Night 13

I woke up, feeling a lot better than when I had gone to sleep. Checking my HP, I forced back a grimace. It read, [HP: 83/126]; 20 hours of rest and just 40 points of HP regeneration.

The measly amount of regenerated health, almost made me wish that I was in pain last night, so that {Masochism} would have kicked in, increasing my HP regeneration by 1 more point, thus giving me 20 more points of regeneration for all the hours that I had slept.

But then I remembered that the skill was due to the Title [Masochist] and scowled as my almost wish died an early death. 'I am not a masochist! And that's it! No Blue screen is going to tell me otherwise!'

Scowling, I took a deep breath to calm myself and crawled out of my hideout. Beating my wings, I flew towards my hunting/training ground. Once I reached my destination, I began using {Observe} on everything that I hadn't observed before.

Ting. Ting. Ting. Ting. Ting. Ting. Ting.

Ting. Ting. Ting. Ting. Ting. Ting. Ting. Ting. Ting. Ting.

Ting.

[Skill {Observe Lv.2} has leveled up to {Observe Lv.3}. Species name of the target is now available. Strongest attribute, no longer available.]

I grinned; {Observe} leveled up and that too without even using the entirety of my HP. Finally something good! Though, the point that strongest attribute was no longer available was a downer, I didn't think much of it.

I used observe on the spider trying to spin its net.

Ting.

[Willow Spider. Poisonous.]

Huh. So the spiders that I had been hunting were called Willow Spiders. I wonder why they got that particular name. Was it because they lived on willows? Did that mean there was water body nearby?

Dismissing the notification, I began hunting the spiders just like I had done last time; by trickling poison down their threads. I hunted 4 spiders this way and managed to gain 7 levels; the first, three spiders gave me 2 levels each but because of the decreasing utility, the last one had only given me 1 level.

I frowned; this decreasing experience gain was irritating. And infuriating. Still, there was some silver lining to this grey cloud. I had received a tell tale sound while I had been hunting.

Ting.

[Skill {Stealth Lv.1} has leveled up to {Stealth Lv.2}. The chance of others overlooking your presence has been increased to 12%]

Dragging the corpses back to the hole that I had dug last night, I chomped down on my meaty breakfast. Heh.

I giggled.

That pun was bad. So very bad. And so I giggled.

Though, the amusement didn't last long because the pain from the poison hit me like a truck soon after I had finished my meal. It felt like a road roller was going over me, again and again, crushing me to bloody pulp and beyond to paste. All of my exoskeleton felt like it had turned to powder and my soft flesh felt like it had turned to minced meat. I would have screamed like a baby if I could.

It took me longer to get over the pain than I wanted it to take, and by the time it did, I was panting and gasping like there was no tomorrow.

Ting.

[Skill {Poison: Bug: Resistance Lv. 2} has leveled up to {Poison: Bug: Resistance Lv. 3}. Your resistance to this poison has increased. A little.]

I grinned at the screen.

Ting.

[Skill {Masochism Lv.1} has leveled up to {Masochism Lv.2}. Extra HP regeneration, when in pain, has been increased to 2 HP/Hour.]

I scowled. 'Fuck. You.'

I wasn't grinning because I was in pain, I wa-

Wait; I don't care what this stupid blue screen says. Fuck you blue screen. Fuck you sideways with a thorny dick.

Taking a deep breath to calm myself –not that it helped me any- I left the hole and headed for my hideout. The hunt and the consequent fest had barely taken two hours today; meaning that I had 22 hours to recuperate from the {Molting}.

Settling in the hideout, I used molting.

Ting.

[-55 HP]

As tiredness overcame me, I fell asleep.

Night 14

I woke up, feeling not much different, than what I had felt when I had woken up last night. And checking up my HP told me that just as much; that I was in same situation as last night, if not that I was in worse condition. My HP read, [HP: 76/126].

I sighed; I was 50 point short of a complete HP bar. I thought about doing nothing all day but then decided against it; I'd rather not waste away my day doing nothing but sleep. I had to level up and evolve. I had no intention of remaining a moth more than I absolutely had to.

With my decision made, I crawled out of the hideout.

Ting.

[Skill {Crawl Lv.10} has leveled up to {Crawl Lv. Max} and has evolved into {Slide Lv.1}.]

I was a little surprised at the skill level up but was, more than a little, surprised at the fact that a skill evolved; I did not know that skills could evolve. I focused on the new skill.

