《The Beetle: Monster. LitRPG series book I》 Prologue ¡°Guys, stop lagging behind!¡± the captain ordered the trio that was trying to find something interesting. ¡°Coming,¡± one of the men responded and let out a sad sigh. ¡°Stop acting like those greedy dwarves!¡± the captain shouted reproachfully. He was a hefty man in steel armor that was dotted with numerous scratches. ¡°There¡¯s enough loot for everyone, so don¡¯t dig through every pile of rocks.¡± ¡°Yes, sir!¡± the warriors in less impressive armor shouted. They had worse equipment overall, prompting them to look for something better. They didn¡¯t find anything, unfortunately. The group of soldiers had been going through the underground tunnels for two hours already and hadn¡¯t encountered any serious resistance from the monsters, thanks to the detachments teamwork, well-practiced tactics. and a great deal of training. The monsters in this part of the dungeon were relatively weak. Really, how could human-sized beetles ever harm a strong warrior that surpassed them in every way? That¡¯s right, they couldn¡¯t. That¡¯s how the monsters ended up being slaughtered by the hundreds while protecting their even weaker brethren. The party made sure to exterminate all of them as well so that the monsters wouldn¡¯t hit them from behind later on. In this dungeon, the bosses would call on almost all the mobs that hadn¡¯t been killed in the caves, and then it would become very difficult to deal with all of them. That¡¯s why they had to do the tedious cleanup. Sometimes, the smaller mobs would drop something interesting, but it happened so rarely that many were skeptical of the claims and didn¡¯t even expect to get anything. But the trio of warriors didn¡¯t intend to give up. The cave was vast, and it included quite a number of levels with many bosses throughout, as well as common mobs. There were so many kinds of them that players were still finding new types. However, not every raid could clear the dungeon and most were limited to only clearing the first level. As was shown in the dungeon¡¯s status, it hadn¡¯t been completed yet. That was why this dungeon was often stormed by the top guilds, with no success thus far, and now the first level was being farmed by the small clans.Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel. ¡°This way!¡± one of the trio shouted. ¡°We¡¯ve got a couple of the more serious mobs here.¡± Karkant Warrior ¨C level 39 Karkant Keeper ¨C level 37 ¡°A warrior and a healer,¡± the second one summarized, intercepting its sword with both hands and looking at the tall, mantis-like creatures with refined bodies and angular heads that looked similar to a human¡¯s. ¡°Okay, let¡¯s warm up.¡± The keeper, whose antennae formed something like a basic hairstyle, moved away, hissed something several times, and was almost hit by the third fighter, but the beetle warrior managed to repel the blow. ¡°This one¡¯s good,¡± the attacker grinned. ¡°Check it out, guys,¡± the first warrior said in surprise. ¡°They¡¯re protecting that small beetle.¡± @$##^&@, level 0 ¡°That little beetle¡¯s kinda bugged¡± the other one frowned. ¡°Gotta do him in¡± ¡°That¡¯s exactly what we¡¯ll do,¡± the third nodded, and his sword glowed with a dim light, after which, with a burst of energy, he threw the beetle warrior back. Meanwhile, the second one scored a hit using a sweeping attack. The keeper squeaked plaintively, clutching the stump of her foreleg to her thorax. The first warrior stuck his sword into the rising karkant, but the bug became enraged upon seeing the other two trying to kill the keeper, and despite the damage he¡¯d taken, rushed over to help her. ¡°Ugh! Damn!¡± One of the attackers had blood on his face. ¡°A skilled moron, despite his low level.¡± ¡°Not for long,¡± the warrior chuckled indifferently, cutting off the head of the beetle in a single, powerful blow. The body of the karkant warrior slowly fell to the ground, coating the floor in a disturbingly red blood. ¡°It¡¯s time to finish up, otherwise RL will kick our asses,¡± the first said and plunged the sword into the body of the keeper several times, until the plaintive squeaking stopped. ¡°For some reason, this buggie isn¡¯t running away,¡± said the player indifferently, pulling the sword out of the keeper¡¯s body. Blood gushed out from her multiple wounds. ¡°Well, he is bugged¡±, their colleague shrugged, and with one blow destroyed the zero-level mob who¡¯d tried to attack the players at the last moment. Chapter 1.1 Small beetle. Big cave. The darkness inside What a headache. Everything around me is spinning and won¡¯t stop. Why do I feel so ill? I guess I¡¯m lying on the floor, but I can¡¯t see a thing. It¡¯s hard to breathe. What¡¯s happening to me? I¡¯ve never taken anything like that before. Wait, what did I take? It had become cold somehow¡­ and I was hungry. Hold on. Something¡¯s wrong with my thoughts. I can¡¯t concentrate on anything. This went on for quite a long time; okay, maybe not too long, but everything felt very strange. And at some point, I opened my eyes. Everything appeared to be dark gray in color. Cold stones lay inert all over the floor while droplets of water fell from the ceiling, splashing loudly on the surface of the stones. From somewhere off to the side came strange gnashing sounds, and I decided to go over there and look at where they were coming from. As soon as I tried to get up, I tripped on my own legs and fell back down. There were¡­ six of them. Sharp but small. I experienced a vague feeling of wrongness at that. I couldn¡¯t stand up the normal way. It took at least an hour for me to finally learn how to cope a little with my limbs, after which I slowly headed toward the sounds. It was hard to control my legs and my heartbeat was somehow wrong, erratic, while my breathing felt too labored. I kept stumbling as I walked, running out of energy, chest heaving as I fought for air. If I paused to rest for a while, everything became normal, or, well, something close to it at least. Soon enough, I just started counting as I walked: one, and I moved the front legs, two, the rear ones. Using this simple method, I eventually reached my destination. A small pebble was shining on the ground, slightly diluting the black and gray colors of the surrounding space, revealing the silhouettes of two strange creatures in the pitch-black darkness. They were somehow similar to a praying mantis and had six legs, like I did, but the two front ones were slightly different and ended with three claws shaped like fingers. Perhaps they could even hold something with these, unlike me. I looked at my own legs once again and realized that holding anything would be hard for me. They had very refined bodies of a light gray color. Their big eyes seemed as if they were the color of emeralds, but my eyesight, apparently, didn¡¯t allow me to see the color properly, so to me, they were an odd gray. The black, round pupils of the girl focused on me, and after grooming the antennae on her head, she tried to tell me something through her small jaws. Seeing that I didn¡¯t understand her, she straightened her¡­ hair, covering her slightly triangular face and thin neck again, and excitedly turned to a mighty warrior, who was bigger than her and much more powerful. The warrior grinned kindly and made several gestures with his forelegs to calm her down. After some time, the keeper turned to me again, and to my surprise, I found that I was now able to understand her strange speech. ¡°Do you understand me?