《Tandem [A monster evolution litrpg]》 Chapter 1: Just the Two of Us Part one: the Verdant Cavern Ugh¡­ My head¡­ Is it morning already? But it seems darker than usual. And¡­ This doesn¡¯t feel like my bed? I open my eyes fully, allowing them to adjust to the darkness for a few seconds. A cave? Where am I? I try to look around, but my neck doesn¡¯t move how I expect it to. I try to look down at my body. I can¡¯t. This body¡­ Isn¡¯t mine. This body¡­ Isn¡¯t human. Could it be? No, No way¡­ I stumble around, trying to learn to walk. This is a dream, right? I trip, falling flat onto my stomach. A sharp rock stabs into my stomach. This pain¡­ This is real. But, what am I? I stumble around some more, finally reaching a small, still pool of water. What I see in the reflection is a small animal, probably only around two times bigger than a rat. The body shape is like a cross between a mole and a small pig. Two absurdly large ears protrude from either side of the head. Right next to the ears are two beady black eyes, on the sides of the head. A prey animal. Thin, bristly fur covers every part of the body besides the feet, which are thin, hairless hands with fingers that become thick claws halfway down. What is this¡­ Me? I close my eyes, and think. What was I doing before I woke up here? Let¡¯s see¡­ Last night I stayed up late playing games, as usual. I ended up staying up until eight or so in the morning, then went to bed. And now, I¡¯m a strange, small creature in a dark cave. Yeah, there¡¯s nothing else I can think of. This is that. I thought I¡¯d be more excited, but I¡¯m¡­ Scared? Huh. What should I do now? I guess¡­ Food? Yeah sure, that seems important. I begin walking down the dark tunnel, slowly getting faster as I become accustomed to this body. Ah, wait, I guess I should at least try that once. Ahem, {Status!} ¡­ Nothing. Well, didn¡¯t expect much anyway. Back to walking. [Yawwn¡­] GAH! What was that? I swear I just heard something make a noise¡­ Where did it come from? Ugh, this cave is freaking me out. Why is it so damn dark in here! There¡¯s some weird glowing moss that shows up in patches every once in a while, but other than that, It¡¯s pitch black in here! Urk¡­ I¡¯m getting hungry already. Judging by my appearances, I¡¯m definitely not the type of anima- no, monster, who eats meat. But, if I¡¯m not a carnivore, what am I supposed to eat? All I''ve seen is rocks! Maybe that moss is edible? I guess it couldn¡¯t hurt to try some the next time I come across a patch. Well, no, it definitely COULD hurt. The moss could be poisonous for all I know. But I don¡¯t think I can worry about that, I need to eat something, and that moss is the only potentially edible thing I¡¯ve seen. I¡¯m sure there are bugs I could find, but it¡¯s going to be hard to find any with how dark it is, and they definitely won¡¯t fill me up. Moss it is. It¡¯s really strange how different the senses of this monster are compared to the senses of a human. I mean, obviously my sense of touch is different because my body is entirely different now, but there¡¯s also quite a difference for everything else. First of all, my hearing is insanely good now, I can hear water dripping from really far away. My eyesight is¡­ bad. I¡¯m not blind, but everything is blurry. When there¡¯s no glowing moss to light up the cave, I¡¯m pretty much completely blind. And my sense of smell is good. Too good. A dark, dank cave isn¡¯t the best place to suddenly wake up with a godly sense of smell. As for taste, I don¡¯t know. But I¡¯m about to find out, because I just came across another patch of moss. Apprehensive, I walk up to it. Am I really doing this? I guess I don¡¯t have much of a choice. It¡¯s either eat this, or die. I open my mouth, and quickly take a large chunk of the moss into my mouth, chewing it as fast as possible to hopefully miss the taste. It doesn¡¯t work. My mouth is overpowered with two distinct flavors, dirt and another flavor I can¡¯t even describe. It¡¯s unlike anything I¡¯ve ever had, in the worst possible way. I desperately want to spit it out, but I force it down my throat quickly to get rid of the taste. That was a mistake. The sensation of the half-chewed moss going down my throat is bad enough to make me tear up. Ah, I made the wrong decision. I¡¯d much rather die than eat that. Oh, could this be? It is! Finally something familiar! I was worried when nothing appeared after I tried thinking of the word ¡®status¡¯, but it looks like I was right, and this world does indeed have some sort of game-like system. But, how can I check my status if not like how I tried? Of course, with apprais-! [Where¡­ am I?] GAH! It happened again? What is that? It definitely said something this time, but I didn¡¯t quite catch what it said¡­ And, it seems like it came from inside my head? Gasp! Is someone attempting to communicate with me via telepathy? Perhaps the person or thing who sent me here is finally going to explain everything to me? ¡­ Or not? Rah, this is so frustrating! Someone keeps talking inside of my head, scaring the shit out of me, then not even being kind enough to explain anything or apologize! Argh, whatever! I don''t have time for this, I gotta get back to eating this gross miss! I take another bite, forcing it down after the taste becomes too strong to deal with. Bleh! I hope I can find a better source of food eventually. I definitely do not want to survive off of this moss. [What''s happening?] Woah! Hello? The voice came back! ¡®What''s happening?¡¯ huh¡­ so whoever that voice is coming from doesn''t know anything either? Dammit! Well, might as well try to talk to them anyway, couldn''t hurt. But how do I talk via telepathy? Hello? No, that didn''t seem to do it. Maybe I need to focus harder. {Testing, testing? Hello?} [Hello? Who are you?] {Ohh! It worked!} [What worked?] {The telepathy!} [Telepathy?] {Yeah! It¡¯s how we¡¯re talking right now! Probably.} [Nevermind that, do you know what¡¯s going on?] Aha! This person might not be able to tell me anything, but at least this is an opportunity to show off my knowledge! {Well, somewhat.} Yup, that¡¯s good. Gotta be humble, act like what I know isn¡¯t a big deal. [Then spit it out.] Huh? Isn¡¯t this person being a bit rude? What the hell! I¡¯m trying to help them, and they dare be rude to me? The audacity! Sigh, whatever. I should simply turn the other cheek, returning rudeness with rudeness is no way to live! {W-well, if you¡¯re in the same situation I am, then it seems we¡¯ve been reincarnated into another world.} [Reincarnated? The hell is that?] Ehhh? No way, this person is completely clueless? Damn, they¡¯re screwed. I feel bad. Hmm, I guess¡­ if we found each other, I could teach them how to survive in this world. Though, I don¡¯t wanna get killed because I was trying to help someone who couldn¡¯t help themself¡­ Argh! Whatever! Might as well help, if this person ends up dying, I might never find another person I¡¯m able to talk to, and that might make me go crazy! [Helloooo? Are you gonna answer?] {O-oh! Yeah, sorry. I was doing¡­ something.} [So, what is it?] {Reincarnation is, in this case, when you die in your own world, and then your soul gets sent to another world.} [Huh. So that''s what happened to us?] {Maybe? I don''t know, there''s really no way to tell. Instead of worrying about that, we should meet up and focus on surviving.} [Sure.] {I think the best way to do this is probably for us to just both wander randomly until we meet.} [Hmm¡­ nah.] {What do you mean ¡®nah¡¯?} [Isn''t the best thing to do when you''re lost staying still? It''d be bad if one of us ended up finding a place where the other was, but we miss each other because we¡¯re both wandering.] That''s a good point¡­ [And besides, I don''t really feel like walking.] Ah, that was your true motivation. {Sure sure, fine. You just stay where you are, I''ll try to find you.} It''s probably better that I''m the one doing the searching anyway. Sigh, what a pain. I turn away from the moss and begin walking down the dark tunnel ahead of me. This is fucking scary! Hopefully that wasn¡¯t just a fluke earlier, and getting skills is easy, cause I definitely want some kind of night vision soon. It¡¯d be bad if I just walked right into some giant scary monster¡¯s nest because I can¡¯t see where I¡¯m going. This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings. [Hey.] {Hm?} [On second thought, I¡¯ll start walking too after all.] {Oh, ok. Why?} [N-no reason. Just felt like it.] {Okaaaay¡­} This person is super weird! Can I really survive if I¡¯m also trying to keep someone this incompetent alive too? They¡¯re way too impulsive! And, now that I think about it, what if they aren¡¯t trustworthy? What if¡­ they''re a murderer!? No no no, no way, calm down. They probably aren¡¯t a murderer. Even if they are, I could definitely defend myself against them, since I''m more knowledgeable about this kind of world. At least, I think I could. I mean, for all I know, they could have been reincarnated as some kind of super strong monster, like a dragon, and they¡¯re just trying to get me to come to them so they can kill me¡­ Wait, what if they aren¡¯t even a reincarnated person like me? What if they¡¯re some kind of monster with hypnosis or some other kind of mental attack, and they¡¯re just luring me towards them? Argh, thinking about this stuff is useless! All of these improbable scenarios have one thing in common: if they¡¯re true, I can¡¯t really do much about anything. So, there¡¯s no point in worrying. If unavoidable death is what awaits me, why should I worry about it? It¡¯s unavoidable anyway! Yeahhh, that¡¯s better. All calm now. While I was thinking, I came across A fork in the road, with a few possible paths. Closer to the middle, there is a small, bumpy tunnel that has a pretty extreme downwards slope. Above it, there is a path absolutely filled to the brim with moss. The last path is a tunnel that looks the same as the one I came from, positioned to the left of the other two paths. That moss path seems enticing, but it¡¯s too high for me to get to, so I basically have to choose between the normal path, and the small, sloping path. The choice is pretty obvious here, right? Well, might as well ask the other person what they think anyway. {Heeey. I found a fork in the road.} [Mm. Me too.] {Cool! So there are a few paths in front of me, but only two are accessible.} [Same here.] {There''s a normal looking path, and a scary looking small path that goes downwards.} [The paths here look the same.] Are they pranking me? No way two different places in the cave have similar paths! Ugh, maybe I should just let this person die after all. {R-really? That''s weird.} [Yeah. Although, one of the other paths might be accessible here.] {Oh?} [It''s filled with glowing moss, and it''s just a bit above the path that goes down.] ¡­what? Doesn''t that sound exactly like the path here? No, but they said theirs is accessible. {Are you sure you can get to that path?} [Yeah sure. It''d be hella tough, but I could probably do it.] {Alright, you go that way then. I''ll take the left path.} [Got it.] I begin walking down the path to the left, sticking to the wall so I could be as far from the path that went downward as possible. Man, that''s weird. I guess there really are two different places in this cave that look the exact same. What are the odds! Unless¡­ they aren''t different places? Maybe¡­ just maybe¡­ What if we¡¯re not communicating from different places in space, but rather different places in time? Gosh, that''d be so freaking cool! Ahh, this is getting me excited¡­ but how would we even know for sure? Hmm¡­ Oh, if one of us scratches a mark in the rock, and the other sees that mark, we¡¯d kno- [Hey, I got a problem.] Gah! Why is it so terrifying whenever they talk unexpectedly¡­ {What is it?} [So, you know how I said I would go to the mossy path?] {Yeah?} [I didn''t.] {Why not? Was it too hard to reach after all?} [No way! I could definitely make it up there! But, my body won''t listen to me at all!] {Hm? What do you mean?} [Unlike when I was human, I can''t directly control my body at all. Earlier, I thought I could at least influence what my body did, but I don''t think that''s the case anymore. I tried everything, but my body went down the left path for some reason.] {Huh. That''s weird. Maybe it''s the type of monster you are? I know some animals on earth had limbs controlled by their own separate neurons or something like that, maybe you''re like that?} [I don''t know, I''m pretty sure I''m a mammal.] {You''ve seen yourself?} [Just glimpses of my sides, mostly.] {I see.} [Oh, and by the way, ever since we started talking, my body stopped moving.] {Really? That''s weir- hold on¡­} I haven''t been moving since we started talking. I''m gonna try something. I hold up my front right hand in front of my right eye, covering up most of my vision in that eye. [Huh?] {What?} [My body just covered its right eye?] {I knew it¡­} [What?] I don''t think they''ll like what I''m about to say, but¡­ {I think¡­ we might have the same body.} They''re silent for a few seconds. [...you sure?] {Pretty sure. I just covered my right eye with my right hand, at the same time you said your body did.} [Hm. That''s pretty damn convincing.] {Yeah.} [Heh, well I guess we found each other.] {Yeah, I guess so.} ¡­ We¡¯re both silent for a few seconds. [What now?] {Well, I guess we can start focusing on surviving.} Silence again. [Gimme control of the body.] {Huh? Why?} [Just do it.] {No! I don''t even know how!} [Then try!] {No!} [Fine, then I''ll do it myself!] I suddenly feel nauseous, and my body begins to feel numb. {S-stop! It hurts!} After a few seconds, I can''t move my body anymore. And then the front right foot moves. {You-!} [Hahaha! I did it!] {Give it back!} [Huh? Why should I?] {Because-! Uh¡­} [I think I''m better suited to be the one controlling the body anyway. You said that mossy path was inaccessible, but I''m pretty sure I could make it there.] The body turns around and begins sprinting. {No! Don''t!} [Lalala, not listening to you!~] We reach the fork, and turn towards the mossy path. {I''m serious, don''t do this! If you don''t make it-} [But I will make it! Watch me] We jump towards the wall underneath the mossy path, and latch onto a rock that juts out. [Gwahaha! I''m the best!] We begin slowly climbing the wall, getting us closer and closer to the small, mossy path. {This is not a good idea! Climb back down while you still can, please!} [No way, I''m not doing what you sa-!] Suddenly, the rock we¡¯re grabbing cracks, and falls off the wall. Us with it. [Shit!] {I told you this would happen!} Our back slams into the rocks jutting out of the wall as we fall. I try my hardest to regain control of the body so I can stop our fall, but it doesn''t work. We continue falling, until we fall right into the sloping, bumpy path. {No no no no! This isn''t good! Quickly, grab something!} [I can''t!] {Just try!} [I am trying!] {You''re not trying hard enough!} [Shut up, you wouldn''t be able to either if you were in control!] {If I were in control, we wouldn''t be in the situation in the first place!} The path suddenly slopes even further, turning into a sheer, ninety degree drop. Our body stops slamming into the sloping surface beneath us, and enters freefall. {Oh God, we¡¯re dead! There''s no way we can survive this!} [Just shut up already! Let me think!] The ground slams into us. Even without being in control of the body, I can feel the air rush out of our lungs. Urk... Everything hurts... But I''m alive, at least. I wonder if the other person is fine, since I am. {Hello? Are you ok?} No response. Did they pass out or something? That''s weird, I thought we¡¯d both pass out if one of us did. I attempt to regain control of the body, to no avail. Urgh, this is harder than I thought. I try again, finally regaining control. Now, I should take this opportunity to look around before they wake up and take over the body again. I stand up, noticing a soft, puffy patch of moss beneath my body. This is probably what broke our fall. It doesn''t glow like the moss from before. ¡­I wonder how it tastes. No no no, I shouldn''t. It could be poisonous. I didn''t really focus on it at the time, but the glowing moss gave me some kind of paralysis resistance, didn''t it? I''m lucky it wasn''t a more deadly kind of poison. ¡­But I really wanna try this new moss. Argh! I shouldn''t, I shouldn''t! If I eat this moss, aren''t I being just as reckless as that idiot who threw us down a pit? ¡­But I am feeling hungry¡­ I bend down and take a bite of the moss. Liquid floods my mouth as soon as I bite into it. Bleh! It tastes like medicine! It''s definitely not as bad as the other moss though, so I keep eating. It has an overwhelmingly cool taste, like a really powerful mint. Unlike mint, however, I couldn''t describe this as tasting good. It''s very filling though, and I''m pretty full now after only five bites. [Hnngg¡­] Uh oh, they''re back. [Ew, what the hell is this taste!] {Moss.} [Why were you eating moss?!] {I was hungry, and there''s not really much else to eat around here.} [Still, moss? Look for something else!] {At least it doesn''t taste as bad as the glowing moss. Doesn''t seem to be as dangerous either.} I walk around to the side of the moss patch I haven''t taken a bite into, and lay down. {Hey, aren''t you gonna try to take the body back?} [...no.] {Why not?} [Because!... I''m too lazy.] Yeah, right. Sigh. I''m gonna regret this. {You can have it back if you want.} [Really?] {Yes, but you have to listen to me. If I say not to do something, don''t do it.} [...alright.] {Good. You can go ahead and take it now.} I let my muscles go limp as they take over the body. Having your body taken over by another consciousness isn''t nearly as bad when you''re letting it happen. {Now, since it seems we¡¯re going to be stuck together for a while, we should get to know each other. My name is Fir, what''s yours?} [Gloria.] {Huh? You''re a woman?} [Yeah. You couldn''t tell?] {No, I couldn''t.} [Rude.] {O-oh, sorry¡­} [It''s fine. So, what''s the plan now?] {Hm¡­ well, all we can really do for now is try our best to survive.} [Easy!] {Is it? Because I seem to recall you falling off a wall and almost getting us killed.} [Shut up! That¡¯s in the past...] Only about five minutes in the past¡­ {Whatever. You just focus on exploring and finding food for us to eat.} [And what are you gonna do?] {I''m going to make us stronger.} [How are you gonna do that?] {I''m glad you asked! From eating that glowing moss earlier, I learned that this world seems to work how I thought it would, and we can gain ¡®skills¡¯ pretty easily by-} [Hold up, what are skills?] {Hm¡­ they''re kinda like¡­ man, this is hard to explain. Did you play video games before you died.} [Nope.] {That makes this hard¡­ well, I''ll use the one skill I know we have as an example, paralysis resistance.} Or at least, it was something like that. {Having paralysis resistance means that things that would cause paralysis, like certain kinds of poisons, are less effective on us.} [Woah! That seems strong!] {It will be one day, but for now it''s only level one, so the effectiveness is probably not that great just yet.} [Darn¡­] {Yeah. So I''ll work on trying to get some useful skills while you look for food.} [Got it!] We get up, and begin walking down the dark tunnel in front of us. {Oh yeah, one more thing. While you''re looking around, try looking for things in the darkness. It may give us a skill that makes our eyesight better.} [Will do.] With that, I can hopefully leave the food to her. Now, time to do some experimentation! I''ve been looking forward to this since I realized what was happening¡­ But what should I do first? Obviously I can only work on getting mental skills for now, since Gloria is in control of the body. But which ones should I try to get? No, I shouldn''t think about it like that. I don''t really know what skills exist, so I shouldn''t try to get any skills that I merely assume exist. Rather, I should simply use my brain normally. If I do that, I''ll get skills that are helpful for the situation we¡¯re in. Probably. So, how do I do that? Wow, this is harder than expected. Hmmm¡­ Oh, I have an idea! I''ll try to think about ways to use our body in battle, that¡¯ll probably give us some useful skills. Ahem, let''s see. Our small body seems like it would be good for focusing on evasion, but¡­ how can I say this¡­ we¡¯re a bit¡­ chubby. So that might not be the best idea for now. Besides that¡­ we seem to have good hearing, so using that to avoid fights altogether is feasible. Our claws seem pretty sharp, so that''s probably our best bet for attacking if we get into an unavoidable fight, but they''re probably more so meant for digging rather than fighting. That could be another way to stay out of fights, if we dig traps and set up a little place to live somewhere, we could be pretty safe. ¡­ Oh, it worked! It took longer than expected, but we got a skill! [What was that?] {That was us getting a skill.} [Weird. It feels like I was thinking those words unintentionally. I don''t know if I like that¡­] She''s kind of right. I thought getting skills would be more like hearing someone else, but instead it feels like there''s a thought being put into my head¡­ creepy. Anyway! While I was working on getting the planning skill, I decided on a strategy that would probably work pretty well for us. I think we¡¯re probably a herbivore, but if leveling up exists, then killing things is probably the best, or maybe even only, way to do that. So, if we need to hunt, the best way is traps! If we dig a small hole and fill it with sharp rocks and then cover the top, we could easily kill a few smaller opponents. The only problem is, I don''t know what we¡¯ll cover the top of the hole with. [I found something?] {Hm?} [Look. A tree.] A tree? No way, we¡¯re in a cave rig- She''s right. There''s a tree right in front of us. It looks like it''s nearly dead, but it''s a tree nonetheless. How''d it get here? Trees need light to grow, right? How could one grow in a cave? [I think I see light a bit further ahead.] Oh? Maybe we won''t be stuck in a cave for as long as I thought! {Run! I wanna see what it is fast!} [Yes sir!] Gloria begins to run, our claws creating a clacking noise against the dark gray rock. Suddenly, light floods our vision. [Woah! That''s crazy!] {Amazing¡­} Well, we¡¯re not getting out of the cave just yet. But, I don''t think I mind, because this is close enough. In front of us is a large cavern, lit up by glowing yellow stones, filled with bright green foliage. Waterfalls cover the walls of the cavern, and there are herds of deer-like monsters grazing on the thick grass. [Well, I definitely don''t have any doubts about this being another world anymore.] Chapter 2: Nights Out in the Jungle We''ve been exploring the large cavern for about four hours now. It seems to go on forever. Obviously it doesn''t literally go on forever, but with how big it is, it might as well. {This one looks good.} [Got it.] A few of the waterfalls around the walls of the cavern have small caves behind them, so we decided to use one of them as a shelter for now. The inside of the cave we chose has a soft dirt floor, perfect for digging. {Now, get digging!} Since it''s probably going to be our main strategy, Gloria will practice digging until she''s really good, and hopefully we¡¯ll get a skill. Gloria begins to dig, and it immediately becomes obvious to me that I was right in thinking these claws were meant for digging. After a minute, she''s already made a hole deep enough to fit our entire body, and wide enough to fit two of us side by side. Two minutes in, the hole has doubled in depth. Two and a half minutes in, the hole begins to collapse. {Shit, run!} Gloria tries to climb out, but it just makes the hole collapse faster. {Keep our mouth above the surface of the dirt!} ¡­We¡¯re buried. In a hole we dug. Is the dirt here too soft? I thought soft dirt would be best for learning to dig, but maybe not¡­ I guess this cave is a bust. It takes her a while, but Gloria eventually unburies us. [What now?] {Let''s try to find an area with better dirt.} [Ugh, no!] {What do you mean no? If we stay here, we¡¯ll never get better at digging!} [I don''t care!] {Do you want to die? Because that''s probably what¡¯ll happen if we waste time like this!} [Sure, why not! I''m starting to think dying might be better than being stuck in this cave forever anyway¡­] {Well too bad, because I don''t want to die. If you don''t want to do any work, then just let me control the body and I''ll handle everything.} [Fine!] Our body goes limp as Gloria releases control. Man, how is she so good at that? She''s gotta be some kind of prodigy. Too bad her personality sucks¡­ Well, whatever. I take control of the body and leave the cave. Most areas of this cavern seem to be pretty safe. We haven''t seen any hostile monsters so far, so I''m not too worried, but it''d still be good to be cautious. Some of the areas with lots of trees are pretty dark, so I assume that''s where the hostile monsters are. Now, time to find a cave with some higher-quality dirt! I''m pretty sure the dirt was a bit tougher back in the direction we came from, so I think I''ll just go that way. I begin walking, stopping to taste various kinds of plants on the way. Man, this place is so cool. Usually, you''d think of caves as dark, boring places, but this cave has a whole forest inside it! I don''t know what those glowing yellow stones are, but I assume the light they emit is similar to the sun¡¯s in a way that allows plants to grow. That''s so cool¡­ But, wouldn''t the ecosystem be pretty messed up if they were always spewing out that light? The forests on earth probably wouldn''t last if the sun was up constantly, so I doubt this forest could take constant sunlight either. In that case, do the stones stop shining during certain times, emulating a day night cycle? If they do, that explains the relative peace there is right now, while it''s ¡®day¡¯ down here. I imagine the carnivorous monsters come out when the lights go out. Wait, wouldn''t the lights be going out pretty soon if they do go out? Let''s see, if it had just become ¡®day¡¯ when we first got here, then¡­ Uh oh. I should probably hurry up. If I''m right, I don''t have much longer until it gets dark and the carnivores come out¡­ Eh? That doesn''t mean I''m right, does it? I''ll pick up the pace just in case¡­ Phew, made it into a cave. The waterfall covers this one pretty well, so I should be pretty hidden. I already tested the dirt, and I think it''s pretty good. Might as well get to diggi- The light outside slowly starts fading, causing the already dark cave to become pitch black. Ah, so I was right. Damn. Well, at least I made it into a cave, I think I''ll be pretty safe in here. Hopefully. I wonder what kind of hostile monsters come out during the ¡®night¡¯ here? Since it''s a forest, it''s gotta be wolves, right? A loud howl from outside my cave confirms my theory. Ah, yep, wolves. That howl sounded pretty far away, so I don''t think I have to worry about them, not for now at least anyway. This cave should be pretty safe from wolves, too, since the waterfall will obscure any scents on me. Welp, now that I''m confident in my safety, it''s finally time to dig! I walk to the back area of the cave, and find a spot I think will be pretty good for digging. Alright, let''s do this! I plunge my claws into the dirt and throw it to the left of me. Then I do it again. Then again. And again. And again. And again. Finally, after five minutes straight of digging, I''ve dug a hole that can fit¡­ ¡­Half my body. What? How come! Gloria dug double this amount in one fifth the amount of time! No, she dug even more than that, because my hole is way less wide than hers was too! Is it the dirt? It is different after all. No, this difference is way too large for it to just be the dirt. Gloria¡¯s just a super prodigy at everything I guess. That''s not fair! I''m the one who actually wants to survive, the one who actually cares about getting stronger, yet I''m horrible at everything! I''m not good at taking control of the body, I''m not good at digging. Hell, as stupid as it was for her to try to climb that wall earlier, I couldn''t have made it nearly as far as she did! This is bad, I''m beginning to realize just how useful Gloria was. Love what you''re reading? Discover and support the author on the platform they originally published on. But her work ethic is horrible¡­ This is the worst! If I had just been the sole owner of this body, I''d never know what I was missing out on. But because I''ve seen how good Gloria is at controlling the body, I''m aware of how bad I am¡­ Argh! I need to convince her to come back! {Gloria!} No response. {Gloriaaaa!} No response {Gloriaa-!} [What!?] {I need help.} [With what?] {Digging.} [No.] {Pleeeease?} [No! Do it yourself!] {I tried! Look!} I point towards the pitiful hole I dug. [That''s not that bad.] {This took me five whole minutes!} [Five minutes? Wow, you suck.] {I know! That''s why I need you!} [I already said no!] {Pleeeease? What would it take you to come back?} [Nothing!] {Oh, so you''ll come back?} [Wha- no! That''s not what I-] A loud howl interrupts our conversation. [...what was that?] {A wolf. Probably.} [...let me fight it.] {What?} [Let me fight the wolf.] {What?! Are you crazy? We¡¯ll die!} [I''ll only come back if you let me fight the wolf.] {...let me think about it.} She''s trying to get us killed, right? No person with an in-tact sense of self-preservation would want to fight a wolf! Especially since we¡¯re a weak little¡­ mole? I still don''t know what we are. We have bad eyesight, and are good at digging, so I''m leaning towards mole, but we don''t really look like a mole. Especially because of those giant ears. Ah, whatever, that doesn''t matter. The fact remains: Gloria wants to fight a wolf, and won''t start helping again unless I allow her to. But we¡¯ll definitely die if we fight a wolf! Head-on, that is. My idea from earlier, digging trap holes. Wouldn''t that work? Before, the problem was that we didn''t have anything to cover the top with, but now that we¡¯re in a forest we have tons of options. The only problem now is, I don''t know if Gloria would accept trapping a wolf in a hole as ¡®fighting¡¯ it. I guess I should just ask, I don''t have any other ideas. {Ok, I''ll let you fight the wolf.} [Really?] {Yeah. But not head on. We¡¯re going to trap it in a hole.} [Gwahaha! Good enough for me!] That''s good, looks like she''s fine with it. {But we can''t fight it yet. We¡¯re not prepared. We need to get better at digging.} [Fine by me! As long as I get to fight a wolf, I''ll do whatever!] {Good.} I release control of the body, going limp. {Then get digging.} [Yes sir!] Now, I''m gonna rest for a little. I walked way too much today¡­ [Oi! Fir! Look at the hole I dug!] {Hm?} I stop zoning out and look at the hole Gloria dug while I wasn''t paying attention. It goes down for about three body heights, before turning slightly until it''s horizontal. {Oooh! Impressive!} [Hehe, thanks!] {Did you get a skill related to digging yet?} [Nope.] {Damn.} I guess it won''t be that easy. {Is it day yet?} I already explained the day night cycle to her a while ago, when she tried to take a look outside the cave and wondered why it was so dark. [Not yet. The night¡¯s probably halfway over by this point.] {Mm. Alright. Keep digging then. We¡¯ll go out and gather some sharp sticks and rocks once it''s day.} [Got it. But y''know, I''m starting to get kinda tired.] {Tired? Oh, I forgot!} [Hm?] {We probably have to sleep, we¡¯ve been up for a long time now, haven''t we?} [I guess? So, should we sleep?] {Yeah. Go into the hole you dug first though, we¡¯ll be safer that way.} [Got it.] We crawl into the deepest part of the hole, and lay down. I wonder how this is going to work? When Gloria passed out, me and the body were still awake. Will both of us have to sleep in order to get the body to sleep? Or will the body going to sleep cause both of us to sleep as well? Well, I guess I¡¯ll find out soon enough¡­ The sound of a campfire emanates in the darkness around me. Slowly, the sound gets clearer, and the darkness fades away. The first thing I''m able to see is a log with an axe stuck into it. Next, I see a small fire. Then, I see a muscular woman sitting in a chair behind the fire. She holds a metal stick, with a piece of meat on the end above the fire. Yaaaawn. Man, what a weird dream! Hm? Wait, what was it again? Ah, whatever. {Are you up, Gloria?} [Yeah.] Looks like we both wake up at the same time, good to know. {Alright, we have lots to do today, so let''s get started right away!} We step out of the cave cautiously, checking to see if it''s day yet. As I thought, it is. First thing to do today: eat! We¡¯re in a forest, so there''s gotta be plants that are at least edible, right? First plant of the day, a teal colored grass that grows in patches under trees. It doesn''t smell that bad, hopefully the taste is fine. We take a bite, and¡­ It''s not bad. Because it''s nothing. It tastes like nothing. I''d prefer to eat something better, but if there''s no other option, this is fine. However, it''s not exactly the most common plant down here, so we¡¯d inevitably run out eventually if this is all we ate. Also, I thought it wasn''t poisonous, but my mouth is starting to feel a bit numb? Ah, yep. It''s poisonous. Next plant! Actually, let''s wait for the numbness to go away first¡­ Next up, we have a plant that looks like the leaves of a palm tree growing out of the ground. It has a powerful smell. Let''s take a bite¡­ Hm¡­ Crunchy. It has a tangy flavor. Not bad! Unfortunately, this one seems to be a bit rare too, so we¡¯ll have to find another plant to eat too, but this one is definitel- Gloria suddenly spits it out. {Hey! What are you doing, I was savoring that!} [Look.] She pulls the large leaves down, and points to the middle of the plant. Huh? Is that¡­ no, no way, right? [It looks like the monsters use this plant as a toilet.] It is! Bleh! It''s a good thing I''m not the one in control of the body right now, because I probably would have puked what little food we have in us out. Ugh, let''s move on to the next plant. [That was it.] {Huh?} [That was everything I could find that seemed like it could be good.] {Are you kidding? We¡¯re in a forest, there has to be something!} [Nope.] Damn it! {Well, let''s head back to the cave and practice digging for the rest of the day.} [Got it.] Man, this sucks! What are we gonna eat, if there''s hardly anything edible around here? I would think about heading into the darker parts of the forest, but I''m pretty sure that''s where the wolves go during the day¡­ No matter what we choose to eat, we won''t be able to eat anything during the night, which sucks. If we ever need to hide out in our cave for an extended period of time, we¡¯re kinda screwed. It would be nice if there was something growing in our cave that we could eat, but it''s just dirt¡­ Wait, hang on. There''s nothing growing in there right now, but what if we planted something? There''s no light, so none of the forest plants would work, but what about moss? Our cave is the perfect environment, dark, and moist because of the waterfall, it''s the ideal conditions for moss! Yes, this is perfect! We¡¯ll start farming moss in our cave, so we won''t even have to put ourself at risk by leaving to eat! {Gloria! Don''t go back to the cave yet.} [Hm?] {Remember that patch of moss we landed on earlier?} [Yeah?] {Go there.} [Why?] {We¡¯re gonna start farming it.} [Why?] {Because... Just trust me on this.} [...ok, whatever.] [How much do we need?] {As much as possible.} [Ugh, this is gonna suck to carry¡­] Gloria carefully cuts a chunk of the moss off, and puts it in our mouth. [That should be enough.] {No it won''t!} [I can''t carry any more than this, stupid!] {Cut a big chunk and drape it over our back like a cape!} [...ok.] She reluctantly does what I say, cutting a large chunk of moss, and storing it on our back. [Is that enough?] {Hm¡­ sure, for now.} [Good. Because I''m not gonna carry any more than this.] Gloria begins walking back down the dark tunnel, walking slower than usual so the moss doesn''t fall off our back. After a few minutes, we finally make it back to the forest. [Hey, doesn''t it seem darker than usual?] She''s right. The yellow stones that line the ceiling of the cavern are unusually dark, and they seem to be getting even darker by the second. Uh oh. {Gloria, run!} [What? Why?] {Just do it!} [I can''t, the moss will fall of-] She''s cut off by the howl of a wolf, coming from deep in the forest. [Yeah, ok, I''ll run.] Gloria begins to sprint, making the moss on our back bounce, slipping lower with every step. [Shit, the moss!] {Don''t worry about the moss, just focus on getting home!} The moss finally slips too far, and falls off our back. Gloria stops, quickly turning around to grab the moss, but stops right before getting it. Right in front of us, five pairs of glowing, neon green eyes stare right at us. Chapter 3: Wolves {What are you doing? Run!} [I-I c-can¡¯t¡­] {Give me control of the body. Quickly!} [A-alright.] I take control of the body as fast as I can, immediately grabbing the moss and placing it on our back. Shit shit shit! The wolves are following me! I couldn''t tell at first because their footsteps are so quiet, but they''re definitely chasing me! I''m so close! Our cave is right there! Just a little more! A sharp pain suddenly shoots through my back as a wolf pounces into me, sending me flying forwards. Luckily, the wolf sent me right into the cave. Unluckily, this means the wolves now know there is a cave behind the waterfall. I need to hide in the hole Gloria dug, there''s nowhere else to go. The wolves probably can''t fit in the hole, so I should be fine unless they know how to dig. Unless they know how to dig. Who am I kidding, of course they know how to dig. They''re basically dogs, and digging is what dogs do. Except these dogs are way bigger and way scarier. But into the hole I go, because there''s nowhere else to hide. As I dive in, the moss on my back gets snagged on a rock jutting out from the dirt, pulling it off my back. Shit! Wait, no, that gives me an idea! If I cover the hole with the moss, the wolves might not find me! I quickly push the moss out, covering the hole to the best of my ability as I hear the wolves step through the waterfall. My heart is pounding. I''m curled up in a ball, as deep in the hole as I can. The wolves'' footsteps are too quiet to hear, but I can feel the vibrations from their steps in my head, which is pressed against the wall. I''m terrified. I''m shaking like a washing machine with a brick in it. When will they leave? Surely they won''t look for me for long, I''m probably not worth more than a few minutes of searching. At a certain point, the time would be better spent hunting easier targets. But when will that point come? I hope it''s soon. It''s been a while now. I don''t know how long. Most of the wolves are gone now. There''s just one left in the cave. I think I''ll be safe. But I almost wasn''t. I got lucky. Extremely lucky. I could have easily died at any moment. I don''t want to be cliche by saying ¡°this happened because I''m too weak¡±, but I definitely do need to get stronger. I''ve had thoughts of just living easily off of what I already have, but not anymore. If I don''t want to die, I can''t just merely survive. So, from now on, no distractions. No more leaving the cave. From now on, we¡¯ll either be digging, farming moss, or sleeping. Anything else is dangerous and a waste of time. {Gloria.} [Yeah?] It seems she''s still a little shaken up. {There''s just one wolf left up there. As soon as it leaves, we¡¯re going to plant the moss and then practice digging until we pass out from exhaustion.} [Huh? Why?] {The sooner we become able to set up traps capable of taking out those wolves, the better.} [...got it.] From the vibrations, I can tell the wolf is slowly moving towards the exit of the cave. It seems we made it out alive. That reminds me, I ignored it because I was busy focusing on trying to survive, but I got a few new skills during that whole thing, didn''t I? It''s not like I can check them, but it''s nice knowing I didn''t come out of that experience empty handed. {I think the wolf is gone now. Are you ready to take over the body again?