Now that I think about it, I’m starving. What do, what do…

I plop myself down by the lakeside and stretch my limbs out. A movement in the corner of my eye catches my attention. It seems like there are, in fact, fish living within this glowing underground lake.

A pang of hunger shot through my stomach as my mind started to drift. Frankly, I hated most seafood, but having a nice piece of roasted fish… doesn’t seem all that repulsive right about now. Roasted salmon, fish fingers, fish stew, heck even a goddamn tuna sandwich…

A sudden nibbling feeling at the tip of my tail broke me from my daydreaming. I turn my head and catch a glimpse of a couple of small fish biting at my tail. I can use my tail as a fishing rod! Yes! Great idea, me!

I begin wiggling the tip of my tail, hoping it’ll look convincing enough for the fish to bite. Almost immediately I start sensing movement around my tail. C’mon, bite! My stomach gurgles in protest to the fact that I still hadn’t found anything to fill it yet.

Ach! A sudden and piercing pain shoots through my tail causing me to reflexively whip my tail out of the water and slam it into the nearby wall. A sickening crack rang through the cave system as the head some kind of armored fish that bit my tail split on the wall. An overwhelmingly fishy smell drift from its oozing head, but my mouth can’t help but water.

You have slain Giant Water Louse LVL 16.

I barely register the notification as I pounce on the fish. The hard outer shell fell easily to my teeth and I was met with the fish’s surprisingly crunchy insides.

The fish didn’t taste bad, though it didn’t taste that good either. Imagine eating nearly tasteless piece of jello that smelled strongly of fish and had a ton of tasteless potato chips shoved in for good measure.

Now that I think about it, did this fish even have bones? I take a good look at the now half-eaten corpse and notice its multiple mandibles and its sad, eyeless face looking up at me.

My stomach churned as I taste bile in my mouth. In my adrenaline-filled rush to eat, I had glazed over its now distinctively shrimp-like taste. Ooohhhh fuck. Oh fucking hell. I fucking hate shrimp. But no, I can’t. I have to eat this. For the calories!

Crunch!

Crack!

Shlorp!

Urrrrrgh…

I glurp down mouthful after mouthful of the cave water in a futile attempt to clear away this disgusting crustacean taste in my mouth. After my 5th mouthful, I realize it wasn’t helping at all and I start swishing and gargling the iron-tasting water as well as my snout can.

After a good minute of this I sighed, slumping down to take a breather. The stuff that happened over the course of the last… days, was it? Either way, it didn’t feel real. It all felt as though I was watching a movie, watching everything happen through a screen, having no control over anything. It’s the kind of feeling you get after staying up for 24 plus hours straight in a stressful environment, the kind where you’re so tired you stop actually feeling anything finely anymore. Kinda like seeing something through fogged glasses or hearing something through an insulated wall.

I stare at the black forms swimming through the water. Thankfully my group and I managed to get through that night without losing too much. Rest in peace, that one lizard who alerted us to the siege and to the two others who made valiant attempts at escape that ultimately ended in complete failure…

…haaaahhh… I really can’t block it out, can I?

I shake my head and stand up. I can’t stay depressed for too long. I must move and scout out these caverns while the rest of the lounge is still asleep.

I waddle by the lakeside, looking about, my night vision allowing my to see things slightly better in this near utter darkness. Now that I think about it, it’s been quite a while since I checked my status page. I must’ve gotten something from all that digging I did.

Nameless Lesser Gyarian Lizard; Level 12

Status Effects : Content

Unspent Skill Points : 45

Skills :

Identify: LVL 2

Night Vision: LVL 3

Venom: LVL 6

Regeneration: LVL 3

Body Enhancement: LVL 4

Earth Manipulation: LVL 1

Resistances :

Heat Resistance: LVL 2

Fear Resistance: LVL 1

Earth Resistance: LVL 2

Traits :

Bi-blooded

Small but Mighty

Titles :

Reincarnated One

Reverse Slayer

Upholder of Morals

Ŵ̸̨͙͂̈́̇̀̽̑ư̶̩͇̼̩̹͚̰͜z̸̧̮͖̅͆̽͑ͅe̵̪̝͔̽ͅx̶̡̪̼̰̲̦̫̓̉͝ͅm̶̧̭͆̒̽͂͊̈̋̋k̴̗͘q̵͙̻͓̗̊̕d̵̢̧͖̬̀̐̓

Hey, I have enough points to buy magic manipulation! Finally! Eh? What the fuck’s this Zalgo’d title?

