The [Immortal] caterpillar's mind went blank and it mentally screamed, 'there is no way that ugly snail did 27 points of damage with just a single bite! There is just no way!' Because, if the snail had done so, then the caterpillar might as well lay down its life obediently; allowing itself to be killed.

'Right! Right.' The [Survivor] remembered. 'Its [Moulting]. I had used that last night! Right. It had taken 23 points, yes. It had. So this ugly thing 5 points of damage. I can't let it bite me again! I can't.'

Snapping out of the daze, the caterpillar's beady eyes found the snail whose eyes shined with anticipation.

'A mistake! That's what it was. My plan. I need to follow my plan.' It told itself to calm down. 'There is no need to engage with it headfirst. Why would I even do so? Am I an idiot?!'

Berating itself, the [Reincarnated] Sorceress glanced at the slowly approaching snail before hurriedly retreating in fright; the snail had crossed over from the second patch to third.

Before the snail could move ahead further, the caterpillar bent down and sucked a mouthful of venom from its body. Aiming, the bug shot the globule of poison directly at one of the eyestalks.

It missed. 'Just my freaking luck!' Cursing, it once again sucked a mouthful of venom before turning to face the snail and spitting. The venom hit its mark this time, landing on the snail's left eye and the shelled creature hissed in annoyance.

Taking advantage of the moment where the snail was busy cleaning its eye, the [Immortal] caterpillar circle around the snail to arrive behind it.

Wincing as its wound send bursts of pain, the [Survivor] bit into the backside of the snail before its grip could get a hold of the green bug.

The snail immediately turned around, the poison in its eye forgotten, and glared down at the puny thing that dared to hurt it. Prey shouldn't fight back!

As the [Reincarnated] Sorceress prepared to bite down once again, it noticed the snail's shell emitting a soft brown glow.

'Another freaking Skill!' Having received the short end of a Skill previously, the [Survivor] recognised this one quite fast and paddled back post-haste. Right at that moment, the shell slammed down with unnatural force, grazing past its intended target.

Hissing in pain, the green bug retreated as bolts of pain shot from its two wounds, leaving it trembling. It stared defiantly at the snail, who had turned around to glare furiously at the prey that just won't die.

With the first part of the plan in action, the caterpillar didn't need to go near the snail anymore. Thus, it maintained its distance from the slow snail, which wasn't very difficult, and waited for the venom to work.

Soon enough, the Cracked Mouth snail winced and its body twitched before trembling uncontrollably while it shrieked in pain.

The caterpillar watched from afar but soon, its stubs squirmed in annoyance as the snail's pained cries decreased in intensity as if the effects of the venom had already begun to fade.

Its beady eyes dark, the [Survivor] checked the wound and, sure enough, the snail's natural slime had formed a coating over it, preventing more venom from infecting the wound.

The [Immortal] caterpillar screeched in frustration before its beady eyes shone with determination. It bent down to suck in a mouthful of venom from its body and crawled forward, wincing in pain.

Its senses vigilant, the caterpillar circled to the panting snail's backside and bit again, delivering a globule of venom directly into the wound.

Having experienced the cycle once already, the Cracled Mouth Snail didn't bother to turn and glower. Instead, it directly activated its Skill, causing the shell to glow brown before slamming it down, hard.

The green bug had also experienced the cycle, however, and it was gone by the time the glowing shell hut the bark of the branch, cracking it.

Thus began the cycle of cat and mouse, where the caterpillar led the slow snail on a merry chase over the several patches of venom, gaining nothing much as the slime regularly covered the wound.

In the midst of the chase, the [Survivor] suddenly turned around and spat venom directly into the snail's left eye, the one it had targeted earlier.

Taking advantage of the snail's efforts to shake off the venom, the caterpillar bit into the snail's right eye before ripping it off from the stalk.

The [Immortal] snail screeched in agony, but then a globule of venom landed directly on the bleeding stalk and the creature roared in anger. However, no matter its wrath, the prey remained out it reach as its energy declined and the world wavered.

Not long after, the snail slumped over, dead.

Ting.

[You have Levelled Up! Level up bonus of +1 HP granted.]

Ting.

[You have Levelled Up! Level up bonus of +1 HP granted.]

.

.

.

Ting.

[You have Levelled Up! Level up bonus of +1 HP granted.]

Ting.

[Skill [Venom Creation Lv.2] has levelled up to [Venom Creation Lv.3]. The active time of the venom has been increased to 3 minutes.]

The gasping bug gaped, its jaws hanging open. Hastily summoning its Status, the [Immortal] caterpillar checked its Level and HP before its jaws chittered in joy.

Its Level now read, [Level: 46] while its HP read, [HP: 22/51].