} [Yeah, I think so.] Gloria takes over the body, slowly and shakily getting used to walking again. Man, looks like this experience really shook her up. I feel bad, but it''s probably better for her to get used to this sooner rather than later. Eh? Level four? Isn''t that kind of insane for how young we are? I mean, skills are probably easier to level earlier on, but still¡­ There''s no way this growth speed is normal, right? It benefits us I guess, so it''s not like I''m going to complain, but it is weird. Finally, Gloria reaches the entrance of the hole, pushing the moss aside and cautiously stepping out. Now, let''s plant some moss. I''m assuming moss is just like any other plant, and all we have to do is stick it in a hole and give it some water every once in a while. We walk over to the entrance of the cave, bringing the moss with us. {Make sure not to make the hole too deep.} [I will.] Gloria begins to dig, stopping every so often to check and see if the moss can fit. The author''s content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. [Done.] {Perfect! Now, we just have to wait for it to grow.} [I''m feeling kinda hungry after that.] {Eat some of the smaller pieces that we haven''t planted yet.} [I''m kinda hesitant to eat moss though¡­] Oh yeah, I guess she was unconscious last time I tried this moss. {Just try it, it''s fine!} [Alright¡­] Reluctantly, Gloria bites down on the moss. [Bleh, this is gross!] {Oh come on, it''s not that bad!} [Yes it is! It tastes like medicine!] {I know, doesn''t that mean it''s probably healthy?} [I don''t know, and I don''t care. I''m not eating this moss anymore!] {You have to eat it. It''s our only food source.} [We could easily go out and find some plants that taste a million times better!] {No. We can''t waste time anymore.} [But-!] {If you hate eating it that much, I''ll just take over the body and eat it myself!} I knew something like this would happen. So I''ve been practicing. Gloria is able to easily kick me out of the body and steal control, so shouldn''t I be able to do the same to her? [Wha- how are you doing this?] While Gloria was digging, or walking, or anything else that doesn¡¯t require my attention, I practiced. I learned how to force control over the body! It''s all about visualization. I just have to imagine my ¡®mind¡¯ as a vast ocean, and imagine this vast ocean pushing the liquid that is Gloria¡¯s ¡®mind¡¯ out of the body. It might sound strange, but just like that, I am now in control of the body. {That''s what you get for being stubborn! Now, think about what you''ve done wrong, hahaha!} [You¡­ I''ll make you regret that!] What?! The vast ocean that I imagined my ¡®mind¡¯ as has suddenly begun to boil, evaporating out of the body at a rapid rate. {What are you doing!?} [Taking back what belongs to me!] {The body doesn''t belong to you idiot, we share it!} [Hmph, says the one who just tried to take it from me!] Not good! I need to find a way to stop her! If the ideal visualization of the ¡®mind¡¯ is a liquid, then if I imagine her ¡®mind¡¯ as freezing, then¡­ Gloria¡¯s takeover stops. [Oh yeah? Take this!] Despite her ¡®mind¡¯ still being frozen, she somehow causes mine to evaporate faster and faster. [{Huh?}] [Soul manipulation?] Doesn''t that make this fight seem pretty scary? I¡¯ve been calling the two bodies of liquid our minds, but if those were our souls¡­ Couldn''t this fight be really really bad for the both of us? {...Let''s not fight like this anymore.} [Yeah, agreed.] Although, it probably wouldn''t hurt to train that skill up a little¡­ I should probably do that on my own though. {You still have to eat the moss, by the way.} [Ugh, fine. But only because I''m really hungry and I don''t feel like going out to find something better!] No, it''s night, you can''t go out even if you want to¡­ Whatever. {Thank you.} I relinquish control over the body, which feels slightly easier now. Probably the effect of that skill. [Bleh¡­ I hate this.] {Just bear with it. It¡¯s for survival.} [Right.] [Enough, I can''t eat any more¡­] {Then it''s time to start digging.} [Ugh, but I''m tired¡­] {Like I said before, we¡¯re going to stay up digging until we pass out, for the sake of getting stronger.} [I know, I know.] We head back into our small tunnel, and Gloria begins to dig at the end, slowly but surely lengthening the tunnel. I should also do something. It wouldn¡¯t be right for me to make her work non-stop, and not even do anything myself. But what should I do? Hmmm¡­ I guess that soul manipulation skill might be useful. I''ll work on leveling that. I calm myself, blocking out the sensation of Gloria digging. I do what I did before, imagining my soul as a vast body of water. Now, if it''s soul manipulation, the way to level it is probably to move it around, right? First of all, I''ll make it a sphere¡­ I focus, attempting to imagine the vast, waving surface of the liquid collapsing into the shape I desire. The surface ripples gently, bending slightly, but nothing else. Wow, this is tough. It seemed much easier back when I was fighting with Gloria over control. Maybe because of adrenaline? No matter why it was easier before, it''s hard now. Maybe shaping it was too complex of a goal to start with. Freezing Gloria seemed pretty easy, maybe that¡¯ll be easier. But, there''s a lot, I don''t think I can freeze all of this. I probably shouldn''t freeze it all either. This is my soul, after all. Acting carelessly with it could have consequences¡­ It should be fine if it''s just a small portion though. Hopefully. Whatever, I''m doing it! I focus on a small area in the center of the liquid. I imagine it becoming still, completely isolated from the liquid around it. Little by little, a small orb of ice appears. It slowly expands, the growth barely noticeable. The ice glows faintly, the cyan light pulsing slowly. Uuf, this is tough. If I lost concentration for even a mome- [HEY! FIR!] The ice cracks, shattering into pieces that rapidly dissipate into the liquid around them. ¡­ Sigh. {What is it, Gloria?} [Geez, took you long enough! I called you like twenty times!] {I was concentrating on something.} [What were you concentrating on?] {It doesn¡¯t matter. What do you want?} [Oh yeah! I¡¯m tired.] {Already? Has it really been that long?} [No, but I already feel super tired.] {Well, alright then. I guess we can sleep now.} [Yay!] Without hesitation, Gloria flops over on her side, and slams our eyes shut. Ah, I already feel my consciousness fading. I guess she really was tired. I¡¯m kinda upset I didn¡¯t get to practice soul manipulation more, but oh well. I can do that tomorrow. It¡¯s not like I have anything else to do until Gloria gets our digging skill up a level or two. Morning has come once more. The powerful taste of the moss knocks any remnants of drowsiness out of me. As soon as we can no longer eat anymore, Gloria gets to digging. And now, I¡¯ll work on leveling soul manipulation. I focus, and the vast ocean comes into view. Let¡¯s try shaping it again. I exert my will on the surface of the liquid, pushing and pulling it, but again, it¡¯s no use. I guess freezing it is the best I can do for now. Calming myself, I concentrate on the movement of the liquid. I¡¯m pretty sure a liquid freezing is just the particles in it no longer moving, so if I just force the liquid¡¯s movement to stop, it should¡­ Ah, yep, there it is. An orb of ice has once again begun to appear. The growth of it is still way too slow though. This is really tough. I focus on the movement of the liquid, concentrating as hard as I can to prevent even the slightest current. The growth of the ice orb speeds up, but only by a little. I don¡¯t think I¡¯ll be able to get it to grow any faster. For now, I have to wait. Slowly, the ice grows larger and larger. That should be good. If I can¡¯t shape the liquid, isn¡¯t the answer to freeze it and shape the ice? I take hold of the currents surrounding the ice, and change their direction to go towards it. The currents erode the once perfectly round sphere of ice, carving it into the shape of an apple core. The center continues to shrink, until it is just barely holding the two halves together. The ice snaps, breaking into two separate pieces, which then melt. Level two! Ah, I feel so proud of myself! It really feels so great to earn a great reward for hard work. Oh? It seems Gloria has accomplished her goal as well. Although, level two? I never heard us get level one though¡­ Ah! It¡¯s probably a skill that¡¯s innate to our species! It makes sense, our digging-optimized claws were the reason I decided to make our main strategy digging in the first place. {Gloria! Good job!} [Hahaha! Aren¡¯t I so great? Of course I am! I¡¯m the greatest!] Ahaha, she sure seems excited. Urgh, I really don¡¯t want to tell her that level two isn¡¯t enough¡­ {Y-yeah! You¡¯re great! Buuut¡­} [Hm? What?] {Level two¡­ isn¡¯t our goal.} [Huh?] {Digging will be our main strategy, so it needs to be higher level than two.} [You¡¯re telling me I have to keep doing this?!] {Y-yeah¡­} Ah, brace for impact! [...Alright.] Huh? ¡°Alright¡±? She¡¯s not upset? Am I dreaming? [But, you better make sure we get to hunt one of those wolves.] {of course, of course! In fact, let¡¯s start preparing the traps as soon as we reach level three in digging.} [Hahaha! I¡¯m getting excited already!] Crisis averted, Gloria has been appeased¡­ For now. Ahhh, time to go back to training soul manipulation¡­ It¡¯s so calming, like meditation. In this cave, the greatest threat to me is not the wolves, but rather stress. This is mostly Gloria¡¯s fault. I¡¯m glad I found such a good way to calm myself down. Chapter 4: Fight Dirty Day¡­ four? I don''t know, I haven''t been keeping track. Probably four. We spent the rest of yesterday training until we were too tired to do anything else. We woke up early this morning and had a delicious breakfast consisting of moss, and some water from the waterfall. I think drinking from the waterfall should be fine, right? It looks pretty clear, and it''s moving water. That''s a good thing, right? Whatever. Even if it''s dangerous, we probably won''t die. We might even get some kind of virus resistance skill if we¡¯re lucky. I''d rather there just be nothing in the water though. Even if some bad water won''t kill us, it probably won''t end well for our bowels, and I don''t want to experience that kind of thing without any of the modern hygienic luxuries I''m used to. That kind of thing is bad enough with a toilet, toilet paper, and a nice hot shower afterwards. I think I''d rather drop dead here and now than have anything like that happen to me. No, us. Gloria is here too, so it¡¯d be even worse. Seriously, talk about embarrassing! Ahem, where was I? Gloria has already begun digging, so I should get to work on soul manipulation training. I focus. My soul comes into view. First, let''s try freezing the center again¡­ I calm myself, gently manipulating the currents of my soul, bringing the center to a complete stop. It begins to solidify slowly, but faster than before. That level increase really helped. The speed is visibly faster than before! I wonder if I can manipulate the shape a bit more now? I change my focus to the surface of the liquid. It ripples, its form changing slightly, but barely noticeable. Damn, still not great. Maybe I''m going about this the wrong way? Alright, let''s think about this. The current form of my soul is a weird blob. The goal is to make it a sphere. With a high enough level of soul manipulation, I''m sure it''s possible to brute force it, but that will take a while. Hmm¡­ Suddenly, a quote from a certain series I used to enjoy popped into my mind. ¡®everything is circular if it spins¡¯... That''s it! If I spin it, won''t it naturally turn into a sphere? I must be a genius! Let''s do it! Hastily, I begin to rotate it. It¡¯s slow. The movement is barely visible. But it''s speeding up. Hah! Light work! Let''s make this a bit tougher! I concentrate. The center of the mass begins to freeze and solidify. By this point, the shape of it has begun to be affected by the rotation. It keeps speeding up. The ice grows larger. The pulsing cyan light coming from the ice pulses faster, like an increasingly fast heartbeat. This isn''t too bad! The surface begins to ripple rhythmically. The ripples and the pulsing light are almost hypnotizing. Nice! Now, I should brag to Gloria, since she hasn¡¯t- Nevermind. [Fir! I did it!] {Good job!} [Now, let''s kill those wolves!] Ah, right, I did agree to that. Sigh. {First of all, we need to find sharp objects to put at the bottom of our trap holes. We should be able to sharpen ordinary sticks pretty easily.} [Got it, step one, collect sticks!] Gloria excitedly exits the hole, which has now become a tiny, cozy den. [How many sticks do we need?] {I don''t know. Just get as many as you can carry.} [Got it!] She¡¯s so excited. I wish I could be excited about this, but I¡¯m worried more than anything. What if the wolves don¡¯t fall for our traps? What if they get lucky and don¡¯t step on any of the traps? So much could go wrong. And if anything goes wrong, it¡¯s game over. We die. Living as a monster has sucked so far, but I don¡¯t think I wanna die just yet. The author''s content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. I at least want to survive until we can find out if humans exist in this world. And then, I want to find out if we can evolve like I think we can. Then, assuming we found out the answers to both previous questions was ¡®yes¡¯, I want to find out if we can evolve into a form that allows us to integrate into human society. But I think I¡¯m starting to get ahead of myself. None of that can happen if we die when the wolves come tonight. So I need to make sure we survive. How can I do that? I can¡¯t think of anything to do in this scenario except set up the traps and hope they work. I guess the most I can do is plan the traps out, to make sure they have the highest possible chances of working. So, the traps. At the most basic level, they¡¯re going to be holes with sharp stuff at the bottom. Wolf falls in, wolf gets stabbed, wolf dies. But it¡¯s not that simple in reality. The traps need something covering the top. If they don¡¯t have any kind of covering, the wolves will be able to avoid falling in just by looking. But the covering can¡¯t be too stiff, or wolves will be able to walk on top of the holes. So, what should we cover the holes with? Leaves might be a bit too suspicious. I don¡¯t know how smart the wolves are and it¡¯s better to be safe than sorry, so it¡¯s definitely a no to leaves. Wood? Even more suspicious. Apart from that¡­ Moss? We have a pretty good supply of moss. Turns out the stuff grows pretty fast, so we basically have an unlimited supply of it. And that just adds to the moss¡¯ camouflage ability. Since there¡¯s so much moss in our cave, the holes, when covered by moss, won¡¯t look any different from the other patches of moss in the cave. Moss is also a good material in terms of its ability to stay solid until we need it to collapse, like when the wolves step on it. So, moss it is. Now, what about the spikes? Gloria is collecting sticks right now, so we¡¯ll use those, but I feel like using another type of object wouldn¡¯t be a bad idea. A backup plan, in case the sticks fail. So, what else could work? Rocks? No, rocks seem obvious, but they vary too much in shape and size to be used effectively. We can¡¯t shape them ourselves either. Not yet, anyway. I¡¯m sure we¡¯ll be able to one day. If not rocks, then what else is there? [Fir, look!] In front of us is a herd of the deer-like monsters we saw when we first found the forest. Now that I have a closer look at them, they¡¯re not all that like deer aside from their general body shape and their antlers. Their faces are tall and flat, their mouths covered by a thick flap of pale skin. The upper part of their faces are bony, their eyes sunk deep into their head. They¡¯re scary! But this gives me an idea. Deer antlers. Well, ¡®deer¡¯ antlers. I don¡¯t know what they are, really. They definitely are not deer. Their antlers seem decently sharp as they are, so they¡¯d be the perfect spikes for our traps. So how do we get the antlers? I know that back on earth, at least some species of deer shed their antlers every once in a while. But again, these aren¡¯t deer. But it¡¯s probably worth a shot. {Gloria! Approach those¡­ Things!} [Why?] {Their antlers. They¡¯d be perfect spikes for our traps.} [We¡¯re gonna fight them?] {No no no! We¡¯re gonna look for any antlers that they shed off!} [That¡¯s stupid.] {Huh? No it isn¡¯t!} [Yes, it is. Even if they do shed their antlers, they probably don¡¯t do it very often. We probably won¡¯t find enough to be used, if we find any at all.] Damn it, she¡¯s right. Is there anything else we could use? I can¡¯t think of anything¡­ I guess I¡¯m just going to have to put my faith in sticks. {Alright¡­ Let¡¯s head back soon. We need to give ourselves time to set up the traps.} [Gotcha.] We re-enter our cave, holding as many sticks as we can with every part of our body we can use. We probably have around half the day left, if I¡¯ve been keeping track of time accurately. {Time to set up the traps.} [Right.] Gloria begins digging a hole near the entrance of the cave. {Do you remember how big the wolves are? We need to make sure the holes will fit them.} [More or less.] It takes Gloria around ten minutes to dig the hole to what I hope is a sufficient depth. Good, at this rate we¡¯ll have more than enough time. Now, stick sharpening time. Gloria fumbles with the stick, trying to hold it in a way that will allow her to keep it in place with one hand and sharpen it with the other. [Argh! This is hard!] Maybe we won¡¯t have more than enough time¡­ [I really wish we had actual hands instead of these stupid claws.] {Maybe one day.} [Hm? What do you mean?] {Oh, did I forget to tell you?} [Tell me what?] {Evolution.} [What about it?] {Not the kind you¡¯re thinking of. The word ¡®evolution¡¯ means something different when it comes to monsters like us. The way it usually works is, and as I¡¯ve said before, this is just a guess, we¡¯ll be able to change into a stronger monster if we reach a certain level.} [Level?] Ugh, this is impossible. Why did I have to get stuck with someone who doesn¡¯t know the most basic of the basics? Seriously, It¡¯s impossible to explain this stuff to someone who has absolutely zero prior knowledge! {Levels are like¡­ hm¡­ a representation of your strength, I guess?} Not the best explanation, but it¡¯ll work for now. I don¡¯t even know if the concept of levels exists in this world. {We¡¯re probably level one right now, but we might be able to increase it by killing the wolves.} I don¡¯t think it¡¯s worth even trying to explain XP to her. If levels exist, she¡¯ll naturally figure it out. If they don¡¯t, she won¡¯t need to figure it out. [I don¡¯t really get it, but you¡¯re saying we won¡¯t be stuck in this body forever, right?] {Yeah, pretty much, but it will probably take a while.} [I don¡¯t care how long it takes, I just don¡¯t wanna be this gross mole thing anymore! By the way, I finished sharpening all the sticks for the first trap while you were talking.] {Oh, good job. Let¡¯s put them in and cover it up.} [You got it!] Gloria places the sticks in small holes she made at the bottom of the trap, then stuffs dirt into the gaps to secure them. {Be careful jumping out, it probably wouldn¡¯t be good if we fell into our own trap.} [I won¡¯t fall, I¡¯m not stupid.] {Just making sure, it wouldn¡¯t be the first time you fell into a hole by accident¡­} [Shut up about that already! We wouldn¡¯t have found this forest if I didn¡¯t fall in that hole, so you should actually be thanking me!] Yeah, no. {Whatever. Just quickly cover up the trap with some moss, we don¡¯t have time to argue.} [Fine¡­] Gloria carefully lays a flat piece of moss over the top of the hole, covering the sides with a little dirt to stop it from falling in. {Now we just need to do all that like seven more times.} [Ugh.] {I¡¯m sure you¡¯ve got this, so I¡¯m gonna practice soul manipulation for a while.} [Do whatever you want.] [Fir, It¡¯s done.] {Good job! How¡¯s it looking outside?} [It¡¯s just now starting to get dark.] {Very good. Let¡¯s eat a little moss and then head out immediately.} It¡¯s time. We aren¡¯t sure if the wolves will come looking for us on their own or not, so we¡¯ve decided to find them and lure them back home. This is going to be incredibly dangerous. Last time we got chased by them, we almo- Huh? {Gloria, what did you do?} [I didn¡¯t do anything, what did you do?] {I didn¡¯t do anything either!} [All I did was eat some moss!] {Hm¡­ Well, that explains the health regeneration, since that moss does taste like medicine, but what about the level up?} I guess this confirms levels exist. But why did we gain one now? In most monster reincarnation stories that I know of, levels are gained by killing other monsters. Are there bugs living in the moss? {Gloria, check the moss for bugs.} [There aren¡¯t any bugs in the moss, why would you think that?] {It¡¯s the only thing I could think of.} So, if we didn¡¯t kill anything to gain that level¡­ We leveled up by eating moss? That makes the most sense out of everything I can think of. We gained the level at the same time we got health regeneration. That makes it seem like we got them from the same thing. So, we don¡¯t have to kill anything to level up? That seems¡­ too easy. No way it¡¯d be that simple. The XP gains from doing stuff like eating moss is probably abysmal compared to the XP gained from killing monsters. But¡­ It¡¯s still good to know that, if worse comes to worst, we don¡¯t need to fight to level up. [Fir, It¡¯s getting dark. We should go.] {Yeah, got it. Let¡¯s go.} Whatever. I¡¯ll think about that later. We have wolves to kill. Chapter 5: Hunter Hunted The forest is terrifying at night. During the day, there aren''t many animals besides the deer(?), but as soon as it gets dark, everything comes out. It''s weird, you''d think it''d be the exact opposite, considering those terrifying wolves come out at night. Those terrifying wolves that we are about to purposefully provoke¡­ This is a bad idea. This is a terrible idea. We are going to die. Hooo, okay, just breathe. It''ll be fine. Our traps are good. They''ll fall for our traps. Will they fall for our traps? Damn it, I don''t know. I thought this was necessary, but now that I know we can level up without having to do anything as risky as this¡­ Wouldn''t it be better to just stay inside our cave, slowly growing stronger? Risking our lives like this¡­ I don''t like it. Could I get Gloria to reconsider this if I asked her now? Probably not¡­ I guess there''s no choice. [Fir!] Ah, yeah, there''s really no choice, because the wolves are right there, staring right at us. Hm. {Run!} [A-ah¡­ it''s l-like last time. I can''t m-move.] {Give me control, I¡¯ll do it!} [Okay¡­] I take off running as soon as I get control, the wolves right behind me. We really should have tried to get some kind of speed increasing skill. More fear tolerance, huh? Yeah, I get it. I''m definitely completely terrified right now. The wolves must have some kind of skill that inflicts a fear status effect or something like that. That would explain why Gloria freezes up whenever we encounter the wolves. But why can I move just fine? Well, ¡®just fine¡¯ is a huge overstatement. I¡¯m barely managing to run away without tripping over my own feet. But still, I can move and Gloria can''t. That doesn''t make much sense. Ah, but I really shouldn''t be distracting myself with these thoughts right now. A wolf just lunged at me. It missed me, but only barely. If I lose focus now, we¡¯re dead. Another wolf lunges, this time managing to bump me to the side, tripping me for a moment. But only for a moment. I manage to fix my footing before I wipe out completely, and continue sprinting full speed away from the wolves. Halfway there. If it were day, our cave would be visible from here. Just a little further. But the wolves are gaining on me. I can sense their footsteps right behind me. I need to go faster. My legs are screaming at me, but if I listen to them I''ll be dead in an instant. Just a little further. The cave is right there. I think I''m going to make it! But it seems someone beat me there. On both sides of the cave, the piercing eyes of wolves stare at me. But I can''t let myself panic. Even the slightest hesitation right now will mean my death. They''re probably expecting me to keep running as I am, so they''ll probably pounce at me. In that case, what I need to do is¡­ Jump! The two wolves leap forward, but miss me as I sail over their heads, colliding with each other in the air. Take that you stupid dogs! But it''s not over just yet. I''ve made it into the cave, so now the real battle has begun. I need to maneuver past our traps while trucking the wolves into stepping right into them. Luckily, it seems this won''t be as hard as I thought. For some reason, I can faintly tell where the traps are, even in this pitch darkness. Ah, must be that. I dart through the cave, diving into our tunnel home without looking back. This time, there''s no moss covering the hole, so the wolves will definitely find us if they don''t fall for the traps. It all depends on the traps now. I hear the sounds of a struggle from above. It seems like one of the traps managed to work. But the wolves will probably be more cautious now that they know about the traps, right? I push my head against the dirt, feeling for the vibrations. I feel dirt caving in. Another wolf in a trap. And again. Looks like they aren''t as careful as they thought. And again. And again. And again. Hold on, aren''t they a little too stupid? That''s five wolves in traps now, and it hasn''t even been that long. I thought we¡¯d get three wolves at most when we entered the cave, then two at most when they decided to leave. But we¡¯ve already caught five! {Gloria! It''s a huge success!} [That''s g-good.] Seems she''s still under the effects of the fear. It''s so odd that I''m not affected. I wonder why? Wow, level six already? I''m a little tense, sure, but I wouldn''t say I''m afraid right now. Is it because Gloria''s still suffering from the fear? It must be really bad if it''s causing us to level fear tolerance this fast. I feel bad for her¡­ but I won''t complain about a convenient grinding method. More vibrations. Six wolves now. The time between catches has increased a lot, but they''re still falling for our traps. I wonder how many wolves were even chasing us? I''m definitely not going to peek my head out to check, nope, no way. Things are going amazing right now, I don''t want to test our luck. The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. More vibrations. Seven. Now I feel footsteps. Seems like they''ve lost enough to decide to retreat. More vibrations. Yep, as I thought, caught one as it was trying to leave. That''s eight now, right? I didn''t miscount, did I? Because eight seems like¡­ a lot. It''s not like I''m complaining, but it feels too easy. It''s been a while since the last vibrations now, it seems like we¡¯re safe. I peek my head out from our hole, and sure enough, eight patches of moss are missing, with holes in their place. {We did it, Gloria. The wolves are gone now.} [Mm, good.] She seems better now, but she must still be feeling the fear because she''s not as obnoxious as usual. Now, let''s go inspect our kills. At least, I thought they''d be kills, but this wolf is still alive. It''s laying down at the bottom of the pit, every single spike stabbed through its body. Yet, despite its sorry state, it''s glaring at me fiercely. Hey, buddy, you have like fifteen holes in your body right now, you really don''t need to act like this. I''m not gonna be scared of you. Or will I? Suddenly, my legs are shaking, and I can''t move a single muscle. Is this the effect Gloria was under? Why is it affecting me now when it didn''t before? [Fir, I got this.] {Ah, alright.} I give Gloria control of the body, causing the shaking to subside. Well, I didn''t really give it to her. With the state I was in, I couldn''t really give it to her, but instead just not resist as she took it. Ah, wait, I think I figured it out. The fear effect the wolves cause makes you freeze up completely, allowing them to kill you easily. But, it¡¯s probably an activated skill with a decently long cooldown, so they can''t just freeze every opponent like Medusa. It''d be completely impossible to win if they could do that. So, when they used it on us while Gloria was in control, she became unable to move. However, I was unaffected, which is why I could move just fine after taking over the body. So, in other words, we¡¯re only alive because of the jankiness of the wolves'' strongest skill. Well, the wolves¡¯ skill isn''t what''s janky, it''s us. A monster definitely isn''t meant to have more than a single soul inside, but we do. [Fir, you aren''t squeamish, are you?] {Not particularly, no. Why?} [I''m gonna finish this wolf off, and it probably won''t be very pretty.] {Oh, uh, go ahead. I''ll be fine.} [...you sure?] {That''s just because of the wolves¡¯ fear ability.} [If you say so.] Gloria hops down into the hole, carefully avoiding the spikes. The wolf snarls at us, and tries to stand up a little, but it can''t because of the spikes stuck through its body. Unphased, Gloria walks up to it and places a claw on its throat. [Thank you. Rest now.] She pushes down and moves the claw across the wolf''s neck. It closes its eyes as blood begins to drain from the cut, and its body relaxes. ¡­wow, I wasn''t as ready as I thought. That was brutal, but¡­ in such a calm way. When she said she was going to finish it off, I expected it to be a much more barbaric sight, but¡­ It was like watching a skilled hunter finish off prey that was unlucky enough to survive the bullet. As expected, a level up. Now that I think about it, if each wolf gives us one level, won''t we reach level ten? Gloria jumps out of the hole, then jumps right into another. Repeating the same process as with the other wolf, she quickly kills it. ¡­No level up this time. I guess I was greedy to expect a level from each wolf. But we must be pretty close, at the very least. Gloria jumps out again, and back into a new hole. She kills the wolf, then jumps back out. She looks into the next hole, but the wolf in this one is already dead. Looks like it bled out before we could get to it. The wolf in the next hole is alive, so Gloria quickly dispatches it. No level up? If the wolf that bled out had given us XP, killing this wolf definitely would have given us a level up, right? So we have to kill an enemy ourselves to get the XP? That sucks¡­ Traps are our entire strategy, yet they''re so inefficient for XP. Next hole, dead wolf. More lost XP. Second to last hole, aaaaand¡­ Dead wolf. Damn it. The last one better be alive. I''m going to be really upset if all we get from this is two levels. Luckily, it is. Gloria kills it quickly, and with that, our wolf hunt is over. Nice! Level five! It''s less than I expected, but three levels is still a lot. Oh! A title! I expected they¡¯d exist, but I didn¡¯t think we¡¯d get one so early! Oh? Oooooh? Evolution! Finally! [Hey, Fir! That¡¯s the thing you told me about, right?] {Yep!} [So we can finally turn into something that isn¡¯t a gross mole thing?] {Probably!} [Nice! Let¡¯s do it!] {Agreed!}
  • Lesser cavern beast
  • Spined cavern pest>
    • {Alright, let¡¯s think about thi-} [Spined cavern pest it is!] {Wait! No!} My mind goes empty as I feel myself begin to pass out. Damn it¡­ Hrk¡­ My head is killing me¡­ {Gloria?} [Hm?] Looks like she got up before me. {Did it work? Did we evolve?} [Yep! Check it out!] She turns our head as far back as it can go, looking at our back. The thin, bristly hair that used to cover most of our body has been replaced by thick spines, like that of a hedgehog. {So, why did you choose this over the other option?} [Cause that one had lesser in the name, and that sounded bad.] {...seriously?} [Yeah?] Ugh. Lesser doesn¡¯t mean it¡¯s bad¡­ {Gloria¡­ Lesser just means it can evolve further. It doesn¡¯t necessarily mean it¡¯s weak.} [Is that so? Oh well, nothing we can do about it now!] Ugggh. I guess she''s right, but still! {Just don''t do that again please.} [Uh huh. Anyway, time to taste the fruits of our labor!] Fruits of our labor? Gloria hops down into one of the holes, and approaches the body of the wolf. No, she doesn''t mean¡­ [Time to eat!] No, no way! Spare me! Gloria opens our mouth wide and takes a large bite of the wolf, struggling to tear off the large chunk. {What are you doing!?} [Having something to eat, of course.] {Why a wolf corpse!?} [Because I''m sick of eating that shitty moss.] {You really think raw wolf meat will be any better?!} [I don''t know if it''ll be better, but at least it''ll be different!] {What if it''s dangerous?!} [We¡¯ll be fine!] She finally manages to tear off the chunk of meat, quickly scarfing it down. I''m gonna be sick¡­ [Delicious!] {Stop lying!} [Better than the moss!] {No it was not!} [So, what''s on the agenda for today, Fir?] {Are you just going to ignore everything I say?!} [Do you want me to eat more?] {No! I''m sorry, please don''t!} [So, what are we doing today, Fir?} {I guess¡­ explore? We don''t have much else to do.} [Sounds good to me! Let''s head into the dark area where the wolves come from.] {Are you crazy?!} {Gloria, I don''t like this. Let''s go home.} [No way! I wanna go on an adventure!] {Let''s go on an adventure somewhere else!} We stand before the threshold between the bright, sparse woods we¡¯re used to and the dark, unknown woods the wolves come from. I tried to talk Gloria out of coming here, but it didn''t work. She''s determined to go in, no matter what. But we definitely shouldn''t, right? We might have evolved, but we¡¯re no stronger than before. We¡¯re still dead if we encounter any wolves. But Gloria refuses to back down. There''s no way for me to get out of this, so I guess I''ll just do my best to keep us alive¡­ Gloria steps into the dark shadows of the deep woods slowly. Then she breaks out into a sprint. {What the hell are you doing?! You''re going to get us killed!} [Says who?] {Me!} [Nuh uh!] {Yes! You are! You''re making so much noise, we need to be quiet!} [We''re fiiiiine!] {We are not! Stop!} Gloria suddenly comes to a complete stop. {Thank you!} [I didn''t stop because of you, idiot. Look.] Right in front of us, there''s a crack in the ground that extends outward, becoming a giant chasm. [Let''s go in!] {What? No! Are you stu-} As I''m talking, I notice a strange glow coming from the distance. [Am I what?] {Nevermind that, look over there. Do you see that?} [Over where? See what?] {Beside the big hole, that light.} [Oh yeah, I see it! Let''s check it out!] {Slowly, please. It could be dangerous.} [Fine.] Gloria walks in the direction of the light. We crawl past bushes and large trees, finally reaching a small crack in the stone cavern walls, which a light gray, perfectly ovular stone sticks out of. Glowing white symbols flutter across the surface of the stone. They appear to be some sort of language. [Cool! Think we could roll it home?] {We shouldn¡¯t touch it. It could be dangerous.} [Bah! You¡¯re too cautious, I¡¯m gonna touch it!} I knew that would happen, why did I even try? Gloria runs up to the stone and slowly reaches out to it. {Just touch it if you¡¯re gonna touch it! Don¡¯t be so slow!} As soon as Gloria lays our hand on the stone, the symbols fade away, and the stone begins to hum. {Run!} [I can¡¯t move!] {Let me try!} I take control of the body, but I¡¯m unable to move too. {Shit!} A sharp pain shoots through my head, and we¡¯re launched backwards as a blinding light flashes from the stone. [{Gah!}] Chapter 6: Insight Ughhh¡­ My head¡­ {You ok?} [I think so.] What happened? We touched the stone, then¡­ Hrg¡­ Something strange is happening to me. Weird thoughts are popping into my head. It¡¯s¡­ Argh! I don¡¯t know! {Is it happening to you too?} [What do you mea¡­ Oh, yeah, I think so.] Hm. The glowing symbols on the stone are still gone. These thoughts, could they be¡­ Hmmm¡­ I need to wait for my head to cool down a little. I¡¯ll begin to understand in time, I¡¯m sure. {Maybe we should go back home now.} [Fiiiiiine.] I guess I''ll grind soul manipulation for a bit, while she walks home. Last time, I finally managed to get it mostly circular by spinning it. This time, I think I''ll try focusing on manipulating the temperature. I''ve frozen the core before, so I''ll do the opposite this time. I''ll boil it! Actually, should I? I shouldn''t forget, this is apparently my soul, so I should probably be cautious¡­ Whatever, I wanna try! You only live once! Unless the reason I got reincarnated is because I died, then I guess this is the second time I''ve lived. Either way, let''s do this! I froze the center by slowing the movement around that area to a complete stop, so if I want to boil it I should do the opposite of that. I focus on a point on the outside of the mass of liquid, pushing and pulling the particles wildly. After a while, the surface begins to bubble slightly. Going well so far¡­ The bubbling continues intensifying slowly. This feels kinda weird¡­ No, it¡¯s probably just my imagination. Now, let¡¯s increase the area. I expand my focus to a larger portion of the surface, bringing it to a boil. Hm, no, this is definitely doing something to me. It¡¯s probably fine, right? I guess not¡­ I¡¯ll stop for now. Gloria is pretty close to home anyway. Ah, finally home! {Gloria, eat something fast! I''m hungry! Not wolf meat, though!} [Fiiiiine.] The strange thoughts from that stone have finally begun to settle a little. Now, a single word has appeared in my mind: Stadiea. Dunno what it means though. I guess we¡¯ll sleep on it. {Gloria! Bed time!} Another beautiful day in our little cave home! After the stress of yesterday, having a nice long rest was so nice. Now that we''ve slept, the thoughts from the stone have pretty much cleared up completely. Those deer-like things with the flat faces. They''re called Stadiea. It seems that the stone held information about the Stadiea. Like a Wikipedia article. I still don''t know why touching it shot the information into my brain though. And so violently, too¡­ I''m very glad that happened to us though, because now I know to never mess with those things. Seriously, they''re super scary! They look like your average monster-based-on-a-real-animal type, but they¡¯re actually super smart, with intelligence that rivals a human! Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon. And they can even use magic! In scenarios like this, isn''t a monster that can use magic supposed to be a boss? The kind of monster there''s only one of? But there are so many Stadiea just walking around outside! There''s also some more information here, but¡­ I don''t really get it? Something about how they''re extinct, but there''s definitely a ton outside, which doesn''t seem very extinct to me. There''s also a ton of information I just can''t comprehend. It''s frustrating! Insight? Hm¡­ I wonder what that does. Well, I''m sure we''ll figure it out. [Hey, since Stadiea have human-level intelligence, do you think we could communicate with them?] {Are you some kind of genius!? Let''s try it!} Before us is a field of bright green grass. Standing idly in that field is a herd of Stadiea. Now knowing how smart they are, I see their flat faces and sunken eyes in a different context. They look elegant, their eyes seeming almost noble. Their long, slender legs look delicate, but powerful. Before, I had wondered why the wolves didn''t hunt the Stadiea, despite seemingly being easy prey because they don''t hide at night. Now I know, the wolves would be utterly annihilated if they tried to even get close to the Stadiea. Woah! This is insight? And it already leveled up?! [This skill is annoying!] {No, this skill is amazing! It''s exactly what I was hoping for!} [Why?] {With this, we can gain an advantage in fights! Probably!} [Whatever, just make it stop. It''s annoying!] {Fine.} It annoys Gloria so I guess I''ll only use insight when we need to. Or at least, I''ll try. How am I supposed to not use such a useful skill? Anyway, the Stadiea are all pretty high level. Well, I assume level seven and eight are pretty high for at least this area. The wolves couldn¡¯t have been much higher than that, if they were we definitely would have gone way past level five. Speaking of our level, can we use insight on ourself? Let¡¯s try it! Insight, activate! Nice! But what are those colored letters for? H is probably health, M is mana, and E¡­ Energy maybe? How am I supposed to use these? There''s no bars next to them... I hoped it would show our skills too, but it¡¯s still a pretty low level. I¡¯m sure it will show us more in the future. Now, back to what we came here for, communicating with the Stadiea. How should we do this? Will they understand a wave? Should we write some symbols in the dirt, to try to let them know we¡¯re intelligent? Could we somehow get a telepathy-type skill? No, probably not. We¡¯ll have to communicate like people stranded on an island trying to signal a plane. Except, the people we¡¯re trying to contact don¡¯t speak any language. Ah, whatever! Let¡¯s just try. We approach the herd of Stadiea slowly, trying to not alarm them so they won¡¯t obliterate us with their magic. Some look at us curiously, but most just keep grazing on the lush green grass. Now, what should we try first? Let¡¯s start with the first idea I had, a wave! ¡­Doesn¡¯t seem like it worked. They don¡¯t look at all interested. If that didn¡¯t work, how about this? We move over to a patch of dirt, and crudely draw a few shapes. Then, we jump up and down to try to gather their attention. This time, a few of them look over. But nothing else. After a few moments, they just go straight back to what they were doing before. Hmmm¡­ Oh! I just had a genius idea! When trying to gauge an animal¡¯s intelligence, human researchers sometimes use mirrors! If the animal recognizes it¡¯s reflection as such, it¡¯s considered intelligent. I think usually they¡¯ll put a spot on the animal in a place it can¡¯t see, but I think that¡¯s just to easily tell if the test succeeded or failed, so we¡¯ll go without that part of the test. Besides, I really don¡¯t want to get any closer to the Stadiea than this until we establish friendly communications. So, we¡¯ll draw a picture of them on the ground! [That¡¯s dumb.] {Why?!} [I barely managed to draw a square, Fir. How do you expect me to draw one of them?] {Um¡­ practice?} [Yeah, no. Let¡¯s just go home for now. We can come back later when we think of a better way to communicate with them.] {Okay¡­} At least today¡¯s expedition wasn¡¯t a complete waste of time. We managed to learn how to use insight, and we learned that it¡¯s exactly the skill I was looking for. I wouldn¡¯t call today a success, but it definitely wasn¡¯t an utter failure. As we walk back home, the glowing stones in the roof of the cavern begin to dim. I wonder how those work? It¡¯s gotta be magic, right? Magic¡­ I really wanna use it. I didn¡¯t bother trying to figure out how to use magic before, since I had no idea if it was really a thing. But now, we know it is because of that stone. And if the Stadiea can use magic, shouldn¡¯t we be able to too? We¡¯re intelligent too! In fact, we should be able to use it two times as well since we¡¯re two times as intelligent! Well, we¡¯re not two times smarter than them, there are just two of us. So, how do we use magic? I dunno. There are so many different unique types of magic systems, it¡¯d be a horrible idea to just try every type I know of, we¡¯d die of old age before we finished. So, how do we learn how to use magic? Hmm¡­ The Stadiea can use it, so they could teach us. But we¡¯d have to learn to communicate with them first, obviously. Other than that¡­ The glowing stones? If they really do work via magic, I¡¯m sure we could learn something from them. Of course, we¡¯d have to get one to study it. And they¡¯re all on the ceiling. Ah, what a dilemma. I guess for now the best course of action is to just keep grinding our skills. I¡¯ll try to convince Gloria to learn to draw, as well. It seems we¡¯ve entered what could be called a training arc. Special chapter: Eye in the Sky Activation request received Processing request¡­ :&$@:$_&=Y &!@$$=Y E%=86.35 A=45¡ã Request accepted Sending data request Data request sent Awaiting response¡­ ... ... Response received Preparing for data receival Preparations complete Tuning to data stream¡­ Tuning complete The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation. Beginning download ... Download complete Individual designation: K2 Threat level: medium-high Threatened area: mega continent 2 Scanning planetary surface for individual K8 Individual found Current location: peak of sealed M-volcano 4 Assessing threat level¡­ Assessment complete Deciding action¡­ ... ... ... Decided action: descent Synthesizing persona Synthesizing complete Calculating path of descent Warning: individual K8 possesses skills capable of long ranged detection Altering path of descent Destination: mega continent 2 M-desert Requesting permission for descent Error Resending request Error Resending request Error Overriding permission requirement Initiating descent Entering hibernation Chapter 7: Rorthal It¡¯s been an entire week since we failed to communicate with the Stadiea and went back home to train. Since then, we¡¯ve grown a whole lot. I¡¯d love to tell you exactly how much, but I can¡¯t remember every skill we gained and grew¡­ Is what I would have said two days ago, before insight went up to level three! At level two, we could just see our species name and three letters. Now, we can see all of our skills as well. H M E >