Ŵ̸̨͙͂̈́̇̀̽̑ư̶̩͇̼̩̹͚̰͜z̸̧̮͖̅͆̽͑ͅe̵̪̝͔̽ͅx̶̡̪̼̰̲̦̫̓̉͝ͅm̶̧̭͆̒̽͂͊̈̋̋k̴̗͘q̵͙̻͓̗̊̕d̵̢̧͖̬̀̐̓

Ḑ̶̻̯̰͈̳͉̦̗̆̊̓͛̓́͐̄͘̚͝͝q̵̧̜̼̩̠̙̯̰̞̥̺̯̋́̄̿͑̈̑̑͐̇͆̏͊̕͝͝y̶̞͇̠͔̱̥̮̳̞̱̫̒ͅq̴̪̔̃͝y̵̡̡̨̮̠̳͓̤̭̝͎̝̬̤͊͠n̶̖̝̩̲̿̈́̋̓̀r̶̢̨̬̯̤͍̹̻̠̠̝̖̪̞͚͗̄̆͆̑͊̆͝͝ḑ̶̧̦̯̠̲̦͚͓͚͍͒̈́̀͒̾̓̾̚͠͝ͅ

Very explained. Such description. Much detailed. Wow. Oh well, nothing I can do about it. Hopefully it’s not something negative. Let’s put this aside for now, and buy magic manipulation!

Please confirm your purchase :

~ ~ ~

Magic Manipulation --- 20 Skill Points

Yes

No

Yes!

*ding*

You have purchased Magic Manipulation for 20 skill points.

Yay! I can finally do magic properly! Woo!

Magic Manipulation:

Improves skill holder’s ability to manipulate magic. Effectiveness increases as level increases.

Huh. So according to this description, I’m guessing basically everything can do magic, but magic manipulation just makes doing said magic easier, thus explaining why I got earth manipulation without having magic manipulation. I still have 25 points to spend. Let’s see what’s available to buy.

Available Skills :

Heat Vision - 10 points

Enhanced Hearing - 10 points

Enhanced Olfactory - 10 points

Camouflage - 15 points

Ooh, camouflage. And just as it turns out, I have enough points to buy both heat vision and camouflage. Nice. Now that I think about it, when did I level up again? I could’ve sworn I was level 9 the last time I checked. Doing all that digging might have given me those levels. Oh well, don’t look a gift horse in the mouth. More levels is better than less levels!

Please confirm your purchase :

~ ~ ~

Heat Vision --- 10 Skill Points

Yes

No

Yep!

*ding*

You have purchased Heat Vision for 10 skill points.

I immediately activate heat vision in one eye and night vision in the other. Not much changed initially, but looking at the lake I notice multiple colored specks moving around under the water. Alrighty, I’ll be able to spot other creatures easier now.

Please confirm your purchase :

~ ~ ~

Camouflage --- 15 Skill Points

Yes

No

Of course.

*ding*

You have purchased Camouflage for 15 skill points.

I activate camouflage. I feel a slight drain on my mana pool as I watch my front legs slowly meld into the surroundings. Huh, looks kinda wacky.

Camouflage:

Allows skill holder to blend into their surroundings by spending a small amount of mana. Skill holder becomes harder to detect as level increases. Skill holder is passively harder to spot.

I trudge onwards, turning the bend and stood facing a large open space dotted with stalagmites and large boulders. I spot a few colored dots zip in and out of the cracks and crevices underneath the boulders and in the ground itself with my heat vision. Cave mice or something of the sort, probably, not of my concern since I have a stomach full of louse meat. Eck.

I continue walking. Nothing of note happened for the 10 or so minutes long stroll through this giant cavern other than the fact that I feel that the floor is sloping upwards. As I was making my way around a particularly large pillar, I hear the sound of running water. I’ve become quite sleepy now, and being in a cold, damp cave really isn’t doing me any favors, so I approach the sound. Hopefully I can find a nice and cozy crevice to sleep in for the rest of the day.

