Stupidity is encoded within my genetics, down to my very bones.

“Kkk… Damn… it…”

I was on all fours, coughing out whatever water was left in my throat after crawling out of the lake. I’m such an idiot.

Still, a grin was plastered stupidly across my face. Not gonna lie, that was at least kinda fun. I lay on my back.

“Hah… hahaha… “

I giggle to myself. How long has it been since I’d felt this way? This sensation is something I can’t ever remember ever feeling before. What was I missing out during the time I buried myself into the internet in my last life?

This moment, I want it to last forever. But I have a goal, three goals actually.

The first: Survive and grow stronger in order to protect myself from future adversaries.

The second: Discover the mysteries of magic and its applications.

And the last: Get the ever living hell out of here.

I get a hold of my self. The moment of fun can wait until I grow a little bit stronger. My mission right now is to get stronger, and there’s only one good option available to me right now: Level up.

I’ve been eyeing a scorpion next to that cliff for a while now, and I have an idea on how to defeat it.

Juvenile Cavern Scorpion

A scorpion that utilizes it’s tail to hunt for prey. It uses it’s strong tail muscles to puncture through its opponents, with injecting them with weak venom as well. Its stinger is mildly toxic but packs much force behind it. The scorpion is known for its tendency to quickly dash towards its opponent.

Found in cavernous areas with high mana concentration.

Level 4

I put on a serious face. This is a time for progress and planning. After steeling myself for the upcoming battle and shaking off all hesitation, I begin to move stealthily towards the juvenile scorpion.

I start using my camouflage skill again. The shade around me warps and changes color and I start to blend into the background a little more. I walk as carefully as I can, so as to not alert my enemy.

This is an extremely dangerous situation. You have a high chance of dying.

Then I must proceed with caution then, so as to lower that chance.

As I continue to walk forward, the juvenile scorpion comes into view. It’s not gray like the last one, as expected, and its size is much smaller, reaching only about three quarters of my height. It’s sipping on the water, unaware of me stalking it.

Perfect. I grab a rock – plenty of those around here, even in a lake like this – and calm myself. I breathe in and out. Steady now.

My heartbeat calms, and my focus sharpens. Last time I threw that rock, I was half panicked and unprepared. This time will be different.

You don’t have to hit it directly. Making it see you and recognize you as your enemy is more than enough.

I tell myself this, and the assurance fills me with calm. I should stop trying to do everything perfectly. Close enough is completely adequate.

I pull back my arm. How do they do it in sports? They twist their back.

One foot forward.

Weight on my back feet.

One last moment to collect myself…

And shoot!

The ball lunges forward with more Power than I’d have expected. It almost looks like that rock has some actual speed to it. The rock soars through the quiet air, whooshing noises following as it cuts through the atmosphere with respectable speed.

And it soars. The scorpion looks up from it’s drinking position, hearing something come by. It turns its head…

Bullseye. Hehe.

The scorpion is hit with the full force of the rock and is pushed to the ground. It recovers and looks around its surroundings, searching for the aggressor. It locks eyes with me. If I was close enough, I would’ve witnessed the monster’s eyes filled with fury and anger.

Engaging with the scorpion in physical combat is impossible for me – the tail is just too much for me to handle. My strengths, however, lie elsewhere. On Earth, humans did not rise to power with strength or endurance, but with their wisdom. I have the power to anticipate and plan on a level unequal to these monsters, or at least the ones I’ve seen so far.

The cavern scorpion readies its legs. I’ve seen that stance before. I already know what you’re going to do next, creature.

Well, I say it’s about time to initiate phase two of the plan:

Run.

The scorpion lunges at me with terrifying speed, and I take off madly dashing through the forest as fast as my legs can take me. The scorpion keeps up the speed.

I run with such a quickness I have never experienced before. This speed and that throw… Is this the power of stats? I actually think that I run faster than that juvenile scorpion, but in my planning, I overlooked one thing.