¡± The beetle girl¡¯s eyes were looking at me with pity. ¡°Yes,¡± I managed to get out in a strangled voice. My throat ached, and my face tightened. ¡°Calm down,¡± the warrior put his hand on the keeper¡¯s shoulder. ¡°He just came into the world and cant properly perceive it yet. Remember what the Highest said. His consciousness must stabilize. ¡° ¡°Do you even know what that means?¡± she asked, her eyes narrowing. ¡°No, but it sounds very convincing,¡± the warrior grinned back at her, which made the keeper sigh deeply. Cytrilct, level 39 Trirlil, level 37 I saw their names above them and something about levels. All of this was rather strange, and I didn¡¯t understand what was happening at all, but I didn¡¯t feel as if I was in any danger from these creatures. On the contrary, I felt something akin to fondness for them, something warm. My heartbeat was much calmer, and I¡¯d stopped gasping for breath.The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation. ¡°Come here, dear Tesselr,¡± the beetle girl beckoned to me and I approached her. ¡°Hooray! He understands!¡± Trirlil jumped with joy, lifting me in her arms, which were hard like stone but still felt a bit warm. ¡°We had to go through a lot before you finally came into this world, child,¡± the man said kindly, looking at me and the keeper. ¡°Tesselr, hide,¡± Cytrilct suddenly said, after a while. ¡°Trirlil, get behind me. The rippers are coming.¡± ¡°For what?¡± Tears appeared in the girl¡¯s large eyes. ¡°Why are you doing this to us, gods? Tesselr,¡± her gaze was filled with such sorrow that it made me feel uncomfortable. ¡°Hide and don¡¯t let yourself be killed,¡± she gently put me back on the ground and pushed me slightly forward. Soon, strange creatures appeared. Their shells glittered in the bright light coming from the thin sticks. It was hard to look in their direction, but I could clearly make them out before I averted my eyes. These creatures had only four limbs: they walked on two of them, and in the other two, they held sticks with light and strange, sharp claws. One of them shouted something to the others, and after a brief discussion, the trio headed toward us. ¡°Tesselr, run!¡± the keeper shouted and almost took a blow from a sharp claw, but the beetle warrior was able to repel it. The creature jumped aside and turned to its mate. ¡°That little beetle¡¯s kinda bugged¡± said another one, pointing at me with a sharp claw. ¡°Gotta do him in.¡± One of the two-legged pushed back the beetle warrior with one powerful blow, and the second, twisting its claw around itself, hit both of my parents. Trirlil pressed the stump of her claw to herself, getting covered in a dark red color, which stood out sharply against the gray tones of the rest of the place. The first creature prodded Cytrilct with its claw, but he became furious upon seeing the couple of two-legged trying to kill the keeper and rushed over to help her. He managed to touch his foreleg to the gray head of the monster, and I saw that red color again. However, what came next horrified me. The enemy struck out so powerfully with its claw that it beheaded the beetle warrior. The other two focused on Trirlil, stabbing their claws into her. ¡°Run! Tesselr!¡± her voice was getting quieter. ¡°Run...¡± Everything around me turned red, my heart beating with incredible strength. I felt angry, no, I was furious as I saw Trirlil¡¯s eyes glazing over, the same eyes that had looked at me so tenderly a while ago. ¡°It¡¯s time to finish up, otherwise RL will kick our asses.¡± The monster said something, all the while sticking its claw into the keeper¡¯s body repeatedly. ¡°For some reason, this buggie isn¡¯t running away,¡± the monster said in his nasty voice, pulling the claw out of Trirlil¡¯s body. Blood gushed out of the wound, painting everything around it in that damned color. ¡°Well, he is bugged,¡± his foul voice sounded again, and I rushed at him, but scarlet splashes struck my eyes, a severe pain pierced my entire body, and then darkness enveloped everything around me. I don¡¯t know how long I was in the darkness, but at some point, I realized that I was able to open my eyes. Once again, the world was made up entirely of gray tones. There were no monsters in their glittering shells, whereas the bodies of my family still lay side by side, in puddles of red liquid. My heart ached, and I went to them, not knowing what to do. At some point, I just lay down near them and started to think. About ten minutes later, a bright window appeared in front of my eyes. It hurt my eyes to even look at it because it was so bright. Your status! Character name: @$##^&@ Race: Monster Class: - Level: 0 Experience: 0 Health: 1/1 Energy: 0/0 Do you want to change your name? Yes/No What is this? Levels and other nonsense again. The name¡­ something unclear was displayed there. No, this isn¡¯t my name. Trirlil called me something else. ¡°Tes Sel Er,¡± I hissed through my jaws and my throat started aching again. The character¡¯s name: Tes Sel Er Okay, what is this level thing? How do I find out? As soon as I thought about it, a hint with some pleasant text came up in front of my eyes: Your level is the feature that shows the degree of your development Chapter 1.2 Small beetle. Big cave. The darkness inside My eyes hurt from looking at the bright window. Why can¡¯t it be a little smaller? The letters could be bigger as well. Again, the instant I thought of it, the message window changed its color to black and the text transformed into a flattering, beautiful font of a dark red color, which made me recall my family and the monsters that had killed them. Letting out a sigh, I thought about how I needed to know about the rest of it, too. Experience is the parameter that grows through the destruction of your enemies, doing tasks, the acquisition of new knowledge, the use of skills, etc. Experience can be invested into anything you choose: an object, a part of your body and everything else that you can come up with, apart from your stats. I wondered what I could think about next, but my brain wasn¡¯t working that well yet, and my thoughts were still scrambled. Was it possible to upgrade the brain? I should try to do that as soon as I get some experience. And as for my health, well, it seemed pretty obvious. But what is this energy and what is it needed for? Energy is the parameter that increases depending on your internal structure and is necessary in the use of several unusual skills. Well, that¡¯s a bit vague. Whatever, I¡¯ll see to it later. The only thing left to ask now is what a class is and why I¡¯m a monster. Class is the parameter that determines the direction of your development. Monster is the most numerous and diverse race in Reyne. It includes so many unusual representatives that it would take more than one thousand years to compile a complete list of all the monsters. The demons can somewhat compete in terms of species diversity. Monsters are the most unusual creatures in the world, and despite their name, which people gave them, can be much more human than any of them. So that was the name of those two-legged creatures. But how do I get stronger? What should I focus on? After having these thoughts, I saw the windows once again pop up before my eyes. Basic stats: Mind: 1 Evolution: 1 Structure: 1 Complexity: 1 Secondary stats: Mobility: 0 Knowledge: 0 Strength: 0 Life: 1 Mind - allows you to more intelligently analyze and process the data collected by your sense