayu didn't dare move a muscle. Several seconds felt like several minutes. Then the predator released a low growl from deep within its throat. GRRRRHHH... The sound was so deep that Bayu could feel its vibrations through the ground. But suddenly, the predator raised its head. A long howl came from somewhere else in the forest. The Apexoraptor turned toward the sound. It didn't leave immediately. The creature remained still for several moments before finally turning around and walking toward the source of the call. Each step slowly carried it farther away. DUM. DUM. DUM. Bayu only dared to breathe again after the footsteps had completely disappeared. He waited several more minutes before turning his device back on. The screen illuminated. PREDATOR SIGNATURE: MOVING AWAY CURRENT DISTANCE: 1,247 M Bayu rubbed his face. "Six tons..." He stared into the darkness of the forest. "If a creature like that really is the result of Eden-0, then that project was far crazier than I ever imagined." Bayu reopened the biological data stored in the device. He compared the Apexoraptor's genetic structure with the Allosaurus data he had previously scanned. The result made his brow furrow. GENETIC COMPARISON ALLOSAURUS — PARTIAL MATCH APEXORAPTOR — 18.7% But another section made him even more uneasy. ADAPTIVE MUTATION: DETECTED MUSCLE FIBER DENSITY: EXTREME BONE REINFORCEMENT: EXTREME RESPIRATORY EFFICIENCY: HIGH NEURAL RESPONSE: HIGH Bayu stared at the screen in silence. "This isn't just a dinosaur that grew larger." He enlarged the data. "Its entire body structure has changed to become a predator." Bayu then opened the Eden-0 archives. Several old files were still corrupted, but one word appeared repeatedly. ADAPTATION. Bayu fell silent. If the project really had been conducting biological manipulation on prehistoric organisms, then the Apexoraptor could be one of its results. But there was another possibility. The temporal displacement that had brought Bayu to this world might have created biological disturbances that he didn't yet understand. Or... evolution in this world might have already gone too far before Eden-0 ever intervened. Bayu closed the data. For now, there was no point searching for answers he couldn't prove. He needed a new strategy. --- Morning came slowly. Bayu inspected his body after a nearly sleepless night. There were no new injuries. He was still tired, but after eating the fish the previous day, something about his mind felt different. More active. Faster. When he looked at the river, several brief ideas suddenly appeared in his mind. He imagined a fish trap. Then a small pond. Then a water channel. Then rows of cultivated plants. The images appeared and disappeared so quickly that Bayu almost dismissed them as idle thoughts. But when he tried to reconstruct those ideas, everything seemed easier to organize. The connections between water, plants, fish, nutrients, and his body's needs began forming naturally in his mind. Bayu activated the Temporal Displacement Unit. COGNITIVE ADAPTATION NEURAL PROCESSING SPEED: +0.6% MEMORY RETENTION: +2.8% SENSORY PROCESSING: +2.4% COGNITIVE EFFICIENCY: +1.7% Bayu stared at the numbers. "So the fish didn't just make me smarter." He touched his head. "Looks like my brain can process connections between information more easily now." Bayu remained silent for several moments. Then a thought occurred to him. What if this ability could be improved further? The Eden-0 serum had unlocked his body's adaptive potential. Certain foods provided additional enhancements. That meant his development might not stop at his current levels. Bayu opened his adaptation status. SURVIVAL ADAPTATION PROFILE MODE: HUNTER PROGRESS: 23.6% Bayu stared at the line. "Hunter Mode..." He remembered the system that had appeared after he injected the serum. If this mode could develop further, then perhaps his body was being guided toward becoming increasingly suited to surviving in a prehistoric environment. But Bayu didn't want to become merely a hunter. He wanted something safer. Something that didn't depend entirely on luck every time he needed food. His eyes slowly shifted toward the fruits he had gathered the previous day. Ravenberry. Ginkora. Karkadus. Then he looked toward the river. Fish. The ideas that had been floating through his mind finally came together. Bayu picked up a stick and began drawing in the soil. One area for plants. One area for water. Then a small pond. "If these fruits contain adaptive compounds..." He drew another line. "...why don't I grow them myself?" Bayu then drew a narrow channel leading from the river toward the cultivation area. "And if these fish can be raised..." He stared at his simple drawing. "...I won't have to search for food every single day." For the first time since being thrown into the past, Bayu wasn't just thinking about how to survive today. He was starting to think about long-term survival. A permanent shelter. Farmland. A water source. A fish pond. Food with adaptive properties. And an environment he could control. Bayu smiled faintly. "If I can build a system like that, I can keep improving my body." He reopened his adaptation status. CURRENT ADAPTATION PHYSICAL ADAPTATION: 12.4% NEURAL ADAPTATION: 8.7% METABOLIC ADAPTATION: 14.2% ENVIRONMENTAL RESISTANCE: 6.3% PREDATORY ADAPTATION: 4.8% Bayu stared at the final number. "If Hunter Mode reaches one hundred percent..." He clenched his fist. "...what will my body become?" The question filled him with excitement and caution at the same time. But the system suddenly issued a warning. WARNING LOCAL PREDATOR ACTIVITY: HIGH APEXORAPTOR TERRITORY: 1.1 KM Bayu immediately abandoned his thoughts. He looked toward the forest. In this world, he could grow his own food. He could build a shelter. He might even be able to raise fish and use certain foods to accelerate his body's adaptation. But all of that required one thing. Time. And the prehistoric forest had no intention of giving him time so easily. A roar echoed from the distance. It wasn't the Apexoraptor. It was something else. Then came the sound of several dinosaurs moving through the trees. Bayu slowly stood. The analysis device began scanning the environment. MULTIPLE CARNIVOROUS LIFE FORMS DETECTED DISTANCE: 740 M NUMBER: 5 THREAT LEVEL: HIGH Bayu looked at the river, then at the open area near his shelter. He had just discovered a plan for building his future. But before he could plant even a single seed... this world had already sent another group of predators to remind him that he was still at the very bottom of the food chain. Bayu tightened his grip on the small knife. "Then..." He stared at the forest, which was beginning to fill with the sound of approaching footsteps. "...I have to build this place before they find me." The device in his hand suddenly vibrated. NEW OBJECTIVE GENERATED SURVIVAL SETTLEMENT — STAGE 01 REQUIREMENTS: WATER SOURCE — COMPLETE FOOD SOURCE — COMPLETE SHELTER — INCOMPLETE DEFENSE — INCOMPLETE CULTIVATION — INCOMPLETE Bayu stared at the list. Then a new line appeared at the bottom. LONG-TERM OBJECTIVE HUNTER MODE: 100% Bayu fell silent. Beyond the trees, a roar echoed closer. And for the first time, Bayu realized that if he wanted to reach that one-hundred-percent mark... he would first have to survive a world that knew no mercy.

Chapter 6 — Apex Predator