《Searching for Salvation》


 Arc 1 - Shaken - Chapter 1

    I need your help.


    <hr>


    But NOTthe monetary kind. This fiction has been plagiarized. It is being sold on Amazon under the name of "Bringer of Justice" by Karey Williams. THIS IS NOT ME. I am not selling this fanfiction. I am currently in the process of turning it into an original work and remove the Harry potter parts from it.


    The help that I do need from you guys is just a comment.Please go reporton the amazon page of the fake book, and comment that it is not the original. That it is fake. That it is plagiarized. It will take not more than 5 minutes of your time but it might help me. If this story has ever entertained you, then please considering helping me.


    It might help. I do not know. I do not know what to do. I have contacted Amazon, so let''s see what they can do. In the meanwhile, please help me protect my work.


    It is quite ironic that the thief has renamed this book under the name of "Bringer of Justice". Did the idiot not feel humiliation when he/she named it that? And secondly, there is no sense of justice in this character of mine.


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    Now, to give you all the kind of work that I have been doing on this story, latest chapter is the prologue of what will be my original work. I hope you enjoy it.


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    A/N: This story can also be found on Fanfiction.net under the account name Spectacled Man. This story is written by me and published on both the sites by me. It says so on the other site too.


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    DAY 1


    I woke up with a start; my mind slow, muddled and hazy. Turning my head, my eyes were greeted by the vision of an unknown darkness; like the one that had, for a long time, greeted me in my cupboard.


    ''Where am I?''


    I did not know the answer to that thought, in fact, I-I¡­ couldn''t remember anything at the moment; anything at all. ''Wh-what! W-why!''


    Confusion took over my sanity. ''J-just what is happening!? W-where am I? Wh-who am I?''


    And so did irritation. ''Who is doing this to me!? WHO?!''


    I tried moving around but, for some reason, all I could do was squirm. I felt confined and restricted, as if I had been rolled in some kind of fleshy meatball and then thrust into some sort of container.


    I wiggled around and fidgeted; trying my uttermost to free myself and, in case that wasn''t possible, to try to understand the limits of my prison; for that is what it felt like, a prison. I felt the walls -which restricted me- expand, like jello, before they retained their shape with equal fervor.


    Hope smiled down on me. ''There is potential here; potential to break free.'' I smiled grimly; I could break out of my prison after all.


    I squirmed, ferociously, and tried to use my hands and legs but, for some reason, instead of 4 limbs, multiple limbs moved. I frowned. ''Just what is going on? Just wha-?''


    I stopped my struggles and tried to remember the last thing before I woke up. It was ¡­it was ¡­hazy and confusing. It gave me a headache just by trying to think about it. But something was very wrong here. I could feel not just my hands and legs but multiple other limbs protruding from my body; limbs that I should not have. ''Something is wrong. Very, very wrong.''


    Through the haze and confusion, I tried to force myself to remember, but all I got was more and more pain. Panic began to set in me, no matter how I tried to fight it off. ''Has someone tempered with my memory?! Have I been attacked?! Where am I?! Why was I restricted?! What is going on?! W-what! Why!? How!?''


    I tried to remember again but failed as pain assaulted me and consumed my senses. But I couldn''t give up. No, I needed to know; I just needed to!


    I continued trying but kept failing again and again and again, that is, until something finally came through. I remembered choking on air, being unable to breathe; pain exploding in my ears as they popped and blood trickling down my face.


    ''I died.'' My memory cleared. ''Poison. Poison was what got me finally.''


    ''I died.''


    Sadness crept up on me -''I died''- and, slowly, I became -''I died''- overwhelmed with grief. ''I died.'' I had lost all my friends. ''I died.'' My family. ''I died.'' My newly wedded wife. ''I di-''


    Screeeeeeeeeeeeech!


    A sharp pain hit me at the thought of my wife, as if, as if my brain was reminding me of something, something that I didn''t want to remember. I pushed my grief aside, no matter how hard it was, and tried to remember. ''Was my wife dead too?! Oh dear Merlin, please don''t let her be dead! Let her live! She didn''t deserve to die! Not for the life that I have lived! Please! Please...''


    Nothing.


    Nothing at all.


    I tried again and again and, finally, I remembered.


    A smirk. A self satisfied smirk.


    Confusion filled me. ''Wha-!?Wh-?! Ho-!?''


    And then Rage hit me, -''she killed me''-at that moment -''she killed me''-like a rampaging bull. ''She killed me.''


    ''She killed me.''


    ''She killed me.''


    ''She killed me!''


    ''She killed me!''


    ''She killed me!''


    ''SHE KILLED ME!''


    I struggled in my prison. ''She killed me!'' I wiggled and I squirmed and I struggled with all my might. ''She killed me!'' I channeled my rage into freeing myself. ''She killed me!'' I had to. ''She killed me!'' I just had to. ''SHE KILLED ME!''


    Coldness hit my head with a rush of air. This was my chance, my chance to be free. I struggled and thrashed and pressed at the opening, to expand it, and finally I pushed myself through it. ''I am free. Finally fucking free.''


    But all of my excitement, my joy and my happiness turned sour at the sight that greeted me in my freedom. And what a fucking sight it was.


    In front of me, lay huge balls, almost the same size as me. And out of many of them, things were crawling out. Green and black and elongated things.


    ''Insects.'' My mind supplied before it corrected itself. ''No, not insects. Caterpillars.''


    Horror descended on me as I looked around.


    Eggs. Eggs. And more eggs. ''Those round balls are eggs! They aren''t prisons! They are eggs!''


    And I was surrounded by them! Wherever my eyes looked, the sea of eggs stretched! And out of most of them, things were coming out; things that were caterpillars.


    My mind told me to look down, to look at myself. But my heart didn''t want to, for it was afraid. No, it wasn''t my heart, it was me. I was afraid; afraid of what I''d find.


    Before I could do anything about my fear, something primal hit me and took over me and my mind. It was all I could think about as it overwhelmed me. It forced me to look down, look at what was beneath my body.


    Hunger had overcome me and it was forcing me to eat whatever it was that was beneath my body.


    But as I looked down, I saw what I had become.


    No, not me; my body.


    What my body had become. It was green and black and elongated like all the other things crawling around me. ''I-I a-am a c-ca-caterpillar!'' My mind supplied as it began to shut down.


    I couldn''t think. I couldn''t feel. I couldn''t imagine what had become of me. Caterpillar! Insect! Insect was what I had become! ''H-how! Wh-what! Wh-why!''


    Ting.


    [You have Leveled Up! Level up bonus of +1 HP granted.]


    ¡­


    ¡­


    ¡­


    !


    !


    !


    Eh!


    What!


    What the unholy fuck!


    My mind broke out of the stupor, that it had spiraled into, and I looked down at what I was doing. Somehow, when I mind had stopped working, the baser instincts of my new body -''Uggh!''- had taken over and had devoured whatever it was that had been beneath my body.


    I looked around. A long stalk stretched up from beneath me. It seemed I had moved from my original position. There were other caterpillars around me. ''My siblings. Ugghh.'' And they were all devouring the green thing beneath them. ''Did insects even have the concept of siblings?''


    Leaves. Of course it was leaves. Caterpillars consume leaves. That must have been what I had eaten too. And judging from the change in height, I must have eaten quite a few.


    B-but, but, but what was that noise and that blue screen? It had said that I had leveled up. What did that mean? What was level? How had I leveled up? ''How! What! And just fucking how?!''


    Hunger overcame me again and I bent down to eat the leaf that I was hanging on but my mind continued to spiral, work and think. ''Something is wrong here, something besides me being a caterpillar.''''


    As my mind continued to think, my mouth continued to eat. From one leaf to another I moved. Eating, consuming and devouring. On and on I ate but my hunger never grew dim. It was never sated.


    Ting.


    [You have Leveled Up! Level up bonus of +1 HP granted.]


    I paused, both eating and thinking.


    There it was again; the noise and the blue screen that was already fading away. What was this? It seemed like a notification from those videogames that Terry had always talked about; the same ones that he had been able to show me only after we had won the war. But it couldn''t be that. That would be stupid. So, so stupid.


    Life was not a game; especially not a video game.


    But, for the life of me, I couldn''t think of any other explanation. Feeling incredibly stupid, I decided to give it a try. ''Wha-what was it called? Class? No. Rank? No, not that either. Status wa-''


    Ting.


    [Unnamed] [Skills] [Spells] [?]


    I gaped and I continued to gape for a while, not believing the ultimate bullshit floating in front of my eyes. ''Ho-How? Just how is this possible?!'' Such was the shock that I had received that I even forgot my hunger.


    ''What in the world!'' I gawked at the blue screen, which, by the way, was floating on its own in front of me. ''It worked! It actually worked! I don''t believe it! I fucking don''t believe this cluster fuck!''


    But being a caterpillar, that I was, hunger made itself known by the way of immense burn that was raging in my belly. And dutifully, like a meek little servant, I began to eat. I hated that something else, than my mind, no matter how primal, had control over me but, at the moment, I had bigger fish to fry.


    So I ate and munched and ate like there was no tomorrow; which -considering that I was a caterpillar- might actually be very true. As I chomped on the tasteless leaves, I focused on the one option that had disturbed me the most; the option, [Unnamed]. No sooner had I focused on the option, that the floating blue list changed.


    Ting.


    [Name: Unnamed]


    [Species: Caterpillar]


    [Race(s): Insect]


    [Level: 3]


    [HP: 8/8]


    [MP: -]


    [Titles: {Sentient}, {Reincarnated}, {Hungry}]


    I made a face in confusion. ''That makes no sense.''


    I had never played those games that Terry had kept on talking about, as I had more important things to worry about; things like trying to survive Hogwarts for instance or finding out what new trouble Malfoy was planning to cause.


    Of all the things written on the floating blue screen, one caught my eye, {Reincarnated}; I focused on it and another blue screen popped up.


    Ting.


    [Title {Reincarnated} allows memories and experience of previous birth to be transferred to the new body.]


    ''Well, that explains it.'' I sighed. ''But what reincarnated me? Or who? And why?''


    I shook my head. ''Focus. Focus. Focus.'' I told myself before squinting and focusing on [Name: Unnamed]. Just like before, another box popped up.The author''s content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.


    Ting.


    [Names can be bestowed either by your sire or your master. You are an unnamed creature.]


    I made a face. ''I couldn''t name myself? What sort of absurd rule is that? What is its purpose? Why can''t I name myself?'' This made no sense. And also, this was, by far, one of the most idiotic rules that I have ever encountered in my life and I have lived through the rules that Umbridge had imposed.


    Stupid Blue Screen.


    Focusing on returning to the previous screen, I moved to another leaf; I had devoured my current one in its entirety. The current screen closed and the previous one popped up. I focused on [Species: Caterpillar].


    Ting.


    [Species is the current form of your body. You are a Caterpillar.]


    ''Huh. Brief.'' I moved onto the next option, [Race(s): Insect].


    Ting.


    [Race allows for different evolution pathways to manifest. Current evolution path available: Insect.]


    ''Wait, what?'' This was getting more and more ridiculous. ''What is evolution?'' I focused on the word.


    Ting.


    [Every monster has the ability to evolve. Evolution is the ability to change one''s species, to a more powerful one, when one reaches Level 100.]


    ''This is such a bullshit system!'' I thought, for what felt like the hundredth time, before focusing on the word Level. I did not know what it was.


    Ting.


    [Level is the relative power level compared to one''s first evolution form. You need experience to Level up.]*


    I focused on the word Experience. I did not know what that was either. This was kinda making me feel stupid. And angry.


    Ting.


    [In the world of Kill or be Killed, Experience is what you gain by killing other living beings.]*


    ''Well, that was clear.'' I huffed but moved onto the next option nonetheless, [HP: 8/8].


    Ting.


    [Health Points is the maximum damage you can take. Zero HP results in death. Current HP: 8/8]


    I frowned and focused on [MP: -] next.


    Ting.


    [Mana Points is the maximum mana available to cast magic spells. Your species doesn''t allow usage of Mana.]


    ''Buuuuuuuuullllllllllsssshhhhhhiiiiiiiiitttttttt! I call Bullshit!'' I scowled. ''I was a wizard in my previous birth, how can I not have magic?! Magic has nothing to do with anybody''s body! It has everything to do with one''s soul! I was reincarnated! I have my soul! Give me my magic, dammit!''


    I ranted. I ranted for a while as I continued to eat. But, as I had expected, it did not have any effect. So tired of my mental ranting, I moved onto next option, [Titles].


    Ting.


    [Title is a label awarded by the Will of the World, to the living beings, for performing specific tasks or for meeting certain specifications.]


    That explained the {Reincarnated} title. I focused on the next one, {Sentient}.


    Ting.


    [Title {Sentient} grants standard Intelligence and Wisdom.]


    I frowned at the capital letter for both intelligence and wisdom and focused on Intelligence. A red screen popped up this time.


    TRAAAAAAANG!


    [SPECIAL attributes are blocked for monster races. Access Denied.]


    I scowled. ''What the Hell!'' I tried to focus on Wisdom with the same result. Grumbling at the stupidity of this Will of the World, I moved to the last Title, {Hungry}.


    Ting.


    [Species only title; forces the creature to eat continuously. It also allows the creature to gain experience from the act of eating.]


    ''What does that mean? Does that mean it will be removed when I evolve?'' I frowned for a moment before moving on; there was nothing I could do about it anyway.


    With another thought, I focused on going back to the initial screen and when it appeared, I focused on skills.


    Ting.


    [{Crawl Lv.1}]


    [Ability to crawl on your body.]


    [{Molting Lv.1}]


    [Ability to shed the exoskeleton/skin and come out as new. Cost depends on the size of being.]


    [{Poison Resistance Lv.5}]


    [Ability to reduce the effect of poison and delay being poisoned; it develops sub-resistances for different types of poisons.]


    [Weak-Poison: Bug: Resistance Lv. Max]


    [Poison: Bug: Resistance Lv. 1]


    [{Poison Creation Lv.1}]


    [Allows creation of poison and at Level N, allows N poisons to be created that have Maxed out sub-resistances.]


    [Available: Weak Bug Poison]


    I frowned again. All the rest of my skills started from Level 1 but my poison resistance skill was starting from Level 5. I focused on it.


    Ting.


    [Ability to delay being poisoned; it develops sub-resistances for different types of poisons. Due to the Title {Reincarnated}, the skill takes into account previous births.]


    I scowled as I remembered the Basilisk and that I had been poisoned by my dear wife. I knew there was nothing I could do now. I was dead. At least in my world. Trying to suppress the anger and rage, I stopped eating and took a deep breath in, before exhaling. It helped. I resumed eating.


    Ting.


    [You have Leveled Up! Level up bonus of +1 HP granted.]


    Startled, I checked my status, and sure enough my Level read [Level: 4] and my HP read as [HP: 9/9]. Giddy for the moment, I turned to the second last option, [Spells] and focused on it.


    Ting.


    [Your species doesn''t allow usage of Mana. No spells allowed.]


    Once again scowling, I turned to the last option, the most ominous one, [?].


    A golden screen popped up this time.


    Ting.


    [? #%^#&*+/ %!&#$&* $ & &$%& $^!*!%$#& ? ?#?%?#?]


    [? ?: 100]


    [! #$: 100 *&^%: 100 ^%$#: 100 & % : 100 & %^:100]


    ''What the hell!'' I gawked. I did not understand anything. And what was with all the numbers! How was I supposed to understand it?


    Fuming, I tentatively focused on the second line and another golden screen popped up.


    Ting.


    [ %$* ^$!*$ ?#/ #?$$$#?#$%##?#$ ?#$#?$?#$##]


    ''Fuck you too.''


    I focused on the first option in the third line, expecting the same result as the last time, so of course, that did not happen. All of a sudden, the number in the second line went to zero.


    Ting.


    [Skill {Observe Lv.1} acquired.]


    ''Wh-what!'' I gaped. ''I did not buy anything! I do not want to buy anything! Take it back! Take it back!''


    But of course, it wasn''t taken back. So I focused on it to know whatever it was that I had apparently bought.


    Ting.


    [Gives details of the target.]


    ''How very detailed.'' I sighed. It made two things very clear though; first, that the last option was a skill market of some kind. And second, that I should remain clear of it until I have an idea of what was actually written there.


    Still, I got lucky this time. I could have bought some useless skill with those 100 points, instead of {Observe Lv.1}. I decided to try it. ''Observe.'' I mentally whispered but a red screen popped up as soon as I finished thinking.


    TRAAAAAANG!


    [No Mana detected. Skill cannot be used.]


    ''What the fuuuuck!'' I fumed. I fumed for a while before I stopped and took another deep breath. It helped. I returned to eating. My mood sour, after all the bad news.


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    DAY 2


    I woke up. Not because the shining rays of sun had hit me softly, creating a perfect scene, no, none of that bullshit. I woke up because, after the amount of leaves I had eaten, I had to shit; I had to shit a lot.


    With that bit of unpleasantness done, I resumed eating; it was not like I could do anything else.


    Though there were two things that I had achieved yesterday. First was that my skill, {Crawl}, hit Level 3 and became {Crawl Lv.3}. And second, was that I had hit Level 15, with my HP reading [HP: 20/20].


    I smiled slightly. If I continued on leveling like that, soon I would evolve.


    And while that was happening -because believe me, there was not a lot to do when chewing leaves- I had counted the number of leaves it took me to reach next level -I really, really, had nothing better to do- and while initially, it had been 7 leaves per level, but as my level grew higher and higher, the number of leaves required to level up, increased.


    Now that I was on level 15, I estimated it would take me 10 leaves to level up. So I chomped and chomped and chomped.


    And while I was chomping, I sensed a disturbance. I stopped eating and looked around; trying to find the source of disturbance.


    Screeeeech!


    I turned to face the sound. It was a bird of some sort, coming down faster and faster, aiming at the plant that I had been devouring. It was, obviously, aiming for breakfast.


    I knew I was not fast enough to crawl away from the creature, no matter how much my crawl speed had increased due to the skill''s new level. And that bird, that creature, was honing in on us, our plant, faster and faster.


    I panicked. My tiny little caterpillar brain couldn''t think of anything beyond the approaching death that would soon descend upon us. I felt my heart race miles a minute and I felt my body shiver in fear in horror.


    My death was near, that was all that my instincts screamed at me; overwhelming me with the desire to flee because they knew, because I knew, there was no option to fight.


    Seeing no other option but to flee, I let go of the leaf, which I had been hanging on, and felt myself fall. Air rushed by me for a moment before I hit the ground with a thump.


    Ting.


    [-5 HP]


    I shook myself, trying to shake off the shock of the fall.


    I winced.


    That hurt; that hurt a lot but it successfully broke me out of my instinct induced panic. That didn''t mean that it didn''t hurt a lot, no, it hurt like a motherfucking bitch.


    Clamping down on the pain, I turned around to see where my body had hit the ground, and sure enough, my soft bulging body looked bruised and pulped. I swallowed. ''That had been a bad idea. A very bad idea.''


    I turned back to watch the plant, which had been my home and source of food for the past day, and saw the bird¡­thingy¡­creature chomp down on the rest of my brethren with little mercy. It was devouring every caterpillar in sight. It was nothing but a massacre. I shivered.


    ''Kill Or Be Killed.'' I remembered the blue screen had said.


    Having noticed the situation, I turned around, unable to watch the carnage and tried to find someplace to hide from the eyes of the vicious thing decimating the population of caterpillars. My eyes fell on a pile of dead leaves that cast a shade beneath them, far away from the prying eyes.


    I tried to crawl towards the shade but the pain that erupted in my body felt like lightning racing through my body.


    I bit back the scream that wanted to leave my jaws; this was not the time.


    Forcing my tiny limbs to support me, I lifted my body. But that little effort left me breathing hard and gasping. Still, I pushed myself. If I faltered now, I would turn into birdfeed. Literally. And I had no intention of doing so.


    The jolt of red hot pain, which ran through my body, had my tiny legs refusing to move but I had no other choice. It wasn''t a choice of life and death.


    It wasn''t a choice at all for I refused to die again. I will not die; not here; not at the hands some random bird.


    I crawled forward, barely making it. My body almost refused to move again but somehow I made it through. I took a deep breath and reminded myself that I had no choice. I crawled again and, again a bolt of screaming pain pulsed through me. I bit down on the flesh of my mouth and tasted blood.


    Ting.


    [-1HP]


    [Skill acquired {Pain Resistance Lv.1}. Your pain tolerance has increased.]


    I heard the chime and felt the pain, from my wound, decrease just a tinge but I ignored the pain and the screens; I did not have time for this silliness at the moment.


    Breathing in a shaky breath, I pushed myself towards the shade. I moved, just a tinge and my breath escaped me with the soaring pain. I took in another breath and tried again. I moved and I pushed myself again, not wanting to let the breadth escape me this time.


    Ting.


    [-1 HP]


    The pain hit me again and again as bolts of it soared through my body. It reminded me what a stupid decision it had been to fall from the height in the soft body of a caterpillar, but then, I turned around to look back at the plant. And the half vanished population of caterpillars told me that though stupid, it had been the right decision.


    Ting.


    [-1 HP]


    I winced and pushed myself through the hurt and the blinding pain; somehow I managed to reach the shade beneath the pile of leaves. I took in a deep but shaky breath.


    Ting.


    [Skill {Pain Resistance Lv.1} has leveled up to {Pain Resistance Lv.2}. Your Pain has tolerance increased.]


    Ignoring the screens, I turned back to look at the plant. The population of caterpillars was dangerously low now. Soon the bird would come down, looking for any that fell and were left. I could not let the bird find me. I cannot let it eat me. I cannot let it kill me.


    No. I refused.


    I refused to die.


    Taking another deep breath, I shoved my head into the soft ground and bit as much dirt as I could. I pulled back and spat the dirt out and shoved my face again into the dirt. I could not use my legs or my other limbs; they were short and stubby and useless in this situation.


    I repeated the process again and again and again. All the while, I thanked the gods that a caterpillar''s mouth was much larger compared to its body than a humans. I cannot imagine doing the same thing with my original body.


    Soon the hole was large enough for my tiny body to fill it in and through the pain and hurt I, somehow, managed to shove myself in, with my mouth down the hole and my ass facing the world.


    Ting.


    [-1 HP]


    I was tired, so very tired. And hurt. But I could not give up, not yet. I was still vulnerable and had no way to hide my ass. I was out of my wits and there seemed to be no way to hide myself completely.


    I felt the disturbance, once again, just like when the predatory bird had attacked my plant.


    Thump. Thump.


    I felt the soft landing of supple feet and knew, I just knew, that the bird had come looking for the ones that fell. Fear finally got its clutches on me, and my heart, which had been already racing on pain and hurt, now was fed fear; it raced, faster. I even felt my bowels move in fear.


    And then it hit me. Shit. The answer was shit.


    Yesterday, and today, I had eaten so much that I was bulging with shit even though I had already shat once. So I shat. Through pain, fear and hurt I shat. I shat all over my ass and tried to cover my hideout with it, as much as I can. I wiggled and squirmed, shaking the mounds of shit and letting it spread.


    I knew I was covered in shit ¨Crolling in it, even- but, at the moment, I could not begin to care. My survival depended on that mound of shit.


    Thump. Thump.


    The bird moved and I felt the distance between us decrease. My breadth hitched and my heart felt like it would run out of my body.


    Thump. Thump.


    The claws came closer and I shut my eyes. I tried remembering if there was anything in my skill list that could help me right now. I tried and forced my brain to remember. ''[Poison Creation].'' I remembered and activated the skill without a second thought.


    I felt the hairs on my body become wet with the poison secreting from the pores on my body. But I didn''t stop, I continued to secrete the poison, without stopping; I hoped to take the bastard down with me, if it ate me.


    Tired, I took a deep breath. I had done everything that I could do as a caterpillar, and then some, and if, now, that nasty bird found and ate me, at least, I hoped I would take it down with me. I smiled in satisfaction.


    Thump. Thump.


    I felt the bird come closer and held my breath; I did not want to do anything to alert the nasty thing of my presence.


    Thump. Thump.


    I could feel the bird standing right over my mound of shit. It paused over the hole and my heart stopped. Would it look past the shit and move on? I hoped it would. I prayed it would, after all, my life depended on it.


    Thump. Thump.


    The bird passed me over, yet, I held my breath. I did not move. I could not move. I dared not move. At that moment, there was a flutter of wings and the bird flew away.


    I remained there, still; not believing that I had survived, that I had lived past that encounter. A shaky breath escaped me and I smiled a watery smile. I had survived.I was alive.


    I laughed. ''I survived! I am alive!'' I laughed and laughed and I gasped. And then I laughed some more.


    I gasped again as my heart finally slowed down and the pain that I had been ignoring finally caught up to me. I winced and yet I smiled.


    I breathed in a deep breath and searched for a specific skill; hoping it would do what I wanted it to do. I remembered it and with a sigh of relief, I activated the skill {Molting}.


    Ting.


    [-10HP]


    ''Oh shi-''


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    * Not the best explanation, I know, but it was the best that I could come up with.


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    P.S. Unbeta''ed but edited to the best of my ability.

 Arc 1 - Shaken - Chapter 2

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    DAY 2 Continued.


    Slowly, my consciousness returned and, just as slowly, I opened my eyes.


    Ting.


    [Skill {Pain Resistance Lv.2} has leveled up to {Pain Resistance Lv.3}. Your pain tolerance has increased.]


    Ting.


    [Skill {Molting Lv.1} has leveled up to {Molting Lv.2}. Time required for the skill has been reduced by 10 minutes. Total time required: 5 Hours and 50 Minutes.]


    Ting.


    [Skill {Poison Creation Lv.1} has leveled up to {Poison Creation Lv.2}. You can create up to 2 poisons.]


    Ting.


    [Title gained: {Survivor}]


    Ting.


    [Skill {Survive Lv.1} acquired.]


    Ting.


    [Skill {Sensor Lv.1} acquired.]


    My mind blanked at the sudden onslaught of notifications. ''Wha-!?''


    Slowly I shook myself and winced, when I remembered the last thing that I had done; because if I remembered correctly, I had almost no HP left when I had blacked out. But before that, I searched for the bruised portion, which had turned to pulp, when I had fallen.


    No Pain.


    I smiled. ''This is awesome! My hunch was right after all! I can use the skill {Molting} to heal my wounds!''


    Giddy from the good news, I checked my HP, it read [HP: 13/20].


    ''So it heals my body but doesn''t increase my HP? Makes no sense.'' I frowned a little before smiling in relief. I was happy enough with what I had at the moment. ''Hmm¡­ but if the skill doesn''t restore my HP, then does that mean that I regenerate HP over time?''


    Judging by the small amount that had regenerated, it seemed like that was the case. ''That''s good to know but how much do I generate?''


    I tried to move out of my shit covered hideout, but, my body refused to move; I was dead tired.


    After yesterday''s ordeal and the molting that followed it, the energy left in body was miniscule. Still, I think it was the molting that tired me out more than anything else. ''I''d have to be more careful when I molt next time.''


    With what little energy I had, I crawled out and looked up to notice the position of the sun.


    That nasty bird-creature had attacked soon after I had woken up, so approximately when the sun was rising but, at the moment, it was overhead. From that I seemed that almost 6 hours had passed since my fainting spell. That gave me a regeneration of 2 points per hour.


    I sighed. ''I don''t even know if that is a good number or not.''


    I yawned and crawled back in; I was very, very tired.


    Turning back to the notifications hanging over me, I started to go through them, but not without a sigh; I may as well go through them now rather than later. The first notification was pretty standard and so was the second; but the second one confused me a little, so I focused on it.


    Ting.


    [Skill {Molting Lv.1} has leveled up to {Molting Lv.2}. Time required to Molt has been reduced from 6 hours to 5 hours and 50 minutes.]


    I grimaced. What good a time reduction of 10 minutes would do here? It was useless; completely useless. I sighed. Maybe the time reduction would increase with each level of the skill? I hoped that was the case. Oh dear god I hoped. I sighed. I guess I''d just have to wait and watch; after all, the least I could do was hope.


    Shaking my head, I focused on the next screen.


    Ting.


    [Skill {Poison Creation Lv.1} has leveled up to {Poison Creation Lv.2}. You are now capable of creating another poison for whom you have had the sub-resistance maxed out.]


    I grimaced. Again.


    If I understood it right, to be able to create another poison, I would have to make myself suffer the poison until the sub-resistance maxed out.


    What an absolutely shit thing to do! And absolutely shit thing to put as a condition because maxing out sub-resistances would not be fun; not at all. Just who decided such an idiotic requirement for creating poisons anyway? Did that person had a grudge against me or something? Or did they not want creatures spamming the skill to create more and more poisons?


    Stupid piece of shit.


    Still grimacing, I moved to the next screen. ''A new [Title]? Now, this is interesting.''


    Ting.


    [Through your Will, Presence of Mind and sheer Stubbornness, you have defied your Death. You have survived. Grants the skill, {Survive Lv.1}]


    I frowned. ''What did it mean by "My Death"? Was I supposed to die there? At the hands of that bird? So soon after my rebirth? '' I scowled. ''Th-that better not be true!''


    Irritated, I focused on my first new skill, {Survive}.


    Ting.


    [When activated, stops HP and MP from decreasing below a certain limit for a fixed amount of time. Cost: HP/2. Current Limit of Time: 1 Minute. Current Limit of HP: 1. Current Limit of MP: -]


    I read, and then reread the skill description because I did not know whether I should laugh or scowl at it. On one hand, it fixed my HP so, in a way, it stopped me from dying. On the other hand, it consumed half of my HP ¨Cfucking half of my HP!- and would limit my HP to a mere 1 point and that too for just 1 Minute.


    I chose the latter option and scowled. ''What an absolutely fucking piece of shit skill!''


    In the end, I decided to let it be. After all, it was not as if I could do anything about it now. I''d just have to wait for the skill to grow.


    Moving on, I focused on the last notification and my second skill, {Sensor Lv.1}.


    Ting.


    [Grants the ability to sense the vibrations and changes in the air pattern. Depth and Limit of sensing increase with level.]


    I grinned. Now, this was what I called a good skill. And this also explained how I had sensed the disturbance when that vicious bird had attacke-


    A yawn escaped me. Well, I was at my limit.


    Closing my eyes, I went back to sleep.


    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">


    DAY 3


    I woke up with a fierce fire raging in my belly. Hunger was here. And it was finally making itself known after being ignored almost all day yesterday


    I sighed.


    Though, now that I wasn''t dead tired, I noticed, that for some reason, my body was itching. And it wasn''t just at one or two points, no; the damn itch had somehow spread over the entirety of my body. I shook myself and rubbed my head in the ground, trying to sooth the itch.


    Ah, finally, it soothed a little on my face and I opened my eyes. ''Huh!'' I stared dumbly. ''What is that?''


    From my eyes, and from my face, some odd greenish-skin-type-thingy was peeling off. I frowned for a moment before I remembered that I had molted yesterday and that the odd greenish-skin-type-thingy was most likely exuviate that I had shed while molting.


    I sighed and began to rub myself against the walls of my hideout with renewed vigor. Damn, that itched! And that burn! I was not having a good day!


    As soon as I could, I removed the dead skin sticking to my body and crawled out of my hole to the nearest plant. The burn was so fierce that I practically ran towards the plant, which resulted in leveling up my crawl skill.


    Ting.


    [Skill {Crawl Lv.3} has leveled up to become {Crawl Lv.4}. You crawl a little faster now.]This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.


    I ignored the screen and began to chomp down on the nearest leaf without any second thought; though, perhaps, I should have when I realized that it was bitter in taste.


    Ignoring the taste, I chomped, chomped and chomped as I continued to devour the leaf.


    Ah, finally the burn began to subside. But then-


    Ting.


    [Sub-Skill gained. Skill {Mild-Poison: Plant: Resistance Lv.1} acquired. The effect of the poison has been decreased. A tinge.]


    ''Oh shit!'' I immediately stopped eating and began to crawl away from the plant. That plant was poisonous and while I had a poison related skill, it was just Resistance, meaning it just delayed the effect and lessened it a bit; it did not stop the poison. And also, I did not have the resistance for plant based poisons! Not until now!


    ''Oh shit!'' ''Oh shit!'' ''Oh shit!'' ''Oh shit!''


    I crawled as fast as I could to the next tree. ''Oh shit!''I wanted to reach it before the effect of poison hit me -''Oh shit!''- so that I had something to eat if I was left dead tired and unable to move. ''Oh shit!'' I did not want another repeat of yesterday. ''Oh shit!'' I wasn''t sure if my caterpillar body could withstand two days of fasting. ''Oh shit!''


    Reaching the plant -''Oh shit!''- I gave it a quick onceover and noticed that its leaves were of the same shape as the plant which I had been birthed on. ''Oh shit!'' That gave me a little relief and I climbed it to reach the nearest leaf. ''Oh shit!''


    The poison hit me ¨C''Fuuuuuuuckkkkk!''- soon after that, as my body began to convulse and pain began to rummage through my body. ''Fuuuuuuuckkkkk!'' I convulsed and I shrieked yet I somehow managed to stick to the leaf. ''Fuck! Fuuuuuuuckkkkk!''


    My body twitched and struggled against my will as the poison ran its course. ''Fuck! Fuck! Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!'' My vision began to blur and my sense of smell went wonky. ''Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!'' I saw the world move and smelled the odd odor of buttercups and mint. ''Fuuuuuuuckkkkk!'' I knew there were neither buttercups nor mints in my vicinity but that little tidbit didn''t help as my body continued to squirm against my wish. ''Fuck! Fuck! Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!''


    Luckily, the poison was a weak one and slowly, ever so slowly, the convulsions died down and so did the pain. Finally the world stopped moving and the scent of buttercups and mints vanished along with it.


    A sigh of relief escaped me and I began to chomp down on the lovely tasteless leaf beneath me. ''Ah, the tasteless heaven.''


    The rest of the day passed in blur as I did nothing but eat. I chomped down on the leaves like the hungry caterpillar that I was and devoured them with little mercy. I managed to level up to [Level: 27] by the time moon rose in the sky which raised my HP to [HP: 32/32].


    At that moment, I stopped eating, and grimaced as a sudden thought struck me. I knew I had to do it; there was, after all, no other way. The only way to gain another poison was going through that.


    I grimaced again. Now that my skill Poison creation had reached Level 2, it allowed me to create another poison, but, for that to happen, I had to reach maximum level in an another Sub-Poison-Resistance.


    And though, I already had [Poison: Bug: Resistance Lv. 1], at present, I could not level it up as I had no source for it. That left me with the only other resistance I had, {Mild-Poison: Plant: Resistance Lv.1}.


    With a defeated sigh, I headed towards to poisonous plant and crawled up its stalk. Slowly I began to chomp down on the tiny stalks connecting the leaves to the stem and allowed them to fall. I broke of 3 leaves and crawled down towards the fallen leaves.


    One by one, I grabbed the leaves and slowly, ever so slowly, dragged the leaves towards my little hideout.


    After yesterday''s scare, I had decided that I was not going to sleep out in the open; after all predators preyed even in the night and I had no intention of becoming an easy meal for anybody. Though this time, I had to widen the hole as I had grown through the day because of eating the innumerous leaves that I had eaten.


    Once I reached the hideout, I crawled into the hole but this time, with my ass down the hole and mouth sticking out. Then I began chomping down on the leaves. I ate through the bitter leaves and continued to devour them until, soon, there was just half a leaf remaining.


    Ting.


    [Skill {Mild-Poison: Plant: Resistance Lv.1} has leveled up to {Mild-Poison: Plant: Resistance Lv.2}. Your resistance to this poison has increased. A little.]


    And then I waited with baited breath; for I knew what was coming. My heart raced in fear and anticipation as I waited.


    It took a few moments more than the last time but the poison hit me and my body began to convulse as pain began to rummage through me. ''Fuuuuuck!'' I convulsed and I shrieked but managed to remain in the hole. ''Fuck! Fuck! Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!''


    My body twitched and struggled, and this time I let it as the poison ran its course -''Fuuuuuck!''- I knew there was nothing to gain by fighting the poison and it would just tire me out. ''Fuuuuuck!''


    My vision began to blur and my sense of smell went wonky, again. ''Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!'' The world started dancing this time and I smelled the odor of swamp and rain. ''Fuck!'' I knew I was nowhere near a swamp and that it hadn''t rained since my birth but that little knowledge didn''t help as my body continued to squirm. ''Fuuuuuck!''


    Slowly, the poison ran its course and the convolutions stopped.


    Panting, I relaxed my body and laid still, tired. That had been rough; way rougher than what I had expected. I grimaced. I, now, had to do that who knew how many times as I hadn''t ¨Cyet- evolved a skill to know how many levels it took to max it out. I was so not looking forward to doing this again.


    Reaching out, I covered the opening with the half eaten leaf and crawled deeper into the hole. With a sigh, I activated {Survive Lv.1} and immediately felt tiredness take over me.


    Ting.


    [-16 HP]


    No I wasn''t in any kind of danger and no, I wasn''t stupid either. I knew what I was doing. I just wanted to evolve my skills until they were better than they were at the moment.


    I found it justified as, well, it was not like I had use of HP while I slept, now did I? And at the same time, with me hiding in my hideout, I was relatively safe. So I had decided to use the safety of the night to evolve my skills while I slept.


    The plan, at the moment, was to use {Survive Lv.1} and {Molting Lv. 2} alternatively each night, so that by the time I woke up, my HP -which I would lose through the use of both those skills- would have recovered.


    I, knowingly, did not use both the skills together for two reasons. One, {Survive Lv.1} took out half of my HP and I had no idea how much HP {Molting Lv. 2} would consume and I did not want to risk death because of my stupidity.


    And two, because even if I used {Molting Lv. 2} first and then used {Survive Lv.1} according to the HP left, I did not want to leave my HP dangerously low as, then, I would not be able to recover that much of a loss in one night.


    Sighing, I checked my HP, it read, [HP: 16/32]. ''Good thing my HP didn''t plummet directly to 1 to get fixed. Because that would have been bad. Very, very bad.


    With the agenda of the day achieved, I fell asleep.


    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">


    DAY 4


    I woke up again, to the feeling of my insides ready to burst. I but my lips and quickly crawled out of my hideout to move towards the non-poisonous plant that I had munched on yesterday. I needed to shit and I needed to shit real fast.


    After finishing my morning ablutions, I began to crawl towards the poisonous tree and, just like yesterday, chewed on the tiny stems connecting the leaves to the rest of the plant.


    I wanted to get this torture over with as soon as possible.


    So I chewed on 10 leaves and let them fall; after all, I had no idea how many leaves it would take for me to level up my sub-poison-resistance skill. That left me with only one thing to do; dragging the fallen leaves back to my hideout.


    Slowly, ever so slowly, and steadily I dragged the leaves and finally managed to bring all the 10 back to the hideout.


    Ting.


    [Skill {Crawl Lv.4} has leveled up to {Crawl Lv.5}. Your crawl speed has increased.]


    I smiled; at least something good came out of all this dragging leaves back and forth. I guess most caterpillars don''t crawl as much as I do. But then again, most caterpillars didn''t have sentience either.


    Closing the screen with a single thought, I began munching on the bitter leaves one by one. It was on the fourth leaf that I heard the now familiar sound.


    Ting.


    [Skill {Mild-Poison: Plant: Resistance Lv.2} has leveled up to {Mild-Poison: Plant: Resistance Lv.3}. Your resistance to this poison has increased. A bit.]


    I immediately stopped eating and, as quickly I could, I crawled out of the hole, grabbed a leaf and covered my hideout with it before burrowing deep into the hole.


    The quiver, the shakes and the motion sickness started a little later than usual and so did the scent hallucination. I suffered through them all. Though, nausea hit me then and I was not prepared for it. I tried to bite back the bile as I had no intention of vomiting in my hideout. You know what they say, ''Don''t shit where you eat'' and all that stuff.


    Thankfully, the nausea did not last long and was soon gone but that did not mean that the rest of the symptoms left with it. I suffered through the rest of the ordeal with as much dignity I could, but, let me tell you, there was nothing dignified about being poisoned.


    When the torment finally ended, I made my way towards the non-poisonous plant which had become my new source of food and began munching on one of its numerous leaves.