The sound emanated from a small spring flowing out from a crack in the cave wall, with a faint beam of moonlight seeping through a crack in the ceiling gave the place an almost picturesque feel. Marvelous.

I stop and let out a sigh. Even after all that has happened, nature is still beautiful as ever, albeit many times more dangerous than I give it credit for.

I deactivate camouflage and made my way next to the spring and slump myself down on an especially large rock. A cool night breeze blew softly from the crack as I feel imaginary goosebumps crawl all over my skin. Ahhhh… so… comfy…

I let out a yawn as my eyes drifted shut.

A lot of shit happened. Some good shit, some bad shit. Okay, mostly bad shit. But it’ll be okay. I got a second chance at life, and I’ll make the most of it, even if I’m but a lizard now.

Everything will be okay…

* * *

I groggily open my eyes and let out a yawn. A midday beam of sunlight warming my body up as I stretch my limbs and my back. I let out another content yawn as a made my way over to the spring, swallowing mouthful after mouthful of the delicious water before jumping in.

“Gyaaa~” I cry out in satisfaction as I took in the refreshing feeling of the cool liquid flowing across my skin.

Stepping out of my de facto morning shower, I feel a pang of hunger shoot through my abdomen. Huh, usually it takes a couple days for me to get hungry after I’ve had a meal. I guess it means that either water bug had a lot less calories than I expected or that I’m just a growing lizard. All that means is that I’ll have to find breakfast first!

I scan the cave, able to see much more now with the sunlight seeping through the opening above the spring and multiple other places in the ceiling in this area. The cave continues to to upwards from here and takes another bend to the right.

After sunbathing for another couple minutes I stood up and continued my little journey. For discovery and more food!

I activate my night vision/heat vision combo as I reached the bend. No more cracks were present as the cavern, or should I say very large tunnel, started sloping downwards quite steeply into the darkness.

I grimace. Heh… Does it really have to? Goddamnit why did it have to take the horror route instead of something like ABZU? Fuck that game looked amazing…

Alright, enough reminiscing, I gotta find this cave’s exit and catch some grub along the way.

Activating camouflage, I made my way into the darkness. I catch multiple colorful dots skitter about as I went deeper. The cavemice are much too fast and too small for me to consider hunting. I’ll have to hopefully find something bigger or I’ll have to backtrack over to that lake and, if Lady Luck is on my side, catch an actual fish and not an oversized water bug. Yuck.

Time ticked by as I continue onwards, the number of scurrying dots decreasing as I went deeper and deeper.

*grooooowl*

…

Excuse me…

I’m really starting to become hungry now. Haaaaahhh… guess I’ll have to settle with shitty seafood. Ah, how I miss pizza-

“Squeeee!”

What the FUCK was tha-

A large form shoots out from an especially large hole in the wall and is coming right at me.

*crack*

“Squeeeeeeee!”

Wh-What just happened?

You have slain Common Cave Rat LVL 6.

Wha.

I blink a few times.

I feel Body Enhancement simmer down as a large twitching mass fell from my jaws. It seems like in few seconds that my mind went blank, I had instinctively activated Body Enhancement and had bitten down really hard at the bolting form, managing to catch it and break its neck. This… this lizard body’s got some deadly reflexes, gotta give it that.

I look down at the corpse of the cave rat. It’s pretty damn big, it’s body being around a quarter of my size. It has a coat of dark grey fur that would’ve blended in perfectly with the surrounding rocks and a long dark brown tail. The tail had multiple wounds on it, probably caused by other rats. It must have been chased out of its den and ran straight into me, not seeing my because of my camouflage.

My stomach growled again.

Welp, breakf- I mean lunch time!

* * *

Camouflage has leveled up to level 2.

Camouflage has leveled up to level 3.

Heat Vision has leveled up to level 2.

Night Vision has leveled up to level 4.

I cheerfully sing a tune inside my head. It’s been a good few hours and nothing of note has happened since I killed and ate that rat. I’ve been intermittently turning on and off camouflage to regenerate my mana pool. Mana is such a weird thing. I can kinda feel how much mana I have left in me, though it’s a really hard feeling to describe. I guess the best way to describe it is that it feels like hunger, like how you can tell when you’re full or when you’re hungry but much more accurately.