Ting.

[User slides across the surface at the speed of the skill {Crawl Lv. Max}.]

Hmm. Nothing exciting. Though if I level up this skill, does that mean my speed would increase? Perhaps. It was definitely, something to experiment on later. Also, did this mean that all my skills would evolve on reaching level Max or level 11?

I hope they did, because that would be just splendid.

But given that it is me, which this relates to, so it was more than likely that someone somewhere would find a way to fuck me over.

A sigh escaped me and I shook my head to clear it of the useless negative thoughts. That was not the way to go if I wanted to survive in this world.

Deciding to continue on with my routine, I removed the leaf from the entrance and used {Observe} on everything that I hadn't used it on before.

Ting. Ting. Ting. Ting. Ting. Ting. Ting. Ting.

Ting. Ting. Ting. Ting. Ting. Ting. Ting. Ting. Ting. Ting. Ting.

Ting. Ting. Ting. Ting. Ting. Ting. Ting. Ting. Ting. Ting. Ting. Ting. Ting. Ting.

I sighed in disappointment as my MP dropped to zero with no level up notification. But truthfully, another level up of the skill, so soon after the last one, was just too good to be true.

Shaking my body to stretch it a little bit, I began flying towards my hunting ground. As soon as I was in the air, the annoying buzzing sound filled my ears and I scowled.

Trying to dampen the noise as much as I could, I used the skill {Stealth}, though to do so, I had to compromise on my flight speed and height of flight. But I was okay with that.

As I flew around, with {Stealth}, {Sensor} and {Scent} active, I was more than sure of my safety; after all, I was both hidden and well prepared for any and all predator that may come.

Ting.

[-10 HP]

Apparently that was definitely not the case as I was taken by surprise, when a sticky-fleshy thing hit me in the air, just when I had been turning to observe the predator that I had sensed.

Baffled, I saw a frog sitting eagerly beneath a plant, recalling its tongue to which I was stuck. 'Oh my God!' I panicked. 'That thing is going to eat me and it is going to eat me alive! It will not wait to even kill me! It will crush me and eat me ALIVE! I have to do something! I have to do something NOW!'

Not having much time to think before I was eaten alive, I did the only thing that came to my mind. I activated the skill {Survive}.

Ting.

[-63 HP]

Ting.

[Skill {Survive Lv.2} has leveled up to {Survive Lv.3}. Time Limit and HP Limit have both increased by 1. Current Time Limit: 3 minute. Current HP Limit: 3 HP]

And then I was being crushed between two large walls that had all the intention in the word to pulverize me.

Ting.

[Due to the intervention of a skill, HP has been fixed at 3 points. 30 points of HP damage has been negated.]

Ting.

[Due to the intervention of a skill, HP has been fixed at 3 points. 40 points of HP damage has been negated.]

Ting.

[Due to the intervention of a skill, HP has been fixed at 3 points. 40 points of HP damage has been negated.]

My mind went blank in pain and misery as I was crushed, again and again.

At the moment, tt did not matter that the HP loss was being negated, my exoskeleton was being crushed and my flesh was being minced. It felt like I had been put in meat grinder and was being prepared for dinner.

And even if that was not the case, {Survive} would soon end and then this frog would eat me if I didn't do anything by then. If I didn't kill it by then.

Ting.

[Due to the intervention of a skill, HP has been fixed at 3 points. 40 points of HP damage has been negated.]

Ting.

[Due to the intervention of a skill, HP has been fixed at 3 points. 30 points of HP damage has been negated.]

Not knowing any other way, I began to secrete both the poisons, which I could create, by the use of skill {Poison creation}. I secreted the poisons without stopping for even a moment; my life depended on me secreting those poisons. I alternated between secreting one and then secreting next but I continued secreting poisons. I could not stop. I did not stop.

I felt my poisons take hold as the frog shrieked and wailed before finally spitting me out. I watched in satisfaction as my predator struggled and withered against my poison. I watched the damned thing scream in pain, with unholy glee. It had a very satisfying feel to it; to watch your would be murderer die at your hands.

I saw it in its eyes when the realization, that it would die, dawned on it. And I saw when it's desperation to live, changed into desperation to kill its killer. I watched helplessly as the creature, still withering in pain, leaped and landed on me. It was trying to kill me with its weight as it died.

Ting.

