Six weeks and 5 days since arrival in world- the Roach

The slimes stopped breeding roughly three days ago I think, meaning the rest of garden residents have become vocal again, albeit in that weirdly subdued way, actually appearing every now and then instead of cowering in whatever hole they had dug.

The red and purple slimes, while very aggressive to any other slime not of the same hue, behaved like any other now that their apparent mating frenzy has died down.

A pity as their earnest attempts to kill each other were entertaining if a bit grotesque.

So as if nothing had transpired in the first place, my garden returned to the relative solidarity it normally possessed, leaving it quiet, save for low chitter of rodents and chirping of insects.

While it was quiet, it was far from still, many creatures came and went, rustling the grass and disturbing the undergrowth, an increasing amount of unfamiliar beasts appearing as the plants and fungi continued rapidly sprouting in their own race to claim ground.

It was actually very chaotic if one stopped to look despite the relative silence, every creature being sure to tread softly didn't stop them from hunting one another.

Ripping into each other the larger or more cunning predators fed upon the weaker ones constantly, but no matter how fierce the battles or how desperate the struggle, the fighters never uttered a sound in the process, no shrieks no squeals nothing...

It might even have been unnerving were I not massive compared to the tiny critters, dwarfing the largest beast, a big grey bat by more than 10 times.

Said bat seemed to be seen as a creature to fear by the rest of the garden, all the small creatures diving for cover upon hearing the sound of its beating wings.

Clearly the most powerful monster in my garden, it took up the most sought after shelter available, my old den, roosting in it, the fact it was on the ceiling making it a fairly secure place to live, the big bat having long since chased the smaller bats that nested there not so long ago, away.

Life sure was competitive and very active.

I watched lazily, my head laying against the moss-covered floor of my cavern as the large grey bat swooped down upon an unattentive mouse, skewering the mouse with its long talons before shoving its face into the still twitching rodent tearing goblets of flesh off as it did.

As I watched the bat hungrily feeding itself, I let my mind wander as I so often did after eating, the corpse of a very large denge frog lain out beside of me, the silly frogs being my favorite food and the only animal I killed the moment they entered my garden.

I found it strange that the many living things around me were oddly quiet as if they were subdued, afraid that at any moment they might be killed by a looming predator, which, well was a possibility, but even so, the garden was just too quiet for this to be ordinary behavior.

But my garden was certainly not normal, a veritable jungle deep in the ground was never normal.

I glanced around my den and garden, still flummoxed about why vegetation and wildlife was flourishing so well in the land around me that had once been desolate stone and filth.

My den, actually no not den, 'glade' was a better term now, hardly resembled a hollowed-out hole anymore being unrecognizable, filled with lush plants, thick copious fungi and small insects, most rodents strangely avoiding my glade save for the white retarded one, which continued to do as it always did, eat, groom and flip.

The amount of life packed into my cavernous home was rediculous and too me it looked as if new species were popping up every day.

Which they very well could be, as my analysis continually picked up new descriptions every few hours some of which I had already seen.

Sharp fanged mouse (comedentis corpore parvam)

A small rodent attracted to places of violence or death, these tiny creatures feed primarily on the leftovers of other creatures making them scavengers, fanged mice, however, have been known to attack other creatures much larger than themselves when starved and have a fierce and venomous bite relative to their size.

Fanged mice usually, live in small communities but sometimes form very large mega groups called clusters when conditions are ideal.

Are considered by most sapient species to be a bad omen, are also believed to be the eyes of the rotted witch Haegla but no evidence has been found to support this.

Crest eared bat (ossium auris vespertilio )

Small bats that derive their name from their bony ears, crest eared bats feed primarily on cave-dwelling insects, considered useful pest control by intelligent species and rarely live in urban environments.

The bat is entirely blind relying purely on sound and sound alone for its navigation and hunting its sense of smell being, practically nonexistent.

This bat species is preyed upon by larger bat species frequently and web making spiders rarely ever achieving a higher state of being.

Vermillion slime (sanguinem gelata)

A rare evolved form of the common gunk slime, vermillion slimes are vastly more aggressive than their green counterparts evolving from copious digestion of corpses or tainted plant matter.