I awkwardly stumble on rocks as I run. Shrubs scratch at me as I pass by them, the taller ones leaving bigger marks. They aren’t doing very much against my increased endurance, but as I run, the start to build.

The real problem is that I’ve never experienced this terrain.

I stumble on some more rocks again. This damn cave…

Looking behind me, I can see that the scorpion begins to catch up to me. My urge to look only served to cost me more speed, as I end up tripping over a patch of glowing mushrooms. I quickly get up, panicking as I wonder how close that scorpion is.

Oh no.

It’s almost in dashing range. I try to pick up speed, but I’m already going as fast as my legs can take me. Panic begins to well up within me now.

“No…“, I say to myself in a ragged voice.

Things did not go as perfectly as I planned. I needed to keep the scorpion a certain distance away from me as I ran so that I would not be forced to engage it in a melee. But that’s okay though.

The shrubbery begins to clear. I still stumble on some of the rocks, giving the scorpion an opportunity to catch up. It’s extremely close to jumping on me.

Things simply won’t turn out perfectly sometimes, and that doesn’t mean that it’s my fault if it doesn’t. What I can do, is to just adapt to the situation. Open my mind to try new things, and maybe, just maybe, things won’t turn out so bad.

Try new things, and I could maybe turn this around.

Think, Aaron. You got this.

I focus, my mind racing from idea to idea as I try to land on a plausible one.

I smile as a sudden thought hits me. This situation won’t turn out so bad after all.

I command my mana to centralize in my palm, a swirling ball of energy forming there. I just gotta keep building energy, and focus myself so I stumble less often in this terrain. I struggle to keep my ball of mana together while I run. I’m not thinking of chucking a big ball of fire at the insect because I don’t think a hot, temporary burst of fire will do enough to slow him down, seeing as how it’s exoskeleton doesn’t seem likely to catch fire. No, what I need is force; a big boom.

My smile widens as I spot what I was looking for in my sprint. A wave of relief flows into me.

Yellow Boomshroom

A dangerous type of mushroom that can be fatal if ingested. The mushroom holds a liquid in its yellow cap that explodes violently if exposed to air. It grows in single quantities but is most often connected in big, underground root systems.

Only found in this specific cavern next to sources of water.

It lies right ahead of me! Finally, after running for what felt like ages!

I lower myself while running in order to reach for it. This proves to be a poor choice, and I stumble onto the ground next to the savior shroom. Whatever! This is my chance.

I grab and reach for the mushroom, plucking it at its base so as to not disturb its volatile insides. I roll and face the scorpion, who’s now only a couple yards away from me. It pounces, but the shroom is already in mid air. As I get ready to use my magic, time seems to slow.

I hadn’t planned for this to happen, but I have no choice. I begin to visualize capsule of air, compressed and flung at high speeds in order to pierce its target. The mana roughly flows into the middle of my palm at what seems like a painfully slow rate. I never had practice with this. What if it doesn’t work? What if I fail?

My thoughts begin to race at sonic speeds. The mana flow seems to slow, and I can’t tell if truly does so or if I’m just imagining things. My heart races. But I have to believe that I can do this. Even if I must lie in the face of fate, I must lie to believe, because if I don’t, then my spell will fail. Believe in myself, because the alternative is much worse. I will not fall. This world will not kill me. Not here.

I reassure myself that I can do this. The mana resumes flowing in front of my palm, faster and smoother this time. The tiny air capsule forms soon enough. It’s ready.

My eyes focus on the mushroom only, filled with steadiness and resolve. My hand doesn’t shake as I move my arm up. Finally, I let the built up ball of mana come forth, willing it to infuse kinetic energy within the makeshift bullet. It’s released in sonic silence, cutting through the air faster than the eye can see. Not like eyes can really see it in the first place anyways.

The mushroom cap is punctured, and the liquid leaks. Immediately, a deafening boom follows later. The explosion leaves behind resounding echoes through the cavern.