    The day passed by quickly; what with me munching, again and again aimlessly on the tasteless leaves, and trying to use my newest skill, {Sensor Lv.1}. Using it, for the first time, had been enlightening experience. I was left marveling at the difference between what I had felt, on the day of the Attack, and what I had felt when using the actual skill.


    Where earlier I had just felt the disturbance and hadn''t known that the disturbance was coming from above, until the idiotic bird had screeched, now I could easily tell from which direction the disturbance had originated; though, I still couldn''t pin point the disturbance to a particular point or to its actual cause.


    By the time when the sun finally set and moon rose in the sky, I had been working the skill all day long; along with eating the leaves of course.


    Ting.


    [Skill {Sensor Lv.1} has leveled up to {Sensor Lv.2}. Depth and Limit of sensing increased. A tinge.]


    Ting.


    [You have Leveled Up! Level up bonus of +1 HP granted.]


    Grimacing, I dismissed the screen before noticing that I had reached [Level: 36] which caused my HP to increase to [HP: 41/41]. It did not make me smile though, because I was making my way towards the poisonous plant; after all, it was, again, the time for my torture.


    I repeated the process from earlier and let 10 leaves fall before dragging them to my hideout. Though this time, I did not crawl completely in the hideout as I did not want to puke in my new home and, in case I did puke, I wanted it to, at least, remain outside the hideout.


    Thus, I let my head remain outside and covered both, the hole and myself, with the leaves as soon as I heard the familiar sound.


    Ting.


    [Skill {Mild-Poison: Plant: Resistance Lv.3} has leveled up to {Mild-Poison: Plant: Resistance Lv.4}. Your resistance had increased. Slightly.]


    The ordeal, as usual, was not over soon. It seemed to stretch on and on and when it was finally over, I sighed in relief and crawled in completely. Making myself comfortable, well, as comfortable as I could after going through the ordeal that I had just gone, I used the skill {Molting} as I had used {Survive} yesterday.


    Ting.


    [-21 HP]


    I sighed and called for my status.


    [Name: Unnamed]


    [Species: Caterpillar]


    [Race(s): Insect]


    [Level: 36]


    [HP: 20/41]


    [MP: -]


    [Titles: {Sentient}, {Reincarnated}, {Hungry}, {Survivor}]


    [Skills: {Crawl Lv.4}, {Molting Lv.2}, {Poison Resistance Lv.5}, {Poison Creation Lv.2}, {Survive Lv.1}, {Sensor Lv.2}, {Pain Resistance Lv.3}, {Observe Lv.1}]


    [Spells:-]


    I smiled at the growth that I had seen just in the past few days, though, my HP ¨Cor what was left of it- still made me grimace. This skill had eaten up a little more than half my HP. I guess my decision, to use only one skill a day, was an intelligent one after all.


    I sighed and with one last glance, I dismissed the screen and went to sleep.


    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">


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    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">


    P.S. Unbeta''ed but edited to the best of my ability.

 Arc 1- Shaken - Chapter 3

    DAY 5.


    <hr>


    I woke up with an itch running all over my body.


    ''Uh, molting,'' Remembering, I scowled. ''If this itch persists, it will get old real fast.''


    I wiggled my body and¨C


    Crack!


    -heard a crack reverberate in my little hidey-hole. I frowned and squirmed even more, hearing more and more cracks run across exuviate. ''What is going on? Why are there cracks this time? There were no cracks last time.''


    Ignoring the confusion for the moment, I continued my struggle. Soon enough, my struggles bore fruit and I was finally out of my shed skin.


    With a sigh of relief ¨Ccaused by the absence of the insistent itch- I turned around to study the shell that I had just discarded. The exuviate, this time, did not feel like a dried and removed version of my skin, like it had last time, instead, it felt more like those dried leaves that crunched under your feet as you walked along in the months of Autumn.


    I frowned once more before turning away from the shed skin; whatever it was that had caused exuviate to harden, I did not have time for it; at the moment, my bursting intestines were my priority. So I decided to take care of it and began my morning ablutions.


    After finishing my daily rituals of shitting and dragging the poisonous leaves back to my hideout, I dug into the bitter leaves.


    Ting.


    [Skill {Mild-Poison: Plant: Resistance Lv.4} has leveled up to {Mild-Poison: Plant: Resistance Lv.5}. The effect of the poison has been decreased. A touch.]


    I was surprised, a little, by the familiar noise; I had expected it to take at least 10-15 leaves before the skill leveled up but, for some reason, it only took me a lot less leaves this time.


    What followed after that was the usual circus of pain, aches, convolutions, quivers, olfactory hallucinations and nausea. Though, this time I could not hold the bile in and vomited all over the area next to the entrance of my hideout.


    I grimaced. ''That would stink up the place.''


    Trying to avoid the mess as much as I could, I put a leaf over the mess and began digging next to it so as to dump the resulting mud on the vomit.


    Ting.


    [Skill {Dig Lv.1} acquired.]


    Intrigued, I focused on the skill name, wondering if it was any good.


    Ting.


    [Digging speed increases with increase in level.]


    I scowled. ''Useless. Utterly useless.''


    Dismissing the screen without another thought, I returned to burying the mess; after all, I did not want to walk out of my place, every morning, only to be greeted by the stench of vomit.


    After making sure that the stink of sickness was thoroughly vanquished, I started crawling back to my usual plant. Though, I grimaced when it finally came into my field of vision. It seemed like I had already eaten most of its leaves and if I ate any more, I was sure that it would die.


    I sighed and began crawling as I searched for another plant with the same leaves as the previous one. It took me a little time but I found one quickly enough and it was a good find. The plant that I had found was big enough to qualify as a small tree.


    With a small smile, I crawled up the bark to reach the nearest leaf and began munching on the tasteless food. While munching on the leaf, I activated my skill, {Sensor}; or better to say, I started focusing more attentively on my surroundings.


    Well, the thing was, it was not like the skill consumed MP or HP to activate, so there was no notification for its usage. And every time I used the skill, I just started feeling my surroundings more attentively and actively; it had little to nothing to do with activation.


    But ¡­meh. Activating the skill sounded much better than saying focusing on the surrounding. So I was going to stick with it.


    The response from the skill was nothing that I hadn''t expected. A little disturbance from the north as the wind changed direction, causing the leaves to ruffle and the like. It was peaceful, soothing even. Thus I continued to munch on the leaf without any care.


    It was as I was moving onto my 4th leaf that I felt a disturbance from my back and turned around. There, approximately 2 meters away from me, was a snail, almost thrice my size, sliding towards the same branch as me. Its eyes were fixated on me as if I was a piece of meat; which, to it, I most probably was.


    At the moment, it was the predator and I was its prey.


    My heartbeat fastened as my mind raced, trying to come with an offensive attack to take out the snail before it could reach me. It came up with nothing.


    All the skills that I had were defensive skills and the only offensive skill that I had was the poison creation one. But that skill secreted Poison from the pores on my body and was my last ditch effort to take out the offender alongside me. It was a suicide attack and I didn''t fancy dying again.


    If I had been human, I would be sweating right now because I had nothing to attack with. Sure I had my teeth but my body was soft, so very soft; one slam from the shell of snail would be all to flatten me like mush.


    I gulped. This was dangerous, extremely so.


    I was not armed to confront and the snail was blocking my exit. There was no escape. And unlike last time, I couldn''t repeat the falling act because last time I had been on a plant but this time I was on a tree. And although it was small tree, it was a fucking tree nonetheless. If I tried to redo my last escaping act, my soft body will splatter on the ground, showcasing my insides to the world.


    Not a scenario that I wanted to recreate.


    But then an idea struck me; an incredibly stupid and brilliant idea. It would require me to time the act just correctly or I would turn into snail feed real soon.


    With no other option available, I executed the idea and started moving in the direction of the snail. After crawling a few inches, I stopped and activated the skill, {Poison Creation}.


    Poison began to pour out of my pores until the hairs, on my body, were dripping with it. Satisfied, I rolled around, trying to make a line of poison as I rolled. I rolled and rolled and I rolled. I rolled as if my life defended on it; which, it actually did. So I kept rolling. The poison, from my body, was soon all on the branch but I kept on using the skill to secrete more and more of the ¨Chopefully- lethal liquid.


    I continued on rolling until branch had a thick line of poison stretching across its width. My plan was simple; I just had to create a thick line of poison so that when the snail slid over it, to reach me, the creature would absorb maximum amount of poison and hopefully die.


    I just hoped that it was stupid enough to not try to bypass the line.


    I grimaced when another thought struck me; a lot of this plan was based on just hoping. ''I am going to die, aren''t I?''


    Shaking my head to clear it of the negative thoughts, I crawled back and again began secreting poison but this time, instead of rolling around, I bend down until my mouth was touching my body and sucked; taking in a mouthful of poison. I planned on spitting the poison on the snail when it came in my range.


    By now the creature had reached my way too visible trap and thankfully, it was stupid enough to cross it over without a second thought.


    I knew the exact moment my poison began to work as the snail''s face twisted in pain. I took that chance and spat the poison that I had in my mouth.


    I missed. ''Just my freaking luck!''


    I bend down and sucked again before turning to face the snail and spitting. I hit it this time and the creature hissed in pain. I smiled. ''This just might work.''


    I bend down again and spat at the creature as it crossed over my poison line; wincing and flinching all the while.


    My heart beat fastened as I became desperate and repeated the process again and again with mediocre result, as sometimes, I missed while, other times, I hit it. I spat again and, this time, I got lucky; my poison hit the creature in one its eye and it began thrashing wildly.


    Knowing I did not have much option, I crawled over to the thrashing creature and bit at the stalk of the creature''s good eye, the one that I hadn''t hit with my poison. It thrashed even more and tried to hit me with its shell but, at that very moment, I pulled with all my might.


    The eyestalk broke off and the creature recoiled in pain, causing the attack to just grace me, yet, the pain was enormous.


    Ting.


    [-15 HP]


    I backed off a little and then thrashed the creature with my poison covered body. I hit it again but at the same time, it lunged forward and bit me.


    Ting.


    [-3 HP]


    I winced and thrashed the creature with renewed vigor. This was ''do or die'' after all, and I did not want to die. I winced as the creature ripped off my flesh but I continued to hit it with my poison covered body.


    Ting.


    [-7 HP]


    I hit it again and again until it stopped moving.


    Ting.


    [You have Leveled Up! Level up bonus of +1 HP granted.]


    Ting.


    [You have Leveled Up! Level up bonus of +1 HP granted.]


    Ting.


    [You have Leveled Up! Level up bonus of +1 HP granted.]


    Ting.


    [You have Leveled Up! Level up bonus of +1 HP granted.]


    Ting.


    [You have Leveled Up! Level up bonus of +1 HP granted.]


    Ting.


    [Skill {Poison Creation Lv.2} has leveled up to {Poison Creation Lv.3}. You can create up to 3 poisons.]


    Ting.


    [Skill {Poison Resistance Lv.5} has leveled up to {Poison Resistance Lv.6}. Your Resistance to poisons has increased.]


    I gaped. My level read, [Level: 42] while my HP read, [HP: 22/47]! 6 Levels! 6 freaking Levels and two skill level ups from just one fight! ''Why am I wasting my time eating those stupid leaves, when I can just kill these snails?''


    Though this did beg the question, why did the snail gave me so much experience that it transcended into multiple levels? When, at the same time, I had to eat tons of leaves just to gain one level. What was the difference? Why were the snails so much more profitable to me?


    Was it because I was its prey and it was my predator? Was it because I was supposed to be hunted by it and not hunt it? Was it because I was supposed to be killed by it but I killed it instead? Was it because the predator became the prey?


    Dear Merlin on a stick! Jus-


    I shook my head. If it was because of the prey and the predator thing, then I could surely exploit this in future.


    A smile morphed slowly itself on my face and I shivered in excitement but immediately flinched.


    Though the Snail''s attack had just graced me, where it had hit me, my flesh had tuned to pulp. Not to forget the flesh that the thrice damned snail had ripped off. ''Yep. That''s why I have been avoiding confrontation. Because I am a freaking caterpillar!''Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.


    I grimaced and checked my status to get the reading of my HP, it read [HP: 22/47]. I had lost 25 Points.


    I sighed. I couldn''t remain here anymore, not in the condition I was in. But I also couldn''t go back to my hideout without eating as that would just come back to bother me tomorrow.


    Shaking my head to clear it, I decided to go back to the plant that had been feeding me until now; even though that was the last thing I wanted to do.


    The thing, though, that I wanted to do the most was to go back to my hideout and Molt but I had less than half of my HP; trying to Molt now would be, hands down, the stupidest thing that I could ever do.


    I crawled down the tree, wincing and flinching all the while, and made my way towards my old hangout. It still had just as few leaves as I had seen in the morning.


    I understood now why caterpillars were considered pests.


    The time passed in blur after that as I kept using the skill, {Sensor}, both to be vigilant and to level it up. By the time moon rose in the sky, I had recovered 20 points of HPso my HP bar was almost back to its full strength and had earned 8 more levels so that now my level read, [Level: 50].


    With the full HP, I decided to follow through my daily ritual. But instead of dragging poisoned leaves back with me, I ate them directly from the plant; after all, in my condition, I couldn''t drag almost 10 leaves to my hideout.


    I consumed the leaves until I heard the familiar sound.


    Ting.


    [Skill {Mild-Poison: Plant: Resistance Lv.5} has leveled up to {Mild-Poison: Plant: Resistance Lv.6}. Your resistance to this poison has increased. Minutely.]


    I dismissed the screen, not bothering to even read it, and began crawling down the tree as fast as I could. I had no intention of being stuck on some random and thin branch of a plant when the convolutions hit; that would be just asking for a repeat of my first ever fall from a tree.


    What followed, my arrival back to the ground, was, by now, the regular dose of quivering, nausea, vomit, convolutions, olfactory hallucinations and pain. Though this time, auditory hallucination also joined in and I heard children giggling.


    It scared me until I realized that it was all a part of the hallucinations; after all, children -in their curiosity- could be the cruelest of all people. I had lived with my cousin, I would know.


    I shuddered as I made my way back to the hideout and settled in before activating the skill, {Molting}.


    Ting.


    [-27 HP]


    Ting.


    [Skill {Molting Lv.2} has leveled up to {Molting Lv.3}. Time required for the skill has been reduced by 10 minutes. Total time required: 5 Hours and 40 Minutes.]


    Ting.


    [Skill {Sensor Lv.2} has leveled up to {Sensor Lv.3}. Depth and Limit of sensing increased.]


    Ting.


    [Skill {Crawl Lv.4} has leveled up to {Crawl Lv.5}. Crawling speed had increased.]


    Ting.


    [Skill {Pain Resistance Lv.3} has leveled up to {Pain Resistance Lv.4}. Resistance to pain had increased.]


    I sighed. Today had been the night for using the skill, {Survive}, but because of the condition that I had been in, I had to use {Molting} instead; as, even though, my HP had recovered, my bruised and ripped off flesh had remained just as it had been, bruised and ripped off.


    As the skill began working, drowsiness overtook me and I fell asleep.


    <hr>


    DAY 6


    <hr>


    The next day, I followed my usual morning routine of pooping and eating the bitter leaves from the poisonous plant until I heard a familiar sound.


    Ting.


    [{Mild-Poison: Plant: Resistance Lv.6} has leveled up to {Mild-Poison: Plant: Resistance Lv.7}. Your resistance to this poison has increased.]


    The sound was, after a while, followed by the usual rounds of convolutions, quivers, hallucinations, aches and pain. Though, this time, the circus was over a lot sooner than all the previous times.


    I smiled. My Poison Resistance had finally begun decreasing the effect of poison. Still smiling, I began crawling towards the new three that I had found. Today, I had a plan.


    Reaching my new source of food, I crawled up its bark and began searching for a branch that was rather new and still tender, i.e. it hadn''t turned into wood. Soon, I found what I was looking for and began to dig a hole in the middle of the branch.


    A while later, I was assaulted by the familiar sound.


    Ting.


    [{Dig Lv.1} has leveled up to {Dig Lv.2}. Digging speed has increased.]


    Dismissing the screen, I went back to work. This skill was still useless as ever.


    Once the hole was done, I began to expand it from the sides, so that it covered the entire width of the branch but left it narrow enough that I could hide it by covering it up with a few well placed leaves. So that was what I did, after I had filled it with poison, of course.


    Yep, that was my brilliant plan, to trap the route to reach me; so that if another snail tried to make me its lunch ¨Cor even breakfast for that matter; I would not discriminate on the basis of eating time- it would have to cross through my puddle of poison and, hopefully, die.


    Ting.


    [Skill acquired {Trap Lv.1}. Traps made by you are comparatively more efficient.]


    Surprised at the notification, I focused on the new skill.


    [Your traps do 1% more damage.]


    I smiled a sour smile; although I got a new skill; it seemed utterly useless with its 1% extra damage.


    Sighing, I checked my handiwork. Satisfied with what I had done, I activated the skill, {Sensor} and began to munch on the ever tasteless leaves.


    By noon, I hadn''t had any run in with any snail, like the one I had encountered yesterday, and I was very thankful for that fact. It was not that I didn''t want the sudden jump in levels, no, I did; I did very much. It was just that I wasn''t sure, despite the new skill, just how effective my trap was.


    But that soon changed as the {Sensor} signaled me about a disturbance approaching me. Dreading what I would find, I turned around and sure enough, there was snail, sliding towards me with hunger filled eyes; this one was a little smaller than the previous one, barely thrice my size.


    Grimacing, I began walking towards my trap and stopped at a safe distance away from it before activating {Poison Creation} to soak my body completely in poison. I planned on repeating yesterday''s strategy if the trap failed; I would spit poison at the creature from afar and, when it finally came near me, I would try to bite off one of its stalks, that holds its eyes.


    If it was still alive by that time, then thrash it around until it died.


    Not the best plan, I knew that, but at the moment, it would do.


    I watched, like a hawk, as the creature slid towards me tirelessly before finally reaching my trap. It ignored the leaves completely; its eyes fixated on me and not wavering even for a second.


    And then as it continued to slide, its body didn''t find anything solid to hold its wait and it fell in my trap. It shrieked and thrashed around and convoluted as the poison began working. I waited with baited breath before crawling closer to the trap.


    The creature was still thrashing and withering in pain when I made it to the trap. I winced; I would not want to be in that situation, ever. But, at the moment, I could not bring myself to feel that bit of guilt; it was ''Do or Die'' and I, sure as hell, did not want to die.


    The creature, still flinching, tried to make its way out of the puddle but as soon as it was within my range, I hit it, as hard as I could, with my poison covered body, making it fall back in the trap.


    It shrieked, again, but it did not give up and, once again, wincing and flinching, it tried to make its way out of the puddle. I was there though, waiting for it, and hit him with the tail end of my body.


    But this time, the snail had wizened up, and tried to bite me as my body raced towards it. Its teeth grazed me and I winced.


    Ting.


    [-3 HP]


    I flinched back at the pain and the creature advanced, trying to make it out of the puddle while I was busy licking my wounds. I shook myself and crawled forward, this time aiming for its shell when I tried to hit him.


    I struck.


    Ting.


    [-2 HP]


    I winced. That was stupid; incredibly stupid. Why in the world did I think that it was a good idea? The snail''s shell was as hard as rock and I when I hit it, with my soft and pulpy body; it was like slamming my face in a wall. ''Ugghh..''


    But then, thankfully, the creature went limp as it died.


    Ting.


    [You have Leveled Up! Level up bonus of +1 HP granted.]


    Ting.


    [You have Leveled Up! Level up bonus of +1 HP granted.]


    Ting.


    [You have Leveled Up! Level up bonus of +1 HP granted.]


    Ting.


    [You have Leveled Up! Level up bonus of +1 HP granted.]


    Ting.


    [You have Leveled Up! Level up bonus of +1 HP granted.]


    Ting.


    [You have Leveled Up! Level up bonus of +1 HP granted.]


    Ting.


    [Skill {Poison Creation Lv.3} has leveled up to {Poison Creation Lv.4}. You can create up to 4 poisons.]


    I grinned; 5 Level ups and 1 skill level up for the loss of just 5 HP. Awesome! That was like the best deal ever!


    I crawled forward and bit the snail before trying to drag the creature out of the puddle. After all, I still had leaves to eat. Gasping from the effort, -that snail was heavy damn you!- I dragged the creature out of the puddle and towards the crook of the branch. There, I turned around and hit the snail, once again, with the tail end of my body causing it fall down.


    Thud!


    It fell on its shell and got stuck in the ground, upside down. I shook my head before crawling towards the puddle and filled it up again with my poison; the snail, in all its thrashing and quivering, had caused the poison to spill out of it.


    I gave the puddle an onceover. It was still in good condition as the snail hadn''t managed to damage it much. Nodding, I made my way over to the leaves and began munching with the skill, {Sensor}, active.


    It was in the afternoon that I felt the disturbance again, though this time, it wasn''t coming from back, but from beneath me; from the ground. I watched, interested, as a large scorpion made its way over to the dead snail.


    It looked around carefully before chomping down on the soft meat of the snail. I winced. Was that scorpion an idiot? Couldn''t it tell that the snail was poisoned?


    I watched in fascination as the moron of a scorpion ate the complete snail and began to walk off. I waited for my poison to kick in, for it surely would.


    So I waited.


    And the creature walked.


    And I waited.


    And the creature walked.


    And I waited.


    And the creature walked until walked out of my sight and my range.


    Without any ill effect from my poison.


    I gaped!


    That snail had been dripping to the brim with my poison ¨Cmy poison that had killed it!- and that-that scorpion just shrugged the poison off like it was an oriental spice! It was like the biggest Fuck You ever!


    ''Fuck you too scorpion!'' I fumed. ''Fuck you too!''


    The rest of the day passed in relative peace, that is, until the sun began to set.


    My skill picked up another disturbance and I turned around to face yet another snail. I thanked the gods that enough time had passed that the previous HP loss was recovered and I was at my full health.


    Ting.


    [Skill {Sensor Lv.3} has leveled up to {Sensor Lv.4}. Depth and Limit of sensing increased.]


    Dismissing the screen, I watched the snail slide towards me and waited, patiently, for it to fall into the trap. As it fell, it screeched but I ignored it and made my way towards the hissing and flinching snail rolling around in my puddle.


    Finally, it tried to make its way out the puddle. As it neared me, I bend down as fast as I could and bit at its eye stalk before pulling with all my might.


    The snail almost made it out of the puddle when the stalk ripped off of it and it flinched and shrieked in pain. Taking advantage of its distraction, I hit it, carefully this time, sending it back rolling into the puddle.


    It hissed and flinched for a moment before again trying to slide out of the puddle. As it neared me, it rushed forward, trying to bite me.


    I flinched back when it moved; still, it reached me easily and almost bit me. Trying to avoid its bite, I moved again and bit at the remaining eye stalk before pulling harshly. My pull caused the snail to make it out of the puddle as the eye stalk broke, causing it to shriek and hiss in pain.


    My heart raced as I began to panic but, then, common sense kicked in so I spat out the eye and head butted the snail causing it to fall back into the puddle. The creature screeched and thrashed around as it rolled in poison before its movement finally came to halt.


    Ting.


    [You have Leveled Up! Level up bonus of +1 HP granted.]


    Ting.


    [You have Leveled Up! Level up bonus of +1 HP granted.]


    Ting.


    [You have Leveled Up! Level up bonus of +1 HP granted.]


    Ting.


    [You have Leveled Up! Level up bonus of +1 HP granted.]


    Ting.


    [You have Leveled Up! Level up bonus of +1 HP granted.]


    I grinned manically. 5 Level ups and not a single HP loss! Brilliant! Though, I noticed, none of my skills leveled up this time but, the 8 levels I gained from devouring the leaves, more than made up for it. Over all, it was a good haul.


    Still smiling, I once again began dragging the giant ass corpse of the snail as I gasped and did my utter best to make it mo-


    Ting.


    [Skill acquired, {Ant''s Will Lv.1}]


    I stopped dragging the snail carcass and focused on the new skill.


    Ting.


    [Your strength becomes 2x for 1 minute. Cost: 10 HP/Minute.]


    I grinned, again; it was a good skill. Though the 10 HP cost was kind of a bummer.


    Smiling I dragged the corpse, without activating my new skill, and threw it down. I left the tree soon after that and made my way towards the poisonous tree for my daily routine of leveling up my skills.


    I was chewing on the stalk of the leaf, to cause it to break off and fall, when I remembered what I had done yesterday and paused. Yesterday, I had eaten all the leaves directly from the plant and I had been fine.


    Maybe I was way too cautious. Paranoid even.


    With that thought, I decided to follow the same procedure as yesterday. After all, I did not want to end up like a certain acquaintance of mine that was constantly looking over its shoulder.


    Thus I ate the leaves, while on the branch, until I head the distinctive sound.


    Ting.


    [Skill {Mild-Poison: Plant: Resistance Lv.7} has leveled up to {Mild-Poison: Plant: Resistance Lv.8}. Your resistance to this poison has increased. A little.]


    Dismissing the screen, I crawled down and waited for the poison to hit with baited breath. It took the poison longer than usual to hit and when it finally did hit, it not only lasted for a shorter time period but also had far few effects. Hallucinations didn''t occur this time and neither did I experience the nausea, result in a vomit-less occurrence.


    Tired from the convolutions, I made my way towards the hideout.


    Ting.


    [Skill {Crawl Lv.5} has leveled up to {Crawl Lv.6}. Your crawl speed has increased.]


    Reaching the hole, that had somehow become my home, I settled in and activated the skill, {Survive Lv.1}. ''Survive.''


    Ting.


    [-37 HP]


    Ting.


    [Skill {Survive Lv.1} had leveled up to {Survive Lv.2}. Time Limit and HP Limit have both increased by 1. Current Time Limit: 2 minutes. Current HP Limit: 2 HP]


    I laughed heartily at the HP loss; that much laugh would have killed me, on my first day here, in just one go. But now, now I was leisurely sacrificing it to just level up a skill.


    Smiling I called up my status.


    [Name: Unnamed]


    [Species: Caterpillar]


    [Race(s): Insect]


    [Level: 68]


    [HP: 36/73]


    [MP: -]


    [Titles: {Sentient}, {Reincarnated}, {Hungry}, {Survivor}]


    [Skills: {Crawl Lv.6}, {Molting Lv.3}, {Poison Resistance Lv.6}, {Poison Creation Lv.4}, {Survive Lv.2}, {Sensor Lv.4}, {Pain Resistance Lv.4}, {Trap Lv.1}, {Dig Lv.2}, {Ant''s Will Lv.1}, {Observe Lv.1}]


    [Spells:-]


    I studied the status with no little amount of satisfaction before tiredness caught up to me and I fell asleep.


    <hr>


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    <hr>


    P.S. Unbeta''ed but edited to the best of my ability.

 Arc 1- Shaken - Chapter 4

    DAY 7


    <hr>


    I woke up, as usual, with in an intense pressure building up my ass. Though, not as usual, today I woke up tired; sure, I wasn''t as tired as last night but I wasn''t as fresh as I had been yesterday morning.


    I frowned and tried to figure out the reason, for this newfound tiredness. The frown melted with remembering the simple fact that last night I had used {Survive}. The skill had taken half of my HP out, which had been a whopping 37 points.


    Of course, I hadn''t recovered all 37 points of HP in a single night. After all, I had slept for 11 hours, which means a recovery of 22 points. I sighed and checked on my HP and, sure enough, it read, [HP: 58/73].


    I frowned, 58 points still left me 15 HP short of a complete HP bar. And while I didn''t want to venture out in the woods until I was at my best, I just couldn''t stay holed up for 8 hours, doing nothing, while waiting for my HP to recover.


    Pursing my lips, I decided to follow through my schedule despite not having a full HP bar. After all, it wasn''t as if I hadn''t gone around, doing my business, when I had been a low level caterpillar and my total HP had been less than 58.


    Thus, I moved my ass.


    Reaching the poisonous plant I began munching on the bitter leaves. I was somewhere on my 13rd leaf when I heard the familiar sound.


    Ting.


    [{Mild-Poison: Plant: Resistance Lv.8} has leveled up to {Mild-Poison: Plant: Resistance Lv.9}. Your resistance to this poison has increased.]


    I shook my head and crawled down the plant. It took the poison even longer today to hit me and when it did, its effects were weak and it lasted for just a while. Though the poison just had me convulsing and quivering, those symptoms didn''t last for long.


    I grinned; finally, the resistance was turning into something good. Still smiling, I made my way towards the tree that had been feeding me for the past few days.


    Nothing much happened after that. I munched on the leaves and kept on using the skill, {Sensor}. I was surprised when I didn''t see any snails approaching me. I was thankful for the peace, I really was, but at the same time, I was disappointed.


    ''Huh! Who would have guessed?''


    When the night finally fell, and the moon rose in the sky, I left the tree with Level being [Level: 75] and my HP reading, [HP: 80/80]. A total gain of 7 points.


    I know, I know; the level gain was a lot less than what, I had been gaining, when I had been a low level creature. But this lower gain had nothing to do with me eating less leaves, I was sure of that. As far as I could tell, the higher my level was, the more time ¨Cand leaves- it took me to level up.


    I shook my head to clear it of useless thoughts and made my way to the tree with bitter leaves. I was chomping down on my 17th lea-


    Ting.


    [{Mild-Poison: Plant: Resistance Lv.9} has leveled up to {Mild-Poison: Plant: Resistance Lv.10}. Your resistance to this poison has increased.]


    I smiled and crawled dow-


    Ting.


    [Skill {Crawl Lv.6} had leveled up to {Crawl Lv.7}. Your crawl speed has increased.]


    I dismissed the screen and continued on my way. Reaching the ground, I waited for the poison to hit me. And I continued to wait. It really was taking a little too long. ''Have I become immune to the poi-''


    The convolutions hit me then. Though they were weak and lasted just for a few moments.


    I grinned through the pain and the gasping; all my hard work was finally beginning to pay off.


    Still grinning, I reached my hideout and began to widen it; it was something that I had to do daily. After all, after an entire day of doing nothing but eating, eating and more eating, how could I even expect to fit in the hole that I was been cozily snuggling in the morni-


    Ting.


    [Skill {Dig Lv.2} had leveled up to {Dig Lv.3}. Digging speed has increased.]


    I ignored the screen and continued to dig, before settling in the hideout, which had been my shelter here since when I was born. Smiling I decided to use {Survive} instead of {Molting}; after all, I had to use {Molting} continuously for two days when I had been injured. It was just right that I used {Survive} 2 times too. Thus I activated the skill.


    ''Survive.''


    Ting.


    [-40 HP]


    Dismissing the screen, I went to sleep.


    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">


    DAY 8.


    <hr>


    I woke up feeling tired, just like yesterday, and sighed. ''This is going to be a daily thing, isn''t it?''


    Following my daily routine, I headed towards the poisonous plant and after renewing the trap, began to munch on the tasteless delicacies that I had been eating since I had been reborn.


    Ting.


    [{Mild-Poison: Plant: Resistance Lv.10} has leveled up to reach the maximum level and has become {Mild-Poison: Plant: Resistance Lv. Max}]


    Ting.


    [Sub-skill acquired {Poison Creation Lv.4: Available: Mild Plant Poison}]


    Startled because of two notifications, it took me a few moments to comprehend what the second screen meant before a grin plastered itself on my face. ''Finally! Fucking finally!''


    I laughed.


    Still grinning like a maniac, I made my way towards the non-poisonous tree that was the source of my food and began munching with the skill, {Sensor}, active. I ate and munched and devoured like no there was no tomorrow.


    Yet, when the moon rose in the sky at night, I had only managed to gain 7 levels. This decrease of gain thing, at higher levels, was annoying. Truly so.


    I checked my level. It read, [Level: 82] and, at the same time, I also checked my HP, which read, [HP: 87/87].


    Leaving the tree, I made my way home for the hideout. Today I was early though, as I no longer had to eat the bitter leaves of the poisonous plant. Having nothing better to do, I began digging around the hole, to expand the hideout even more. Just as I was finis-


    Ting.


    [Skill {Dig Lv.3} had leveled up to {Dig Lv.4}. Digging speed has increased.]


    Finishing the expansion, I settled in before crawling back out. ''There is no point in wasting perfectly good time sleeping!''


    So I crawled back to the poisonous tree and instead of crawling up on it, I began digging; trying to level up the skill. It was not because I had great expectation from the skill, I didn''t. It just happened to be one of the few skill, in my repertoire, that didn''t need anything to be used; hence my choice.


    Thus I dug and crawled and dug.


    Now why was I digging all the way over here instead of near my hideout? Because of that very reason; hideout are supposed to be hidden.


    If I began digging around the hideout, then the mounds of mud and innumerous holes would attract the attention to that area; thus defeating the very purpose of a hideout. Not something I was stupid enough to do.


    With me grinding my skills, all way out here, I didn''t have to worry about attention as I won''t be coming here anymore anyway.


    Ting.


    [Skill {Crawl Lv.7} had leveled up to {Crawl Lv.8}. Your crawl speed has increased.]


    Ting.


    [Skill {Dig Lv.4} had leveled up to {Dig Lv.5}. Digging speed has increased.]


    Grinning at the two level ups, I made my way back to the hideout and finally settled in before calling up my status and using the skill, {Molting}.


    Ting.


    [-40 HP]


    I grimaced as tiredness overcame me. ''Hmm. It didn''t cost me half my HP this time.''


    That news brought a smile on my face when I finally comprehended its implications. The description of the skill said, Cost depends on the size of the being; which meant that the skill {Molting} need not always take half of my HP.


    Tired, and satisfied with today''s achievements, I fell asleep.


    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">


    DAY 9


    <hr>


    I woke up, as was usual for me now, tired; on the account of not having had recovered the entirety of my lost HP.


    Beyond that, I was itchy, so very itchy; all because of that goddamn skill {Molting}. I squirmed and heard a small crack. I frowned. ''Just a small crack?''


    I squirmed, wiggled and struggled and as a result heard series of cracks echo throughout my body. Smiling, I wiggled until I was out of shed shell.


    I turned around. With each level up, the shell that I shed seemed to be becoming stronger. At level 1, it had felt like a peeled off skin and at level 2, it had felt like particularly dry leaf in autumn. But now, at Level 3, it felt like paper; stronger than leaf but weak still. ''Just what is going on with this skill?''


    Frowning, I let the subject drop; it was not as if I could do anything about it now anyway.


    So after the usual business, of me relieving the bursting pressure from my intestines, I headed directly for the tree that was the source of my food. As I crawled up the tree, I noticed the branch, on which I usually munched on, was dying. ''Is it because of my trap?''Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.


    I frowned and crawled up to the trap to inspect it. Sure enough, one of the veins of the tree had been scratched and the poison was leaking into it. I frowned. My poison was weak, very weak. Even the poison from the poisonous plant was stronger than mine. ''That is why I wanted it so bad and suffered the torture two times a day.''


    I sighed about the dying branch; nothing I could do there now. So I moved onto the next branch and began to dig in to prepare the trap; though this time, I was careful to not break any of the veins, just the flesh.


    Now, why was I preparing the traps? Just because there hadn''t been any attacks in the past two days, it didn''t mean that they won''t happen in future.


    Finishing up the hole ¨Ca drain really- I filled it up with both poisons that I could now create; the weak bug poison and the mild plant poison. I did so because I did not know if the snails had immunity to the plant based poison -they could if they ate it like I did- and I did not want to take the chance if they did. I would be a sitting duck for them, if my trap did not work.


    Filling up the hole, I covered it with the leaves, as best as I could, before crawling up to my bland food and chomping down on it with the skill {Sensor} active.


    By the time moon rose in the sky, I had gained 6 levels, 1 less than yesterday, though I had eaten just as much ¨Cor more- leaves as last time. This decreasing utility this was irritating.


    Grumbling, I checked my level and HP; my level read, [Level: 88] while my HP read [HP: 93].


    I smiled; I was so close to level 100! I just wanted to see what I would evolve into! I hope, whatever it was, allowed me to use magic! Now that would be awesome!


    With a smile plastered over my face, I crawled over to the poisonous tree for another digging session. There I dug and crawled and dug until I was tired and it was time to return to the hideo-


    Ting.


    [Skill {Crawl Lv.8} had leveled up to {Crawl Lv.9}. Your crawl speed has increased.]


    Ting.


    [Skill {Dig Lv.5} had leveled up to {Dig Lv.6}. Digging speed has increased.]


    Satisfied with the skill level ups, I made my way back to the hideout before expanding it to fit my inflated body and settled in. Snuggled closely in my home, I used {Survive} and immediately another wave of tiredness took over me.


    Ting.


    [-47 HP]


    I smiled; satisfied with the day I had and fell asleep.


    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">


    DAY 10


    <hr>


    I woke up tired, lazy and cranky. I had not even recovered half of the HP that I had lost last night. Of the 47 HP lost, I had managed to regain just 22 points due to the 11 hours of sleep; my HP now read, [HP: 68/93].


    It would take the rest of the day to recover the remaining 25 HP at 2 HP/Hour. ''I really, and I mean really really, need a way to recover HP faster.''


    Grouchy, from the tiredness, I began crawling for the tree. Crawling up, I renewed the pit fall trap with both the poisons that I could produce and began munching on the leaves. By the time noon arrived and sun was directly overhead, trying to melt the ground with its heat, I had leveled up ¨Cguess, how many times- one time.


    I had leveled up one fucking time! One!


    Grumbling, I grimaced before I felt a disturbance. ''No. Not today. I am so not in the mood for this.''


    I turned around and, sure enough, there was a snail ¨Cthree times my size; and considering that I had grown quite a bit, it was saying something- crawling towards me.


    I turned around and waited for it to fall in my trap; which it did soon enough.


    Ting.


    [Skill {Trap Lv.1} has leveled up to {Trap Lv.2}. Your traps do 1% more damage. Extra damage due to the skill: 2%]


    I frowned. I had renewed the trap in the morning, not now. Why was it leveling up now? Did the skill level up when the trap activated rather than when it was set? Or did the skill level up only when the trap killed?


    A discussion for another time as the snail has stopped its shrieking and thrashing and was trying to crawl out.


    I smiled; this snail looked to be in way worse a condition than all the other snails that have fallen prey to my pitfall trap. It seemed that the snails didn''t have any resistance against the plant poison that I could produce now.


    I crawled up to it and hit it with the back end of my body; sending it tumbling down back into the puddle.


    Ting.


    [-3 HP]


    I winced; it had managed to graze its sharp teeth against my soft flesh. Still wincing, I watched the snail continued to struggle in the puddle before its movement came to halt.


    Ting.


    [You have Leveled Up! Level up bonus of +1 HP granted.]


    Ting.


    [You have Leveled Up! Level up bonus of +1 HP granted.]


    Ting.


    [You have Leveled Up! Level up bonus of +1 HP granted.]


    Ting.


    [You have Leveled Up! Level up bonus of +1 HP granted.]


    ''Well.'' I frowned. ''That was easy.''


    Why was it that easy? Was it because I had used the Mild-Plant poison? Was it really that much stronger than my poison? Or was it because I had mixed two different kinds of poison together and made an entirely new one?


    With a sigh, I dismissed the screen and dismissed the thought too; I had better things to worry about than a silly technicality. I opened the status screen to check my level and HP; my level read, [Level: 93] while my HP read, [HP: 82/98]. ''Not bad.''


    I crawled down the pit and activated the skill, {Ant''s Will}.


    Ting.


    [-10 HP]


    I felt a sudden energy flow into my body as the skill activated. Smiling, I bit into the snail and began dragging the carcass, over the edge, to throw it away.


    Crunch!


    I winced at the sound and turned to look down. There it was, the snail carcass, burying a scorpion under it. The scorpion, though having taken a great deal of damage, was still very much alive. I prayed that the creature wouldn''t look up and think that I was the one who had attacked it; I could not take down a scorpion as a Caterpillar. No way in Heavens I could.


    Thankfully, the creature did not seem to be sentient, or intelligent for that matter, as it attacked the dead snail with its stinger in retaliation. I sighed in relief. ''Dodged a bullet there, I did.''


    The scorpion, with great difficulty, managed to throw the snail shell off of it before it began to chomp down on the snail with gusto. ''Is this the same scorpion that had eaten the previous poisoned snail without even breaking a single line of sweat?''