This slime is predatory unlike the common gunk slime and will hunt anything smaller or even twice as large as itself, it being able to engorge itself and swell to encompass large foreign bodies before melting said bodies down with powerful acids.

The vermillion slime is considered a threat to humanoids only if it launches a successful ambush, that being difficult considering the vivid shade of red it is, the slime otherwise being considered a minor obstacle by even novice parties of warriors.

Shade slime (umbra gelata)

The shade slime is a very rare slime that develops after significant dark energy has been absorbed without the slimes death, the dark power gathers and coalesces transforming the slime into the shade slime.

As a shade slime, this slime is surprisingly quick, especially when unseen in the darkness, this slime being one of the few slimes adventurers are actively wary of, these slimes carrying an infamous reputation as sleep killers, the slimes preferring to attack when their victims are deep in the thrall of dreams.

The shade slime attacks in one of two ways, it either smothers and chokes its victims or penetrates and pumps them full of harmful dark power with retractable tendrils.

Banded gutter pike (acri nasus clocoa piscis )

A water-dwelling fish related to the river carp, it is, however, a detritivore mostly eating decaying organic matter and plants only rarely preying on wayward insects.

The fish likes cool dimly lit places it having a delicate skin sensitive to strong light meaning it is rarely ever found outside of caves and underground water sources.

This fish often forms a solid base of many aquatic predators meals, it being a prominent chain in the food web.

These animals (save the slimes), were some of the earliest creatures to have settled in my garden and glade and clearly had flourished, being the most numerable creatures around.

Still, while the older residents were more numerous, when each species was individually compared, they couldn't really hold a candle to the growing population of newcomers if done holistically.

Pythonpedes (longa, serpens limbed)

Multi-legged and long, this arthropod stalks the undergrowths of many jungles and forests being an adaptable and flexible creature likely to persevere long beyond the rise and fall of continents.

The pythonpede is an omnivore that will happily eat just about anything from roots and berries to the hardtack of boots, it being very hardy.

The pythonpede is nonvenomous relying on ambush and rush down tactics to bring down prey, rather than venom common to other arthropods.

Dribble back spider (quaternum oculorum exspuens araneae)

A round-bodied spider with an abdomen that resembles a melting ice cube hence the dribbling name, this spider is a web dweller that likes to make its webs close to light sources in caves and other dark places, using the light to catch creatures attracted to it.

The spider is highly venomous and lethal if not treated, but when diluted and processed the venom posses powerful narcotic properties.

As a result, the spider is often kept by assassins and drug dealers for its criminal uses.

Glow-worm (Arachnocampa luminosa)

Creatures that live purely by passively taking in ambient energies and turning a portion of those energies into a dim light at the front of its tubular head, the rest going into creating its minuscule body.

Being largely immobile and sedentary the glow-worm only stirs to breed and defecate.

The glow-worm is considered an invasive and destructive creature in many places and is very hard to truly eradicate due to its remarkable reproductive abilities

Bone bore beetles and larvae (os curriculum Coleoptera)

A soft-shelled beetle species that produces young by laying its eggs in the marrow of bones or tender shoots when bones are scarce, it has a crucial role in the environment rapidly breaking bone matter down into plant-friendly powder ready to be cycled through the circle of life.

Has a unique defense technique for its natural lack of chitin armor, covering itself in a sort of glue-like mucus and rolling in bone dust forming a very hard yet light armor earning it the nickname shaman beetle from the belief that shamans rubbed themselves in bone dust.

Bog salamander (plana eμmarginali volutabro luti salamandra)

The largest non-evolved amphibian to splash about, the bog salamander is oddly very populous despite its slow breeding rate likely owing to its disgusting taste and rank scent glands.

Some times called the sage toad even though it isn't a toad, it isn't known why the creature has this name, the original reason why this is so, lost to history.

The bog salamander has been around since the primordial era and is hailed as one of the oldest species to ever live, despite its otherwise unimpressive lifestyle, that of idling in wet places and waiting for things to fall in its mouth.

I identified so many new lifeforms that even the system acknowledged it.