organs.A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation. Evolution - this parameter is responsible for how high the possibility of absorbing and using the parts of other creatures is. Structure ¨C responsible for the stability of your evolution and further development Complexity - increases the complexity of the available evolutions. Mobility is the parameter that determines the speed of your movement, reaction time, agility and balance. Knowledge is the parameter that determines to which degree you can develop your intellect and allows you to replenish energy faster. Strength is the parameter that allows you to physically influence the world around you. The larger this parameter, the higher the coefficient of your impact on the surrounding world. Life is the parameter that determines your ability to survive, adapt, and your resistance to various types of external influences on your body (cold, heat, poison, magic, etc.). So much information¡­ but at least I have a better idea of what I need to do now. I need to somehow develop my mind and strength in order to defeat monsters like those two-legged. Hmm... how did I even end up back here? I was killed, and I clearly remember the cold touch of death. And if I¡¯m here, then why are my parents lying dead in front of me? I walked over to Trirlil and touched the red puddle with my foreleg. A black window with dark red text popped up. The blood of a karkant keeper has been absorbed! New development opportunities are available! Received 10 points of experience! What? What is a karkant? This is Trirlil! Why did I get this experience? For absorbing her blood? My heart began to pound wildly once again. I didn¡¯t know how to react to this. A part of me kept insisting that what I was doing was wrong, one should not absorb the blood of their family. And yet, my mind kept telling me that it would otherwise be impossible to survive and beat the two-legged creatures with long claws. I came up to Cytrilct and dipped my leg into the blood of the warrior as well. The blood of a karkant warrior has been absorbed! New development opportunities are available! Received 10 points of experience! I looked at my dead parents, feeling bitter and ashamed, and began to examine what new opportunities for development had become available to me. Karkant¡¯s hand. Description: A hand with three claw-fingers that allows you to grab objects. This development unlocks the use of a spike. Stats: Strength +1; Life +1; Health +20. Requirements: Mind 1; Life 1; Evolution 1. Healing Gene Description: Creates a structure in your body that directs your energy toward accelerating your regenerative abilities. Stats: Mind +2; Life +4; Health +50; Complexity +2; Structure +2; Evolution +2. Effect: ¡°Healing¡±. Requirements: Level 20; Life 10; Evolution 5; Structure 5. Wow, that¡¯s great, means I can make myself a pair of hands, like my parents had, but how? I should... yes, that¡¯s it! After all, I have the experience, which I need to put into my mind stat because that¡¯s how I¡¯ll progress faster. Now, how do I do that? After trying for about twenty minutes, I was finally able to manage it. Your brain is evolving. Now you have an underdeveloped brain! Stats: Mind +3 Level up! Current Level: 2. This was great! I immediately began to think much more clearly, and my thoughts stopped being so chaotic. I immediately figured out how to use the hand. Having activated it, I made the right foreleg slightly transform and it became like the hands of Trirlil and Cytrilct had been. I even moved my little claws around to test them out, but then a very sad thought occurred to me. I couldn¡¯t grow a hand on the second foreleg because there weren¡¯t enough points for the evolution. I see, this means that if I want more body parts for myself, then the requirements change depending on their number. I wonder if I could grow another head¡­ Admittedly, I don¡¯t need it. It seems like I won¡¯t be able to use the gene for some time, but that¡¯s no big deal, I¡¯ll just have to make do without it. Then I began to dig a hole. It was hard, because I didn¡¯t have enough strength, and I constantly had to pause in order to catch my breath. After some time, I was finally able to finish digging the hole and drag the bodies of my parents into it. I¡¯d somewhat overestimated my strength, so it wasn¡¯t too deep. Then I covered the bodies carefully with stones. I don¡¯t know why I did it, but something in my soul told me that it was the right thing to do. I wanted to scratch their names into a pebble, but nothing worked. The hand was unresponsive, and the claws weren¡¯t strong enough. Letting out a deep sigh, I mentally said goodbye to them and set off to explore the world around me. Chapter 2.1 The development. The encounter. The two-legged. The cave turned out to be very large; there was a whole lot of stone shards everywhere, which hampered my movement. The impenetrable darkness seemed to loom over me from above, which frightened me a little. The entire time, I kept fearing that the two-legged would jump out from somewhere and kill me with their claws, but everything was quiet. The only thing that disturbed the silence were the water droplets as they fell onto the stones below. I took one of these shards that strongly resembled a claw and was much stronger than my own with me. It looked very large in my hand and it was hard to hold, but I felt a little calmer for having it. ¡°It¡¯s a pity that I cannot grow a second hand; things would be much easier,¡± I muttered absently. Sometimes, the grayness of the cave would be interrupted by the dim light of some mushrooms and plants. I noticed one of these sources of light, and I came closer. It was a small, translucent mushroom, glowing with a steady, dull turquoise light. This light soothed me, and I wanted to get even closer, but the mushroom grew too high up, and without a second hand, I wouldn¡¯t be able to reach it. I looked at its light a bit longer and then kept going. I wondered why there was no one else around. Was I alone here? I had been wandering around the cave for about two more hours before I saw something amazing. A large lake, filled with clear water. It was shallow, and its bottom was clearly visible. I came closer and put my hand in the water. ¡°Brrr! Cold.¡± Hmm... I was thirsty and decided to taste this delicious water. After my thirst had been quenched, I spotted something strange in the lake. It seemed close to the surface. I became curious and went over to look at this little thing. The depth appeared to be much greater than I¡¯d originally thought; I had to plunge completely under the water. At first, it was rather cold, but then my body started getting used to it. There was a pebble at the bottom, almost transparent, interspersed with white crystals. I took it in my hand that, for some reason, started to become unresponsive, and hurried back. It got worse with each minute I spent in the water, and I barely managed to get ashore. I had to lie down for half an hour before I felt more or less okay again. I carefully looked at the stone, but the previous feeling of definitely needing it had disappeared. I took a deep breath and threw the trifle back into the lake. I wondered how I could protect myself from the cold. Maybe I need to change my shell. Anyway, why was I thinking about something like that when I didn¡¯t even have any experience points? After a while, I felt something strange in my stomach. My mind suggested it was hunger, and then I remembered the luminous mushrooms. The hunger forced me to look for something edible, but there were only stones and water around. After a while, I finally stumbled upon a couple of mushrooms. Their thin, conical caps shone slightly with a greenish light, which caused me some discomfort, but I couldn¡¯t stand the hunger pains anymore, and so, without hesitation, I ate them both. A few minutes later, I felt ill, and a dark window with red letters on it appeared in front of me again. You are poisoned! Take an antidote, otherwise, you will die within 60, 59 ... 