    It sure looked the same as it devoured the snail.


    I scowled. What a giant fuck you! Not even two of my poisons were strong enough to kill the thing. ''Fuck you too buddy!''


    Grumbling I went back to eating the leaves but felt another disturbance soon after. Grimacing, I turned around. Yes, you guessed it right; another snail.


    I waited for it to fall into the pit, and when it did, I crawled up to it. It was shrieking and thrashing, nothing unusual, but, what was unusual was, that it seemed to be convulsing in pain. Was that the work of plant poison? It sure looked like it.


    I watched and waited as the creature continued to quiver before it controlled itself and tried to make its way out of the puddle. As it reached me, I bit into its eye stalk and pulled at it with all my might. The creature screeched as its eyestalk broke off and it tried to retaliate with a tackle from its shell.


    Ting.


    [-15 HP]


    It hit and I flinched. Backing off a little, I watched the snail continue to flinch and quiver before it, finally, went still.


    Ting.


    [You have Leveled Up! Level up bonus of +1 HP granted.]


    Ting.


    [You have Leveled Up! Level up bonus of +1 HP granted.]


    Ting.


    [You have Leveled Up! Level up bonus of +1 HP granted.]


    Ting.


    [You have Leveled Up! Level up bonus of +1 HP granted.]


    I grinned; 4 level ups, back to back! I checked my Level and my HP; they read, [Level: 97] and [HP: 61/102].


    Grimacing, I activated the skill, {Ant''s Will}, and felt energy rush into my veins.


    Ting.


    [-10 HP]


    Crawling down the puddle, I dragged the body out before filling the trap with just mild-plant poison this time. Biting into the carcass, I dragged the snail over to the edge of the branch and threw it down.


    Thud.


    Fortunately ¨Cor unfortunately- the snail did not hit the scorpion this time and just landed on the ground. Shaking my head, I went back to munch on the leaves but, just then, I felt another disturbance.


    ''You have got to be kidding me!'' I snapped mentally. ''Three days and not a single sign of them and now, when I am not at full health, they all are here to party!''


    I waited, again, for the snail to fall into the trap ¨Cwhich it did- before making my way over to the trap. I watched, as the creature convulsed in pain, with dread rising in me. I had, literally, half my health left; I did not want to engage in any more mishaps.


    As the creature controlled itself and made its way out of the puddle, I hit it with the tail end of my body.


    Ting.


    [-5 HP]


    I winced; instead of hitting the soft flesh, I had hit the hard shell of the snail; now my flesh, where I had hit the snail, was bruised and pulpy. Thankfully, hitting the shell had the desired effect and the snail fell back into the puddle, flinching and shrieking.


    I waited for the it try again but it didn-


    Ting.


    [You have Leveled Up! Level up bonus of +1 HP granted.]


    Ting.


    [You have Leveled Up! Level up bonus of +1 HP granted.]


    Ting.


    [You have Leveled Up! Level up bonus of +1 HP granted.]


    Ting.


    [You have reached Level 100. Do you want to evolve now?]


    [YES ??NO]


    I grinned. ''Finally!''


    I wanted to evolve, of course I did. Why wouldn''t I? But I couldn''t do it here where I could become snail chow any minute. So, reluctantly, I focused on ''NO''.


    Ting.


    [You can evolve later by selecting the ''Evolve'' option from your status window.]


    Dismissing the screens, I crawled towards my home.


    Ting.


    [Skill {Crawl Lv.9} had leveled up to {Crawl Lv.10}. Your crawl speed has increased.]


    Irritated, I dismissed the screen; I did not need that notification right now. What I needed, right now, was a safe place to evolve.


    Reaching the hideout, I crawled inside and began to dig. I did not know what my size would be after the evolution, so I made as much space, inside the hole, as I possibly could while leaving the entrance to the hideout untouched.


    But as I continued to dig, the foundation of the entrance began to weaken and we could not have had that. So instead of digging horizontally, I began digging vertically, i.e. downwards. I dug a tunnel and when it was far away to not affect the foundation of the entrance, I began expanding. I dug and I dug and I dug.


    By the time I was finished, the hideout had enough space to fit in 7 caterpillars of my size.


    Satisfied, I called up my status.


    [Name: Unnamed]


    [Species: Caterpillar]


    [Race(s): Insect]


    [Level: 100]


    [HP: 49/105]


    [MP: -]


    [Titles: {Sentient}, {Reincarnated}, {Hungry}, {Survivor}]


    [Skills: {Crawl Lv.10}, {Molting Lv.3}, {Poison Resistance Lv.7}, {Poison Creation Lv.4}, {Survive Lv.2}, {Sensor Lv.5}, {Pain Resistance Lv.4}, {Trap Lv.2}, {Dig Lv.6}, {Ant''s Will Lv.1}, {Observe Lv.1}]


    [Spells:-]


    [EVOLVE]


    Shivering in excitement, I focused on the option, [EVOLVE].


    Ting.


    [Do you want to evolve now?]


    [YES ??NO]


    Grinning, I focused on [YES].


    Ting.


    [Choose your form.]


    [Butterfly Lv.1: Your species related evolution path.]


    [Moth Lv. 1: Variant. Granted due to your anarchic methods.]


    I read both the options and frowned. What did it mean by ''Anarchic Methods''? What ''Anarchic Methods''?


    ''Wait. Is this ''Anarchic method'' usage of traps to kill the snails? If that is the case then I was not supposed to be able to kill them after all, huh. And that is why they gave hefty experience.''


    So does that mean that I was supposed to evolve into a butterfly just by eating leaves? ''Wha-No. No, sir. I am not choosing to be a butterfly. Moth it is.''


    Ting.


    [You have chosen Moth as you evolution. Are you sure?]


    [YES?? NO]


    I focused on [YES].


    Ting.


    [Evolution will begin now.]


    Before I could even dismiss the screen, an overbearing urge to spit around me hit me. I straightened up and stood up on my hind legs as my mouth came down and spat something that began solidifying as soon as it left my mouth.


    I watched in horrified fascination as my I began to spin a cocoon around me, transforming myself into a pupa. ''W-wh-what am I doing? A-and why am I doing it?'' But more importantly, how was I doing it? I did not have any skill relat-


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    P.S. Unbeta''ed but edited to the best of my ability.

 Arc 1- Shaken - Chapter 5

    Night 10


    <hr>


    Waking up feeling confined and bound, I frowned. And at the same time, I tried to jog my memory, attempting to remember the last thing from yesterday. ''Oh. Right.''


    ''Evolution.''


    I struggled.


    ''I remember selecting evolving into a Moth and then having an overpowering urge to spit around me?'' I began squirming wildly. ''Was that how nature worked? Or was that my instinct telling me what I had to do?'' I wiggled my body as much as possible.


    ''Will that happen every time I evolve?'' Will I just know what I had to do when the time came?


    Crack.


    It seemed that the shell was finally cracking. Abandoning the thought process, I squirmed wildly and was finally able to come out of the shell.


    Ting.


    [Evolution completed. You have evolved into a Poisonous Forest Moth.]


    Ting.


    [Evolution bonus of 16 HP has been added to your total Health Points. You have been completely healed.]


    Ting.


    [Species Title, {Hungry}, lost.]


    Ting.


    [Skill {Night Vision Lv.1} acquired.]


    Ting.


    [Skill {Fly Lv.1} acquired.]


    Ting.


    [Due to the title {Reincarnated}, skill {Fly Lv.1} has evolved into {Fly Lv.6}]


    I grinned. ''2 new skills and a 16 points of HP bonus? Wow! Just wow!''


    With excitement flooding my veins, I focused on the skill, {Fly}.


    Ting.


    [Gives the user ability to fly. With the increase in level, air time increases.]


    Pretty standard, all things considered. I focused on the next skill, {Night Vision}.


    Ting.


    [Allows the user to see in dark. With increase in level, ability to see in dark increases.]


    Again, pretty standard; nodding, I focused on my status.


    [Name: Unnamed]


    [Species: Poisonous Forest Moth]


    [Race(s): Insect]


    [Level: 1]


    [HP: 121/121]


    [MP: -]


    [Titles: {Sentient}, {Reincarnated}, {Survivor}]


    [Skills: {Crawl Lv.10}, {Molting Lv.3}, {Poison Resistance Lv.7}, {Poison Creation Lv.4}, {Survive Lv.2}, {Sensor Lv.5}, {Pain Resistance Lv.4}, {Trap Lv.2}, {Dig Lv.6}, {Ant''s Will Lv.1}, {Observe Lv.1}, {Fly Lv.6}, {Night Vision Lv.1}]


    [Spells:-]


    I scowled; it seemed that I still didn''t have access to my magic. ''That will not do. It most certainly will not.'' I focused on the option of MP.


    Ting.


    [Mana Points unavailable. Your species doesn''t have access to Magic.]


    ''Fuck. You.'' My scowl deepened. ''Fuck you and your dickless ancestors blue screen. I am not leaving this hole until I have magic back.''


    I closed my eyes and focused on myself.


    Though I had been reincarnated and had a new body, even though an insect one, it was still no excuse for not having access to my magic. Magic had nothing to do with the human ¨Cor insect- bodies; instead, it had everything to do with souls.


    ''Souls are the source of one''s magic; not the body. And as I have been reincarnated, I have my soul. Very. Much. So.''


    ''I see no reason why I shouldn''t have my magic. I. Should. Have. Access. To. Magic. There was no reasonable excuse for me not having my magic!''


    I took a deep breath in and slowly, ever so slowly, let it out. ''If this ''World'' is not going to give me my magic back, then I will take it back myself.''


    Again I took a deep breath in and slowly let it out.


    And with it, I tried to let out my frustration, my irritation, my anger and my grief; my irritation and frustration with myself, for not having my magic; my anger for being reincarnated as an insect, for being betrayed by my wife, for dying itself.


    And then my grief, my grief for being betrayed by someone I loved, for losing my love and for losing all those that were my family.


    It did not help.


    Not.


    One.


    Bit.


    So I took another breath in, taking it as deep as I could, till my tiny chest started to ache. And then slowly, so slowly that my body fought me to let it leave faster, I let it out.


    I repeated the process again and again; not willing to agree defeat and, at the same time, not willing to let go of my emotions. I struggled; against my emotions, against my stubbornness and against myself. I still wasn''t willing to give up against either of my opponents.


    I continued to struggle against them with all my might.


    Ting.


    [Skill {Meditate Lv.1} acquired.]


    The chime sounded in the background but I ignored it. ''All I want now is my magic. And my emotions. I do not need anything else; no blue screens, no chimes, no notifications; no, nothing.''


    I felt like I was being pulled in opposite directions; one wanting me to give in to my bullheadedness and let go of my emotions for my magic. Second one, on the other hand, wanted me to give in to my emotions and stop the exercise so I could hold onto my emotions, my grief, my anger, my frustrations and my irritation.


    Then there was third side that was pulling me against both the previous ones; the one that wanted me to let go of none of those things; neither my emotions, nor my magic. This third side was me. I knew it was foolish, dangerous even, to keep my emotions but I couldn''t just let go.


    ''No I can''t.''


    ''I just can''t.''


    I.


    Can''t!


    Let!


    GO!


    Ting.


    [Skill {Meditate Lv.1} has leveled up to {Meditate Lv.2}. While meditating MP regeneration will be increased by 2 MP/Hour.]


    The struggle continued and each side continued to pull me in their direction while I tried to pull them to me. ''It isn''t working. It isn''t working! It isn''t working! But I can''t give up! No! Not now. Not ever!''


    I tried to ignore the struggle, I really did. But whenever I felt my resolve weakening, even a little bit, the two conflicting forces reminded me that they were there as they both tried to overwhelm me, trying to rip me apart. I felt myself stretch to my limits of my sanity and then beyond.


    I wasn''t sure if I was me anymore.


    Ting.


    [Skill {Meditate Lv.2} has leveled up to {Meditate Lv.3}. While meditating MP regeneration will be increased by 3 MP/Hour.]


    ''I can''t take it! Not anymore!''


    It was too much. My yearnings were ripping me apart and I couldn''t do anything about it. ''B-bu-but. B-but. But! But I can''t just let go! I can''t give in! No, I can''t! I just can''t give in!''


    I felt warmth from somewhere far away; it was my magic, I knew, I just knew. It wasn''t anything else. How could it be? I was yearning for it after all. And I could feel it. It was calling me, asking me to come grasp it, embrace it; make it mine.


    Ting.


    [Skill {Meditate Lv.3} has leveled up to {Meditate Lv.4}. While meditating MP regeneration will be increased by 4 MP/Hour.]


    It was coming near me, I could feel it. Slowly and steadily it was coming near me. I knew. I focused on it and pulled at the two other conflicting with all my desire, my yearnings.


    They were pulled. Towards me. I almost smiled and we drifted towards the warmth.


    Ting.


    [Title {Bullheaded} acquired.]


    [Title {Bullheaded} grants the skill, {Stubborn Lv.1}]


    We were drifting and so was my magic.


    I could feel it coming close to me; more and more with each passing moment, and I could feel myself getting more and more close to it. ''Soon, so very soon, we will be close; so very close. I will be able to touch it then, embrace it. I will be able to grasp it in my hands and I will not let it go. Not now. Not ever.''


    I continued to drift and so did my magic. We were close, very close. I could almost feel it, touching me, embracing me. I embraced it bac-


    I-I c-couldn''t embrace it!


    I-I cou-couldn''t hold it!


    My yearnings were holding me back, pulling me from different sides; they were pulling at my hands! ''How have I not noticed that!? How!'' I tried to pull at my yearnings, I really, really did, but they just pulled me back! Harder, each time.


    They wouldn''t let me embrace my magic! But I couldn''t just let go!


    My magic continued to drift!


    It began to drift through me!


    I could feel it slipping past me, passing through me! I tried to hold it, I did! But I couldn''t! My yearnings were holding my arms back! My emotions were holding me back! They wouldn''t let me embrace my magic! But I couldn''t just let go of my yearning! My emotions!


    Of the two holding me back, one was my desire to have my magic back! It was what had brought my magic to me! I couldn''t let it go! If I let it go, my magic would drift away faster than I could even react! I would never have my magic back if I let this one go! I couldn''t let this one go! NO! I couldn''t!


    The other one holding me back was my desire to keep my emotions; my irritations, my frustrations, my anger, my rage and my grief! I couldn''t let it go. It was what made me, me! It was my drive! It was me! If I let it go then I would let go my old life; I would let go of myself! I just couldn''t do that! I couldn''t let this one go! NO! I couldn''t!


    Ting.


    [Skill {Stubborn Lv.1} has leveled up to {Stubborn Lv.2}. The negative modifier has decreased by one. All distractions will now be felt 9 times as stronger.]


    I tried, again and again, to pull my magic in me as it passed though me, I did! But I couldn''t! I was being held back! And I could do nothing about it! I felt my magic pass through me! ''NO! NO! Don''t go! Come back! Come back to me! Please come back! Please come back to me!''


    I called and I called and I called but it drifted through me and continued to drift. I felt my heart wrench. I felt hate unlike any other bubble in me. I felt disgust begin to take root in me. I felt all that and I felt even more.


    ¡­


    ¡­


    But I didn''t care.


    I couldn''t care less.


    I had lost my magic.


    Nothing I had done had let me keep my magic.


    Nothing.


    Ting.


    [You have gained the title {Depressed}. All your skills will be 20% less effective.]


    I opened my eyes, defeated, alone and sad.


    And so, very alone.


    I couldn''t get my magic.


    I couldn''t get my magic when I was so close. So. Very! CLOSE!


    Anger, no, not anger! Rage! Rage bubbled in me!If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.


    "GYAAAAAAAH!" I screeched as I thrashed around.


    Ting.


    [-3 HP]


    I hit my head on the ground in rage! I couldn''t take it! Not when it was so close! So very close! I couldn''t! Why! Why could I not! WHY!


    Ting.


    [-3 HP]


    Ting.


    [-4 HP]


    Ting.


    [-2 HP]


    Ting.


    [-1 HP]


    Ting.


    [-5 HP]


    Ting.


    [-3 HP]


    Ting.


    [-4 HP]


    Ting.


    [-1 HP]


    Ting.


    [-5 HP]


    Ting.


    [-2 HP]


    Ting.


    [-3 HP]


    Ting.


    [-1 HP]


    I gasped; my breaths coming in short.


    My anger and my rage had faded away. It had faded away with each punishment I gave myself. That I so very much deserved.


    And now all that was left was numbness. Cold numbness and nothing else.


    I looked down at myself. My body was bruised and my limbs battered.


    I looked at the cluster of notifications. I had gathered quite a bit in my rage.


    There were quite a bit of windows notifying me of my HP loss. I checked my HP, it read [HP: 85/121], a total loss of 36 points to be precise.


    There was time when I would have died at the loss of so much HP. Huh. It would have made me laugh at one point. Not now though.


    I looked down at my body and frowned; I did that to myself.


    And then there was the notification about {Depressed}. I scowled at that but focused on it nonetheless.


    Ting.


    [You allow your negativity to fester. All skills output is reduced by 20%.]


    My scowl deepened and I pursed my lips as my temper flared. ''I do not let my negativity fester. I just died! Died! Dead! Cold like Ice I was! DEAD for Good! What do you expect of me blue screen! WHAT! To forget it and dance about because I was killed by newlywed wife! What do you expect me to do! Do you expect me to be fucking happy about it and throw a party! What. DO. YOU! WANT!''


    I gasped.


    I gasped and I panted.


    My anger had gotten the better of me again. It had gotten better of me even through the cold numbness that had surrounded me earlier.


    I took a breath in.


    A deep one.


    Then I took another.


    And I repeated it.


    I repeated it again and again.


    Slowly, with every passing breadth, I calmed myself and dismissed the screen. It did not matter.


    After it came the notification about the Title [Bullheaded] and the Skill {Stubborn Lv.2}. I focused on the skill, as it came first.


    Ting.


    [The skill stops all distractions from disturbing you as you focus. You won''t feel pain, hunger, sleepiness or tiredness for as long as it works. But when it stops, all distractions will be felt x9 times as stronger and for as long as the skill had been active. No time limit.]


    A good skill, I guessed. But I was too tired emotionally and too battered physically to care. So I dismissed the screen and focused on the next one, the title [Bullheaded].


    Ting.


    [You work on your own terms, even when your terms are foolish. Grants skill {Stubborn Lv.1}]


    I scowled at the screen but I didn''t have any energy left in me justify my choice. So, tiredly, I dismissed the screen and focused on the next ones. They were a bunch of notifications about a skill level up. I focused on the last one that notified about the skill leveling up to {Meditate Lv.4}.


    Ting.


    [MP regeneration, while meditating, increases by 4MP/Hour.]


    I didn''t even have the energy to scowl at the screen. I did not have any MP, let alone MP regeneration. What good was this skill?


    Closing the screen, I used {Molting} to heal the wounds that I had inflicted on myself and laid down to sleep. I was too emotionally exhausted to do anything else.


    Ting.


    [- 48 HP]


    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">


    Night 11


    <hr>


    I woke up, feeling exhausted, but a lot less tired than when the last time I had been awake.


    Still, the first thing that I felt was the burn in my belly, which was threatening to melt off my stomach.


    Way too hungry ¨Cand tired- to dig my way all the way to surface, I dug into the only thing edible in the hole, the cocoon shell out of which I had crawled out.


    Ting.


    [You have consumed The Gift.]


    Ting.


    [You have Leveled Up! Level up bonus of +1 HP granted.]


    ''What. The. Heck. What the hell is this ''Gift''? And whose gift? And to whom? Was it my cocoon? If it was, then why did I gain a level for eating that bogus thing?''


    I shook my head in disappointment; so many questions, yet, so few answers.


    A soft sigh escaped me. I have way too important things to worry about, than to bother thinking about some random mysterious gift.'' The foremost being, had I done the right thing? In keeping my emotions?


    ''And In letting go of my magic?'' A tiny thought whispered unhelpfully.


    ''I. Didn''t. Let. Go. Of. My. Magic.'' I thought back hotly. ''I tried my best to keep it!''


    ''That''s not true.'' The same tiny thought seemed to whisper back. ''I let my magic go.''


    ''I. Did. Not. Let. Go. Of! My! Magic!''I screamed at the thought; not wanting it to be right. Not accepting that it was right.


    ''I could have let go my emotions.'' It whimpered from somewhere. It sounded tiny and afraid. Good. ''Is my self-pity more important than to me, than my magic?''


    ''I did not let go of my magic!'' I growled, angry. ''I had no choice!''


    ''I had a choice.'' It murmured back, scared. ''I just chose wrong.''


    ''That''s not true. That''s not true! THAT''S NOT TRUE!''


    ''But it is.'' It whimpered back. ''Even the blue screen had said that.''


    I sat there stunned and defeated.


    That small thought was right, wasn''t it? I had made the wrong decision. I had wanted to keep both my desires, but in trying to do so, I had inevitably let go of one of them; the most important one. I had let go of magic.


    ''I-is it really my f-fault?''


    My emotions weren''t more important than my magic; instead they were doing nothing but hurting me. I should have let go of them. But in my madness, I had forgotten that.


    I sighed and closed my eyes as just a single word reverberated through my being, answering my question.


    ''Yes.''


    Suppressing the thoughts that emerged, alongside that one word, I activated the skill {Meditate}.


    With my thoughts pounding against my being, wanting to be heard, I took a deep breath and slowly let it go. With it, I tried to let go of my emotions, my sorrows and my grief.


    It didn''t work.


    I resisted myself and took another deep breath in, as deep as I could, and slowly, ever so slowly, I let it go. And with it, I slowly began to let go of my emotions; my grief, my sorrow, my anger and my rage. I let it all go.


    It was slow.


    So very sluggish.


    So incredibly, excruciatingly and horribly unhurried.


    Yet, it was there.


    And I felt it. I felt it move as it began to ebb away.


    I felt as the emotions continued to slowly ebb away from me, leisurely drifting away from me; leaving me feeling emptier and vacant inside. It was like feeling life drip away from you, drop by drop. It left me feeling hollow and, surprisingly, unburned and unburdened.


    Little by little, all my negativity ebbed away. It took a long fucking time but it did.


    All my sorrows were gone. All my rage had vanished. The feeling of betrayal and treachery disappeared. The frustrations and the irritations departed. I felt like I had unloaded a great burden that I didn''t know I had been carrying.


    Ting.


    [Skill {Meditate Lv.4} has leveled up to {Meditate Lv.5}. While meditating MP regeneration will be increased by 5 MP/Hour.]


    It was then that I felt it, my magic, drifting away from me. Going on and on in the direction opposite to me.


    I yearned for it and, as if in answer, I was pulled; pulled towards it. This time there was no confusion, no pull from the other side, no struggle. It was a smooth transition from opening my eyes to moving, closer and closer to my magic, my movement fueled by my desires and yearning.


    I inched closer, closer to my magic; free and unburdened, I moved closer. I stretched my hands, unbound by my yearnings, and I called. It didn''t answer and continued to inch away. It continued to drift but so did I. ''I will soon be close. I will soon be able to touch it; embrace it. I will soon be able to make it mine again.''


    I smiled; I was close, so close. And this time I will not let go of it. I. Will. Not!


    Stretching my hands, as far as I could, I moved closer and my fingers brushed against the soft warmth that was my magic. My smiled blossomed into something much more and much pure as it warmth seemed into me. I embraced it, hugging it and not letting go. I held onto it, bringing it closer to me and making it mine.


    Ting.


    [Title {Depressed} has been lost. You are no longer affected by your negative emotions.]


    And then warmth blossomed in me; flowing through my veins, embracing me, making me it''s.


    Ting.


    [Magic has been unlocked.]


    Ting.


    [22 Points of Mana gained.]


    Ting.


    [Title {Reincarnation} has come into effect.]


    Ting.


    [Title gained, {Master of Death}.]


    Ting.


    [Skill acquired {Invisibility Lv.1}.]


    Ting.


    [Skill acquired {Rise Lv.1}.]


    Ting.


    [Blood inherited Skill {Animagus Lv.1} acquired.]


    Ting.


    [Skill acquired {Beast Tamer Lv.1}.]


    Ting.


    [Skill acquired {Occlumens Lv.7}.]


    Ting.


    [Skill acquired {Leglimens Lv.2}.]


    Ting.


    [Skill acquired {Apparate Lv.6}.]


    Ting.


    [Spell List Inherited.]


    Ting.


    [Inherited Spell List: {Lumos Lv. Max}]


    [{Expelliarmus Lv. 10}, {ExpectoPatronum Lv. 10}, {Protego Lv.10}, {Nox Lv.10}]


    [{Reparo Lv.9}, {Incendio Lv.9}, {Aguamenti Lv.9}, {Stupefy Lv.9}, {Episkey Lv. 9}, {Immobulus Lv.9}]


    [{Lumos Maximus Lv. 8}, {Confundo Lv. 8}, {Fianto Duri Lv. 8}, {Protego Maxima Lv. 8}, {Repello Inimicum Lv. 8}]


    [{Accio Lv.7}, {Bombarda Lv.7}]


    [{Petrificus Totalus Lv.6}], {Diffindo Lv.6}]


    [{Reducto Lv.5}, {Wingardium Leviosa Lv. 5}, {Transfugiration Lv.5}]


    [{Silencio Lv.4}, {Glacius Lv.4},]


    [{Confringo Lv.3}, {Alohomora Lv.3}]


    [{Sectum Sempra Lv.2}, {Imperio Lv.2}, {Muffliato Lv.2}]


    [{Crucio Lv.1}]


    Ting.


    [All Inherited Spells follow the following path.]


    [Level 1-4: Need a magical focus and large Mana Cost.]


    [Level 5-8: Need a magical focus but cost will bereduced.]


    [Level 9-Max: Do not need a magical focus.]


    I gaped at the numerous notifications, which popped up as soon as I gained my magic back, before a grin plastered itself on my face. Most of these skills were the one that I thought I had lost. But of course not! I didn''t have my magic until now, so of course, I didn''t have most of my skills!


    My grin widened even more when I read the last 4 notifications. ''I can use magic without a wand!''


    I laughed. ''I can use magic without a wand! Without a wand!''


    That was awesome! Hands sown the best thing that happened to me since I was reborn here!


    Still grinning, I checked out the list of spells. It wasn''t great but it wasn''t bad either. Though, at the moment, the spells I could use were few. There were a few offensive spells! ''Finally I have something to attack with.''


    Still, grinning I checked the cost of the spells. Lumos and Nox had a cost of 10 MP; Expelliarmus and Protego had the cost of 20 MP; Reparo, Incendio, Episkey, Immobulus and Aguamenti, 30 MP; Stupefy, 40 MP while Patronus charm had the cost of 50 MP. And so on.


    My grin fell and a scowl took its place. I couldn''t use most of these spells as I was now. I didn''t even have enough MP!


    Ting.


    [Skill {Night Vision Lv.1} has leveled up to {Night Vision Lv.2}. Your ability to see in night has increased.]


    I dismissed the notification; it wasn''t important at the moment.


    What was important was improving my MP. And if it increased anything like HP, then I should get 1 MP increase per level. That meant I had to at least level up 10 times before I could use most of my usable spells; and more importantly, the spell, {Episky Lv.9}. ''If my hunch is right, this should be a very good skill.''


    I focused on the spell.


    Ting.


    [It heals flesh and ligaments but not bones; restores HP 5 times the skill level. Current restoration: 45 points of HP.]


    I grinned at the description. ''Finally a way to restore my HP!''


    Still grinning, I continued on with the rest of the notifications. Before I came across something that made me frown. Apparate, Leglimens and Occlumens were all listed as skills rather than spells though they all consumed 50 MP.


    Why was that? Why were they listed as skills rather than spells? Was it because they did not need a focus? Was that it? But then, Leglimens could be cast by wand and was, usually, cast with a wand. I sighed. I did not know how this stupid blue screen worked.


    Still sighing, I dropped that line of thought and focused on the next window, {Beast tamer Lv. 1}.


    Ting.


    [You can tame an un-evolved and non-sentient creature of level ((X-1)x10), where X is the Level of the skill. Current level of creature that can be tamed: Level 1.]


    Wha-How? How did I gain this skill? I never tamed any bea-


    ''Oh. Buckbeak. Right. And maybe Hedwig too.'' Next I focused on {Animagus Lv.1}.


    Ting.


    [Inherited Skill. Allows you to turn into your spirit animal. No time limit.]


    ''Eh? Inherited skill? What does that mean? And How did I get it? I don''t remember ever trying to be an Animagus. Wai- Inherited? Does that mean I get it from my dad?'' Shaking my head, I ignored the thought process. It was not like I was going to get an answer anyway.


    With another thought, I focused on the next skill, the one granted by the title [Master of Death], {Rise Lv.1}.


    Ting.


    [Granted by the title, {Master of Death}. Allows you to call the wraiths of the Dead. Cost 200 MP per call. Wraith can only exist for X minutes, where X being the skill Level. Current time limit: 1 Minute.]


    I expected as much; it was nothing I didn''t know. So I focused on the next skill, {Invisibility Lv.1}.


    Ting.


    [Granted by the title, {Master of Death}. Allows you to turn completely invisible. Cost 100 MP per activation. No time limit. Invisibility cannot be broken.]


    I gaped at the cost. For {Rise} I could understand the cost of 200 MP, after all, it was raising the dead. ''But a 100 MP cost for simple {Invisibility} spell? That is just absurd! Just absurd! Even if it is True Invisibility, that cost is way too high! Why was the cost so fucking high?!''


    And just how am Suppose to use it anyway? I had a mere 21 points of MP. 21. Fucking. Points!


    I tooke a deep breath in.


    And gently let it out.


    Calm down. No need to get angry. I will be able to use it when I evolve next time; only if my MP increases like my HP that is. ''Still, why is the cost so high? Is it because it can''t be broken? But then what does that even mean?''


    Shaking my head at the absurdity, I dismissed the window and focused on the title, {Master of Death}.


    Ting.


    [Grants 2 skills {Invisibility Lv.1} and {Rise Lv.1}. Also, for each level gained in any Spell, 2 levels are added.]


    I gaped at the description! It was the next best thing to not needing the wand!


    Still. What does the second part mean? Was the last part supposed to fill in for the Elder wand? The effects of the Stone and the Cloak had been replaced by the skills so it did make some kind of sense in a strange roundabout way. Still, it was way too good to be true.


    But I grinned nonetheless. Magic was just so awesome!


    I continued to read the descriptions of the rest of my skills when I remembered that I should probably go back to the surface. I frowned. Just how much time has passed? And how much HP did I have left after my tantrum and the subsequent use of {Molting}?


    Not much I would guess.


    Indeed, I had little more than half my HP left. Sighing, I called up my status.


    [Name: Unnamed]


    [Species: Poisonous Forest Moth]


    [Race: Insect]


    [Level: 2]


    [HP: 74/122]


    [MP: 22/22]


    [Titles: {Sentient}, {Reincarnated}, {Survivor}, {Bullheaded}, {Master of Death}]


    [Skills: {Trap Lv.2}, {Poison Resistance Lv.7}, {Crawl Lv.10}, {Poison Creation Lv.4}, {Pain Resistance Lv.4}, {Sensor Lv.5}, {Dig Lv.6}, {Molting Lv.3}, {Survive Lv.2}, {Ant''s Will Lv.1}, {Observe Lv.1}, {Fly Lv.6}, {Night Vision Lv.2}, {Stubborn Lv.2}, {Meditate Lv.5}, {Animagus Lv.1}, {Beast Tamer Lv.1}, {Occlumens Lv.7}, {Leglimens Lv.2}, {Apparate Lv.6}, {Invisibility Lv.1}, {Rise Lv.1}]


    [Spells: {Lumos Lv. Max}, {Expelliarmus Lv. 10}, {ExpectoPatronum Lv. 10}, {Protego Lv.10}, {Reparo Lv.9}, {Incendio Lv.9}, {Aguamenti Lv.9}, {Stupefy Lv.9}, {Episkey Lv. 9}, {Immobulus Lv.9}, {Lumos Maximus Lv.8}, {Confundo Lv.8}, {Fianto Duri Lv. 8},{Protego Maxima Lv. 8}, {Repello Inimicum Lv.8}, {Accio Lv.7}, {Bombarda Lv.7}, {Petrificus Totalus Lv.6}, {Diffindo Lv.6}, {Reducto Lv.5}, {Wingardium Leviosa Lv. 5}, {Transfugiration Lv.5}, {Silencio Lv.4}, {Glacius Lv.4}, {Confringo Lv.3}, {Alohomora Lv.3}, {Sectum Sempra Lv.2}, {Imperio Lv.2}, {Muffliato Lv.2}, {Crucio Lv.1}]


    I gave my status an onceover and decided to sleep to recover the rest of my HP.


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    P.S. Unbeta''ed but edited to the best of my ability.

 Arc 1- Shaken - Chapter 6

    Night 12


    <hr>


    I woke up feeling relaxed, and refreshed, for the first time in the past couple of days. It seemed that I finally had a full bar of HP.


    ''Or not.'' I sighed as I checked to make sure that was indeed the case. It was not. My HP only read, [HP: 98/122].


    Shaking my head, I began to dig out of my little burrow.


    It took me some time to come back to the ground; it seemed I had been more than a little enthusiastic in my digging and had dug deeper than I had intended. Anyway, it was not something of any consequence now.


    Thus as a result of my continued digging, I finally resurfaced after removing the leaf from the entrance of the hideout.


    Surprisingly, it was night that greeted me and not the shining rays of sun. I frowned. ''Why do I feel so refreshed in the night? Is my species a nocturnal one?''


    As I was pondering about my newfound sensibilities for the night, the wind changed direction and passed beneath my wings.


    I looked at them in surprise. I had wings. Honest to god wings. Ho- ''Of course, I have wings; I am a moth and moths can fly. Oh. That means I can fl-Me. I can fly. I can fly! I. Can! Fly!''


    I laughed. That was undoubtedly the best thing to happen to me since I died; trumping any and all other situations that I had faced since coming here.


    Smiling, I lifted my wings and gave them an experimental swing. I was lifted off of the ground. I was fucking lifted off of the ground!


    I would have cackled if I could! Even though I had never before flown in this body, I was flying now. Was the skill, {Fly Lv.6}, coming into effect? If it was, thank you title [Reincarnated]. I have never been more thankful for you!


    As I flew, I noticed a slight buzz around me, or better to say, emanating from me. I frowned; that would not do, absolutely not. It would be a sigh saying, ''Hey, tasty prey here; come and eat!'' to any predator that had above average hearing.


    I tried to nullify the sound but I ended up falling and hitting the ground instead.


    Perplexed, I looked at my wings? ''Is the sound coming from the beating of my wings?'' I frowned.


    I tried again, but this time, instead of nullifying the sound I tried to minimize it. It took me quite some time but I did manage to soften the noise. Though, I had to trade my speed for that and the maximum height I could fly to. But, in my opinion, being alive was more important that being able to fly faster.


    I sighed. Before I had died, such a statement would have been sacrilege to me but now that I had died, I had come to appreciate the value of life. Sighing again, I flew, searching for food. It seemed I no longer fed on leaves. Instead, my instincts told me that I should find flowers and bugs to feed on.


    Searching, as I flew, my antennas caught the sweet fragrance of a flower shining in the moonlight. It was an odd sensation, feeling the scent rather than smelling it. I shook off the feeling and flew towards it. Gently landing on its petals, I crawled in.


    As I was drinking the sweet nectar of the flower, I felt a disturbance and immediately activated the skill, {Sensor}; all the while cursing myself for forgetting to activate the skill as soon I had left my hideout. The skill came through and I sensed an insect much larger than me, approaching me from the side.


    At the same time, wind shifted and my antennas picked up the scent of a predator. I backed away from it at once, I had no intention of becoming insect chow. As my wings picked me off of the plant, a giant slicer-type-thingy passed from just where I had been.


    My heart racing, I turned around. And there it was, a monstrosity that looked a lot like a praying mantis but wasn''t. It was at least 10 times as big as me and had a body that looked like it was made out of wood rather than flesh.


    I continued to fly and, out of the corner of my eye, kept glancing at the creature. Then, much to my astonishment, and horror, the thing straightened up and revealed its wings.


    ''That thing can fly!'' I gaped. ''I am so very dead!''


    And as I had expected, but had hoped to be wrong about, that monstrosity flapped its wings and flew towards me. It had decided that I was its prey and it did not want me to escape its scythe like clutches. Though, for whatever reason, it was slower than me.


    Was it because it was bigger than me? Or was it because my {Fly} skill was at a higher level than its. I did not know the answer; I was just thankful for its slow speed.


    As it neared me, I dropped all my attempts of making as less noise as possible and, instead, flew as fast as I could.


    The creature kept on flying, and tried to beat its faster. Though I was still faster than it and escaped.


    Ting.


    [Skill acquired, {Scent Lv.1}]


    A sigh of relief escaped me as the mantis monster finally fell behind. Thanking my obsessive need to fly in my previous birth, I landed on a branch. Making sure that there were no surprises waiting for me this time, I focused on the skill.


    Ting.


    [Allows you to recognize and track a scent in the radius of 1m.]


    I wasn''t surprised by the skill. Animals, after all, have a much better sense of smell than humans. Though, I had expected to get it when I evolved, along with the rest of my skills. I guess it was like the skill {Sensor} and had to be experienced before it can be gained.


    Beating my wings, I was again airborne. I flew across the forest, enjoying the wind beneath my wings and the rustling of the sensors on my body. It was exhilarating; way better than flying on a broom. The two feelings weren''t even close to one another. It was like I had been trying to see with a really bad prescription of glasses and, suddenly, I had the matched set.


    It was just so freeing.


    So I flew and flew until by body reminded me, with a slight burn in my stomach, which I needed to eat. Grimacing, I looked around with all my senses, which now included, my eyes, my antennas for the skill {Scent} and the sensors on my body for the skill {Sensor}.


    Soon I zoomed in on a spider trying to build its net. It was small, almost a quarter my size and of a non-descript color. As I was observing, it, I remembered the skill that I had bought, though accidently and cursed myself for forgetting to use it on the mantis monstrosity.


    I couldn''t use it earlier because I didn''t have any MP but I sure could do now. ''Observe.''


    Ting.


    [Spider.]


    ''What. The .Hell.'' Was that all?! I spent all my points ¨Cor whatever they were- on this useless thing! ''No! No way! This is bullshit! I call bullshit!''


    I fumed and bitched about for a while before I began to calm myself.


    Still, I scowled as I calmed down and thought more deeply about the skill. There was no way such a useless thing could cost all my points of whatever it was that it was. It had to be good, it just had to be. And I was not hoping about it. No. Not one bit.


    Thus there was only one option left for me. I just have to level it up!


    With that in mind, I began to use the skill, on everything my eyes fell on.


    Ting. Ting. Ting. Ting. Ting. Ting. Ting. Ting.


    Ting. Ting. Ting. Ting. Ting. Ting. Ting. Ting. Ting. Ting. Ting. Ting.


    Ting.


    [Skill {Observe Lv.1} has leveled up to {Observe Lv.2}]


    Finally! I turned back to the spider. ''Observe.''


    Ting.


    [Poisonous Spider.]


    I scowled. ''That''s all? Again? That''s all that I get for using all of my MP to level up the stupid skill? Addition of one measly word? Well. Fuck You Blue Screen. Fuck you sideways.''


    Still scowling I nodded. I had to level up this skill so that it could give me more information. That was the only course of option left for me.


    ''Huh. I guess the title [Stubborn] does suit me after all.''


    Shaking my head to clear it, I focused on the task at hand. For now, at least, I knew about the poison and make use of that information. I can get back into my routine of leveling up the sub-skill of poison resistance so that I can make more kinds of poisons.


    Now, if only I knew how to hunt spiders.


    So I flew around, trying to think of a way to kill the spider while incurring the least amount of HP loss possible; all that, without getting tangled in its web. Yeah, it was hard.


    I came up with the idea to use the spell {Expelliarmus} but that would cost me 20 MP; MP that I would rather use in leveling up the damn {Observe}.


    So, obviously, I dumped that plan; I was going to level up that {Observe}, no matter what.


    Finally, I decided to create some Mild-Poison, the plant one, and covered a leaf with it before putting that leaf on the spider when it was away from its net. Not the best plan, I know, but I could only come up with it, given my limitations.Love this story? Find the genuine version on the author''s preferred platform and support their work!


