Hunter had a problem. The problem was bad because it would stay a problem until they could think of a clever thing or some different thing they could not guess at happened to change it. It was not a good plan to wait for an unknown thing to help. There may not be such a thing at all, and even if that thing were real it might not happen, or might happen somewhere or somewhen else.

The problem was this: Hunter was one centipede, and there was very little prey that it was safe for one centipede to hunt. They were a very strong centipede with many improved body parts, many skills, a core, and they were very good at thinking, but they were still just one. Most monsters in the above were stronger than even a very strong centipede who was alone. Monsters who were not so strong went in groups, as kin did. Hunter had to hunt. They needed XP and biomass and more levels for their skills.

Noble had ordered them not to hunt with Strong One, which would have been the best way, and had also ordered them to hunt only prey that was safe to hunt.

So how? How could they hunt and eat and grow stronger like this? Their stinger was very, very good now that they could put mana in it. That helped. More prey was safe to hunt, but not enough.

There was another thing to think about. They had two biomass, and could upgrade eyes, antennae, or legs. This should have been easier thinking that they could do first. Except, except, what if part of the right answer to the big problem was improving one of those parts and not the other two? So it was not a thing to think about on its own at all. It was a small part of the big problem that just made the thinking harder again.

Hunter had three ideas. One was to hunt like Strong One did. Hunter was strong now, not as as strong as Strong One, but more than other kin. They could gather kin and hunt with them. Then Hunter and kin could fight either a strong prey or many weak ones. Prey would become biomass and kin would become biomass and Hunter would eat it all. Kin was not good at thinking though when prey was near, even if it was dangerous and bad prey to hunt. They would still try, and then it would not be a safe hunt at all. This was fine for Strong One, who had what Hunter now recognized as mutated exoskeleton and claws, and was very hard to kill. For Strong One the way of hunting was good and safe and gave much biomass. Hunter though could kill well but was not so good at not becoming biomass in a big fight. They could think, and be careful, but could not control a big fight. Hunts that could not be controlled were not safe hunts. It would have been good to hunt with Strong One, who would rush in and fight strong prey while Hunter was sneaky and stung prey's back parts, but this was not to be.

So that was one thought, but not a very good one.

They had two more thoughts, and both of them seemed better.

The first was that they could spend time to practice mana manipulation. This was very safe, and that was very good, if they did it either by the water where no one could hunt or in the tunnels of home. Hunter very much wanted to learn what would happen when Mana Manipulation reached skill level 5, and for two reasons. One reason was that it might open a strong skill that would solve the problem of not being able to hunt most prey, but that did not seem like a thing that would probably be. The second reason was that then another big thing would be known, and knowing that thing might make the rest of the thinking easier.

The second thought was that they could explore to learn more of the above. Hunter had the Advanced Stealth skill and good parts for sensing, so it should be pretty safe. They might find prey that was safe to hunt alone, or things that helped them to hunt better. It also just made their mind happy to learn new things. Instinct said that the above was very large but not all of the world, that there were ways to go up and ways to go down. Up was safer and down was less safe. If they found a way to go up, perhaps there prey would be easy to hunt for one strong centipede.

This last idea was what Hunter very much wanted to be the good idea. It would be a happy thing to explore and learn. But the idea to practice Mana Manipulation did seem better, because they could think of no way for it to be unsafe or bad. It was only good, and thus the best choice. If they explored, a thing they did not know but that was very dangerous might kill them. Such a thing might be very good at sensing even a centipede with Advanced Stealth, or could hurt what it could not sense, or dangerous in some new way Hunter had not thought of at all.

So the thinking was done on the big problem. They would focus on Mana Manipulation. This left the smaller thinking on what body part to improve. Here they decided on legs, because they had only one way to move faster but three parts to sense with. They went back to the big water, where it was safe.

Spend Biomass. Upgrade Legs to +2.

[Do you want to improve your legs to +2?]

Yes.

The upgrade felt good, but not as good as improving more than one body part or improving a part to +5.