{Identified over 50 separate species 75 exp}

The glow-worms that encased the ceiling, gave the subterranean forest an eerie blue half-light that made the surroundings barely visible to creatures not born of the dark like myself, the beetles drilled into the vines and bones left from my meals making the odd clicking scratching sound, the salamanders drifted below the surface of the waterway swallowing anything that hit the water, the spiders made webs high in the vines catching flying and stupid prey that dallied to close to their homes and snake sized pythonpedes scuttled about in the lush growth.

All in all the place would be very unsettling to the outside observer, but I had long grown used to the strange wildlife, still, it didn't make sense, why they were here in the first place? was this a seasonal shift that occurred every year or something else?

It didn't make a lick of sense, the plants (as it seemed they were) grew without sunlight and at an astonishing rate, the wildlife grew numerous on the little I saw them eat and the area seemingly effected by this phenomena was steadily growing larger.

I estimated quickly, running the math through a brisk calculation.

Given how far the growth had already spread and if it continued growing at an accelerated rate, it was possible the jungle outside my door could reach a massive radius of 10 km in another two weeks provided it wasn't slowed down or obstructed in some way.

This obscene level of growth would drastically alter the sewer landscape, and I wasn't sure whether that would be a good or a bad thing for me.

Pensively I again surveyed my surroundings, activating analysis with a mental prod.

The plants around me mostly read very mundane names and descriptions, things like green creeper vines, or geyser pads, things that made up the most numerous plants in my domain save for the blood grass which carpeted the stony ground.

The blood grass itself had a halfway interesting and concerning description.

Blood grass (rex sanguinem)

An uncommon and selective strain of grass that lives in dark cold places, it will not grow in sunlight and will die if exposed to it, blood grass has received its name, not because of its color, but due to the legend that blood grass was born of the blood of the great lunar lord 'Salaar' when he fought the first demon king in the primordial era, however, some scholars argue that blood grass may have been born from the slain demon kings corpse rather than the luna lords blood, to this day neither theory has been proven and so the grass is also sometimes called kings blood.

Blood grass is a highly sought after ingredient and reagent, often used in alchemy and enchanting and so it is swiftly harvested when found thus having a high value.

This plant was not the only one that held some sort of obvious value but it was the most prominent and prolific, a concerning occurrence because of the value it held to humans, no... people, if someone found my growing patch of grass would they begin collecting it in mass? would a sort of gold rush occur in which every man wanted a piece of my garden? would I be hunted as an obstacle or inconvenience?

My antennae twitched as I envisioned a large group of people surrounding me and impaling me with spears over and over, gradually wearing me down until I was more porcupine than cockroach.

A most undesirable outcome.

I had no delusions about humanity, or whatever intelligent life was out there treating me well, it was far more likely that whatever beings that dwelt beyond the sewers would want me dead, gone or maybe even hung on a wall as a trophy.

I wasn't human or even vaguely humanoid and as much as some would like to romanticize things about people accepting other races and other cultures in literature, it was ultimately unrealistic.

If humanity couldn't accept each other back on earth for trivial things like skin color and heritage, what was the chances of the locals of this world being any different let alone the fact I was a huge flesh-eating cockroach incapable of speech?

Life was meant to fight and struggle, to overcome and grow, in the case of intelligent or really any life, opposition was absolutely necessary for the cohesion and advancement of intelligent species.

without a solid 'us and them' view or some goal that the society worked toward, set up, society would slowly stagnate and if it didn't completely collapse people would eventually set up their own divisions for themselves, splitting into opposing factions and hating one another.

The fact is, that people want inequality, people want slavery and people want discrimination, they just don't want to be the ones under the boot of said slavery and discrimination.

So under the scrutiny of all this hatred and want of hatred, what chance did an invertebrate have of conducting peaceful long term relationships when the whole of humanity already failed?

The answer was pretty simple, none absolutely none.

My lidless eyes quivered, people were dangerous, but,,, They were also useful.

The blood grass under my claws was creeping ever outward, at some point it was guaranteed that some sapient would notice it and signal the beginning of a 'blood rush' as I coined it.

When that happened getting an audience of a few lone humans would be most beneficial.... in more than one way.

My jaws salivated suddenly, for some reason thinking of humanity made me hungry again.

Clacking my mandibles and shaking my head side to side I frowned ignoring the sudden impulse to bite at an imaginary human head.