    So I did just that. I created the plant poison and bit a small leaf off of the plant and rubbed it over my body to collect as much poison on it as I could and then I bit into it again as I flapped my wings to the take off.


    I lifted off the ground before wobbling in the air for a few moments and then crashing and tasting mud.


    The leaf was way too heavy for me to fly with.


    I grimaced. Still, I could not just abandon all my hard work that I had put in this plan. So with a sigh, I began dragging the leaf towards the spider that I wanted to hunt.


    When I was satisfied with the distance between my prey and me, I activated another one of my skill, though with a grimace. I activated the skill, {Ant''s Will}.


    Ting.


    [-10 HP]


    [Strength has been doubled for the duration of two minutes.]


    Still grimacing at the HP loss, I lifted off of the ground, with the leaf in my mouth, much easily that I had before. Though, still wobbly, I controlled myself as best as I could and flew toward the spider that was still preparing its net.


    Trying to be as silent as I could, I reached near it; though, by this point, I was pretty sure that it knew of my presence as it was a little skittish but wasn''t threatened by my presence. ''Am I not a threat for it? Huh. Typical.''


    As I reached over the spider, I took a sudden plunge and hit the hanging spider with the poison covered leaf. I heard hiss of pain but continued the plunge and hit the ground.


    Ting.


    [- 10 HP]


    I felt the spider trying to wiggle out of the leaf but I used all of my weight and the strength from the Skill {Ant''s Will} to keep it down. It continued to struggle but the forceful hit to the ground and the poison took their toll on it and it finally stopped moving.


    Ting.


    [You have Leveled Up! Level up bonus of +1 HP and +1 MP granted.]


    Ting.


    [You have Leveled Up! Level up bonus of +1 HP and +1 MP granted.]


    I sighed in relief. That had been hectic.


    A small frown morphed on my face. I had gained just two levels, so that meant the spider was above me in food chain, but not all that much, and that I was just a minor threat to it. That explained its skittishness but over all non-threatened behavior when I had hovered over it.


    Nodding to myself, I began to drag the leaf away from my food. As I returned after putting the leaf away, my eyes fell on spider and the delicious scent of fresh meat hit my antennas.


    I crawled closer.


    The tough spider carapace had cracked from when the spider had taken the involuntary dive with me and had hit the solid ground. The thus released scent tantalized my antennas but I didn''t dare touch the spider now. This spider was poisonous and if I ate it on the ground, then who knew what effect it will have on me. So no, I had to eat it below the ground.


    I tried to move it but it was heavy, it was no damn leaf. With the skill {Ant''s Will}, I could move it but it would take a lot of my HP and I did not want to lose anymore of my HP than I had already lost; it took a lot of time to recover the damn thing.


    With a sigh, I began to dig then and there. I didn''t have much else of a choice, now did I?


    Finishing digging up a hole, as fast as possible -as I did not want the scent of raw flesh to attract predators- I dragged the spider carcass in. After covering up the entrance with a leaf, I dug in the flesh. It tasted much better than I had thought it would, even though the scent had been hinting that it would be delicious.


    As I finished eating the meat, I waited for the pain to hit. And after a few more minutes, it sure did.


    Fuck! OWW!


    It was like I had been hit with a blunt weapon, all over my body and then I had been hit again. And again. And again. And again. And again. And again. And again. And again. And again. And again. And again.


    It was hell; much worse than what I had been experiencing with the plant poison. Whereas plant poison had been like a single bolt of pain, this felt like I had that bolt of pain racing all over my; that and many more such bolts, all racing and pacing over my body again and again. And again. And aga-


    The pain lasted for quite some time but finally it was over and I was left gasping for my breath. I tried to take a few deep breaths but my body didn''t understand that instruction and tried to reach for more breath while it exhaled.


    It was hell.


    Finally, I was able to take control of my body and nearly whimpered; I hadn''t received any notification about either gaining or leveling up any skill, meaning that I had to go through that who knew how many times to just receive that!


    Still taking deep breaths, I decided to rest for a few hours; I was in no condition to go out. So I closed my eyes and began to meditate.


    In.


    Hold.


    Out.


    In.


    Hold.


    Out.


    Repeat.


    Approximately two hours later, I heard a tell tale sound.


    Ting.


    [MP recovery complete. You have a full bar of MP.]


    It was already full? Hmm. {Meditate} at Level 5 gave an extra regeneration of 5MP/hour, so that meant my MP regeneration was 10 MP/Hour; pretty good, considering my HP regeneration which was an abysmal 2 HP/Hour.


    Feeling much better than I had been originally, I crawled out of the hole and began searching for more spiders to hunt and raise my sub-skill but not before I used all of my MP to {Observe} the shit out of everything I saw. I wanted to Level up that skill as soon as possible.


    Was it stupid to use up all of my MP for a single skill? Perhaps. Perhaps not. I don''t know. All I know is that I have to level up this skill.


    Ting. Ting. Ting. Ting. Ting. Ting. Ting. Ting. Ting.


    Ting. Ting. Ting. Ting. Ting. Ting. Ting. Ting. Ting. Ting. Ting. Ting. Ting. Ting.


    Stupidly stubborn.


    I know.


    With the last notification, I had used up all of my 23 points of MP, even the two new points that I had gained with the level ups. Satisfied with my work, I moved onto the next thing on my to-do-list; I began looking for more of my new prey.


    I didn''t have to look too far to find more spiders. It seemed as if this place was somewhere near a spider colony or something because there were a lot of spiders here. I found my next prey soon enough; it was a spider that had just begun spinning its net.


    I decided to use a different technique this time as I didn''t want to use {Ant''s Will} and lose my Hp for no good reason. Trying to make as little sound as possible, I landed on the branch that the spider was hanging from and crawled closer to where its thread was connected to the branch.


    Ting.


    [Skill gained, {Stealth Lv.1}]


    Reaching my destination, I began to secrete the plant poison, which was much stronger than my own, right above the spot where the thread connected to the branch. Soon my body was glistening from all the poison that I had secreted. I lowered my body and landed just next to the spot.


    My poison, due to gravity, began to slide down of my body and started forming a puddle very near to the thread. I let the puddle form without changing anything. Slowly, the puddle began to grow as more and more of my poison slid down me.


    I watched the puddle carefully and when it seemed like it would overflow and run everywhere, I gently, very gently, guided it to the thread. There, I put one of my many limbs, vertically, and stopped the movement of poison, letting it collect behind my limb.


    Of course, the spider immediately sensed that not only had something -or someone- had touched its thread but that it was continuing to touch it and, being the stupid thing it was, it decided to investigate.


    At that moment, I lifted my limb and let the massive drop of poison, which had collected behind my limb, slide down the thread. As soon as I was done with that, I began guiding the rest of the puddle down the thread and drop by drop, more and more of my poison began to slide down the thread.


    I knew exactly when my poison hit the spider, as it began to shriek and struggle wildly, causing the thread to wave unstably and shake. As the shaking continued, some of the poison was thrown off but the rest continued to hit the spider and, the stupid thing that it was, it tried to struggle even more instead of just dropping down.


    As the spider continued to struggle, the thread with which it was hanging, finally broke and the spider sped towards the ground. It hit the earth and didn''t move further.


    Ting.


    [You have Leveled Up! Level up bonus of +1 HP and +1 MP granted.]


    Ting.


    [You have Leveled Up! Level up bonus of +1 HP and +1 MP granted.]


    I grinned. One hunt and not a single loss of HP. Now that''s what I called being awesome!


    Grinning, I dragged the carcass back to the new hole that I had made just for the purpose of eating these corpses. Covering up the entrance with a leaf, I dug in. The meat, as I had expected after last time, was delicious.


    Finishing up the spider, I waited for the pain to kick in, which it sure did sooner rather than later. The bludgeoning pain hit me as if I had been hit with a hammer all over my body and, even though I had been expecting it, it somehow managed to surprise me.


    It took its sweet time racing over my body and making me scream all sort of things, especially curse words, but it was finally over and I breathed a sigh of relief.


    Ting.


    [Sub-skill, {Poison: Bug: Resistance Lv. 2}, has leveled up to become {Poison: Bug: Resistance Lv. 3}. The effect of the poison has been decreased. A tinge.]


    I grinned at the screen in glee. I didn''t have to gain it from the start! I gained one level for free! I laughed. Not caring why I skipped a level when I had not done so with any other skill.


    Ting.


    [Title gained {Masochist}]


    Eh?


    Wha-!


    I am not a-


    Wha-!


    Why would i-!


    ''FUCK YOU BLUE SCREEN! I am not a masochist! No matter what your bluey-screeny self says I am not a masochist! I do not take pleasure in my pain! And certainly not any kind of erotic pleasure! Fuck you! I was grinning because I gained a level in the sub-skill not because I was enjoying pain you fucktard of a blue screen! Go fuck yourself! Go fuck your self in your bluey-self!''


    I ranted.


    I raved.


    And then I tried to calm myself. Taking a deep breath, somehow I controlled myself and focused on the title.


    Ting.


    [You take pleasure in your pain. The erotic kind. Grants the skill, {Masochism Lv.1}]


    ''Fuck you too blue screen, fuck you too.'' Grumbling, I focused on the skill.


    Ting.


    [When in pain, HP regeneration increases by the level number. Current regeneration increase: 1HP/Hour.]


    Scowling, I dismissed the windows. Even though the skill obtained was good, it definitely wasn''t worth having the title {Masochist} in my status.


    I sighed. But nothing I could do about it now.


    I crawled out of the hole and headed for my hideout. After all the excitement that I have had just in 4 hours today, I was exhausted and just wanted to sleep. And now that I didn''t have the title {Hungry} anymore, I could do so without feeling like my belly would burn itself up if I didn''t eat.


    So I did just that, I reached my hideout, dug around to make it fit my new size and then crawled in.


    Ting.


    [Skill, {Dig Lv.6} has leveled up to {Dig Lv.7}. Digging speed has increased.]


    Dismissing the screen, I used {Survive}.


    Ting.


    [-63 HP]


    Tired all the more now because of {Survive}, I called up my status screen.


    [Name: Unnamed]


    [Species: Poisonous Forest Moth]


    [Race(s): Insect]


    [Level: 6]


    [HP: 43/126]


    [MP: 0/26]


    [Titles: {Sentient}, {Reincarnated}, {Survivor}, {Bullheaded}, {Master of Death}, {Masochist}]


    [Skills: {Trap Lv.2}, {Poison Resistance Lv.7}, {Crawl Lv.10}, {Poison Creation Lv.4}, {Pain Resistance Lv.4}, {Sensor Lv.5}, {Dig Lv.7}, {Molting Lv.3}, {Survive Lv.2}, {Ant''s Will Lv.2}, {Observe Lv.2}, {Fly Lv.6}, {Night Vision Lv.3}, {Stubborn Lv.2}, {Meditate Lv.5}, {Animagus Lv.1}, {Beast Tamer Lv.1}, {Occlumens Lv.7}, {Leglimens Lv.2}, {Apparate Lv.6}, {Invisibility Lv.1}, {Rise Lv.1}, {Scent Lv.1}, {Stealth Lv.1}, {Masochism Lv.1}]


    [Spells: {Lumos Lv. Max}, {Expelliarmus Lv. 10}, {ExpectoPatronum Lv. 10}, {Protego Lv.10}, {Reparo Lv.9}, {Incendio Lv.9}, {Aguamenti Lv.9}, {Stupefy Lv.9}, {Episkey Lv. 9}, {Immobulus Lv.9}, {Lumos Maximus Lv.8}, {Confundo Lv.8}, {Fianto Duri Lv. 8},{Protego Maxima Lv. 8}, {Repello Inimicum Lv.8}, {Accio Lv.7}, {Bombarda Lv.7}, {Petrificus Totalus Lv.6}, {Diffindo Lv.6}, {Reducto Lv.5}, {Wingardium Leviosa Lv. 5}, {Transfugiration Lv.5}, {Silencio Lv.4}, {Glacius Lv.4}, {Confringo Lv.3}, {Alohomora Lv.3}, {Sectum Sempra Lv.2}, {Imperio Lv.2}, {Muffliato Lv.2}, {Crucio Lv.1}]


    I sighed; just 43 points of HP left. ''This skill is taking far more HP than it is worth. At least I have 20 hours to recuperate the loss.'' With that I fell asleep.


    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">


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    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">


    P.S. Unbeta''ed but edited to the best of my ability.

 Arc 1- Shaken - Chapter 7

    Night 13


    <hr>


    I woke up, feeling a lot better than when I had gone to sleep. Checking my HP, I forced back a grimace. It read, [HP: 83/126]; 20 hours of rest and just 40 points of HP regeneration.


    The measly amount of regenerated health, almost made me wish that I was in pain last night, so that {Masochism} would have kicked in, increasing my HP regeneration by 1 more point, thus giving me 20 more points of regeneration for all the hours that I had slept.


    But then I remembered that the skill was due to the Title [Masochist] and scowled as my almost wish died an early death. ''I am not a masochist! And that''s it! No Blue screen is going to tell me otherwise!''


    Scowling, I took a deep breath to calm myself and crawled out of my hideout. Beating my wings, I flew towards my hunting/training ground. Once I reached my destination, I began using {Observe} on everything that I hadn''t observed before.


    Ting. Ting. Ting. Ting. Ting. Ting. Ting.


    Ting. Ting. Ting. Ting. Ting. Ting. Ting. Ting. Ting. Ting.


    Ting.


    [Skill {Observe Lv.2} has leveled up to {Observe Lv.3}. Species name of the target is now available. Strongest attribute, no longer available.]


    I grinned; {Observe} leveled up and that too without even using the entirety of my HP. Finally something good! Though, the point that strongest attribute was no longer available was a downer, I didn''t think much of it.


    I used observe on the spider trying to spin its net.


    Ting.


    [Willow Spider. Poisonous.]


    Huh. So the spiders that I had been hunting were called Willow Spiders. I wonder why they got that particular name. Was it because they lived on willows? Did that mean there was water body nearby?


    Dismissing the notification, I began hunting the spiders just like I had done last time; by trickling poison down their threads. I hunted 4 spiders this way and managed to gain 7 levels; the first, three spiders gave me 2 levels each but because of the decreasing utility, the last one had only given me 1 level.


    I frowned; this decreasing experience gain was irritating. And infuriating. Still, there was some silver lining to this grey cloud. I had received a tell tale sound while I had been hunting.


    Ting.


    [Skill {Stealth Lv.1} has leveled up to {Stealth Lv.2}. The chance of others overlooking your presence has been increased to 12%]


    Dragging the corpses back to the hole that I had dug last night, I chomped down on my meaty breakfast. Heh.


    I giggled.


    That pun was bad. So very bad. And so I giggled.


    Though, the amusement didn''t last long because the pain from the poison hit me like a truck soon after I had finished my meal. It felt like a road roller was going over me, again and again, crushing me to bloody pulp and beyond to paste. All of my exoskeleton felt like it had turned to powder and my soft flesh felt like it had turned to minced meat. I would have screamed like a baby if I could.


    It took me longer to get over the pain than I wanted it to take, and by the time it did, I was panting and gasping like there was no tomorrow.


    Ting.


    [Skill {Poison: Bug: Resistance Lv. 2} has leveled up to {Poison: Bug: Resistance Lv. 3}. Your resistance to this poison has increased. A little.]


    I grinned at the screen.


    Ting.


    [Skill {Masochism Lv.1} has leveled up to {Masochism Lv.2}. Extra HP regeneration, when in pain, has been increased to 2 HP/Hour.]


    I scowled. ''Fuck. You.''


    I wasn''t grinning because I was in pain, I wa-


    Wait; I don''t care what this stupid blue screen says. Fuck you blue screen. Fuck you sideways with a thorny dick.


    Taking a deep breath to calm myself ¨Cnot that it helped me any- I left the hole and headed for my hideout. The hunt and the consequent fest had barely taken two hours today; meaning that I had 22 hours to recuperate from the {Molting}.


    Settling in the hideout, I used molting.


    Ting.


    [-55 HP]


    As tiredness overcame me, I fell asleep.


    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">


    Night 14


    <hr>


    I woke up, feeling not much different, than what I had felt when I had woken up last night. And checking up my HP told me that just as much; that I was in same situation as last night, if not that I was in worse condition. My HP read, [HP: 76/126].


    I sighed; I was 50 point short of a complete HP bar. I thought about doing nothing all day but then decided against it; I''d rather not waste away my day doing nothing but sleep. I had to level up and evolve. I had no intention of remaining a moth more than I absolutely had to.


    With my decision made, I crawled out of the hideout.


    Ting.


    [Skill {Crawl Lv.10} has leveled up to {Crawl Lv. Max} and has evolved into {Slide Lv.1}.]


    I was a little surprised at the skill level up but was, more than a little, surprised at the fact that a skill evolved; I did not know that skills could evolve. I focused on the new skill.


    Ting.


    [User slides across the surface at the speed of the skill {Crawl Lv. Max}.]


    Hmm. Nothing exciting. Though if I level up this skill, does that mean my speed would increase? Perhaps. It was definitely, something to experiment on later. Also, did this mean that all my skills would evolve on reaching level Max or level 11?


    I hope they did, because that would be just splendid.


    But given that it is me, which this relates to, so it was more than likely that someone somewhere would find a way to fuck me over.


    A sigh escaped me and I shook my head to clear it of the useless negative thoughts. That was not the way to go if I wanted to survive in this world.


    Deciding to continue on with my routine, I removed the leaf from the entrance and used {Observe} on everything that I hadn''t used it on before.


    Ting. Ting. Ting. Ting. Ting. Ting. Ting. Ting.


    Ting. Ting. Ting. Ting. Ting. Ting. Ting. Ting. Ting. Ting. Ting.


    Ting. Ting. Ting. Ting. Ting. Ting. Ting. Ting. Ting. Ting. Ting. Ting. Ting. Ting.


    I sighed in disappointment as my MP dropped to zero with no level up notification. But truthfully, another level up of the skill, so soon after the last one, was just too good to be true.


    Shaking my body to stretch it a little bit, I began flying towards my hunting ground. As soon as I was in the air, the annoying buzzing sound filled my ears and I scowled.


    Trying to dampen the noise as much as I could, I used the skill {Stealth}, though to do so, I had to compromise on my flight speed and height of flight. But I was okay with that.


    As I flew around, with {Stealth}, {Sensor} and {Scent} active, I was more than sure of my safety; after all, I was both hidden and well prepared for any and all predator that may come.


    Ting.


    [-10 HP]


    Apparently that was definitely not the case as I was taken by surprise, when a sticky-fleshy thing hit me in the air, just when I had been turning to observe the predator that I had sensed.


    Baffled, I saw a frog sitting eagerly beneath a plant, recalling its tongue to which I was stuck. ''Oh my God!'' I panicked. ''That thing is going to eat me and it is going to eat me alive! It will not wait to even kill me! It will crush me and eat me ALIVE! I have to do something! I have to do something NOW!''


    Not having much time to think before I was eaten alive, I did the only thing that came to my mind. I activated the skill {Survive}.


    Ting.


    [-63 HP]


    Ting.


    [Skill {Survive Lv.2} has leveled up to {Survive Lv.3}. Time Limit and HP Limit have both increased by 1. Current Time Limit: 3 minute. Current HP Limit: 3 HP]


    And then I was being crushed between two large walls that had all the intention in the word to pulverize me.


    Ting.


    [Due to the intervention of a skill, HP has been fixed at 3 points. 30 points of HP damage has been negated.]


    Ting.


    [Due to the intervention of a skill, HP has been fixed at 3 points. 40 points of HP damage has been negated.]


    Ting.


    [Due to the intervention of a skill, HP has been fixed at 3 points. 40 points of HP damage has been negated.]


    My mind went blank in pain and misery as I was crushed, again and again.


    At the moment, tt did not matter that the HP loss was being negated, my exoskeleton was being crushed and my flesh was being minced. It felt like I had been put in meat grinder and was being prepared for dinner.


    And even if that was not the case, {Survive} would soon end and then this frog would eat me if I didn''t do anything by then. If I didn''t kill it by then.


    Ting.


    [Due to the intervention of a skill, HP has been fixed at 3 points. 40 points of HP damage has been negated.]


    Ting.


    [Due to the intervention of a skill, HP has been fixed at 3 points. 30 points of HP damage has been negated.]


    Not knowing any other way, I began to secrete both the poisons, which I could create, by the use of skill {Poison creation}. I secreted the poisons without stopping for even a moment; my life depended on me secreting those poisons. I alternated between secreting one and then secreting next but I continued secreting poisons. I could not stop. I did not stop.


    I felt my poisons take hold as the frog shrieked and wailed before finally spitting me out. I watched in satisfaction as my predator struggled and withered against my poison. I watched the damned thing scream in pain, with unholy glee. It had a very satisfying feel to it; to watch your would be murderer die at your hands.


    I saw it in its eyes when the realization, that it would die, dawned on it. And I saw when it''s desperation to live, changed into desperation to kill its killer. I watched helplessly as the creature, still withering in pain, leaped and landed on me. It was trying to kill me with its weight as it died.


    Ting.The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.


    [Due to the intervention of a skill, HP has been fixed at 3 points. 50 points of HP damage has been negated.]


    It tried to squash me again with its body.


    Ting.


    [Due to the intervention of a skill, HP has been fixed at 3 points. 40 points of HP damage has been negated.]


    It tried to crush me with the dwindling power that it had.


    Ting.


    [Due to the intervention of a skill, HP has been fixed at 3 points. 30 points of HP damage has been negated.]


    But all of it failed as it died and fell over me.


    Ting.


    [Due to the intervention of a skill, HP has been fixed at 3 points. 30 points of HP damage has been negated.]


    Ting. Ting. Ting. Ting. Ting. Ting. Ting.


    Ting. Ting. Ting. Ting. Ting. Ting. Ting. Ting.


    [You have Leveled Up! Level up bonus of +1 HP and +1 MP granted.] x15


    In the state I was in, I couldn''t even move a single muscle, let alone try crawling out of the carcass I was buried under. But it did not matter. I had to get out from beneath this carcass and I had to do it fast.


    Soon the skill {Survive} would end and I did not know whether the pressure from frog''s body would kill me or not. And even if I somehow survived that, there would be predators wanting to feast on the frog like the scorpion had feasted on snails; I did not want to be their side dish. I so did not.


    ''I will survive.'' It was not a statement. And it was not hope. It was a fact. An unchangeable and untouchable fact.


    I rattled my brain for something to pop up but the best I could come up with was to use my new skill {Slide}; but I wasn''t sure how effective that would be. Not having any other option, I activated the skill.


    A slimy liquid slowly oozed out, from the pulp and chunks that was my body, and formed a layer to cover me. And as soon as it was finished, the pressure from the corpse caused me slip out from under the corpse like mercury when it is being pressured from two sides.


    I wanted to sigh in relief but the pain I was in did not let me do so. Every breath that I took caused me to flinch and every little movement caused me to feel my body in places I never knew existed. Slowly, I focused on the corpse and used {Observe}; I wanted to know what had almost killed me.


    Ting.


    [Common Forest Frog.]


    Yet, I could not remain out in the open, not if I wanted to stay alive; I had to find shelter soon or had to make one.


    As I was searching for somewhere, anywhere, to rest, my eyes fell on my pile of leaves my hideout was under. I almost cried, both in relief and in misery. I cried in relief because my home was right there in front of my eyes and I cried in misery because I didn''t think I could make it.


    I took a deep breath and flinched as pain roared through my body. I could not give up. I had to live. I had to reach my hideout. So with any and all the willpower that I had, I pushed myself and slid forward.


    Pain.


    Hurt.


    Ache.


    Those were all the things I knew and I knew nothing else. Yet I couldn''t give up. I could not die.


    Ting.


    [The effect of the skill {Survive} has ended. Damage reduction has been restored to normal.]


    Ting.


    [-1 HP]


    I stopped dead in my tracks. I should have had 18 HP; 3 left over from the skill {Survive} and 15 from all the level ups. And as I had just lost 1 HP, meaning that now I should have 17 HP.


    My brain raced.


    I was in pain, which meant that my HP regeneration should be 4HP/Hour now that {Masochism} was at level 2, meaning that I had 1 HP every 15 minutes. If I take it slow, and with breaks, I could reach my hideout without dying.


    I smiled. There was a way.


    Just to make sure, I checked my status and just as I had expected, my HP read, [HP: 17/148]. I frowned, 148 HP that mea-


    [MP: 15/48]


    I could now, couldn''t I?


    I laughed.


    Or at least tried to. What came out was a cough that seemed like a hundred year old malady.


    Ting.


    [Skill {Masochism Lv.2} has leveled up to {Masochism Lv.3}. Extra HP regeneration, when in pain, has been increased to 3 HP/Hour.]


    Dismissing the notification I focused on the task at hand. I had 15 MP left, and my MP regeneration was 5MP/hour. That meant that I didn''t have to be in pain the whole day just to regain enough MP for {Molting}.


    Once I reached the hideout, I could use {Meditation} and double up my regeneration and then use the spell {Episkey} to heal damage and restore my HP.


    Slowly, I slide forward and immediately regretted it. My body had no shape right now and whenever it moved, things were misplaced, causing my world to fill with pain and hurt.


    Ting.


    [Skill {Pain Resistance Lv.5} has leveled up to {Pain Resistance Lv.6}. Your tolerance to pain has increased.]


    I hissed and slid forward. I could not put in words how happy I was that {Crawl} had evolved into {Slide}, because if I didn''t have {Slide} right now, there was no doubt in my mind about what would have happened; I wouldn''t be moving at all, of that I was sure.


    I slid and hurt, but I continued to slide because there was no other choice. If I didn''t slide, I may as well kill myself.


    Swallowing the lump of blood that rose in my throat, I flinched but I continued to slide.


    Ting.


    [-1 HP]


    I continued to slide. There was still enough HP that I could continue without hurting my current plan. So I continued to slide.


    Pain. Hurt. Ache. Flinch. Cringe. Those were things that addled my mind and more than once I felt like I was losing it, that I was hallucinating. It was such a sweet fallacy; my friends and family waiting for me, telling me to give up and go to them.


    But I knew it was all nothing but lies. My wife, my world, had killed me. There was no one waiting for me to give up. There was just no one waiting for me.


    Ting.


    [-1 HP]


    I paused this time. I had lost 3 HP by now, it was time for me recuperate and relax. But being in open as I was, I could only wait for 15 minutes for 1 HP to regenerate.


    Soon enough, it was time to go and I flinched with pain as I began to slide; and thus continued the ritual of sliding and pausing and sliding and pausing until I finally reached my hideout. I had only 4 HP left when I finally settled in.


    With pain raining on my entire being I closed my eyes and began to meditate. I took a deep breath in and gently let it out. I repeated the process again and again and again until I felt at peace with myself.


    It took me way too long to achieve the peaceful state; given the pain I was in but I pushed through. It might have taken me hours to reach the state but when I did reach it, I did not want to let go; I knew and feared that there was nothing but pain and hurt waiting for me.


    But meditation, and living, was not only about being at peace with myself; it was also about facing my fears. So with another breath, I let go of my peace, and accepted all the hurt and pain that was waiting for me.


    Ting.


    [Skill {Meditate Lv.5} has leveled up to {Meditate Lv.6}. While meditating, MP regeneration will be increased by 6 MP/Hour.]


    I was not surprised at the skill level up; truthfully, after what I had just done, I had been rather expecting it.


    Ignoring my feelings on matter, I checked my HP and MP. My HP read, [HP: 29/148] while my MP read, [MP: 44/48]. I guess I had been out for 5 hours, out of which 4 hours I had been trying to meditate while only spending just one hour in the meditative trance.


    As my HP regeneration was 5 HP/hour -due to the skill {Masochism} level 3, which granted an additional 3HP/Hour- I had gained 25 HP in last 5 hours.


    On the other hand, my MP hadn''t gained any additional help for the initial 4 hours and thus had been only increased by 20 MP during that duration but when I had finally entered in the meditative trance, my MP regeneration had doubled to 10MP/hour, thus giving me a total of 30 MP for 5 hours.


    Or so I guessed.


    With a smile, I used the spell {Episkey} for a much needed relief.


    Ting.


    [-20 MP.]


    Ting.


    [45 HP restored.]


    Immediately I felt the result. The pain dulled as the spell worked and my flesh healed. I wasn''t surprised that my exoskeleton remained broken and hurt. After all, this spell didn''t work on bones, just muscles and cartilages. Thus it also wouldn''t work on my exoskeleton.


    As more and more of my pain receded, I used the spell again.


    Ting.


    [-20 MP.]


    Ting.


    [45 HP restored.]


    I sighed contently and checked my HP, it read, [HP: 119/148]. I sighed dejectedly, wishing that I had more MP to heal myself just one more time to completely restore the HP bar.


    Still, I was satisfied. Almost all of my flesh wounds were healed and the pain from the flesh wounds had receded to a dull ache. The only thing that remained now was my exoskeleton which remained broken and hurt but that is what {Molting} was for.


    With a dull smile, I activated the skill {Molting}.


    Ting.


    [-55 HP.]


    Ting.


    [Skill {Molting Lv.3} has leveled up to {Molting Lv.4}. Time required for the skill has been reduced by 10 minutes. Total time required: 5 Hours and 30 Minutes.]


    Ignoring the tiredness, I smiled and fell asleep.


    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">


    Night 15


    <hr>


    I woke up, feeling much better than last night; there was no pain anywhere and neither were there any subtle aches. I felt as good as new but with just a little tiredness. With a grin, I opened my status to check on my HP and MP. My HP read, [HP: 100/148] while my MP read, [MP: 48/48].


    It seemed I had been resting for 18 hours thus I had regained all of my MP and had regained 36 points of HP.


    I shifted a little and heard a crack, a much distinctive one than what I had heard last time. I squirmed and shifted some more, which resulted in more and more cracks before I was finally free of exuviate. I turned around to face the shed shell; it looked as if it was made out of thick paper like the ones used in high quality notebooks.


    I frowned. ''Just what is going on with my shell?''


    I shook my head and crawled out of the hideout. Meanwhile, knowing that I had more than enough MP, I used {Episkey} to fill up the rest of the HP bar.


    Ting.


    [-20 MP]


    Ting.


    [45 HP restored.]


    With a small smile, I checked my HP, it read, [HP: 145/148] while my MP read, [MP: 28/48].


    Beating my wings, I took to the air and this time I didn''t bother with trying to decrease the bussing noise; I had been too busy with it to take notice of the real threat the last two times.


    With {Sensor} and {Scent} active, I flew as high as I could but still tried to remain within the cover of the canopy. Reaching the hunting ground, I soon found my prey and used {Observe} on it.


    Ting.


    [Willow Spider. Poisonous.]


    Satisfied, I used {Stealth} and landed on the branch from which the spider was hanging. Activating the skill {Slide}, I slid towards my prey. Reaching it, I began secreting both of my poisons and let them collect into a puddle near my body.


    Then when it was just about to overflow, I guided it to the thread with which the spider was hanging. The spider, obviously, sensed the movement and began retreating. Meanwhile I guided more and more of my poison down the thread.


    The shriek that reached my ears, told me that my poison had hits mark. The spider began to struggle wildly, trying to shake off the poison, as more and more of it reached it. But its struggles had the unfortunate effect causing the thread to snap which had him rushing off for the ground.


    The hit to ground must have caused massive damage to the spider as it tried to stand up a few times before finally giving in.


    I frowned. I didn''t receive any level up notification this time. Was the spider not enough to level me up? Have I leveled up that much?


    The last time I had been getting 2 level ups from a single spider, but that had been the case when I had been in one digit levels. When I had hit the double digit levels, the level up from the single spider had been reduced to one. And it seemed that now when my level was in 20''s, I wouldn''t even get that.


    I sighed. I would have to hunt stronger opponents if I wanted to level up faster. Which I did. But that would have to be later. For now I had to eat this spider and hunt more until my poison related sub-skill leveled up.


    I dragged the spider corpse back to the hole, which I had dug in the hunting ground, and began to chomp down on the delicious spider flesh.


    I was eating, and hunting, one spider at a time rather than collecting a large number in piles and eating them at once as I had done with the leaves. I had my reasons for this. First, I had to hunt these spiders, which was not as easy as chewing on the lead stems to make them fall. And second, the poison from the spiders was way stronger than the leaf one and I did not want to experience whatever would happen if I consumed a huge amount of it in one sitting. Thus small doses it was.


    After the pain subsided from the poison attack, I went out and hunted down another spider, much like I had done with the previous one and this time, I did receive a notification.


    Ting.


    [You have Leveled Up! Level up bonus of +1 HP and +1 MP granted.]


    The rest of the day I hunted spiders until I received the notification I had been waiting for.


    Ting.


    [Skill {Poison: Bug: Resistance Lv. 3} has leveled up to {Poison: Bug: Resistance Lv. 4}. The effect of the poison has been decreased. A tinge.]


    It took 6 more spiders to finally get this notification, which, in turn, resulted in me gaining just 4 more levels. Now that slow of a level gain really pissed me off. So I decided that from tomorrow, I would hunt stronger spiders, because now I had enough MP to make use of the spell {Incendio}.


    The hunt and the eating took almost 6 hours and as I did not want to sleep just yet ¨CI had slept more than enough in the last two days to last me for a whole week- I decided to level up my {Observe}.


    I used all 28 points of my MP on using {Observe} on every little thing that I didn''t remember seeing before. It took some time ¨Calmost an hour- as I had to choose my target but soon all of my MP was over.


    Ting.


    [Skill {Observe Lv.3} has leveled up to {Observe Lv.4}. You can now see the name of the species of the target and their strongest attribute.]


    I spent the rest of the 4 hours meditating, in the little hole, to regain my MP before using those points again on {Observe}. I really wanted to level the skill up.


    After I used up all of my MP again, I returned back to my hideout and used {Survive}.


    Ting.


    [-76 HP]


    I sighed as tiredness overcame me but called up my status nonetheless.


    [Name: Unnamed]


    [Species: Poisonous Forest Moth]


    [Race(s): Insect]


    [Level: 32]


    [HP: 76/152]


    [MP: 0/52]


    [Titles: {Sentient}, {Reincarnated}, {Bullheaded}, {Survivor}, [Master of Death], [Masochist]]


    [Skills: {Animagus Lv.1}, {Ant''s Will Lv.2}, {Apparate Lv.6}, {Beast Tamer Lv.1}, {Crawl }, {Dig Lv.7}, {Fly Lv.6}, {Invisibility Lv.1}, {Leglimens Lv.2}, {Masochism Lv.3}, {Meditate Lv.6}, {Molting Lv.4}, {Night Vision Lv.3}, {Observe Lv.4}, {Occlumens Lv.7}, {Pain Resistance Lv.5}, {Poison Resistance Lv.7}, {Poison Creation Lv.4}, {Rise Lv.1}, {Scent Lv.2}, {Sensor Lv.5}, {Slide Lv.1}, {Stealth Lv.2}, {Stubborn Lv.3}, {Survive Lv.3}, {Trap Lv.2}]


    [Spells: {Lumos Lv. Max}, {Expelliarmus Lv. 10}, {ExpectoPatronum Lv. 10}, {Protego Lv.10}, {Reparo Lv.9}, {Incendio Lv.9}, {Aguamenti Lv.9}, {Stupefy Lv.9}, {Episkey Lv. 9}, {Immobulus Lv.9}, {Lumos Maximus Lv.8}, {Confundo Lv.8}, {Fianto Duri Lv. 8},{Protego Maxima Lv. 8}, {Repello Inimicum Lv.8}, {Accio Lv.7}, {Bombarda Lv.7}, {Petrificus Totalus Lv.6}, {Diffindo Lv.6}, {Reducto Lv.5}, {Wingardium Leviosa Lv. 5}, {Transfugiration Lv.5}, {Silencio Lv.4}, {Glacius Lv.4}, {Confringo Lv.3}, {Alohomora Lv.3}, {Sectum Sempra Lv.2}, {Imperio Lv.2}, {Muffliato Lv.2}, {Crucio Lv.1}]


    Still miffed at the small amount of level gain, I dismissed the window and went to sleep.


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 Arc 1- Shaken - Chapter 8

    Night 16


    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">


    I woke up feeling tired but then, that was nothing unusual now. I knew it had nothing to do with me or my body; instead, it had everything to do with an incomplete bar of HP that I was sporting most of the time.


    Stretching my body, I checked my HP and, of course, it read, [HP: 100/152].


    Sighing, I used {Episkey}.


    Ting.


    [- 20 MP]


    Immediately I felt energy rushing into me and the memories of the aches disappear as my HP bar filled up; it now read, [HP: 145/152].


    Shaking my head at the absurdity of Hit Points and Mana Points, I crawled out of the hideout and headed towards the spider hunting ground. Even though I had decided to hunt bigger monsters from today, I still had to hunt the spiders if I wanted to level up my sub-skill of poison resistance.


    I really had no choice in the matter.


    Grimacing at the thought of bored hunting, I activated the skills {Sensor} and {Scent} as I flew. Reaching the spiders, I used the rest 32 of my MP to {Observe} things I had never seen before.


    I spent the next four hours killing and eating spiders with the same strategy that I have perfected over the last few days. I carefully landed on the branch from which they were handing and slid towards them. Reaching them I created a puddle of poison which I slowly guided down the thread. After that, the poison did the rest of the work and spider would be dead from the fall that it caused due to all its struggles.


    It was as I was hunting my 8th spider that I heard a tell tale sound and looked up with confusion in my eyes; certainly the poison sub-skill couldn''t have leveled now, I wasn''t even consuming any poison right now. And sure enou-


    Ting.


    [Skill {Slide Lv.1} has leveled up to {Slide Lv.2}. Slide speed has increased to 2x the speed of {Crawl Lv. Max}.]


    Dismissing the notification, I hunted and ate the spiders until I received a very specific notification.


    Ting.


    [Skill {Poison: Bug: Resistance Lv. 4} has leveled up to {Poison: Bug: Resistance Lv. 5}. Your resistance to this poison has increased. A bit.]


    I grimaced. It had taken me 12 spiders to level up the skill; something which had consumed 4 hours and resulted in just 4 level ups. The gain margin from the spiders was decreasing more and more with each passing day.


    But that was not all of my worries.


    There was another side to all this gorging on spider meat. My moth body was not meant for eating the amount of meat that I was consuming on a daily basis and, as a result, I was growing big, very big. By now, I was already the size of an adult moth and I had not reached even level 50!


    It worried me to think about what would have happen as I continued to consume more and more due to this poison related sub-skill.


    With a sigh, I checked my MP and HP; while my HP had completely recovered in the 4 hour period, my MP had just recovered 20 points.


    With the intention of recovering the rest of my MP, I crawled back in the hole in the hunting ground and closed my eyes to meditate. After having spent approximately three hours in the burrow meditating, I finally opened my eyes and found my MP bar full.


    I smiled. At least there were some good things in life; albeit small and inconsequential, but good nonetheless.


    Crawling out of the hole, I beat my wings and slowly made my way deeper into the territory that I thought belonged to spiders. But before that, I activated {Stealth} and tried to be as quiet as I could, but, unlike last time, I did not let it distract me from my surroundings.


    As I moved deeper and deeper into the spider territory, I kept my eyes sharp and twitched at every disturbance that {Sensor} picked up and at every scent that my antennas detected. I was, also, very careful of the fact this supposedly was the spider territory and thus was filled with spider-nets that I probably might not see.


    As I flew, my sensor detected a disturbance and I turned towards it to find a rather small spider, barely half my size. Though what caught my attention were its bright colors of red and blue that glistened brightly amongst the rest of greens and browns.


    I flew towards it and my antennas caught hold of its scent, causing me stop dead in my tracks my heart racing.


    Its scent was unlike anything that I had encountered before; even the frog that had almost killed me had nothing on this tiny spider. Its scent was alarmingly predatory and poisonous, sending my senses haywire. It was, as if, I was being drowned in a scent that wanted to devour me as it watched me suffer from its poisons in glee.


    My heart stuttered; forgetting its beat but I took a deep breath to settle myself.


    Carefully, I used {Observe} on it.


    Ting.


    [Black Mother Spider. Poisonous.]