47 seconds! ¡°What kind of antidote? Where do I find it?¡± I yelled as I rushed about, panicking. I never wanted to see that darkness again, but as time went by, I kept getting worse and worse. When I saw the countdown reach ¡®zero¡¯, my vision was covered in a dark red veil, and I found myself in the darkness once more. *** I opened my eyes and saw the graves of my parents. Now it was clear that, when I died, I would be transferred here. I looked around. ¡°Since I¡¯ve already been that way, let`s try the opposite path.¡± It turned out to be much more interesting. Every now and then, I could see some strange, dark gray pebbles glittering on the walls, and they turned out to be very solid. I also saw a moss that I tried to eat, and surprisingly, I didn¡¯t die. Unfortunately, it had no taste. I took a little bit of the moss with me and pressed on. From time to time, I encountered dried pools of blood, but there were no bodies to be found. Did these two-legged really devour my kind? Why hadn¡¯t they done the same to Trirlil then? So many questions and no answers in sight. I ate some of the moss again. The cave moss gene is successfully absorbed! New development opportunities are available! 10 points of experience received! Cave moss gene Description: enables your body to accumulate a number of different substances within itself. Stats: Life +1; Health +10; Complexity +1; Structure +1; Evolution +1. Effect: ¡°Accumulation¡±. Requirements: Level 2; Life 2; Evolution 1; Structure 1. Level up! Current level: 3. ¡°Wonderful! Thanks to this gene I can now grow a second hand.¡± So that¡¯s what I immediately did. ¡°Woo-hoo, I¡¯m making progress! Even if little by little.¡±If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it. Level up! Current level: 4. Great! However, I couldn¡¯t understand why my level was getting higher. Reading the description a second time didn¡¯t help clarify the issue. Okay, I¡¯ll figure it out later, when I get smarter. As I resumed walking, I kept thinking about how I¡¯d managed to absorb the blood on the first try, but I had eaten a lot of moss before I managed to get its property. Hmm, is it possible to give up a property? What if some of them cause something bad to happen again? I wouldn¡¯t want to become a two-legged. I needed to do a little growing up and walk straight since it was inconvenient to lean on the stony surface with my forelegs, and at the same time, I would look like my parents. Hmm... their torsos had been almost the same as that of the two-legged. Does that mean that the two-legged are also related to us? Why did they kill their own kind then? It didn¡¯t make sense. Also¡­ what kind of substances can I accumulate inside me? I needed to find out, but as I¡¯ve already said, my main goal right now was to get smarter. Besides, where can I put my experience points? I don¡¯t think they¡¯ll be enough to improve my mind, but where else can I put them? How do I find that out? This time, I saw a whole set of windows respond to my thoughts. On the first window, I saw the parts of my body, on the second ¨C my internal organs, and on the third ¨C my genes. ¡°Wow, these also indicate the stats that these parts provide me with.¡± I said, amazed. I took a careful look at them and figured out that the total amount of stat points I got from them was twenty. Okay, so that means if I¡¯m level four, then each level has five points worth of stats. Therefore, to increase my level, I just need to get different body parts that would add more stats. The only question is, why should I raise my level, and what benefit will it give me? Your mind is limited by your brain. Nevertheless, it went beyond its limits! 20 points of experience received! These messages made me think carefully and a strange thing suddenly happened to me, after which I passed out. I don¡¯t know how long I lay there, but when I woke up, another message appeared. Your brain could not cope with the pressure created by your mind! Be careful, this can cause your death! Does that mean I cannot afford to think properly then? Tsr-r-tk! I made a noise with my jaws as if I were eating a stone. I was angry at this limitation. Who came up with this? Absolutely angry at such an injustice, I went ahead and began eating some of the moss again. ¡°Where are you heading, kid?¡± a voice sounded from nearby. I looked around but saw no one. It was strange, very strange. It seemed as if I¡¯d begun to hear imaginary voices. Maybe I shouldn¡¯t have eaten this moss. ¡°I¡¯m here, over here!¡± the same voice said, and a large stone rolled aside, a large beetle crawling out. It was larger than me but smaller than Trirlil had been. He had big, dark gray eyes and a black shell. His long, white mustache hung down to the ground. His jaws resembled the two-legged¡¯s claws; however, they were slightly smaller. Khha, level 45 ¡°Who are you?¡± I blurted out and coughed. How strange this was: every time I wanted to say something, my throat began aching. ¡°Use the jaws, lad,¡± the old fellow said. ¡°Don¡¯t try to copy the rippers. At your level, it¡¯ll be very difficult to speak their language. You¡¯d better wait a bit, get stronger and modify yourself.¡± ¡°Who are you?¡± I repeated the question using my jaws, and then it was much easier, although it felt unusual to me. ¡°Much better now,¡± the old fellow nodded. ¡°I am Khha, a cave bug. As far as I understand it, you are the karkants¡¯ offspring. Did you manage to escape from the rippers?¡± ¡°But who are the rippers?¡± I was surprised, although I remembered that Cytrilct had also used this word. ¡°They are the two-legged,¡± the old bug clarified. ¡°They¡¯re called the rippers because after they kill us, they take our bodies apart¡±. ¡°Yeah¡­ they killed me, and I couldn¡¯t do anything, and neither could Cytrilct and Trirlil,¡± I said, feeling sad. ¡°That¡¯s bad, you cannot allow yourself to be killed,¡± the cave bug said and asked. ¡°Where are your parents?¡± ¡°I buried them under some stones,¡± I replied. I noticed that the old fellow was looking at me intently. ¡°You are quite unlucky,¡± the beetle sighed. ¡°They were on their last rebirth.¡± ¡°What does that mean?¡± ¡°Everyone who happens to be in this cave, except the two-legged, has a certain number of rebirths available to them. This determines the number of times you can be reborn if you¡¯re killed. The higher your level is, the more times you have. Your parents were on their last lives, so they just didn¡¯t have time to explain everything to you. However, no one knows the exact number of their lives. You will find it out only when you have three lives left.¡± ¡°But why do the two-legged kill us?¡± ¡°Everything is simple,¡± the bug clacked its jaws. ¡°To get stronger. They kill us, they gain experience, we kill them, we gain experience. The stronger one wins. Natural selection. Besides, they usually go up to the Highers, to get antiquities. They aren¡¯t always aware of why they need them, but, apparently, there is a reason, if they keep going there.