[Due to the intervention of a skill, HP has been fixed at 3 points. 50 points of HP damage has been negated.]

It tried to squash me again with its body.

Ting.

[Due to the intervention of a skill, HP has been fixed at 3 points. 40 points of HP damage has been negated.]

It tried to crush me with the dwindling power that it had.

Ting.

[Due to the intervention of a skill, HP has been fixed at 3 points. 30 points of HP damage has been negated.]

But all of it failed as it died and fell over me.

Ting.

[Due to the intervention of a skill, HP has been fixed at 3 points. 30 points of HP damage has been negated.]

Ting. Ting. Ting. Ting. Ting. Ting. Ting.

Ting. Ting. Ting. Ting. Ting. Ting. Ting. Ting.

[You have Leveled Up! Level up bonus of +1 HP and +1 MP granted.] x15

In the state I was in, I couldn't even move a single muscle, let alone try crawling out of the carcass I was buried under. But it did not matter. I had to get out from beneath this carcass and I had to do it fast.

Soon the skill {Survive} would end and I did not know whether the pressure from frog's body would kill me or not. And even if I somehow survived that, there would be predators wanting to feast on the frog like the scorpion had feasted on snails; I did not want to be their side dish. I so did not.

'I will survive.' It was not a statement. And it was not hope. It was a fact. An unchangeable and untouchable fact.

I rattled my brain for something to pop up but the best I could come up with was to use my new skill {Slide}; but I wasn't sure how effective that would be. Not having any other option, I activated the skill.

A slimy liquid slowly oozed out, from the pulp and chunks that was my body, and formed a layer to cover me. And as soon as it was finished, the pressure from the corpse caused me slip out from under the corpse like mercury when it is being pressured from two sides.

I wanted to sigh in relief but the pain I was in did not let me do so. Every breath that I took caused me to flinch and every little movement caused me to feel my body in places I never knew existed. Slowly, I focused on the corpse and used {Observe}; I wanted to know what had almost killed me.

Ting.

[Common Forest Frog.]

Yet, I could not remain out in the open, not if I wanted to stay alive; I had to find shelter soon or had to make one.

As I was searching for somewhere, anywhere, to rest, my eyes fell on my pile of leaves my hideout was under. I almost cried, both in relief and in misery. I cried in relief because my home was right there in front of my eyes and I cried in misery because I didn't think I could make it.

I took a deep breath and flinched as pain roared through my body. I could not give up. I had to live. I had to reach my hideout. So with any and all the willpower that I had, I pushed myself and slid forward.

Pain.

Hurt.

Ache.

Those were all the things I knew and I knew nothing else. Yet I couldn't give up. I could not die.

Ting.

[The effect of the skill {Survive} has ended. Damage reduction has been restored to normal.]

Ting.

[-1 HP]

I stopped dead in my tracks. I should have had 18 HP; 3 left over from the skill {Survive} and 15 from all the level ups. And as I had just lost 1 HP, meaning that now I should have 17 HP.

My brain raced.

I was in pain, which meant that my HP regeneration should be 4HP/Hour now that {Masochism} was at level 2, meaning that I had 1 HP every 15 minutes. If I take it slow, and with breaks, I could reach my hideout without dying.

I smiled. There was a way.

Just to make sure, I checked my status and just as I had expected, my HP read, [HP: 17/148]. I frowned, 148 HP that mea-

[MP: 15/48]

I could now, couldn't I?

I laughed.

Or at least tried to. What came out was a cough that seemed like a hundred year old malady.

Ting.

[Skill {Masochism Lv.2} has leveled up to {Masochism Lv.3}. Extra HP regeneration, when in pain, has been increased to 3 HP/Hour.]

Dismissing the notification I focused on the task at hand. I had 15 MP left, and my MP regeneration was 5MP/hour. That meant that I didn't have to be in pain the whole day just to regain enough MP for {Molting}.

Once I reached the hideout, I could use {Meditation} and double up my regeneration and then use the spell {Episkey} to heal damage and restore my HP.

Slowly, I slide forward and immediately regretted it. My body had no shape right now and whenever it moved, things were misplaced, causing my world to fill with pain and hurt.

Ting.

[Skill {Pain Resistance Lv.5} has leveled up to {Pain Resistance Lv.6}. Your tolerance to pain has increased.]

I hissed and slid forward. I could not put in words how happy I was that {Crawl} had evolved into {Slide}, because if I didn't have {Slide} right now, there was no doubt in my mind about what would have happened; I wouldn't be moving at all, of that I was sure.