'The Great Ghosts help me! Yes!' It thought, elated. It had gained six Levels and a Skill Level from just one fight! 'Why am I wasting time eating those stupid leaves, when I can just kill these snails?'

But, at that moment, all its previous wounds pulsed with pain and agony, and it let out a loud hiss. The area of the snail's bite hurt the most, leaking bluish-green fluids that the [Reincarnated] Sorceress had no name for.

With a wince, the [Immortal] caterpillar decided not to linger any longer and returned to its hideout, its thoughts racing.

The [Reincarnated] Sorceress had a lot to think about.

'Why did that ugly snail give out so much experience?' It pondered, crawling through the tall grass blades. 'I have eaten leaves for days, just to gain a single Level but that stupid thing gave me six in a matter of few moments. Why?'

It wiggled its jaws in thought. 'The only difference is that I am supposed to eat leaves. It is what I must do to survive. But... fighting ugly things is not? Hmm...'

Arriving at its hideout, the caterpillar dragged a thick leaf over to the hideout to cover the entrance.

Paying little attention to the act, it thought, '...no, that not right. Fighting to live is also for survival. I can't just let myself be eaten. So fighting is also survival. Does that mean even if I hadn't won, I would have gained some experience?'

Tilting its head to the side in confusion, it thought, '...but if such reasoning were true, then shouldn't mere breathing grant me Levels? That also counts as surviving...'

The [Reincarnated] Sorceress paused mid-step. As a result, half its body was inside the hideout, while the other hung out.

'This means it's not just about survival. There has to be something more than survival.' It concluded. 'But what is more important than survival? Just what is more important than survival...'

The thought tickled the [Immortal] caterpillar's memory, reminding of a special notification it had read soon after breaking out of its egg. It hurriedly summoned the strange notification.

Ting.

[Since there is life, death exists now. Since there is now death, life exists. Within the singularity of this infinity, lies the endless chaos of half-truths. Truth and Untruth, both extend through this singularity. In the moment between singularity to infinity and infinity to singularity, hides the meaning of Dharma.] [Dharma: Thrive.]

'Thrive,' it echoed, nodding its head. 'So that's the key, hmm... I could surely exploit this in future.’

Its jaws chittered in excitement, but then the [Survivor] immediately flinched, experiencing what was called instant regret as pain flared once again. 'Yep. That's why I should avoid confrontation. Because I am a freaking caterpillar!'

Squirming its numerous stubs in displeasure, the [Reincarnated] Sorceress checked its Status. Its HPR read [HPR: 5 HP/day] while HP read [HP: 15/51], causing it to frown.

Of 22 HP left after [Moulting], it had lost 4 HP to the bite, leaving it with 18 HP. The next wound should have done 4~5 HP of damage, following which the Level ups should have added 6 HP, leaving it 20~22 HP.

Then why did it have just 15 HP at the moment?

As the [Hungry] pest tilted its head to the side in confusion, it caught sight of the bite marks which had a gelatinous bluish-green liquid coating on them. '...bleeding damage. Right.'

With a sigh, the [Immortal] caterpillar settled in its little hideout for the day. Planning on using [Moulting] to heal, the caterpillar called out, '[Moulting].'

But nothing happened.

Squirming its stubs, the caterpillar tried activating the Skill a few times but received no response. Shaking its head, it summoned its Status.

And came face to face with the proof of its stupidity.

The [Reincarnated] Sorceress merely had 15 HP out of 51. How could it even activate [Moulting] went the Skill demanded almost half the HP to activate?

As its beady eyes flickered with annoyance, the [Hungry] pest crawled out its pit, wincing and flinching, and arrived at the young tree. It eyed the tree for a moment -as if awaiting mockery- before climbing the damn thing to eat the freaking leaves.

Thus, over the next three days, the [Survivor] ate and slept in pain, waiting to use the Skill.

But by the time its HP reached 30 points, allowing it to safely use [Moulting], its wounds had already healed enough that the bug no longer needed the Skill, leaving it a bit frustrated.

The [Hungry] bug's suffering did end up earning it a Skill Level though.

[Skill [Pain Resistance Lv.3] has levelled up to [Pain Resistance Lv.4]. Resistance to pain has been increased.]

0.0

Over the course of the next four days, as its HP regenerated back to [HP: 51/51], the [Immortal] caterpillar followed its hated routine of poisoning itself, eating leaves and then poisoning itself again.

To its utter jaws-chittering pleasure, it soon noticed the effects of the poison gradually lessening, with convolutions, hallucinations and aches still assaulting its body, but their duration and intensity decreasing.

For this reason, as it crawled away from the poisonous plant, the [Hungry] pest chittered its jaws happily. Reaching its new food source, the bug crawled up the young tree's soft and began looking for a branch that was rather new and still tender.