¡± ¡°How do I stay safe then?¡± I asked the completely logical question because I was very weak, and I didn¡¯t want to die again. ¡°There is no definitive answer to this question,¡± the cave bug shrugged its legs. ¡°Everyone tries in their own way. I hide under the stone, someone digs into the ground or climbs to the ceiling, some use disguises, others hide in the farthest corners of the cave, though that¡¯s not always the best way. Whose method is better? Only the gods know. In short, think up a way that suits you. I¡¯m sorry, lad, but I can¡¯t help you, I have only three lives left, and I don¡¯t want to die at all.¡± ¡°Can you answer a couple more questions?¡± ¡°Of course,¡± the old fellow scratched his shell with his legs. ¡°There¡¯s still some time left, so go ahead and ask me.¡± ¡°Who are the Highers?¡± ¡°They¡¯re also locked in this cave like we are, but they surpass us in every way. Even numerous groups of rippers cannot defeat them completely. Each of the Highers guards their dungeon level, and so far, the two-legged have failed to defeat all of them, and that makes them incredibly angry.¡± ¡°And why do we speak the language of the two-legged?¡± I asked the old fellow. ¡°You see, no matter how badly we are massacred, there are always those who look upon us not only as a source of experience but also as living beings. Such two-legged are extremely rare, but they do exist, and it¡¯s very difficult to encounter them, but it is quite possible. We can exchange something with them or find out something from them. Besides, there are some good ones among them. And can you imagine what a funny face they make when they hear the words of their language coming from a beetle? Regardless of their race and class, it¡¯s always amusing. Now I need to clarify something: the two-legged are divided into races, and each of them has its own direction, which is called a class. This class can strongly affect their character, but their astonishment is always sincere, and their faces take on an indescribable shape. But my jokes have gotten me into trouble and now I only have three lives left. Now I would like to ask you a question. Why did you cover the bodies of your family with stones?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know,¡± I replied after a while. ¡°Something inside me was sure that it would be the right thing to do.¡± ¡°That¡¯s weird.¡± ¡°Why is hiding in the farthest corners of the cave not the best option?¡± ¡°Because not all of our kind are... good,¡± the cave bug answered after a hesitant pause. ¡°And those who are like that also hide in the farthest corners and can even kill someone of their own kind that`s why I think so. To tell you the truth, the mechanisms of the ancients can also activate sometimes, but that happens quite rarely. Alright, you will have to ask someone else the rest of your questions, I have to go and fetch some food.¡± ¡°Can I help you?¡± I asked hopefully since I needed to find out what I could eat besides the moss. The old fellow looked at me skeptically but then decided to give me a chance. ¡°Hmm... why not?¡± Chapter 2.2 The development. The encounter. The two-legged. Khha offers you the task: ¡°Stock up on food¡±! The Goal: Find 10 turquoitus, 10 rubitus, 10 emeraltus, 1 transparentus, and 10 haloptirius for the cave bug. Accept: yes/no? I accepted the old fellow¡¯s task and asked him what I needed to bring and where I should look for it. ¡°A turquoitus is a mushroom with a gorgeous cap that glows with a turquoise light. A very tasty thing, by the way. A rubitus is a mushroom, too, but of a smaller size, and it grows near the glittering stones from which the two-legged make their claws. Its most distinctive trait is a reddish glow that forms a halo around the cap. An emeraltus is not like the previous mushrooms, it has a thin cap. These mushrooms are very small, they shine with a very weak, dark green light and while standing close to them it¡¯s possible to see them sparkle in a dark green hue. As for a transparentus¡­ it¡¯s a bit more complicated. This is a quite large, transparent mushroom and it doesn¡¯t glow. These kinds of mushrooms accumulate water inside themselves, so you should look for the transparentus near small lakes. Haloptirius are small creatures similar to caterpillars; they are quite often found near cave moss.¡± ¡°I see,¡± I nodded, memorizing everything the old fellow told me. ¡°But before you leave, I¡¯ll teach you a skill, since there¡¯d been no time for you to be taught properly before,¡± the cave bug touched my head with its sharp leg, and something strange happened. ¡°Spatial pocket¡± skill acquired! Description: allows you to create a spatial pocket that clings to your body. The pocket provides you with five cells where you can put any items. Level: 1 ¡°Use the skill.¡± ¡°How?¡± ¡°Just think that you want to place something in the space available to you,¡± - the cave bug clarified. ¡°For example, this pebble.¡± I took the pebble and began to examine it carefully while imagining how it would fall into a pocket. Nothing happened for a while, and when my eyes began watering from the strain, the stone jumped up and disappeared. ¡°Wow!¡± I twitched in surprise from such an unexpected result. ¡°Now close your eyes and imagine this pebble in front of you,¡± Khha continued to explain. I followed the old bug¡¯s advice and saw a black window pop up in front of me. It was divided into five cells, and my stone was being kept in one of them. ¡°Now reach out toward the pebble and get it out of there.¡± Once again, I did as instructed, and the stone was back in my hand. ¡°Without this skill, you would not be able to bring back everything that I had asked for,¡± - the bug scratched its shell. ¡°Develop this power and the number of cells will expand. You can also try to get a ripper¡¯s bag, then you will have an additional way to collect items. However, keep in mind that it will be extremely difficult to do so.¡± He paused thoughtfully for a second. ¡°Well, alright, I¡¯ve told you the basics, now practice them. I think at least fifty rebirths must have been given to you after you appeared in this world but be careful: life runs out so quickly that you don¡¯t even notice it,¡± Khha said and disappeared under the big stone. ¡°Thank you,¡± I told the old fellow and went to get the items. First, I went to the place where the turquoitus grew. I just needed to figure out how to get them. It was a pity that I had to walk for quite a long time and I couldn¡¯t move quickly. I should work on my mobility. And in the meantime, I need to practice. Along the way, I picked up different sorts of pebbles and placed them in my pocket. Some of them were stored in one cell and others were distributed among the rest. Honestly, I didn¡¯t see any visual difference, but, apparently, it was there. However, it didn¡¯t matter. The important thing was that this training raised my level of ability to three. Finally, I reached the right place and immediately saw the glow. The mushroom was on the wall, but very high up. It looked to be about five times my height and it seemed a very difficult task to fulfill. I tried to climb up several times, but I kept falling back down onto the sharp stones. The third time was especially unsuccessful, and more than a dozen hit points were lost. My shell hurt, so I didn¡¯t want to climb anymore, and I had to think carefully about my next steps. Well, there are only two options available to me. I have experience and I need to either invest it into my mind to get smarter and come up with something or throw the points into my legs and hope that my mobility will improve. What am I supposed to do?Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there. Warning! Your brain cannot cope with processing and analyzing the incoming data! And here¡¯s a warning about how stupid I am! I¡¯m not even allowed to think properly. Do I want to see it again? No. Therefore, the issue is resolved. I threw all my points into the mind stat. Your brain is evolving. Now you have an ordinary brain! Stats: mind +5, evolution +1. Well, great, my head definitely feels better after that. Now let`s think about what to do next. Hmm... exactly! I have a lot of stones! I took out a pebble and threw it at the mushroom. Surprisingly, I had enough strength for the throw to make it to the mushroom, but I couldn¡¯t hit it. Throwing upward wasn¡¯t very convenient because of my body, but I couldn¡¯t do anything with it now. On my seventh attempt, I managed to hit this ill-fated turquoitus and it fell to the stones. I picked it up and put it in my pocket. Phew! Now I need to find nine more pieces. I wonder how the old fellow would¡¯ve gotten them. I continued on. It seemed like half an eternity passed while I searched for and collected these turquoitus, but I did a fine job. I was lucky, especially toward the end. With only one mushroom left, I found three of them and knocked them down from the wall in three hits. Holding the turquoitus in my hand, I observed this very interesting mushroom closely. What a pleasant light it emitted. My eyes felt so good, as if I were resting. Lights were flickering inside the cap and stalk, and its internal structure sparkled with different shades of blue. It was strange; when I¡¯d first seen this mushroom, it had looked a little different. Perhaps an improved brain can process the sights of the world much better. I thought a little more on it and just ate this delicacy. What a divine taste! Now I understood why the old bug had asked me to bring them to him. Now I needed to go to the lake and look for a transparentus. I spent a few hours looking for this mysterious mushroom, but I couldn¡¯t find anything. After drinking water from the lake, I once again saw the pebble that I¡¯d recently thrown away. I grumbled a little, plunged into the water and reached for the stone. It wasn¡¯t so far away this time since I hadn¡¯t had enough strength to throw it that far out. I grabbed it and while I was heading back, I ran into something strange. It seemed as if there was something in the water and I could not keep going. I took out a luminous turquoitus from my bag and saw the shape of another, rather large mushroom, which was growing right under the water. ¡°Yeah, right, by the lake,¡± I snickered, remembering Khha¡¯s words. ¡°Not ¡®by¡¯, but ¡®in¡¯.¡± I swam for quite a long time, and whenever I got particularly cold, I went ashore. I wanted to find a couple more of these mushrooms for myself. You never knew when they would come in handy. If I was right, these mushrooms shouldn¡¯t have any taste, but they could be used far from a water source. How strange, the stones could be adjusted for this purpose. I saw a couple of suitable ones that had holes in them. A few hours later, I finally found another mushroom and climbed ashore, feeling satisfied. Your shell is evolving. Now you have a cold resistant beetle shell! Stats: evolution +1, life +1. Effect: cold protection + 2% 20 points of experience gained! Level up! Current level: 5. Wow! At this rate, I¡¯ll soon be able to use the healing gene that Trirlil left me. I stretched my frozen legs and went over to the green emeraltus mushroom that had poisoned me. It wasn¡¯t clear why the old fellow needed them, but if he¡¯d asked for them, then there had to be some reason for it. I found them much faster than I¡¯d expected, and it took me two hours to collect fifteen mushrooms. Why fifteen, and not ten? It was simple: you never knew when they could become useful. I had only one cell left. The moss grew in a completely different area, alongside those sparkling stones, next to which the rubitus were supposed to grow. Therefore, I decided to go back to the old bug and hand over the items I¡¯d already found. ¡°Oh, you¡¯ve already returned,¡± he said, surprised. ¡°Let¡¯s see what you got for me. Alright, so: transparentus, turquoitus, hmm... what are these?¡± He pointed to the mushrooms that were glowing green. ¡°Emeraltus,¡± I replied. ¡°These are not emeraltus,¡± Khha shook his head. ¡°This is amanita. Look here, there¡¯s a light green glow, whereas emeraltus¡¯ glow is darker. Besides, an amanita is a poisonous mushroom, and it is quite dangerous. Don¡¯t eat these mushrooms.¡± ¡°Okay,¡± I frowned and didn¡¯t tell him about my experience with them. ¡°So far, you¡¯re doing well, keep it up,¡± the old fellow nodded and disappeared under the stone again. Slightly upset, I hid the mushrooms and that pebble with white crystals inside it and headed to the place where I had found the cave moss. That place turned out to be harder to find than I¡¯d expected, but after wandering around for a while, I finally found it. I picked up some moss again and put it in my inventory. Then I noticed something strange nearby. Small, slightly elongated, translucent creatures with many legs were swarming near a pebble. They seemed to be the haloptirius. I couldn¡¯t resist and tried one of the caterpillars. The taste, however, was somewhat unusual, and somewhere in the back of my mind, disgust appeared and then immediately disappeared. The old fellow seemed to be a foodie. The caterpillars turned out to be very sweet and tasty. I collected twenty-two of them. After that, I wandered around some more and finally found the emeraltus. Yes, they really did look like amanita, but they were a bit bigger and glowed with a darker light. Besides, they smelled completely different. Such an unusual smell, like... what¡¯s it called? Oh! Spruce! Yes, these mushrooms smelled like spruce! I somehow managed to track this smell and found thirteen of them. I didn¡¯t eat them¡ªI was too scared to try. Now I only needed to find the rubitus, and the place where they were supposed to be was very close by. I found the glittering stones pretty fast. They were very solid and durable, and if I had at least one shard of them with me, I could attack the rippers. When I saw the halo around the cap of the first rubitus, my heart immediately began to beat wildly. I got scared because its color resembled blood. It took me a while to get over it. Then I had to throw away twenty pebbles to make room for them in the spatial pocket. After collecting fifteen pieces, I finally calmed down, and having put the last one in my inventory, I ate the sixteenth. How wonderful it was to experience such an incredible taste. The word strawberry popped into my head, and the taste got even better. ¡°Hey, Gardner, come see,¡± I heard someone`s voice call out. ¡°There¡¯s a bug devouring a rubitus over here.¡± ¡°Where?¡± Another one replied, and horror gripped my soul when I saw two of the two-legged in their shining shells. Chapter 3.1 The first fight. The upgrade. The similar bugs ¡°There he is, devouring our rubitus¡± the first one sighed. ¡°What the f¡­?¡± Gardner swore. ¡°This glittering stuff is damn hard to find and it¡¯s hard as hell to find those rotten mushrooms.