    Pretty good so far, if I do say so myself. I made Gloria practice drawing in the dirt, so we got the artistry skill. It leveled up pretty fast, so it¡¯s at level four already. After that, we got lessened energy consumption and energy regeneration randomly. Aside from those three skills, we didn¡¯t get any new ones, but we did level a ton of our old ones up a lot. Both digging and soul manipulation are already at level six! I admit, I did have to do some dangerous stuff to level soul manipulation, which is made obvious by soul defense increasing by two levels. Since a week has passed and we¡¯ve gained four levels in artistry, we¡¯ve decided to give communicating with the Stadiea another try. We just finished up a big healthy breakfast of moss, moss, and more moss, so it¡¯s time to leave. As we walk, I use insight on anything I can. Gloria used to yell at me whenever I used it, but once it reached level three, she was convinced of its usefulness and decided to let me use it. I¡¯ve been thinking about magic a lot, but I still haven¡¯t managed to find a way to use it. Hopefully, we can successfully communicate with the Stadiea and befriend them. That way, we can have them teach us magic. Suddenly, the ground beneath us begins to shake violently. An earthquake? {Gloria, let¡¯s put off finding the Stadiea for now and find some shelter instead.} [Mhm.] Gloria begins to run towards a cave, but a giant chunk of rock falls right in front of us, just barely missing. This is more severe than I thought. {Quickly! You focus on running, I¡¯ll warn you about any falling rocks I see!} [Got it!] At first the rocks are all small enough for Gloria to dodge easily, but the rocks keep getting bigger the longer this goes on. Is there any closer shelter we could go to? {To your left!} Gloria jumps to the left. {No, the rock is to the left! Go to the right!} Gloria quickly jumps out of the way, leaving us flat on our stomach on the ground right as a giant boulder slams down on where we just were. [You could have done a better job of warning me!] {I told you it was on your left!} [Be more clear next time!] Before we can continue arguing, another huge rock falls right next to our head, so Gloria stands up and gets back to running. This is really, really bad. Are earthquakes normally like this? I¡¯ve been assuming this is an earthquake up until now, but I¡¯m starting to doubt it is. Though, I really don¡¯t know anything about earthquakes, since I¡¯d never been in one in my previous life, so I can¡¯t really say for sure whether it is or isn¡¯t one. Either way, there are giant rocks falling towards our head and even one is probably enough to end our second life as quickly as it started. Ah, I hope the Stadiea are okay. It¡¯d really suck if we went through all that work to communicate with them and they just end up dying right before we finally do it. And of course, by ¡®we went through all that work¡¯ I mean ¡®Gloria went through all that work¡¯. I just sat around messing with my own soul the whole time. The Stadiea will probably be fine, right? They¡¯re supposed to be masters of magic, some ordinary rocks are probably like particles of dust to those guys. Yeah, yeah, they¡¯ll be fine. I really hope they¡¯ll be fine. The rocks really just keep raining down. This can¡¯t be normal. If this kind of thing was a normal occurrence, this cave would be filled in by now. In that case, why is this happening? Maybe it¡¯s some kind of once-in-a-century earthquake? Or perhaps¡­ It¡¯s being caused by the movement of a giant monster deep underground¡­ Nah, no way. There can¡¯t be something that big. {Just a little further!} Right in front of us is a small cave. {To the right!} Giant rocks slam into the ground all around us. I can feel tiny rocks raining down on our back. At this point, there are too many rocks to completely avoid. {To the left!} Sharp rocks rain down on us, one stabs straight into our back. {We¡¯re almost there!} I feel our back being torn open by the rain of rocks hitting us. {Jump!} Gloria leaps forward, entering the small cave right as a large chunk of rock hits us. {Are you okay?} [Do you think I¡¯m okay?] {Right, sorry¡­ Do you think you can move at all?} [Nope. And I¡¯ll just ignore you if you try to make me.] {Don¡¯t worry, I won¡¯t.} Man, that turned out worse than expected. I think we almost died like twenty times back there. Ah, every cloud has a silver lining I guess. I wish we were home right now. I¡¯m pretty sure the moss we eat is medicinal, so that would definitely be very helpful. This book is hosted on another platform. Read the official version and support the author''s work. I feel like we won¡¯t be able to be home for a while though. I hope we don¡¯t starve here¡­ [I¡¯m gonna sleep. You stay up.] {Got it.} I would have stayed awake even if she didn¡¯t tell me to. In situations like this, doesn¡¯t going to sleep usually mean dying? It happens all the time in movies, the character gets out of a bad situation, barely hanging onto life, and tells their friends they feel tired and want to take a quick nap. But then they just don¡¯t wake up. Yeah, I don¡¯t want that to happen to us. Although passing away in our sleep would probably be one of the best possible ways to go in this hell hole. Ah, I¡¯m getting tired now though¡­ No, no, I can¡¯t sleep. But¡­ No. I shouldn¡¯t. I¡¯m so tired¡­ {Gloriaaa!} [...What?] {Can we trade roles? I¡¯m tired.} [Fine.] {Yay! Thanks Gloria!} [Whatever.] Finally¡­ I can feel myself drifting off to sleep¡­ Ah, it feels so good¡­ Yaaaawn! Good morning! It''s a lovely day tod- Ow ow ow ouch! Owwwww! [Good morning sunshine.] {Oh, hey Gloria.} [You slept for a very long time.] {Did I?} [Yes, you did. Despite the fact I was also exhausted, probably even more than you.] Gulp. {S-sorry?} [That won¡¯t cut it this time. I don¡¯t want an apology, I want you to make it up to me.] {And how do I do that¡­?} [Oh don¡¯t worry, it won¡¯t be anything too difficult.] I can practically hear the sneer she¡¯d be making if she had the face of a human. [All you have to do is take over my work for a week.] {Whaaat?! No way!} [C¡¯mon, it¡¯s not that bad!] {No, it is!} [Hmm¡­ If that won¡¯t do¡­] Uh oh, I feel like her next suggestion is going to be even worse. [Remember that big hole we found in the deep woods near the glowing rock?] {...Yeah? Why?} [I wanna go in there.] {Are you crazy?!} [It¡¯s either that or the work.] Let¡¯s think about this. She¡¯s crazy, but not stupid. She''s definitely not serious about going in that hole. She only said that so the other option, doing all of her work for her, seems less extreme. So, she expects me to choose the work, since she thinks I definitely won''t agree to go down that pit. Therefore, what I should do is¡­ {Fine, we can go in the hole.} Ha, bet she didn¡¯t expect that. [...Seriously?] {Yeah, let¡¯s go right now.} [We still have like twenty gashes on our back, idiot. We¡¯re not going anywhere right now.] {Oh, right.} Then I guess it''s time to go back to the classic time-waster, soul manipulation. [Hey, Fir.] {Hm? What¡¯s up?} [I think there¡¯s something outside the cave.] {How can you tell?} [Vibrations.] Hmm¡­ She¡¯s right. {What do you think it is?} [I¡¯m not sure. I can¡¯t see outside at all, but I can tell from how bright it is that it¡¯s not night, so it¡¯s probably not wolves. But Stadiea usually stay down in the grassy areas, so I don¡¯t think it¡¯s them either.] I focus on the vibrations. {I wanna look at this thing. Crawl us over to the cave¡¯s entrance!} [Fine, but only cause I wanna see it too.] Slowly, Gloria inches over to the opening of the cave. She stops as soon as the creature that was making the vibrations comes into sight. It towers over the trees around it, being almost twice as tall as the tallest tree nearby. Thick white fur covers its entire body, except for its giant claws and its face, which is completely bare, leaving the bone exposed. And now, its piercing amber eyes are staring right in our direction. [I¡¯m running.] Gloria struggles to get to her feet, despite the wounds on our back opening up and causing a burning pain. {Wait! Let me use insight on it!} [No way, I¡¯m running!] {Please!} [Fine, but it¡¯s your fault if we die!] Returning its gaze, I activate insight. Level unknown?! [Alright, that¡¯s enough, I¡¯m running.] Gloria takes off into a sprint, running as fast as she can despite the immense pain from our injuries. As we run along the rocky wall of the cavern, Rorthal continues to stare at us, unmoving. {Into the woods!} [Why?} {Just trust me!} [Fine!] Gloria continues to run far into the woods, until the glowing stones above us begin to dim. [Do you think we lost it.] {Probably. It wasn¡¯t chasing us in the first place.} [That¡¯s good. Man, what was that thing?] {According to insight, its name is Rorthal} [Hold on, its name?] {Yeah. It also had the words ¡®engineered guardian¡¯ next to its name, like some kind of title.} [What was its level?] {I don¡¯t know. It seems like insight can¡¯t tell the level of things above a certain level.} [Jeez. That¡¯s¡­ that¡¯s crazy. How could something like that exist?] Pain tolerance going up a level brings our attention back to our back, which is still spewing blood like a fountain. {Do you think we''ll be okay?} [I don''t know. We''ll probably live as long as we make sure our injuries don''t get worse. Probably] {That''s... good? I think?} [I guess.] {Hey, do you see that light over there?} [Oh, yeah. Wonder what that is.] {Let¡¯s go check it out.} [Ugh, fine.] Crawling carefully so as to not allow our wounds to worsen, we slowly make our way over to the light. Is this another one of those stones that sent the information about the Stadiea into our heads? I wonder what kind of information we¡¯ll get this time. As we get closer, I notice that this light seems to be dimming slowly, and is more of a yellow than a cool blue like the information stone was. [Hey, isn¡¯t that one of the glowing stones from the ceiling?] She¡¯s right, on the ground before us is one of the stones that glows during the day. It must have fallen during the earthquake. {Quick, go over there, I wanna check it out!} [Easy, easy, I¡¯m going as fast as I can.] I might be able to learn how to use magic from this stone! Ah, I¡¯m so excited! With magic, we¡¯ll be able to do so much! Throw giant rocks with ease, summon giant pillars of flame, teleport anywhere we want in an instant, with magic, we¡¯ll be able to do anything! As soon as we get close enough to touch the stone, I take the body and grab the stone. [Hey!] I rotate the stone around in my hands, examining every inch of it. ¡­There¡¯s nothing. The stone is completely featureless, apart from some shards of rock on one side that I assume used to be what kept it stuck to the ceiling of this place. No way, there has to be something, right? Some mechanism that makes it work? Anything at all? ¡­Nope. I return control of the body to Gloria, defeated. [What¡¯s this?] {What¡¯s what?} Gloria is pointing to a part of the stone near the back, where it used to connect to the ceiling. [This line here.] {What line? There¡¯s nothing there.} [Yes there is! Right here!] She runs a claw down the surface of the stone. {I don¡¯t see anything there.} [Look closer!] She shoves the stone up to our eye. {Agh! Move it away! It¡¯s still not completely dark!} [Look!] Wait, she¡¯s right? Where she was pointing, there¡¯s a faint line, as thin as a thread. {Ah! That¡¯s it! You did it, Gloria! You did it!} [Hahaha! I¡¯m so great! So, what can we do with this?] {I don¡¯t know.} [You don¡¯t know?] {I don¡¯t know.} [So why are you so excited to get it?] {Because it¡¯s the first step towards getting access to magic. The skill is just mana perception, so all we can do for now is perceive it. But being able to perceive it is the first step towards being able to control it.} {And that¡¯s probably the next step. If we level these two skills, we¡¯ll definitely be able to use magic.} [Seems like it¡¯s gonna take a long time though¡­] {Maybe.} [Anyway, we should find shelter for the night. We definitely can¡¯t go back to our cave with that Rorthal guy walking around.] {That¡¯s true.} [How about that hole we found? You said you want to go in there anyway.] {...I don¡¯t know about that.} [C¡¯mon, we need shelter! Plus, you said you¡¯d rather go in there than take over a week''s worth of my work!] {But what if there¡¯s a monster worse than Rorthal in there!} [Pff, no way. There can¡¯t be anything scarier than that guy.] {I¡­ Ugh, fine.} [Yay! I¡¯ll start crawling my way over to the hole now~] I have such a bad feeling about this¡­ Chapter 8: Deeper Underground {Gloria, I really don¡¯t think we should do this.} [I don¡¯t care what you think, you already agreed to this!] {But.. But¡­ Shouldn¡¯t we wait to heal a little more?} [We¡¯re fine! It¡¯s probably more dangerous to stay here because of the wolves.] {We don¡¯t know what could be in that hole! What if there¡¯s monsters worse than wolves in there?!} [Nahhh, no way.] Argh! Is there any way for me to convince her? I could forcefully take control of the body, which I can do much easier now thanks to leveling up soul manipulation, but that goes both ways. Gloria also gets the benefits of level seven soul manipulation, and so she¡¯d be able to just steal control right back from me. Plus, that¡¯d make her super angry. Is there really nothing I can do about this? But I can¡¯t just allow this¡­ {Gloria, please reconsider!} [I refuse!] I don¡¯t want to die! I don¡¯t want to die! {Gloriaaaa!} [Shut up, Fir! Were you five years old before we reincarnated? Because you¡¯re whining like a kid right now!] {I was an adult, I¡¯ll have you know!} [That¡¯s surprising!] {Besides, you¡¯re the one acting like a kid.} [Hmph, I¡¯m just gonna start ignoring you!] {Gloria! Gloriaaaa!} Ah, it''s over. My life as a monster in another world is over, so soon after it began. The crack in the ground is right in front of us, and Gloria keeps going towards it. I can''t do anything. Being completely helpless is the worst feeling in the world. Oh, she''s about to drop into the hole. And I cannot do anything to stop her. Yep, this is it. It''s all over now. We have everything we could ever want up here. Food, light, shelter. I don''t even know why Gloria wants to leave! Goodbye, cave home. Goodbye, moss farm. Goodbye, Stadiea. Hello dark abyss that Gloria has just thrown us into! Oof! My second time falling down a big, dark pit in my second life. This time was even worse than the first, because there was no soft bed of moss this time. We missed it by a few feet. Ugh, at least that stuff seems to be medicinal, so we can use it to heal our wounds. [That was fun!] I¡¯m not even gonna bother responding to that. {Hurry up and eat that moss please.} [Fine.] Hmph. A lot of the fear has subsided at this point, so now the strongest emotion I¡¯m feeling is annoyance. Seriously, we just got badly injured in an earthquake(?) and Gloria decided the best thing to do is jump down a big pit into an unknown area? This has gone beyond being merely reckless, I¡¯m starting to wonder if Gloria even has a functioning sense of self preservation. Ugh, I need something to think about. Let¡¯s try insight again, we¡¯ve leveled a few skills since I last checked it. H M E >
    Oh? That¡¯s interesting. The H and E, which were previously bright green and bright yellow respectively are now much dimmer. Is that how they work? I had already assumed the letters were probably something like health, mana, and energy, but I did wonder how we were meant to gain any information from colorful letters. Wait, doesn¡¯t this mean we¡¯re in pretty bad shape right now? The H is really dim, isn¡¯t that super bad? Hurry up and chow down on that moss Gloria, we need it! The E is also pretty dim, but I don¡¯t think that¡¯s as bad. Probably. Okay, while Gloria keeps eating the moss, I need to figure out what to do next. Climbing back up is impossible. The drop is way too steep and tall. We might be able to dig a tunnel back up, but not right here. The area we¡¯re in is entirely stone. We can¡¯t dig in stone. Yet. If we level our digging skill up enough, I¡¯m sure we¡¯d be able to dig through stone. The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement. But to level our digging skill, we¡¯d need to dig, and to dig, we need dirt. So therefore, we must explore. We will go bravely where no cavern pest has gone before! Actually, wait a minute. Where are all the other cavern pests? When I found myself in this body, it was just kind of standing idly in a random part of the cave. No other members of my species anywhere to be seen, and we haven¡¯t seen any since either. Hmm¡­ There¡¯s gotta be some kind of colony somewhere. Maybe we¡¯ll find them eventually. Though, honestly, I wouldn¡¯t be upset if we didn¡¯t. [All done!~] Looks like Gloria finished eating. I¡¯d prefer to get our health up a little bit more, but we can¡¯t stay here forever. {Alright, let¡¯s go.} Rocks, rocks, complete and utter darkness, more rocks. There¡¯s not much to look at down here. Just dark gray rocks as far as the eye can see. Which isn¡¯t very far at all, considering the darkness. Our species¡¯ naturally poor eyesight certainly doesn¡¯t help either. We really need to get some kind of eyesight enhancing skill. I¡¯ve been telling Gloria to make sure she¡¯s straining her eyes as much as possible to try to get one, but I don¡¯t know if she¡¯s really listening to me anymore. It seems like she¡¯s still mad. Hopefully she¡¯ll get over it soon. Anyway, this cave sure is boring. It¡¯s basically the same as the cave we came from before falling into the underground forest. Glowing moss, rocks, the occasional dirt patch. And no light whatsoever. I know I keep repeating myself, but it really is dark! {Hey, Gloria, can I take over for a little while?} [Sure, I guess. Don¡¯t know why you¡¯d want to though.] Now, time to grind for some night vision. How should I do this? Hrmm¡­ What if I focus on the pitch black areas really really hard, to try to get my eyes adjusted to the darkness? Let¡¯s try! ¡­ No matter how long I stare, the darkness stays dark. I guess it¡¯s kinda hard for your eyes to get adjusted to a low light level if that light level happens to be zero. C¡¯mon eyes, work! You got this! Grahh! This is so frustrating! Why didn¡¯t we start off with night vision skill? Shouldn¡¯t every monster that exclusively lives in caves have a night vision skill? This is just too cruel! Well, let¡¯s look on the bright side. We haven¡¯t seen any monsters down here yet, so at the very least our lives aren¡¯t at risk. Yet. I don¡¯t doubt there are monsters somewhere down here. I just have to pray we don¡¯t run into any. Anyway, I¡¯m getting kind of tired. I wonder if that¡¯s reflected in the E letter in our status? Insight, activate! Oooh, so it is. So E seems to function as both our stamina and a tiredness meter. Interesting, interesting. That¡¯s a little annoying, since it¡¯ll be hard to tell if we just need to sit down for a minute or if we actually need to sleep at a glance. Better than nothing, I guess. With that small experiment out of the way, it¡¯s bedtime! But I probably shouldn¡¯t just lay down and sleep in the middle of the cave. I¡¯ve been seeing patches of dirt throughout the cave as I¡¯ve been walking, I¡¯ll find one of them, dig a small hole, and sleep in there. Being able to dig well sure is handy in this kind of place! Yaaawn. Good morning! {Good morning, Gloria!} [Mornin¡¯ Fir.] We have another long day of walking ahead of us, better get started right away! Grumble. Ah, but first, we need some breakfast. [Do you wanna take over again today?] {Sure.} [Alright. I¡¯ll try to figure out how to practice soul manipulation while you do whatever.] {Thanks!} [Mhm.] Now, what''s for breakfast? Moss, of course! There''s nothing else down here¡­ Ugh, I want to get out of this stupid cave and eat some good food. But alas, moss is all I¡¯ll find in my stomach for the foreseeable future. At least it''s not poisonous. Ahhh, I''m full. Now, time to get the day started. What''s on the schedule for today? Walking, walking, and of course, more walking. All while straining my eyes to try to get a night vision skill. Wahh, this is gonna take forever! Or not! Well, it still took like half a day, but that''s not nearly as long as I expected! Woohoo, good job me! With this, we¡¯ll be able to see everything down here! Is what I would like to say, but there''s no noticeable difference. Well, maybe everything looks a little less blurry, but besides that there''s absolutely no change. Damn it! I guess that''s two more skills we need to grind. This sucks! I give up for today, I''m just gonna eat then go to bed. This patch of moss looks good. Time to dig in! Ooh, we leveled up! I still don''t really understand why we can level up from just eating, but I won''t complain about it. If level five is still the evolution threshold, we¡¯re just one level away now. They weren''t great last time, so I''m not going to get my hopes up. Actually, for all I know the option we didn''t choose could have been super amazing. Well, whatever, hindsight¡¯s twenty twenty. Next time, Gloria won''t just choose one of the options without discussing it with me at all, so it''s sure to turn out better. Although, I''ve been worrying about if it''s really possible for us to reach a human-like form. In everything I''ve read where the main character managed to achieve their goal of becoming human again, they started as something that actually made sense to turn into a humanoid. We started off as a mole thing. I can''t think of any path for us to turn into a human that makes sense. Obviously, what I think doesn''t matter. Just because I can''t think of a way, doesn''t mean there isn''t one. And besides, no matter what I do now, nothing will change. All I can really do is hope there''s a way. It''s kind of depressing how often I''ve thought that since waking up in this world. A noise. I''ve been walking in silence for a while now, but I started hearing a weird clicking sound a little while back. I thought I was going crazy, but it''s getting louder now. {Gloria.} [Hm?] {Do you hear that?} [Yeah. Any idea what it is?] {No. What do you think I should do?} [Keep going. Let''s find out what it is.] {Maybe we should set up a hole somewhere close so we have somewhere to run to if whatever¡¯s making that noise is dangerous first.} [Sounds good to me. I''ll dig the hole.] {Got it.} I give up control, and Gloria immediately sets off to find some dirt and start digging. [That should be good enough. Let''s go find the bastard making that noise!] {Remember, run away immediately if it seems at all dangerous.} [Pff, you''re such a scaredy cat. I got this!] {If you say so¡­} We creep down the cave slowly, the clicking noise growing louder as we approach. Our eyesight has gotten better, for sure, but the cave is still nearly completely dark, so we won''t know what the source of the noise is until we''re right next to it. I wonder if insight works in the dark? If it does, I should be able to figure out what it is before we can actually see it. Yeah, let''s try that! Insight, activate! Nothing yet¡­ nothing yet¡­ Huh? ¡®corpse¡¯? The clicking noise speeds up, and something lunges at us from the darkness. {Gloria, dodge!} Out of the darkness, a pale white humanoid body rushes towards us, barely missing as Gloria steps to the side. [A moving skeleton?!] Standing in front of us is the tattered skeleton of what might have once been a human. Chapter 9: Discoverer of the Dead [How is a skeleton moving?!] {I don''t know, just run!} The skeleton runs at us again, clumsily tripping on loose rocks as it charges at us. {Luckily, it doesn''t seem like it''s as fast as the wolves.} [Hey, isn''t there something weird about it?] {What do you mean?} [I only caught a glimpse, but I¡¯m pretty sure I saw something attached to its spine.] {Hmm¡­ we can think about that later, let''s get back to our hole for now.} [Right.] The skeleton continues chasing us, but it quickly falls behind us as we run as fast as we can. [Hah, that thing¡¯s pathetic. Maybe we should just turn back and deal with it right now.] {I¡­ don''t disagree, actually. I''m interested in what you said about something being attached to its spine.} [Hell yeah! Let''s beat that thing up!] {Still, be cautious.} [Yeah yeah yeah, I get it. I won''t die, I promise.] Is this what they call a death flag? Whatever¡­ I''m more intrigued by the thing she told me about than I am concerned with our safety. This is another world, so the thought of an undead monster isn''t that strange, but¡­ Insight definitely called it a corpse, right? If it was actually a skeleton monster, wouldn''t insight call it that? Maybe that''s related to the thing Gloria saw? There''s only one way to answer all of these questions¡­ Get close to the skeleton again! {Gloria, try to get a good look at its spine this time.} [Gotcha.] Gloria stops in her tracks, then swiftly turns around and runs back towards where we came from. [There it is!] The skeleton comes into view, lumbering slowly towards us. Attack! Until recently, I wanted to stay away from combat at all costs. But now that I''ve seen our skills thanks to insight, I''m more confident. ¡®Slash¡¯ and ¡®cut¡¯. Those are definitely combat skills. And we started off with them, along with digging! It seems we weren''t as defenseless as I thought. Gloria leaps forward, landing on the skeletons chest, knocking it backwards. It stumbles back, but stops itself from falling. But before it can fully steady itself, Gloria jumps at it again, this time knocking it to the ground. [Gwahaha! Take that!] {Before it gets up, look for the thing you saw on its spine!} We move closer to the skeleton, and immediately I notice something attached to it. Go, insight! Hmmmm? The thing attached to its back has a level? Actually, on closer inspection, whatever is attached to it snakes around the skeleton¡¯s whole body. Is it some kind of parasite? But it doesn''t really look organic¡­ It looks like it''s made of some kind of bronze-y metal, and usually metal isn''t alive, as far as I know. {Gloria, target the thing attached to its spine.} [Why?] {According to insight, the skeleton itself is just a corpse, but the thing attached to it has a level.} [Gotcha.] The skeleton struggles, trying to stand itself up. Before it can, Gloria dashes in and shoves it, rolling it onto its stomach, putting the object on its back in full view. {Now! Kill it!} Gloria swiftly brings our claws down on the object, shattering it. Yep, seems like it''s not an organic living thing. Usually those don''t break into tiny solid pieces. Damn! That thing must be quite exp-dense! Only level two, but it single handedly brought us up a level! And there it is! Evolution! Thank you, Mr skeleton. You were a valuable source of exp. Well then, let''s evolve right away!
  • Plated cavern pest
  • Cavern beast>
    • {What do you think, Gloria?} [I dunno. Cavern beast sounds cool, but it sounds like it''d be big, so it''d be harder to dig holes to hide in. Plus, I''m assuming a plated cavern pest has like a shell or something, which would have been nice during that earthquake.] {Ooooh! That makes sense, good observation!} [Hehe, I''m a genius, aren''t I?] I don''t know about that¡­ {So, plated cavern pest?} [Sounds good to me.] Beginning evolution> Ah, we probably should have hid in a hole first. Whatever, it''s probably fine¡­ Yaaawn! Good morning~! Let''s cut straight to the chase and find out what we look like! {Gloria, find some water!} While she does that, let''s check out insight. H: 20/20 M: 10/10 E: 43/50>
    Woah! We can see how much health, mana, and energy we have now! But why? Ooh, it seems some of our skills leveled up when we evolved, including insight. Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author. We also have a new one, scale armor, which we probably got from becoming a plated cavern pest. [Found some water.] {Nice, let¡¯s take a look at ourself!} Hmmm¡­ Like before, there isn¡¯t a huge difference between what we looked like before and what we look like now. Obviously, we have scales now rather than spines on our back, but apart from that we seem to be more or less the same. Same body shape, same size, same huge ears. I¡¯m sure having these scales will be super helpful though. Like Gloria said, if we had had scales during that earthquake we probably would have taken a lot less hits. Now, with all that out of the way, back to the skeleton we encountered. According to insight, it was simply a ¡®corpse¡¯. However, there was something attached to its spine that insight called a ¡®centurion¡¯. I think it¡¯s probably pretty safe to assume the centurion was in control of the skeleton, seeing as it stopped moving when we attacked the centurion. What I still don¡¯t understand is what exactly the centurion was. I¡¯m pretty sure I know what it isn¡¯t. namely, a living thing, as it shattered into pieces when we ¡®killed¡¯ it, and no blood came out. But I also don¡¯t know what it is. Is it some kind of magic tool? Maybe it is alive, just not an organic living thing. Like some sort of robot. I don¡¯t want to jump to conclusions, but¡­ Rorthal¡¯s title was ¡®engineered guardian¡¯, right? I can¡¯t help but think that if Rorthal was ¡°engineered¡±, it wouldn¡¯t be a stretch to imagine that whoever engineered it could have also created whatever the centurion is. Maybe they also made the weird stone that taught us about the Stadiea. Speaking of that stone¡­ [Fir, I wanna touch it.] We just came across another one. {I don¡¯t know, what if it knocks us out like last time? It was already reckless enough of us to start evolving without digging a hole and hiding in it. We shouldn¡¯t push our luck.} [Scaredy cat!] Ignoring me, Gloria walks up and touches the stone anyway. Sigh. Yeah, I kinda expected that. Just like last time, a blindingly bright light shoots out from the stone as we¡¯re launched backwards. This time, we¡¯re immediately slammed into the wall behind us. Luckily we have scales to help tank some of the damage, but it still hurts like hell. Ouch¡­ ouch¡­ I don¡¯t know whether it¡¯s a good thing or bad thing, but we didn¡¯t get knocked out this time. On one hand, we don¡¯t have to worry about something killing us in our sleep. On the other hand, now we have to be awake through the physical pain of being thrown into a wall and the mental pain of a ton of information being violently shoved into our head. Getting this information shoved into us seems to be leveling insight, so I guess it¡¯s not too bad. Still hurts, though. I¡¯m trying to parse the information from the stone, but it¡¯s pretty difficult. Easier than last time, but it¡¯s still gonna be hard. I might have to wait a little while for it to settle. It¡¯s times like this when I really wish we could use healing magic of some sort¡­ Speaking of, I wonder what our health¡¯s like, since we can see it now. Insight! H: 13/20 M: 10/10 E: 38/50> Huh? Huuuuuh? thirteen out of twenty? Isn¡¯t that really really bad? We lost seven whole HP from that impact! That¡¯s like, uh¡­ Thirty five percent of our total HP! Just how weak are we? We¡¯re going to have to be even more cautious than we¡¯ve been. If we can lose that much health from a single impact, which was weakened by our scales, we can¡¯t risk getting hit at all! Also, I think I want to start working towards getting magic even faster. Healing magic would be a life saver in situations like this. Right now, we¡¯re at level two in mana perception and level one in beginner¡¯s magic understanding. I think the more important of the two for actually using magic would be magic understanding. Even with maxed out mana perception, you can¡¯t really do anything if you don¡¯t have any understanding of magic. Then again, even with maxed out magic understanding you probably wouldn¡¯t be able to do anything without at least some mana perception. So, we need to level those skills basically. Mana perception will probably be relatively easy to level. I assume to level it, we just need to pay attention to the mana surrounding us. Easier said than done, though. With such a low level in the skill, It¡¯s hard to perceive any mana at all. So, if mana perception is gonna be such a pain to level up, why did I say it was going to be relatively easy? Because magic understanding will be even more of a pain. Think about it, it¡¯s called magic understanding. It¡¯s definitely not the type of skill you can level up just by using. Or at least, it¡¯ll be extremely slow to level up that way. If we were human, we¡¯d probably have to go to school or be mentored by an experienced mage to level it. But we¡¯re a monster! Monsters don¡¯t have schools or teachers, so we¡¯ll have to be our own teacher. But that¡¯s like, seriously impossible isn¡¯t it? How can you teach yourself something you don¡¯t know? It¡¯s like a caveman trying to teach himself about quantum mechanics! So, what are we supposed to do? Well, I had an idea earlier when I was thinking about who made Rorthal and the centurion. With so many man-made things in this cave, it has to be the home of some ancient civilization! Maybe, we can find some of their stuff and learn from it! I¡¯m really not sure if that¡¯s a good idea or not, but I don¡¯t have any better ideas. Like, seriously, what am I supposed to do? If this was the world of some novels I¡¯ve read before, I¡¯d just open up the skill shop and buy some magic skills using skill points, but those don¡¯t exist in this world as far as I know. Maybe I should just beg whoever reincarnated us to create a skill shop. Oh, god, please give us a skill shop! It¡¯d make my life so much easier! Yeah, no way. Even if that would work, I don¡¯t think I want to poke the bees next that is gods and stuff. A certain evil god named D comes to mind. Yikes. So yeah, I think I¡¯d rather try to find any way possible before resorting to praying. I don¡¯t know if gods exist in this world, and if they do, I don¡¯t know if they¡¯re trustworthy. I think I should just stop thinking about this entirely. No point worrying, for now at least. Let¡¯s see what information that stone held¡­ Hmm, hmm, I see. Hey, this is pretty useful! Turns out, that stone held info about those wolves we killed. Apparently, they¡¯re called ¡®Sorwolves¡¯. [Hah! It calls them stupid.] {It says ¡®low intelligence¡¯.} [Close enough.] I was right about their fear ability! Hehe, I¡¯m a genius! But just like the Stadiea¡¯s stone, there¡¯s some weird stuff in here. Overhunting, endangered, sanctuary¡­ Yeah, I don¡¯t get it. Ooh? Another title! I really wish we could check what our titles do¡­ Wait, maybe we can? Insight leveled up twice earlier, maybe that¡¯s enough to let us see our titles? Let¡¯s try!