As uneventful as this walk has been, my skills have leveled up, which is nice. Night vision and heat vision don’t take any mana, but the downside is that they level quite a bit slower than camouflage.

I’m glad nothing dangerous has happened to me down here, but at the same time I’m also pretty disappointed. Isn’t this supposed to be like a dungeon exploration expedition? Where’s all the excitement? The marvelous discoveries? The evil monsters and the bountiful treasures? VERY disappointed. Zero out of five would not recommend.

*crack*

Jumping at the sudden loud noise, I turn my head in its direction. Nothing came up on my heat vision, but my night vision showed me a sizable lump of… something was rising out of the ground. I just stood there staring at the thing as it rose up to a height of around a meter. It slowly turned around and began to walk towards me.

…did I have to jinx myself this hard already?

I squint my eyes in a futile attempt to make out more details of this four limbed bipedal creature as it trudged ever closer. Oh wait, I have Identify. Goddamnit, I gotta remember that.

Basic Earth Golem --- LVL 7

A golem, so that’s why my heat vision didn’t pick anything up: it’s not producing any heat in the first place! But now what? Golems are inanimate objects as far as I know, so my main weapon, my venom, won’t do anything! God fucking damnit, all I can hope is that I’m strong enough to break stone and that this guy’s AI is trash.

I turn my body to face the slowly approaching golem, Body Enhancement activating as I bare my fangs and ready my claws to slash. The lumbering golem came up to me raising both of its fists in the air. I instinctively jump back as both of its fists came crashing down into the cave floor creating two fist-sized holes. Yikes.

I observe it slowly pull its arms out of the ground and straighten itself. The golem turns towards me once more and beings approaching. Once it came close enough it tries to smash me once again, raising its arms into the air, but now that I know exactly what it’s trying to do I effortlessly dodge to the side and took a swipe at its flank. I clicked my tongue as my claws glance off of the stone with but a scratch. I need more power, but I don’t have anything- oh wait! I have earth manipulation! It just might work!

I step back again and prepared myself for another one of its attacks. Dodging its slam once more I swipe at it again, this time willing the stone to make way for my claws. I feel a bit of my mana disappear as my claws dig deep into golem, taking a good chunk of it off of it.

I prepare once again as the golem straightens back up, executing the exact same strategy after I dodge its attack. After another three swipes and approximately a third of my mana pool, the golem finally stopped moving, its abdomen missing three fourths of its original stone.

You have slain Basic Earth Golem LVL 7.

That was…surprisingly easy. All it could do was smash, and it was slow as hell too. Golems like this would make for wonderful combat training, heh.

*crumble*

*crack*

…nani the fuck.

I watch in silent contempt as dozens of forms looking exactly like the earth golem I had just defeated rise out from the floor and slowly lumber towards me.

This...This is gonna be a long fucking day, isn’t it?

* * *

You have slain Basic Earth Golem LVL 6.

…

You have slain Basic Earth Golem LVL 7.

You have gained enough experience points to level up. You are now level 13. You have received 5 skill points.

…

You have gained enough experience points to level up. You are now level 15. You have received 5 skill points.

Body Enhancement has leveled up to level 5.

Body Enhancement has leveled up to level 6.

Earth Manipulation has leveled up to level 2.

…

Earth Manipulation has leveled up to level 4.

Magic Manipulation has leveled up to level 2.

Regeneration has leveled up to level 4.

Earth Resistance has leveled up to level 3.

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.

F. U. C. K.

I slowly drag my exhausted body back to the spring and dunk my face in the refreshing water. I killed SO many FUCKING golems for FUCKS SAKE. They were pretty easy to deal with at the start, but my mana started running out really damn fast, basically forcing me onto the defensive, and let me tell you dodging a dozen mini Hulk smashes while feeling like you’re half asleep ain’t easy work. Got hit a couple of times and I gotta say if it wasn’t for my combo of earth manipulation, regeneration, and body enhancement I’d have probably been beaten into paste by now. Those little shits hurt like hell.

Haaaaahhhhh…

At least I got a couple levels off of that… and that path’ll be clear for tomorrow…

All I wanna do now… is… slee……