Finding what it was looking for, the [Survivor] dug a pit in the middle of the branch before expanding it from the sides so that the pit covered the entire width of the branch, forming a shallow basin.

Satisfied, the [Immortal] caterpillar used [Venom Creation] to fill the basin with its venom, intending to hunt snails. With that done, it bit off a nearby leaf and used it to cover the shallow valley.

'This would do, wouldn't it?' The thought sobered the bug, and it shook its head to get rid of idle musings. Nevertheless, it couldn't help but recall when it had been vehemently against the idea, branding it as suicidal.

However, as the days had passed and it had received not a single new Level, the [Reincarnated] Sorceress had been forced to rethink.

All because of its dwindling lifespan.

With the end of the 7th week, the caterpillar had just about 40~41 days left to live.

'It took me about 50 days to reach just Level 46; not even a Level per day. And that included six Levels from that damned ugly snail.' The [Hungry] pest scoffed. 'Now I have to get 54 more Levels in about 40 days? Do Levels grow on trees or something?!'

Considering that it ate leaves to Level up, for the [Hungry] bug, its Levels did indeed grow on trees.

'Dumb little Title!' It cursed, annoyed. 'Starves me constantly but couldn't even provide enough Levels! It had one job! One!'

Left with no choice, the [Immortal] caterpillar was reluctantly forced to hunt snails.

However, knowing that it was no match for snails, the [Survivor] had decided to fight by its own rules and on its own grounds. Thus, rather than having a straight head-on battle, it had decided to employ traps.

After creating multiple basins across the soft branch, it sighed tiredly before moving further down the branch to eat the newer, softer leaves.

By noon, it hadn't had any run-in with snails, and the weather had taken a turn for the worse. Dark clouds had swept by, covering the sun behind to paint the world in dull light, while the winds had brought along humidity which had combined with the heat to create a sweltering atmosphere.

Not that the [Reincarnated] Sorceress paid it any mind as it caught movement from the corner of its beady eyes. Its skin tingling in nervousness, the [Immortal] caterpillar turned around to find a snail sliding towards it with hungry eyes.

Pink and slimy, the Cracked Mouth Snail was much like its brethren killed a week prior. The only difference being its smaller size. At two-thirds the size of a mortal's finger, it was only marginally larger than the green bug.

With goosebumps erupting on its green skin, the [Survivor] crawled towards the trap. Activating [Venom Creation] to soak its body in poison, it sucked in a mouthful of venom and stopped in front of the leaf, waiting.

Like a hawk, the [Immortal] caterpillar watched as the ugly snail slowly slid towards it and the trap.

Just as the shelled creature slid onto the leaf, its body didn't find anything solid to support its weight, causing it to slip into the shallow valley of poison. Making use of the opportunity, the [Survivor] hurriedly crawled forward, biting down on the eyestalk before ripping it apart.

The snail shrieked in pain as venom seeped through the wound into its blood. Glaring with its sole remaining eye, the shelled creature activated its Skill in vengeance and its head glowed brown, moving unnaturally fast to deliver a devastating wound.

Having expected such a response, the [Survivor] had rolled already to the side the side, instead of retreating, which caused the snail's attack to miss. Not wasting a moment more, the green bug retreated just outside the snail range and waited for its venom to begin its work.

The [Immortal] caterpillar didn't have to wait for long before the snail began twitching and trembling as pained cries escaped its horrifyingly teethed mouth.

Having waited for just that, the green bug raced forward before biting down onto the remaining eyestalk and ripping it free from the ugly snail's slimy flesh, causing its target to screech in anger and agony.

The [Reincarnated] Sorceress' skin tingling in fear and nervousness as it used the moment, to deliver numerous venomous bites onto the snail's lower body, allowing the collected venom access to the creature's slimy body.

At that moment, the effects of the venom ended as the snail's shell began to softly glow brown.

Alarmed, the [Immortal] caterpillar hastily retreated but it was already too late. The hard, glowing shell slammed into the green bug with full force and pain exploded all over its body, its vision going dark.

Letting out an agonised screech, the caterpillar continued to retreat as its vision slowly returned. Glaring at the aggressor, it waited for the valley of venom to go to town.

'First, it comes to me, salivating like a hungry dog, and then blames me for fighting back! What gall!' The green bug cursed, harumphing. 'You just wait. With that much venom into you, not just you, even your ancestors would die! You damned ugly bastard!'

Amidst its rant, the [Survivor] almost forgot to check the HP damage. Remembering at the last moment, it hurriedly summoned its Status to find its HP at [HP: 39/51]. 'This hideous thing did 12 freaking points of damage! You just wait, you'll what's waiting for you!'

As if sensing the tirade, the snail shrieked, refusing to give up. Shivering and flinching, the now blind snail chose a random direction to hurriedly head out of the venom puddle.