There was a thing left to do before Hunter began to practice Mana Manipulation very hard. They had left a core from the Spider back in the hunting hole. Before, they had not had a core of their own and thus could not use it. Now they had this, and so could use it. On the way back they were slow and careful and used stealth so that dangerous monsters would not find them. This, they had decided, was simply the best way to move about. Perhaps when their parts for sensing became very strong by spending very much biomass, they could move more quickly and only hide when a monster came near, but for now this was the safe way.

They got back to the hole beneath a big mushroom and carefully picked their way through the sticky white threads that had all tangled together in the last hunt there. The core was where they left it.

[Compatible monster core detected. Would you like to reinforce your core or reconstitute a monster?]

Reinforce my core.

The sphere vanished and power rushed into Hunter, through their body and into their core. It left a good type of burn everywhere it touched.

Status.

[Name: Hunter]

[Level: 1 (core)]

[Stats:

Might 11

Toughness 14

Cunning 26

Will 15]

[HP: 35]

[MP: 12/12]

[Skills: Pincer Snap level 4, Grip level 3, Sting level 5 (upgrade available), Sprint level 3, Survival Instinct level 4, Advanced Stealth level 2, Dodge level 2, Mana Manipulation level 2]

[Mutations: Infused Stinger +5, Tomosvary organs +2, Exoskeleton +2, Claws +2, Antennae +1, Eyes +1, Legs +2]

[Species: Claw Centipede Hatchling (Unguibus Scolopendra)]

Before they ate the core they had ten MP. Now they had twelve. Twelve MP was better than ten, and so it was good to find and eat cores. They wanted very much to do so right away.

This was, sadly, not the thinking way. Instead they traveled carefully back to the big water. Once they got there, it was time to manipulate mana. This seemed like a thing to do that had no use, but it could grow the skill, and thinking said that when the skill got to five it would become good and strong instead of hard and useless. They hoped this was right thinking, otherwise they were doing hard things with their mind for no reason that was good.

Hunter grabbed the mana in their core and tried to pull it out of that core and into their body and then move it to their mouth. This was hard, but it was fine, because it was not so hard as it had been when Mana Manipulation was level one and not level two. It was slow to do, so very slow, but with time they managed. A puff of mana went out of their mouth. Their mind was so tired that their legs shook. It would be too hard to do again so soon, so they let their mind rest and heal a bit before they tried again. This time it was a very small bit less hard. Then their core was empty of mana, so they drank the water than burned in a good way. The burn in the water was actually mana that went back into their core and filled it up to full.

They did this again and again and again and again and again again. It took very much time, but Hunter was determined.

[Mana Manipulation has reached level 3]

[Mana Manipulation has reached level 4]

They did not know how much time they spent with practice, but it seemed like it was more time than all the rest of their life all together. When Mana Manipulation finally improved to level 4 they were very hungry and their mind was much too tired to manipulate any more mana for a very long time. They had to hunt.

Hunter went back to their favorite hiding place by the trail to water, and waited. This time they did not have to wait long for two crickets to pass by.

Hunter killed and ate them.

[Dodge has reached level 3]

[You have gained one Biomass]

[You have gained one Biomass]

Crickets were safe and easy prey to hunt if they were only two because it was easy to know what they would do. Hunter was pretty sure crickets could not think much more than a mushroom could think.

They went back to the big water. There were only two parts left to improve to +2. The choice was between Eyes and Antennae. Antennae were better than Eyes, but the things Antennae could do were more like the things that Tomosvary organs did than the thing Eyes did. So because Eyes could do a thing that was their own, Hunter decided to improve them next.

Spend Biomass. Upgrade Eyes to +2.

[Do you want to improve your Eyes to +2?]

Yes.

The upgrade felt good.

Hunter was surprised in a good way when it was done. The upgrade to +2 made Eyes more useful than they would have guessed Eyes could be. They could see things that were far away, and the things were only a bit fuzzy. This was quite good. The upgrade from +0 to +1 had not seemed to make so large of a difference.

It was not clear what to think about this, but it was fine because it was time to go back to big water and practice more on ways to manipulate mana.

Hunter hoped very, very hard that it would not take all of time to improve the skill to +5.