    I frowned. Besides the name, it was the same description as the spider I usually hunted.


    I took a deep breath and decided to take a chance; after all, the usual willow spiders weren''t any match for me now. Carefully, I made my way towards the branch on which the spider was hanging. I saw it twitch before it continued on with its net building.


    Activating the skill {Slide}, I made my way towards the point from where it was hanging, so as to make as less vibrations as possible. I planned on using the same strategy that I always used when hunting spiders. Reaching my destination, I began secreting the poisons and soon there was a puddle beneath me of both the poisons that I could produce.


    With a smile, I guided the puddle when it about to overflow and touched the base of the tread. But, as soon as I touched the thread, the spider hanging down from it stopped moving, for a moment, before racing towards me.


    It was nothing unusual and I began guiding more and more poison down the thread as the spider continued its race towards me. At that moment, my poison touched the spider and I heard nothing.


    Absolutely nothing.


    My heart raced as I saw the spider shrug off my poison as if it was nothing but water. I tried to guide more poison down the thread but, in my haste, I touched the actual thread, causing my limb to get stuck. My heart almost stopped as I pulled and pulled on my limb but to no avail.


    It would just not get unstuck.


    I tried using slide, as my limb was already covered in goo, which provided enough lubrication to get my hand unstuck. By now the spider was almost upon me but I could not let it reach me so I leapt off of the branch and started beating my wings midair.


    As I regained my bearings, I felt something hit me and get stuck before I felt a pull. With a sinking feeling in my stomach, I turned around and saw the spider had a thread connecting me with it, which it was pulling.


    At that moment, the spider lowered its belly and another thread shot out of it and raced towards me. It hit me in the chest and the pull multiplied! ''Oh fuck!''


    I flapped my wings, faster and faster, trying to outdo the spider in strength but I felt myself failing and slowly being dragged towards the spider! ''This will not happen! This will absolutely not happen!''


    Without any other plan in my mind, I activated the skill, {Ant''s Will}!


    Ting.


    [- 10 HP]


    Ting.


    [Skill {Ant''s Will Lv.2} has leveled up to {Ant''s Will Lv.3}. Multiplier/Time Duration has increased by 1. Total effect: Strength x3. Time Duration: 2 minutes.]


    I felt the power run through my veins, more than usual this time, but I ignored that tiny tidbit as I had more pressing matters to deal with; matters such as saving my life!


    But all good the skill did was stopping my downward decent! I was still not powerful enough to break off the thread!


    At that moment I saw the spider touch its belly down to the bark and attach the thread to it. With both the ends secure, the spider started walking up the thread and I began panicking! My death was literally climbing up to me!


    I tried to beat my wings faster but it was all to no avail as it did nothing. And then I remembered the whole reason that I thought I could be relatively safe here! My magic! Which meant the spell {Incendio}!


    As quickly as I could, I activated the spell.


    Ting.


    [- 30 MP]


    I ball of fire formed in front of me, its heat uncomfortable yet welcome; this was the only thing that could save my life now! As the ball grew, it spat out a massive flame down the thread and I immediately felt free as the thread, which had been binding me, was burnt off.Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author.


    I flew higher and higher, celebrating my freedom, before I dared to turn back to look what was left of the spider.


    The branch that I had been on was blackened and singed, yet alive; it hadn''t suffered any major damage, even though a few of its leaves were still on fire and most of the rest were nothing but ash. The net that spider was building was nowhere to be seen and same was the case with the spider.


    I hadn''t received any notification or level up prompt, which meant to me that the spider was still alive somewhere. I do not know how that could be possible. How could that spider survive a massive flame to the face but somehow it had; of that I was sure.


    I looked around and searched for the spider with my skills. I felt a disturbance as a familiar scent hit my antennas.


    Ting.


    [Skill {Scent Lv. 2} has leveled up to {Scent Lv. 3}. Radius for recognition and tracking of a scent has increased to 3 m.]


    I dismissed the window without even looking at it. It wasn''t a level up notification and that was all I cared about when it came to notifications, at the moment, as that would mean that the spider had died. I followed the directions that my skills were telling me and there it was; hanging down from another branch. Not even a little bit singed from my attack.


    It must have let the thread go when it either saw, or felt, the heat from the flame and had then attached itself to another branch, as it fell, with the help if its thread. I turned my eyes around and continued to fly.


    I flew back as fast as I could. That had been dangerous! Very, very dangerous! ''FUCK! Why do I do stupid things?! Why!''


    If I didn''t have my magic or the presence of mind that I had, I would have been spider chow! It was not something I wanted to be! That spider had been strong; way too strong! ''I should have listened to my instincts and my senses! They had been warning me against going after it! But no! I had to be an idiot!''


    Finally I was out of the spider territory and I let out a sigh of relief. I was safe. Somehow, and in some way, I was alive.


    I flew around until I reached the hole in the hunting ground and crawled in. I took a few deep breaths to settle down my pacing heart. ''That was too much of an adventure and too much of a reckless act. I have lived through it somehow but I will not always. I don''t have my friends to help me through my problems here. I am alone, all alone, and I have to be more careful if I want to continue living.''


    I took another deep breath and slowly let it out. Now was the time to let out the fear I had been feeling earlier, to let out the panic. And that''s what I did. I let out a screech of primal fear and frustration, of feeling out of depth, of feeling like a fish out of water!


    "SSSCCCCRRRREEEEEEEE! SCREEEEE! SCREEE! SCCCCRRRRRREEEEEEEEEEEEE!"


    I gasped and tried to breathe. But breathe was not something that was coming. I tried again and again but all felt was emptiness! I struggled and struggled but all I clutched was nothing! My lungs hurt from the lack of air and my chest ached from the struggles of my heart.


    But then, at that moment, something changed as my breath began to calm down and my heart began to slow its pace.


    I tried again and more and more of my breath continued to come. I continued to try and with each attempt my heart continued to slow its pace and let more air in. My struggles calmed down and finally my heart didn''t feel like it would break out of my chest.


    I took a deep breath and gently let it out. My panic attack had passed.


    I sat there, patiently -and afraid- as I thought about what to do next, after all, I still had 5 hours of night left. With a somewhat racing heart, I decided to try to level up {Observe} but to do that I needed a full bar of MP while I had just 20 points.


    This meant that I had to meditate. Something that I decided was a good idea after the near death experience and the panic attack that followed it.


    It took me a little more than three hours to fill my MP bar ¨Csomething which I was glad for as it gave me enough time to recuperate- and soon as that was done, I was out the burrow. I could not hole up and hide myself from the world every time I was attacked. If I did that, I wouldn''t survive!


    I had to survive.


    This was wild. And in wild only the strong prevailed. And strong did not hide in their little hidey-holes, afraid and cowering. They conquered their fears. Thus I was out again; away from the safety of my hideout.


    Cautiously, I decided to fly around the area that I hadn''t traversed before, as finding unknown things to use observe on, was getting difficult around the spider hunting ground.


    I travelled south of my location and came across a clearing. With all my skills active and my senses alert, I landed on a flower and began using {Observe}.


    It took me approximately an hour to finish using the skill and by the time I was finished, moon had travelled across the sky and was beginning to finish its nightly journey. With my goal achieved, I headed back to my hideout.


    Crawling in, I settled down and used {Molting}.


    Ting.


    [- 85 HP]


    As tiredness rushed in me, I gaped at the number sketched on the floating blue screen. It way more than half of my HP! It wasn''t supposed to be that much! It was supposed to be half or less than my HP! Why was it so much? Why had it increa-


    Wait.


    The cost of {Molting} depended upon my size, if I remembered correctly. Did this mean that if my size continued to increase, it would take more and more of my HP? But if my size increased, then would not my HP?


    I sighed; this made no sense. Feeling more than a little frustrated, I closed my eyes and fell asleep.


    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">


    Night 17


    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">


    I woke up feeling a lot more tired than usual. Frowning, I checked my HP and sure enough, it read, [HP: 61/156].


    I scowled, remembering the confusion from the last night regarding the unusually large amount of HP loss for the skill {Molting}, but, then the itch from the exuviate reminded that I had better things to do such as removing the extremely itchy shell that was left behind from the use of the said skill.


    With a sigh, I used the spell {Episkey}, which I was very glad to have, as I did not want a repeat of the frog incident.


    At the moment, I didn''t know what I would have done without it; either I would have gone out hunting with barely more than half of my HP or I would have to just rested on alternate days to completely recover my HP.


    I was very glad I didn''t have to chose from either of those options.


    Ting.


    [-20 MP]


    As the spell activated, I felt the tiredness leave and the hollow aches disappear. I sighed happily and checked my HP, it read, [HP: 105/156].


    Crawling out of the hideout I flew towards the spider hunting ground and began the daily ritual of hunting, eating and screaming in pain to level up the poison sub-skill.


    As I continued to hunt and eat, I became more and more full, yet, as I hadn''t received the notification which I was waiting for, I continued to eat. The more I ate, the more my body became heavy and the more my stomach felt stressed and stretched.


    As I continued to hunt and eat, I began to feel bloated and heavy and yet I hadn''t received any notification. I felt my body refuse to move under the strain of how much I had eaten and finally I settled down, unable to hunt.


    I barfed.


    I didn''t know if moths could vomit or not but I sure did want to right now because, no matter what, I had to eat more to get that notification and level up my poison related sub-skill; especially after the encounter with that spider.


    And it was not just that spider that was apparently immune to my poison. I hadn''t forgotten the scorpion that lived under the tree where I used to feed as a caterpillar; the one that had shrugged off my poison like it was nothing.


    I needed stronger stuff. I had to get it if I wanted to survive in this forest.


    Which I will.


    Crawling out of the hole ¨Cwhich took far more energy than it should have- I slid as far as I could from the hole and vomited. The bile and flesh that came out of my mouth and they tasted just as disgusting, coming up, as it had tasted delicious when it had gone done.


    Panting and gasping, I tried to breath and settle myself. When my breath and heart finally settled, I crawled back to the hole and finished the rest of the corpse. How I did that, I did not know. It didn''t even taste the damned thing. I just ate.


    Feeling more than a little disgusted of my actions ¨Cand of me- I continued to hunt and eat until I heard a particular noise.


    Ting.


    [Skill {Poison: Bug: Resistance Lv.5} has leveled up to {Poison: Bug: Resistance Lv.6}. Your resistance to this poison has increased.]


    I sighed. Today it had taken me 18 spiders to level up this little skill, and tomorrow, it would just take me even more spiders; all this loss of life, of those poor spiders, just for the sake of one skill of mine. I grimaced and dropped that line of thought. For I had to survive.


    And this was the wild.


    The skill level up had taken 5 hours and had resulted in 5 level ups causing me to reach Level 41.


    Beating my wings, I took to the air and thought about what to do for the rest of the day. I could, very obviously, not venture deeper into the spider territory; that would just get me killed. I had been extremely lucky to escape unharmed last time.


    But if I wanted to level up faster, I would have to find better prey as already the return on my kills was one third; for each three kills I was getting one level, and now, even that seemed to be decreasing.


    With nothing better to do, I headed towards the clearing I had found yesterday to level up {Observe}.


    Reaching the clearing, I again landed on the same flower as yesterday and began to use the skill. I had barely used one fourth of my MP whe-


    Ting.


    [Skill {Observe Lv. 4} has leveled up to {Observe Lv. 5}. The level of the Target has been made available.]


    I grinned. ''Now this is what I call progression!''


    Wanting to test the leveled up skill, I used it on passing Ant.


    Ting.


    [Soldier Red Ant. Strength.]


    [Lv. 68]


    ''Finally! Finally I can see the levels!'' I laughed. ''Maybe at higher levels, I can even see the target''s HP and MP!'' I laughed in happiness. I couldn''t wait for the skill to level up even more!


    I read the screen again and wondered what the "Strength" was. ''Usually in its place poisonous is written. Is it the special stat or something? For spiders it is "Poisonous" because they were poisonous. Does the "Strength" here signify that the special stat of this soldier ant is its strength?''


    Confused at the possibility, I used the rest of my MP on leveling up {Observe} but, unsurprisingly, I did not get another notification.


    Flapping my wings, I took to the air and made my way towards the hideout. I planned on meditating to recover my MP and using that time to come up with something else to do during the rest of the day.


    Reaching the hideout, I crawled in and settled comfortably before closing my eyes to meditate.


    It took me 6 hours to completely recover the rest of my MP and when I came out of my hidey hole, the moon was almost ready to finish its journey across the sky. Flapping my wings, I made my way towards the clearing.


    Reaching my destination, I began using {Observe} and soon enough my MP was over.


    Flapping my wings, I again took to air and headed back to the hideout. Reaching the burrow, I settled in and checked my status.


    [Name: Unnamed]


    [Species: Poisonous Forest Moth]


    [Race(s): Insect]


    [Level: 41]


    [HP: 129/161]


    [MP: 0/61]


    [Titles: {Sentient}, {Reincarnated}, {Survivor}, {Master of Death}, {Masochist}]


    [Skills: {Animagus Lv.1}, {Ant''s Will Lv.3}, {Apparate Lv.6}, {Beast Tamer Lv.1}, {Crawl }, {Dig Lv.8}, {Fly Lv.6}, {Invisibility Lv.1}, {Leglimens Lv.2}, {Masochism Lv.3}, {Meditate Lv.6}, {Molting Lv.4}, {Night Vision Lv.3}, {Observe Lv.5}, {Occlumens Lv.7}, {Pain Resistance Lv.6}, {Poison Resistance Lv.7}, {Poison Creation Lv.4}, {Rise Lv.1}, {Scent Lv.3}, {Sensor Lv.5}, {Slide Lv.2}, {Stealth Lv.2}, {Stubborn Lv.3}, {Survive Lv.3}, {Trap Lv.2}]


    [Spells: {Lumos Lv. Max}, {Expelliarmus Lv. 10}, {ExpectoPatronum Lv. 10}, {Protego Lv.10}, {Reparo Lv.9}, {Incendio Lv.9}, {Aguamenti Lv.9}, {Stupefy Lv.9}, {Episkey Lv. 9}, {Immobulus Lv.9}, {Lumos Maximus Lv.8}, {Confundo Lv.8}, {Fianto Duri Lv. 8},{Protego Maxima Lv. 8}, {Repello Inimicum Lv.8}, {Accio Lv.7}, {Bombarda Lv.7}, {Petrificus Totalus Lv.6}, {Diffindo Lv.6}, {Reducto Lv.5}, {Wingardium Leviosa Lv. 5}, {Transfugiration Lv.5}, {Silencio Lv.4}, {Glacius Lv.4}, {Confringo Lv.3}, {Alohomora Lv.3}, {Sectum Sempra Lv.2}, {Imperio Lv.2}, {Muffliato Lv.2}, {Crucio Lv.1}]


    Glancing at my HP, I sighed and used {Survive}.


    Ting.


    [-80 HP]


    Shaking my head at the 49 HP that was left, I fell asleep.


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 Arc 1- Shaken - Chapter 9

    Night 18


    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">


    I woke up, feeling a lot more tired than usual.


    Frowning, I tried to puzzle out the reason for this abnormality before remembering that I had just 49 HP left last night after I had used {Survive}. I checked my status and, sure enough, my HP read, [HP: 73/161] while my MP read, [MP: 60/61].


    I grimaced; my MP and HP regenerations were low, very low, and now, my MP had reached a limit where even a 12 hours sleep wouldn''t recover it completely. A grimace settled on my insect-oid face. ''I really wish there is a way to improve my regeneration permanently.'' I sighed. ''And that I find it soon.''


    Knowing that I could not go out in the wild, with not even half of my HP, I used the spell {Episkey}.


    Ting.


    [-20 MP]


    Even with the spell, I had just recovered 45 points of HP, so I used it again.


    Ting.


    [-20 MP]


    This twice use of the healing spell, left me with just 20 HP, thus I decided to meditate to recover the 40 MP that I had lost in healing myself. It took me a little more than 4 hours to recover the MP loss but, by that time, I was good to go.


    Crawling out of my hideout, I flew towards the spider hunting ground and began my ¨Cnow- nightly ritual of hunting the Willow Spiders, eating them and then suffering from their poison. The hunting part was almost boring now, now that I had perfected the spider hunting technique; though the eating part was still enjoyable.


    What was not enjoyable was the suffering that came after the eating part. It was not enjoyable in the least no matter what some blue screen said!


    It was after I had gorged on my 11th spider that I felt the same heaviness that I had felt yesterday; the same laziness, nausea and the inability to move.


    With more effort than it should have required, I crawled out of the hole and moved as far I could to vomit my hearts out; it kept coming on and on without stopping and when it finally did stop, it left such a bitter taste that I did not want to eat anymore.


    Eating, which had been one of the pleasures in my last life, now had become a tiresome chore; one that I didn''t want to do anymore. Still, it was not like I could stop; I couldn''t if I wanted to survive in the Wild.


    And I will to survive


    Feeling more disgusted than I was ready to admit, I choked back the gag and hunted more of the spiders to eat. I hunted and I ate and I suffered yet no notification popped up in my line of vision. It was as if the notification was testing my resolve. Or something.


    I wasn''t really sure at this point.


    So I continued to gorge; I just couldn''t not. I had to eat more to level up my poison related sub-skill if I wanted to hunt higher ranked monsters. Which I did. I very much did. Hunting these lowly spiders was not only boring but also almost painfully unrewarding.


    I sighed.


    After a long time, the much awaited sub-skill level up notification popped up in existence. It just took 12 more spiders and one more too-full-to-walk-vomit to finally materialize and when it did, I almost cried in happiness.


    Ting.


    [Skill {Poison: Bug: Resistance Lv. 6} has leveled up to {Poison: Bug: Resistance Lv. 7}. The effect of the poison has been decreased.]


    Ting.


    [Skill {Poison Resistance Lv.7} has leveled up to {Poison Resistance Lv.8}. You can gain up to 8 sub-resistance skills.]


    Dismissing the screens, I sighed with a smile. At least, I gained another level in the main {Poison Resistance} skill.


    I grimaced when I noticed the position of the moon; I had almost no time left. It had taken me 7 hours to hunt, eat and suffer 22 spiders. And after the 4 hours I had spend meditating in the morning, I obviously didn''t have much time left.


    All of the spiders, by the way, had earned me just 5 levels. I shook my head in disappointment; the decreasing utility of spiders was increasingly annoying.


    With nothing better to do, I headed towards the clearing to try to level up {Observe}. Landing on the same flower that I always did ¨Cwhich, btw, hadn''t wilted yet- I began using the skill.


    As I slowly made my way down my MP, my mind brought up the problem that I had to face today. I had to spend four hours meditating just to restore my MP because I had spent all my MP on restoring my HP. And if I didn''t do things differently tonight, I will end up doing the same thing tomorrow.


    So as my MP trickled away, I thought about ways to avoid the time leeching meditation. The very obvious thing to do would be to heal myself already in the night so that I don''t have to do that tomorrow. But if I do that, I won''t be able to spend MP on {Observe}, which was strict no-no.


    I had to level up {Observe}.


    Maybe a compromise would be effective. I could try restoring my MP once tonight and restore the rest tomorrow; this way I could cut down the meditation time from 4 hours to two. ''Hmm, that could work.''


    Deciding to follow that very course of action, I stopped using {Observe} when I had just 20 points of MP left and headed to the hideout.


    Crawling in, I settled down and used {Molting}.


    Ting.


    [-90 HP]


    I cringed at the HP loss; that was a lot of HP to lose in one sitting. Grimacing, I used {Episkey} to restore my little bit of my MP.


    Ting.


    [-20 MP]


    I sighed and closed my eyes. I needed to sleep.


    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">


    Night 19


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    I woke up, with my body itching all over the place; something that I had come to associate with the skill {Molting}. The itching, in itself, wasn''t bad but when combined with the tiredness that came with having an incomplete bar of HP, it turned into a rather petulant annoyance.


    With a tired sigh, I checked my HP and MP; my HP read, [HP: 135/166] while my MP read, [MP: 60/66].


    Irritated, I hastily used the spell, {Episkey}, to restore my HP bar and to cast away the tiredness and lethargy that had seeped in me over the passage of the day while I slept.


    Ting.


    [-20 MP]


    As sluggishness left my body due to a complete bar of HP, I began to struggle and wiggle to free myself from the clutches of my shed skin. It was, weirdly, a tiresome process. My exuviate had grown harder with each increase in level of the skill.


    I heaved a sigh of relief as exuviate was finally peeled off of my body. ''Ah, it feels so good.''


    Finally out of my itchy shell, I closed my eyes to meditate; I still had 26 MP to recover.


    It took me a little less than three hours to have my MP bar back at its initial capacity, something which annoyed me no end as it meant that plan to save time ¨Cunlike yesterday- hadn''t worked as well as I had hoped it would.


    Sure, it had saved me 2 extra hours of meditation but, that had turned out be nothing, as I had to meditate for almost three hours nonetheless because my MP capacity had increased and because my MP regeneration was pitiful.


    Grumbling, I crawled out of the hideout and tried to look at the bright side of things. At least, I didn''t spend 5 hours doing nothing but meditation, which I would have had to if I hadn''t restored my HP once last night. Thank god for small mercies.


    Flapping my wings, I took to the air, and reached the spider hunting ground.


    I had planned something different for toady; well, not all that different, just a tad bit.


    After the time it had taken me to hunt all the spiders last night, I was hoping to reduce the number of spider kills today by consuming two spiders at a time instead of one. I had been eating one spider at a time to be cautious of their poison, as it was a strong one, but now that my resistance to it had increased quite a bit, I believed, I could handle more than one spider at a time.


    I really didn''t want to be proven wrong this time.


    So that was what I did. I hunted two spiders and ate them together. It changed the effects of poison quite a bit; it impacted me much more strongly than before and lasted for a longer time too.


    As I continued to gorge on spider meat, I again hit the same roadblock I had been hitting for the past two days. Grimacing, I made my way out of the hole that I had been devouring spiders in and made it as far as possible; my lethargy making it almost impossible to move.


    Once I was sure I could move no more, I began to vomit. I vomited the life out of me before I was finally done.


    Tired and panting from the heave-ho, I stumbled and sat dow-


    Ting.


    [Title {Gourmand} gained.]


    [Skill {Overdose Lv.1} gained.]


    ''Wha-!''


    Shaking my head to clear my thoughts, I focused on the new title.


    Ting.


    [You will do anything to enjoy more and more food. Grants skill {Overdose Lv.1}]


    I scowled. ''I do not consume and then vomit food because it is delicious ¨Cthough, spider meat is indeed delicious but that is not the point- I do so because I wanted to level up my skill! Fucking blue screen.''


    Still scowling, I focused on the skill.


    Ting.


    [Allows you to consume and store food within your body, without digesting it. The weight of the stored food is evenly distributed across your body. Current weight limit: 0/1000 g.]


    I blinked.


    And then I blinked again.


    ''Is it really saying what I think it is saying? Do I really not have to worry anymore about eating more food than my body can store? Will there be no more sloppiness and lethargy after devouring more food than I can possibly eat?''


    As my thoughts finally settled down, I let out a laugh! ''Oh this is good, so good! I can eat more and more and will never have to worry about starving! Oh Poison resistance I am so coming for you!''


    Grinning like loon, I turned around and began hunting spiders. As I was sneaking up on my 15th spide-


    Ting.


    [Skill {Stealth Lv. 2} has leveled up to {Stealth Lv. 3}. The chance of others overlooking your presence has been increased to 13%.]


    Dismissing the notification, I continued with my hunt. It took me considerably less spiders than it had taken me last night ¨Cjust 17- before I heard the tell tale sound.


    Ting.


    [Skill {Poison: Bug: Resistance Lv. 7} has leveled up to {Poison: Bug: Resistance Lv. 8}. Your resistance to this poison has increased.]


    Dismissing the notification, I turned to look at the moon; it''s calm illumination enveloped and soothed me.


    I sighed. It had taken me almost 6 hours to hunt the 17 spiders and all that I had gained from it were just 4 levels, which, by the way, did cause me reach level 50.


    With the goal of leveling up the poison resistance achieved, I took to air and flew towards the clearing. Landing on the flower I usually landed on -the beautiful white flower which was shaped like a chalice and had blue stems hanging out of it- I frowned. ''Why is the flower still alive? Shouldn''t it have died by now?''


    Ignoring the weird flower, I began using {Observe} to level it up but, just like last night, I left enough MP to use {Episkey} once later in the night.


    I just begun making my way down my MP bar whe-Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original.


    Ting.


    [Skill {Observe Lv. 5} has leveled up to {Observe Lv. 6}. You can now see the HP of the target.]


    Grinning, I continued using the skill on things that I hadn''t used it on before. Though the results varied a little, for which I was incredibly grateful; it proved that my decision to level up the skill was indeed a good one. The skill had now indeed begun to showcase the HP of the living targets.


    When I had 20 MP left, I took to air again and headed back to the hideout, even though I had one hour left but, the thing was, I had nothing left to do.


    Reaching the hideout, I crawled in before settling in. Grimacing, I used {Survive}.


    Ting.


    [-85 HP]


    As weariness overcame me, I used {Episkey}.


    Ting.


    [-20 MP]


    Satisfied that it was best I could do at the moment, I closed my eyes, ready to sleep.


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    Night 20


    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">


    I woke up feeling mostly refreshed. Surprised at that turn of events, I checked my HP, and sure enough, it read, [HP: 156/170] while my MP read, [MP: 65/70].


    I frowned.''65 MP? Shouldn''t it be 60? Hmm. Oh. Right. I had an extra hour of sleep.''


    Satisfied with my current HP level, I decided to forego the ritual of restoring my HP -as it was just 14 points short of full bar- and crawled out of the hideout. Stretching to get rid of the last bit of sluggishness, I flapped my wings and took to air for my morning ritual.


    Reaching the spider hunting ground, I decided to spice up the things a little bit more, especially after last night''s success, and decided to eat three spiders at a time.


    This obviously increased the pain level quite considerably but, at the same time, the time span of the effect decreased. ''I guess the resistance is finally coming into play, huh.''


    Anyway, I was creeping up on my 12th spider by sliding down the branc-


    Ting.


    [Skill {Slide Lv. 2} has leveled up to {Slide Lv. 3}. Slide speed has increased to 3x the speed of {Crawl Lv. Max}.]


    Dismissing the notification, I continued with my hunt. It was when I had spent 4 hours hunting the spiders and had eaten 15 of them, that, I received the notific-


    Ting.


    [Skill {Poison: Bug: Resistance Lv. 8} has leveled up to {Poison: Bug: Resistance Lv. 9}. Your resistance to this poison had increased.]


    Dismissing the notification, I grimaced. I had gained just 3 levels from the spiders. ''Am I really that much above them in food chain? How? I am just a moth!''


    Grumbling in confusion, I settled down and tried to think about what to do with the rest of the day; after all, I had 8 hours of night left.


    I had two options, I felt. First, I could ¨Cobviously- empty my MP bar by using observe and then use the next 7 hours to meditate and restore it, only to empty it again so that I could level up {Observe}. Or the second option of using that time to do something else; what that something else was, I had no idea at the moment.


    The choice would been easy, so very easy, if it didn''t involve sitting down for 7 fucking hours with eyes closed and basically doing nothing. Thus I chose the second option; I did not want to be in a cave doing nothing for the rest of the day.


    Taking off, I decided to explore the areas that I hadn''t touched before; I headed to the territory where I expected the water body to be.


    I kept constant vigilance with both my skills, {Scent} and {Sensor}, active. I wanted to use {Stealth} but decided against it after remembering the last few times I had used it.


    Cautiously, I flew towards the territory from where my antennas detected the most humidity. Twitching at every disturbance, I hurried through the foliage. It took me some time but I finally found the water boy; it was a river that ran through the forest.


    Carefully, I soared near the water and took the sight in. There were a lot of animals and creatures around the river; some lived there while the rest where there just for a drink to quench their respective thirsts.


    As I was looking around, my eyes fell on a particular species of frog that I killed before. Sure, it had almost killed me to do so, but I had killed it in the end. And sure, I did not have any previous plans for doing so but that was not the point. Shut up brain.


    My poison had worked on that frog before, so that was not the problem; the problem was getting the poison in its system and keep doing that until it was dead. I, for sure, did not want to use the same method as the last time; I had no intention of feeling every part of my body broken and hurt. I was not a masochist. Thank you very much.


    I thought about my skill and if there were any that could help me here; I came up with nothing that would just work on its own. Sure, I could use {Incendio} to barbeque it but the problem would be keeping it in one place.


    I had no doubt that the frog was highly agile -it had to be if it was anything like Trevor- thus not for even a second did I believe that I could hit it while it was free; I wasn''t stupid. Crazy maybe; for trying to hunt a creature that was my predator, but not stupid.


    So if I wanted to hunt it, I had to do something to keep it in one place and the only thing that I could think of, which could do that, was trapping it. But in the body of a moth, there wasn''t much that I could do. After all, it was more than a little hard to function without hands, fingers and opposable thumbs.


    I sighed and again thought over my skill list, trying to find something of use. ''Hmm, I do have {Dig}.'' I could use it. Yes, that could work. I would have to dig a hole, big enough -and deep enough- to hold the frog and when it would fall into that, it would be barbeque time!


    But the problem would be making sure that the stupid frog falls into the trap; for that to happen, I would have to lure it somehow, which I didn''t want to do considering what happened last time when it got too close for comfort.


    I grimaced; that was not a particularly good memory. ''If only I had something I could use as a lure. Like Snape had.''


    I frowned; theoretically, I could use Patronus charm ¨CI had enough MP to cast it after all- but I seriously doubted that a frog, which was the size of an adult human''s feet, would be lured by a hulking spiritual stag. ''If only I had something small¡­hmm.''


    A plan formed in my mind.


    I could use the spell {Lumos} to cast a small glowing ball of light but I didn''t know whether that light ball would be attached to me ¨Cas it was when cast with a wand- or would it be freely floating. And even if it was floating freely, I wasn''t sure I could control it enough ¨Cor at all- to use it as a lure. ''Well, I would never know if I won''t even try.''


    With another sigh, I flew back to my where my hideout was. If I was going to try experimenting with my magic; I was not going to do in an area filled with creatures that would consider me a tasty snack. No thank you; as I said, I wasn''t stupid.


    Reaching back to the hideout, I landed carefully near the entrance but instead of crawling in, I sat there and used the spell, {Lumos}.


    Ting.


    [-10 MP]


    A small ball of light appeared right in front of my face; blinding me and ruining my night vision.


    ''Stupid fucking ball!''


    Blinking furiously, I tried to direct the light away, which it thankfully did. I tried to maneuver it around, making it bump and jump, rush and float; I even tried moving it in other complex motions, all of which the ball of light did.


    I grinned; this was good. I finally had my bait. Now I just have to find my prey. But before that, I needed to shut off the light; it would attract unwanted attention otherwise. ''Nox.''


    Ting.


    [-10 MP]


    I scowled. ''This is ridiculous. Why does it cost me MP to call off a spell? How does that even work? Wha-! Why! Just why!''


    Annoyed, I flapped my wings and took to air as I flew towards the river. Entering the unknown territory I carefully made my way to where I had seen the cluster of frogs. Noticing that they were still in same position, I backed off.


    If I wanted to hunt the frogs, I needed my trap to be somewhere nearby their location but not at just their doorstep; that would be just asking for trouble. I wanted to hunt down the stray frog that roamed a little too far, not the entire bunch.


    For the next hour, I searched for the perfect location; one that was neither too far, nor too close from the location of frogs and was nowhere in immediate vicinity of any other predator that might be lured by the smell of burnt flesh.


    After an hour of search I sighed and decided on a spot that would have to do, even though it was far from perfect; there were predators everywhere. With a grimace, I began to dig. I was so glad for the skill {Dig}, at that moment, because in my moth body, I had a small mouth and if I didn''t have the skill, it would taken me a lot of time to dig a frog size hole.


    Still, it took me a decent amount of time as I had to dig constantly for 5 hours. Finishing up the job, I fought over what to do. ''Should I fill my trap with poison? Or should I not? Because if I do fill my trap with poison and then the frog does not die, the poison can hinder my flames by acting as a wet coat that will protect my prey. I do not want that.''


    ''But if I don''t use it, I will be willfully neglecting my biggest advantage; which is just a stupid thing to do.'' More than a little confused, I decided to go with poison. If it didn''t kill the frog and acted as a deterrent to my fire, I could use the spell a second time; because I could do so now, now that I have restored the entirety of my MP bar ¨Call 73 points of it- in the last 5 hours.


    With 73 MP, I could use {Incendio} twice and {Lumos} once; though it would lead me being unable to snuff out the ball of light as I wouldn''t be able to turn it off because I wouldn''t have enough MP to use the spell {Nox}; which, again, was ridiculous.


    Huffing, I began to collect leaves to layer the bottom of the pit so that my poison wasn''t just absorbed by the mud. It took a lot of time to collect individual leaves and then set them in specific positions so that they could hold my poison. It was gut wrenching work in my current body, let me tell you, as it consumed another 2 hours.


    With the leaves layering the bottom of the pit, I settled down and began secreting, as much as I could, both the poisons I was capable of creating. Just as I was finishing up wi-


    Ting.


    [Skill {Poison Creation Lv.4} has leveled up to {Poison Creation Lv.5}. You can create up to 5 poisons now.]


    Dismissing the screen, I flew out and began hiding the entrance with leaves; after all, no one ¨Cnot even stupid frogs- would jump into an open hole.


    With my trap complete, I again used the spell {Lumos}, and created my lure, the ball of light.


    Ting.


    [-10 MP]


    Flying up high, I slowly guided the ball to where a lone frog had wandered off to. As it floated eerily and inched towards the frog, I was reminded of Snape. Scowling, I tried to wipe that thought off of my mind. I did not need unpleasant distractions right now.


    As the ball of light, my lure, came in line of sight of the frog, it ¨Cobviously- caught attention of its intended target.


    The frog jumped and landed a little closer to the light. Tilting its head, it tried to understand what it was that was floating in front of it. Was it food? Was it not food? It didn''t seem to be able to decide. To help the poor creature, I guided the light a little closer to the prey; trying to entice its curiosity.


    And sure enough, I had its attention. The frog jumped again, this time landing a lot closer than before. I quickly, guided the light away from it and towards the trap. It tilted its head before, like lightning, its tongue shot out of its mouth towards the light.


    I almost didn''t have time to react and its tongue managed to graze the immaterial ball of light, before I finally managed to recoil it away from the frog. The frog jumped and tried to hit the light again but I successfully guided the light away and towards the trap.


    The cat and mouse chase continued and slowly, the frog inched closer and closer towards the trap. Meanwhile, whenever the frog''s tongue leaped out of its mouth, I tried to judge its reach and by the time my prey finally arrived at the trap, I had a rough idea.


    Guiding the light past the trap, I positioned it so that it would only be in frog''s reach if my prey tried from just above the trap. Positioning the light, I waited. And just as I had expected, the frog jumped and landed on the pile of leaves, which hid the pitfall, before falling down the hole.


    There was thud and a splash before a screech echoed from down the hole. My poison had begun its work.


    Cautiously, I made my way towards the trap, as the frog continued to hiss and screech.


    I was afraid that the noise it was making would attract other predators. Deciding to end this once and for all, I reached to the edge of the hole and used the spell, {Incendio}.


    Ting.


    [-30 MP]


    A small ball of heat formed in front of my face before flames after flames leapt out of it and raced down the hole. The screeching increased, incredibly, as the fire hit the frog before they turned to screams of pain. After a moment, it abruptly came to stop.


    Ting.


    [You have Leveled Up! Level up bonus of +1 HP and +1 MP granted.]


    Ting.


    [You have Leveled Up! Level up bonus of +1 HP and +1 MP granted.]


    Ting.


    [You have Leveled Up! Level up bonus of +1 HP and +1 MP granted.]


    Ting.


    [You have Leveled Up! Level up bonus of +1 HP and +1 MP granted.]


    Ting.


    [You have Leveled Up! Level up bonus of +1 HP and +1 MP granted.]


    Ting.


    [You have Leveled Up! Level up bonus of +1 HP and +1 MP granted.]


    Ting.


    [You have Leveled Up! Level up bonus of +1 HP and +1 MP granted.]


    Ting.


    [You have Leveled Up! Level up bonus of +1 HP and +1 MP granted.]


    Ting.


    [You have Leveled Up! Level up bonus of +1 HP and +1 MP granted.]


    Ting.


    [You have Leveled Up! Level up bonus of +1 HP and +1 MP granted.]


    Ting.


    [You have Leveled Up! Level up bonus of +1 HP and +1 MP granted.]


    Ting.


    [You have Leveled Up! Level up bonus of +1 HP and +1 MP granted.]


    Cutting off the fire spell, I counted the notifications as I dismissed them. I had leveled up 12 times from a single frog which, while incredible by itself, was still less than what the first frog had given me, which had been 15 levels. I guessed it was the decreasing marginal utility coming into effect; again.


    Flying down the trap, I landed carefully next to the barbequed frog; it was still smoking. ''Well there goes my plan of eating it.''


    Frowning, I made my way out of the trap and landed just beside the entrance. While my dinner cooled down, I decided to level up {Observe}; after all, why waste time and MP. But before that, I had one thing to do. ''Nox.''


    Ting.


    [-10 MP]


    Shaking my head at the ridiculous cost, I began making my way down my MP bar.


    As I was finishing through my MP-


    ''Oh Fuck.''


    -I cursed, remembering that I had to save 20 points for {Episkey}, which I couldn''t now because I didn''t have enough MP. Cursing furiously for being stupid, I emptied the rest of the MP bar; there was no point saving MP now.


    Hoping that the frog had cooled down enough to eat, I flew down the hole and, indeed, it was no longer smoking. Smiling, I began my dinner.


    It took me some time to finish the frog and once I was done, I checked my newest skill, {Overdose}, or more precisely how much have I consumed; it read, [Current limit: 445/1000g]. ''Huh. That frog just weighed 445 grams?''


    Dismissing the thought, I flew out of the trap and made my way directly for the hideout.


    Crawling in, I settled down before using {Molting}.


    Ting.


    [-95 HP]


    Grimacing at the HP loss, and at my stupidity for forgetting to save MP for a quick {Episkey}, I called up my status.


    [Name: Unnamed]


    [Species: Poisonous Forest Moth]


    [Race(s): Insect]


    [Level: 65]


    [HP: 90/185]


    [MP: 0/85]


    [Titles: {Sentient}, {Reincarnated}, {Survivor}, {Bullheaded}, {Master of Death}, {Masochist}, {Gourmand}]


    [Skills: {Animagus Lv.1}, {Ant''s Will Lv.3}, {Apparate Lv.6}, {Beast Tamer Lv.1}, {Crawl }, {Dig Lv.8}, {Fly Lv.6}, {Invisibility Lv.1}, {Leglimens Lv.2}, {Masochism Lv.3}, {Meditate Lv.6}, {Molting Lv.4}, {Night Vision Lv.3}, {Observe Lv.6}, {Occlumens Lv.7}, {Overdose Lv.1}, {Pain Resistance Lv.6}, {Poison Resistance Lv.8}, {Poison Creation Lv.5}, {Rise Lv.1}, {Scent Lv.3}, {Sensor Lv.5}, {Slide Lv.3}, {Stealth Lv.3}, {Stubborn Lv.3}, {Survive Lv.3}, {Trap Lv.2}]


    [Spells: {Lumos Lv. Max}, {Expelliarmus Lv. 10}, {ExpectoPatronum Lv. 10}, {Protego Lv.10}, {Reparo Lv.9}, {Incendio Lv.9}, {Aguamenti Lv.9}, {Stupefy Lv.9}, {Episkey Lv. 9}, {Immobulus Lv.9}, {Lumos Maximus Lv.8}, {Confundo Lv.8}, {Fianto Duri Lv. 8},{Protego Maxima Lv. 8}, {Repello Inimicum Lv.8}, {Accio Lv.7}, {Bombarda Lv.7}, {Petrificus Totalus Lv.6}, {Diffindo Lv.6}, {Reducto Lv.5}, {Wingardium Leviosa Lv. 5}, {Transfugiration Lv.5}, {Silencio Lv.4}, {Glacius Lv.4}, {Confringo Lv.3}, {Alohomora Lv.3}, {Sectum Sempra Lv.2}, {Imperio Lv.2}, {Muffliato Lv.2}, {Crucio Lv.1}]


    Sighing at the thought of how much MP I would be losing tomorrow morning, I fell asleep.