    increases XP gains for mind-related skills Increases mental clarity Allows for increased understanding and cooperation between different minds decreases kill-related requirements for skills and titles increases XP gains from consumption of anything not directly killed by user indirect kills caused by the user are counted as direct kills applies camouflage effect proportionate to user¡¯s camouflage skill to traps Increases XP gains for knowledge related skills Locked Locked
    Woah! It worked! First things first, there are some titles I don¡¯t remember getting. We must have started with them. ¡®Tandem¡¯ and ¡®Herbivore¡¯... Herbivore makes sense, I guess, and it has some pretty good effects. Tandem though¡­ Could this be¡­ one of those? Our unique ability! I thought it was weird when we didn¡¯t have one earlier, it¡¯s a staple of the reincarnation genre after all. Although¡­ Isn¡¯t it kinda lackluster? None of the three effects really stick out to me as amazing. Well, whatever. Back to herbivore, its effects are pretty nice. That second part is probably why we level up so easily just from eating moss. And that first part definitely helped us get the trapper skill. Speaking of the trapper skill, it¡¯s so useful! Well, it would be, if we were still up in that forest. Down here, there¡¯s not really enough dirt to create traps. Whatever, maybe it¡¯ll be useful again someday. Moving on to the final and most recent title, discoverer of the dead. It has three effects, but two just say ¡®Locked¡¯, so it seems we can only use the first one for now. I¡¯m not complaining though, because this effect seems awesome! More XP for knowledge related skills is exactly what we need! Insight is definitely a knowledge related skill, so we¡¯ll level that even faster, but more importantly¡­ Magic understanding! Magic understanding is obviously a knowledge related skill, so now our huge problem of needing a good way to level it up is a bit less of a huge problem. That doesn¡¯t mean it¡¯ll suddenly be easy, though¡­ Now, it¡¯ll be like a medieval peasant trying to teach themself quantum physics. Still a monumental, probably impossible task, but just a little less so. I¡¯m definitely gonna have to start focusing on learning magic if I ever want to use it¡­ [I¡¯m hungry! Let¡¯s go find food!] {Agreed.} I guess I should probably get started right away. Sigh. Who could have known learning magic would be so hard? I wonder how the Stadiea did it, they must be super-geniuses. Chapter 10: We Meet Again Ah, finally! We¡¯ve been walking through the cave for a while now. It¡¯s probably been about a week since we evolved into a plated cavern pest. Since then, I¡¯ve been working nonstop on leveling our magic related skills. But, as you can see, it¡¯s been slow. Super duper slow. That level in mana perception just now is the first one I¡¯ve gotten so far, and like I said, it¡¯s been about a week. At this rate, I don¡¯t think we¡¯ll ever be able to use magic. I think our best bet at this point is to turn around and try communicating with the Stadiea again. However¡­ It¡¯ll kinda be hard to get back, because we¡¯ve gone through multiple forks in the path. Sigh, nothing ever seems to go right for me. So, what do we do if we can¡¯t go back? Just keep going forward, I guess. I don¡¯t really know what else we¡¯re supposed to do. And so, just keep going forward we did. Until now. Because now the path is blocked? By wolves. Yikes. Should we run? Probably, yeah. {Are you gonna run?} [Can''t.] {Ah.} The wolves applied their fear effect I guess. Sigh. Guess I¡¯m gonna have to take over. I take off running, the wolves right behind me. I think there was a patch of dirt pretty close by. I just have to make it there. [Dodge!] Hm? One of the wolves comes flying at me, barely missing as I sidestep. It¡¯s been so long, I nearly forgot about their tendency to pounce. Ooh, it seems fear tolerance reached its max level. Ah, wait, I shouldn¡¯t be getting distracted. There are still ravenous wolves right behind me. Although, I don¡¯t know how I¡¯m gonna beat them. I¡¯m not as good as Gloria is at digging, so there¡¯s no way I¡¯d be able to dig a tunnel fast enough to escape once I find dirt. The wolves would easily catch up with me. But I can¡¯t exactly just turn around and fight them, either. I might be able to beat one wolf, but definitely not a group of them. So, how am I going to survive this? Hmmmmm¡­ What advantages do I have over the wolves? Not many. They¡¯re stronger than me in every way. We¡¯re about the same speed, too. If anything¡­ Our defense is probably a bit better thanks to our plated shell. But that doesn¡¯t mean we can easily take hits. Our health is still miserably low. Hmm¡­ The last time we dug a tunnel was a while ago, so there¡¯s no premade tunnels we can dive into anywhere close. Could I stall for time until Gloria isn¡¯t under the effects of fear anymore? I could, but it wouldn¡¯t be very helpful. She¡¯s better than me at fighting, but that doesn¡¯t mean she¡¯d be able to beat this horde of wolves. She could probably only take three at most, and even then she might not make it out alive. Ah, this sucks. We¡¯ve barely been alive in this world for any time at all. Is this really gonna be how we die? After all we¡¯ve survived¡­ The first encounter with wolves, the earthquake, the encounter with that skel¡­ Wait a minute. The earthquake. We chose this evolution specifically because it would have been helpful during the earthquake. Meaning, we¡¯re now suited towards that kind of thing. Why don¡¯t we cause our own little mini-earthquake? In this small tunnel, it¡¯d be incredibly hard to dodge. But that goes for us and the wolves. The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation. And the wolves don¡¯t have armor like we do. So, how do we cause a cave-in? Well, our digging level is pretty high. Surely we¡¯d be able to do something to stone at this level. There¡¯s really nothing we can do but try. And I think we¡¯re gonna have to try soon, because I¡¯m starting to get awfully tired. Yeah, that¡¯s not good. I can¡¯t keep this up for much longer. So, it¡¯s now or never! I jump towards the closest wall, and strike it with all the strength I can muster. The wall cracks, and shards of rock go flying off of it, but it doesn¡¯t cause a cave-in. Shit! The wolves don¡¯t slow down at all, seemingly unphased by what I just did. I guess being dumb as rocks has its upsides when you¡¯re a ruthless predator. What should I do now? Should I try again? I don¡¯t know why I thought it¡¯d be so easy to create a cave-in, but it¡¯s not! I scour the walls around me, looking for a spot that seems particularly load bearing. Come on, come on! There¡¯s got to be something! Anything! We reach a fork in the road, and I run in the direction unfamiliar to me. Shit, was that a mistake? If we had gone back the way we came from, I might have been able to make it to our last tunnel. No, that¡¯s not true. We don¡¯t have nearly enough energy left for that. As soon as I start to despair, I see a stone pillar in front of me. It almost seems to glow as I approach it, so I ready my claws to strike it. This is it. This is my last chance. If this doesn¡¯t work, it¡¯s over for us. I close my eyes as my claws collide with the stone. A loud crack noise shoots through the cave as the pillar falls apart. But nothing happens. Until¡­ The ceiling above us begins to groan. Dust falls from above us. Then small rocks, then bigger ones. My legs collapse under me as I finally run out of energy. Is this it for us? But the size of the rocks falling continues to grow, as well as the frequency at which they fall. In an instant, it¡¯s like a rain of rocks, falling down and cutting us apart. At least, I imagine it would have been cutting us apart had we not had our plated shell. The wolves, on the other hand, aren¡¯t fairing as well. One of them has already been pinned under a rock, and they¡¯re all covered in cuts. Another one of them seems to still be dead set on killing us, but as it approaches its head is crushed by a rock. A few giant rocks nearly crush us as well, but I use our remaining bits of energy to crawl away. Ah, but I think that was the last of it. My eyes are forcing themselves closed now. Will we survive this? I¡¯m really not sure. If the wolves can¡¯t manage to survive when they¡¯re wide awake and full of energy, I don¡¯t know how we will when we¡¯re knocked out on the ground. But¡­ At least we¡¯ll die in our sleep, I guess. Yawwwwn~! Good morning! It looks like we didn''t die while we slept! We got pretty damn close though!~ Also, our max energy went up a lot! Does how much you use a certain stat determine how much it will go up when you level up? Wow~ That''s pretty crazy. I''m not interested in min-maxing that though. I¡¯d rather not die while trying to make myself stronger! Oh yeah, almost forgot. {You okay, Gloria?} [Yeah, I''m fine. Mostly.] {That''s good. Can you walk yet?} [I think I can.] {Good, then you can take over again. I''m not interested in doing anything like that again anytime soon!} Also, it seems the cave-in managed to kill all of the wolves! Good job, cave-in! You did so good! But wait a minute, why did we level up from that? Sure, I started the cave in, but the rocks were what killed the wolves. Oh, wait! The effect of the trapper title made it so stuff we killed with traps counted as a kill for us, right? So handy! It''s a little weird that a cave-in I caused counts as a trap, but I won''t complain! Although, there is one thing I want to complain about. We lost the herbivore title! I guess it makes sense with how many wolves we killed, but still! It was a very useful title! It made it so we got a load of XP whenever we ate moss, which, while not really enough to consistently level us up alone, gave us a nice little boost when combined with the XP from killing things. But not anymore! Damnit! Well, I guess it''ll probably be worth it in the long run. Even if we knew we¡¯d lose the herbivore title from killing too many things, I doubt we would have decided to hold off on killing just so we could keep the title. I''m sure we''ve gotten far more XP from the things we killed to lose the title than we would''ve gotten from eating moss in twice the amount of time. Plus, it''s not like we don''t get anything from eating moss now. The title just boosted the XP gains. So, I guess it''s not really that bad. I''m still upset though. [Hey, Fir, look.] Hm? Hmmm? Hmmmmmmm? In the part of the ceiling where the pillar I broke used to be attached, there''s a hole with a faint light coming out. What¡­ is that? {Should we go in?} [It seems we don''t have a choice.] Ah. Behind us, where we came from, the path is blocked by a massive mound of rocks. In front of us¡­ well¡­ A familiar giant face fills the entire hall. Ah, hello Rorthal. How are you doing? Good? That''s good. Anyway, I think I should get going now, haha¡­ ha¡­ {Run!} We dart away from Rorthal, who emits a loud groan as we jump into the hole in the ceiling. Ah, I never want to see that thing again. It''s just¡­ just looking at it makes me feel uneasy. And I could say the same about the sight before my eyes right now. The ground beneath us is a floor of tiled stone. Above us, more of the same. The walls around us have been carved out and smoothed, with half circle pillars lining the walls. And surrounding us is a ton of information stones. [Let''s touch them all!] {No! Are you dumb? You saw our health, we¡¯ll definitely die if we get thrown into a wall by one of those!} [Tch, fine.] {We can touch one once we recover a little. Until then, let''s explore a little. I''m curious about this place.} [Hm. I guess that''s alright.] We walk through the doorway, which leads to a narrow hall with the same type of construction as the room we were just in. As we walk in, the hall lights up dimly. Chapter 11: Research and Departure This place seems to have the same type of lights as the underground forest. Though, these lights are more white than the ones in the forest which were probably meant to mimic the sun. The ones in this hall are also noticeably dimmer. I wonder how old this place is? It seems pretty well preserved. Which makes sense, I guess, it being isolated in a cave and all. There are so many doorways, I wonder where we should go first? [Let''s just hug the left wall and go into each room in order.] {Good idea! Let''s do it!} Let''s see what''s in room one! It''s¡­! Not much of anything, really. Well, they can''t all be winners. Maybe the next room? Nope, nothing here either. Man, this is really weird. Room three? Noooope. Man, this is really weird. Not only do all of these rooms have nothing in them, the floors also look¡­ burnt, almost? There were also some ash piles in the last room. What happened here? The room we started in is the only one with anything inside. This is reeeeally weird. Well, time for the last room. This one is on the end of the hallway, so there has to be something in it, right? Drum roll please! Aaaaand¡­ Oh? This room is also pretty empty, but it does have something. On the floor, there are some weird symbols drawn. I wonder if these are what I think they are¡­ {Gloria, walk on those symbols!} [Why?] {If they are what I think they are, they''re magic tools that will let us teleport somewhere!} [Where?] {I dunno.} [Hm, fine.] We walk over to one of the symbols, step on it slowly, and¡­ Nothing. Nothing happens. What about the other one? Nothing. Daaaaamn iiiiiiiit. That''s so disappointing! I really expected more from an ancient building buried deep underground. Maybe some kind of old secrets, unknown to the modern world. Or maybe some kind of ancient security system that we¡¯d have to escape from. Nope, just some ashes and burn marks. Well, I guess these weird symbols are something. We might be able to study them to increase our magic understanding skill. Other than that, all there is is those information stones. I don''t think we should use those yet, though, because we¡¯re still pretty injured. We¡¯ll just have to wait around here until we recover. If we get hungry we could just¡­ ugh, eat the wolves? I don''t want to, but I think that''ll be our only option for a while. Hopefully they don''t rot too quickly. [So, what''s the plan?] {For now, I think it''s best we stay here. I''ll study the symbols we found until we recover enough to use one of the information stones, and we''ll eat the wolves if we get hungry.} [Gotcha.] So, let''s begin right away. The symbols are very detailed. The basic shape is just a circle, but there are patterns drawn all around and inside of it. I don''t think I''ll learn anything by just looking at it though. So, mana perception, go! Hmm¡­ A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation. It''s faint, but there''s still some mana lingering in it. It''s stagnant though, so as it is this provides no information to me. I''ll need to try to get the mana flowing. But¡­ I still don''t know how to manipulate mana. Maybe it''s like¡­ this? No¡­ this? Not that either¡­ Maybe if I apply what I know from soul manipulation¡­ Oh, that''s working! Nice! With that, I can officially start working on studying these circles. Let''s see¡­ if I prompt the mana to start flowing, it seems to flow away from this point right here, so I assume this spot is the mana supply. Aaaaand¡­ yep, it is. I just tried pulling a little mana from it out into the rest of the circle, and it just came flooding out! So, that''s the supply, next up is¡­ the rest of the circle. Hm. This may be more effort than I expected. Well, I don''t really have anything else to do. It''s been hours now, and all I have to show for my work is a level in mana manipulation. I just can''t understand anything no matter how long I stare at the circle! Bringing back my caveman comparison from earlier, it''s like a caveman trying to read, understand, and reverse engineer a complicated math paper. It''s simply impossible! I think I''d need a higher level of magic understanding to even start to understand the inner workings of this circle, but I can''t increase my magic understanding without studying magic! I think I should just give up on studying the circles, and hope my magic understanding level goes up when I max out mana perception and manipulation. Well, on a positive note, we¡¯ve recovered enough to use one of the information stones. Gloria¡¯s choosing which one to use right now. She¡¯s really interested in them, and it''s not like we can actually tell which one would be best to use, so might as well let her have some fun, right? Sometimes it feels like I''m babysitting Gloria, honestly¡­ I might be, I don''t really know how old she was before. It''s hard to tell. Sometimes she acts incredibly immature, making me think she was a kid, but other times she acts even older than me¡­ Whatever, that doesn''t really matter anymore anyway. We''ve kinda reached an unspoken agreement to not question each other on our past¡¯s anyway, so I''ll probably never know. It may seem like knowing each other better would be good, but what if Gloria was some kind of mass murderer? It''s not like I can just say ¡®yeah, sorry, but I don''t work with evil people!¡¯ and leave. We¡¯re stuck together, so it''s better to just be blissfully unaware about each other. Anyway, seems like Gloria¡¯s done choosing, so let''s get to touching that stone right away! Three, two on- We touch the stone, and immediately fly backwards into the wall. Oof! Ow, ow, ouch. Yeah, glad we waited to recover health before doing that. Ouch! Any useful information? Hmm¡­ uhhhh¡­ Nope, doesn''t seem like it. If we wanted to understand anything in this stone, we¡¯d probably have to use most of the other stones in this room too. So that''s definitely not happening any time soon. Oh? Well, that made it all worth it! I don''t quite understand why that gave us a level in magic understanding, but I''ll definitely take it! Maybe the information in these stones is somewhat magic related? Whatever, I got a level in a skill that''s tough to level, so I''m happy! Ah, wait, I should probably check how much damage we took from that impact, shouldn''t I? Insight! Not horrible. Still, definitely not gonna do it again until we¡¯re back to full, just to be safe. So, now what? We have two options. Either A: Stay here, studying the magic circles until our health is full and then using an information stone, with wolf meat as our food source. Or B: Leave for now, focusing on leveling up and evolving, with whatever we can scavenge as our food source (probably moss). [I''m voting for B!] {Any reason for that?} [Option A sounds suuuuuper boring!] Well, I don''t disagree. {Fine by me. As long as we make sure to actually remember our path this time, we¡¯ll be able to come back whenever we want to use the information stones and study the magic circles.} [B it is then!] {Yep. I guess we¡¯ll head out right away then.} [Let''s eat on our way out, it''d be bad if we left on an empty stomach and find ourselves without food later on.] Urk. I was leaning towards option B for multiple reasons. But one of the biggest is the food. I don''t want to eat wolf meat anymore. I don''t know why, but it just¡­ doesn''t sit right with me. It''s definitely not a physical thing, because Gloria seems to love it. I, on the other hand, despise it, and prefer moss. Neither are good though, obviously. I¡¯d eat even my least favorite food from my last life over anything I''ve eaten so far in this life. But now, Gloria is suggesting we eat that wolf meat I despise so much before we leave, so we don¡¯t leave on an empty stomach. Honestly, it''s not a bad idea. It''s actually a really really good idea. But¡­ It''s wolf meat! Moss isn''t that rare. We definitely wouldn''t starve to death before finding some. Probably. Maybe. Argh, I just can''t bring myself to protest! No matter how gross I find it, I know Gloria is right! But¡­ but¡­ wahhh! Chomp! While I was wallowing in my aversion to wolf meat and the inevitability of eating it, Gloria had walked up to one of the nearby wolf carcasses and taken a huge bite. It''s¡­ not horrible? Oh, no! Am I becoming like her? No, no! I don''t want to get used to this! I want to be disgusted by objectively gross food like this! Ah, it''s finally happening, this world has begun to take it''s toll on my mind. First, I became a monster in body. And now, despite my resistance, I''m becoming one in mind as well. Ah, what a tragedy¡­ [Fir?] {H-huh, what!?} [I''ve been trying to ask you if you''re ready to go for like two minutes now.] {O-oh! Uh, yeah, I am!} [Alright, good. Time to head out then.] Goodbye, ancient, empty ruins. It was fun for the short time it lasted. Maybe next time we meet I''ll have a better excuse to stick around longer¡­ Chapter 12: The Giant Enemy Spider! Thiiis caaave suuucks! Nothing but walking, walking, and walking, with some spooky noises occasionally to scare the shit out of me! We''ve managed to increase the levels of quite a few of our skills, but I''m also exhausted! And we haven''t even managed to level up yet! Losing the herbivore title really did mess us up badly. Right now, moss is our main- no, only source of XP, because wolves are so rare down here. Although, I have a feeling things won''t be so quiet for much longer. Why? Oh, I don''t know, just those huge spider webs we keep walking past. It seems we''ve gotten pretty far from the forest area, and have made it to an area more in line with what you''d think of when you think about a cave in a fantasy world. Should we turn back? I don''t know¡­ Judging by the size of the spider webs¡­ the spiders probably aren''t a normal size. I really wish insight allowed us to see more than just something''s name and level. You¡¯d think the level would be a good indicator for how strong something is, but it''s not, really. When something evolves, its level resets back to one, but it''s stats stay the same, as proven by us every time we¡¯ve evolved. So you can''t really tell if something is strong or not just by its level. Something with a high level could be really weak if it hasn''t evolved at all yet, and something with a low level could be a really strong monster that just evolved. Although, I don''t think I need to see a giant spider¡¯s stats to know I don''t want to mess with one¡­ seriously, who would? I wasn''t a fan of regular sized spiders back in my old life. Giant ones are not something I want to see. But Gloria called me a wimp when I begged her to turn around and leave once we saw the spider webs¡­ But I''m not a wimp! She''s the weird one for not being scared! Spiders probably aren''t any faster than wolves¡­ I hope. They shouldn''t be, right? Wolves hunt their prey by chasing them, so they have to be fast, but spiders just make webs. So they won''t be fast. I hope. Luckily, there''s a lot more dirt in this part of the cave from what I can see, so we¡¯ll be able to dig little holes as panic shelters every so often. And since we¡¯re faster than them (hopefully), we¡¯ll be able to run back to the nearest hole if we ever encounter one, which I hope we don''t. But with how many webs I''m seeing, I doubt we''ll get that lucky. Yuck¡­ How do the humans in this world deal with spiders this big? I get that humans in this world are probably all Olympic athlete level strength at least, but still, arachnophobia is still a thing, right? I''m so glad I don''t have arachnophobia¡­ That said, I could hardly handle spiders the size of a coin, I think I might instantly pass out of I see a giant one¡­ Wait, maybe it''s not even spiders? I''ve just been assuming it''s spiders cause of the webs, but maybe something else makes webs in this world? Maybe some kind of monkey, like a spider monkey but with its name taken literally! Maybe? ¡­ Nope. That''s a spider. That''s a giant fucking spider. Ah, of course it''s a spider. It was silly of me to try to convince myself it wouldn''t be one. [It doesn''t know we see it. I''m gonna go for it!] {What?!} Gloria begins running at the spider, surprising it. {No, Gloria, no! I''ve put up with you up until now, but this is too far!} The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation. [Let me do my thing, I got this!~] {No! I¡¯m not letting you get us killed, even if I have to steal the body from you!} [Don¡¯t do that! If you do that, we¡¯ll definitely die!] {Well, what am I supposed to do?!} [Just sit back and watch!] Gloria leaps forward, gashing the spider¡¯s back as we land on it. It thrashes around, trying to attack us, but Gloria digs our claws into its back. [Hahaha! This is fun!] She continues clawing it over and over with one claw while digging into it and holding on with the other. Ugh, I can''t watch¡­ I didn''t know spider blood looked like this¡­ [Take this!] Letting go of the now gaping wound in the spider¡¯s back, Gloria slides forward towards its head, shoving our claws into the intersection of its midsection and head. {Never do that again.} [Whyyyyy?] {Because it was scary!} [But we won!] {But it was scary!} [You''re such a wimp.] {Please, just don''t do that again.} [Whatever. I''ll try, I guess.] Good enough for now. It''s been a little while since Gloria attacked and killed that spider. The adrenaline has mostly died down now. We''ve just been hanging out here in a little hole, since there was a patch of dirt right next to the spider. Now, we''re starting to get hungry. And that''s much worse than usual. Why? Because there''s a spider corpse right outside. Gloria is going to eat the spider corpse. And I can''t stop her. I''ve tried thinking of anything that could work, but it''s no use. We''re both about equal when it comes to forcefully taking over the body, so if I try that it''ll just lead to the situation we had before. When we got the soul defense skill. So yeah, not interested in doing that again. There really is no way for me to stop her¡­ Maybe the spider tastes good. Ha ha. Ha. Ahhh, I really don''t want to eat spider meat¡­ Blehg. Yep. Spider meat¡¯s gross. But Gloria''s just absolutely digging into it. Was she even ever human? I don''t think I knew anyone who would do this! Well, I guess I didn''t know that many people, but still. None of the people I did know would happily kill and eat a giant spider! I mean, I guess it''s normal in other parts of the world? Can''t really ask Gloria if that''s the case though, thanks to our no prying rule. [Pwah! Delicious!] {You''re crazy.} [Anyway, let''s keep going.] {Deeper into the spider infested cave? Yeah, no, I don''t think so.} [Where else are we supposed to go?] {That small path we saw a while ago seems promising.} [You mean the super small one we could barely fit into?] {Yeah! That one.} [That seems dangerous.] {It''s less dangerous than a cave full of giant spiders!} [No way! Those spiders are barely a threat at all!] {Could you take two at once?} [Probably.] {Three?} [Maybe¡­] {And four?} [Do you really think we¡¯ll encounter four at once?] {You never know. I''m telling you, the other path is better.} [Are you sure? Once we go in, we won''t be able to turn around unless there''s a wider area at the end of it.] {I¡¯d rather get stuck in there than get killed by a spider!} [Really?] {I, uh¡­ Y-yes!} [You don''t sound very sure of yourself~] {I''m sure, I''m sure!} [Alright, if you say so.] So here we are. Before us, a small opening in the cave wall. A small stream of water trickles out of it, breaking the eerie silence of the cave. Oh man, I''m getting nervous now¡­ No! I have to be sure of myself! If I''m not, I''ll keep letting Gloria bully me and push me around! And I cannot let that happen! {Let''s go!} [Mhm.] Gloria squeezes her way into the tunnel, and begins slowly making her way forward. The tunnel is narrow and dark, so we can''t see anything at all. Due to this loss of sight, it almost feels like our other senses are working to an even greater degree than usual. The sound of the stream of water beneath us. The feeling of cold rock on our feet. And the disgusting, dank smell of the cave. We''ve been walking for a little while now. Not too long, probably no longer than six minutes. It seems this tunnel is sloping upwards slightly, which I guess explains the running water. I wonder if the water is what carved out this tunnel in the first place? Anyway, it seems like this''ll take a while, so I''ll work on soul manipulation. It''s been a while, so I might as well. This is odd. The type of rock has slowly been changing as we make our way further and further down the tunnel. We began in an area of entirely gray stone, but it seems to be getting more sandy-yellow. Maybe that''s what it is? I don''t know, I''m no geologist, so I''m not sure if this is normal or not. Hmm. Well, I guess I''ll get back to soul manipulation now. I think we¡¯re getting close to the end now. I hear a different sound than normal up ahead. Probably from the source of the water. The rocks around us are very sandy-yellow now, by the way. The gray tint that remained before is entirely gone now. [I see the exit!] Here we are! Now, I just have to hope what''s out here is better than the spiders. Or, at the very least, less bad. Chapter 13: A "Good" Meal Finally, the exit to the cramped tunnel we''ve been in for so long now! We squeeze our way out of the tunnel, and plant our feet firmly on the ground beneath us. Immediately, I notice that this ground is not made of rock. It''s sand. That explains the sandstone, I guess. Welp, time to explore. I¡¯d say following the water would be a good idea, but the stream we¡¯ve been following comes from a small pond in the chamber we¡¯re in, and it seems like the water in that pond comes from the walls or something. So we just have to choose one of the two paths there are and take it. {Left or right?} [Uhh¡­ left!] {Okay.} Gloria takes off running down the left path. Seems she was eager to stretch her legs after walking in that tight tunnel for so long. We¡¯re lucky neither of us are claustrophobic¡­ If we were, being reincarnated in a cave would be a lot worse than it already is. Anyway, I wonder why the cave is suddenly all sandy? The change between normal cave and underground desert was pretty sudden. We can''t have gone that far up through that small tunnel. It was hard to tell it was even at an angle at all. Normally you only see biome shifts like this in video games! I wonder if there''ll be stereotypical desert monsters here. Like giant scorpions and stuff. Actually, I kinda hope not... Giant scorpions might be just as bad as giant spiders. But we haven''t seen anything yet, so there''s no reason to worry! Not yet, at least. Gotta say, for a desert area, it''s quite cool down here. It might even be more cool than the underground forest. I''ve always been more tolerant of cold temperatures over hotter ones, so I''m glad it''s not as hot as I thought it''d be. The sand is kinda annoying to walk on though. It''s harder to get a solid footing on. It''s not impossible to walk on, but we''d definitely be at a major disadvantage if we had to fight anything on this terrain. I wonder how well our digging skill would fare against the sand? maybe we should try now, so we''re prepared if we need to use it in a hurry? {Gloria, try digging in the sand.} [Why?] {I wanna see how well our digging skill works.} [Gotcha] Gloria begins digging at the sand. As soon as the hole reaches about our body height in depth though, the sand begins sliding back in from the side. [That''s annoying.] {Hm. Seems like we won''t be able to rely on digging for the time being.} [Nope. Should we go back?] {I think we''ll be fine... probably.} [If ya say so.] In truth, going back to the normal cave is probably a better idea. We''re in an unfamiliar environment here. We don''t know what enemies lurk around the corner. Yet... What if there''s really good food in this area?! I''ve been thinking about it since earlier. This is an entirely new area. Which means entirely new plants and animals. Obviously, I''m not too excited about the new animals part. New plants on the other hand, I''m on the edge of my seat for! Every single plant in the underground forest was either gross or used as an animals toilet, so there wasn''t anything good to eat. But that might not be the case here! I''m not too hopeful, since plants usually aren''t the biggest fans of sandy areas, but maybe, just maybe, there''s something! I know my hope may seem a bit silly, but if don''t stay hopeful I don''t think I''ll be able to survive down here. Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road. The layout of this place is weeeeird. The area we were in before was made up of long, thin tunnels with intersections every once in a while. This place, on the other hand, is made up of a ton of large open chambers connected by short tunnels. It''s kinda like an ant''s nest. I bet that''s what it''d look like from an outside view. Well, you can''t really get an outside view of a cave, but you get what I mean. Point is, traversing this area is vastly different than the last area. We could just kinda run in a straight line before, thanks to how long the tunnels were. Now we have to be more careful about which way we go. We''re still mostly just deciding randomly, but it''s still taking more careful thought than before. Pair that with our poor maneuverability thanks to the sand like I mentioned before, and you end up with an incredibly annoying combo that makes navigating this place unbelievably tedious. And we still haven''t found any plants to eat. I guess it is kinda stupid to be looking for plants in a cave with no sunlight, but still... This is a fantasy world, dammit! Why does it only become realistic when it''s detrimental to us! Why couldn''t I have been reincarnated into a power fantasy?! Ahh, no. I shouldn''t get caught up in the bad. I have to look on the bright side! Otherwise, there''s no way I''ll survive. But, umm... I can''t seem to find the bright side? We''re stuck in a maze of a cave with absolutely no food in sight. The idea of turning back has all but evaporated at this point, because we haven''t- no, rather, we couldn''t- keep track of which way we came from. There''s no bright side in sight! Maybe Gloria was right... Maybe the spider cave was the better option... At this point, our only hope is to just keep taking the pathways that go up. Maybe we''ll find an exit at some point. Yeah right, no way. Things have never gone that well for us. Aaaand to prove that point: Giant! Monstrous! Ants! I was joking when I compared this cave to an ant''s nest earlier! It was a metaphor! Or maybe a simile? I don''t know! What I do know is that I don''t want anything to do with those ants! But of course, I have no choice because Gloria''s charging right at them! {Hey! Idiot! Stop it! Did you not just promise to not do anything like this?!} [Hmmm... Nope! Can''t remember anythin'' like that at all!] {Please, just stop! This is getting repetitive!} [Fir, we can''t find any plants to eat. So, what are we supposed to eat if there''s a lack of plants?] {...Sand?} [No, meat. And some meat has appeared right in front of us!] Ugh... She''s right. If we don''t hunt these ants, we''ll probably die of starvation. I have no choice other than to let her attack the ants. That said... the sound of our claws cutting the ants open is... unpleasant. I think I''d vomit if there were anything in our stomach. Haha... ha... yeah, I can''t handle this. I need to do something to take my mind off the slaughter Gloria''s committing. Luckily, I know just the thing. I breathe deeply (or at least imagine breathing deeply, since Gloria''s the one in control of the body) and focus on my soul. The mass of liquid comes into view within my mind''s eye, gently rippling. Urk... I''ll try my best to ignore that. I lightly push the surface, causing the ripples to grow larger. I begin to push harder, attempting to shape the liquid into a sphere. The surface slowly moves, but stops before it has been fully shaped. Like before, I''ll add some rotation. The outermost layers of liquid begin shifting, slowly gaining speed as they move around and around. slowly, the shape becomes more and more spherical as the rotation becomes faster and faster. Hmm... This is good and all, but it''s nothing I haven''t done before. I wanna try making an opening in it. Like a donut. But how should I do that? Hmm... It seems difficult. I can''t even fully make it a sphere without adding rotation, so a donut seems... wait, I have an idea. This whole time, I''ve been manipulating the mass that is my soul. But, why am I restricted to that? What if I manipulate the emptiness around my soul, compressing it into the shape I desire? It might sound stupid, but what I''m seeing when I train soul manipulation isn''t actually what''s happening. It''s just a representation of what''s actually going on. So maybe, just maybe, it may work! I turn my focus away from my soul, and look outward, at the nothing that surrounds it. I reach out, and grasp the emptiness. It feels... like nothing. next, I try pushing it in the same way I do to my soul. It seems to react in a similar way, but at the same time, it''s different in some way that''s hard to explain. Now, if I form it into sort of a spear shape, and sharpen it, but not too sharp as to avoid damaging my soul, and then, slowly... push it into the center of my soul... A divot begins to form in the mass of liquid. It continues to grow deeper and deeper, until there''s only a thin film of liquid left. Slowly... Slowly... Aaaaand... It pierces through, turning my soul into the shape of a donut, just as I wanted. Success! Hehe! I''m a genius, aren''t I? Wait, black magic?! That sounds... Cool. As. Hell! I wanna use it so bad! [What''re you doin''?] {Just training soul manipulation~ Well, it''s soul control now, I guess.} [Uh huh. Well, I''m just about finished if you wanna come back to the real world.] C''mon, at least compliment me a little! {Alright.} URK! {I don''t think I want to, actually.} [Oh come on, it''s not that bad.] {Are you blind?! There are guts everywhere!} [Bug guts. Does it really count if it''s from a bug?] {Yes! It looks gross, so it doesn''t matter what it''s from!} [Well, unfortunately, those gross bug guts are what we''re about to stuff our stomach full of.] {Stoooop!} [We''re gonna slurp the bug guts down until we''re nearly bursting.] {Stop emphasizing the grossest words!} [I have no idea what you''re talking about. I''m just tellin'' you that we''re gonna have a huge, filling meal of crunchy, juicy, melt-in-your-mouth, bug guts.] I can feel our stomach wretch. [Woah! You really find it that gross, huh?] This is humiliating. {Can we please not talk about eating bug guts?! Having to eat them is bad enough, I''d rather not think about it!} [Hahaha! Fine, I''ll stop. For now~] {You''re the worst.} [Go ahead and go back into your mind palace or whatever while I enjoy a good meal.] Gladly! Ahem! Back to the topic of black magic... That''s so cool! This might be the best thing to happen to us since waking up in this stupid world! Argh! I wanna use magic so bad! Maybe if I get good enough at magic, I''ll be able to find a spell that will let me seperate from her. Actually, wouldn''t soul control do that? We''re two souls in one body, so wouldn''t the solution lie somewhere within the soul manipulation/control tree? Speaking of which, what''s with the soul manifestation skill I got? Will it let me bring the soul from my mind''s eye into the real world? That doesn''t seem very good... It seems pretty bad, in fact. That''d just be an easy way to get a fireball thrown at my very soul. No thank you! Although, with a high enough level of soul defense, maybe it could tank a few hits? And with soul control, I could probably form it into a weapon, right? Wait, that''s almost as cool as black magic! A sword and a shield, made from my very soul manifested in the physical plane! Of course, we''ll definitely need to level soul defense for that to be viable. Well, might be worth testing out at least once anyway. Wouldn''t wanna waste time leveling soul defense for a mediocre technique. It seems promising though! Even if it''s not good, it certainly seems like it''ll be cool. [Done eating!] {Really? You''re not pranking me, right?} [No waaaaay!] ... Sigh. Whatever. I bring my attention back to the real world, where... surprisingly, there''s no longer the gruesome sight I saw before. Huh, guess she wasn''t lying. [I told you!] {Sorry for not believing you, I guess.}\ [So! Where to next?] {I don''t know. Just keep choosing paths like we have been.} [Gotcha!~] I think I need a nap soon. Chapter 14: Stomping Ant Hills I don''t know if it''s a universal experience, but I''ve heard lots of people either destroyed ant hills for fun, or knew someone who did when they were a kid. Personally, I wasn''t the type to destroy them, but I definitely did know some weirdos who were. I think Gloria was the type to destroy ant hills. Because she seems very eager to get into a fight with every group of ants we see. Luckily, ants are suuuper weak. Weak enough that we would be able to kill one with ease without even taking any damage if we were to fight one on it''s own. Of course, ants do tend to stick together, so we''re never just fighting one ant. Wait, did I ever use insight on them? I don''t think I did... Well, in that case, better late than never! Insight, activate! So they''re all level one? That must be why they''re so weak. I have a bad feeling about that though... Why have we only come across level one weaklings? [Take this!] She''s so weird. Anyway, fighting these ants has been great for leveling our skills. They''re starting to look pretty good, if I do say so myself!