¡± ¡°Not as rotten as they could be, when you consider what poisons they¡¯re necessary for and how much they cost,¡° the warrior with the two swords responded, chuckling. ¡°Well, what¡¯s this low-level trash doing?¡± Gardner¡¯s face twisted into a grimace. ¡°It just keeps devouring our rubitus.¡± ¡°Well, the mushrooms are still his.¡± ¡°We can change that easily enough,¡± the ripper¡¯s face lit up with a nasty grin. ¡°And we¡¯re gonna do it right away.¡± The two-legged took out a rather big claw, holding it with both hands, and moved slowly toward me. The other one put his hands behind his head and slowly set off in my direction as well, humming something to himself. Gardner, level 62 Dor Kloz, level 63 I saw the information about their levels above their heads and got scared. They were much stronger than me, but it didn¡¯t matter, I didn¡¯t want to die. Then I got the stones out of my spatial pocket and began to throw them at the approaching human being. ¡°Ah ha ha!¡± came the nasty laughter of this two-legged monster. ¡°This freak¡¯s throwing stones at us, haha!¡± ¡°Hmm... this one, as you put it, is a freak and only level five, but he¡¯s not afraid of us.¡± The other frowned. ¡°This is strange.¡° ¡°C¡¯mon, Dor,¡± Gardner waved his hand at him. ¡°Let¡¯s play with him a bit.¡± The warrior moved so quickly that I didn¡¯t even notice until it turned up by my side. He struck his sword against the ground, and a wave of pebbles bombarded my shell, leaving deep scratches in it and taking my health away. ¡°Don¡¯t forget, you cannot inflict too much damage on small mobs all at once, otherwise, there¡¯ll be no loot,¡± Kloz said calmly. ¡°Yes, I remember,¡± Gardner grunted. ¡°I¡¯m going to finish it neatly with these fragments, I can do without the meager experience if it means the rubitus will probably drop.¡± The man didn¡¯t even try to dodge, and the pebbles flew at him one by one but didn¡¯t cause any damage, just bouncing off his glittering shell. They tried to kill me by striking the ground, which showered me with broken stones, causing a lot of pain. Soon, there were no more pebbles, and I rushed at the warrior instead. However, after a particularly strong wave of debris, large stone fragments got lodged in my belly, causing critical damage. Everything faded before my eyes. ¡°That¡¯s great!¡± the warrior exclaimed. ¡°He has a whole set here. Very rare quality emeraltus, two rubitus. Even five haloptirius. I wish these low-level cockroaches ran around here more often.¡± ¡°That¡¯s not what it was,¡± Kloz frowned again. ¡°I haven¡¯t seen beetles around here before. It seemed like a karkant, but something was wrong with it¡±Stolen novel; please report. ¡°What do you mean? ¡° ¡°Its behavior wasn¡¯t typical for its kind,¡± answered the warrior. ¡°Small mobs, when they see that they cannot defeat the enemy, try to escape immediately. This one began to throw stones at you, and when he ran out of those, he rushed in for an unsuccessful attack.¡± ¡°Think they got smarter?¡± ¡°They might have¡± the man scratched his head. ¡°Need to search for more information on the forum.¡± ¡°Forget it. The main thing is we got the items.¡± Damn! Everything was hazy for a few minutes, after which I saw the graves of my parents again. Taking a deep breath, I tried to calm down. I wanted to go warn the cave bug about the rippers, but I noticed something strange. There was a beetle sitting near Trirlil¡¯s grave and digging through the pebbles to get to her body. My blood boiled with anger. I didn¡¯t want anyone to harm them. They had to rest in peace. It was a whitish beetle with six massive legs and strange jaws that were noticeably smaller than mine, but it seemed as if it had two or even three pairs of them. Small Grave Beetle, Level 5 Aha! That¡¯s who you are. Now I will show you why you shouldn¡¯t disturb the dead. After picking up some stones from the ground, I hit the beetle with a throw on my second attempt. He let out a scream of pain and turned his attention toward me. ¡°What are you doing, karkant?¡± He clacked his jaws. ¡°Don¡¯t hang around my parent¡¯s graves,¡± I said in response. ¡°What does that mean?¡± he asked and stared at me in bewilderment. ¡°That¡¯s my goal. The essence of my existence: to devour the dead.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t touch them,¡± I warned him again as I approached. ¡°Not convincing enough,¡± the beetle¡¯s words were full of arrogance. ¡°Make me,¡± he said and headed in my direction. ¡°Oh, I¡¯ll make you,¡± I promised, and grabbing two sharp shards that had fallen nearby, jumped at this jerk and stuck them into his eyes. The gravedigger shrieked and spun in place. Dark red blood spurted out of his eyes, and I felt uneasy. I pictured the rippers killing Trirlil and Cytrilct. My heartbeat sped up again and I froze. ¡°Kh-hh-hh-ts! I¡¯ll smash you, karkant!¡± the bug squeaked out and rushed at me. His blow was very powerful. Everything swam before my eyes, and my claws began to buckle. With an effort of will, I regained my balance and hit the beetle in the side. I bunched my claws up before the strike, so the attack was quite successful. My claws ripped into the beetle¡¯s side and he squealed again. Holding him like this, I began to strike him with my other hand. After a while, the beetle collapsed, and his health bar began to blink bright red. ¡°We will... meet again...¡± the gravedigger hissed out and died. ¡°Hardly,¡± I grinned, remembering how I¡¯d poked out his eyes. I lay back on Trirlil¡¯s grave. I was able to handle my first enemy, someone who¡¯d wanted to make a mockery of my dead family. Looking at the body of my defeated foe, I felt sick at the mere thought that his blood could be consumed for the sake of getting some new parts. My aversion to doing such a thing overwhelmed me, and I carefully taking the body, pulled it away from my relatives. Let the rippers have their way with him. 50 points of experience gained Oh, I¡¯ve been awarded more experience. Wonderful! Now I have seventy points. Where to put them... The brain seems to be doing its job well so far and my thoughts seem clear. Well, what should I upgrade then? I looked at the tables showing what I was made of attentively. The first table indicated the parts of the body, their number, and characteristics. At that moment, I had two karkant hands, four legs of a beetle, the cold-proof shell of a beetle, mandibles, two eyes, two organs intended for hearing, and an organ intended for smelling. The second table included internal organs. An ordinary brain, and next to it was a fifty, which seemed to indicate the amount of experience I had put into it. Then came the heart, lungs, blood circulatory system, nervous system, nutritional system, and the muscles. The third table had only one line, which indicated that I had the genes for cave moss. Hmm¡­ what should I upgrade then? On one hand, I need to keep developing my brain, but on the other - the grave beetle had managed to damage me greatly and I had too little power to feel confident fighting him again. Only my anger and luck helped me hit his eyes with the stone shards, otherwise, I would¡¯ve been in trouble. Thus, I could conclude I needed a higher level of defense, or something that would help me damage the enemy more successfully. I guessed it would take too long to develop my hands enough that they could do real damage because I¡¯d had to hit the beetle a lot before he died. I guess I¡¯ll develop the jaws. I¡¯ll try to bite my enemies with them. I put all fifty points into them. Your jaws are evolving. Now you have Long Jaws Stats: Evolution +1, Strength +2, Structure +1. 