    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">


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    P.S. Unbeta''ed but edited to the best of my ability.

 Arc 1- Shaken - Chapter 10

    Night 21


    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">


    I woke up feeling a lot more tired than I had when I had woken up yesterday. I frowned at the newfound weariness, which I beginning to discover each and every night when I woke up, before I remembered my stupidity that had caused the current mess.


    I scowled.


    ''I cannot repeat the same mistake again, not after knowing what a mess the following night will, which will be tonight for my last night''s idiocy. I am sure that tonight will be a waste, just because I couldn''t be bothered to remember to save a few MP points for a healing spell.''


    Not expecting anything good, I checked my HP and MP; my HP read [HP: 114/185] while my MP read, [MP: 60/85].


    I grimaced.


    Though the 114 points of HP was a good amount, especially considering the amount I had started with when I had been a caterpillar, it was still a little more than half of my current amount of HP. And as I learnt the hard way, it is never a good idea to hunt with an incomplete bar of HP.


    I sighed.


    ''I will have to use {Episkey} twice now to restore my HP completely, which will leave my MP bar almost completely empty which, in turn, will leave me meditating for the rest of the day! Uhh! All this nonsense because of one stupid mistake!''


    With a heavy sigh of disappointment ¨Cmostly in myself- I used the spell. ''Episkey.''


    Ting.


    [-20 MP]


    ''Episkey.''


    Ting.


    [-20 MP]


    I grimaced as the itch from exuviate ¨Cwhich I had due to the use of skill {Molting} last night- made itself known and I began to struggle to get out of my shed shell post haste. Once out of the shell, I checked my MP -it read, unsurprisingly, [MP: 20/85]- causing me to shake my head in disappointment.


    With just 20 MP remaining, I headed to the spider hunting ground for the daily ritual of hunting, eating and suffering. Though, tonight, I decided to increase the spider consumption rate from 3 at a time to 4 at once.


    This had the exact opposite effect of what I was envisioning.


    Instead of pain increasing manifolds, the pain that I felt today was much less excruciating than what I had felt last night. ''Thank goodness that the high sub-skill poison resistance is finally coming into effect.''


    Though there still was one thing; with each new poison sub-skill gained, I noticed, that the effect of the next sub-skill began manifesting later than the previous one. For example, when I had been leveling up poison resistance against the plant poison, the resistance had kicked in at around sub-skill level of around 5 or 6 but, this time, it had kicked in at level 8.


    ''Does this mean that when I gain another sub-skill for poison resistance, it won''t kick in until even higher level? Oh this is going to stink.''


    Dismissing the thought with a grimace, I continued with my hunting. It was when I was at my 18th spider th-


    Ting.


    [Skill {Poison: Bug: Resistance Lv. 9} has leveled up to {Poison: Bug: Resistance Lv. 10}. Your resistance to this poison has increased greatly.]


    I heaved a sigh of relief before scowling; this was getting tedious. ''Even though I hunted 18 spiders ¨Cwhich consumed a good 5 hours by the way- I only gained 3 levels. 3 fucking levels! Can anyone imagine that! I mean anyone! Even you, you fucking pervert of a blue screen!''


    Dismissing the screen I grimaced. I had 45 MP, which was nowhere near enough for what I needed to hunt the frogs. This left me with only one option; meditating the next 4 hours to restore my MP.


    I grimaced, again. And because I had nothing else to do, I decided to do just that.


    Flapping my wings, I took to the air and flew towards the hideout. Reaching the entrance, I crawled in before settling comfortably to meditate. The next four hours passed comfortably and when I finally opened my eyes, I had 85 points of MP; not a complete bar of MP, but enough for what I needed.


    Crawling out, I flew towards the river; I still had three hours and I planned on making an efficient use of them.


    Reaching the river, I tried to find a frog that had staggered away from the group, just like last night, but I couldn''t find any. There were no frogs that were just wandering around; they were all within an area that, I expected, was their territory. ''Did the last night''s hunt cause this? That can''t be. Frogs don''t have enough intelligence for that sort of thing. ''


    Still, I lingered patiently, waiting for just one of them to step out of the territory. Unfortunately ¨Cor fortunately, from the frogs'' perspective- none of them did. And just like that more than 2 hours passed, with me just sitting and waiting.


    I scowled; this was useless. And if I continued like this, I wouldn''t even be able to use {Observe} tonight. I needed to know when I should cut my losses, and currently, I felt I should do just that; cut my losses. There was no point in wasting all my time waiting, and gaining nothing, when I can use this time to level up {Observe}.


    With a purpose in my mind, I flew back to the clearing that I had found a few days ago and landed on the same flower that I always did. ''It''s still alive? Shouldn''t it have died by now? Observe.''


    Ting.


    [Moon Glow]


    [A spirit flower that attracts the creatures affected by moon.]


    I frowned. ''What the hell? There are flowers like these in the world? And is it attracting me too? Is this the reason that I always land on it rather than anything else in this clearing? But. No. That can''t be it. I would feel if something was affecting my mind. I think.''


    I turned to face the moon. I did not feel anything special at night; nor did I feel anything when I faced the moon. I didn''t think I was affected by the flower; my landing on it must not be anything else than coincidence.


    Without another thought, I dismissed the current line of thinking; I had more important things to worry about.


    Focusing on the things around me, I began using {Observe}, to level up the skill. Though this time, I was careful about not repeating the last night''s mistake. So when I had 20 MP left, I stopped using the skill and flew back to the hideout.


    Crawling in, I settled down and used {Survive}.


    Ting.


    [-94 HP]


    As weariness began claiming me and my body became heavy suddenly, I used the spell, {Episkey}.


    Ting.


    [-20 MP]


    With a sigh, I closed my eyes and fell asleep.


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    Night 22


    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">


    I woke up, feeling a lot more relaxed than I had felt in a long time. Stretching, I checked my HP and MP; my HP read, [HP: 163/188] while my MP read, [MP: 60/88].


    Crawling out of the hideout, I flew to the spider hunting ground and began the daily ritual of hunting, eating and suffering. ''Hopefully, I will be doing it for the last time tonight.''


    Reaching my destination, I began hunting and just like last night, instead of eating them directly afterwards, I began collecting the corpses. Though, I did one thing different from last night, instead of eating 4 spiders at a time, I began eating 5 spiders at a time.


    This did not have any major effect on poison; something which, from what I guessed, was due to the high level of my resistance to it. The pain that poison caused me was nowhere near as strong as it had been just a few days ago and it didn''t last very long either.


    Thus, I continued to hunt, eat and suffer the spider and their poison. By the time I was panting from the aftereffects of the poison for the 4th time ¨Cwhich was 6 hours since morning- I had leveled up 3 times. As usual, the low utility of spiders was annoyi-


    Ting.


    [Skill {Poison: Bug: Resistance Lv.10} has leveled up to reach the maximum level and has become {Poison: Bug: Resistance: Lv. Max}]


    Ting.


    [Sub-skill acquired {Poison Creation Lv.5: Available: Poison: Bug: Willow Spider}]


    All my grievances were forgotten as a smile morphed on my face. ''Finally! Finally all my sufferings have borne fruit! I can finally create a poison that didn''t have ''weak'' or ''mild'' or some such nonsense attached to it!''Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there.


    I laughed.


    I was happy, I truly was. I had wished for so long that I had an effective poison; I had not wished for a particularly strong one, just an effective one. And now I had one! I finally had one!


    I grinned.


    Now I just wished for a good method of injecting my poison, instead of just letting some creature eat me. Getting eaten was not fun, not one bit.


    Still smiling, I flapped my wings and flew towards the river where I had setup my trap. I hoped tonight will not be the same as last night because, even though I had 6 hours to hunt, I did not want to waste all that time waiting.


    Setting up the trap, I found a place that hid my presence well enough and waited patiently. This time, as I had a new poison at my disposal, I had filled it with two of my best poisons: the bug poison that I had earned from spiders and the plant poison.


    Sitting silently, I waited and waited and waited as time began to pass and yet I waited. For some reason, none of the frogs were venturing out of their territory.


    4 Hours passed as I kept my silent vigil and yet none of the frogs showed up.


    A lot of other animals and creatures passed during my vigil, all new and exotic, but I ignored them with practiced ease; I could not lose focus. Though, it did pain me a little to let them go. They would have been a very good target for leveling up my {Observe}. But I couldn''t afford to lose my MP; not when I might need it later.


    As I patiently kept my watch, finally a frog stepped out of the territory. With baited breath, I waited for it to move a little farther; just a bit more. I couldn''t try to lure it when it was that close to its territory. So with unblinking eyes, I watched.


    Warily, the frog jumped, though just a short distance. It tilted head; listening and I checked my skill {Stealth}. It jumped again, as if testing waters, before jumping farther away from the territory of the frogs.


    Cautiously, I used the spell, {Lumos}.


    Ting.


    [-10 MP]


    A ball of soft light slowly materialized in front of my face, blinding me and, again, ruining, my night vision. Shaking my head to clear the blind spots, I slowly began to guide the light towards the frog.


    I watched as the soft light caught the attention of the frog and how its head tilted. I waited for it to move, to make its move, which it soon did. It jumped, closer to the light and farther away from the rest of its kind.


    I, slowly, guided the light away from it and towards the trap that I had earlier set up. The frog jumped up and followed it. At the same time, my antennas and the skill {Scent} picked up the overwhelming scent of frogs and just more frogs due to the wind being downhill, which caused the scent from the frog territory to be all around me.


    I continued to guide the light towards the trap and watched with rapt attention as the frog kept following. My skill, {Sensor} picked up disturbance from the direction opposite to the frog and I turned to face the new threat. ''Is it more frogs searching for this wandering soul?'' I did not know.


    My eyes searched for something, anything, but I spotted nothing out of ordinary. My antennas picked up scent of more frogs but that was just wind changing directions; I dismissed that thought.


    Focusing my attention back to the target, I watched as my prey contemplated following the light even more. I stilled the moving light, enticing the creature; yet, it didn''t move. Frowning, I guided the light back in the range of the frog and immediately, faster than lightning, its tongue lashed out.


    I was ready though, and guided the light out of the way and began guiding it back to the trap, hoping that the frog had been tempted. I turned back to the frog and, sure enough, it jumped as it followed the light.


    Slowly, I maneuvered the light closer and closer to the trap with my prey following it carefully. Knowing the range of the frog, I positioned the light just so that the frog had to jump on the trap.


    I watched eagerly as the frog jumped and landed on the pile of leaves covering the trap before promptly falling in. I smiled and flied down to the trap as the shrieks of pain echoed from down the hole.


    HP/MP: 183/78


    As I reached the trap, I sensed the disturbance from earlier and immediately turned around. But it was already too late and a pink fleshy thing was racing towards me at a speed I could not avoid.


    Ting.


    [-20 HP]


    Wha-!


    What!


    How?!


    There were three frogs -all the size of an adult human''s feet- with their eyes fixated on me. And with one down the trap, this made up a total of 4 frogs.


    ''Wh-where had all these new frogs come from!? W-why hadn''t I sensed them!?'' I panicked before a realization hit me in the face with all the strength of a rampaging truck. ''Where these those frogs that I had sensed but dismissed as wind changing directions? OH. MY. GOD. They were, weren''t they! How did I fuck up again!? Oh I did fuck up again! I so fucked up!''


    But this was not the time. This was not the time for panicking and cursing myself. Time for that would be later, when I had escaped these slimy things! Now I had to save myself before I became frog chow! Which was just as disgusting as it sounded!


    I tried to use {Slide} to unstick myself, but to no effect and, in the meantime, the tongue began to retract. ''OH NO. I was NOT going in that mouth. If I did, I will NOT escape alive. Which I just can''t do!''


    I will survive.


    With my mind reeling, I used {Incendio}.


    Ting.


    [-30 MP]


    HP/MP: 163/48


    A ball of fire formed in front of my face before a flame raced down the tongue holding onto me. I was immediately released but I did not let go, I flew towards the frog whose tongue had been sticking onto me and forced my advantage with flames pouring down onto the frog.


    It jumped back, trying to escape me, but I pursued. If I wanted to escape alive, I would have to make a point and I was going to make that point by roasting this frog.


    Ting.


    [-20 HP]


    HP/MP: 143/48


    Another tongue hit me then and I immediately whirled around, but it didn''t stick to me; it was like a slap to back of my head. By the time I could redirect the flames, the tongue was long gone and so was the frog that I had been pursuing.


    Ting.


    [-20 HP]


    Ting.


    [-20 HP]


    Ting.


    [-20 HP]


    HP/MP: 83/48


    I whirled around, trying to escape the tongues hitting me again and again. And I did so, the flame that were in front of me, whirled around with me.


    ''I wish I had wand; I wish it so damn hard! If I had a wand I would have directed the flames however I wished! I would have guided the flames into forming a protective shield around me! I would have done so much more!''


    ''Instead I was stuck in this body of a moth fighting frogs! Frogs! I was fighting frogs, and not even toads, for my fucking life! What good was {Incendio} if I couldn''t use it as I had used to! What good was it being a level 9 spe-''


    Wai-


    It was level 9 spell.


    Nowhere had it been said that my control had been compromised.


    Just that the cost was decreased and that a focus wasn''t needed.


    With a glimmer of hope shining in my chest, I directed the flames to encircle me to from a protective sphere. To my utter joy, I felt the flames move and obey my command as they began to spin and form a sphere around me.


    I closed my eyes as I saw the sphere go up and felt the tongue attacks stop. Slowly, I opened the top of the sphere and expanded it until my head was out of the sphere. I tried to look for the frogs but my night vision was ruined from all the light from the fire.


    Failing in spotting the frogs, I turned to the skills that would have protected me had I not ignored them; I used {Sensor} and immediately felt the disturbances being caused by the movement of the frogs.


    Knowing that I could not guide the fire spell any further, lest I break my protective sphere, I used another {Incendio}. Hoping, no, not hoping, praying; praying that it would work. To whom I was praying, I did not know.


    Ting.


    [-30 MP]


    HP/MP: 83/18


    A ball of fire materialized in front of my head and I directed the flames pouring out of it to where I had felt the disturbance that was most sloppy. A shriek reached my ears, as my flames hit their target, before the frog jumped away.


    Following the disturbances that it was creating, I pursued with my flames, and again, I heard a shriek as my flames hit their mark. It flailed but didn''t jump back so I pushed my advantage. A screech echoed from behind me as a tongue raced towards me before getting burned from the fire sphere and retreating.


    Ting.


    [-15 HP]


    HP/MP: 68/18


    ''Wha-! What! Nothing had hit me right now! Nothing! Why had I receive the damage! I could not have received damage from anything, anything at all!'' I turned to look for anything that could have hit me and my eyes fell on my wings; they were singed. I had received fire damage from my own spell.


    ''Fuck! I need to finish this fast!''


    A bunch of screens popped up in front of me and I felt the disturbances from the frog cease. It was dead. I turned to the rest of the frogs that had raced up to me and poured flames after flames in their direction.


    Ting.


    [-15 HP]


    HP/MP: 53/18


    They jumped away but I felt them falter; my flames had managed to sing them. I whirled around to the one closer to me and pursued it as it continued to jump. I heard a hiss and knew that my flames had hit once again. The other frog tried to distract me, as it tried to hit me with its tongue, but I did not let up and continued to pelt the frog that I had earlier with flames after flames of fire.


    It shrieked as the flame hit it properly for the first time and it faltered mid jump, falling in pain. Following my advantage, I trailed him with my flames in tow, and poured more and more flames on the creature. It flailed and it shrieked and it tried to jump away but I did not let go and continued to roast it alive.


    The third frog, realizing that there was no way of saving the second, jumped away from me and ran. I did not pursue it as I had another one already dying from my fire.


    Ting.


    [-15 HP]


    HP/MP: 38/18


    As I continued to barbeque the frog, I felt the disturbances from the frog cease before a bunch of screens popped up.


    I ignored the screens and, with my fire trailing behind me, I headed towards the trap. The fourth frog was still in trap, jumping and hissing as it tried to come out of the trap but I had made it deep enough that it couldn''t.


    Reaching directly above the trap, I turned my flames down and began to burn the fourth frog. An unholy screech echoed from down the hole but I ignored it and continued to pour flames after flames into the trap.


    Ting.


    [-15 HP]


    HP/MP: 23/18


    Soon I felt the half dead frog ¨Cfrom the poison- stop making disturbances and a bunch of another screens pop up. It, too, was dead.


    I ignored the screens again and called out the cancellation spell. ''Nox.''


    Ting.


    [-10 MP]


    HP/MP: 23/8


    The single spell managed to somehow cancel out both my fire spells. How that worked out, I did not know but, at the moment, I couldn''t care less.


    With all the spells cancelled, I flew out of there as fast as possible.


    One of the frogs had escaped and I did not want to wait around to see if it was bringing reinforcements or not. I previously hadn''t thought that something like that could be possible but then I, previously, also hadn''t thought that frogs could hunt in groups or setup an ambush! It had scared the shit out of me!


    Flying as fast I could, I reached my hideout, crawled in, hid the entrance and settled down; shaking. Now that the adrenaline was wearing off, the realization that I had been almost eaten alive, again, by 4 frogs this time, was settling in. It was an impossible situation that I had made out of alive. Somehow.


    I tried a take a deep breath in, but all I could do was shudder, as the aftershocks of what had happened ran through my body. I seized up, unable to move and started hyperventilating as my breath came in short and fast. My heartbeat quickened as my heart began to race.


    I tried to control my breathing, I really did, but I just couldn''t! No matter how much I tried to calm myself, to stay focused, my mind went back, again and again, to the point when I had been surrounded! I felt contained and bound and unable to move!


    My breath hastened further and became incredibly short! My heart raced, trying to break free of my chest! I felt darkness approaching and I tried to fight it but all my efforts fell short! My breaths were incredibly short now! They were so short that I was surprised that I even had air in my lungs!


    The darkness approached me faster and faster but I tried to push it away. My heart hammered in my ches-


    ¡­


    ..


    .


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    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">


    A/N: The MP/HP stats showcased in the chapter are what the MC thinks he has.

 Arc 2 - Defiance - Chapter 11

    A/N: This chapter, I feel, is going to be a make or break chapter for some of you. Consider reading it till the end.


    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">


    Night 23.


    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">


    I woke up feeling more tired and more in pain than I have felt in a long time. And I really, really mean it this time.


    My wings burned like they were on fire, my carapace felt broken at places, my head felt like it had been hit with a hammer ¨Crepeatedly- and it hurt to move. I was so not in a good shape. ''Just what the hell happened last night?''


    I frowned and, at once, all the memories came rushing back; giving me a blinding headache. ''Uuhhh!''


    I tried to clutch my head but I didn''t have the hands to do so; I just had limbs which were completely useless in this condition. I grimaced and turned towards the feint glow that was enlightening the burrow. It was from the notifications from last night.


    The first notification that I saw, which consequently must have been the last notification, was about evolving.


    [You have crossed Level 100. Do you want to evolve now?]


    [YES NO]


    ''I am level hundred? How, just how? I was on level 68 the last time I checked. And I remember getting 3 levels from the spiders, making me reach level 71. That ¨Cthat means that I got 29 levels from the frogs! Holy shit!''


    I took a deep breath in. And slowly, let it out.


    ''Okay, that is entirely plausible; the one frog I had killed before had given me 15 lev- Wait. The screen says I have crossed level 100, not reached, like it had said last time.'' A frown materialized on my face. ''Just what is my level? And how many levels did I gain from the frogs?''


    I checked my status.


    [Name: Unnamed]


    [Species: Poisonous Forest Moth]


    [Race(s): Insect]


    [Level: 104]


    [HP: 101/224] 23+33+2*9+3*9


    [MP: 86/124] 8+33+5*9


    [Titles: {Sentient}, {Reincarnated}, {Survivor}, {Master of Death}, {Bullheaded}, {Masochist}, {Gourmand}, {Fire Elemental}]


    [Skills: {Animagus Lv.1}, {Ant''s Will Lv.3}, {Apparate Lv.6}, {Beast Tamer Lv.1}, {Crawl }, {Dig Lv.8}, {Fire Manipulation Lv.1}, {Fly Lv.6}, {Invisibility Lv.1}, {Leglimens Lv.2}, {Mana Control Lv.1}, {Masochism Lv.3}, {Meditate Lv.6}, {Molting Lv.4}, {Night Vision Lv.3}, {Observe Lv.6}, {Occlumens Lv.7}, {Overdose Lv.1}, {Pain Resistance Lv.6}, {Poison Resistance Lv.8}, {Poison Creation Lv.5}, {Rise Lv.1}, {Scent Lv.3}, {Sensor Lv.5}, {Slide Lv.3}, {Stealth Lv.3}, {Stubborn Lv.4}, {Survive Lv.3}, {Trap Lv.3}]


    [Spells: {Lumos Lv. Max}, {Incendio }, {Expelliarmus Lv. 10}, {ExpectoPatronum Lv. 10}, {Protego Lv.10}, {Reparo Lv.9}, {Aguamenti Lv.9}, {Stupefy Lv.9}, {Episkey Lv. 9}, {Immobulus Lv.9}, {Lumos Maximus Lv.8}, {Confundo Lv.8}, {Fianto Duri Lv. 8},{Protego Maxima Lv. 8}, {Repello Inimicum Lv.8}, {Accio Lv.7}, {Bombarda Lv.7}, {Petrificus Totalus Lv.6}, {Diffindo Lv.6}, {Reducto Lv.5}, {Wingardium Leviosa Lv. 5}, {Transfugiration Lv.5}, {Silencio Lv.4}, {Glacius Lv.4}, {Confringo Lv.3}, {Alohomora Lv.3}, {Sectum Sempra Lv.2}, {Imperio Lv.2}, {Muffliato Lv.2}, {Crucio Lv.1}]


    [EVOLVE]


    I gaped at what I saw. I was level 104; that meant that the frogs had netted me 33 levels! And just look at that HP and MP stats! How! Just how! And was that a new Title! [Fire Elemental]? How in the hell did I gain that!?


    ''I can explain the HP being 101! It''s just 23 points from last night added with 33 points from the level ups, which was added to my inflated regeneration of 5HP/Hour due to the skill {Masochism} being at Level 3! And the same with my MP! But where did the new Title co-''


    Stop.


    Focus.


    ''Whatever has caused my stats to inflate, will be in these notifications; I need to read them all.'' Shaking my head to clear it, I focused on [NO].


    Ting.


    [You can evolve later by selecting the ''Evolve'' option from your status window.]


    Dismissing the window, I reached the next one.


    [Skill {Stubborn Lv.3} has leveled up to {Stubborn Lv.4}. The negative modifier has decreased by one. All distractions will now be felt 7 times as stronger.]


    I frowned. ''Why in hell has {Stubborn} leveled up? I don''t think I did anything particularly stupid last night. All I did was whatever it was that was needed for me to survive. Sure I chose to pursue and kill the first frog but it was because I had to make a point and then the second one had just continued to attack me; I didn''t have a choice in its case.''


    ''The third one, though, I had killed because it was one I had targeted in the first place. I just couldn''t let it go. It would have turned the death of the other two frogs meaningless. Those two frogs had died because I attacked the first one; to just let it live after I had to fight off ¨Cand kill- the rest of the frogs would have been a waste of all the things that I had to do last night.''


    ''No I couldn''t just let it live. Is this why {Stubborn} has leveled up? Because I hadn''t let the last frog live? That was a stupid reason to level up the skill but hey, I am not complaining.'' Dismissing the screen, I focused on the next one.


    [Skill {Trap Lv.2} has leveled up to {Trap Lv.3}. Your traps do 1% more damage. Extra damage due to the skill: 3%]


    ''Oh alright. I guess that {Trap} levels up at the number of kills, by the traps, rather than the number of traps that had been setup.'' I dismissed the screen and was greeted by-


    [You have Leveled Up! Level up bonus of +1 HP and +1 MP granted.]


    I dismissed it then I dismissed the next one and the next one and the next one. ''Oh come on! Do I really have to dismiss all 33 screens of the level ups!''


    [Forced activation of {Element: Fire} has unlocked the skill {Mana Control Lv.1}]


    ''Wha-! What the hell! When was there a forced activation? And when did I gain the fire ele- Wait.''


    Focus.


    ''It will all be in the notifications.'' I took a deep breath and focused on the new Skill, skill {Mana Control Lv.1}.


    Ting.


    [Ability to control the outflow of Mana. Decreases Mana cost of Elemental Manipulations. Current Cost decreased by: 0 MP]


    ¡­Eh?


    ''What a useless skill! It isn''t doing anything! It even says so in the description! And what does even ''Elemental Manipulations'' mean?'' Grumbling, I dismissed the screen.


    [Skill Gained {Fire Manipulation Lv.1}]


    ''¡­Okay. So that explains what ''Elemental Manipulations'' means.'' I focused on the skill.


    Ting.


    [Ability to manipulate Fire to your will. Cost: 15MP/Second.]


    I gaped! ''15MP/SECOND! Are you kidding me! How can anybody use this skill?! What an absurd cost! It is absolutely usele-''


    Stop. Just stop.


    And think.


    ''Is this why I gained the skill {Mana Control Lv.1}? It definitely makes sense now. And that skill seems much more useful now than before.'' I sighed and dismissed the screen.


    [Spell {Incendio} had reached Maximum Level. Grants Title [Fire Elemental].]


    ''Okay. That explains the new Title.'' I focused on it.


    [You can convert Mana to Fire efficiently. Grants skill {Fire Manipulation Lv.1}]


    ''Hmm. {Incendio} reaching level Max gave me a new title and a new skill, does that mean that when {Agumentai} will reach Max level, I would get Water related Title and skill? Oh that would be awesome if it did!'' Grinning, I dismissed the screen and focused on the next one.


    [Title [Master of Death] activated. Spell {Incendio Lv.9} has leveled up twice, due to the third property of the Title, which grants two levels in spells for each level gained, causing it to reach {Incendio }]


    ''Oh. So {Incendio} had leveled up from Level 9 to Level 10 and then the title [Master of Death] kicked in, causing it to reach the maximum level. Hmm. Will [Master of Death] work for {Fire Manipulation} too? But then, that one is listed as a skill. So maybe, no? Hmm. I would have to wait and see, I guess.''


    Dismissing the screen, I was met with the last one; though I already knew which one it would be.


    [Spell {Incendio Lv.9} has leveled up.]


    I dismissed the screen, and with this one, all the screens were dealt with.


    A slow smile formed on my face. I was going to Evolve! Evolve! And what made the whole situation even better was the fact that it was happening much earlier than I had anticipated!


    Opening my status window, I focused on the [EVOLVE] option.


    Ting.


    [Do you want to evolve now?]


    [YES NO]


    Grinning, I focused on [YES].


    Ting.


    [Chose your form.]


    [Fairy: Your species related evolution path.]


    [Pixie: Your species related alternate evolution path.]


    [Doxy: Variant. Granted due to your anarchic methods.]


    I frowned; all the creatures, while magical, where nothing more than pests. I don''t want to be a pest. But then, I don''t want to be an insect altogether. I had hoped to get better choices now that I had my magic back.If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.


    With a resigned sigh, I focused on my choi-


    Hold it.


    Am I even sure these were the same creatures that I thought they were? What if they were something totally different but I was just assuming they were the same because they had names that I recognized. ''Oh fuck you Blue Screen. I don''t trust your crusty lying ass!''


    Scowling, I focused on the word Fairy in the first option.


    Ting.


    [You have chosen Fairy as you evolution. Are you sure?]


    [YES NO]


    ''Wha-! No! I don''t want to be a stupid narcissist which was too enchanted with its self to even function properly!'' Without a second thought I focused on [NO].


    I scowled; focusing on the species didn''t have the effect that I was aiming for. Maybe I could use {Observe} on them to know more about species?


    Staring at the option ''Fairy'', I thought, ''Observe.''


    Ting.


    [Fairies are tiny humanoid creatures with wings. Their main attribute is their vanity which attracts them to anything shiny. They form the base of the food chain.]


    ''I was so, so, not choosing Fairy as my evolution; I had no wish to remain on the bottom of the food chain any more time than I absolutely had to.'' Dismissing the window, I turned to stare at the option ''Pixie''. ''Observe.''


    Ting.


    [Pixies are tiny and blue humanoid creatures without wings, though they are capable of flight. Their main attribute is their strength and tendency to cause mischief. Their penchant to create trouble causes them to be at the base of the food chain.]


    ''Hmm. Pixie seems like it is a much better choice than Fairy, yet it remains at the bottom of the food chain; not something very positive about it.'' Wanting to cover all my options, I turned to the last option, Doxy. ''Observe.''


    Ting.


    [Doxies are tiny humanoid creatures with wings. Their main attribute is their rather potent Venom and their perchance for malicious tricks which often results in their target getting hurt or worse. Due to their venom and their tricks, they are usually left alone by most creatures.]


    ''Now, this sounds promising. Doxy wasn''t on the bottom of the pyramid so it has much less predators than the other two options; which is always a good point. And even though the ''malicious tricks'' part was worrying, I''ll still be me. It isn''t like I am going to change just because I evolved into something that has specific traits.''


    My decision made, I focused on Doxy but before the window could pop up, I stopped. A doxy was much bigger in size than a moth and even though my hideout was large for a moth, it won''t be comfortable for a doxy. With a grimace, I began to work; I had a burrow to expand.


    A few hours of hard work later, I returned to my status window and focused on [EVOLVE].


    Ting.


    [Do you want to evolve now?]


    [YES NO]


    Grinning, I focused on [YES].


    Ting.


    [Chose your form.]


    [Fairy: Your species related evolution path.]


    [Pixie: Your species related alternate evolution path.]


    [Doxy: Variant. Granted due to your anarchic methods.]


    Without any hesitation, I focused on Doxy.


    Ting.


    [You have chosen Doxy as you evolution. Are you sure?]


    [YES NO]


    I focused on [YES].


    Ting.


    [Evolution will begin now.]


    Before I could even dismiss the screen, an overbearing urge to spit around me hit me. Again. I straightened up and stood up on my hind leg-thingies as my mouth came down and spat something; something that began solidifying as soon as it left my mouth.


    I watched in fascination as my I began to spin a cocoon around me, transforming me into a pupa. Though, it made no sense; why pupa? I was no longer a caterpillar that would evolve into a moth or a butterfly. I was a moth that was evolving into a Doxy and as Doxies are born from eggs, shouldn''t this covering be an egg or somethi-


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    DAY 24


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    I woke up feeling confined and bound. I frowned and tried to jog my memory, attempting to remember the last thing from the previous night. ''Evolution. Right.''


    Knowing that I was trapped in the cocoon that I had ¨Csomehow- created for evolution, I began wiggling and squirming to free myself. I heard a crack as my body continued to squirm causing the shell to break. I smiled and reinforced my struggles.


    Soon enough, cracks after cracks followed and I was free from the cocoon binding me.


    Stepping out of the broken cocoon, I stretched and grinned. ''Ah, it feels so good to have hands and legs again! Finally I am free from all the crawling and sliding! I can finally walk! I can hold things! I can use my fingers!''


    I laughed. And I continued to laugh unti-


    Ting.


    [Evolution completed. You have evolved into a Doxy.]


    Ting.


    [Evolution bonus of 30 points has been added to your total Health Points and Mana Points. You have been completely healed.]


    Ting.


    [Your base MP and HP regenerations have doubled to become +4HP/Hour and +10MP/Hour.]


    Ting.


    [Level Up Bonus has increased from 1 point per level, to 2 points per level, for both MP and HP. Both the bars have been adjusted for the change.]


    I grinned at the notifications. ''What a bonus! 30 Points extra for both HP and MP and the increase in regenerations; something I have been begging for a very long time now! I couldn''t be happier!''


    Ting.


    [Final evolution of evolution tree {Race: Insect} reached. You cannot evolve any more.]


    ¡­Come again.


    ''This is a joke right. It has to be a joke. After all, how can I not evolve?''


    ''If evolution had to stop, it would have stopped after I evolved into a moth, right? Right?! If evolution had to stop, why would it let me evolve into a Doxy!? Right!? There was no relation between a doxy and a moth! I shouldn''t have evolved into a doxy at all! Doxies are born from eggs! They do not evolve from anything! If evolution had to stop, it should have stopped at Moth!''


    This is a mistake! It had to be! How could it not be?!


    ''I can evolve! I had to! It cannot be that I can no longer evolve! It just can''t be! I cannot live the rest of my life as a Doxy! No! I refuse! I will not be con-


    Ting.


    [Species Title, {Trickster} gained.]


    Ting.


    [Skill {Intermediate Venom: Doxy: Resistance Lv. Max} acquired.]


    Ting.


    [Sub-Skill for poison creation {Available: Intermediate Venom: Doxy} acquired.]


    Ting.


    [Skill {Poison Resistance Lv.8} has leveled up to {Poison Resistance Lv.9}. You can gain up to 9 sub-resistance skills.]


    Ting.


    [Skill {Doxy Shield Lv.1} acquired.]


    Ting.


    [Skill {Drone Eggs Lv.1} acquired.]


    Ting.


    [Doxies are creature that prefer cold environment. Skill {Ice resistance Lv.1} acquired.]


    I panted!


    My breath coming short and heavy!


    I was panicking!


    I should not be panicking!


    I hadn''t even panicked this much when I had realized that I had been reincarnated as a caterpillar! Yet, here I was, panicking at the news that I could not evolve anymore! What was wrong with ME!


    I closed my eyes and tried to take a deep breath in, to calm myself!


    I FAILED!


    I tried AGAIN!


    And again!


    And again!


    And again!


    And again.


    And succeeded.


    Slowly, I let a breath out and took another deep breath in before letting it out.


    Breath in, breath out.


    Breath in, breath out.


    Breath in, breath out.


    Breath in, breath out.


    Breath in, breath out.


    I calmed down.


    With somewhat clear mind, I tried to find the reason for the panic attack. I tried searching within myself, for the reason had to be there. Why had I reacted so badly to the news? Why had I panicked?


    I had not reacted this strongly even when I had broken out of my egg. I hadn''t reacted this strongly when I had noticed that I was a caterpillar. Why was that? Why had I reacted this strongly this time?


    Why hadn''t I made a ruckus then? Was it because dying had made me give up on life? Or was it because I had been just so happy to be alive that I hadn''t minded that I was a caterpillar? Was it because of both these reasons? Or was it because of none of them?


    I did not know the answer of any of those questions clearly. What I did know was that the reason lied somewhere in between both those points.


    But if that was true, then why had I reacted so strongly this time? Were my reasons not the same anymore? Had my reasons changed? How could that be? How could my reasons change when I did not even know what my reasons were?


    Questions after questions hit me and none of them gave me any answer.


    What was the reason for my freak out? Why had I reacted this strongly? Was it because the whole concept of evolution had given me hope? Because it had made me believe that I could be something more than what I had been born as? That I could, one day, reach my former self. Or even surpass it.


    Were those my reasons? Was it because my hope had been crushed that I freaked out? Was it because the dream that I had been unknowingly dreaming was pounded to death with that single statement? Was it because, with that one statement, my unknown visions had turned into delusions? Was that the reason I had freaked out?


    ''Yes.''


    I felt those reasons shake me to the core. I felt them shuddering in my soul. Yes. Yes, was the answer. These were my reason; the reason why I had freaked out. I had freaked out because all my unknown hopes, dreams and visions had been crushed by a single statement. ''I couldn''t evolve no more. I can''t survive no more.''


    I took a deep shuddering breath and opened my eyes.


    Ting.


    [Skill {Meditate Lv.6} has leveled up to {Meditate Lv.7}. While meditating, MP regeneration will be increased by 7 MP/Hour.]


    I dismissed the notification. I know I had realized something important about me; there was no need to remind me about it by popping that notification.


    I let the breath, which I had been holding, out.


    I had a problem to deal with. There was no way I was going to be stuck as a doxy; it was just unacceptable. I was not going to quash my dreams after I had realized that I had them. I was not going to give up on myself.


    What did that mean? This just meant that I would have to find another way to evolve and nothing else.


    I set the thought aside but did not dismiss it -I could not dismiss that thought- and focused on the task at hand; the notifications. The last notification was about a skill, the {Ice resistance}. I focused on it.


    Ting.


    [You resist cold and ice damage to a certain extent. Resistance increases with level. Current Resistance level: 10%]


    Pretty standard; I dismissed it and moved onto the next one; it was about {Drone Eggs}.


    Ting.


    [You can lay eggs which hatch to birth Drone Doxies. Current egg limit per use: 1. Current time required to hatch the eggs: 12 days.]


    What did the skill mean? How could I produce eggs? I was male. Nothing else but male! And so was this body!


    ¡­Or at least I think so. About this body! Not about me! I had never noticed it, either as a caterpillar or as a moth because neither of them had reproductive part that I was familiar with. I had just assumed that it was male. Was it not the case?


    I looked down and groaned; this doxy body also didn''t have any part discerning me as male or female. There was no part for urination. Which was I? I hoped to dear god I was ma-


    Wait.


    The skill consumed MP, more precisely 100 MP per use. That meant that skill was more magical in nature than physical. Still, trying to be sure, I used the skill.


    Ting.


    [-100 MP.]


    I felt my stomach turn as an ache began to spread in my belly. ''Oh shit! It is physical after all!''


    I felt myself gag and bile rise in my throat. ''Is it going to come out of my mouth?!''


    ''Oh dear lord, it is; it is going to come out of my mouth.'' I gagged. Then I gagged some more. There was something trying to force its way out of my throat. I felt it try to force itself, trying to expand my throat beyond its limit.


    Pain. Pain was all I felt and fell to floor; unable to stand. As the pain continued to wreck me, I gagged. I gagged and the flow of air cut off. I felt something hit my tongue and slip over it as it peeked out of my mouth. And then, in one long hurl, a long cylindrical thing fell out of my mouth and hit the floor.


    ''Oh dear lord, that was horrible! Just horrible! Never doing that again. Never!''


    I panted and gasped and breathed as I tried to control my breath but to no avail. Still gasping, I turned to the thing that I had vomited. It was long, almost as long as my arm and just as thick. ''I don''t know how that thing passed through my throat and I would never know because I am not doing this again.'' Still. ''Obverve.''


    Ting.


    [Doxy Drone Egg. Days to hatch: 12]


    Squinting at the description, I decided to try something and focused on the words ''Doxy Drone'' before using {Observe} on it.


    Ting.


    [Doxies are hive creatures with one Queen Doxy and the other Soldier Doxies and Drone doxies that protect and work for the colony respectively.]


    Well, huh, that didn''t answer the question about my gender at all. Was this body male or female? If this body was female, then why did I vomit the egg out of me; shouldn''t I have, I don''t know, pushed it out through another more natural way? Or was this body male because of the way egg came out of me? Uhh!


    Closing my eyes, I took a deep breath in and slowly let it out. It did not matter, what this body''s gender was; after all, this was justr a bodice and nothing more. It was something that I canged with each evolution. And I will evolve.


    Besides, I saw myself as male and some pesky bodice, which kept on changing, was not going to tell me otherwise.


    Dismissing the thought ¨Cit took more effort than it should have needed- and the screen, I focused on the next one, the {Doxy Shield}.


    Ting.


    [A shield in the shape of Doxy''s (or Beetle''s) wings forms in front of you. Current Hit Points: 10]


    Well that was convenient. A magic shield that blocked physical attacks; finally something good! Smiling, I dismissed the screens and the one after that and the one after that; those two were just talking about Doxy Venom that I could now create.


    I focused on the last screen; it mentioned my new title, {Trickster}.


    Ting.


    [You enjoy malicious tricks and trick everybody for the sake of your enjoyment. Effect''s bearer''s mind.]


    ''What- what the hell!? Effect''s bearer''s mind!? I did not know that such a thing was even possible!'' I sighed. ''I guess I would have to start leveling up {Occlumency} now, won''t I?''


    I grimaced. With that ''final evolution'' thing, then the ''gender'' thing and now with this ''mind altering'' thing, I am seriously beginning to regret my decision to evolve into a Dox-


    Wait.