    Unfortunately, it seems level one enemies aren''t great for actually letting us level up, because we haven''t leveled up once since Gloria started her ant slaughter. Speaking of, seems she just killed the last of the ants in this chamber. At first, finding a group of ants was pretty rare. But as we kept making our way through the cave, they became more and more common. It''s getting worrying. Ants live in colonies, and there''s no way this ant colony is made up of exclusively level one trash. I just hope when we do come across a stronger one, which we definitely will, it won''t be too strong. Maybe I should ask Gloria if we can rest for a bit, just to make sure we''re ready for anything. Unfortunately, I called it. We found another chamber full of ants, so Gloria got to killing them, as usual, but then, backup arrived. Even bigger ants. They''re scary. They look like they''re wearing armor! There''s only two of them, but... they seem strong! They''re probably at least one evolution higher than the Formipea, maybe even two. {Gloria, do you think you can handle them?} [Maybe?] {You don''t sound too sure, we should run.} [No way! I can do it! I can do it!] {Gloria... well, if you insist. But I wanna try something.} [Hm?] I''ve been wanting to try this ever since soul manipulation evolved into soul control. Soul manifestation! I''ve messed around with it a little, but I''m not sure how useful it''ll be in actual combat. Well, I guess we just have to test it out! I focus on my soul, and it comes into view within my mind''s eye. It looks a bit different now that soul manipulation became soul control. Rather than looking like a water-like liquid, it''s more ethereal-looking now. It looks paper thin, despite it''s volume. Now, I focus on the outside world at the same time. Above our head, a swirling mass appears. Now, let''s test this out! {Gloria, attack!} [If ya say so!] As she dashes at the ants, I form my soul into a pointed shape, and move it in front of us. The ant on the left charges at us, readying it''s giant mandibles as it approaches. It''s not sharp enough! I need to do what I did before, by using the space surrounding it! Sharper! Now, attack! The ant lunges at us, and I shove my soul forward. Right before it''s mandibles reach us, my spear-shaped soul stabs into the ant''s head. {Success!} [What was that?] {That is the power of soul manifestation!} [Cool! now do it again, there''s still one more.] The second ant charges towards us, slamming into us before we can regain our balance. [Ouch! Dammit, that hurt.] These guys hit hard. I''m glad I decided to help out with soul manifestation, I''m not sure Gloria would have been able to beat them. Now, the spear shape worked, let''s try a sword! I focus intently on my soul, compressing it down as thin as I can, and sharpening the edge. The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation. Hmm... that should do. It doesn''t look great, but it should serve it''s purpose. I''ll be able to make better looking weapons when soul control levels up more. {Chaaaarge!} [I thought you''d never ask!] We rush forward, and I bring down the soul sword right as we reach the ant. The sword cuts into it''s head, but doesn''t cut all the way through. It was still enough though, because the ant collapses onto the ground. {We did it!} [Haha! That was awesome, you gotta do that more often!] {I''ll try, but that was exhausting.} I wonder... Oof, looks like doing that takes up a lot of energy. We should probably only use it when we have to, at least until lessened energy consumption levels up some more. Hey, wait a minute! We''re level five, but we''re not evolving? Huhhh... Maybe the level cap is higher now? Yeah, that must be it. I mean, there''s no way this is the last step of our evolutionary tree. Yeah, no way. So, what''s the level cap now? It was five before, so... either six or ten, probably. Those two make the most sense. Anyway... {Gloria, let''s rest for a while. Using soul manifestation left us with barely any energy left.} [Alright.] On our first few nights in this area, we tried to dig a hole, but it would always just cave in before we got deep enough. So now we just dig a little divot, and lay down in it. The only monsters we''ve seen in this area are the ants, so we''re probably pretty safe. Well, I''m a little less certain now that we''ve seen those super strong ants, but we should be fine. We''d be screwed no matter what if they showed up , awake or asleep, we don''t have the energy to fight them. So, no point in worrying. All worrying will do is make us get worse sleep. Reassured by my own reasoning, I drift off to sleep. The sound of countless steps on sand. Strange clicking noises. Something is happening around us. But... I''m too tired! Five more minutes! [Fir?] {Whaaaaat?} [Look.] {Oh!} We''re surrounded by ants. They''re all the weak kind, but there are still a lot of them. More than we''ve ever managed to kill at once. I don''t know if we can win. Though, they don''t seem to be attacking yet, so maybe we''re fine? What''s our energy looking like? Not full yet, but it should be enough to at least escape from the swarm surrounding us. [What should we do?] {I''m not sure. They don''t seem to be preparing to attack.} [Maybe they''re friendly?] {Yeah right, you murdered so many of their brethren.} [Maybe they forgive me...] {I don''t think that''s it...} [Fir, wait. I think something''s coming.] {What do you mean?} [I don''t know, I just...] [Something is coming from that tunnel!] We need to run. We can''t beat that thing, not in a million years. All of the sudden, the army of ants surrounding us close in on us, blocking every route of escape. {Shit! Gloria, move towards the exit, kill every one that gets in our way!} [I know!] I need to help her, she won''t make it on her own. I focus hard, and bring my soul out, quickly shaping it into a shield. Right now, defense should be our top priority. A sword wouldn''t be much help right now. Immedietly, the sheild comes into use as countless ants attempt to charge into us. This doesn''t feel safe at all, but I don''t have a choice. Even if I die, if Gloria can get out... No! I shouldn''t be thinking like that! We can make it! We will make it! I won''t let our last meal be those ants we ate earlier! I will survive! I won''t be killed by mere ants! They continue to pile towards us, like a tsunami of ants. My shield repels them a little, but not completely. What''s the strong one doing? I lost sight of it as soon as the weak ones started attacking. We need to stay on guard, it could show up at any time. Gah, they just keep coming! !? Something suddenly flies past our head, barely missing as we dodge. {What was that?!} [I don''t know! It came from the clump of ants!] {Dodge!} Another shot comes flying past us, barely missing yet again. {We won''t be able to get away if this keeps up, we need to stop whatever is doing that.} [But... I think we know what''s doing it.] {Yeah, I get what you mean. But we have no other option.} [I guess you''re right. Hey, if we don''t make it...] {Shut up. We''re gonna survive, just keep going and don''t even think about dying.} [Alright...] I angle the shield towards the large pile of ants as Gloria swiftly turns towards them and leaps forwards. We break through the wall of ants with little resistance, and find ourselves on the other side, right in front of the scary looking ant from earlier. Hello again, Mr ant. Now, please just die. A ball of liquid appears in front of the ants face, and shoots toward us. Guess it won''t be that easy. The projectile barely misses us yet again, falling onto the ground. When it makes contact with the sand, it makes a hissing noise and the ground seems to get lower. Ah, probably shouldn''t let ourselves be hit by that. {Gloria, focus on dodging it''s attacks and avoiding the other ants, I''ll work on coming up with a plan.} [Got it.] Now, how do we win this? As long as the boss ant is alive, we can''t leave, so killing that guy is our main goal. It doesn''t seem to like moving much, so for now we just have the projectiles and the swarm of ants to worry about. Dodging the attacks isn''t hard, but it makes getting in close for an attack difficult. Especially with the wave of ants following us everywhere we go, albeit slowly. We could just charge forward and hope my shield can block it''s attacks, but... I really don''t wanna do that, if possible. We don''t yet know the dangers of letting the stuff I make with soul manifestation get hit. So for now, let''s put that plan in the back. We can use it if all else fails. So, what else can we do? I could try to find a way to use soul manifestation as a projectile, but that plan has numerous holes. Number one, we don''t have unlimited energy. We already didn''t have much when we were rudely awoken earlier, and now... Yeah, we don''t have much to work with. Number two, I don''t even know if it''s possible. So that plan is out the window. Too energy intensive and unreliable. We have to keep in mind that we''ll need energy afterward, or else we''ll just get finished off by the weakling ants after killing the boss. That''d be the worst. ... This isn''t working. I can''t think of anything. I need to look at our skills, maybe there''s something I forgot about... Black magic... nope, haven''t learned to use it yet. Camouflage... a bit too late to set a trap now. Digging... wait, maybe? {Gloria, I have an idea!} [Spit it out then!] {Try using the digging skill to kick up dirt into it''s eyes!} [...Really?] {Yeah!} [Well... whatever, if you say so.] Gloria quickly turns around in the sand, kicking a cloud of it towards the ant. It''s just for a second, but it seems to be slightly slowed by the dust covering it''s vision. {It''s working!} [You sure? I mean, I guess it hesitated for a second, but is that enough?] {There''s not much else we can do} [I guess...] So, we keep dodging and kicking sand at it. Over. and over. and over. {This... isn''t working. I''m sorry Gloria, I...} [No, it''s fine. I had an idea of my own.] {?} Suddenly, the ant steps forward and slips, falling onto the ground. {How did you do that!} [Whenever I hit it with some sand, it would step forward, probably to get a better view. I noticed that and messed up the sand in a spot I knew it''d step in, so it''d slip.] {Woah! You''re a genius!} [Nah, just got lucky. That was my eleventh attempt! Anyway, let''s finally finish this thing off!] Chapter 15: On My Own It''s time to finish off this stupid ant! Now, before it gets back up, attack! We quickly jump over to the fallen ant, with the swarm of weaker ants right behind us. Right as we''re about to crush it''s head, it summons another one of it''s projectiles and shoots it at us point blank. [We can''t dodge!] The liquid hits us right in the face, getting one of our eyes. !? I don''t think I''ve ever felt this much pain before. It feels like our face is melting. It probably is, actually, based on what happened to the ground when it got hit. Unfortunately, we don''t have to time to cry about any amount of pain right now, so we push through it and bring our claws down swiftly on the ant''s face. I want to be happy about leveling up three times, but we still have multiple things to focus on. One, our face is still currently melting from that stupid ant''s acid. Two, there''s still a huge swarm of ants that wants us dead. I honestly don''t know if we can beat them. We''ve never fought a group of ants that size before, and we also have a handicap now because half of our vision was just melted away. {Gloria, do you have a plan for the rest of them?} [My plan is to try my best.] Ah, great. Well, I guess I don''t exactly have any ideas either... [Back me up with the shield.] {Will do. Though, I might have to stop early, since we''re already low on energy.} [Fine by me.] The ants come flooding toward us, undeterred by the death of their boss. Geez, so persistent. The first few run towards us, and instantly get cut down by Gloria. A few more run around, trying to flank us, but I manage to stop them before they can reach us. How much energy do we have left? Shit! I knew that acid attack did a lot of damage to us, but we''re at four hp?! {Gloria, don''t get hit a single time. We''ll die from the slightest tap.} [I''ll try my best.] How are we gonna survive this? We won''t be able to make it to an exit before the ants can make it there to block us. But just staying here and fighting it out isn''t a good option either. Gloria is good at fighting, but she won''t be able to kill this many ants without getting hit. ... {Gloria, I might have an idea. When I say go, just focus on killing the ants as fast as possible without worrying about getting hit.} [What? Isn''t that kinda stupid?] {Just trust me.} Soul manifestation works well as a shield. Up until now, I''ve been using it to deflect attacks rather than block them, because I feel like something bad would happen if I let it get hit. But I don''t think I have the luxury of worrying about that anymore. As it is now, a small shield is useless due to the sheer volume of enemies we''re up against. So, we need a bigger shield. A shield that will cover our whole body. So, I''ll push myself to the limit, and use soul manifestation to wrap our body in a suit of armor made of my soul. I am scared of what might happen if it''s hit dead on by the huge amount of ants we''re against, but... I don''t think I have a choice. Even if it kills me. It''s either this, which very well might kill me, or a one hundred percent chance of death along side Gloria. It''s either one or both of us. So the choice is obvious. I focus on the shape of the shield, bending it and expanding it, bringing it close to our body and wrapping it tightly around it. As I continue stretching it thinner and thinner, my head begins to pound. Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings. Yeah, this isn''t safe. But I gotta keep going. It''s almost there, there''s just a small opening left. But I can''t... I can''t do anymore. I should be fine if I just move the opening to our stomach, and hope none of the ants manage to get a lucky hit in. {Now! Go!} [If you say so!] Gloria takes off, rushing into the largest crowd of ants and begins wildly attacking in every direction. Luckily the shield seems to be working, since we aren''t dead yet. But... Every time we get hit, a surging pain shoots through my mind. But I have to keep going, or we''ll both die. I just need to hold out until Gloria kills all the ants. Just... a little longer. With each second, more and more ants fall to the ground, dead. A large mound of bodies grows rapidly in the small chamber, and a thick stench of death fills every inch. Gloria keeps killing and killing, and the ants keep coming. My head is beginning to feel faint. If I don''t focus intently on what I''m doing, I''ll slip up immediately. I need to keep going. Just a... little longer... The overwhelming smell pulls my attention, but I stay focused on maintaining the armor. [Just a few more!] So we''re almost done, huh? I want to respond to Gloria, tell her she''s doing great, but... I can''t seem to find the energy to communicate. It''s fine... I can tell her... afterwards. We just need to get through this, then... I''ll take a bit of a nap... then I''ll tell her how awesome she was. Yeah... That''s what... I''ll do... [Last one!] Ah, it''s all over now. That''s... good. I can''t wait any longer, I''m... going right to sleep... My head hurts too much... to keep going. Just a short rest. Yeah...
    [Fir? Fir? Fiiiir?] Dammit. Immediately after I finished killing those stupid ants, Fir''s barrier went away and he stopped talking. I knew he was doing something stupid... Dammit! That idiot! I should have known something was wrong with how much I kept hearing that stupid voice saying "Soul defense has reached blah blah blah". ...That idiot... He could have at least told me I should avoid taking hits... Why did he tell me to take as many as I want? Self sacrificing bastard... He could have told me... It''s been a while now, and there''s still no sign of Fir. I wanna keep holding out hope, but... Agh, dammit! I can''t just sit here doing nothing while waiting. I need to keep moving. I''m really gonna have to pick up the pace without Fir though... He always handled a lot of stuff, so I''m gonna have to work overtime on learning how to do jobs that were always his. First of all, insight.
    Ugh, so annoying. I always just tuned it out whenever he used it, because it was obnoxious. Other than that, Fir would always use soul manipulation, but... Well, to put it bluntly, I can''t. A while ago, we decided to swap roles, so he would do the walking while I worked on trying to get levels for soul manipulation. So, I tried it... and it didn''t work. So I tried again, and it didn''t work. No matter what I tried, I couldn''t figure it out. It just didn''t click with me. So, I won''t be doing anything related to that. I don''t really want to anyway, since using soul manifestation is why Fir is... gone now. It really really sucks, since soul manifestation seemed like it would be a really useful asset to us. I''m gonna have to train like hell to make up for it. Another thing he wa- no, is good at is magic. He told me it''d be really useful, and worked hard to get levels in the skills related to it. I think he was just starting to figure it out, but me on the other hand... I don''t know anything about it! So, seven of our skills are effectively useless now. That... that definitely hurts. Anyway, that''s enough thinking. It''s time for action. Fir told me something once. I immediately laughed it off and ignored it, but I might as well try now. He said that since this world operates similarly to a video game, trying to exploit the system that levels our skills could be worth it. One particular idea he had was to drag my feet as I walked over dirt, in an attempt to gain levels in digging without much effort. Like I said, I laughed off the idea and never tried, but I might as well try now. If it works, I''ll try more ''exploits'', if it doesn''t, oh well. Seriously? It actually worked? It hasn''t even been that long either... I feel bad for laughing off his idea now... I... I''ll apologize when he comes back. Yeah. Well, might as well just keep going now. Ah, another useless skill to add to the rest. Greeeat. Well, at least digging should be better now. Let''s test this shit out! I walk up to the nearest wall and strike it with all my strength. To my surprise, it''s very effective, leaving a sizeable hole in the wall once the chunks of rock have all fallen away. Nice! Maybe I''ll be able to actually dig a little shelter now. Woulda helped earlier when all those ants ambushed us. Could help with traps, too. Can''t really think of any that''d work in this place though. Nothing but sand to work with. Now, what skills should I work on next? Wait, now that I think about it, why do I have to keep moving? Why shouldn''t I head back to where all those dead ants are, block up the exits, and just train non-stop? Yeah, I''ll do that! This way, I won''t have to worry about another one of those monstrous ants showing up and killing me! Hehehe, I''m so smart!
    What happened... Where... Where is this? I can''t... can''t feel anything. I can''t see anything either... Can''t open my eyes... Am I de... No, there''s no way, right? Right...? But... if not that, then... what is this? All of the sudden, my senses are assaulted by a foul odor and taste. This-! No, no way! Is this hell?! Please, say it isn''t so! What did I ever do to deserve this?!
    Yum!~ Gotta love a great big meal after a workout! Man, I was already proud of my plan, but it''s even better than I expected! I can spend all the time I want getting stronger, and if I get hungry I just have to grab an ant and eat. The ants kinda took up a lotta room though, so I dug a nice big pit and shoved ''em all in there. I''m a bit worried about what''ll happen when they start rotting... Eh, it''s fine. A little old food never hurt anyone! But really, this plan is super duper perfect. I was worried about living without Fir, because as much as I''d hate to admit it (even more so to his face), he''s really helpful. I''m a little reckless, so having him around to tell me if what I''m doing is stupid is nice. Of course, I usually don''t listen to him! But anyway, as long as I''m in here, I don''t need to worry, because there''s nothing dangerous enough to kill me! I can just leisurely train here and wait for him to come back! Once he does, he''ll look at the results of my training and go "woah, this is super impressive Gloria! I''m proud of you!" It''ll be sooo great! Ahh, that''s enough rest I think. Time to get back to training! Chapter 16: Regicide Crunch! Ahhh, refreshing! I kinda suck at keeping time, so I don''t know exactly how long it''s been, but I''ve been in here for a while. My ant corpse stockpile is noticeably lower than it used to be. I''ve still got a lot left though, I won''t need to worry about it for a while. I''ve gotten some good training done so far, a lot of skills are way higher level now. I even managed to get health regeneration to level up enough to become accelerated health regeneration!
    As you can see, I''ve been hard at work. Slash and tunneling weren''t too difficult, I just had to hit the wall over and over again. Unfortunately, it seems cut only levels up when it''s used on living things I don''t really get why it''s like that, but eh. Whatever, nothing I can do about it. Back to my successes, I got scale armor to go up twice! That one was a bit tough... I had to drop rocks on myself over and over. But it was probably worth it! Tougher armor is obviously super duper important, right? Planning went up just from me coming up with all the different training methods for the skills. Kinda like two birds with one stone, I guess. Lessened energy consumption, energy regeneration, and exhaustion tolerance were probably the easiest of them all. I literally just had to work on the other skills, and they''d go up! I''m confused by what lessened energy consumption turned into though... it became lessened energy drain, which... I mean, isn''t that literally just the same thing? Well, whatever. At least it''s probably better, right? Ahem, moving on... Enhanced eyesight and dark sight also went up passively, though I did strain my eyes to try to level ''em even faster once I saw them go up the first time. All in all, I did a pretty great job, if I do say so myself! I''m definitely getting suuuuper sick of this place though, so I think I''m gonna leave. Oh yeah, and Fir hasn''t come back yet. I''m still holding onto hope though! Now, let''s bust through this wall of rocks I blocked off the tunnels with. Oooraa! With one powerful hit, the barricade of rocks explodes open. Hehehe, I''m super strong now! The training was worth it! Time to head out! I''ll come back if I don''t manage to find food, but I should be fine. Hmmm... I''ve passed by some ants as I''ve been walking, but... they aren''t attacking me... They just move aside as I walk by, like they''re clearing a path. A little while back, they blocked off one of the exits to the room I was in, while leaving the other one open. I coulda just killed the ones blocking the way, but I decided to play along, for now at least. I kinda wanna know where they''re taking me. The more I follow the ants, the more ants I see. Are they taking me deeper into their territory? Why would they do that? Especially after I killed so many of them, including that really strong one. Hmmmm... I don''t trust it. They definitely wouldn''t do this unless they were up to something. But what? Suddenly, a shiver goes through my whole body as I look into the dark chamber in front of me. It''s too dark to see, but I can tell something incredibly dangerous is in there. I need to leave. I turn around, but the exit has already been blocked by a horde of ants. Shit! Sensing something approaching me quickly, I dodge to the side. A huge glob of green liquid shoots past me, and hits the ants blocking the exit. Unfortunately, the ants that died from the attack were almost instantly replaced. Is it another one of those super strong ants? I don''t have a choice here, I have to fight it. I turn around as fast as I can, and run into the dark chamber the attack came from. As I get close, I use insight to see what the enemy is. It looks similar to that strong ant from before, but... I think this one might be even stronger. It''s head is covered in spikes, some of them coming together to make the shape of a crown on the top of it''s head. This thing''s gotta be the leader. Does that mean all the other ants will scatter once I kill it? I guess I know what I gotta do then. The ant readies itself into a strange stance, and an orb of green liquid begins forming in it''s jaw. Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. Let''s do this! As soon as the ant releases the shot of green liquid, I jump to the side and run towards it. It immedietly begins readying another shot, but before it has a chance to fire, I hit the ceiling above it, dropping massive chunks of rock down onto it. Right before they hit the ant, it swiftly moves to the side. Tch, that bastard''s faster than I expected. It''s not over yet though! Have another! Once again, I launch myself towards the ceiling, hitting it and dropping another group of rocks down onto the ant. It dodges again, but I accomplish my goal of interrupting it''s attack. Not missing this chance, I kick off the nearest rock, shooting myself towards the ant as it begins preparing another attack. Oooooora! I pass directly over it scraping it with my claws as hard as I can as I pass by. Haha! The ant stumbles, and the attack it was preparing falls to the ground with a loud sizzle. Ready to give up yet? No? Alright then! Let''s continue! This time, instead of beginning to prepare another long ranged attack, the ant uses it''s speed to run up to me and attack with it''s mandibles. I dodge as fast as I can, the mandibles just barely snagging my back as I move aside. Tch, looks like this thing''s good in close combat too. Guess I''ll have to rethink my strategy. Aha! That''s a good idea... time to get to work! As soon as I see an opening, I run for the exit to the chamber. Trying to stop me, the ant begins prepping another ranged attack. Too bad buddy, but you aren''t hitting me with that! As I near the exit, I jump, hitting the top of the doorway as I pass through it. The exit collapses just as I make it through, closing off the chamber. The weakling ants are still here blocking the exit though, so I can''t leave. They aren''t attacking either though, so it''s time to put my plan into action~ Phew! That took a while! I''m starting to get a bit hungry... Well, I guess I can eat once I kill this ant~ Let''s begin! I emerge from the tunnel I dug out into the tunnel that connects the leader ant''s chamber to the rest of the cave system. Mmm, yep, fodder ants are still here blocking the path. That''s fine, I''ll come for you guys soon~ For now... Ooraaa! I attack the top few rocks of the blockade I made, opening a small hole that I can get through, but the ants can''t. I peek inside, and see the leader ant standing around idly. Helloooo~ I''m baaaack~ Ready to start again? Doesn''t matter, we''re starting anyway! Before it takes notice of me, I lunge at it, digging my claws deep into it''s back. It shakes wildly, trying to throw me off. Are you mad? Hm? Hmmm? Are ya? Are ya?! Well, come get me then! I let go, jumping to the ground. As I hit the ground, I strike it as hard as I can. Cracks form, and stretch out across the whole chamber. Everything''s set up now~ Let''s start for real this time. The ant charges me, and I hop to the side right as it reaches me. Gonna have to try harder than that, pal! I jump to the ceiling and hit it, making some rocks to fall down. They miss the ant. But that''s fine. Now, I''m standing in the center of the chamber. The ant is standing at the edge. And there''s a pile of rocks that looks a hell of a lot like a ramp right between us. So, what will the ant do? Run at me, making use of the ramp of course. It jumps off the ramp, into the air, coming straight towards me. I''ve won. I run towards the exit as fast as I can, climbing the pile of rocks and getting to safe- but more importantly, stable ground, as the ant crashes into where I was standing. As soon as it hits the floor, the ground cracks apart, swallowing up everything in the chamber. Including the ant, of course. Complete. And total. Victory! Hehehe, Fir would be so happy if he were here. Buuuut, he''s not. So, I guess the choice of what we evolve into is all up to me now! Hmmm? Why''s that option a different color? Well, now I just have to choose that one! Besides, we''ve already had cavern beast as an option! So, Soricingulata it is!
    Darkness. Nothing. But. Darkness. I think I''m going crazy. I''ve been here for so long. And I don''t even know where here is. Just endless nothingness, and the occasional rotten taste in my mouth. I don''t know how much longer I can take this. I''ve held out for what feels like forever, yet still nothing happens. I don''t think I can take even another half of what I''ve already gone through. I want to be-! Light suddenly floods my eyes, and the stench of blood invades my nostrils. -free? Huuuuuh? Where... is this? It''s obviously the same area we were in before, but... There''s a giant pit in the middle of the chamber we''re in, and the only exit is blocked off by a bunch of rocks. I''m kinda glad it is though, because I hear some terrifying noises on the other side. {Gloria?} No response. Hm... Well, I should probably see how we''re doing. I don''t feel any pain or injuries, but it couldn''t hurt to check. ?increases XP gains for mind-related skills ?Increases mental clarity ?Allows for increased understanding and cooperation between different minds ?indirect kills caused by the user are counted as direct kills ?applies camouflage effect proportionate to user¡¯s camouflage skill to traps ?increases XP gains for knowledge related skills ?unlocks hidden evolution options ?(Locked) ?Increases regeneration ?Increases magical understanding skills Umm... what? ''Soricingulata''? What''s that? A ton of skills are way higher level now too... Wait, even magic understanding? Did Gloria manage to figure something out? No, no way! Gloria figuring out something I couldn''t? No waaaay. And this new title... Ancient being... We''re quite young though? Seems a little rude, honestly... Ah, one of the locked options of the discoverer of the dead title opened up. ''Unlocks hidden evolution options'', huh. I guess that explains why we suddenly aren''t a cavern pest anymore. Man, this is a lot to take in. A lot happened while I was out. Well, I guess I should just be glad I didn''t die. I''m probably only back because of that new soul regeneration skill. I''m very glad Gloria didn''t get us killed while I was gone. Actually... The thought of death makes me think of something... scary We were reincarnated into this world. Typically, reincarnation means dying and being reborn. Same soul, different body. That means death does not mean the end of the soul. In that case, what would have happened to me if my soul sustained any more damage during that battle... Judging by how many levels of soul regeneration we have, and by assuming they were all gained from my soul regenerating, my soul must have taken a lot of damage back then. If I had been hit even a single time more than I was... what would have happened to me? Would I have completely... faded away? I think it may be a good idea to seal any soul related abilities again for the time being. The risk is too high. ... It sure is taking a while for Gloria to wake up. I assume we just evolved, which is why she''s asleep right now. Maybe I''ll try to figure out some magic stuff while I wait. Can''t let those three extra levels go to waste. Hmmm... It''s... well, it''s something, but this still isn''t enough for me to actually start using magic. So frustrating! Why can''t there be some kind of skill shop I can use to just pay to win! Skill shops are a staple of so many good reincarnated-as-a-monster stories! Why don''t I get one!? <*crackle*> Hm? Hmmmm? <45%> <87%> <99%> H-huh? Special chapter: Meeting of the Five Great Beings Far off, in an unknown place, five great beings sit before each other, silently pondering to themselves. After a short while, the largest among them stirs, clearing it''s long, winding throat. "It seems the rest won''t be joining us this time, as usual. Shall we begin?" The rest nod in affirmation. The large being clears it''s throat once again before beginning to speak, "as I''m sure we''re all well aware of, there was recently a change to the system that rules this world. This change is completely unprecedented, as it is not a mere tweak, as we''ve all seen before, rather, it is a completely new addition. It is not hard to predict such a change causing great unrest, especially among the sapient races. This meeting has been called to discuss possible actions that we may take to react to this change. Would anyone like to start us off?" A young looking man lazily raises his hand, not waiting for approval before speaking, "do we gotta do anything, really?" The large being instantly retorts, "of course we must! If left alone, this could completely upturn the world as we know it! To allow any creature to obtain any skill it may desire, simply by knowing what it''s called- its utter madness!" A cloaked figure raises their hand slowly. A heavily armored man next to them takes notice, and leans in to allow them to whisper in his ear. After listening to them, he clears his throat to get the others to quiet down, and begins to speak. "Shade says they believe it would be best to learn more about the addition before taking action regarding it." "And what do you think, Gunther?" the large being replies to the armored man. If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it. "I agree that something must be done to prevent chaos from breaking out among sapient races. I''ve already put some measures in place among the human territories I control to prevent the worst." "I see." the large being thinks for a moment, before speaking once more, "I can attempt to break into the system and forcefully revert the change." The lazy man sits up fast, shocked. "What''re you talking about?! Are you crazy?!" The large being slams one of it''s great hands onto the table, silencing the lazy man. "It simply must be done, for the sake of the world''s balance!" A woman who almost seems to be glowing snaps her fingers, calling the attention of the table to herself. "And you think you will be allowed to do such a thing? As you said, this is not a mere tweak. If you try to remove this addition, then you will risk angering who or whatever added it. Despite laboring for so long, we''ve yet to discover who truly pulls the strings of our world. Would you be willing to risk angering such an unknown, when they will most likely be fully able to simply re-add the feature, given you''re able to successfully remove it?" "I-" "Please, do not misunderstand. I understand as well as anyone how worrying such a situation is. But that is precisely why we cannot afford to be rash in our actions." "I understand. Forgive me, I wasn''t thinking." The lazy man chuckles, and whispers under his breath, "like usual." The large being slams it''s hand down once again, and screams into the face of the lazy man, "what did you just say?!" "Woah woah woah, easy big guy! It was just a joke! A joke!" "Ahem!" the glowing woman once again draws attention back to herself. "Clearly, we are not ready to discuss this yet. I propose we all head to our chambers and take a day to think this over more carefully, then meet back here in the morning." The armored man stands and stretches, his armor making a loud noise with each movement. "Apologies, but I can''t stay here any longer. I must return to my people. They need me, thanks to this situation. I hope to see you all soon." The armored man walks out, leaving just four remaining. The lazy man once again whispers under his breath, this time slandering the armored man, "greedy fucker, only cares about his people for their money." Sighing loudly, the large being stands up. "I agree with your idea, Dahlia. I hope to see the remaining three of you tomorrow." With that, the large being spreads it''s great wings and flies out of the hole above them. None exchange any words after this, the great beings each simply stand up and walk away, keeping to themselves. Chapter 17: Flat Broke ...what? Skill termi... No, no no no! Is this a dream? It has to be! That couldn''t have just happened, no way! No way in hell! That... That... ... Something is watching me. I... I don''t know what to do. Is there even anything I can do? ... I guess, for now... All I can do... Is try it? Let''s see... how about... Fire magic? Ahhhh, obviously¡­ It wouldn¡¯t just let you get anything you want, of course, of course. I think I can probably guess what SP is, but how do I get it? The most likely possibilities are¡­ either killing things, or leveling up. We¡¯ve killed plenty of things up until now though¡­ and we¡¯ve also leveled up quite a bit¡­ Shouldn¡¯t we have tons of SP stockpiled? Is it because we haven¡¯t killed anything or leveled up since the skill terminal was installed? That makes sense, but¡­ Isn¡¯t that kinda unfair? ...I feel tempted to complain about this mentally, but, well, that¡¯s why this is happening in the first place. I don¡¯t wanna take too many favors from the unknown person watching me. In fact, I¡¯d prefer to not take any more from here on out. Hear that, whatever or whoever¡¯s watching me? No more stuff like that! Please and thank you! Is not getting stalked really too much to ask for? It¡¯s terrifying, the thought of someone listening, watching me when I don¡¯t kno- [Fir!] {Gah!} [You¡¯re alive!] {Barely! You nearly gave me a heart attack just now!} [You were gone for a super long time, I was worried!] {Really? How long was I out for?} [Uhhh¡­ Probably like¡­ I dunno! It was a long time though! So much happened while you were gone!] {Yeah, I can tell. I took a look at our status.} [Oh? So, whatd¡¯ya think? Impressive, right?] {What do you mean?} [All the skills I worked so hard to level up! I spent a suuuuper long time locked in a chamber just training, and I think it payed off!] {Oh, I see. Yeah, you did great!} [Hehehe, I know!] {So, what, uh¡­ happened in here?} [Huh? Oh, right! I killed the ant¡¯s boss!] {You wh- huh?!} [Yeah! All the ants started leading me towards this place, where there was a suuuuper scary looking ant.] {And where is that ant now¡­?} [See that hole over there?] {...Yeah?} [It¡¯s in there!] {And¡­ how did you manage that?} [I tricked it into jumping onto a weak spot on the ground!] {I¡­ I see. And what about that wall of rocks there?} [That was the entrance.] {What¡¯s going on behind the rocks?} [A bunch of super mad ants!] {I see. Is that the only entrance?} [Yeah, I think so.] {So, how do you plan on getting us out of here?} [Uhhhh¡­ I dunno!] {Great¡­} [Can¡¯t we just go out there and fight ¡®em?] {I¡¯m incredibly surprised you managed to survive on your own with that kind of thinking.} [Hey!] {No, we can¡¯t just fight them. There are definitely too many too beat.} [Ugh, you¡¯re such a scaredy cat! We¡¯re way stronger now. Trust me, we can win!] {I¡¯m not having this argument again! I¡¯m not going to just lie down and die because you think you can win a fight. As long as I¡¯m still around, I won¡¯t let you get us killed!} [Tch, you¡¯re waaaay too stubborn. If you won¡¯t budge on this, I guess I have nooo choice~] {You- don¡¯t you dare do anything stupid!} [Toooo baaaaad!~] This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there. Taunting me, Gloria begins walking towards the sealed doorway of the chamber, the sound of ants on the other side growing louder and louder as we approach. Before I can even begin to protest, she rams into the wall of rocks, making it collapse, and opening the entrance to the chamber back up. Immediately after, a wave of writhing ants forces it¡¯s way in, approaching rapidly. [Here we go!] Shit, am I going to have to use soul control, so soon after swearing to seal it away? [Ooooooraaa!] With a single slash from our claws, Gloria kills three ants. ...What? Not slowing down, Gloria rushes forward, creating a pile of corpses as she crashes through the crowd of ants like a truck. Well¡­ I guess I should help out? I manifest my soul, and shape it into a simple spear. [Haha! That¡¯s more like it Fir!] {I¡¯m still not happy about this, just so you know.} Ugh, let¡¯s just get this over with. As Gloria continues charging into the horde, I stab any ants that approach us from the side. Hm¡­ she wasn¡¯t lying, we are stronger. But¡­ There are still a lot of ants. Can we really beat them all? The ants keep coming, and Gloria keeps killing them as they get close. Blood splatters everywhere. As time goes on, the ants become a strange tint of yellow-green from the blood of their kin covering their bodies. Or... maybe it¡¯s not blood? I don¡¯t know if what ants have is technically blood or not. I just know it¡¯s very gross. And it stinks! At least it seems their numbers are stretching thin now. If I wasn¡¯t busy killing these things, I¡¯d actually be able to count them. Just from a glance, I¡¯d say there¡¯s only a few dozen left. Can¡¯t we just run at this point? Surely we¡¯d be able to get away with how few there are left. [No way! Don¡¯t you wanna level up?] Ugh, thought she¡¯d say that. Ants hardly give any XP at all! What¡¯s the harm in skipping a few dozen? From what I know about Gloria, she never really played video games, but if she did, she¡¯d definitely be the type to one hundred percent every game she played. Ugh, I¡¯m getting tired. Gloria can handle it from here. I dispel the soul spear, and immediately it feels like a huge weight has been lifted. Hahhh, I wanna learn magic already. Soul control is useful, but it¡¯s also really taxing on me. It makes sense, I¡¯m literally forcing my soul into the shape of a weapon and swinging it around. Obviously that¡¯d be harmful in some way. I¡¯m very glad for that new soul regeneration skill. Not enough to actively train it though. I don¡¯t want to accidentally take it too far and end up in that hell again. No thank you! [Hahaha! Those ants were nothing!] Ah, Gloria¡¯s done. We can finally leave. Actually¡­ {Gloria, I think we should head back down to the ruins. I think we might be able to do something now that our magic skills are a little better.} [Okay! We can leave after we have a little to eat.] {...And what do you plan on eating?} [Isn¡¯t it obvious?] {Can¡¯t we just wait until we get back?} [Nope! The journey¡¯s long, we need to be full!] Ants taste gross! Which is why I¡¯m very glad we won¡¯t have to eat anymore for the foreseeable future. Neither are good, but I definitely dislike this sandy area more than the area we were in before, so I¡¯m happy we¡¯re leaving, to say the least. The trek back is long, but we¡¯re already about halfway to the small tunnel we crawled through to get here. I don¡¯t think out evolution made us a significant amount larger, so we should be able to fit back though. The hardest part about this journey is remembering the pathway back. It¡¯s not hard when there¡¯s a path of ant corpses though. Like a way gorier trail of breadcrumbs. Makes it easy to tell if we¡¯re going the right way though, just have to follow the smell of rotting meat. I don¡¯t really know how much I like leaving a trail of rotting corpses in our wake¡­ It¡¯s not my fault though! If it were up to me, we¡¯d either not kill so much or clean up after ourselves. I have no say though, since Gloria is so stubborn over the strangest of things. ¡°No, we have to kill every monster we come across. How else are we supposed to level up?¡± ¡°Clean the corpse? Why would we do that? Something else will come and eat the rest, it¡¯s the circle of life!¡± I guess she¡¯s not wrong, it¡¯s just¡­ she adjusted to being a monster pretty quickly. It feels like while I¡¯m struggling so hard to retain my humanity, she¡¯s just accepted what she is and has thrown away her past. It makes me worried about what will happen when- or maybe if- we find a somewhat humanoid evolution. If it¡¯s significantly weaker than the other option, or has some kind of major downside, I worry Gloria will refuse to pick it, even if it¡¯s our only option for returning to normal human life. Well, as normal as human life could be in a world of magic and monsters. I¡¯m sure it¡¯s better than this at least. I wasn¡¯t exactly the most social guy in my last life, but now that I¡¯m a monster, I¡¯m missing human interaction more than anything else in the world. Actually, I miss the food a bit more, but still, I miss socialization. Gloria doesn¡¯t count, she¡¯s weird.