Eating humans or sapients should humans not exist would be a foolish decision, man-eaters were always hunted down first if found.

Thus it would be best to only eat the sapients no one would miss, anyone else was best avoided, besides I ultimately know so very little about this world aside from what little the system tells me, making knowledge my weakest element.

Something I cannot abide, my own ignorance.

For the easing of my ignorance I needed people to talk and tell me things, they probably wouldn't speak English or any other language of earth for that matter, for that I could only hope the system had something to aid in that field, also it would be unlikely any person would want to stay in the presence of a five-foot-long roach willingly, so I would have to capture the person and restrain them somehow...

I clawed at my antennae in frustration, tieing a person up was impossible with these claws, I might have to delimb my targets instead to prevent them from escaping and that would probably kill or make my captives unresponsive and at that point, I will have effectively killed them.

Although I couldn't see a way to 'not' kill them, if I captured a person then let them go, they would definitely blab about me, and before I could clack five times a party of heroes or something would be on my ass, ending in my likely demise or future as stuffed decor.

Many eyes perked up as I rose from my resting place, some curious, others fearful and others expectantly, many of the small beast having gathered out the front of my cavern close to a moderate pile of old dry bones.

I was torn for a time, what should I do when that happens? how should I respond?

'Was my humanity something worth keeping?'

I was in the dark, uncertain if I should hold onto something that seemed was becoming redundant.

In my past life, blurry as it is now, I recalled loving people, bonding with people, sharing others pains, I can never remember their names or faces but the memory is still there.

The day I got a bicycle from my dad, the day me and a friend single handily won a cricket game for the team and the day my uncle passed away and I comforted my aunt on the phone.

But now those memories and their feelings feel so different, so hollow, it's almost like they aren't mine anymore.

So many things to consider I thought bitterly kicking the desiccated corpse of the dengue frog out of the cave with a flick of my forelimbs.

This being what the expectant creatures were waiting for, the little mongrels outside my den were immediately on the carcass, each fighting for a portion of my scraps, it was mostly the fanged mice but a few pythonpedes and tiny slimes also scrapped over the remains,

I watched, my irritation slightly blunted, amused by the creature's desperate brawl, the critters' lives could hang on this one meal and many knew it, the little things clawed and bit at each other, some victories becoming evident shortly.

The fanged mice let out a string of squeaks, their numbers, sharp teeth and ferocity earning them most of the carcass for themselves.

The slimes however were easily crushed by the pythonpedes which after reigning victorious were wriggling and gesturing threateningly at the mice but made no moves to engage otherwise.

The fight looked settled and the spoils claimed until with a furious squeak a white blur sprinted into the fray from my cave, it was the retarded rat that always tried to flip, it looked angry, its little whiskers quivering with indignant rage and its fur roughed up, its hackles raised, it was ready to throw down.

And throw down it did.

I had noticed it was almost always among the first to get a portion of my leftovers and had found it curious, it always managed this, and now I knew why.

Enraged that other creatures were eating what it probably considered its rightful food, the white rat hurled itself at the fanged mice which appeared frozen for a second, which was a mistake for the mice.

The white rat hit the first mouse tearing into its head and killing it instantly before leaping at the next nearest mouse killing that one with a swift bite before the mice reacted, with a notable flicker of hesitation, then overturned with furious squeaking the mice counter charged the lone rat, another mistake.

The rat did something odd it raised itself off the ground standing on its two hind legs much like how a bear would when challenged, then shrieked, and I do mean shrieked.

It was the loudest thing that has ever happened in my garden for a long time barring the time I made this cavern.

The screech seemed to freeze the mice mid charge, eating a lot of their momentum up in the process, before they shook off the sound and ran at the rat.

The rat didn't return to all fours, but stayed upright and I soon saw why.

When the mice reached the rat they lept at the rat's vitals, the throat and its head primarily, this meant if the rat stood upright the mice would have to leap at the rat and make themselves vulnerable in the process, the rat quickly used this to its advantage.

With a hiss and a flick, the rats tail whipped forward, slapping a mouse out of the air, but the slap did more than I had expected it to, the mouse hit by the tail slap slammed into the floor before attempting to rise then crumpling back to the floor, a puddle of blood spreading beneath it.

