When Hunter emerged from torpor, the Noble was there waiting in the snug tunnel.

Hunter. I have new commands. Do not die. Hunt only what you can kill safely. Eat biomass you find. If there is more than you can eat, return with it. Learn.

Hunter was confused. This was very new and not a thing they thought could happen. How does Noble know I am Hunter?

The noble's mind again touched theirs. You are Hunter because your status labels you such. Many kin are good for hunting. You have high Cunning. If you do not die, you will be good for thinking.

Hunter knew offense. They were quite sure they were already good for thinking. Offense was not pain, but was uncomfortable, though in a different way than eating too much biomass was.

One more command: Do not hunt with the kin that has large claws and a black exoskeleton unless the prey threatens Home. If prey threatens home, hunt it even if it is not safe.

Obey.

The noble turned and scurried away. Hunter went through the tunnels to above and thought. They had not known that one could see their Status, and did not expect such commands. It was fine because the commands were good and Hunter wanted to do them anyway, though it would have been better to choose when to hunt with strong one and when not to hunt with them. Why would the Noble want Hunter to eat biomass rather than bring it back though? It just did not make sense to want one's kin to eat rather than eating the biomass oneself. Unless the noble thought Hunter was worth more than biomass was? That was the only reason for the commands they could think of, but it still seemed... odd. None of the other kin were worth more than biomass after all.

Before Hunter left home, they decided to look at their Status. It would help them decide how the noble's commands should be obeyed, and maybe it would help the thinking on why those were the commands instead of the normal ones.

Status

[Name: Hunter]

[Level: 3]

[Stats:

Might 11

Toughness 14

Cunning 26

Will 15]

[HP: 35]

[MP: 0]

[Skills: Pincer Snap level 2, Grip level 1, Sting level 4, Sprint level 2, Survival Instinct level 3, Stealth level 2, Dodge level 1]

[Mutations: Stinger +3, Tomosvary organs +2, Exoskeleton +2, Claws +2, Antennae +1, Eyes +1, Legs +1]

Hunter was powerful in every way and skilled at many things. It would be easy for the Hunter of now to hunt the Hunter who hatched, except for the time of it - thinking about how the Hunter of now and Hunter of then could be Hunters of the same time hurt the mind, so they stopped. Confusing.

They went back to easier things for thinking. Commands were hunt but only when safe, eat biomass and return with what was too much to eat, learn, do not hunt with strong one, and return alive. Most of these were good, and easy, but to hunt less than one could hunt would be very hard. Hunter had used a precious skill point to purchase Stealth, and had good eyes and antenna and very good Tomosvary organs. They would use all of these to go to where the air held much water without stopping to fight.

With the upgrades to their Tomosvary organs, they could have found the way back to this place with only those. Hunter moved in careful ways. They used stealth all of the time when a sense said there was another monster near, even kin. They stopped often to use each organ that told them things and think on what those said to them, even their eyes which would not tell them about things unless they pointed their head at them. There were two big head crickets along the way, but without kin it would not be safe to hunt them, so they hid very carefully behind a mushroom stalk.

[Stealth has reached level 3]

It took much time to reach the place of water. The water was huge. Hunter could not see or sense where it ended. Where water met land many monsters gathered and were drinking. It was known that it was safe to drink here, but also that one could not hunt by the water. Why was not known. Perhaps it was safe to drink because the other monsters also knew they could not hunt. Still, Hunter used stealth and tried to stay away from the monsters who would be prey in another place and if Hunter was stronger, or with kin. It was good for learning; there were types of monsters they did not know. Because they were not biomass yet it was not possible to bite part of them to learn more, which would have been good, but Hunter could use senses to learn which was still fine. One monster was very, very large. It had thick brown fur streaked with green, a huge head with a thick strong neck, smelled bad, and altogether was more big and more strong than the young monster had guessed anything could be. It would be very bad to fight such a thing. One could only hide, or try to run away if found. It had only four legs, so running away for one with thirty legs might be fine. It would be best not to find out.

There were many Big Head Crickets, two Emerald Monitors, a green monster with no scales or exoskeleton that was covered in slime and had a huge mouth and huge back legs (that one was in the water), a monster that had no legs or claws at all and was much longer than kin. That one moved by pushing against the ground with scales, which was a very interesting way to move but seemed much worse than just running on legs. There were three who had strong bodies covered in gray fur, four legs, a tail that looked powerful, a soft black part on their snout they seemed to use like antennae to taste the air, and mouths very good for biting. It would be bad if those found Hunter away from water. They looked like they could run fast even with only four legs.

Overall, there were many monsters that were too strong to be prey and more still that would be too dangerous to hunt without kin. Perhaps Hunter was not so strong as they had believed. It was fine. In their first day they gained three levels and nineteen biomass. This meant that in five hundred days they would have one-hundred and fifty levels and nine thousand five-hundred biomass, and could hunt and eat whatever they wanted without need to be careful or use stealth. That would be very good. Or maybe there was something wrong with the numbers there, but Hunter was not sure what such a problem could be.

They sneaked down to the water and drank. It tasted like power, and was good, but instinct said it would be bad to drink too much. Their body could only fit so much power in it before the power would try to break out and hurt them when it could not. Water was wet, like the red fluid inside biomass with fur. Hunter liked it.

Then they had a very good idea. They went away from the water. When they felt that again it was allowed to hunt, they searched for a good place to hide where prey might move past and go to the water or come back from it. The place to hide was in grass that grew tall and thick on a small rise next to a path worn by the legs of monsters. They waited and sensed a very long time. Six blood tooth rabbits went past and to the water, but could not find Hunter and were too many to be prey. The two strong monsters with gray fur and four legs went past, and Hunter hid as hard as they could hide. One tasted the air with the wet black part on their snout, but the other made a loud noise with their mouth and the first quit tasting the air and walked away with its kin.

[Stealth has reached level 4]

Hunter knew fear.

It was good to grow better at Stealth. Stealth was very good.

Three Big Head Crickets went to the water. Two hopped past the place to hide, but one stopped and scratched at their head with a large back leg.

Instinct said it would be safe to sting that one in the side.

Hunter stung.

The cricket who was prey tried to kick Hunter, but the kick made many vibrations so it was easy to feel in the air and dodge out of its way.

[Dodge has reached level 2]

It seemed best to sprint back into the tall grass and see how well venom with a +3 stinger worked. Prey made an angry chirp and jumped after Hunter, but it jumped at the wrong place. When it landed, Hunter stung again, then grabbed a back leg with claws, clamped down hard, and wrapped the big leg up with many legs.

[Grip has reached level 2]

Prey tried to turn and bite, but had a rigid body and could not move their mouth so far back. Prey tried to kick with the leg that was free, but did not have a good way to hurt Hunter with the kick, and it bounced off exoskeleton without cracking it. Prey tried to kick again, but it was a weaker try, and then prey became biomass.

[You have defeated level 1 Big Head Cricket]

[You have gained XP]

[You have gained one Biomass]

The safe way to hunt was very slow. But it was good to learn, and to grow in skill. Hunter decided that the safe way could be both slow and good.