No time for thinking; just run.

I want to celebrate my success at detonating the mushroom, but the duty isn’t done. I continue running, looking back while keeping awareness of the shrubbery near me. The scorpion is pushed back, angrier than ever before.

I smile. The mission is back on track.

But I still got a four feet scorpion tailing me so I guess I shouldn’t be relaxed just yet.

The terrain starts to rise now. I have arrived where I needed to be; I’ve reached the cliff.

Now, it’s time to once again build the magic in my palm. I don’t need to much this time, so I only build up a little so I don’t get exhausted as quickly.

In a fair 1v1 battle in regular terrain against this scorpion, I will 100% lose all the time, even with us being the same levels. Sure those 8 unassigned points may make a difference, but I don’t have any natural weapons I could use except for my pointed fingers and the small variety of spells I have at my disposal.

This isn’t a regular battle though; The field is littered with bombs and the terrain just so happens to have a large cliff with a deep lake below it.

So come, scorpion. I am no longer afraid of you at this point.

I continue to ascend the cliff. I didn’t spot any monsters on it when I was trekking through the forest, so I had assumed it to be pretty safe. The scorpion follows behind. We have continued this little goose chase long enough. I think it’s time to end that now.

Finally, at the top and nowhere left to run, I turn. The scorpion encroaches upon me, thinking that it has me cornered.

I feel the magic in my hand. It’s ready.

C’mon. Walk closer. Please.

The scorpion moves closer, arching its tail back, readying a strike. This will end quickly for his prey. He can run no longer.

But I'm no longer trying to run. I ready my spell. My last trick in my sleeve…

This cavern… it’s an impossibility for all this life to be here, one that is explained with magic, especially through identify’s implication with its constant references to high mana concentrations. Still though, even through all of the impossibilities magic performs in this cavern, evolution takes place.

What does a creature become in an environment like this? Lots of things, apparently, but in such darkness, I can only assume that predators like this scorpion all have at least one thing in common.

The scorpion is only an instant away from impaling me with that massive stinger. It reaches higher than I have seen it before, trumping even my height. I won’t allow that thing to hit me, and my hand begins to glow with intense, bright light. It fills the cliff entirely, engulfing the two of us in it. I close my eyes as I activate the spell.

How do these mobile creatures hunt? They chase their prey, using their eyesight to track their prey’s path. Regular eyes won’t do in this situation though, the environment not allowing for it. Evolution dictates that whoever can see the best in this place will survive. Evolution calls for eyes that are extra sensitive to light.

Even knowing all of this, anxiety still fills me with fright.

I can feel that my ball of mana has all been spent. I open my eyes and step forward close enough to grab the tail at its top.

I know from my previous life, during my biology classes, that scorpions are supposed to be picked up by their tails.

Well, it’s a little awkward when the tail is almost my height, but I believe that the philosophy remains the same.

The scorpion must be blinded and stunned from such an attack. I don’t think it witnessed anything that bright in its entire life, and so have it so suddenly must throw it off by a lot.

And that’s exactly what I’m counting on. I swing the scorpion around, tossing it off the cliff. The scorpion barely hangs on using its stinger as a grapple. I run up and kick that thing off the cliff.

I hope you can swim.

It falls and plunges to face its impending doom. The scorpion lands with a splash below, and I walk back from the cliff. I think I remember somewhere in that biology class that scorpions can also survive for a considerable amount of time while underwater.

I push that thought back. It’s not as if that’d be the same for this insect. With a bigger body comes a greater need for oxygen. I’m sure enough that the scorpion won’t survive for that long. Right?

…

Right?!

You have slain Juvenile Cavern Scorpion LV4

I let out a sigh of relief. I close my eyes to recover myself.

It’s done. I did it.

I open my eyes. I have survived my first battle. It was an exhilarating experience, for sure. It makes me feel so happy and relieved.

I'm alive.