    Just wait a minute.


    ''Why am I not panicking anymore? I have just come to know that my gender has been changed and that my mind is being tempered with. Why am I not reacting to it?''


    I frowned before another sigh escaped me. ''I guess I am just too emotionally exhausted from my earlier panic attack to react to anything anymore.'' I felt like I could just roll over and die and yet, I could not react with more than careless ''huh''. I was just that emotionally exhausted.


    Not wanting to deal with anything else anymore, I closed my eyes and fell asleep.


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 Arc 2 - Defiance - Chapter 12

    Night 24


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    Waking up, feeling completely relaxed and lightheaded, felt weird for some reason. It was, as if, I have had a headache, for the longest time, which had all of a sudden, vanished.


    I shook my head and smiled in relief, which soured quickly as the events of the morning came rushing back.


    ''Yeah¡­no.'' I scowled. ''That is so not going to work. I will evolve. There is no doubt about it. And I will not let some silly little Title change me. Nor will I let some stupid bodice tell me who or what I am. Nothing that makes me, me, is up for discussion. I am who I am and it is going to remain that way. No matter the cost.''


    I cracked my neck and saw the shell left behind after my evolution. I frowned. ''Didn''t I gain a level after eating it last time?''


    ''I did, didn''t I? Will I gain another one if I consume it now?'' I didn''t know the answer to that. ''But let''s find out.''


    With that, I began devouring the cocoon that had guarded me while I had been evolving.


    Ting.


    [You have consumed The Gift.]


    Ting.


    [You have Leveled Up! Level up bonus of +2 HP and +2 MP granted.]


    I grinned and stretched my newfound body; causing my eyes to fall on the egg that I had vomited. ''Eh? Just what will come out of that thing? I hope whatever comes out, doesn''t consider me its parent; that would so not be a fun thing.''


    Shaking my head to clear it of that absurd thought, I sighed. I had two things to do; both of which were of extreme importance. The first thing being finding a way to evolve, while the second thing being leveling up my {Occlumency} to stop the Title {Trickster} from fucking with my head.


    I don''t know how the Title would fuck me up, but its description said that it effects the mind of the bearer. And that was enough for me to consider it a priority.


    I also had to find a way to be sure of my gender, but it wasn''t that important, because it didn''t matter which body I currently occupied, I was a man and I knew that; nothing was going to change that fact. Nothing.


    But that brought me back to my current problem; which one of two problems should I focus on, at the moment? Problem of how to evolve or the problem of how to level up Occlumency; which one should I focus on first? Then there was also the point that it wasn''t as if I would be able to start working on either of them, the moment I made my choice; I had no idea how to solve either of them.


    I grimaced. ''Not knowing is so not fun.''


    Anyway, if I were to make a logical decision, then finding a way to level up {Occlumency} would take priority, after all, {Trickster} was something that was altering my mind. But not being able to evolve was something that was bugging me something major; also, I hadn''t forgotten the little fact that it was something that had almost caused me a panic attack.


    With a sigh I decided to find a way to continue evolving. ''But how will I do that? How will I find a way to evolve!? I have no what evolution is, let alone how the damn thing even worked!''


    I took a deep breath in, as I closed my eyes. Losing my mind over it would do me no good; I needed to think this problem through with a calm mind. ''So how will I go about solving it, when I have no knowledge about it?''


    Well, obviously, the first thing that I needed to do was gain more knowledge about it. But how would I do that? It wasn''t like I had someone that explained each and everythi-


    Oh.


    But I did.


    Sure I didn''t have someone that explained everything to me, but I did have something. I opened my eyes and smiled.


    Ting.


    [Skill {Meditate Lv.7} has leveled up to {Meditate Lv.8}. While meditating, MP regeneration will be increased by 8 MP/Hour.]


    ''Yes, yes. I made a breakthrough using meditation; I connected more with myself and came closer to being and acknowledging who I am. Can we move on now?'' I almost sighed in exasperation before calling up my status; ''almost'' because I was in too good a mood to actually sigh.


    [Name: Unnamed]


    [Species: Doxy]


    [Race(s): Insect]


    [Level: 5]


    [HP: 260/260]


    [MP: 160/160]


    [Titles: {Sentient}, {Reincarnated}, {Survivor}, {Bullheaded}, {Master of Death}, {Masochist}, {Gourmand}, {Fire Elemental}, {Trickster}]


    [Skills: {Animagus Lv.1}, {Ant''s Will Lv.3}, {Apparate Lv.6}, {Beast Tamer Lv.1}, {Crawl }, {Dig Lv.8}, {Doxy Shield Lv.1}, {Drone Eggs Lv.1}, {Fire Manipulation Lv.1}, {Fly Lv.6}, {Ice resistance Lv.1}, {Invisibility Lv.1}, {Leglimens Lv.2}, {Mana Control Lv.1}, {Masochism Lv.3}, {Meditate Lv.8}, {Molting Lv.4}, {Night Vision Lv.3}, {Observe Lv.6}, {Occlumens Lv.7}, {Overdose Lv.1}, {Pain Resistance Lv.6}, {Poison Resistance Lv.9}, {Poison Creation Lv.5}, {Rise Lv.1}, {Scent Lv.3}, {Sensor Lv.5}, {Slide Lv.3}, {Stealth Lv.3}, {Stubborn Lv.4}, {Survive Lv.3}, {Trap Lv.3}]


    [Spells: {Lumos Lv. Max}, {Incendio }, {Expelliarmus Lv. 10}, {ExpectoPatronum Lv. 10}, {Protego Lv.10}, {Reparo Lv.9}, {Aguamenti Lv.9}, {Stupefy Lv.9}, {Episkey Lv. 9}, {Immobulus Lv.9}, {Lumos Maximus Lv.8}, {Confundo Lv.8}, {Fianto Duri Lv. 8},{Protego Maxima Lv. 8}, {Repello Inimicum Lv.8}, {Accio Lv.7}, {Bombarda Lv.7}, {Petrificus Totalus Lv.6}, {Diffindo Lv.6}, {Reducto Lv.5}, {Wingardium Leviosa Lv. 5}, {Transfugiration Lv.5}, {Silencio Lv.4}, {Glacius Lv.4}, {Confringo Lv.3}, {Alohomora Lv.3}, {Sectum Sempra Lv.2}, {Imperio Lv.2}, {Muffliato Lv.2}, {Crucio Lv.1}]


    I read my status, carefully this time; paying great attention to each and every word. I frowned when I noticed the extra ''(s)'' besides Race. ''Why would there be an option for multiple in races?''


    Ting.


    [Race(s) allows for different evolution pathways to manifest. Current evolution path completed: Insect.]


    I frowned again, in thought, this seemed promising. ''If I understand this correctly, then multiple races are possible. And with new race, new evolution pathways will materialize.''


    I smiled. ''Alright!''


    So I could evolve again by acquiring a new Race. But how would I do that? Maybe if I focus on it again, something will pop up.


    Nope. Nothing popped up. Maybe if I used {Observe} on it instead? Dismissing the current screen, I returned to the status screen. ''Observe.''


    Ting.


    [Race(s) allows for different evolution pathways to manifest. Current evolution path completed: Insect.]


    [Races are either granted by Titles or by Skills and turn you Completely into another being.]


    ''Well, it worked. Though, I had expected more information.'' Still, it was better than nothing. ''Hmm. As far as I know, Titles are generated by the Will of the World, or something, which controls the blue screen, and I can''t effect their creation as I wouldn''t know what will trigger it.''


    Still, I should probably confirm it. ''Observe.''


    Ting.


    [Title is a label awarded by the Will of the World, to the living beings, for performing specific tasks or for meeting certain specifications.]


    [Titles either grant a skill or affect the behavior of the bearer. Titles need not always have a positive effect.]


    I scowled; though there was extra information available now, it was nothing that I didn''t know.


    This left me with just the second option, skills. ''Though, when it was talking about Race, what did it mean by, ''turn you Completely into another being''? And why was there such an emphasis on the world ''complete''? What was the meaning of that?''


    I frowned and turned to the list of my skills. Did I have any skill that that could turn me completely into another being?


    Well, obviously, yes.


    I had the skill {Animagus} which would allow me turn into another being. But, the thing was that it would turn me into another creature and I don''t know whether it would qualify for the complete transformation or not.


    Still, it was better than nothing.


    So I somewhat sighed in relief; finally I had an idea about how to achieve what I was looking for. I finally had found something that might lead me back to the evolution road. This was good; this was very good.


    With a small smile, I closed my eyes and began to meditate.


    Now, it wasn''t as if I didn''t have any idea about being an animagus or how to turn into one; I did. When I had found out about my Dad being a stag animagus and his reasons behind learning the skill, I had found curiosity bubbling in me about the skill; something which had resulted into me researching about the animagi and the animagus process.You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.


    Though nothing ever came out of it, as the next year, the debacle of the Tri-Wizard tournament had happened, which had let to the resurrection of Voldemort and, suffice to say, after that, everything had just turned into one big cluster fuck.


    Please don''t excuse the language; it''s well suited here.


    So here I was, using the nostalgic association with the skill, in a situation that I had never thought I''d be. Hell, I hadn''t even known that situation like these actually come to be. I shook my head to clear it of the random thoughts.


    But it had little effect.


    So I decided to Ignore the thoughts and with a deep breath, I tried to remember what I knew about the whole process.


    Small bits and pieces of recollections came floating back to me, as I dug deeper and deeper into my memories, before they reconciled to form a somewhat complete picture. I smiled.


    From what I remembered about the process, the method required me to immerse in myself and be in touch with my magic as it removed any outward binding, any worldly attachments and allowed me to view myself in my most primal forms; instincts, magic and memories. After all, these were what constituted a soul.


    Soul.


    What an interesting thing, with even more interesting components.


    Its first component ware Instincts. Instincts were something that every being reacted on the basis of. It was because of these instincts that different people reacted differently; that was why no two people were the same. It was because no two set of instincts were the same.


    Memories, on the other hand, were at work when people made decisions, as decisions are based on experiences which are retained in memories; thus souls. A soul with no experience was a soul with no memories.


    And the last piece of the puzzle was magic; which, actually, didn''t need any explanations.


    These three were what constituted a soul; instincts, memories and magic.


    Now, these three parts were represented in a soul ¨Cor better to say in a mindscape- though different means; magic formed an entire realm to soothe the memories and the instincts, to soothe the individual as a whole.


    In that serene realm, memories formed a semi-corporeal shape of the soul bearer''s body, to represent the bearer and its desires. While instincts, on the other hand, condensed to manifest as the primal animal that was a representation of the mind of the soul bearer.


    It was due to this fact that only magical being could create a mindscape. Muggles just didn''t have the magic to create one.


    Now, though the beast was the representation of the soul''s instincts, it also contained within itself the aspects of soul''s memories, soul''s magic and everything else that was the soul bearer.


    This beast was the animagus form. It was the magical being''s soul laid bare.


    As the memories continued to come, I frowned at the next bit.


    For a beast to represent a soul, and its bearer, it would have to have its own magic. It had to be so because the magical being that it represented had magic. And also because the beast formed in the mindscape, contained within it, the magic of the magical being''s soul.


    It could not, not, be magical in nature.


    This, in general, caused a problem. The problem being that the beast''s magic needed to be merged with the soul''s inherent magic. The beast magic will have to be merged with my magic; which was a risk as it may lead to the beast''s primal magic overwhelming my magic, causing me to be lost in my own mind, leaving me comatose.


    It was this risk that caused most people to forgo allowing their magic to be represented in the manifestation of the beast, which they achieved by taking the animagus potion that forced the magic to support only the realm and stopped its interaction with the manifestation of the beast. This hindrance, though, resulted in manifesting of only non-magical animals.


    ''But I didn''t have the luxury of animagus potion.'' Despite that last thought, I opened my eyes with a smile plastered on my face. Now I had a working plan of what I had to do.


    Ting.


    [Skill {Meditate Lv.8} has leveled up to {Meditate Lv.9}. While meditating, MP regeneration will be increased by 9 MP/Hour.]


    Ting.


    [Skill {Occlumens Lv.7} has leveled up to {Occlumens Lv.8}. Your Mental Fortitude has increased.]


    I raised an eyebrow in question. ''{Meditate} leveling up, I can understand but why in the world did {Occlumens} level up? I hadn''t been using occlumency, or at least I don''t think I had been. Did it level up because I was using it to try and jog up my memory? But that is not what Occlumency is, now is it?''


    As far as I knew, Occlumency meant shielding one''s mind from foreign presence or foreign attacks. There hadn''t been any attacks while I had been meditating; I was sure of that. I would have felt them if there had been, after all, blocking intrusions from the mind of a psychopathic murderer was good for something.


    Shaking my head at the insane direction my mind had taken, I frowned. My joints felt stiff and muscles felt cramped. Just how much time had passed?


    I tried to stand up-


    Thud.


    ''Ouch!''


    -but my head hid the roof of the hideout. It seemed that while I had taken my size into consideration, while expanding the hideout just before evolution- I hadn''t considered my newfound height.


    Groaning, I began to dig my way out of the burrow. As I dug and made my way out of the hideout, I felt the earth began to loosen up more and more. I hoped that it wasn''t what I was thinking it was because I did not want to lose the place that had catered to me ever since I had been born in this world. It was my home.


    But as I began to surface, I knew my wish was a vain one. The earth around the entrance had loosened up a lot and the expansion that I had done some time ago, the one that had weakened the foundation, was finally coming to bite me.


    My home was going to collapse.


    And just as I finally dug my way out and resurfaced, the entrance collapsed.


    ¡­


    ..


    I stared.


    I stared at the depression where my home used to be and I did nothing else but stare. It was an empty feeling; the feeling of losing one''s home. It made me feel hollow and lost; so very lost. Where would I return to now? Where would I burrow to heal?


    I didn''t cry. I didn''t feel sad. I just felt hollow. I just felt empty inside.


    ''I guess this is really it, huh.'' I turned around and began to walk. It wasn''t as if it mattered anymore; after all, I didn''t have any possessions that I would have los-


    The Egg!


    Oh My Fucking God! That stupid egg was buried underneath it all!


    FUCK!


    ''Why can''t I have just walked away? Why do I have to desecrate the remains of my home?'' I panted.


    I debated leaving the egg buried; it was not as if I cared about the creature that would come out of it. It would be just some stupid doxy that wouldn''t even have a proper brain if what I had read, had meant, what I thought I meant. Bu-


    I shrieked in rage.


    It sounded like screech, even to my ears. The hollowness was suddenly filled with rage; red hot rage! ''I do not want to do this! I so did not! But I can''t let something be born underneath all that mud just to die afterwards! Uhhh! Fuck you world! Fuck you!''


    I took a deep breath in and slowly, ever so slowly, let it out.


    It did not help.


    I repeated the process again. And again and again until it helped.


    ''It was just a hole; just a hole in the ground and nothing else. That egg was something that had a living being inside it. I shouldn''t leave it alone; not when its claim to life was me.''


    I took another breath in and began to dig. I dug and I dug and I dug as I desecrated the memory of my lost home.


    I panted and gasped and yet I dug.


    I used the rage that filled the hollowness, to fuel me and my digging.


    By the time I had reached the egg, I was exhausted; both physically and mentally. I could no longer deal with these emotions that had been hitting me for the past few days. I was tired. So very tired. Of my emotions. Of myself. Of this word.


    I was just so very tired.


    But I couldn''t give up. I had to survive.


    I will survive.


    But I didn''t want to.


    With each passing day, I didn''t want to survive a little bit more. Something within me died a little bit more.


    What did I have to survive for? What did I have to look forward to?


    An empty hole in the ground? And I didn''t even have that with me anymore. Even that was taken from me.


    I laughed.


    A hollow, bitter and cruel laugh.


    A laugh that should have been a cry.


    Or maybe I was crying.


    I didn''t know.


    And I didn''t care enough to know.


    All I knew was that I had to dig.


    So I dug.


    Soon enough, even that was over and I was left with an egg infront of me as I laughed, or maybe as I cried.


    I couldn''t care less.


    Clutching the egg in between my hands, I opened my beetle like wings, and flapped them to take to the air. It was harder than I had thought it would be. The cylindrical egg was heavier than I had assumed it to be and strength was so not the best attribute of a doxy.


    As I tried to fly, and failed, and tried again, only to fail again, I calmed down. My hollowness subsided but wasn''t forgotten. It was like a dull ache that wouldn''t let itself be forgotten.


    With a shaky breathe in, I used the skill {Ant''s Will}.


    Ting.


    [-10 HP]


    The effect was immediate as I felt energy rush into my veins and the flight become easier. Flying out of the now massive hole, I soared towards the nearest shelter, which just happened to be a bush of some sort. ''Observe.''


    Ting.


    [Poison Bist. It is a plant with mild poison that causes rashes and pain; can kill small creatures.]


    [You are immune.]


    ''Well, good to know about the immunity part; I guess, leveling up the skill did some good after all.'' Dismissing the thought, I began digging underneath the bush with my tiny hands. I grimaced. ''This is going to take a lot of time.''


    As I continued to dig, my thoughts ran back to my old home and how I had to constantly expand it. ''Do I want that? Do I want to dig again and again, each time I needed more space?''


    Ting.


    [Skill {Dig Lv.8} has leveled up to {Dig Lv.9}. Digging speed has increased.]


    No. I didn''t. Dismissing the screen, I stopped digging. I needed to find another and hopefully better place to live. I frowned; now that I had hands and opposable thumbs, I could make a home for myself. Sure it would be out of mud or wood but it still would be something that would resemble a house.


    As I pondered more and more on the idea, I liked it even more; that is, until a thought crossed my mind, causing me to grimace. I did not know what the next evolution would be as I didn''t even know what Race I would acquire from my animagus form; or if I even would.


    But that wasn''t the point; the point was that once I evolved, my size could wary from anything to my current size to double or triple my size. This would mean that I would have to take some unknown size into consideration when I made my house if I wanted to live there for a long period of time.


    I grimaced, again. How would I even begin to do that? And even if I decide to ignore the possible change in size, I would have to put a lot of work to make something that I would have to leave behind sooner or later.


    I scowled; I did not want to do that either. Leaving behind something that I had made ¨Cleast of all my home that I had made with own hands- was not something I could do, not in my current fragile state. I could not emotionally invest in anything at the moment.


    That left me with only one option; finding natural burrows or cavities in trees to live. With my decision made, I left the bush and took to air, only to notice that the moon had already crossed the sky and was about to set.


    Ting.


    [Skill {Night Vision Lv.3} has leveled up to {Night Vision Lv.4}. Your ability to see in night has increased.]


    Dismissing the screen, I sighed. ''I guess I would have to search my home tomorrow then.''


    Starting to dig again, I dug a shallow temporary shelter and rolled the egg in before settling down. Lazily, I called up my status.


    [Name: Unnamed]


    [Species: Doxy]


    [Race(s): Insect]


    [Level: 5]


    [HP: 260/260]


    [MP: 160/160]


    [Titles: {Sentient}, {Reincarnated}, {Survivor}, {Master of Death}, {Masochist}, {Gourmand}, {Fire Elemental}, {Trickster}]


    [Skills: {Animagus Lv.1}, {Ant''s Will Lv.3}, {Apparate Lv.6}, {Beast Tamer Lv.1}, {Crawl }, {Dig Lv.9}, {Doxy Shield Lv.1}, {Drone Eggs Lv.1}, {Fire Manipulation Lv.1}, {Fly Lv.6} ,{Ice resistance Lv.1}, {Invisibility Lv.1}, {Leglimens Lv.2}, {Mana Control Lv.1}, {Masochism Lv.3}, {Meditate Lv.9}, {Molting Lv.4}, {Night Vision Lv.4}, {Observe Lv.6}, {Occlumens Lv.8}, {Overdose Lv.1}, {Pain Resistance Lv.6}, {Poison Resistance Lv.9}, {Poison Creation Lv.5}, {Rise Lv.1}, {Scent Lv.3}, {Sensor Lv.5}, {Slide Lv.3}, {Stealth Lv.3}, {Stubborn Lv.4}, {Survive Lv.3}, {Trap Lv.3}]


    [Spells: {Lumos Lv. Max}, {Incendio }, {Expelliarmus Lv. 10}, {ExpectoPatronum Lv. 10}, {Protego Lv.10}, {Reparo Lv.9}, {Aguamenti Lv.9}, {Stupefy Lv.9}, {Episkey Lv. 9}, {Immobulus Lv.9}, {Lumos Maximus Lv.8}, {Confundo Lv.8}, {Fianto Duri Lv. 8},{Protego Maxima Lv. 8}, {Repello Inimicum Lv.8}, {Accio Lv.7}, {Bombarda Lv.7}, {Petrificus Totalus Lv.6}, {Diffindo Lv.6}, {Reducto Lv.5}, {Wingardium Leviosa Lv. 5}, {Transfugiration Lv.5}, {Silencio Lv.4}, {Glacius Lv.4}, {Confringo Lv.3}, {Alohomora Lv.3}, {Sectum Sempra Lv.2}, {Imperio Lv.2}, {Muffliato Lv.2}, {Crucio Lv.1}]


    Nodding at what I saw, I used {Molting}.


    Ting.


    [- 140 HP]


    As the sluggishness rushed in me, I scowled and dismissed the screen. This skill was still consuming more than half my HP. I really wished the cost would decrease; instead, it seemed to increase every time I used the skill.


    I sighed and closed my eyes. ''It is not as if there is anything that I could do about it anyway.''


    With that irritated thought, I fell asleep.


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 Arc 2 - Defiance - Chapter 13

    Night 25


    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">


    Waking up, feeling empty, itchy and tired was not a good way to wake up, ever. So, obviously, I woke up just like that.


    I opened my eyes before frowning. The scenery, which greeted me, was different from what I was used to; the darkness of the burrow was still there but the walls were much closer than they should be and same was the case for the roof. In fact, the burrow was a lot smaller than it should be. ''What-what is going on?''


    And then it all came back to me.


    The evolution.


    The lost hope.


    The shattered dreams.


    The crawling out.


    The subsequent collapse of my home.


    The desecration of the memory of my home to get the stupid egg out.


    The gender upheaval.


    The decision to find a new home only to notice it was already too late.


    I grimaced at the memory before groaning and began making my way out of exuviate. ''Uhh...last night had been eventful.'' Shaking my head to wake up completely, I began crawling out of the temporary shelter. As I reached the surface, I felt the mud slip beneath my feet. I groaned. ''Uhh..not again!''


    With a sigh I turned around and clutched the egg between my hands before starting to drag it out of the hole. ''If this shit is going to collapse on me, then I do not want to dig through all the mud again just to get the stupid egg out.''


    Once out of the hole, I stomped my feet with as much power as I could muster near the entrance and immediately felt the entrance collapse. I rolled my eyes, wondering just how this fragile structure had held up all night and not collapsed on my sleeping form.


    I stomped my legs again a few times, to entirely collapse the shelter, for no good reason other than spite and pettiness.


    Yeah, I did not take kindly to the threat that this shelter might have collapsed on me. So I decided to stomp it to the ground as punishment.


    Petty and irrational and incredibly childish, I know.


    But it felt so very satisfying.


    After having the dose of pettiness for the day, I made my way out of the shallow hole in the soft mud.


    Clutching the eggs again, I dragged it to the newly made hole before covering it up with a thin layer of mud. After all, it was not as if I could leave my egg just lying around in the open, while I searched for a more permanent shelter than the one that I was currently occupying.


    With the egg safe, I flapped my wings and took to air; I had a new home to find. But before that, just how much HP did I have? I checked my status, my HP read, [HP: 168/260] while my MP read, [MP: 160/160]. I sighed and used {Episkey}, twice.


    Ting.


    [-20 MP]


    Ting.


    [-20 MP]


    Which left me with, [HP: 258/260] and [MP: 120/160].


    ''Good enough for the moment.''


    With that taken care of, I began my search for a new home. I started looking around, searching for crevices and creaks in the trees, plants and boulders but there weren''t that many of them around. The few that I did find were already occupied and I dared not go near them as both, {Scent} and {Sensor}, warned of other predators living in them.


    Ting.


    [Skill {Sensor Lv.6} has leveled up to {Sensor Lv.7}. Depth and Limit of sensing increased.]


    Dismissing the window, I flew around for almost all night before finding a crevice in a cliff of some sort, south of where my hideout had been.


    I grimaced.


    Bringing the egg here would be such a tiresome job. ''I would have to constantly use {Ant''s Will} to be able to fly with it up here, which would mean losing a ton of HP that I would have to restore using {Episkey}, if I wanted to continue trying to level up {Molting} and {Survive}. That meant that I would lose MP that I''d rather use either on the {Animagus} skill or on {Observe}.''


    My grimace intensified.


    Not happy with the turn of events, I turned back and flew to where I had left the egg. ''I swear this egg is more trouble than it is worth.''


    By the time I returned to my destination, 4 hours had passed and my MP was back to normal. Though that was not important, what was important was that I was feeling some disturbance coming from the direction I had left the egg in; {Scent} also warned me of a smell that I would have usually associated with sewage and open drains.


    I scowled. ''That stupid egg better be safe from whatever it is that is trailing this area or someone is going to be very, very sorry. I promise.''


    Using {Stealth}, I crept behind the bushes and carefully slid in; trying to keep my presence hidden. My eyes searched for the egg but found the intruder instead.


    The creature had brown, shiny and beetle like shell that hid wings beneath it. But it was not a beetle; it was too oddly shaped for that. And from where it was leaning on something, making slurping noise, I could see two antennas twirling and twitching.


    Beetles didn''t have antennas.


    The creature turned all of a sudden, most likely because its antennas had picked up my scent.


    ¡­And I flinched.


    The creature was the thing of nightmares. From a careless glance it seemed like a cockroach but when analyzed with more careful eye, its horrifying pincer like mouth was easily noticeable and so were its scythe like front legs.


    But that was not what caused me to flinch, no; instead, it was the goo dripping down the creature''s pincers. I knew what that goo was; I just knew it. What else could it be? It could be nothing but my egg. My stupid little egg that had had caused me to desecrate the memory of my very first home. It could be nothing else.


    Not when I couldn''t find the egg anywhere.


    That goo was the egg.


    This creature had just eaten my egg.


    "HHHHHIIIIIISSSS!" The creature threatened, trying to make me back off of its food.


    But that mattered not at all. All I saw was my egg being eaten by this-this thing. Rage dawned on me.


    "SSSCCCREEECCCCHHH" I shrieked. Promising vengeance. Oh unholy and dark vengeance.


    How dare this creature destroy something that was mine!? How! Had I not lost everything already?! Had I not lost enough that it had to come and destroy the only thing that I possessed besides this PATHETIC BODY!? Had I NOT SUFFERED ENOUGH?! WHAT MORE DID IT WANT FROM ME?! DID IT WANT ME TO LOSE MY LAST SHRED OF SANITY?!


    I laughed. Maybe, maybe I will.


    I was already seeing red. I had seen my egg broken and wrecked and I had already lost my shit.


    Ting.


    [Title, {Trickster}, activated. You seek to trick and harm others.]


    ''Incendio!''


    Ting.


    [-30 MP]


    HP/MP: 268/130


    A ball of fire formed right above my hand, blinding me as it ruined my night vision. Ignoring the obvious mistake, I sensed the creature and directed the resulting flame towards it.


    I felt the creature dodge the incoming fire.


    Fast, it was fast, way faster than anything I had ever dealt with. Finishing its move, the creature opened its shell and from it emerged a pair of translucent but powerful wings. Flapping the wings, creature took to air before spitting something at me.


    I dodged and again guided the roaring fire towards where I could feel it making the air shift. The creature dodged but my fire hit a few of leaves before I could redirect it, setting them on fire. I ignored the fire; I couldn''t care less at the moment.


    I felt the creature rush towards me with its scythe like legs raised, ready to slash. I tried redirecting my fire but I was too slow and the creature''s slash grazed me as I tried to dodge at the last moment.


    Ting.


    [-30 HP]


    HP/MP: 238/130


    I growled. 30 HP lost just from a graze? Just what was this creature! Whatever it was, it didn''t matter; it was going to die. It was going to die a very painful death!


    Missing its attack, the creature turned mid-rush and spat again. Still unable to see, I felt the spitting attack a moment too late.


    Ting.


    [Poison Damage: -10 HP]


    HP/MP: 228/130


    I hissed in pain. Poison. That was what it was. Not only that, it was a poison strong enough to overcome my level 9 {Poison Resistance} and render damage. Meaning that without my poison resistance, I would have taken 19 points of damage from that single shot, at the least.


    Growling, I directed the flame around me like a tornado, hiding me completely from any and all the attacks.


    Feeling the creature hesitate, I lowered the fiery protection to reveal my head. I was sure I looked terrifying. Trying to use its hesitation, I raised another hand, ''Incendio!''


    Ting.


    [-30 MP]


    HP/MP: 228/100


    Another ball of fire materialized above my hand before flames began pouring out of it. Instead of directing the flames directly towards the creature, I guided the flames away from it before slowly curving the flames towards it.


    I was a flying thing that was surrounded by a sphere of fire and was still spewing fire. Terrifying, or rather horrifying, I was. And it made me feel so, so very good.


    The thing dodged.


    Ting.


    [Poison Damage: -8 HP]


    HP/MP: 220/100


    I hissed at the screen; that stupid poison was still working. But I ignored it and circled the fire towards the creature, intentionally missing it by a large margin.


    Ting.


    [-15 HP]


    HP/MP: 205/100


    Fuck! I felt my wings sing from the fiery tornado protecting me. But if it was working on me then it should also work on it. I focused on the ball of fire that was feeding the flames encircling the creature. ''Incendio!''


    Ting.


    [-30 MP]


    HP/MP: 205/70


    The flames growled in protest before multiplying, like the flood gates holding them had been opened. I began to guide the flames in a spiral and forced them to move faster and faster, trying to squeeze the creature and cut off its way of escape.Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more.


    Ting.


    [Poison Damage: -5 HP]


    HP/MP: 200/70


    The creature tried flying up, to dodge the flames, but was met by a fiery wall that was not of my creation. I ignored that fact; it was not important. All that I knew was that fiery wall was helping me trap this thing; this thing that had dared to destroy what was MINE!


    The creature turned away from the fiery wall as it tried to avoid my flames and instead flew straight towards the ground.


    It must have singed itself from my flames as I saw smoke rising from it. I grinned.


    Ting.


    [Poison Damage: -2 HP]


    HP/MP: 198/70


    Ignoring the poison damage, I raced the flames towards the creature but it was already under the ground as it had begun digging.


    I raced towards it, this time, and reached the hole that it had created. In the few moments it had begun digging it was already out of my arm''s reach and if it continued, it would very well escape me.


    No. I can''t let that happen.


    Ting.


    [-15 HP]


    HP/MP: 183/70


    I cut off the spiraling flames as guiding them back to me and down the hole would take too much time, time; time that I did not have! Instead, I held my hands right in front of the hole and prepared for another attack. ''INCENDIO!''


    Ting.


    [-30 MP]


    HP/MP: 183/40


    Ting.


    [-15 HP]


    HP/MP: 168/40


    I ignored the fire damage as a ball of fire formed right in front of the entrance. I grinned as the flames began to pour out and rush in the burrow; lighting up the night a bright color of orange! I waited to hear some signs that the fire had hit the creature but I heard none. Pissed I casted the spell again! ''INCENDIO!''


    Ting.


    [-30 MP]


    HP/MP: 168/10


    Flames roared and protested but multiplied as they tried to rebel against my control.


    Ting.


    [-15 HP]


    HP/MP: 153/10


    The rebellion died before it could blossom as my will came down hard on the flames with an iron fist and the fiery tornado poured out in droves, down the tunnel, burning my hands.


    Ting.


    [-15 HP]


    HP/MP: 138/10


    I heard faint screeches as the fire finally met its mark and began roasting the creature, that had dared to take away from me, the only thing that I had to lose.


    Ting.


    [-15 HP]


    HP/MP: 123/10


    Ting.


    [You have Leveled Up! Level up bonus of +2 HP and +2 MP granted.]


    I grinned in glee at the confirmation of the creature''s death.


    But I felt hollow.


    So very hollow.


    Ting.


    [You have Leveled Up! Level up bonus of +2 HP and +2 MP granted.]


    Ting.


    [You have Leveled Up! Level up bonus of +2 HP and +2 MP granted.]


    As the adrenaline died down, I gasped.


    I panted.


    In exhaustion, both physical and mental. Yet, I grinned. I grinned like a loon before cackling. It was dead! DEAD! The creature that had dared to hurt me was DEAD! Hurt me, WILL YOU?! Take away my possessions will you?!


    Death. Death is what you''d get.


    Ting.


    [-15 HP]


    HP/MP: 112/14


    Panting and grinning, I cut off both the spells. I gasped and fell next to the hole, tired. Closing my eyes, I tried to calm myself. It was dead. The creature was dead. I tried to take a deep breath in but all I felt was heat, heat and a lot of heat.


    Ting.


    [-15 HP]


    HP/MP: 97/14


    I opened my eyes and looked around. Fire. Fire was all around me. Everywhere my eyes saw, there was fire!


    ''FUCK!''


    Of course there was fire! I had been throwing fire all around like it was candy while under a bush! Under a fucking bush! Of course it had caught on fire and was burning!


    Ting.


    [-15 HP]


    HP/MP: 82/14


    Flapping my singed wings, I hurried away from out of the bush and flew until I was a safe distance from it before turning to look at the destruction that I had caused.


    I sighed. The bush wasn''t near anything that could spread the fire, so thankfully, the fire would be contained.


    Shaking my head to clear it of the stupidity, I turned around and flew to the new home that I had found. This had just not been my day.


    Reaching the crevice in the cliff, I settled down and checked my status.


    [Name: Unnamed]


    [Species: Doxy]


    [Race(s): Insect]


    [Level: 8]


    [HP: 82/266]


    [MP: 14/166]


    [Titles: {Sentient}, {Reincarnated}, {Survivor}, {Master of Death}, {Bullheaded}, {Masochist}, {Gourmand}, {Fire Elemental}, {Trickster}]


    [Skills: {Animagus Lv.1}, {Ant''s Will Lv.3}, {Apparate Lv.6}, {Beast Tamer Lv.1}, {Crawl }, {Dig Lv.9}, {Doxy Shield Lv.1}, {Drone Eggs Lv.1}, {Fire Manipulation Lv.1}, {Fly Lv.6}, {Ice Resistance lv.1}, {Invisibility Lv.1}, {Leglimens Lv.2}, {Mana Control Lv.1}, {Masochism Lv.3}, {Meditate Lv.9}, {Molting Lv.4}, {Night Vision Lv.4}, {Observe Lv.6}, {Occlumens Lv.8}, {Overdose Lv.1}, {Pain Resistance Lv.6}, {Poison Resistance Lv.8}, {Poison Creation Lv.5}, {Rise Lv.1}, {Scent Lv.3}, {Sensor Lv.5}, {Slide Lv.3}, {Stealth Lv.3}, {Stubborn Lv.4}, {Survive Lv.3}, {Trap Lv.3}]


    [Spells: {Lumos Lv. Max}, {Incendio }, {Expelliarmus Lv. 10}, {ExpectoPatronum Lv. 10}, {Protego Lv.10}, {Reparo Lv.9}, {Aguamenti Lv.9}, {Stupefy Lv.9}, {Episkey Lv. 9}, {Immobulus Lv.9}, {Lumos Maximus Lv.8}, {Confundo Lv.8}, {Fianto Duri Lv. 8},{Protego Maxima Lv. 8}, {Repello Inimicum Lv.8}, {Accio Lv.7}, {Bombarda Lv.7}, {Petrificus Totalus Lv.6}, {Diffindo Lv.6}, {Reducto Lv.5}, {Wingardium Leviosa Lv. 5}, {Transfugiration Lv.5}, {Silencio Lv.4}, {Glacius Lv.4}, {Confringo Lv.3}, {Alohomora Lv.3}, {Sectum Sempra Lv.2}, {Imperio Lv.2}, {Muffliato Lv.2}, {Crucio Lv.1}]


    I scowled as I noticed my HP and MP; I had lost 184 HP and 152 MP. What had I been thinking? Just what? I had killed 4 fucking frogs and had lost less HP and MP than this! What the hell!


    But then I remembered the little blue screen that I hadn''t given any attention to.


    One of my many Titles had activated hadn''t it? ''[Trickster]'' it was, if I remembered correctly.


    I scowled.


    I needed to level up my {Occlumency} and I needed to level it up soon.


    I scowled. Again! Because once was just not enough!


    But before that I needed a way to evolve!


    ''SLIMY WORLD! JUST KEEP FUCKING ME OVER WHY DON''T YOU! ''


    Now that, that was out of the way, I took a deep breath and dismissed the status. It will not help me, now, at all. I needed to sleep. So that''s what I did.


    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">


    Night 26


    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">


    I woke up, feeling so tired that I didn''t even want to move an inch. ''Uhh¡­ just how much HP do I have?'' Groggily, I summoned my stats; my HP read, [HP: 130/266] while my MP read, [MP: 136/166].


    I groaned. I had less than even half my HP!


    It was no wonder that I felt half dead, I was half dead. ''Uhh. Last night had been incredibly stupid. It was a small wonder that {Stubborn} didn''t level up at my foolishnesss, like it usually did. Uhh.. I would have to heal and waste away my MP and that too, at least, thrice to completely restore the stupid bar.''


    Ting.


    [-20 MP]


    Ting.


    [-20 MP]


    Ting.


    [-20 MP]


    I frowned as I rolled my shoulders and arched my back; my body felt stiff. Why was that? I checked my HP and MP; they read, [HP: 265/266] while my MP read, [MP: 76/166].


    Still frowning, I looked around. Right.


    I was no longer sleeping on the soft embrace of the earth; instead, I had slept on the hard welcome of my new home, rock. I stretched to crack as many joints as I could.


    Crack, pop, crack, pop.


    Ah. That felt good.


    Standing up, I walked up to the entrance before collapsing on the edge of the crevice. The cold night breeze hit me in the face, making me smile, and the soft moonlight embraced me. I felt at peace as if this night was my world; my home.


    I remained there, just feeling the world around me, for quite some time before the thoughts about last night''s fight crept in.


    I frowned; just where exactly had that fight gone wrong? Why had I lost all the HP and MP that I had?


    I scowled. The very first thing that I had screwed up was losing my cool and associating that cockroach-thingy with something that it had no business being associated with. I had taken out all my frustrations, on losing everything that I had ever had, on the creature.


    Which neither did that creature deserve and nor did I.


    I guess I still hadn''t coped with dying, as good as I had thought I had.


    I laughed.


    Coping with dying! Not nearly dying, simply dying! And, after that, beating myself over not being good enough at it! Such a thing could only happen to me!


    As my mirthless laughter died down, I shook my head to clear it of the melancholy -there was no point in dwelling over it- and continued on with the assessment of last night''s fight. The second thing I had screwed up was when I hadn''t used {Observe} on the creature; that was something that had the result on the fight the most.


    If I had used {Observe}, then I wouldn''t have been caught off guard by its speed; I would have had some idea about it after all. At the very least, I would have known the creature''s species.


    The next thing that I had screwed up was the wasteful use of {Incendio}. Now looking back at how I used that spell, I looked more and more as a wild animal throwing fire left and right instead of a sentient being using the spell judiciously. I was very lucky that I didn''t start a forest fire.


    I grimaced. And as if all those mistakes were not all, I hadn''t used any kind of strategy until the very end of the fight when I had begun cornering the creature in a tornado of fire. All I had been doing was rishing in with all the subtility of a rampaging bull in a china shop.


    It really was a small miracle that {Stubborn} hadn''t leveled up.


    ''Well, it''s not as if I can do anything about it now; I''d just have to try to not repeat the same mistakes again in future.''


    Shaking my head, I flapped my wings and headed out, looking for something to eat.


    I frowned. ''Did I eat anything last night?''


    My frown deepened. ''For that matter, did I eat anything except ''the gift'' the night before that?''


    No; I hadn''t. I hadn''t eaten anything proper in the last two days. Then why was I not feeling hungry? The only reason that I was heading out to eat today was because it had been something that was a part of my routine and not because I was burning with hunger.


    Was this because of {Overdose}? I checked my status and looked for the skill.