Confused, I looked closer at the mouse, it had a long deep gash in its chest where its lungs should be, the mouse had been slashed, making me do a double-take of the rats tail.

The rats tail that I had once thought merely discolored was bladed, a hardened edge made of bony white serrated blades sticking out of the rats tail like a scythe, a deadly hidden weapon.

The white rat waddled forward on its two hind legs swinging its tail at the mice, felling a couple with every swing, the mice having taken losses seemed incensed, and kept rushing the rat in an attempt to sink their fangs into flesh.

Owing to their raw numbers, two mice managed to slip under the rat's scythe tail and scrabbled forward, anxious to get their teeth around a rats throat, the two mice lept at the same time and knocked the rat back causing the rat to stumble and falter in its offensive-defensive.

Not missing this opportunity the rest of the mice surged forward, mouths gaping, seeking to cover the rat in bites, for a moment it looked like my retarded rat friend had been finished as the swarm rushed forward to surround the rat from head to toe, but only for a moment.

Regaining its balance the rat grabbed the first two mice by the throats and slammed their heads together, the fanged rodents fell to the ground stunned, ignoring the light wounds the mice had inflicted on it, the rat drooped back to all fours.

The mice now surrounding it, having lost the advantage, the mice looked hesitant to engage, running forward only to dart backward in fear as the rat hissed at them, refusing to commit fully to engaging the rat or abandoning the fight.

The mice's third and final mistake.

The rat hissed low and made a curious body movement, flattening and lowering itself to the ground, its small fingers spread in a splayed grip, its long bladed tail also held low as it eyed its foes angrily.

Is it going to...

With a whistling sound, the rats tail whirled, the bladed end flashing a silver sheen for a second and in that second the tail was swung in a quick circle, the rat turning its body to accommodate the movement of the blade.

I only saw it for a few instants but the results were impressive, 10 of the remaining 24 mice were sheared in half their bodies thrashing as they realized their folly, the other mice had apparently finally had enough, with terrified squeaks the mice ran, abandoning their dying comrades and scurrying off into the undergrowth of the jungle.

The rat, now standing huffing in a huge puddle of spreading blood, ignored the two mice still unconscious and the ones dying and instead stalked up to the dead denge frog.

The pythonpedes eagerly digging into the corpse while the mice were busy, looked at the rat before quickly getting out of its way going back to their own small shares leaving the majority of the corpse to the rat.

The rat sniffed angrily again, huffing at the pythonpedes but didn't bother to engage, more interested in eating than fighting now.

The rat, caring not for the carnage behind it began nibbling at the frog, behind it I watched as other scavengers came out and fed upon the dying mice, even the blood grass seemed like it was drinking its fill, the red appearing especially vibrant around the dead mice.

The fight over and the rat overwhelmingly victorious, I internalized, the cognitive part of my mind turning things over.

The rat's hidden strength reminding me of the treachery of sapient life, I made up my mind regarding people.

Walking past the feeding scavengers and rat I was resolved.

Any person that tried to kill me was food, any person that tried to enslave me was food, any person that betrayed my trust once I gave it, was food.

In general, anyone who got in my way and didn't have some sort of use to me, was food.

I wasn't human anymore, so what good did the notion of not eating people do for me? nothing, besides dead people don't tell stories, so if I kill any person who spots me I will never be found, of course, I will drag every morsel of knowledge I can out of them first before I end them, it had to happen for my benefit.

I moved out of my den having lazed around more than enough for today, I wanted to move and hunt the only pleasure to be had down here really outside of critter watching, and who knows while I'm hunting I might find a person

I chuckled inwardly to myself 'heh find a person what are the chances of that.'

Exceedingly low was the answer, if I hadn't encountered one for the six weeks I had been here, it was unlikely that would encounter one now even with the blood grass having spread so far.

As I marched away out of my cave glade I glanced down at the white rat, this white rat had made me make up my mind about the whole humanity thing, having shown its true prowess.

'Well,' I said to myself 'maybe that rat isn't such a retard after all.'

As I said that the rat having recovered from its anger did a backflip, promptly landing on its head with a slight squeak.

Scratch that it's still a retard.