20 points of experience gained Chapter 3.2 The first fight. The upgrade. The similar bugs Wow! That¡¯s great! After clicking a couple of times with my new jaws, I felt a lot more confident. Besides, I¡¯d gained some more experience. I need to upgrade the jaws to a hundred and then develop my hands. After that, there¡¯ll be plenty of time to consider the inner organs and the genes. I¡¯ll have to learn how to invest my points better, because I¡¯m not getting enough experience. Now my stats looked like this: Character¡¯s name: Tes Sel Er Race: Monster Class: - Level 5 Experience: 20 (Total: 120) Health: 22/56 Energy: 30/30 Basic stats: Mind: 6 Evolution: 5 Structure: 2 Complexity: 1 Secondary stats: Mobility: 1 Knowledge: 1 Strength: 5 Life: 6 I seemed to be growing and had some energy, but how should I use it? Khha might know something about it. I got hungry and decided to eat a rubitus. However, as soon as I looked at my inventory, I started hissing in anger. Those damn rippers had snatched up some ingredients while I¡¯d been dead. It was a bit painful because I¡¯d spent so much time searching for them. Having eaten the rubitus, I was pleasantly surprised to see my health had totally recovered. Life became much better. After stretching my legs, I headed back to the old fellow. The ¡°Strength¡± stat had grown and I felt it at once. My movements became more confident and firm. Each step seemed different from before, as if my body had become a lot lighter. I wondered if I¡¯d be able to breach the shining shells of the two-legged by upgrading my legs and strength. I¡¯ll need to check it out. While approaching the old fellow¡¯s stone, I saw something unusual. There were three rather big beetles standing by it. They were twice as tall as me, green, had big claws on their forelegs and quite powerful jaws covered in numerous spikes. Each of them had four dark-brown eyes that glared at everything around them. Their shells were covered with small, sharp spikes as well. These beetles somehow resembled the two-legged with their shining armor, but they were bigger. They rolled the stone aside, and after dragging the old fellow out, started kicking him with their powerful legs. I nearly rushed over to help the old bug, but he noticed me and looked at me so strangely that I couldn¡¯t move.Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more. Spiker, level 55 Spiker-warrior, level 57 Spiker-fighter, level 61 The information about their levels stopped me dead in my tracks once again. I couldn¡¯t defeat them. It was damn hard, and it hurt me to watch the kind, old bug being beaten, but I couldn¡¯t do anything about it. ¡°Where are our supplies?¡± one of them asked Khha. ¡°Kh¡­¡± ¡°I can¡¯t hear you!¡± the other one shouted. ¡°We fight the two-legged around here, defending small freaks like you, and you can¡¯t even get us some food to help us regain our power after our deaths,¡± the fighter was walking around him as he spoke. ¡°How can you explain this, Khha? You haven¡¯t let us down before, which is why you lead a quiet life.¡± ¡°You¡¯ve killed me seven times¡­¡± the old fellow hissed. ¡°No big deal, gonna do it an eighth time too,¡± said the fighter merrily. ¡°Well, Khha? Why haven¡¯t you gathered our supplies? Where¡¯s all the stuff?¡± ¡°May the dark gods take you, I¡¯m sick and tired of you, you four-eyed freaks¡­ khe¡­ khe¡± the cave bug started coughing from the strong hit the warrior delivered to his belly. ¡°Look, his shell is soft there¡± the warrior grinned. ¡°Maybe here as well?¡± he hit the old fellow¡¯s back with his sharp claw and the shell cracked open at that spot. ¡°What¡¯s up, Khha?¡± the fighter asked? ¡°Not feeling too well?¡± ¡°No, I¡¯m alright, but you¡¯re sick monsters¡± the old fellow spat out some blood. ¡°Looks like the rippers have rotted your brains by chopping you up like little gvalkhs over and over.¡± ¡°You¡¯re too talkative, old man,¡± the high-level spiker hissed. ¡°I think we have nothing more to talk about. We¡¯ll look for another supplier. Have a nice afterlife,¡± he said, and with one powerful blow, he rammed his foreleg through the smaller bug¡¯s body. The fighter¡¯s claw even broke the stone underneath the cave bug. ¡°And now you die.¡± The beetles left, and the old fellow lay there, wheezing. I waited until the three of them were a good distance away and then rushed over to the old man. ¡°Can I help you in any way?¡± I looked at poor Khha: his shell had been broken in two places and I didn¡¯t know what I could do for him. Blood was flowing out of the wounds, flooding the stones under the cave bug. ¡°No, you can¡¯t, there¡¯s no way,¡± he wheezed out. ¡°But it¡¯s good you didn¡¯t interfere, otherwise those freaks would¡¯ve made you collect supplies for them¡± ¡°I gathered everything you asked for but I don¡¯t even think they needed it.¡± ¡°Kh¡­ I see you¡¯ve succeeded.¡± The task ¡°Stock up on food¡± completed! 100 points of experience received! ¡°Now take the supplies you gave me earlier. They¡¯re in the cave, under another stone¡± the old fellow spat out a glob of blood and I felt uneasy. ¡°Are you going to come back soon?¡± ¡°I¡¯m sorry, kid, this was my last rebirth¡± the old man looked at me with kindness. ¡°I just didn¡¯t want anyone to pity me, that¡¯s why I lied. Take this as well, I don¡¯t need it anymore, but you¡¯ll make use of it someday.¡± Khha stretched out his claw. There was a little sack hanging on its edge, tied to it with a red string. ¡°It¡¯s good to not have to die alone, Tes Sel Er¡­ long-awaited.¡± The old fellow¡¯s jaws twisted in a strange way and he became quiet. ¡°Hey, Khha, are you¡­¡± I sat next to the old bug and looked at the little sack. Carefully taking hold of the string with my claw, I untied it and saw ten yellow, circular objects inside. I didn¡¯t know what I could use them for, but something told me that the old fellow had given me a great present, which would help me in the future. I threw the stones out of my inventory and put the disks into the now empty cell. The old man had a transparentus and ten turquoitus, not counting the ones I had brought him earlier. Now, I had to do one more thing. I swallowed some of the cave bug¡¯s blood, but I saw no changes. After that, I took the old fellow¡¯s body and carefully brought it into the cave and placed it there. After covering it with small pebbles, I tried to move the big one, but I barely managed it. It took me almost an hour to put that stone back in its place. ¡°Rest in peace, Khha, and thank you for your help,¡± I said and headed off after placing everything into the cache, apart from the round disks. Your body is getting more adaptive +1 to Complexity 30 points of experience gained! ¡°Thank you for this present as well, old man¡± From the author Dear readers. There came that very day when the translation is finished. Hooray! The whole book will be released on 14 May on Amazon. com. According to the Amazon''s rules, the book should be represented there as a unique one, so I should delete here all the chapters. Thank you for all your comments and support! Find this and other great novels on the author''s preferred platform. Support original creators! To PRE-ORDER or to read free in Kindle Unlimited, CLICK HERE PLEASE Hope you like my story and will find the opportunity to leave me a short review on Amazon. It''s very much important for the first book of the no-name author. Thanks ahead, friends!