    Ting.


    [Allows you to consume and store food without affecting your body. Current weight limit: 395/1000g.]


    Huh. This must be it. I remember the current limit being more than 445 out of 1000, when the last time I had checked it. At that moment, I was glad to have the skill because I did not have the capacity to hunt last night and would not be able to in similar situations in future.


    Shaking my head to clear it, I flew around, trying to find some prey to hunt. But, for some reason, I couldn''t find anything that I was sure I could hunt. Whatever I did encounter, either my senses warned me against or was too insignificant to even kill.


    Resigned, I returned to my new house after 4 hours of fruitless search; after all, it wasn''t as if I would starve if I didn''t eat, I did have that covered with {Overdose}.


    266/116


    Ting.


    [Skill {Fly Lv.6} has leveled up to {Fly Lv.7}. Flying speed and maneuvering capability has increased.]


    Dismissing the screen, I entered the crevice and frowned. Though the entrance to my new home was hidden, it would be good to have a trap waiting for those that dared to enter my new home. But the problem was that I didn''t actually know anything about making traps.


    I entered and settled in. Maybe not a trap then. Still, an extra protection would be nice; like a guard or something. But where would I get someone like that? It wasn''t like I was rolling in options here?


    Hmm. I could get a sentry from the drone egg. But the process was so horrible that I did not want to go through that again. Another option was taming an animal but that had its own problems. The first being, that I could only tame a Level 1 non-sentient, non-evolved animal.


    I mean what sort of condition was that! And where in the world would I find an Lv.1 animal! Wouldn''t it be hiding somewhere because it was weak as shit? And secondly, taming meant that after the spell had worked, I would have to take care of the animal; like taking care of a pet or a dog.


    Not something I could do now, when I was living by the day, every day. No thank you sir.


    I guess that left me with the former option rather than the latter one. I made a face; I really didn''t want to do this, but, my stupid brain had decided that I had to. Grimacing, I used the skill.


    Ting.


    [-100 MP.]


    Immediately, I felt my stomach turn as a very familiar ache began to spread in my belly. I felt myself gag as bile rose in my throat. I gagged. Then I gagged some more. The egg, just like last time, was trying to force its way out of my throat. I felt it try again, trying to expand my throat beyond its limit.


    Pain. Pain was all I felt and fell to floor; unable to stand. As the pain continued to wreck me, I gagged even more. I gagged as the flow of air cut off. I felt the egg hit my tongue and slip over it as it peeked out of my mouth. And then, in one long hurl, a long cylindrical thing fell out of my mouth and hit the floor.


    ''Ugghh!'' I groaned. ''What in the world came over me that I decided to use this skill again?! This isn''t worth anything! Nothing! Not even a sentry to guard my door!''


    Ting.


    [Skill {Drone Eggs Lv.1} has leveled up to {Drone Eggs Lv.2}. You can now create 3 eggs per use.]


    -Eh? This dumb skill leveled up? Just after two uses? What does it give me now? I focused on the skill.


    Ting.


    [You can lay eggs which hatch to birth Drone Doxies. Current egg limit per use: 3. Current time required to hatch the eggs: 12 days.]


    ''3 Eggs? Are you kidding me?! Where earlier I had been getting 1 egg for 100 MP, now I could get 3 eggs for the same cost! What this even real?! And this much improvement just from one level up? What will this skill give at higher levels? Should-should I level it up a little more?''


    I shook my head; focus! I was back in the crevice to level up my animagus, not some stupid drone skill! That could happen later, not now!


    I took a deep breath in and closed my eyes before slowly breathing out. I took another breath in and checked my status. I just had 16 MP left.


    A scowl morphed on my face.


    Now I had to spend the next 2 hours meditating to obtain the meditation bonus of +9MP so that I could regenerate my MP at +19MP/hour. ''Fuck. This. Shit.'' I almost growled.


    Taking a deep breath in, I tried to calm myself. I failed, obviously. Still, I tried closing my eyes, to at least pretend to meditate. What was it they said? Fake it, till you make it? I guess that was my plan at the moment.


    The next time I opened my eyes, just two hours had pssed. I sighed and checked my MP. It was a little more than 50; more than enough for what I needed.


    With a tired sigh, I used the skill. ''Animagus.''


    Ting.


    [-50 MP]


    Unsurprisingly, besides the MP loss, nothing happened; which I had completely expected by the way. I needed to find the beast representing me and merge with it before something could actually happen. With that thought in mind, I continued breathing.


    As the time went on and I continued to meditate, nothing happened besides my Mana filling itself way faster than it should have because of {Meditation} bonus. In the end, when I finally came out of a meditative trance, all me efforts amounted to nothing. Absolutely nothing.


    I grimaced and sighed; unable to decide which one suited the situation better.


    Feeling stiff, I moved my joints and heard them groan in response. Just how much time had passed? I peeked out of my new home; the moon had already finished its journey across the sky and was preparing to set. Huh, 10 hours had passed since I started meditating for the skill {Animagus}.


    I guess I was done for the day, after all.


    Returning inside, I settled in before closing my eyes and using the skill {Survive}.


    Ting.


    [-133 HP]


    HP/MP: 133/166


    As the tiredness rushed in me, I fell asleep.

 Arc 2 - Defiance - Chapter 14

    Night 27


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    Nothing.


    Bloody nothing.


    That''s what happened in the entire day today.


    I bet the cliff, which I live in, had a more interesting day than the one I had today.


    I sighed in more than a little helplessness and irritation.


    This boring day had begun like any other day.


    I woke up and restored the HP bar. After that I decided that since I do not require food to survive for the next few days, I might as well utilize it and make some headway with the Animagus process.


    With that in mind, I had used the skill {Animagus} and meditated for the rest of the day.


    ''And what do I have to show for all of that? Nothing. Nada. That''s what!''


    I scowled in resignation as I couldn''t do anything about it but just accept it and try again tomorrow. Still, I should at least try to think positive, shouldn''t I? Motivation and all that pile of stinking garbage.


    ''It wasn''t as if I expected to turn into an animagus just after one day.''


    But my effort to think positive quickly turned sour as my motivational thoughts took a turn for the worse. Yay me and my gloominess!


    ''It was just that I had expected some improvement, even a tinge, just something to show that I was working in the right direction!''


    I knew, okay, I knew that Animagus was a difficult art to master but my Dad had done it at 14 and so had his friends. And here I was -a man grown and then some- frustrated just after a day''s work.


    I shook my head at the thought. ''Am I really whining about not making any headway with the skill just after one day? That is not like me.'' I shook my head. Violently. The bitching about made it kind of necessary.


    But that was not what I needed. What I needed was sleep and to work on the skill tomorrow; that was what I should be doing and n- ¡­not whining.


    Shaking my head ¨Cagain, because it was something that I apparently did now- in disappointment at what I had just been doing, I used the skill, {Molting}.


    Ting.


    [- 140 HP]


    As the sluggishness rushed in me, I dismissed the screen and checked my status; my HP read, [HP: 128/268] while my MP read, [MP: 168/168].


    I frowned. Sleeping with that much MP would be such a waste when I could generate it over the night. Though, there wasn''t much I could do because of the condition that I was in. ''I really should have checked my HP and MP before losing half of my health in one go. Stupid!''


    I sighed. I couldn''t level up {Observe} now because of the lethargy and, come to think of it, I hadn''t been trying to level it up in the past few days. I really needed to remedy that. But that was for later. I needed something for now that did not require me to move. At all.


    As I scanned my skill list, my eyes fell on a particular skill and I cringed. I did not want to use that one. And I really meant that. I''d rather eat Dragon Dung than use that skill! That was how much I didn''t want to use this skill.


    So, with all my hope, I scanned the list again and again and again and again ¨Coh you get the idea- but no other skill popped up that could make use of 120 MP judiciously.


    I grimaced. No, not grimaced, I did not grimace because there was no name for the expression of resigned despair that had descended upon my face.


    ''I have to use it, don''t I?''


    So with dread running through me like blood, I activated the skill. ''Drone Eggs''.


    I felt the subtle ache as the process began and mentally prepared myself for the one of the most uncomfortable experiences of my life. ''If giving birth is anything like this, then I do not know how women do this!''


    The egg began to press against my throat, making me gag and nauseated, and then slowly, ever so slowly, it began to rise up, making me cry out in pain. As the egg continued its ascent, I cursed myself for following through this idiotic plan of mine as bolts after bolts of pain raced though me.


    And then it slipped over my tongue, peeked from my mouth and fell on the floor.


    And just like that, all the pain, all the discomfort, all the nausea were gone.


    The other two eggs followed the first but surprisingly, they did not make me uncomfortable at all; it was as if my throat had been expanded enough by the first egg.


    On that note, this experience was also a lot less harrowing than the previous ones. Was it because the skill had leveled up? Or was it because my body had grown accustomed to it?


    I did not know the answer to those questions but whatever it was, I was glad for it. And I was glad that the ordeal was over, even though my throat ached like hell as it constricted back.


    More exhausted than I had even been in the past few days, after vomiting those eggs, I fell asleep.


    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">


    Night 28


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    Tonight had followed the script of the previous one too.


    I woke up, restored my HP and didn''t do anything but try to level up my {Animagus} skill, in which I gained no headway by the way.


    I did not let it disappoint me though, like I had let it last night, and decided to try again tomorrow. ''Maybe I am missing something that I shouldn''t be? Something very obvious. I do not know. But I will look into it tomorrow night.''


    With that thought, I ended reviewing the day and headed out to try to level up {Observe}. There was no way I wanted to waste my MP and I was so not in mood to use {Drone Eggs} tonight too.


    Reaching out of the crevice, I began using the skill on things I didn''t recognize. Though there weren''t that many things that fit that criterion so I had to fly around a little and explore some unexplored areas. I used the skill until I had used up exactly 120 MP and stopped after that; I could only regenerate 120 MP a night and I did not want to have less MP in case I needed it.


    I frowned. All I did these nights was meditate; which, due to being at level 9, increased my MP regeneration to 19MP/Hour. At that high regeneration, I could regenerate the rest of the 48 MP in the next 3 hours. ''Hmm. Maybe I can use the rest of MP after all.''


    With that thought, I began using {Observe} again.


    Ting.


    [Skill {Observe Lv.6} has leveled up to {Observe Lv.7}. You can now see the MP of the target.]


    Dismissing the notification, I used the skill again, this time on an ant eating a leaf.


    Ting.


    [Worker Red Ant. Strength]


    [Level: 38]


    [HP: 158/158]


    [MP: -]


    I smiled. Indeed, I could see MP now.


    Though, the HP of this creature was ridiculously high. 158 points at level 38? There was no way that this was a first stage creature. It had to have evolved once.


    Otherwise someone had screwed me up pretty bad. ''And that better now be the case! Do you understand Blue screen!?''


    Scowling at the thoughts, I dismissed the screen as I mulled over the information once again. If I assumed that this ant has had evolved once, then that would explain the HP and the extra 20 points as the first evolution bonus that I had received too.


    Nodding, I calmed down and began using {Observe} again. I used it until my MP bar was empty. It was only then that I headed back to the new home.


    In the hindsight, it was pretty stupid.


    Apparently, I did not learn easily.


    Gratefully, nothing unexpected happened and I reached the crevice safely. Settling in, I used {Survive}.


    Ting.


    [-133 HP]


    As the tiredness rushed in me, I fell asleep.


    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">


    Night 29


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    Once again, the entire night amounted to nothing of consequence, when it came to progress in the Animagus department. I had -just like the previous nights - spend the entire night meditating under the guise of skill, {Animgus}.


    I had woken up, restored the HP bar and had continued on to use the skill {Animagus} to descend into the meditating trance. Unfortunately, all of that had amounted to nothing even though when I had tried to do things differently this time.


    I sighed.


    Walking up to the edge of the crevice, I leaned out; enjoying the cool breeze of the night. Even though there hadn''t been any progress, now I was able to maintain my calm, because I knew that I was doing everything in my power to achieve my goal.


    It was a small consolation, but it was all that I had and I was holding on to it for dear life.


    My eyes searched the sky and I noticed that the moon was about to set; it was time for me leave my new home to try and level up {Observe}.


    Flapping my wings I took off and began my exploration, all the while using {Observe} on things and animals that I didn''t recognize.


    Ting.


    [Skill {Scent Lv.3} has leveled up to {Scent Lv.4}. Radius for recognition and tracking of a scent has increased to 2 m.]


    It took me some time but by the time the first rays of Sun had begun illuminating the sky; I had completely emptied my MP bar.


    As the sunlight began to illuminate more and more of the sky and the world, my eyes began to itch from all the ultra-bright light and my skin began to feel the unappealing warmth of the day. In short, I did not feel good.


    Well, it meant that what I had been thinking was true after all; I was indeed a nocturnal creature.


    Flying as quickly as I could, I reached my new home and crept in. The eggs were where I had left them and no one was waiting for me inside. Good.


    I shook my head. This was not normal.


    But then, what could I do? I had never been this paranoid but with the recent destruction of my home, I didn''t feel safe anymore; despite the fact that no one but me had anything to do it.


    I grimaced. With the way my emotions kept jumping all over the place, I felt like a hormonal pregnant woman. ''I guess dying really did do a number on me, huh.''


    With a soft sigh, I settled down and used {Molting}.


    Ting.


    [-140 HP]


    I scowled at the number. ''Shouldn''t it take less and less portion of HP as the skill level increases? But this skill seems to be doing the exact opposite. If this trend continues, then I fear that I would be just wasting my time and my MP at this skill. What good would it be if could not use it save myself from difficult situations?''The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.


    Shaking my head at the seemingly stupid skill, I fell asleep.


    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">


    Night 30


    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">


    Tonight, I decided, it would be the last night, when I stayed all night inside. Tomorrow, I would be leaving this crevice and explore the world; enough of the looming walls.


    Even though {Overdose} kept me fed, I did not want to remain inside all the time. Talking about overdose, it seemed that my current body consumed 25 points from the skill {Overdose} for everyday that I didn''t eat anything.


    And as I had more than 400 points, it could last for more than a few days, to say the least. But that didn''t mean I should just rely on the skill. Thus I had initially tried to make the most of my nights of careless meditation. Yet, all my efforts turned out to be for nothing, as nothing happened.


    And you know what; I wasn''t even surprised, not at all.


    Instead, I was kind of getting used to it, which was bad because I shouldn''t get used to failures.


    Don''t get me wrong, I don''t mean I should be afraid of failures, no. I should not be afraid of failures. But I should not be used to them either; as that would mean I wouldn''t even try harder if I failed because it wouldn''t be something new.


    No, I needed to stop this moronic habit right now, right this instant.


    With my decision made, I took a deep breath in and opened my eyes. Tomorrow night, I will not work on being an Animagus, instead, I will work on something that I knew I would succeed in; I will work on the skill {Mana Control}.


    I knew I would succeed in this skill, not because I was being overconfident or because of some such nonsensical reason, no. I knew I would succeed because I had experience in it. Prior to my death, my wife ¨Cwell, then fianc¨¦ and now a murderous widow- and I had been working on Wandless magic; the art of performing magic without the use of a wand or any other focus.


    Its basis had been simple enough, to be in touch with one''s magic and to be able to bend it to one''s will. And to do that, one had to immerse themselves in their magic, becoming one with it; something which both of us had achieved. The only thing remaining had been the ability to bend it and let it flow according to one''s will.


    But then I had been killed. So there was that.


    I nodded to myself to break out of the morose thoughts. As far as I could tell, MP worked more or less like magic had; it even fueled my spells like magic did. This made it safe to assume that I could apply the principles of wandless magic to {Mana Control}.


    I smiled; I was feeling pretty good about it actually.


    Standing up, I made my way out of the crevice and took to the air; I had a skill to level up. As I explored the area around my new home, I thought about the next night to come.


    Tomorrow night, I would have to hunt; something that meant that I would have to conserve my magic tonight or else I would not have a full bar of MP to work with tomorrow. But even if I did conserve the last 48 points of HP, it wasn''t like I would have a complete bar of MP anyway.


    I would have to use {Episkey} at least twice -or thrice- to restore the HP loss due to {Survive} tonight and that would eat away at least 40 to 60 MP. If I wanted to avoid that then I would have to conserve even more MP and use {Episkey} tonight.


    I sighed and began my calculations.


    Hmm. If I used {Episkey} twice, today, after using {Survive}, then I would be able to regenerate the rest of the HP, as I slept during the day, and wouldn''t have to use the spell tomorrow. But that would mean I would have to conserve an extra 40 MP.


    I sighed and continued on with the {Observe} and only stopped when I had 88 MP left in my MP bar. And then I returned to my new home.


    Entering the new home, I checked the eggs; they were unharmed and my skills assured me that nothing was amiss. I settled down and used {Survive}.


    Ting.


    [-133 HP.]


    I grimaced as tiredness rushed in me and quickly used {Episkey} twice, just as I had planned.


    Ting.


    [-20 MP.]


    Ting.


    [-20 MP.]


    Sighing in relief, I closed my eyes and fell asleep.


    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">


    Night 31


    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">


    I woke up, feeling completely refreshed, like I hadn''t felt in a long, long time. ''I guess this is the benefit of waking up with full bars of HP and MP, huh.''


    Stretching, I looked around. Everything seemed about right; nothing was out of its place or missing. Yes, my paranoia was getting the better of me; I couldn''t wait for the eggs to hatch so that I could have my own sentries.


    Shaking my head to clear it of lingering lethargy, I flew out of the crevice to hunt instead of trying to level up the skill {Mana Control} as I had planned; I had a reason for doing so.


    The last time I had gone hunting, I had returned empty as I was unfamiliar with the area. And now though I was a lot more familiar, I still had not found a suitable source of food that I could hunt and gain levels from at the same time.


    So flying around, that''s what I did; I looked for a species that could serve as a source of food and give me enough of hard time that I could gain experience out of hunting it. Looking around, I found nothing that was what I was looking for; I had spent almost entire night looking for the perfect prey.


    During all this flying around, I had thought about going back to the frog hunting ground but finally decided against it for two reasons. First, it was very far away from my current location and two, the frog that had escaped would have warned them of my existence.


    I guess I would have to try and level up {Mana Control} tomorrow night then. I sighed and continued to look for a prey but all of my efforts proved in vain as I found nothing.


    Dejected, after an entire night''s worth of time was wasted searching for it, I decided to hunt the ants that I had seen earlier.


    Now, though I had decided to hunt ants, I had no idea how I was going to do so. Ants are strong. And fast. And have tough exoskeleton. And they are always working together.


    I landed on a branch and observed the working ants. They moved in a line, always with a destination in mind, never straying from their destined paths, like golems. Or machines. Whatever.


    Though there were some, some that weren''t with any groups or were following any line. They were the ants that were looking for food. They were always looking for more food. And when they would finally find their treasure, they would double back and return with lines after lines of workers to loot the newfound source of food. Their treasure.


    These treasure hunters often strayed a little too far, in their single minded search. They forgot themselves and their surrounding, with only their goal in mind.


    I observed these strayed treasure hunters.


    They often seemed lost and confused and were a good source of food; though, I sincerely doubted that I would gain any level from killing these ants. Most of these ants were one evolution below me and did not pose much danger to me.


    I sighed; gone were the days when I could kill a prey and receive half a dozen level ups.


    Shaking my head to clear it of the melancholy, I searched through my skill list, trying to find something a lot less flashy and attention grabbing like Incendio. The only two that I could even remotely consider using were {Doxy Shield} and {Trap}. Although, {Trap} wasn''t something that I could use in itself; after all, it wasn''t a skill that created a trap, it just represented setting up a trap to capture my prey.


    I frowned. ''Ants have hard exoskeleton, so any traps that I could come up with ¨Cnot that I could come up with many- would most likely not hurt them much; which would mean I would have to use {Incendio}, not something I wanted to do. Besides, couldn''t ant climb on walls?''


    Yep. They very well could. That meant I couldn''t just trap a linear path and wait for them to fall. These buggers could move in three dimensions.


    This left me with the only other option that I could use, the {Doxy Shield}. I focused on the skill.


    Ting.


    [A shield the shape of Doxy''s (Beetle''s) wings forms in front of you. Current Hit Points: 10/10]


    I grimaced. With that low a hit points, it was truthfully useless. Still, wanting to at least know what it was, I used the skill. ''Doxy Shield.''


    Ting.


    [-50 MP.]


    ''What! That much MP for such a useless skill!? Are you kidding me! There was no reason to justify this! Not a fucking one!''


    As I raged, a translucent and blue semi-spherical shape materialized in front of me. It was large enough to cover my entire torso but left my head and legs open. It also had a line running vertically through its middle. Essentially, it was a replica of a beetle''s shell or rather a Doxy''s.


    Calming down, I frowned. There was nothing to hold it or grab it anywhere. ''How is it supposed to protect me when I can''t even hold it? How am I supposed to move it? With my mind?!''


    The translucent shield twitched.


    I blinked.


    I blinked again, perfectly mimicking an owl. ''Did this thing just twitched on its own?''


    It twitched again.


    And I blinked again.


    I thought about moving the shield to the left and the shield moved. Instantly.


    I blinked. Again. And I grinned. ''I can see now why it costs so damn much.''


    Smiling, I called the shield to me, wanting to observe the line that ran through its middle. ''Just what is that about?''


    I pressed my fingers against the, seemingly useless, bifurcating line and tried to push, to see if it would open.


    I flinched at the sudden movement as the shield split across the line and opened in a V-shape. Although expected, I had not truly expected the shield to open up. The edges that had made the line looked sharp and bladed. They looked like translucent blades of a scissor, ready to cut anything that got in between its blades.


    I thought about closing the blades and the shield closed noiselessly, reforming into a semi-spherical object.


    I opened it again and, very lightly, ran my finger across the blades; it drew blood. I closed it and watched as the sharp bits of the blades ran over each other before getting locked up and assimilating in the rest of the shield. The entire shield was indeed like the blades of a giant scissor.


    I grinned. ''Oh this shield is definitely worth the cost!''


    As I continued to work the kinks out of my new spell, an idea formed in my head, about how to hunt the ants. Completing the inspection and how it would work, I used the skill again.


    Ting.


    [-50 MP.]


    Ting.


    [Skill {Doxy Shield Lv.1} has leveled up to {Doxy Shield Lv.2}. Current Hit Points: 20/20]


    Dismissing the screens quickly without bothering to read them ¨CI had more important things to worry about- I tried maneuvering the shields side by side. It was difficult, incredibly so. This skill was not meant to be used as I was using it; two at a time. When I tried to move the first, the second one moved or the two moved together.


    It was not easy by any standards anywhere. I was sure of that.


    I sighed. ''This is getting ridiculous. Moonlight is fading fast and I need to eat something soon if I want to uphold yesterday''s decision and not just rely on the skill.''


    Deciding to master use of two shields together later, I stopped using the second shield and began searching for a prey that would sooth the burning fire in my stomach. I activated the skills {Stealth} and {Sensor} before taking off, searching for an ant that was alone and confused.


    Soon, I found what I was looking for. It was an ant; quite similar to the one that I had noticed before and it was almost as big as my legs and almost twice as thick. ''Observe.''


    [Worker Red Ant. Strength]


    [Level: 22]


    [HP: 142/142]


    [MP: -]


    Nodding at the notification, I dismissed the screens.


    With one shield in front of me and the other trailing behind me, I crept up on the unsuspecting creature. Focusing on the shield, I tried to keep it floating high up in the sky, and watched as it floated higher and higher. I made it float as high as I could while still keeping it under control.


    As it reached its position, I moved the shield horizontally so that it was hovering right above my prey, though it was very high up. And then I made it descend as fast as I could with its blades open.


    The ant looked up at the last moment but it did not matter as the blades where already closing in across its neck. The blades hit the creature, doing significant damage before shattering like thin glass.


    Disappointing; though not surprising, as I had expected that much after the extremely low hit points that the shield had sported thus, at this very moment, the second shield was already flying towards the ant, with its blades open, to finish the job that the first shield had been unable to.


    The blades closed across the creature''s neck, delivering the damage before shattering. I took to air and began secreting the Doxy Venom in my mouth ¨Csomething I was so very glad to be able to do. If the creature was still alive after both the hits, it would be going down to my venom.


    Surprisingly, the creature was indeed alive.


    Knowing that stealth was useless at this point, I flew at my top speed and spat the venom directly in the wounded area.


    Underhanded?


    I don''t know and I don''t care.


    I will survive.


    The creature hissed in pain and anger but it could hardly do anything at this point. It was wounded, bleeding, and poisoned. It wasn''t going anywhere.


    Soon enough the shrieks and the thrashing of the ant stopped completely though no pop ups appeared indicating the creature''s death. Just to be cautious, I used {Observe}.


    [Worker Red Ant. Dead.]


    [Level: -]


    [HP: -]


    [MP: -]


    Well, that was convenient; the declaration of death that is. But I guessed that once you were dead, no matter what your strongest attribute had been, after death, it doesn''t matter much.


    Flying down, I gingerly broke apart the still dangling head and began eating the soft and juicy flesh. It tasted like nothing I had tasted before and it was delicious. It felt exotic. In short, I loved it.


    By the time I was finished with the ant, moon had already set and the morning light was beginning to make my eyes itch.


    ''What a wasteful day.'' I sighed.


    Deciding to forgo trying to level up {Observe}, as I didn''t have the time or the MP, I returned to my new home. Checking over the eggs as I entered into the crevice, I settled down before using the skill, {Molting}.


    Ting.


    [-140 HP]


    Ting.


    [Skill {Molting Lv.4} has leveled up to {Molting Lv.5}. Time required for the skill has been reduced by 10 minutes. Total time required: 5 Hours and 20 Minutes.]


    I smiled at the skill level up, it was about damn time. Though at that moment, sluggishness caught up to me, and tiredness rushed in me. To stave it off, I used {Episkey} twice, to restore a large portion of my HP.


    Ting.


    [-20 MP]


    Ting.


    [-20 MP]


    Sighing in relief, I checked my status.


    [Name: Unnamed]


    [Species: Doxy]


    [Race(s): Insect]


    [Level: 8]


    [HP: 216/266]


    [MP: 24/166]


    [Titles: {Sentient}, {Reincarnated}, {Survivor}, {Bullheaded}, {Master of Death}, {Masochist}, {Gourmand}, {Fire Elemental}, {Trickster}]


    [Skills: {Animagus Lv.1}, {Ant''s Will Lv.3}, {Apparate Lv.6}, {Beast Tamer Lv.1}, {Crawl }, {Dig Lv.9}, {Doxy Shield Lv.2}, {Drone Eggs Lv.2}, {Fire Manipulation Lv.1}, {Fly Lv.7}, {Invisibility Lv.1}, {Ice Resistance Lv.1}, {Leglimens Lv.2}, {Mana Control Lv.1}, {Masochism Lv.3}, {Meditate Lv.9}, {Molting Lv.5}, {Night Vision Lv.4}, {Observe Lv.7}, {Occlumens Lv.8}, {Overdose Lv.1}, {Pain Resistance Lv.6}, {Poison Resistance Lv.9}, {Poison Creation Lv.5}, {Rise Lv.1}, {Scent Lv.4}, {Sensor Lv.6}, {Slide Lv.3}, {Stealth Lv.3}, {Stubborn Lv.4}, {Survive Lv.4}, {Trap Lv.3}]


    [Spells: {Lumos Lv. Max}, {Incendio }, {Expelliarmus Lv. 10}, {ExpectoPatronum Lv. 10}, {Protego Lv.10}, {Reparo Lv.9}, {Aguamenti Lv.9}, {Stupefy Lv.9}, {Episkey Lv. 9}, {Immobulus Lv.9}, {Lumos Maximus Lv.8}, {Confundo Lv.8}, {Fianto Duri Lv. 8},{Protego Maxima Lv. 8}, {Repello Inimicum Lv.8}, {Accio Lv.7}, {Bombarda Lv.7}, {Petrificus Totalus Lv.6}, {Diffindo Lv.6}, {Reducto Lv.5}, {Wingardium Leviosa Lv. 5}, {Transfugiration Lv.5}, {Silencio Lv.4}, {Glacius Lv.4}, {Confringo Lv.3}, {Alohomora Lv.3}, {Sectum Sempra Lv.2}, {Imperio Lv.2}, {Muffliato Lv.2}, {Crucio Lv.1}]


    Nodding at the notifications, I closed my eyes and feel asleep.


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    Like it?


    Hate it?


    Just review and let me know!


    Go Review!


    Now.


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 Help.

    Somewhere far away, a place so far that even the Gods dare not imagine such a distance. A place about which even the highest Existences of the universe dare not possess any knowledge. For such knowledge was not a secret but a curse. It eroded away the sanity of even an Existence, the highest lifeform of all; a creature not of flesh, blood and bones.


    A place so horrid that a mere glimpse caused the flesh to collapse. A place so heinous that the minds faded away long before they could even comprehend what they saw. A place where Laws were eroded and rewritten constantly.


    In such a place there existed THINGS that imprisoned themselves in that horrendous space. They rested there not for themselves but for others, whomsoever these others maybe. For if they left that place, the reality bended to their unknown whims and unconscious desires. The laws of universe changed and mutated to even their half-formed thoughts.


    For these THINGS followed not the Laws of the universe, they made them.


    In such a place and amongst such THINGS, a soul drifted.


    ¡°¡­Here comes it.¡±


    ¡°Tch.¡±


    ¡°¡­Decided it is, it¡¯s fate.¡±


    ¡°Destroyer that it is, the meaning of fate for it is none.¡±


    ¡°This crime most heinous.¡±


    ¡°Tch. Imprison it.¡±


    ¡°¡­What it seeks, achievement of it will be when?¡±


    ¡°What it seeks, there is none. The acceptance of it, when it descends.¡±


    ¡°¡­¡±


    0.0


    The Illusion let a Soul emerge.


    The Forgotten guided its path.


    The Formless let it touch the flesh.


    The Endless let it last.


    The Mutated, the last of them all.The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.


    The Mutated let it devour the bridges,


    For a being was reborn.


    0.0


    An Existence that was not One, but Innumerable, observed the result of its relentless pursuit. A pursuit that was likely a mistake, doomed to fail even before it started. Yet a quest that it had to undertake.


    For the Existence, which was not a being, had done something that it never had. It had done something that it never saw itself do. Yet, at this moment, the Existence had. It had brought a soul to a Creation that was not the soul¡¯s origin.


    The Existence, which had no body yet thrived all the same, had transmigrated a soul; a soul of creature that it despised, a creature that was more of a weapon than anything else.


    This creature, which had been transmigrated to the Existence¡¯s own Creation, was of a species known for its savagery, its cruelty, its vengeance, its vanity, its hate and its plethora of other emotions that its species was overwhelmed by.


    It was a creature most hateful, ruled by its emotions and one that existed and survived not by its own power but by the power of others of its kind. It was a creature so weak, so humiliatingly frail, that its weakness was its strength.


    It had sought to overcome its weakness, not in itself, but in others, for it was a creature pathetically feeble. It had sought strength in others and in turn had found the source of power, the power that had been the cause of downfall of many mighty Existences and Immortals alike.


    This creature, which was so miserably puny, had brought down Existences that had dwarfed it so horrendously that they hadn¡¯t even registered this creature¡¯s existence. To them this creature might as well have been a smote of dust.


    Yet, they had fallen and this creature had survived, ending them all as it thrived on the ashes of its fallen foes.


    This creature that sought death for the sake of death, warred with itself and opponents that it didn¡¯t even know existed. It defeated them with weapon it did not even know it had, for it was the weapon itself. Its very existence was a weapon to be used against some of those mighty Existences. A weapon they themselves created, unknowingly and unwittingly.


    And the Existence, which was nowhere yet existed everywhere, had called this creature¡¯s soul, to its own Creation. A mistake, the Existence knew. A perilous mistake.


    Yet the Existence, which could not manifest in reality but existed within and beyond the boundaries of reality all the same, had brought this creature¡¯s soul to its own Creation. An experiment, bound to fail, yet one much needed.


    The Existence knew what this creature was and what it was capable of, for the Existence had seen it repeated time and time again, from one Creation to another, this creature had devoured them all. The Existence knew just how dangerous this creature was.


    And the Existence that spanned multiple Creations, had no intention of Ending at the hands of this wretchedly weak thing.


    Thus, the Existence, which had no senses yet observed everything, had taken away from the creature the one power that had allowed it to devour everything.


    The creature would not be born in the body of its origin, no, the Existence knew it to be the source of its overwhelming and uncontrolled emotions. This Creature would be thus born an immortal, fundamentally lacking the ability that had allowed its species to rule them all, to conquer them all.


    Thus, the creature that had once been a mortal was now born an immortal. The creature that had once been a human, born to thrive in civilization, would be born a monster, a lifeform simply unable to coexist with civilization.


    0.0


    Far away, at a distance so great that most couldn¡¯t even begin to imagine such a distance, there existed transcendental barriers, not one but many.


    Within those barriers, inside a remote place, an ethereal book flipped its pages.


    0.0

 Update!

    Hello everyone.


    First of all, thank you for all of your support. I am indebted for all the support that you given me in this trying time. And it was only due to all of your support that made the thief retract their fake novel. I saw that one of you even went and made a redit post about this. I am so thankful and so grateful. I...just thank you. I want to say more but I anything that I would say would be just ramblings. So I will just stop.


    In the meanwhile, I have finished editing the novel and have continued the story forward. Some people were confused that the original work would be different from this fiction. No it is not.My original work is based on this fiction itself.This fiction had been edited and evolved into its own original work. The copyright for it too is in the process. Once the process with it is finished, I will begin uploading the chapters. Here are somethings that you can expect from the rehashed version of this story:


    1. Significantly less mind altering and mental fuckery.


    2. Consistent character


    3. No stupid mistakes for plot progression


    4. Origin of the system and why it works the way it does.


    5. Behind the scene plot


    6. Humans! And how the system works for them. Its vastly different.


    7. World building and a short stories.


    8. No sudden and stupid power ups.


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    I do not want to just leave you all like this, so I will be providing the opening scene of one of the short stories that will accompany this story. This is just the first draft though, so it is quite rough around the edges.


    While reading this, please keep an open mind. This is quite different from the quite common medieval western magic trope that we all so know and love. I wanted to write something different that might tingle the reader''s curiosity and imagination.


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    There existed a forest. It existed neither too far away from the civilization, nor too close to it. And within this forest stood a massive wooden gate. This gate guarded a compound that was surrounded on all sides by low wooden walls.


    The massive gate was made of light wood and looked weak. It seemed like one kick away from falling off its hinges. The wooden walls were no better. They were covered in moss and small mounds of wood dust could be seen near their feet. Clearly, they suffered from a termite infestation.


    Within this compound there were buildings littered around without any sense of direction or reason. Though, to address those structures as buildings would be being generous, as most those buildings were made of mud and thatched roofs.


    All in all, the compound did not give off the feeling of security.


    Yet, it existed and that too within the depth of the Evergreen Forest. A place with monsters and spirits abound. This phenomenon confused the group of fidgeting children standing in front of the massive gates, nervously and impatiently awaiting their entrance.


    The double doors of the gate smoothly opened with nary a sound, further proving their worthlessness.


    An unremarkable man calmly walked out of the double doors. He gave the group of children a casual glance and smiled. The smile did nothing to brighten his common features though. Which was quite remarkable, considering his get up was rather bright and unusual.If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.


    The man was wearing saffron robes and had black dreadlocks for hair that were tied up above his head in a bun. The bright saffron was quite a contrast against his dark brown skin.


    "Pranam Guru ji." The children hurriedly joined their hands and bowed as they greeted the man in an unsynchronized chorus.


    The man raised his right hand and with his palm facing the group, muttered a blessing in response. "The glory be yours."*


    He surveyed the children once again, finding nervousness, longing, fear and anxiety as the main emotions saturating the children. "You are here to walk on the path of knowledge, curiosity, sacrifice, austerity and asceticism." He addressed the children. "It will be hard but not impossible. All that you require is the will to step forward."


    An anxious buzz passed through the group as his words scared the children, like they usually did every year. But this did not deter the saffron clad man from baring down the truth before them, even though they were too young to comprehend the meaning behind his words. "This path that you would walk is the path of [Will] and [Reflection]. With enough will, this path is yours. With enough self-reflection, the world is yours."


    "We who walk this path, nurture our curiosity and question the world. And to question we need the will to do so. But to know what to question, we need self-reflection to know so."


    "Today you stare at a long and difficult road ahead of you, but if you bear to walk it, then know that you''d dare to question the blessed and the lords, the kings and the emperors. And if you walk down this path long enough, you''d even dare to question the Laws and the Gods."


    His words, incomprehensible they maybe, caused a buzz of excitement to pass through the children and the man smiled.


    "Enough of this now." The children fell silent at his order. "You will be living in the Ashram from now on but you must learn to take care of yourself and renounce the world. But before that, follow me."


    The man led the children to a large building on the far side of the compound. Surprisingly, the building was made up of wood rather than mud like the others. Though that was not much improvement considering the decrepit condition it was in. "This is where you will be staying, but only for a month."


    He turned to face the children and his serious gaze met the nervous ones of the children. "During this one month, you must build a cottage of your own. You can only use clay and hay. Nothing more." He ordered in short and precise sentences. "That will be your home from the beginning of the next month. If you have not made one by the end of the month, then let the stars greet you at night."


    His declaration shocked the children into silence. Never had they imagined that they would have to build their own homes. After all, some of these children were the children of the affluent that had lavish houses to live in and servants to order around.


    A boy tentatively raised his hand; this situation was unacceptable to him. His father was the inspector in the nearest town; he clearly deserved better. Yet, he was no fool, he knew the person greeting him was no ordinary man. Thus, respectfully waited to be called upon.


    The man smiled and addressed the children. "Never fear to ask your teachers. We nurture curiosity and the spirit of questioning here. Yet, you must first try to reason the answer yourself. Only when you have failed, should you seek the guidance of your teacher. After all, curiosity without the will to reason yourself, is no curiosity at all."


    "I will answer your questions today. But in future, when you seek guidance from your teachers, you must come to us with a conclusion of your own and why you concluded so." He nodded towards the child who had raised his hand previously. "Now ask."


    "Guru ji, umm," The child hesitated, "why must we build these...sha- homes? Can''t we just live here?" He hopefully pointed to the building.


    "Good question." The man smiled. "You must build your own homes because you must learn what you are capable of and how long can your will can last. Some of you would plan big houses but end up never finishing them. While others would plan a house too small and would regret that they had dreamed a bit too little."


    "The other reason that you must build these shacks," He smiled mischievously at the child, who blushed promptly at having his words caught, "is because you are young. As you would continue to grow, you would find that the homes you had built, with so much your hard work and sweat, grow too small with every passing day."


    "You would be forced to abandon your homes; you''d have to make them again and again and then again when you realise that you need more space than just for yourself. This process will break down your attachments to the worldly desires and help you walk down your path." The man nodded at the child. "Anything else."


    The children broke into a nervous yet excited chatter.


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    What are your opinions about this piece? Leave a comment down below. :)

 Rewrite is up!!

    Hello everyone! Long time no see, huh? But I am here to finally give you the good news. The rewrite of this work, as an original story, is up and alive! It''s alive! It''s alive! Muahahaha!


    Ahem.


    If you had checked the last few chapters, you would know that this work was stolen and published on amazon by someone that was not me. Thankfully, with all of you supporting me, I was able to get that work down. At that time, I also mentioned that I am working turning this into an original work. Well, I have done it!


    The original work is available on Royalroad under the name ''A world of Monsters</a>'' by Ankur_93.This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.


    https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/35642/a-world-of-monsters</a>


    The new story, A world of monsters, follows a monster and a human in a system word, with a Buddhist/Hindu philosophy. The System is especially influenced by this philosophy. As for what this new version offers, I have prepared a list! [Did you think I came unprepared?]


    Things I can promise, in the story:


    1. Grammar [As per Grammerly]


    2. Monster will be a monster while the human will be a human.


    3. Evolutions.


    4. No harem.


    5. Grimdark


    6. Well defined characters [In my opinion at least XD]


    7. No OPness.


    8. No descent into madness.


    9. No stupid mistakes.


    10. No whining.


    11. Learning from its mistake.


    If any of these things catch your attention, give the story a read.