The [Immortal] caterpillar didn't allow it though. Circling ahead, it hit the shelled creature with the tail end of its body, sending the shelled creature back into the venom pool.

Refusing to give up, the Cracked Mouth Snail tried to escape a few more times but with the [Reincarnated] Sorceress guarding the path, the blind snail failed each time.

Not long after, the shelled creature gradually went limp, dying to the venom and pain.

Ting.

[You have Levelled Up! Level up bonus of +1 HP granted.]

Ting.

[You have Levelled Up! Level up bonus of +1 HP granted.]

.

.

.

Ting.

[You have Levelled Up! Level up bonus of +1 HP granted.]

Ting.

[Skill [Venom Creation Lv.3] has Levelled up to [Venom Creation Lv.4]. The active time of the venom has been increased to 4 minutes.]

Chittering its jaws in glee, the [Survivor] checked its status to find that its Level has risen to Level 50 and its HP had become [HP: 44/55] while its HPR remained the same at 5 HP/day. ‘4 Level ups and a Skill Level up, just for a few moments of work! Who wouldn’t want that!’

Crawling forward with its jaws still chittering, the [Immortal] caterpillar bit into the dead snail's body before dragging it out of the puddle. Gasping from the effort, the bug slowly dragged the snail corpse to the crook of the branch before pushing it over the edge.

With a muted thud, the corpse fell on its shell and got stuck in the ground, upside down, eliciting a mocking, jaw-chittering expression of glee from the green bug.

With a last satisfied look, the green bug crawled to the puddle before filling it up again with its venom. 'This reminds me, why did this one just give out four Levels instead of six? Is it because this snail was weaker?' It did seem smaller than the previous one...'

Restoring the trap, the [Reincarnated] Sorceress returned to munching on the tasteless leaves, not to Level but to sate the hunger raging in its belly.

It was late in the afternoon when the [Hungry] pest once again noticed movement. Instead of being in its surroundings, the disturbance was on the ground below. There, it saw a large black scorpion, about the size of a mortal's palm.

With its shining, black chitin gleaming in the dying light, the huge scorpion carelessly made its way over to the dead snail. Not bothering to check the corpse, the bit into the slimy meat and the caterpillar winced. ‘Is that scorpion an idiot? Can't it tell that the snail is poisoned?’

The caterpillar watched in morbid fascination as the moron of a scorpion ate the complete snail and walked off. The green bug waited for its venom to kick in, for it surely would.

So, it waited.

And the scorpion walked.

And it waited.

And the scorpion walked.

And it waited.

And the scorpion walked until it walked out of the [Immortal] caterpillar's sight.

With no ill effect from its poison whatsoever.

‘What,’ the [Reincarnated] Sorceress gaped for a moment before feeling embarrassed and angry at the same time. ‘That snail had been dripping to the brim with venom!’ It fumed. ‘And that scorpion just shrugged it off like it was some oriental spice! Fuck you scorpion! Fuck you too!'

Before the sun went down for the night, the [Hungry] pest killed three more snails to reach Level 61.

Never did the bug think that it would end up being such a profitable day. And by the time the caterpillar crawled up to the poisonous plant, its jaws constantly chittered in glee.

'I'll be free soon! Free from the constant hunger!' The [Reincarnated] Sorceress couldn't help but look forward to getting rid of the Title [Hungry]. 'And no more crawling too! I would even have my magic back! Yes, I can't wait!'

After devouring several thin leaves, the [Survivor] waited for the poison to hit with its jaws chittering in joy. Even the prospect of poisoning itself didn't bring down its joy.

It took the poison even longer to hit and when it finally did, the effects were milder and lasted for a shorter duration. Hallucinations hadn’t occurred this time and neither had the bug experienced nausea, resulting in a vomit-less experience.

Tired from the convolutions, the [Immortal] caterpillar made its way to the hideout before settling down.

Thinking about using [Survive], the green bug calculated the amount of HP required to use the Skill and found the number somewhere near 33-35 HP.

‘That much HP loss would have killed me just a few weeks ago!” It thought, its jaws chittering in laughter.

Nevertheless, the [Reincarnated] Sorceress didn't use the Skill as it was planning to hunt the next day as well. It didn't want to take any unnecessary chances.

-X-

Within a desolate desert, inside a dilapidated shop, on a simple chair, a youth seemingly slept.

-X-

Name: Unnamed

Race: Immortal

Species: Insect

Vessel: Caterpillar

Level: 61

HP: 30/66 MP: -

HPR: 7/Day MPR: -

Lifespan: 41 days

Titles

[Hungry] [Reincarnated] [Survivor]

Skills

[Crawl Lv.3] [Moulting Lv.3] [Pain Resistance Lv.4] [Poison Resistance Lv.5] [Survive Lv.1] [Venom Creation Lv.4]