    Man! Having Fir back is so nice! It might sound bad, but annoying him is kinda fun¡­ How else am I gonna have fun like this? We don¡¯t do anything but eat, sleep, and fight. Well, the fighting¡¯s fun! Apart from that though, nothin¡¯! So, I just tease Fir a lil every once in a while¡­ yep, every once in a while. I don¡¯t do it with the intent to be mean, so it¡¯s fine! Yep, it¡¯s fine!
    Here we are. The same hole we crawled through to get to this underground desert, right here. A gentle stream of water still flows down it, filling the eerily silent area with a small bit of noise. Time to go back! With our newfound skills in magic, we stand a much better chance at understanding and possibly fixing those magic circles that were on the ground. But, um, are we gonna be able to fit in here? Chapter 18: Art Show Ahh, finally back. The temperature difference isn¡¯t that great, but it still feels cooler in this area of the cave. I imagine it¡¯s because of the cool, firm stone ground beneath our feet. Soooo much better than that awful sand. Now that we¡¯re back here, our first stop is the ruins. We¡¯re gonna check out those magic circles again, and see if I can¡¯t figure them out with our newly-leveled magic skills. Of course, there¡¯s not guarantee I figure it out, so we¡¯ve also decided to try communicating with the Stadiea again if I can¡¯t! Last time was kind of a bust, but I think we¡¯ve got a better chance now! If we fail that too¡­ well, who knows! At least we¡¯ll be back in the forest, away from those gross ants and that horrible sand. Hm? Aren¡¯t I scared of the wolves? Hah! Of course not! The wolves¡¯ one strategy is weak against us, thanks to our unique situation of having two souls. If anything, they should be scared of us. We¡¯re much stronger now, we could probably beat a wolf in a one-on-one fight. A one v. two maybe not¡­ But we can definitely handle a one v. one! Plus, we¡¯ll be much better at digging now that we have tunneling! If we dig a giant tunnel system full of traps and stuff, we can lure the wolves there for total home field advantage! And the best part is, that¡¯s not even wishful thinking anymore! With tunneling, that kind of feat is entirely possible! Things are really starting to look up! Ahem, but back to the current situation, we¡¯re currently approaching the ruins. Last time we were here, that big creep was¡­ Bleh, I don¡¯t even wanna think about it. It¡¯s not here now, so it¡¯s not worth wasting precious brain power on. In fact, it seems like nothing¡¯s here. Not that that¡¯s out of the ordinary here. This area is way more sparse than the others. The forest has the Wolves and the Stadiea, among other, critters. The sandy caves have ants. But these gray stone caves don¡¯t have much. We saw that one spider, but it¡¯s appearance was foreshadowed by big webs hung up everywhere, so as long as we don¡¯t see those, there probably isn¡¯t a spider nearby. Apart from that, there¡¯s just nothing. I guess that¡¯s kind of reassuring. The one enemy down here advertises it¡¯s presence by hanging up webs all over the place. As long as we don¡¯t see those, we won¡¯t run into anything. Probably. There¡¯s always a chance we just haven¡¯t run into whatever calls this part of the cave home. I¡¯d like to keep it that way, personally. Call me boring, I don¡¯t care! I don¡¯t know if I¡¯ll get another shot at life after this one if I die, so I plan to always err on the side of caution! Hm. Speaking of other lives and second chances, how did I die before in the first place? I¡¯ve meant to put some thought into that, but I¡¯ve been rudely interrupted by various things every time I¡¯ve tried to set some time aside to do so. ¡®Various things¡¯ refers mostly to Gloria, by the way. So, what happened to me? My memories of the hours leading up to my presumed death are incredibly foggy¡­ I think¡­ I might¡¯ve been on the way to a local coffee shop? I know from my memories of the day before that I had a hangout with a friend planned there, but I¡¯m not sure if I made it or not. Ugh, this mental fog is so annoying¡­ I just want to know how I died! Maybe the skills we get can help? If we get a skill that allows for perfect memory storage and recollection, maybe we¡¯ll be able to uncover the mystery of how we died¡­ That seems like a pretty far-off goal though. I¡¯ll keep it in mind. For now¡­ It¡¯s time to decipher these magic circles! We got here a little bit ago, we¡¯ve just been taking a break. It¡¯s not easy walking as far as we do! Hrmmm¡­ I¡­ think I get it. I understand the basic parts of the circle, but I can¡¯t tell what it does. It¡¯s too messed up. If I knew a bit more, I could probably fix it, even without knowing it¡¯s function¡­ Maybe I could try fixing it now? No, no, that¡¯s risky. I could permanently ruin it. [So?] {I don¡¯t know. I can understand more than I could before, but still not enough to understand it¡¯s function or how to fix it.} [Tch. So we gotta go all the way back to the forest now?] {Yeah.} [Damn¡­ Well, I¡¯m takin¡¯ a break first. We¡¯ll leave after we rest for a while.] {Fine by me.} As we emerge from the whole in the ground, light floods our eyes. I haven¡¯t been able to see this well in so long! If you encounter this narrative on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. I wonder if I could convince Gloria to just stay here instead of going back to the ruins¡­ I really don¡¯t want to have to leave again. Probably not¡­ Anyway! Time to meet up with the Stadiea. But how are we going to communicate? Well, I¡¯m very glad you asked! There¡¯s a certain skill that will be our key to bridging the gap between species! Ahem... Insight! Do you see it? I doubt it! After all, the skill in question is the ever-forgotten¡­ Artistry! Now newly-leveled to level seven as well! Hm? This is just the same exact thing we tried before? I have no clue what you¡¯re talking about! Well, even if we did try this before, the skill is higher level now! So, what will we draw? We¡¯ll start off with greetings, obviously. A crude drawing of them should do fine, I think. It just has to capture their attention. Next, we draw neat geometric patterns, in an attempt to prove to them we have a level of intelligence worth interacting with. Finally, we finish off the ¡®conversation¡¯ by drawing a magic circle, maybe the scuffed one from the ruins. It¡¯s the perfect plan! Draw their attention, show our worthiness, and then ask for their mentorship! I think I smell a training arc! Or maybe it¡¯s the scent of the bushes full of monster poo we¡¯re walking by right now. Who can say! There they are¡­ Majestic, the strange beasts stand tall over the waving grass. Their slender legs look like young trees emerging from the grass. And their faces are hideous! Seriously, it looks like they got hit by a car! And now, we are going to attempt to commune with the beasts. They don¡¯t even acknowledge us as we approach, continuing to laze about the field of green. [Let¡¯s give ¡®em a good show!] As soon as we reach the nearest bare patch of dirt on the ground, Gloria gets to work, first flattening the ground, then carving lines into it, being careful not to kick up dirt into the other lines with each stroke. It takes a while, and the finished product is by no means a masterpiece, but eventually a cave painting-like drawing emerges from Gloria¡¯s scribbles. Again, it¡¯s very rudimentary, but it¡¯s not hard to see what it¡¯s supposed to be, especially with the subjects of the artwork standing right before us. Now, to bring their attention to our art piece. [Hiyah!] Gloria strikes the ground, kicking up a cloud of dirt, and leaving a small crater in the ground. {Gloria, that wasn¡¯t a good idea. What if they take it as a sign of aggression?} [It is what it is! If they attack us, we¡¯ll fight. Combat is a great teacher y¡¯know!] {...Will combat be able to teach us how to use magic?} [Maybe!] When the dust clears, the entire herd of Stadiea is staring directly at us. No- the drawing? Slowly, they begin to crowd around it, staring intently at the dirt. It¡­ worked? It worked! {Good job Gloria!} [Hehe! I¡¯m a genius!] {Quick! The shapes, the shapes!} [Right!] Close to the previous one, Gloria begins drawing in the dirt once more. Her hand is steady, marking countless perfectly straight lines into the ground. As she continues drawing, the Stadiea begin walking over to the new image one by one, intrigued by strange behavior of the small creature before them. Gloria¡¯s new drawing is reminiscent of a flower, geometric shapes spreading outward in a circular pattern. She continues to add more and more detail, until nearly all the Stadiea have moved to this new drawing and are watching her work intensely. [Time for the finale?] {Sure, go for it.} Moving away once again, Gloria begins a new drawing. This time, the shape that emerges is a circle. Intricate patterns and runes surround the outside, with lines like webs filling the inside. This one seems to draw the Stadiea¡¯s attention even more than the previous one, as they all moved around it before we even realized, watching Gloria scrawl the image onto the dirt. When it¡¯s finished, we back away, and let them inspect it closer. [Do you think it¡¯s gonna work?] {I¡¯m not sure. I still can¡¯t tell how smart they really are.} After a few minutes, one of the Stadiea walks up to us, stares for a few seconds, then closes its eyes for a few seconds. When it opens them again, it steps closer, and kneels down as low as its freakishly long legs will allow, bringing it¡¯s face closer to us. Slowly, an odd sensation creeps its way through my mind. {Do you feel that?} [Mhm. What do you think its doing?] {I¡­ I¡¯m not sure.} The sensation grows more intense for a split second, before it disappears entirely and a whispered voice bounces through my head. ¡ÒStrange creature¡­ Creatures?¡Ò The Stadiea tilts its head. [Woah! Fir, you heard that right? Right? Tell me you heard that!] {I did, calm down!} ¡ÒFir...¡Ò {Y-yes?!} ¡ÒQuery¡­ What¡­ are you?¡Ò {Um¡­ Before that, are you¡­ the Stadiea that¡¯s in front of us?} ¡ÒStadiea¡­ Designation?¡Ò {Pardon?} ¡ÒMy people¡­ ¡®Stadiea¡¯¡­ name?¡Ò {I¡­ Uh, yes! If you are asking what I think you are, then yes!} ¡ÒUnderstood. Query¡­ What are¡­ you?¡Ò {I¡¯m¡­ Do you know what a ¡®human¡¯ is?} ¡ÒHuman¡­ Human¡­ Yes. Knowledge¡­ bequeathed from¡­ Predecessors.¡Ò Who the hell uses the word ¡®bequeathed¡¯? {Well, you see, I used to be human. Recently however, me and the other soul inhabiting this body, Gloria, found ourselves¡­ Well, in this body.} ¡ÒPeculiar.¡Ò {I know, right¡­} ¡ÒFir¡­ Gloria...¡Ò [Eek! It said my name!] {Gloria!} [Sorry!] ¡ÒPleasant to¡­ become acquainted with¡­ you.¡Ò {It¡¯s, uh, nice to meet you too. Actually, do you have a name we could call you?} ¡ÒName¡­ Negative.¡Ò {Ah, you don¡¯t? That¡¯s a shame.} ¡ÒNames¡­ Unfamiliar to¡­ My people.¡Ò [Negative¡­ negative¡­ Aha, how about Nea?] ¡ÒNe¡­a?¡Ò [Yup! How about it?] {Gloria! You can¡¯t just force a name onto someone who¡¯s people don¡¯t do names, and you especially can¡¯t just use the first word they speak as their name!} ¡ÒNea¡­ Pleasant. Accepted.¡Ò [What¡¯s that about not being able to just force a name onto someone?] {Nevermind¡­ A-anyway! Nea, we¡¯d like to ask for your help.} ¡ÒHelp?¡Ò {Yes. We uh¡­ heard that Stadiea are good at magic, so we wanted to communicate with you, and hopefully learn it from you.} ¡ÒMagic¡­ Magic¡­ I understand¡­ I will¡­ Attempt to help.¡Ò {Really?!} ¡ÒYes. Please¡­ allow me to¡­ convey your¡­ request to my people.¡Ò Nea gets back up, and turns their body around towards the rest of their herd. After a few seconds, they turn back around to us. ¡ÒComplete.¡Ò {That was it?} ¡ÒYes. Telepathy skill¡­ practical.¡Ò [Woah, telepathy?! That sounds sick, how do we get it?] ¡ÒSkill terminal.¡Ò Chapter 19: Hellish Training ¡ÒGood morning¡­ Fir, Gloria.¡Ò [Mornin¡¯ Nea!] It¡¯s the next morning, which means it¡¯s finally time to learn to use magic! We decided to cut things short yesterday, since it was about to get dark, but we still learned a lot. That last revelation might¡¯ve been even more important than learning magic¡­ Nea got the telepathy skill from the skill terminal. This is significant, because up until then I had two theories regarding the skill terminal: A, we¡¯re the only ones with the skill terminal. When it was installed in us, it wasn¡¯t installed in any other being in the world. B, everyone has the skill terminal, ours was just installed late for some reason. Nea using the skill terminal proves theory A can¡¯t be correct. But that doesn¡¯t necessarily mean B is right. In fact, I know it isn¡¯t, Nea told me so. After they told me they used the skill terminal, I asked them how long they¡¯ve had it and they told me their entire herd only just got it recently. Which lines up perfectly with when I¡­ No, no. It could still be a coincidence. Just because I was thinking of that exact thing the moment everyone in the world had it installed¡­ Anyway! Moving on to another topic, the Stadiea are way smarter than I thought. And I already thought they were super-geniuses! Not only did Nea get the telepathy skill, they also got a mind-reading skill because that¡¯s not bundled in with telepathy. And then they used that mind-reading skill to peer through Gloria and I¡¯s mind¡¯s. But that¡¯s not the most impressive part; neither the telepathy skill or the mind-reading skill come with an auto-translate function. Nea learned English exclusively through reading our thoughts, and was proficient enough to hold a conversation after a minute at most. And they¡¯re even better at it today. By the end of the day, Nea might be completely fluent! That information stone seriously understated the true impressiveness of the Stadiea¡¯s intelligence. Speaking of! According to Nea, Stadiea have a sort of pseudo-hivemind through their whole species (which is only Nea¡¯s herd), allowing them to share ideas and knowledge near instantly. It works closer nearby though, which is why Nea called all the remaining members of their herd here, all to help teach us magic. There must have been a lot of Stadiea away from the herd, because now they¡¯ve at least doubled in number. Will we really be able to handle mentorship from all these super-geniuses at once? I hope we don¡¯t disappoint them¡­ ¡ÒAre you prepared to¡­ begin?¡Ò {I think so.} ¡ÒExcellent. Then we shall begin... forthright.¡Ò Who the hell says forthright? ¡ÒAre you... cognizant of the utter basics?¡Ò {I believe so. We have the beginner¡¯s magic understanding skill at level 6.} ¡ÒUnderstood. Then we¡­ shall start from the absolute basics.¡Ò ...Was that an insult? ¡ÒFirst and foremost, we must¡­ discuss ¡®mana¡¯, and it¡¯s¡­ properties...¡Ò
    Ugghh, this is taking foreeeeeveeeer. I know Fir said magic was super duper important to learn in order to survive, but c¡¯mon, can¡¯t we make this a little more fun? Why can¡¯t we shoot fireballs instead? That¡¯d work as training! But nooooo! Instead, it¡¯s ¡®mana¡¯ this and ¡®circulation¡¯ that! ¡®It is important to comprehend the many different forms mana can-¡¯ blah blah blah! Doesn¡¯t all this stuff come built into the magic understanding skills? Why do we gotta learn it? I don¡¯t geeeeeet iiiiiiit! Are we finally done?! {Ah, Nea, magic understanding leveled up just now.} ¡ÒExcellent. In a mere three levels you will be¡­ capable of casting basic spells.¡Ò Three levels?! No. Way! I am not waiting three levels! That will take for-e-ver! ¡ÒI apologize, Gloria, but I¡­ request that you be patient for the¡­ time being.¡Ò [H-huh?! Don¡¯t read my thoughts without permission!] {Gloria¡­} [What?! It¡¯s not my fault they decided to peek into my head!] ¡ÒI apologize. I will¡­ make a sincere effort to¡­ refrain from repeating the same mistake in the future.¡Ò Hmph! I will not accept that apology! ¡ÒNow, let us return to the topic at hand; construction of magic circles on a medium.¡Ò Ugh! Love this story? Find the genuine version on the author''s preferred platform and support their work!
    ¡ÒNow, I believe that should serve as a sufficient spot to finish off for this session. I will meet with you once more tomorrow, and we will continue from where we are leaving off now.¡Ò {Alright. Thanks a lot, Nea! It was great.} ¡ÒI am truly happy that you enjoyed yourself.¡Ò {Gloria, say goodnight to Nea.} [Tch, fine. Goodnight Nea.] ¡ÒGoodnight Gloria, Fir. I look forward to meeting you in the morning.¡Ò With that, Nea walks away, joining the rest of their herd once more. Ahh, that was fun! I¡¯ve always enjoyed learning, I¡¯m happy I found someone to act as a mentor in this world. Gloria didn¡¯t seem to enjoy that though¡­ But this time, I won¡¯t let her ruin this for me! If she tries to get me to walk away from this, I will put my foot down, and firmly say ¡®no¡¯! Nea is the first other intelligent being I¡¯ve met besides Gloria since I got reincarnated here, so I won¡¯t let us be dragged apart from each other. I¡¯ll stick to Nea like glue, no matter what it takes! Ahem. Anyway, magic is super interesting. I¡¯d be lying through my teeth if I said I understood most of what Nea taught today, but I know more now than I did before. It¡¯s¡­ well, it¡¯s complicated. I don¡¯t know if I¡¯d be able to explain it as well as Nea did with my lacking knowledge. For example; from what I understand, mana exists not only as a particle, but also as a nebulous energy between those particles. See? Makes absolutely no sense. I was never great at the more advanced levels of physics, which is exactly what learning about mana feels like. It¡¯s a good thing that, according to Nea, knowing this isn¡¯t essential, it just helps get our understanding skill to a higher level and helps us better visualize what we¡¯re doing when we use magic. I really don¡¯t know what I would¡¯ve done without Nea¡­ If you didn¡¯t have a mentor, magic would be practically impossible to learn. No OP MCs who learn magic at the age of two from reading random books their generic villager parents have just lying around the house here! In fact, I find it hard to believe anyone even managed to figure this out in the first place. I mean, come on, particles? Energy? How could a world like this know about that stuff? Ah! Unless! Is this world one of those hyper-advanced magic world types? The kind with cities that stretch across continents, aglow with magically lit lights all day every day? That¡¯s so¡­ actually¡­ I was gonna say I would hate it if that were the case, since I¡¯ve always favored medieval-era fantasy over future type stuff. Buuuut¡­ For a world I actually live in, a futuristic magical utopia would definitely be preferable. I can imagine it now¡­ A beautiful sprawling city with clean air thanks to magical methods of clean energy generation! Street lights bright even in the darkest hours of the night, illuminating my path as I walk. A large apartment in a skyscraper that stretches all the way into the stratosphere! Air conditioning! Hot water for my bath and shower! A working toilet! And of course, the most important part¡­ the computer, with hyper-fast internet speeds! Ahhhh, I want to live in a magical fantasy utopia! We have to learn magic fast, so we can make our way to the surface, find a way to become human, then live lives of luxury! I won¡¯t accept any other outcome! Over the next two weeks, we trained like hell under the Stadiea. Every day we woke up as early as possible, before the light stones even came on, and walked all the way to the nearest field, where the Stadiea waited for us. Once we got there, Nea would first take a few hours to teach us about magic, for the sake of leveling up our understanding skill (though Gloria never really paid attention). After that, we trained physically. Apparently, doing so makes you get way stronger the next time you level up. I¡¯m glad Nea told us about that, I don¡¯t know how long it would¡¯ve taken us to figure that out by ourselves¡­ Training so hard physically also comes with the nice little bonus of leveling a lot of our skills. Honestly, Gloria¡¯s doing most of the physical work. I¡¯d feel bad if it weren¡¯t for how lazy she is when it comes to learning about magic. Oh, and if you¡¯re wondering how we¡¯re training¡­ There¡¯s a reason so many of our defensive skills are stronger now. You may have noticed we also have a new skill; magic resistance. You may have also noticed it¡¯s level four already. Nea says it¡¯s not only important to use magic, but be able to take hits from it. So, they make us take hits from it. And it hurts like hell. They haven¡¯t even been hitting us with their strongest attacks! Magic has many elements that can be used. Typical fantasy stuff, fire, water, air, earth, etc. Any generic fantasy magic type you can think of probably exists. It¡¯s also possible to use magic without an element. This is the category spells like magic missile and such go into. Stuff that¡¯s just pure mana used in various ways, basically. Nea and the rest of the Stadiea have been using exclusively element-less magic on us. Why? Because there¡¯s a trade-off when using magic either with or without an element. Magic with an element is typically much stronger, but also takes more mana to use. Meanwhile, element-less magic, or basic magic as it¡¯s called, is dirt-cheap in mana cost compared to it¡¯s elemental counterparts, but lacks in strength. It¡¯s also typically simpler to learn and cast. So, the Stadiea have been using basic magic on us, because if they used any element, it¡¯d probably just kill us. When Nea first taught us about basic magic, I underestimated it. I thought, ¡®why would anyone use this after they¡¯ve already learnt elemental magic?¡¯ That thought was knocked right out of my body later that day, when the first of many magic missiles hit our body with the force of a bullet train. I wouldn¡¯t be exaggerating to say I thought we died in that moment. It was probably the most pain I¡¯ve ever felt in both this life and the last. I don¡¯t know if there was even anything in my last life that could possibly inflict so much pain without just killing me. And it just got worse from there, because that was just the first shot in a volley that seemed to be endless. I think I lost consciousness at some point after that. Either that, or our head got hit hard enough to knock the memories out of my head by the end. By the time I woke up, every inch of our body was completely numb from pain. Sleeping that night was incredibly difficult, to say the least. I would say what happened every other day, but my body aches every time I remember the pain, so I¡¯m just gonna do what I do to every bit of trauma I face: shove it out of my memory! Hmm? Hellish training under creepy deer monsters? I have noooooooo idea what you¡¯re talking about. Nope, not a clue. Anyway! I have a good feeling about today. Our beginner¡¯s magic understanding skill is almost ready to level up to level ten, and I have a feeling today might just be the day! After two long weeks of training, we¡¯ll finally be able to use magic! Two weeks is really slow compared to Stadiea, who according to Nea learn magic just three days after being born, but I still think we¡¯ve done a pretty alright job all things considered! It¡¯s impossible to explain how excited I am about this! In just a few hours, I¡¯ll be able to use magic! The very magic I used to daydream about in my old life! Every single day, I used to lay in my bed and obsess over the thought of being whisked away into a fantasy world and learning to use magic, shooting fireballs and lightning from my fingertips as easy as I breathed. Of course, I never could have imagined it¡¯d actually happen, much less that I¡¯d become a weird monster. But here I am! It was so worth bearing with Gloria¡¯s irritations and the terrible food. Magic! Here I come! Chapter 20: Dream Come True and a Nightmarish New Reality I would say it¡¯s good to see you again, but it¡¯s really not. Why do you have such a mean look in your eye now? ¡ÒRun.¡Ò You don¡¯t have to tell me twice! I immediately take off, running in zigzags away from the forest as fast as I can. {Gloria, take over!} [Gotcha!] Before Gloria takes control of the body, I turn around just in time to see Rorthal open its mouth and unleash a massive beam of mana toward the herd of Stadiea. Unbelievable. Completely unbelievable. How is something like that possible? But what¡¯s even more unbelievable is the barrier of mana between Rorthal and the Stadiea, which somehow managed to completely block the mana beam. Unbelievable. Seriously, are we living among gods? They¡¯re just tossing insane amounts of mana back and forth at each other like it¡¯s nothing. And from our training with the Stadiea, I bet it is nothing to them. I wonder if we¡¯ll be that strong one day¡­ Ah, not now, not now! Gotta focus on making it out of this! I feel absolutely terrible just leaving Nea and the rest of the Stadiea behind like this, but our firepower is absolutely inconsequential compared to both sides of this fight. We¡¯re like an ant! Wait, where are we running? Is there anywhere we can even go? The longest path I know of is¡­ Ah! {Gloria, I know where we¡¯re going!} [Okay Mr. GPS, guide me there!] {First, into the cave entrance within the forest!} [Are you crazy?!] {Rorthal is busy with the Stadiea, we have to slip by while we still can!} [Ugh¡­ If you say so!] Here we are, back at the ruins. Back during our training I asked Nea if they knew what the magic circle here could be. According to them, it¡¯s most likely a teleportation magic circle. So, it¡¯s time to hit the eject button! We already know Rorthal can follow us basically anywhere in this whole cavern, so let¡¯s step on this circle and get outta here! Well, we have to fix it first of course. It seems like we still have time, since I can feel the shock waves of the battle happening up in the forest coming through the ground. I¡¯ll still go as fast as I can though. The circle is insanely complicated, but I think I can do it if I just have to fix some parts that have faded with time. If I just pull a bit of mana from the part of the circle that draws in ambient mana, and push it through¡­ Okay, so it gets stuck here¡­ Ah, I see, there¡¯s a bit that got chipped away by a rock here. To fix this, I just have to¡­ There. I forced the mana over the gap, and made a temporary bridge to the next part of the circle. Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon. Next up, it flows this way, through this part¡­ Hm¡­ It seems like this area has loosened with time, so the mana doesn¡¯t flow fast enough. Easy enough to fix, just have to¡­ There we go. It¡¯s not a permanent solution, but as long as I manually tighten the flow, it should work. Seems like there¡¯s just one problem left to solve. This part¡­ Bleh, I knew this wasn¡¯t going to be that easy. This part is entirely faded, I¡¯ll have to redraw it from scratch, with just what little is left as a guide. I think this is probably how it was before¡­ maybe? And then here¡­ uhh¡­ I guess I¡¯ll try this? This¡­ hrm¡­ Ah screw it, I¡¯ll just scribble around and hope it works¡­ There! It should be back up and running now! I just have to coax a little mana through it, and- the moment I push mana through the circle, a wave of nausea washes over me, and the air around me seems to shift and distort. I wince from the feeling of my stomach turning, and when I open my eyes, the environment around us is completely different. Ah, good, it looks like it was a success. [I think I¡¯m gonna barf¡­] {Hold it in, we need to save nutrients in case food is hard to come by¡­ wherever we are.} I look around at our new surroundings. Crazy¡­ That¡¯s all I can describe it as. It¡¯s still a cave, but the stone is a pitch black in some areas, and a sheer white in others. There are many patches of what seem to be crystals embedded in the black kind of rock, looking like stars twinkling in an eerie light. That light comes from bioluminescent plants, glowing various exotic colors. Pinks, reds, blues, purples, and neon greens. It¡¯s an incredibly odd looking area, but despite its stillness, it gives off an aura of hostility. I don¡¯t feel safe here. Well¡­ there¡¯s nothing for us to do except explore I guess. We need to find a source of food and shelter. I¡¯m sure one of these plants is edible¡­ probably¡­ At least we¡¯re safe from Rorthal for now. I hope Nea¡¯s alright¡­ Even aside from the lessons we learned from them, talking to them was always fun. Better than Gloria, that¡¯s for sure¡­ When we weren¡¯t training, we would talk endlessly, about all sorts of things. I told them about my life before I got reincarnated, we discussed what it meant for me now that I¡¯m no longer human¡­ we talked about a lot of philosophical stuff. It was an amazing two weeks. Now we¡¯re alone again¡­ Ah, no use dwelling on the past! We have to focus on what¡¯s going on right now to survive! First, a source of food must be secured! However, which one of these plants should we eat¡­ I feel like if we eat the wrong one, we¡¯ll end up poisoning ourselves. Hrm¡­ W-well, we don¡¯t have to secure food this instant, maybe we¡¯ll explore a bit first. Yeah, sure. Let¡¯s do that. Man, this cave¡­ it¡¯s spooky. So dark¡­ And the little light that is here honestly makes it worse. Ugh¡­ Ah! I have an idea! As Gloria continues walking, I concentrate mana, and begin weaving together the magic circle for the mana light spell. With a flash, the area around us lights up. It¡¯s not as bright as the cavern, but it¡¯s brighter than it was before. It¡¯ll do. We¡¯ll have to keep an eye on our mana supply though¡­ I¡¯m not sure how fast our mana will replenish itself. We don¡¯t have any kind of mana regen skills yet, so probably not very. Squish Huh? Hearing a noise behind us, we turn around. There¡¯s nothing- ah? On the ground, maybe six feet in front of us, there¡¯s a strange substance on the ground. Squish With a gross noise, another glob of the substance falls onto the rest. [...What is that?] Above the pile of the strange substance, there¡¯s something clinging to the ceiling of the cave. Green tendrils stretch around, grasping and clasping the rough surface. Every few seconds, a pulse of bioluminescence shoots through each tendril, creating a hypnotic rhythm of light. The tendrils all coalesce in an organic bulb above the substance, which looks like both plant matter and flesh at the same time. At the center of the bulb is a hole, with blobs of the substance dribbling out. {I¡­ don¡¯t know.} Squish The weird goo stuff just keeps falling out of its¡­ mouth? It doesn¡¯t look like it¡¯s dangerous¡­ should we just keep walking? Plat Behind us?! We turn around quickly, and see¡­ A mushroom? A walking mushroom? Ah, wait, we should be using insight. I completely forgot about it! A mushle¡­ and what about the weird thing on the ceiling? This thing doesn¡¯t have a level¡­ Plat, plat, plat Oh, that¡¯s¡­ Even more of the mushrooms are starting to show up¡­ Let¡¯s just get out of their way for now. We move away, and the mushrooms waddle slowly over to the pile of the gooey substance. Once they reach it, they all try to stand in it, pushing each other and starting a fight when there¡¯s not enough room for all of them. In the end, the two level threes win, and stand in the pile of goo while the rest walk back where they came from, sulking. As the two mushrooms stand in the goo, it begins to shrink beneath them. Are they absorbing it? As the pile shrinks, their caps begin to glow, one orange and one a vibrant pink. I guess literally everything in this cave glows. Well, that was very interesting, but we should get moving now. Just gonna sneeeeak right by¡­ We slowly move past the mushrooms, but right as we get by, one of them steps out of the goo towards us. Uh¡­ hello there? The mushroom steps closer cautiously, until it gets around three feet away from us, where it begins to sprint full speed. A-ah? It¡¯s not really intimidating¡­ What can a little mushroom thing do?- The mushroom reaches us, jumping forward and ramming directly into our face. As its cap impacts us, a cloud of dust spews out, filling the tunnel. Ouch! That hurt way more than I thought it would! Without me even saying anything, Gloria jumps on top of the mushroom and shreds it to pieces with our claws. That might be a little excessive¡­ With each cut she makes into it, even more of the dust erupts into the air. {Uh, Gloria, I think we should get moving.} [Why? I¡¯m not done teaching this jerk a lesson.] {This dust¡­ I don¡¯t think we should be inhaling it.} [We¡¯ll be fine. Just a little more.] {No, I really think it¡¯s a bad¡­ idea¡­} Suddenly, the guts of the mushroom that Gloria is currently tearing apart begin to warp and shift, growing into a writhing mass and surrounding us on all sides. {Wha-} Smaller versions of the mushroom emerge from the walls, running wildly in circles around us, dancing and screaming. More and more mushrooms pour out from the bleeding gashes in the walls, and the cacophony of their screams becomes unbearable to listen to. They start approaching us slowly, but I¡¯m scared still. They grab and pull at every inch of our body, climbing on top of us and picking us apart until we¡¯re a pile of dust on the ground. Ghuh?! Where¡­ What happened? Urk¡­ My head¡­ The corpse of the mushroom is in front of us, its body no longer a writhing mass of flesh. Was that¡­ real? The other mushroom is gone now, along with the pile of goo it was standing in. huh¡­ {Gloria?} ¡­ No response. That was definitely a hallucination. So, like I thought, that dust was spores of the mushroom. Ugh, we¡¯re drenched in sweat. Gross. I should check if we¡¯re hurt¡­ Hm, it did a little damage, but nothing terrible. Fear resistance and nausea tolerance leveled up¡­ we even got a new skill, confusion resistance, and it¡¯s already level two. We shouldn¡¯t get hit by those spores again¡­ even if it¡¯s not dangerous as an attack, it leaves us way too vulnerable for who knows how long. Well, can¡¯t let this slow us down. Finding food is even more important now that we wasted a ton of time passed out on the ground. The only pathway is the way the mushrooms came from¡­ I really don¡¯t like the idea of being around even more of them, but there¡¯s no choice. I begin my trek through the cave, my path lit up by the eerie bioluminescent light of the plants growing from every side of the cave. As I go deeper and deeper, I¡¯m seeing more and more of what look like the tendrils from that Gaul pod thing. They¡¯re even pulsing to the same strange rhythm¡­ [Hng¡­ Fir?] {Welcome back Gloria. You were out for a while.} [What happened?] {Remember that dust I told you I was worried about inhaling? It was hallucinogenic, and knocked us out cold.} [Oh¡­] {Yeah, no more messing with those mushroom things.} [Yeah¡­ Just the thought of those things makes me angry. I hope we never see one agai-] Gloria stops in the middle of her sentence, because her hope to never see another mushroom has already been squashed completely. What must be thousands of them are walking around in a large open cavern in front of us, lit from every side by the Gaul tendrils, which cover every inch of the cave. Giant exotic plants litter the floor, all glowing a variety of colors. Maybe we should have just stayed up there with Rorthal... Special Chapter: Eyes Wide Open With the force of meteor, an object impacts the desert, displacing the sand below into the air, and causing great tremors within the ground. |Exiting hibernation| The object begins to shift, unfurling into a bronze-colored humanoid shape. Its joints groan loudly as it moves them back and forth, wearing them in after such a long time of inactivity. |Waking persona| A flash shoots through the metal golem¡¯s pink eyes, and its movements begin to become more organic and fluid. It looks around, first at itself, then the area surrounding it, then the sky, which is still partially blocked by the dust cloud that was kicked up in the impact. |Mission received ¡ª mapping surroundings and searching for individual K8| "That won¡¯t be necessary. I am right here." The golem turns towards the source of the quiet voice; a young woman with blonde hair, wearing a white dress, with a bandage wrapped around the middle third of her face. In her right hand she holds an ornate umbrella. Her left eye is tightly shut. |Individual K8 located ¡ª engaging| The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement. With a bright pink flash, the golem appears behind the woman, and throws a swift punch. The heavy fist flies right past her, as she twists her entire body to avoid it. Anticipating another attack, she takes a large leap backwards, putting some distance between her and the golem. |Adjusting strategy| Pink glowing lines begin to cover the golem¡¯s body as it slowly steps closer towards the woman. It holds its right arm out, and the lines leading up to its right hand begin to glow even brighter as a circle of light appears in the air in front of it. |Magic missile ¡ª type: volley| Countless orbs of pink energy coalesce in the air, then launch towards the woman. As the attacks approach her at the speed of bullets, she whispers under her breath. "Always so simple¡­" Then, she opens her left eye. In an instant, the orbs disappear, and the golem falls to the ground in pieces. |Mission failed ¡ª attempting to contact master server| |Error| |Retrying...| |Error| |Retrying...| |Error| The golem continues on like this, until the pink light fades from its eyes, and it goes silent. As the woman in white walks out of the cloud of dust, which still hangs in the air from the initial impact, her left eye is once again tightly shut. Chapter 21: The Cave that Lives This place is hell. That¡¯s the only way to describe it. A monstrous, living hell. Every inch of the wall pulses and glows with life. It¡¯s like being in the stomach of a giant monster. The circle of life in this place is repulsive in how it functions. The mushrooms rush into combat with any non-mushroom monsters they see. The first few to make it to the target are sacrifices. They¡¯re killed, releasing the spores, disorienting the target. Then, the rest of them surround it. I¡¯m not sure exactly how they kill the target, but I¡¯m sure it¡¯s not at all a pleasant way to go. With their target now a corpse, the begin to drag it away. You see, the mushrooms don¡¯t have any kind of mouth to eat with. In order to gain sustenance, they first offer the corpses of both their target and their fallen brethren to the plant-like thing that makes up the walls of this place. Like a way grosser carnivorous plant, it envelops its food completely. I can only guess what happens inside, but I¡¯d guess it¡¯s probably similar to how carnivorous plants worked back in my old world. After its had its meal, it dispenses a paste- the stuff we saw earlier- from one of many ¡®Gaul pods¡¯ growing from the ceiling, which the mushrooms then swarm to, consuming it by standing on it. And this is all just one of many types of life cycle in this place. It¡¯s just the only one I¡¯ve seen enough of to understand. Now that I know more, I can say with certainty that the only reason we survived earlier is because the Gaul pod we were near was too far from the main area of the cave for most Mushles to find. If we had been in an area with more of them, we would have been killed in our spore-induced sleep, and offered up to the Gaul plant. Right now, we¡¯re hiding in a bush of¡­ something, watching a group of Mushles waiting below a Gaul pod. As soon as it drops that goop down, we¡¯re going to run over there, and have a taste. I¡¯m not confident it will taste good, but I trust its safety more than the plants here. The knowledge of what the goo is made of makes me shudder, but we haven¡¯t eaten yet, and it¡¯s been a long time. With a shudder, the Gaul pod begins to move, and the opening stretches wider. [Yuck¡­] The Mushles excitedly get up and begin to run, bouncing on their tiny nub feet. They¡¯d almost be cute if I didn¡¯t know how horrific they can be when hunting. A drip forms in the pod, and falls. Now¡¯s our time. That disgusting goop is ours! We crash into the horde of Mushles as the droplet hits the ground, knocking most of them off their feet. {Remember, no matter what happens, don¡¯t hurt them!} [Gotcha.] The Mushles run at us, trying to block us from getting to the glob of goo on the ground. We push them away delicately, avoiding accidentally hitting them with our claws. We¡¯ve got it! We run into the glob, pushing it away from the horde. It sticks together surprisingly well, and doesn¡¯t stick to the floor as much as I expected. Now, let¡¯s have a taste before those mushrooms can get back to their feet. It¡¯s tougher to tear a bite out of than expected, I¡¯d say somewhere between raw meat and jerky in tear-ability. It¡¯s uncomfortably warm, which is even worse because I was expecting it to be cool. The taste is¡­ huh. Weird. That¡¯s the best descriptor I can come up with. It¡¯s not delicious, which is expected, but it¡¯s also not horribly offensive. It just¡­ I don¡¯t even know. It doesn¡¯t taste like nothing, but the flavor that is there is incredibly faint and hard to pinpoint, almost like it¡¯s running from me. And that¡¯s perfect! Finally, a food that doesn¡¯t require a broken gag reflex to eat! And it¡¯s so easy to get too! We just have to knock some walking mushrooms over! The only food source easier than this is the moss, but the taste, or rather lack of a distinct one, makes this goop worth the extra effort, which is hardly any at all. This area made me uneasy when we first got here, but I¡¯m really starting to come around to it. Ah, the Mushles are starting to gather again, we should get out of here. [Hahaha, so long suckers!] Phew! Well, that should keep us fed for a while. We couldn¡¯t find any natural small branching paths that fit our needs, so we ended up having to cut through the thick, fleshy vines that make up this whole cave and dig our own place. It¡¯s not too bad, honestly. It¡¯s nice and spacious, hidden well, and decently close to a Gaul pod for a food source, without being too close. Speaking of how spacious it is, I expected us to hit rock pretty quickly as we cut through the vines, but we never hit it at all, and we dug pretty far! I thought there¡¯d be maybe three feet of the stuff as most, but we got about ten feet deep before we decided it was deep enough. Just how big is this thing? And what is it? If we had woken up in this area immediately upon being reincarnated, I think we might have just died of shock. The whole place is so alien. Welp, our little base of operations is mostly set up now, so it¡¯s time to head out for some good old grinding. Unfortunately, we haven¡¯t found a monster weak enough to kill that isn¡¯t the Mushles, so for now we¡¯re stuck at level one. At least we can level our skills. Let¡¯s see, today we should focus on¡­ how about insight? It¡¯s level nine, and it¡¯s been there for a while, so it¡¯s bound to be close to evolving at this point. Insight¡¯s been great up until now, so I can¡¯t even start to imagine how great it will be once it evolves to its next stage. Let¡¯s go! There it is! Bye bye insight, and hello appraisal! Let¡¯s try it out immediately! appraisal!
    If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.
    Hmm¡­ Isn¡¯t that just exactly what it was like before? Yep, definitely just exactly the same as before. Maaaan¡­ well, maybe it¡¯ll get better as it levels up. Until then, let¡¯s try it on something else. How about¡­ You! Now, one more time. Appraisal!
    It worked! It really worked! Oh man, this is great. With this¡­ ah, we can do so much! We can learn info that will inform our strategies in fights, we can learn where certain monsters spend a lot of time to make setting traps easier, we can¡­ I could go on and on, this really is great! Let¡¯s try appraising some more stuff! [Mushle spotted.] Kuhuhu! You cannot escape, little mushroom¡­ our ¡®eyes¡¯ can see you no matter where you are! [...What the hell¡¯s wrong with you?] Appraisal! Woah, we can see their health, mana, and energy too! This skill just keeps getting better and better! Now, time to find out your deepest darkest secrets¡­ [why are you being so weird?]
    I see, I see. I already found most of that out myself, but this will be great for monsters we don¡¯t know anything about. Now, what to do next¡­ [I have an idea! Now that we can use magic, let¡¯s see what we can do with the three types of magic we¡¯ve had for a while, earth, spacial, and black magic.] {Oooh! Yeah, let¡¯s do that!} First, let¡¯s go with¡­ earth. Black magic kinda scares me, considering the circumstances we got it from.
    As I thought, appraisal works on our skills. Unfortunately, it¡¯s quite¡­ vague. And what¡¯s up with the number next to the earth movement spell? Can spells level up too?! That makes things much more complicated¡­ What does ¡°earth movement¡± even do?! I thought the first spell would be rock bullet or something. Can we even use this spell down here, when the surroundings are entirely made of the Gaul plant? Well, that¡¯s a bust. How about Spacial magic?
    ¡®Designate¡¯? This one¡¯s even more confusing than earth magic. Maybe black magic will have something more interesting.
    Looks like black magic is exactly what I thought it is, but the first spell still doesn¡¯t seem too useful. I guess this is going to be a pattern with all the level one magic skills. At least we¡¯ll probably be able to use soul sight, unlike earth movement. In fact, why not try now? I close my eyes, using the magic understanding skill to picture the magic I need to cast in my mind. At the same time, I focus the mana within our body to my head. Once I¡¯ve fully understood the magic, I begin constructing the circle within our eyes, drawing from the clump of mana slowly. That should do it, I wonder if it wo- As soon as I open my eyes, I see a blue glow within the Mushle that we appraised earlier. It¡¯s a strange sight, it kind of reminds me of that one bug that happened in some video games, where an object would be visible through walls and the lighting on it would be weird. It seems pretty useful. This place is really dark, so it¡¯ll be great to be able to tell where the monsters are even in the pitch darkness. It¡¯d be great to be able to have it running 24/7, but we don¡¯t have unlimited mana. Actually, I should keep an eye on that, since we have no idea how fast this spell drains our mana yet. Ah!- I quickly disable the spell, before it has the chance to suck away any more of our mana. It drains way more mana than I expected. We were at max mana before, now we¡¯re down to nearly half! That¡¯s way too much drain to even consider using this spell frequently, like I had hoped we could. Now that we¡¯ve discovered what spells we have available to us, we should- grumble Ah, I guess we should eat before anything else. Let¡¯s see, where¡¯s the nearest Gaul pod¡­ {Ready?} [Yep.] We¡¯ve been waiting under this Gaul pod for a while now, and it¡¯s just started moving. It shouldn¡¯t be long until our meal¡­ The Mushles have already started gathering, we¡¯re going to have to be cautious. It¡¯s so irritating, they¡¯re not even strong, they¡¯re just dangerous because of those stupid spores. Better than the alternative of a bunch of strong mushrooms that fight in groups, I suppose. [Hm? What¡¯re they doing?] That¡¯s¡­ weird. The Mushles stopped getting closer. They¡¯re just looking around, standing still. What are they doi- Whoosh! Three mushrooms that I was just looking straight at disappear, seemingly swallowed by the darkness around us. The rest of the mushrooms scatter, running around in circles, directionless. {Be ready.} Whoosh! More and more mushrooms continue to disappear. Something is here. And it¡¯s fast. Chapter 22: Stalker {Stay on your toes, it might come after us next.} Whatever it is. We could run, but it¡¯s definitely faster than us, judging by how quickly those Mushles disappear. How can we get out of this? Fighting head on isn¡¯t an option, since it¡¯s too fast to see, let alone fight. Magic¡­ No, none of our spells are useful for this. I could use soul control to block its attacks for at least one attack, but I don¡¯t know how strong it is, so it¡¯s too dangerous. It could end up knocking me back into a coma like before, or even worse. Gah! Think, think! There has to be a way out of this. I just need¡­ to think¡­ I¡¯ll check our skills. There might be something I¡¯m forgetting, like when we forgot about artistry for a while. No¡­ Shit! Nothing here would help! If we could just see it, we¡¯d at least be able to try to dodge it. But there¡¯s no way for us to see it right now, it¡¯s too dark, even with enhanced eyesight and dark sight. Wait, no. I have an idea. It¡¯s just¡­ Very risky. But it¡¯s the only thing I can think of at this point. Damn it. I begin gathering mana, pushing it towards our head in a hurry. As it funnels in, I start constructing the level one black magic spell, soul sight, within our eyes. This is the only way. It drains mana unbelievably fast, but it will let us see whatever¡¯s attacking us. Now, no more hiding! Blue lights appear within the Mushles that frantically run around us, glowing brightly. Where are you¡­ I look around in every direction, desperately searching for a light in the dark. Finally, my eyes land on something. There you are. Now, we just have to watch carefully, and- With a flash, the light vanishes from my sight, and another Mushle disappears. Well, that failed fast. Let¡¯s not waste any time and move straight to plan B. That being, run away as fast as our little legs can carry us. As we leave the area, I can hear the sounds of whatever that thing is killing the Mushles. Hopefully, we can just quietly make our way far far away, and it won¡¯t follow us. But of course we wouldn¡¯t get that lucky. This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it I assume it finished off all the Mushles, and decided to follow our trail. Damn it. We really need to invest some time into leveling camouflage and stealth. If we get out of this alive, that is. Right now, we¡¯re just walking slowly, pretending not to notice it. Now that it¡¯s actually targeting us, I can vaguely tell which direction it¡¯s in. At least, I think I can? I¡¯m not too sure, danger sense is a weird skill. Regardless, it¡¯s stalking us, watching our every movement. I¡¯m certain that if we do anything out of the ordinary, it won¡¯t be so passive anymore. Maybe it¡¯s curious about us, since there aren¡¯t any other monsters like us around here? It¡¯s fine by me if it keeps this up, it¡¯s giving us time to think of a plan. That¡¯s not going great though. A bit of extra time doesn¡¯t really help against something so overwhelmingly fast. But there has to be away. We can¡¯t die here, not after all we¡¯ve done. If we were going to die so pointlessly, I would have rather just died during that huge fall our first day(?) in this world. What¡¯s the point in lasting this long to simply die without accomplishing anything? I just need to think a little harder! I¡¯m sure a perfect plan is right on the tip of my tongue! But it¡¯s hard to plan with so little information. We know nothing about this thing other than the fact that it¡¯s impossibly fast. If we could just get a look at it, maybe I could get some useful information from appraising it. But again, I only know the vague direction it¡¯s in, there¡¯s no way for me to look directly at it. ...Except, there is. How could I forget?! Soul sight may not help us track it thanks to its stupid speed, but if all we need to do is look in its direction for a second or two, its more than enough. We just need to do it without it getting suspicious. {Gloria, act natural. Keep walking, don¡¯t even think about doing anything else.} [Why? Did you come up with something?] {Yeah. Just keep doing what you¡¯re doing, I¡¯ll get us out of this.} In times like this, it¡¯s great to have Gloria. The amount of focus required to cast magic is too much to do anything else, even just walking forward. Without Gloria, I¡¯d have to completely stop in my tracks to cast soul sight, which would obviously raise some suspicion in our stalker¡¯s head. But thanks to her¡­ it¡¯s done, and our fast friend is none the wiser. {I activated soul sight. Look around for it¡¯s soul, but don¡¯t make it obvious.} [Gotcha.] Now, we wait. And as soon as we catch a glimpse of that thing¡­ Appraisal! Ah, shit. Those stats are scary. But that¡¯s not what I appraised it for. Let¡¯s find out a little more about our stalker here. That¡­ was more clear-cut than I expected. So we just need to be in light and it won¡¯t attack us? In that case, what we need to do is completely clear now. I dispel the soul sight spell, and immediately begin working on another one. This time, the level one basic magic spell, mana light. We don¡¯t have much mana left, thanks to soul sight, but mana light doesn¡¯t drain it nearly as fast, so we should be fine. After just a few seconds of focus, a ball of glowing mana appears above us. What will you do now, Mr stalker? No matter what, we¡¯re not gonna stick around to find out. This whole time, we¡¯ve been slowly walking towards our burrow. If we had tried to escape into it before, it surely would have killed us before we could make it in. But with this light, it will be completely helpless as we slip away into our home, which it¡¯s definitely too big to fit in. I wasn¡¯t completely sure before, but appraisal said it¡¯s a big cat, so I¡¯m like ninety nine percent sure it won¡¯t fit inside. Basically, it¡¯s our win. I have a feeling my heart¡¯s not going to calm down until we¡¯re back home though. The moment we step into the safety of our burrow, I dispel the mana light, and we collapse to the ground. I don¡¯t think we¡¯ll be able to move for a while. The adrenaline was all that was keeping us moving back there. But, we made it! We lived! We¡­ almost didn¡¯t. One wrong step, and that easily could have been our end. If we want to continue to live, we need to learn from this, and improve. Against enemies like that, fighting is useless, so training our strength is therefore also pointless. We won- no, lived because of information. So, if we want to keep living, we need to improve our information gathering abilities. But not just by leveling our existing skills, we need to get some new ones as well. I think I have an idea, but I don¡¯t know how long it¡¯ll take, and while I¡¯m doing it, I won¡¯t be able to do anything else. Gloria¡¯s going to have to take over for a while. If this works, we¡¯ll be much better off against any type of threat. If it doesn¡¯t¡­ oh well, we tried.
    Fir suddenly said he¡¯s gonna be working on something, and I have to take over the stuff he usually does. I asked if it was just cause he¡¯s a scaredy cat, and he said that¡¯s not the case, but I don¡¯t think I believe him¡­ Well, whatever! Scaredy cat or not, I can handle myself! Apparently, I also can¡¯t talk to him while he¡¯s busy unless I reeeeally need help. But that¡¯s also fine! I¡¯ll show Fir how great I really am! I¡¯ll kick those monster¡¯s asses, all on my own! Not today though, sleep comes first. Chapter 23: New Pal It¡¯s a new day! Well, maybe not. I just woke up, is all. Fir is off working hard (probably) on his own, so I better get to work quick too! Obviously the first thing I gotta do is eat, so I¡¯ll get to the other stuff after that. Before Fir got to work, he told me to try to use mana light constantly, so we¡¯d be safe if we crossed paths with that super duper fast monster again. It¡¯s a bit of a pain, but I don¡¯t wanna get mauled to death by a giant monster either, so I guess I¡¯ll do it. I feel like I won¡¯t have to worry too much about that though. It took a looong time until we met that monster, so there can¡¯t be that many of them down here. I think I¡¯d be fine even without the light. Fir wants us to be safe rather than sorry though, and I don¡¯t have a reason not to. Not like I need the mana. Fir¡¯s the magic guy, not me. All the magic we have now is suuuuper useless anyway. We can make a small light, do whatever soul sight is, and then I¡¯m not even sure what the other two do. Really, not worth dealing with. Why work so hard on magic when I can solve any problem we come across with my fists! Need shelter? Hit the ground hard and make a big hole. Need food? Hit a monster really hard until it stops moving. Getting attacked? Hit the attacker really hard until they run away with their tail tucked between their legs. It¡¯s the easiest and most obvious solution! I¡¯ll prove it right now, since it looks like I showed up a little late to the Gaul pod. We know Mushles are dangerous to attack, since they shoot out those nasty spores whenever their skin gets pierced, but that doesn¡¯t mean it¡¯s impossible. Watch and learn! Around the base of the Gaul pod, Mushles are already crowded in a circle directly under the opening. They don¡¯t know I¡¯m coming, so I have a good advantage. Cutting them means I lose, so I¡¯ll try my best to ball up my fists to keep the sharp parts of my claws contained. Now, I¡¯ll jump out from behind the rock I¡¯m using as cover, and run to the Mushles as fast as I can, to keep as much element of surprise as I can. A few of them notice me, but my arrival is too sudden for them to get ready in time. I don¡¯t slow myself down before I reach them, instead, I trip myself, launching myself sideways directly into the crowd. My back impacts the group, knocking a ton of them over like bowling pins. Just like that, most of the things are on the ground, struggling to get up. Mushles can¡¯t easily stand back up once they fall, since their limbs are just little nubs. Now, there are only two left standing. They obviously stand no chance against me, but they¡¯re still gonna fight to the end, cause these guys have no sense of self preservation at all. Until every single one is unable to fight, It¡¯s not safe for me to eat. Luckily, I don¡¯t have to worry about the food getting stolen, since they know they¡¯re not safe to eat until I¡¯m out of the picture too. So now it¡¯s just a two on one fight, with a time limit of maybe about a minute until the rest of them manage to stand back up. Let¡¯s not drag this out, they¡¯re way weaker than me. No need to overthink. The first one runs at me, so I kick one of its pals at it, knocking it off its feet. Meanwhile, the last one¡­ Ah! That son of a bitch started eating! Damn it, I didn¡¯t expect them to be that dumb! Get out of here! I slap it away, knocking it towards the rest of them. Ugh, that little jerk¡­ Well, at least it didn¡¯t get to take much. There¡¯s still more than enough food left for me. If only those things didn¡¯t have those spores. It¡¯d be so much easier to just chop them up and eat them. I wonder how they¡¯d taste¡­ If only we were immune to those spores¡­ ...Aha? Maybe we can be? Back when we first got hit by them, we got the confusion resistance skill. If we make that skill stronger, couldn¡¯t we just power through the spores and chop those suckers up? But would I grow that skill? ...Heyyyy little guys¡­ Chomp! You¡¯re coming with me! The Mushle struggles in my mouth as I carry it away, but it can¡¯t overpower the grip I have on it. This little guy¡¯s gonna be my training partner. I¡¯m gonna tie him up, and expose my self to a liiiiiittle bit of his spores every so often. Eventually, I should be completely immune! If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it. To tie him up¡­ maybe I could get something from the giant mushrooms? I set the Mushle down beside me as I approach a giant mushroom. Don¡¯t go anywhere! Let¡¯s see¡­ if I peel the outer layer off¡­ The inside does seem pretty fibrous, this should work. I cut out a length of fibers from the inside of the mushroom, and clumsily fumble with them. Damn it¡­ I miss having human hands. Come oooon¡­ Ah, whatever, this is good enough. Now, let¡¯s tie you up. Yep! You¡¯re not going anywhere like that. The two of us are gonna be spending a loooot of time together for the foreseeable future¡­ Here we are! Your new home, my little cave. It¡¯s not much, but it¡¯s home! How do you like it? The Mushle kicks its legs frantically. I¡¯ll take that as approval! Welcome home! You¡¯ll absolutely love it here, trust me. Now, let¡¯s not waste time. I gotta hurry up and level up confusion resistance so I can start eating this things! Carefully, I make a small cut on the Mushle¡¯s cap, squeezing it a little to push the spores out. Now I just need to inhale this, and- The instant the spores enter my body, it feels like the world starts spinning around me. The walls of my den shift, closing in and expanding at the same time. Oof¡­ This doesn¡¯t feel great¡­ But if I power through this, I¡¯ll get to start hunting for food again¡­ Yeah! I just gotta power through this! H-Huhhgn? Level four¡­ wasn¡¯t it only at level two though? Ah, how long have I been sitting around for? I can¡¯t remember a thing¡­ what happened? Urk¡­ My head is killing me. I guess I must¡¯ve passed out from the Mushle spores. Speaking of¡­ I look behind me, and I see the Mushle, still struggling against the rope. Yup, still here. You won¡¯t be able to escape that easily pal! Well, I think that was enough for now. Next¡­ Hm, I kinda wanna move. This area¡¯s cool and all, but I¡¯m kinda sick of it. Mhm, I¡¯ve made my decision! I¡¯m moving out! And since Fir isn¡¯t around, there¡¯s no one to yell at me for being reckless~ C¡¯mon little guy! We¡¯re heading out! I grab the Mushle in my mouth, and start walking. Y¡¯know, maybe I should give you a name? Fir got mad at me when I named Nea, but this should be fine. Let¡¯s see¡­ Mushy? No¡­ too easy. Shroomly? Nah¡­ Aha! I got it! From now on, your name will be Mushthew! How about it, do you like your new name Mushthew? Mushthew continues to struggle, as he¡¯s been doing for the entire time I¡¯ve been walking. I will take that as a yes! I¡¯ve been walking for a while now, making my way further into the unexplored parts of the cave. This Gaul plant thing really is huge. I can¡¯t believe it¡¯s possible for something to be this big! I wonder what it looks like on the outside? Well, we probably won¡¯t ever find out! This freaky interior is all we¡¯ll ever know. I kinda wish we could just get out of this thing already. It¡¯s nice to have a food source we¡¯re both fine with, but it could be waaaaay better. For example¡­ I eye Mushthew, who is still thrashing around wildly. Soon enough, soon enough. For now, maybe I should try finding something else to hunt. If that big cat thing exists down here, there¡¯s gotta be something else too, right? Believe me, I know my stuff about food chains! And I know that there¡¯s no way in hell those things keep themselves fed with just Mushles. So, there¡¯s gotta be something else somewhere down here. Or that cat would¡¯ve died a loooong time ago. If it¡¯s something that cat hunts, it might not be an easy fight, but it has a chance to be super worth it! Also, a tough fight¡¯d be fun! I haven¡¯t been able to have some real fun since the leader of the ants all the way back then. Good times¡­ Ah, we also can¡¯t level up easily if we don¡¯t find stuff to fight! That¡¯s good, I¡¯ll use that as an excuse if Fir gets upset at me for fighting something. Anyway, it¡¯s getting kinda late now, I think. I dunno, I¡¯m just tired. I think it¡¯s about time I dig a lil place and rest for a while. There! It¡¯s not as big as the last one, but this is good enough for one night. Now, Mushthew, come here¡­ I grab Mushthew, and make another small cut on his cap. Spores pour out into the air, and immediately my sight begins to wobble again. Thanks buddy! Now, I¡¯ll lay down, and rest¡­ this out- Snoooore Chapter 24: New Enemies Snoor- GAH! Where- what happened?! ¡­ Ah, now I remember. I smelled some of Mushthew¡¯s spores, then passed out. Right. Well, time to check and see if it worked.
    Oooh, level six already! Looks like it¡¯s working super great! There are some other skills here I don¡¯t recognize, but I¡¯m pretty sure they¡¯re from whatever Fir¡¯s doing, so I¡¯ll just ignore them. At this rate, maybe I won¡¯t even pass out from the spores soon! But wouldn¡¯t that mean it¡¯ll also be harder to level the skill..? I know! I¡¯ll just start making bigger cuts, and inhaling more spores at once! Hehe, I¡¯m a genius. Now, I think it¡¯s about time we leave. Ready to go Mushthew? Leaving behind a home is always a little scary, even if it was just a quickly assembled temporary one. But we have no choice! If we just always stayed in the same place, scared to leave, we¡¯d never get anywhere! So, with a just a little hesitation, I set off once more, Mushthew in tow.
    Fifty seven times eighty three equals¡­ Four thousand seven hundred and thirty one. Six¡­ ah screw it, I need a break. I don¡¯t even know how long I¡¯ve been doing this at this point. Maybe I should start keeping track of that too. At least it¡¯s been working, both the concentration and calculation skills are growing at a nice rate. I don¡¯t think calculation will be that useful of a skill, so I¡¯m really just working on it in hopes it becomes a more useful, all-purpose skill later. Concentration is the one I¡¯m really after. I don¡¯t think I need to explain exactly why concentration will be as useful as it will be, it¡¯s pretty self-explanatory. I have my eyes on a few more skills I want to get my hands on, so I think I¡¯ll switch over away from calculation soon. I found the skills I want to get using the skill terminal. I just attempted to use it with various different skills I thought could possibly exist, and it either told me they don¡¯t exist or asked if I wanted to buy them. I said no to buying them all, of course. It isn¡¯t efficient to waste resources that we don¡¯t know how to get more of on skills we could get just by training for a while. Like, why buy calculation when you could just do some mental math for a while like I¡¯m doing. A much better use of SP would be to buy something like magic skills, which can¡¯t be reasonably obtained down here, if at all. At least, we won¡¯t waste our SP on obtainable skills until we figure out how we get more of it anyway. If we find a way to get a ton of SP easily, then obviously we¡¯ll start buying up everything we can get our hands on. Until then though, we don¡¯t have the budget to be pay-to-win.
    Hm? I think I see something weird ahead of me. A glowing rock is jutting out of the Gaul vines. I¡¯m gonna check it out. The rock glows a light, pale blue. It can almost be mistaken for white light with how pale it is. It illuminates the area around it, revealing that the vines of the Gaul plant around it are a different color than the area I came from. Before, the vines were all one shade of green, but here, they¡¯re a sickly, pale white, with putrid green undertones. They¡¯re glossier than the vines from before as well, shimmering like an oil spill against the light of the rock. Now that I¡¯m seeing it in light, the whole cave looks the same. I guess it changed without me realizing at some point. Maybe we¡¯re almost out of this area? I kinda hope we are, I¡¯m a liiiittle sick of this place. The food¡¯s alright I guess. Guess it¡¯s not the end, it¡¯s been a little since I passed that glowing rock and I¡¯m still not seeing anything different. Same old giant mushrooms everywhere. Oh well! That said, it is still gradually changing. I¡¯m seeing more and more of those big glowy rocks as I go further. The mushrooms and stuff are glowing more too. I bet Fir would find this interesting. He doesn¡¯t wanna be bothered though¡­ Eh, his loss I guess. Ah, and one thing that I didn¡¯t mention, there are some new monsters I don¡¯t recognize. AKA, new prey! First up, this little bipedal lizard thing. It almost looks like a T-rex! Much smaller, of course. It has a big fin on it¡¯s head that runs all the way down it¡¯s neck, with some glowing patterns on it. Now, let¡¯s see how it fights. Stay here Mushthew, I¡¯ll be back soon! As I approach, it notices me, and enters an aggressive stance. The fin on it¡¯s head moves, and two fins on the side of it¡¯s head that I didn¡¯t notice before expand outward, forming a circle around it¡¯s head. Ahhh~ Veeeery scaaary. But is this all bark, or do you have some bite? I¡¯ll let you make the first move, c¡¯mon!If you encounter this narrative on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. It inches closer, holding the aggressive stance and hissing angrily. Come ooooon. Hurry up, or I¡¯ll start thinking you¡¯re weak and take the first attack myself! Right as I¡¯m about to give up on throwing it a bone, it stops getting closer, hissing as loud as it can. Then, a streak of purple liquid shoots out of the top of its mouth and hits me right in the face. Ow! Fuck! So you had a hidden card, huh? But if that¡¯s all, then¡­ Ah, it burns. Poison?! So you¡¯re not that much of a weakling, huh? Too bad though, your poison isn¡¯t fast enough, so all you did was make me angry! Come here! Ouch, ouch, ouch¡­ The monster itself wasn¡¯t strong at all, but this poison suuucks. As soon as I killed it, I did my best to wipe off all the poison, buuut¡­ I don¡¯t exactly have any protection for my hands¡­ So now I¡¯m stuck with a burning face and burning hands too. It¡¯s super hard to walk, it hurts to put any pressure on my feet. It¡¯s not impossible, but I¡¯d just rather not. I don¡¯t think I¡¯m gonna die though. Health regen is such a hard worker, already helping out before the poison¡¯s even all gone. What would we do without it? Well, I guess I should give this new kind of meat a try. I hope it¡¯s not tainted by the poison. The scaly skin probably won¡¯t be very fun, so I¡¯m gonna try my best to peel that off first. Ouch, ouch, damn it. Still hurts to use my hands. That should do it. I took the skin off a nice big chunk. Maybe I should have started with a smaller piece, just in case it¡¯s bad. Oh well! *Munch* Hm. It doesn¡¯t taste poisonous. But it¡¯s definitely a bit weird. I hope Fir isn¡¯t paying attention to his sense of taste right now, if he hated how those ants tasted he¡¯d probably rather die than eat this! Yeah, it¡¯s definitely not very good. It¡¯ll do in a pinch, but the Gaul pod goo is better. Not gonna let it go to waste though, I¡¯m gonna eat as much as I can. Huh? Maybe it was a little poisonous. Or maybe there was just a little bit left in my system from when I got hit by it. Meh, I¡¯ll be fine. I was gonna hunt the other things I saw and try them, but I don¡¯t really feel like it now that my feet are injured. Also, I already ate. They can wait, I guess. I can¡¯t really think of anything else to do right now, so it¡¯s time to work on leveling confusion resistance. C¡¯mere Mushthew!
    Poison tolerance¡­? Why do we have that? What has Gloria been doing¡­ If we¡¯re still alive, we¡¯re probably fine, and our health is slowly going up. I wish I could keep an eye on her while also training concentration¡­
    *Pat pat* Hehe¡­ I¡¯m all healed! No more pain whenever I take a step! Great timing, because I¡¯m just starting to get hungry again. Alright! My next target is a snake, It didn¡¯t look very meaty but it was long, so that should balance out. Hopefully I get lucky and this one isn¡¯t poisonous too. Target spotted! Let¡¯s see what you can do, hopefully a bit more than that guy earlier! When it notices me, it begins making a rattling noise. The rattle itself is a little too far for me to see, but it¡¯s suuuper loud. You¡¯ll have to try harder than that to get me to go away though. Get over here! It lunges at me as I run to attack it, but I manage to just barely knock it out of the air before it can sink its fangs into me. Too bad!~ Huh? That¡¯s weird, the very end of its body splits off into two. One side ends with a rattle, and the other side- Crap! The snake¡¯s tail flies at me, and I feel a sharp, burning sensation as it reaches me. Damn it! Sneaky fucker! One tail has a rattle, the other has a giant spike. I don¡¯t think it hit anything vital, I can still fight. Let¡¯s do this, asshole! It lunges at me with its head again. This time, I put my forearm in its way, and allow it to bite into it. It doesn¡¯t even hurt? Does it even have fangs? In the moment of hesitation from the confusion of the lack of pain from the snake¡¯s bite, its tail shoots at me again. Not this time! I jump above the tail spike before it reaches me, resulting in it flying past, uncontrolled. *Snap!* Wha- The snake falls off of my arm, limp. Is it¡­ dead? It seems like the momentum from its tail flying past me caused its neck to snap, because it was still attached to my arm at an unfortunate angle. What a dummy. Well, better check out that wound. Oof, yikes. It¡¯s worse than I expected. Not by much, but still worse. There¡¯s a hole, maybe around an inch and a half wide, in my side. It seems pretty deep, too. Lucky it went in at an angle. I wonder if any of the plants or mushrooms around here are medicinal? If not, we might be in a biiiiit of trouble. Should I get Fir¡­? No, no, this is fine, I can handle it. Besides, if we do die from this, I¡¯m sure he¡¯d want to go out without realizing. Probably. Just gotta let ol¡¯ reliable, health regeneration, take care of it. It¡¯s bleeding pretty bad though, this might be a little much for poor health regen to handle¡­ Well, I¡¯m sure it¡¯ll turn out fine, somehow! Chapter 25: Green Goo Ouch, ouch, ouch¡­ After managing to kill that snake, I dug a small, temporary shelter and carried its body into it. I¡¯ve been resting here ever since then, giving that massive wound some time to recover. I¡¯ve tried to sleep, but the pain is keeping me up. It¡¯s a wonder I was even able to dig this hole and carry the snake with the amount of pain I¡¯m in. Probably the adrenaline from the fight. I don¡¯t think I can rest here for much longer though. That snake will keep me fed for a while, if the meat¡¯s even good, but I dunno if it¡¯ll last me long enough to rest through this injury. Also¡­ now that I think about it, I should probably feed Mushthew too, shouldn¡¯t I? I¡¯ve been neglecting to feed him all this time¡­ That¡¯s probably pretty bad, huh? Yeah, looks like I won¡¯t be able to just sit on my ass while the wound heals. I have stuff to do. I don¡¯t wanna waste time out there though, especially when I¡¯m in this much pain, so I should make a plan. Food isn¡¯t a priority right now, since I have a snake corpse here, but I should scout for Gaul pods to eventually feed Mushthew with. Meanwhile, I also gotta look for any plants or mushrooms that could be medicinal, to help the healing process. Ugh, so I basically don¡¯t have any concrete goals I could consider the ¡®end¡¯ of this little expedition. That means this¡¯ll probably take foreeeever. Gotta do it though, I¡¯ve already spent enough time lying around doing nothing. Damn it¡­ Damn it¡­ Ouch¡­ Hoo! Okay! I made it out the door! Now¡­ ugh, maybe I should rest for a liiittle longer. No. No. I¡¯ll go. It¡¯s just¡­ ugh, it hurts. I decided I would look for medicinal stuff, but how exactly do I tell? I feel like it¡¯s not a great Idea to rub random stuff into my giant gaping wound. But I don¡¯t know how I¡¯d know unless I tested it on my self. I could always use Mushthew as a guinea pig, but stuff that works on him may not work on me. We¡¯re completely different types of monsters. Hm. If I had a smaller, less severe injury, the stakes wouldn¡¯t be as high. Maybe if I make a small cut somewhere on my body, I could test stuff on that. Yeah, that¡¯ll probably work. Just have to hope anything around here is actually medicinal. Alright, just found a nice little area with a few different plants and mushrooms. I guess I¡¯ll just¡­ grab ¡®em randomly and try them all? First, let¡¯s go with¡­ this one. It¡¯s a small plant, with stems that seem too thick for the leaves growing from them. I create a small cut on my forearm, then cut off one of the stems of the plant. I expected green goo to immediately start gushing out, but the stem is solid all the way through. In that case, I¡¯ll crush it up into a paste and use that instead. It still seems a little dry¡­ Maybe if I¡­ there we go! A little saliva, and it¡¯s good to go. Now, I¡¯ll rub it on the cut I made and hope it works. It stings a little as I cover the wound with the green paste, but nowhere near as much as the gaping wound in my side, so I handle it easily. ...So, how long should I wait? I have a little experience with using natural stuff like this on wounds, but now that I think back on it, none of them were very fast¡­ Definitely not fast enough to be able to test every single one of these plants. Hmph. Well, I don¡¯t know what to do now. Maybe if I just mush up all the plants together and shove them in the wound, the good ones will cancel out the bad ones and also heal the wound. Eh, might as well. It probably couldn¡¯t hurt, right? If I could reach it better, I¡¯d just sew the thing shut with my claws and some mushroom fibers. Yeah, I¡¯m just gonna shove stuff into it and hope it¡¯s fine. First, I¡¯ll take some of the plant mush I already made and put it in there. Now¡­ some of this plant¡­ ah, this one has some goo in the stem, perfect. Then¡­ how about this mushroom? And maybe a little bit of this other plant too.The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. There, all done. I applied as much plant goo as I could to the wound, then wrapped it up in a bandage made of mushroom fiber and sticky plant goo. I also added some more mushroom fiber to the area of the wound to act as a sort of gauze. It seems to be working, it¡¯s already starting to feel a little numb! But that numbness is also spreading a bit further than just the wound, so I should probably get back to my shelter before I¡¯m completely unable to move. Guess Mushthew¡¯s gonna have to wait a while to eat. Too bad! Ow, ow, ow, pins and needles! As soon as I step far enough inside the shelter to be safe, I collapse onto the side of my body with no hole in it. Ugh, I¡¯m exhausted. And hungry. I wanna try the snake, but¡­ it¡¯s sooo far away¡­ But I¡¯m starving¡­ Ugggh¡­ Hesitantly, I begin dragging myself along the ground towards the corpse of the snake. Ow¡­ ow¡­ ow¡­ ow¡­ I¡¯ve never had snake before, I wonder how this will taste. First, I¡¯ll peel off a section of the skin, then¡­ It¡¯s time to dig in! Hm, interesting. The texture reminds me of fish, and it tastes vaguely like chicken. It¡¯s actually¡­ pretty good! It¡¯s too bad Fir isn¡¯t here, he¡¯d be so excited right now. As soon as he comes back, I¡¯ll tell him I found good food. Although¡­ Fighting this snake was not a fun experience. I might¡¯ve ended up with another super bad injury if I didn¡¯t get so lucky. If I tell Fir about this, he¡¯ll probably want to start hunting these snakes more often, since everything else down here tastes gross. But if I lie, and say the snakes taste terrible, he¡¯ll have no choice but to accept it and bear with the other sources of food down here. Hm, a tough choice. Pff, no it isn¡¯t, obviously I¡¯m gonna lie to him. Sorry Fir, but fighting one of these things isn¡¯t worth the taste. Especially since I¡¯m the one who has to do the fighting! It¡¯s a big shame he can¡¯t taste this though. He really would love it. Well¡­ maybe love is too strong of a word to use. It¡¯s raw meat, compared to the food from our old lives, it¡¯s not good. Anyway! Now that I¡¯ve got a full stomach, I think it¡¯s about time I give this wound some more time to heal. When I get up, I¡¯ll do my best to get Mushthew something to eat. No promises though, I dunno if the wound will even be better by the time I get up. Yaaawn¡­ Ow¡­ it hurts again. Doesn¡¯t seem as bad as before though. Well, time to go pick up some food for Mushthew. I hope my timing isn¡¯t too bad, I¡¯d hate to have to wait there for a while for the thing to make any of that goop. It¡¯d also be bad if I showed up too late though, cause the other Mushles¡¯ll get to the stuff first. I guess being early is slightly better, so I¡¯ll head out right now. Woooah, that¡¯s interesting. I just got to the Gaul pod, and there are some Mushles starting to crowd around, so I¡¯m on time. But that¡¯s not the interesting part. The interesting part is those little T-rex lookin¡¯ things, like the one I fought a little while ago. They¡¯re standing in a group a bit farther back, staring at the Mushles. I think I see what¡¯s going on here. The Mushles all gather at Gaul pods to eat, and the dinosaur things- ah, I should just appraise them. -The Dilophopoda gather too, to eat the Mushles, probably. It kinda makes sense they would be able to eat the Mushles no problem, since they probably have a tolerance to poison and stuff cause they use it too. Wait, isn¡¯t this kinda terrible for me? If those dinos start killing the Mushles, the whole area¡¯s gonna be filled with spores, and I don¡¯t have a strong enough resistance to not pass out immediately! Depending on who wins between the dinos and the mushrooms, I¡¯ll either get eaten in my sleep, or sacrificed to the Gaul plant in my sleep. Either way, I¡¯ll die! I could go over there and try to take out the dinos, before they have the chance to attack the Mushles, but¡­ Yeah, nope, nevermind. That¡¯s a terrible idea. I beat one of them one-on-one before, and I know about the poison now, but I don¡¯t think I could beat a whole group of ¡®em. Yep, I¡¯m just gonna give up for now. Sorry again Mushthew! Ehhh? Come on, don¡¯t be like that. It¡¯s not like I¡¯m doing this on purpose! He¡¯s just a mushroom with legs, can you really consider this cruelty? It¡¯s not like I¡¯m starving a puppy! I promise I¡¯ll feed him as soon as possible! He¡¯ll totally be fine until then! From behind, I hear a loud splat noise, followed by the sound of the Dilophopodas beginning to attack. Time to get outta here before things get worse. Hey Mushthew, I¡¯m back! He kicks against the string binding him. Sorry, didn¡¯t manage to get you any food this time. Next time will be different though, promise. Maybe it¡¯s time to move further. I¡¯m able to move now, albeit with pain, so it¡¯s not like I¡¯m stuck here. I¡¯ll head out in a bit, and we¡¯ll settle near a new Gaul pod, preferably one away from those dino¡¯s hunting grounds. I¡¯m sure we¡¯ll be able to find a perfect little place for us to stay for a while, we just gotta look! Chapter 26 Perfect. That took a very long time. I don¡¯t know exactly how long, because I haven¡¯t been working on getting a time keeping skill just yet, but it definitely took longer than I would have liked. But I know this will be worth it. Now, I should get back to the real world. I hope Gloria stayed out of trouble. As I focus back onto the world around me, I immediately feel a pain manifest on the left side of my body. [Right, left, now right again! Hah, your movements are too simple!] What¡¯s going on? In front of us, there¡¯s a snake flailing its tail around wildly. Somehow, Gloria is dodging each one of the swings that come close enough to hit us. Occasionally, the snake makes a motion that makes it seem like it¡¯s about to lunge and bite us, but Gloria is unphased whenever it does and it backs away. {Uh, hi?} [Oh, hi Fir! Welcome back!] The snake launches its tail at us again, hissing and rattling. [Hold on, lemme finish this guy off.] While its guard is down, Gloria grabs the snake¡¯s neck in our mouth, and after a few seconds of the worst crunching noises I¡¯ve ever heard, its flailing stops. [There, that¡¯s food for the next few days.] {...You¡¯ve been eating snake?} [Mhm. It¡¯s pretty good, you¡¯d like it!] {I-I don¡¯t know¡­} [Well, we don¡¯t have any other immediate food source, so you¡¯re gonna have to try it. Here, let¡¯s talk while I drag this back to shelter.] {Mm, okay. Oh yeah, what¡¯s this pain I¡¯m feeling?} [Oh, yeah, that. Got wounded while fighting one of those snakes, no big deal.] {Are you sure? It feels pretty bad.} [Does it? I got used to the pain, so I kinda forgot it was even there.] {Yeah. Are you sure it¡¯s no big deal?} [For sure! It¡¯s been a super long time now, and it hasn¡¯t killed us yet!] {Gloria, how long has it been exactly?} [Uhh, I dunno¡­ I¡¯ve moved shelters seven times now, and I usually slept two or three times per shelter, so if each sleep is a night¡­] {That sounds really bad! If the wound is still here after such a long time, it must have been bad!} [You¡¯re overreacting! Sure, it was pretty bad at first, but I shoved some mushed up plants in it and it got better.] If Gloria wasn¡¯t dominant in the body right now, the blood would have drained from our face. {You what?! Gloria, please tell me you¡¯re joking! You got a terrible injury, and the first thing you did is shove random, unknown plants into it?!} [Um, yeah?] {Why?!} [Well, even if some of the plants are bad, some are bound to be good too, and the good ones will cancel out the bad ones, probably.] Ugh¡­ What do I do? If I want to fix this I need to¡­ Tch, I have no choice. Healing magic. Thirty¡­ I have no idea how much we have. But at this point there¡¯s no other option. {Yes.} Now, the level one healing magic spell, low heal. It¡¯s not enough to fully recover the wound, but if I keep using it, eventually it should level up until we get something good enough. I focus on the area of the wound, and begin manipulating mana to flow towards it. With the knowledge from the skill, I construct the magic circle inside the wound. As the mana flows into the circle, I can feel the exposed portions of the flesh begin to harden. It seems the most low heal is able to do is basically scab up a wound. That¡¯s fine for now, but we¡¯ll probably need something to sterilize the wound soon. [Ow! It kinda burns!] {Deal with it for now, it¡¯s healing.} [It was gonna be fine on it¡¯s own¡­] {I¡¯ll admit, you must¡¯ve got lucky when shoving plants in there, because it¡¯s weird that we¡¯re even still alive with that wound. But I¡¯m not leaving it up to chance anymore.} [I¡¯ve been fine up until now.] {Better safe than sorry.} [I guess so¡­] After many minutes of awkward silence as Gloria drags the body of the snake back to the shelter she¡¯s set up while I heal our wound, we finally make it. Like usual for our shelters, it¡¯s just a tiny hole dug into the ¡®ground¡¯. [Welcome home!] As we step inside, I notice something strange wriggling around on the ground. {Gloria, what is that?}You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version. [Hm? Oh! I forgot to introduce you! This is Mushthew, I picked him up a while ago and I¡¯ve been carrying him around ever since.] {...Why?} [Well, I thought it kinda sucked that we were stuck eating that goo and nothing else, so I decided to build up our resistance to spores so we could eat Mushles!] {Seriously?} [Yep!] {Well, as long as you¡¯ve been making sure we¡¯re secure before you do it¡­} [Of course! Who do you think I am?] {¡­} [What? Anyway! It¡¯s time to eat! You¡¯re lucky, you showed up at the perfect time to try some snake!] {Don¡¯t tell me you think that¡¯s good¡­} [It is! Trust me, you¡¯ll like it. It¡¯s not poisonous or venomous, so there¡¯s no nasty stuff in it to ruin the taste.] As she speaks, Gloria carefully peels the top layer of skin from the snake. I¡¯d be lying if I said it looked at all appetizing¡­ But Gloria said it tastes good, and if it follows the trend of her saying disgusting things taste just fine, maybe this tastes just fine? Urk¡­ I guess I¡¯ll try it¡­ I don¡¯t know if I have a choice¡­ Excitedly, Gloria chops off a big chunk of the snake meat, and bites off a mouthful from it. It¡¯s¡­ not bad? No, maybe even a little good? It tastes a little bit like chicken. Not very good or flavorful chicken. But I shouldn¡¯t really expect raw snake meat to taste like KFC, should I. Gloria was right! Never thought I¡¯d see the day¡­ I¡¯m worried now though, with how good this is (compared to what we¡¯ve eaten before, at least) I fear Gloria might want to keep fighting these things. If the wound on our side is from a single hit from one of those, what would happen to us if Gloria made another misstep? What a scary thought¡­ Well, at the very least, trans womanaged to survive all this time, even if just barely. That counts for something. I am a bit put off by what she calls ¡®Mushthew¡¯ though¡­ The thing has been flailing around non-stop since we showed up. I get why she, uh¡­ kidnapped(?) it, and I¡¯m glad she¡¯s working on growing some of our skills, but I can¡¯t help but feel bad for it. I know very well what it¡¯s like to deal with Gloria, so I can empathize with it to a degree. Actually, speaking of growing our skills, I should check our status, since it¡¯s been a little while. Hm, looks like things are developing well. Oh jeez, confusion resistance is at level eight? She really has been working on that a lot¡­ What¡¯s up with our HP? twenty one? Ah! That¡¯s probably from the giant wound in our side, isn¡¯t it? It seems like our HP is capped because of how hurt we are... Ugh, that¡¯s so terrible¡­ Moving on! How about our titles? ?increases XP gains for mind-related skills ?Increases mental clarity ?Allows for increased understanding and cooperation between different minds ?indirect kills caused by the user are counted as direct kills ?applies camouflage effect proportionate to user¡¯s camouflage skill to traps ?increases XP gains for knowledge related skills ?unlocks hidden evolution options ?Locked ?Increases regeneration ?Increases magical understanding skills ?Increases mental defense ?Increases power of Black Magic ...Cruel? Just what has Gloria been doing? Well, whatever. As long as she didn¡¯t piss off something that can actually get revenge on us. The last detail under Discoverer of the Dead is still locked, I wonder when we¡¯ll access that? Maybe we¡¯ll be able to take a peek at what it is with a higher level of appraisal. Worrying implications of us having the cruel title aside, the mental defense bonus it has seems pretty nice. You never know when something like that could come in handy. Maybe some mental defense will help me deal with Gloria¡¯s nonsense¡­ Mhm, aside from the HP issue, everything¡¯s looking good. I should work on fixing that while Gloria eats. [Ahh, that was good. Time to move!] {Pardon?} [Oh yeah, I usually move after spending a few days in a shelter. We¡¯re super far from where you¡¯d remember now.] Ehhh¡­ {We should stay here at least until we finish that snake, and I¡¯d prefer to stay until that wound is healed up. There¡¯s a massive penalty on our max health because of it, y¡¯know.} [Really?] {Yeah! Do you not check our status ever?} [Not really.] {Well, you should. Our health is capped at twenty one for now, where it¡¯s usually forty five.} [Wow, that¡¯s¡­ bad?] {Yes, it¡¯s bad, very bad.} [Well, I Guess we could stay a little longer. Mushthew gets restless when he¡¯s stuck inside though.] It looks pretty restless already, you have it tied up! {Thank you.} I¡¯ll have to try to heal our wound fast, before Gloria gets stir crazy and decides to just leave. Phew, this is hard work. Now that healing magic is level two, we¡¯ve unlocked a new spell: Cure. I¡¯m not sure if it will work, but I¡¯ll use it to try to sterilize the wound and get rid of any infection already starting. If it does work, then we¡¯ll be on our way to a full recovery. If it doesn¡¯t, we¡¯ll end up fighting off a nasty infection until we die. Glass half full, there¡¯s a fifty percent chance things only go up from here. Glass half empty¡­ There¡¯s a fifty percent chance things only get worse. I¡¯ll need to work hard, to hopefully skew the odds in our favor. Chapter 27: Panacea The healing process seems to be going well. Apparently, spells themselves can level up too, because after I used low heal and cure enough, they grew to level two. The difference isn¡¯t really noticeable, but any improvement is good. Now, with level three in healing magic, we get low restore. I¡¯m not sure what it does, so I don¡¯t know if it will be useful, but I¡¯m sure it¡¯ll come in handy eventually. I¡¯ve been monitoring our health, and while it¡¯s getting better, the recovery rate is slower than I¡¯d like. Originally, the health cap was twenty one. Now, it¡¯s gotten to twenty four. Any improvement is good, I suppose, but this is way less than I¡¯d hoped. If only leveling up gave us a full recovery¡­ But it definitely doesn¡¯t. Ah, nice, nice. Passive regen won¡¯t be as good as magic, but any bit helps. That¡¯ll be good too, I¡¯ve gotten mostly used to the pain by now, but more resistance is always nice. Gloria¡¯s been using that Mushle¡¯s spores to level our resistances a bit, and whenever she does, I try to use healing magic to fix the cut she makes on it, to increase our levels faster. Unfortunately, I couldn¡¯t manage to cast two spells at once, so it was either healing the mushroom or healing ourselves. I chose to heal us, obviously. At this point, I¡¯m looking for more ways to try to fix this wound, before it¡¯s too late. It¡¯s a shame, but I may have to do what Gloria did and use some plants. But! I won¡¯t just be randomly shoving whatever I can find into our gaping wound, instead, I¡¯ll be using appraisal to try to determine if something is safe. If I can¡¯t be certain something is safe, I won¡¯t use it. A while ago, appraisal was able to pull up a whole lot of information about that monster that was trying to kill us, so I¡¯m hoping the same is true about some of these plants. Honestly, I don¡¯t know why Gloria didn¡¯t just do that herself¡­ would¡¯ve saved me most of this trouble. Might have not even needed to waste that SP on healing magic, though it might be better that we got it this early, so we can level it before we ever really need it. Anyway, we¡¯re running low on food now (that snake didn¡¯t last nearly as long as I expected), and Gloria assured me that our wound is from the very first snake she fought, before she knew it¡¯s tricks, so I¡¯ve begrudgingly allowed her to go out and fight another one. [Hyah! Nice try!] I guess she was telling the truth¡­ she¡¯s been dodging every one of that snake¡¯s attacks like she¡¯s fought them thousands of times. I find it hard to believe she was able to fight them this well after just one, honestly. I have no proof she didn¡¯t though, and the past is the past, so I¡¯ll just let it be. [An opening!] With a quick and decisive strike, Gloria slashes the snake¡¯s head clean off. That¡¯s the power of a level eight slash skill for you. I doubt I could¡¯ve done that though, Gloria¡¯s a natural at fighting. Ah! Finally, a level! It¡¯s been a long time now since we¡¯ve leveled up. We didn¡¯t have much of an opportunity to fight and gain experience back when we were training with the Stadiea, so our growth stagnated for a while. We¡¯re back on track now that we have to fend for ourselves, for better or for worse. To be honest, I¡¯d be more than willing to sacrifice this growth for more time with the Stadiea¡­ I really hope they¡¯re alright¡­ There¡¯s nothing we can do about it though. With how powerful Rorthal is, it¡¯s better to think of it as an unavoidable force of nature. The best we can do for now is get stronger, so we¡¯re even a bit less helpless if, or more likely when, something happens again.
    Pwahhh!!! That hit the spot! {C¡¯mon, it doesn¡¯t taste that good.} [Oh please, you like it too!] {Yeah, but not that much. It¡¯s just better than everything else down here has been.} [Just say you like it!] {¡®Like it¡¯ is an exaggeration.} [You¡¯re so difficult.] {Pot, meet kettle. Anyway, I need to go looking for medicinal plants soon, so I¡¯ll be taking control for a while.} [Oh, alright. But what am I supposed to do while you do that.] {Up to you. I won¡¯t take long.} Hmmm¡­ Fir is working on something with the body right now, so I dunno what to do. What does Fir do when I control the body? ...I honestly don¡¯t know. Hmmmmm¡­ Well, guess I could just take a break¡­
    Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon. Another fail. I¡¯ve been looking for a while now, and I haven¡¯t found anything overtly medicinal just yet. On the positive side of things, I haven¡¯t found many poisonous things either, so Gloria probably didn¡¯t put too many bad things in the wound. We¡¯d probably be dead by now if she did. I expected to find something that had at least some medicinal properties by now. Was I lied to by all those foraging videos about mushrooms? Surely there¡¯ll be something down here that can at least help with the recovery. Ah, speaking of, it¡¯s about time to heal it a bit. I focus, and cast low heal on our wound. The effect is still minimal, but it¡¯s something. Now, back to foraging. Gloria told me where she found all of the stuff she used, but it¡¯s a long way away by this point. However, I think I just found another patch similar to it. There¡¯s quite a lot of possibilities here, appraising them all will take some time. Better start now! Let¡¯s start with Devil¡¯s grass, since that sounds like it could be something. Hmm, seems like nothing. Oh well, next. Another miss, though it¡¯s still useful to know there¡¯s a good source of water here. ...It¡¯s weird how many of these have sections about how good they are as food. I guess there are foragers willing to try any mushroom they see in this world too. Now, how about the Argobella. Ooh? It says there¡¯s no evidence, but¡­ this is the best we¡¯ve got, right? I guess I¡¯ll check a few more things first, then- hm? What¡¯s that? In the cluster of silver Argobella mushrooms, I see a more yellow color. Is that something different? Oh¡­ Oh!!! This¡­ this has gotta be it, right?! Are there any more than just this one!? I quickly search through the cluster of Argobella, but there¡¯s only one Aurobella in the whole group. W-well¡­ I guess¡­ I should¡­ Eat it? Or maybe I need to prepare it first¡­? ¡­ Argh! I don¡¯t know! The description of it makes me feel like it¡¯ll be hard to find another, so I¡¯m worried to use it recklessly¡­ No, no, calm down. There¡¯s no way I can know how to correctly use this thing, so if I use it wrong, can you really say it¡¯s my fault? I¡¯ll try something, if it works, great, if it doesn¡¯t, then whatever. I¡¯m sure I¡¯ll be able to find something more common to try to use¡­ probably¡­ maybe¡­ Ah, whatever! I¡¯m just gonna do it! I bite down on the Aurobella, tearing from the ground. As I chew it, it seems to melt into a gooey liquid form, like molasses. It tastes¡­ vaguely sweet? The taste is hard to pin, because it numbs my senses as it passes over my tongue as I swallow it. Halfway down my throat, it feels like it disappears, and my whole body begins to tingle. I feel a lurch deep in my stomach as my heart feels as though it stops. A collapse to the ground, and pain surges through my body. Did I¡­ use it wrong? As my skin transitions from feeling like it¡¯s burning to feeling like it¡¯s on fire, I pass out on the ground.
    Hyah! Take¡­ this! I swing my claws wildly, hoping to make contact with the enemy in front of me. They impact the great beast¡¯s matted fur, and are stopped before they reach the skin. H-huh? Its great head, larger than my entire body, its bare skull piercing through it¡¯s pale skin, turns to look at me. It opens its large maw, and with a flash of light, I¡¯m incinerated in an instant. Ah, man! He got me again! Rorthal sure is tough! It¡¯s a real good thing we managed to get away from him last time. Right now, I¡¯m using my memory of past opponents to try to strategize against them. It¡¯s not a perfect training method, actually physically training is obviously way better, but since Fir¡¯s doing something right now this will have to do. I mean, it¡¯s gotta be doing something, since the planning skill went up to ten and turned into strategy while I was practicing against what I remember of the wolves! So, this is what I¡¯m gonna keep doing while Fir looks for plants or whatever. He asked me why I didn¡¯t use appraisal on the plants I used a while ago, and¡­ honestly, I just forgot. Oops! My bad! Well, it looks like it¡¯s gonna all turn out pretty good, so it¡¯s fine! No harm, no foul! Huh? That¡¯s weird, I have a headache suddenly. Special Chapter: The Life of a Cavern Pest The hustle and bustle of the town is always nice to see. It seems calmer than usual today, though I suppose that¡¯s the goal of men like me. Here I am¡­ the library. It wasn¡¯t easy to fund such a facility in this small town, but it¡¯s been more than worth it. The door creaks as I open it and step inside, the warm candlelight from inside replacing the harsh sun. I wonder what I should read today¡­ I¡¯ve been on quite the monster kick lately, though ancient and legendary beasts are beginning to bore me. You can only read stories about forces beyond human comprehension so many times before they begin to get¡­ predictable. Today I shall go for something more mundane, which should make it all the more entertaining. I¡¯ve been eyeing a certain author, who writes descriptions of various monsters. It should be a nice change of pace. I slowly wander over to the section of the library the author in question is, and pick out the first book I see written by them. ¡®The Ecology of Caves¡¯, how intriguing. Holding the book tightly, I make my way to my usual spot, and take a seat. ¡®Section one: Cavern Pests¡¯, time to begin. The humble Cavern Pest is one of the most common types of monsters in the underground portions of our world. Much is still unknown about them, due to the usual difficulties of observing monsters in caves. What is known about them, however, I¡¯ve organized into this section. Cavern Pests are a very unique monster, holding a lot of potential, though it¡¯s difficult for them to use it. Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon. Cavern Pests are usually born in litters around twenty in size, more or less, more than any other mammalian monster known. Of these twenty, five will die within the first six months of life, becoming food for the many other monsters that make their homes in caves, many of which will be described later on in this book. Those that don¡¯t die, however, all have very different lives ahead of them. It¡¯s important to note that Cavern Pests have the most evolution possibilities out of any monsters currently known. At the lower levels of evolution, there¡¯s a chance they will become a ¡®Cavern Beast¡¯. Cavern Beasts are the evolutionary dead-end of Cavern Pests, so to speak. About five Cavern pests become Cavern Beats per litter, according to recorded population counts. Cavern Beasts are a special stage of the Cavern Pest life cycle, being the only known evolutionary path able to reproduce and create more Pests. This is, most likely, why their litter sizes are so large, only five per litter end up reproducing. It is also important to note, however, that usually, Cavern Pests only become Cavern Beasts after having evolved down other paths a few times, and Cavern Beasts keep some of the traits from those evolutionary paths. Now, here I must explain another strange feature of the Cavern Pest, that being their ability to keep traits from previous evolutions. For example, one of the most common evolutions of a Cavern Pest is the Spined Cavern Pest. When a Spined Pest evolves into a different path, the spines are kept, giving them a distinct difference from other members of that new evolutionary path, who got there a different way. Of the remaining ten in the litter, most will live a few years, evolving over that time, before dying, usually living no longer than three years. Now, I will get into more speculative and unknown details about the lives of Cavern Pests. Cavern Pests have the most evolutionary potential out of any monster in the world, enough so that we don¡¯t know where the end is for them. They simply do not have the survivability to make use of their immense potential, as it¡¯s hard for them to evolve more than two or three times in an entire lifespan. This is why, out of every monster I will describe in this book, the humble Cavern Pest is the one that interests me the most. We simply do not know what they could be capable of, if only something allowed them to survive and grow. I close the book, satisfied, and set it down on the table beside me. Ahh, how very interesting. Perhaps even moreso than the tales of dragons I¡¯ve read. There is truly nothing I love more than a good book. Chapter 28 Oof¡­ Ouch, ouch, ouch¡­ How long have I been out for? I¡¯m¡­ still in the mushroom patch. Appraisal¡­ Ah¡­ That¡¯s¡­ that¡¯s good. Uff¡­ I try to stand up, but my muscles don¡¯t seem to listen to me, and a stabbing sensation of pain comes from them instead. At least the Aurobella worked, I think. I can¡¯t get a great look at the area of the wound, on account of being quadrupedal and having a weird neck, but it looks better from what I can see out of the corner of my eye. I wonder how long we¡¯ve been out for? We¡¯re lucky nothing got us while we were passed out on the ground, if I¡¯d known that was going to happen I would¡¯ve taken the Aurobella back to our den before eating it. {Gloria?} No response, seems she¡¯s not up yet. Well, my only option here is to just stay put until the muscle aches subside and I¡¯m able to walk again. Until then, I just have to hope nothing will happen upon us while we¡¯re in this state. Ah, I must¡¯ve jinxed it, huh? Through the darkness of the cave, I make out the shape a little dinosaur-looking monster walking this way. It doesn¡¯t seem to have noticed me just yet, but if it keeps coming this way, it will. Wait¡­ I swear I recognize what that thing is. It couldn¡¯t actually be what I think it is, right? It doesn¡¯t matter yet, for now I need to think of a way to fight it off if it decides to make an easy meal out of us, without being able to walk. I doubt any of our spells will be very useful against it, so¡­ Ahh, that¡¯s my only option, huh? It shouldn¡¯t turn out as bad as last time, maybe. Hissss Ah, it spotted me. The frills on its head unfurl, definitely as a display of aggression. Ah man, this thing really seems like one of those. I prepare myself as it winds up for an attack. As it lunges forward, I use soul control to manifest my soul as a shield, to block it. But before it makes contact with the shield, it stops in its path, and a glob of purple liquid shoots from its mouth. It hits the soul shield, and I instantly feel a wave of nausea wash over me. I dispel the shield before it gets worse, causing the purple goo to fall onto the ground. I should¡¯ve known, it is one of those. Damn it! Go back to Jurassic Park, you jerk! As I thought, using soul control is still a wildly bad idea, especially as a shield. It¡¯s like using the most vulnerable and weak part of your body to block an attack that would¡¯ve hit anywhere else. I can still use it to attack though! The only issue is actually hitting it, when I¡¯m stuck here on the ground while it can move around all it wants. I just need to create an opportunity to get a hit in! It strafes around me, continuing to hiss. I get it, I get it you bastard. It¡¯s trying to be cautious because its attack didn¡¯t hit me, and it doesn¡¯t know why. But that caution has given me just enough time to come up with a way to catch you off guard. I gather my mana, and make a mana light, as close to the thing¡¯s face as I can get it, specifically the eyes. It¡¯s caught off guard by the sudden light in its eyes, so I act fast to not let this opportunity go to waste. Using soul control, I create a spear this time, and stab it directly into the monster¡¯s chest. Bullseye! The monster lets out a screech, and tries to jump at me, but only impales itself further by doing so. I dispel the spear, allowing the monster to fall to the ground, light beginning to fade from its eyes. That¡¯s what you get! I¡¯d strike a celebratory pose at this point, but my muscles still ache too much to move. Maybe healing magic will speed up the process¡­ Much better! Now that the pain is gone, I feel great! Gloria still isn¡¯t up, so I guess I should just go back to our den for now. Gloria will be very happy to hear that we can continue her meaningless wandering deeper now that we¡¯re completely healed. I don¡¯t know why she likes moving so often, but I see no reason to not just go along with it for now.
    Yaaaawn¡­ What time is¡­ Oh!! What happened? Last I remember, I was¡­ Ah, right! I was training in my mind, against memories of enemies, then¡­ I got a headache, and that¡¯s all I can remember. If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it. Very strange, very strange. Maybe Fir knows what¡¯s going on. [Hey Fir!] {You¡¯re finally up?} [Yeah, what happened?] {I ate a mushroom.} [Huh? Why¡¯d you do that? They have those nasty spores.] {No, not a Mushle, a mushroom. A regular one, called Aurobella according to appraisal.} [Oh, okay. Why¡¯d it knock us out?] {Well, it was medicinal. And it turned out to be a very potent medicine. Healed us right back up though, check it out.} Fir repositions our body, so the spot where the big hole on our side was is visible. Where the hole was, is now raw looking skin covered by sparse patches of short quills. [Ooh, lookin¡¯ good! Well, it actually looks super gross, but there¡¯s no hole! So, finally time to move?] {If that¡¯s what you want to do.} [It definitely is!] I excitedly take control of the body, walking up to Mushthew and picking him up. I had gotten used to the pain from the wound before, but I can definitely notice it¡¯s gone now while I¡¯m moving around! After all that time, I don¡¯t feel like waiting around, I¡¯m heading out immediately! Ooooh? What is this? I¡¯ve been walking for a while now, maybe a few hours. A little while ago, I started seeing more and more rocks sticking out from the Gaul roots covering everything. As I went on, the amount of rocks peeking out kept growing. Now, I see something else sticking out. In front of me, there¡¯s a huge, jagged log of wood stretching from the bottom of the cave up past the point I can see. At least¡­ I think it¡¯s wood? It¡¯s a little weird looking... {I¡¯ll appraise it.} {Weird, I¡¯ll appraise the name again.} {Unable¡­ no way, is our appraisal skill too low..?} As Fir absentmindedly thinks out loud, I look around. Far off, past the dead tree, something catches my eye. [Hey, look over there, is that light?] {Wher- Oh yeah, I think I see it.} [Let¡¯s check it out!] Finding the light way more interesting than a weird looking tree, I make the executive decision to take a look. By now, the ground around us is entirely stone, with Gaul roots only poking out of the rocky ground in a few spots. As I run over to the light, I notice some strange looking shattered stones on the ground. They¡¯re in pieces, but I can tell they used to be nearly circular. They kinda look like¡­ {Look!} Fir draws my attention back to the light, which we can now see is coming from a crack between some fallen rocks. I peer through, and my eyes slowly adjust to the brightness. Through the small crack, I see a large open space, illuminated by glowing stones on the ceiling. The ground is probably down below where we¡¯re looking from, but I don¡¯t know how far down it is because it¡¯s obscured by a thick layer of deep green leaves. It¡¯s like the underground forest from before, but the vegetation is waaaaay thicker, like a rain forest. Let¡¯s bust up this rock wall and get in there! I jump back a few feet, and look for the weakest spot of the cluster of rocks. There! I rush towards the rocks, leaping forward to hit the rocks with every last bit of momentum. With a loud crack, the rock I struck falls apart. With one of the load-bearing rocks now in pieces, the rest of the cluster of rocks falls apart, widening the crack into a full opening. Now, how am I gonna get down?
    Woah¡­ I¡¯m not too surprised anymore, of course. This isn¡¯t the first underground forest I¡¯ve seen in this life. Still though, it¡¯s a crazy sight. Now that the light is pouring out of the newly-opened entrance to the underground jungle, the dark little cave we¡¯re in is more visible as well, which allows me to notice something I hadn¡¯t before. Not all of the rocks here are natural. Not even the ones we¡¯re standing on. These look like bricks. I look around, and sure enough, I see the tell-tale outlines of what probably used to be structures. They¡¯re all around us, in fact. The architecture¡­ well, I¡¯m definitely no expert in architecture, but it reminds me of the place we teleported from. Except¡­ It¡¯s odd how undamaged these ruins seem. The other place was falling apart, but this place is¡­ Well, it¡¯s weird to think, but while the other place was ruins, this place seems more¡­ just, abandoned? There¡¯s still some wood attached to the dilapidated frames of the houses, which is weird for a place you¡¯d think is very very old. {Ah, Gloria, hang on a minute, let¡¯s take a look at these ruins.} [Huh? Oh, yeah, sure.] Wow, this is really incredible. I wouldn¡¯t say I was terribly interested in history in my past life, but this is still quite something. This place definitely doesn¡¯t seem as old as the other place. I obviously don¡¯t know exactly how old the other place is, but I feel like the wood here would have rotted away a long time ago if it was as old as that place. It¡¯s not just the wood though, the furniture inside inside is surprisingly intact. Woven carpets, tables, chairs. It¡¯s all quite dirty, and some of it has definitely been looted by monsters, but I feel like this place is just old, rather than ancient. This is¡­ super exciting! With the other place, we confirmed humans existed at some point, although we couldn¡¯t be sure if they were still around. With this, we can be pretty sure they were around recently! Specifically, around here! If we keep exploring¡­ maybe we¡¯ll find them¡­ [Can we go now?] {Sure, sure. I don¡¯t think there¡¯s anything left for us here.} As we pass by the dead tree again, I try appraising it one more time. But this time, It works. Wha- Am I¡­ No, there¡¯s no way I heard that right. I appraise the tree again, with the same result. Artificially engineered¡­ that¡­ does that mean what I think? Chapter 29 *Crunch!* Liquid floods my mouth. It¡¯s slightly viscous, and tastes like iron. I spit it out onto the ground, and see its deep red color. [Well, that fruit¡¯s a bust!] {Yeah, I guess its name makes sense though.} I toss the fruit we¡¯re holding, which appraisal identified as a Bloodfruit, aside. [Next up!] Gloria grabs a light brown, pear-shaped fruit from a big leaf we¡¯ve been using as a plate. It¡¯s been a little while since we made our way into the new jungle area, and we¡¯ve mostly adjusted by now. We found a little shelter that, so far, doesn¡¯t seem to belong to any other monsters, there¡¯s a little stream nearby for water, and now we¡¯re trying to find the best tasting of the various fruit trees growing in the jungle here. It¡¯s not difficult work, most of them have been pretty good so far. We haven¡¯t encountered any mean neighbors yet either, so we¡¯ve been taking it much easier than usual. Though, something about the monsters we have seen is¡­ off. They¡¯ve all been running from us, but the glimpses I¡¯ve been getting are odd, to say the least. [Slightly, lots of juice. It¡¯s fine, but not worth the effort.] {Agreed.} [Next!] Gloria tosses the fruit aside. We haven¡¯t come across any more traces of human settlement since the Manaflow tree, unfortunately. It¡¯s not for lack of looking either, we¡¯ve been doing a lot of exploring since coming down here. If there is something here, it¡¯s hidden well. We take a bite of the next fruit. It¡¯s chewy, almost rubbery. It kind of reminds me of gum. Swish Something moves in the bushes nearby. I¡¯m not concerned, this happens quite frequently. We¡¯ve been being observed since the moment we came down here, but we¡¯ve never managed to catch a glimpse of our observers. At this point, it¡¯s just a part of life down here. I don¡¯t think they¡¯re dangerous, whatever they are. I think they¡¯re watching us because they¡¯re afraid of us. [Ptheh!] Gloria spits out the fruit [Can¡¯t deal with that anymore, yuck. Next!] {So, based on flavor, texture, and rarity, we have a total of¡­ three fruits to add to our diet. Not bad, it¡¯s good to have some good food for once in our life.} [Next, let¡¯s get some meat!] {I don¡¯t know about that, everything around us still seems pretty scared of us.} [Hehehe¡­ That¡¯s no issue! Have you already forgotten our roots?] {What do you mean?} Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon. [Tsk tsk tsk. Fir, you¡¯ve gotten far too used to hunting directly.] {No, you were the one who did all of that¡­} [Remember our first meat, Fir! Traps, Fir, traps! We need use traps!] {Huh, that¡¯s¡­ not a bad idea!} [Hehehehe! I know, I¡¯m a genius!] {So, how will we set this up?} [Here¡¯s my idea¡­] We trot through the thick brush of the jungle slowly, carefully stepping down a planned path. The only light illuminating our path is the odd bioluminescent plant, which there are actually a surprising variety of in this jungle. [Everything is as planned so far!] {Yeah, we just started the plan, not really much that could have gone wrong yet.} Plants crunch beneath our every step. If there¡¯s anything else in this part of the jungle right now, it knows we¡¯re here. [Now, get ready for phase two!] Finally, we reach the next part of the path. Suddenly, the path becomes devoid of any kind of scattered plant life. Now, our footsteps are silent, padded by the soft, almost muddy dirt. Soul sight! I gather mana into our eyes, and slowly begin looking around. It takes a bit, but eventually my eyes land squarely on a faint light glimmering in the dark corners of the jungle. It¡¯s moving slowly, clearly taking its time looking for something. For us. Our observers have completely evaded us thus far, but no longer. We won¡¯t just catch a glimpse of one of them, but actually catch one. [It¡¯s within range! Let¡¯s do this!] Being careful to make no noise, we climb up the tightly clustered branches of a small tree. We must¡¯ve tried this a hundred times by now, making sure we could do it silently. Once we reach our designated spot, we push a small rock off the branch of the tree, sending it plummeting to the ground. It lands exactly where we¡¯d hoped, on a small pile of delicate sticks and dry leaves. As soon as it hits the spot, a loud crunch echoes through the trees of the jungle. And our pursuer takes the bait. {So, how will this work again?} [Sigh! Working with someone who cannot comprehend my genius is so frustrating¡­] {Just explain the plan to me Einstein.} [It¡¯s super simple! I¡¯ve noticed that the things following us seem to use the noise we make to keep track of us. That¡¯s why we find it so hard to see them, they don¡¯t need to be within our line of sight to watch us! We¡¯ll spend a few days clearing a small area of all the stuff on the ground that makes noise, so we have an area where we can be hidden from them. Then, we hide somewhere that¡¯ll give us a good physical advantage, maybe find a small tree to climb. Once we¡¯re in position, we throw somethin¡¯ to make noise below us, luring them to come check out what made the sound. That¡¯s when we drop on ¡®em, get a good look at ¡®em, and get some meat!] {Hmm¡­ okay, yeah, that could work. Let¡¯s do it.} A small shimmering blue light sits right below us, looking around, trying to find us. It¡¯s time to say hello. [Let¡¯s do this!] We drop down, pushing ourselves off the branches as we fall to try to get a bit more speed. We land directly on top of the little blue light, and I immediately feel something struggling beneath our body weight. Let¡¯s see what you are! I dispel soul sight, and conjure a mana light instead, illuminating the small clearing we made. Urgh¡­ I don¡¯t think I wanna eat this¡­ The monster we¡¯re currently on top of is a little green humanoid, with cloudy eyes and large droopy ears. It thrashes around, trying to escape our grasp. It reminds me of someone else¡­ Hopefully Gloria doesn¡¯t feel like getting another pet. {So, what should we do?}