I slid and hurt, but I continued to slide because there was no other choice. If I didn't slide, I may as well kill myself.

Swallowing the lump of blood that rose in my throat, I flinched but I continued to slide.

Ting.

[-1 HP]

I continued to slide. There was still enough HP that I could continue without hurting my current plan. So I continued to slide.

Pain. Hurt. Ache. Flinch. Cringe. Those were things that addled my mind and more than once I felt like I was losing it, that I was hallucinating. It was such a sweet fallacy; my friends and family waiting for me, telling me to give up and go to them.

But I knew it was all nothing but lies. My wife, my world, had killed me. There was no one waiting for me to give up. There was just no one waiting for me.

Ting.

[-1 HP]

I paused this time. I had lost 3 HP by now, it was time for me recuperate and relax. But being in open as I was, I could only wait for 15 minutes for 1 HP to regenerate.

Soon enough, it was time to go and I flinched with pain as I began to slide; and thus continued the ritual of sliding and pausing and sliding and pausing until I finally reached my hideout. I had only 4 HP left when I finally settled in.

With pain raining on my entire being I closed my eyes and began to meditate. I took a deep breath in and gently let it out. I repeated the process again and again and again until I felt at peace with myself.

It took me way too long to achieve the peaceful state; given the pain I was in but I pushed through. It might have taken me hours to reach the state but when I did reach it, I did not want to let go; I knew and feared that there was nothing but pain and hurt waiting for me.

But meditation, and living, was not only about being at peace with myself; it was also about facing my fears. So with another breath, I let go of my peace, and accepted all the hurt and pain that was waiting for me.

Ting.

[Skill {Meditate Lv.5} has leveled up to {Meditate Lv.6}. While meditating, MP regeneration will be increased by 6 MP/Hour.]

I was not surprised at the skill level up; truthfully, after what I had just done, I had been rather expecting it.

Ignoring my feelings on matter, I checked my HP and MP. My HP read, [HP: 29/148] while my MP read, [MP: 44/48]. I guess I had been out for 5 hours, out of which 4 hours I had been trying to meditate while only spending just one hour in the meditative trance.

As my HP regeneration was 5 HP/hour -due to the skill {Masochism} level 3, which granted an additional 3HP/Hour- I had gained 25 HP in last 5 hours.

On the other hand, my MP hadn't gained any additional help for the initial 4 hours and thus had been only increased by 20 MP during that duration but when I had finally entered in the meditative trance, my MP regeneration had doubled to 10MP/hour, thus giving me a total of 30 MP for 5 hours.

Or so I guessed.

With a smile, I used the spell {Episkey} for a much needed relief.

Ting.

[-20 MP.]

Ting.

[45 HP restored.]

Immediately I felt the result. The pain dulled as the spell worked and my flesh healed. I wasn't surprised that my exoskeleton remained broken and hurt. After all, this spell didn't work on bones, just muscles and cartilages. Thus it also wouldn't work on my exoskeleton.

As more and more of my pain receded, I used the spell again.

Ting.

[-20 MP.]

Ting.

[45 HP restored.]

I sighed contently and checked my HP, it read, [HP: 119/148]. I sighed dejectedly, wishing that I had more MP to heal myself just one more time to completely restore the HP bar.

Still, I was satisfied. Almost all of my flesh wounds were healed and the pain from the flesh wounds had receded to a dull ache. The only thing that remained now was my exoskeleton which remained broken and hurt but that is what {Molting} was for.

With a dull smile, I activated the skill {Molting}.

Ting.

[-55 HP.]

Ting.

[Skill {Molting Lv.3} has leveled up to {Molting Lv.4}. Time required for the skill has been reduced by 10 minutes. Total time required: 5 Hours and 30 Minutes.]

Ignoring the tiredness, I smiled and fell asleep.

Night 15

I woke up, feeling much better than last night; there was no pain anywhere and neither were there any subtle aches. I felt as good as new but with just a little tiredness. With a grin, I opened my status to check on my HP and MP. My HP read, [HP: 100/148] while my MP read, [MP: 48/48].

It seemed I had been resting for 18 hours thus I had regained all of my MP and had regained 36 points of HP.

I shifted a little and heard a crack, a much distinctive one than what I had heard last time. I squirmed and shifted some more, which resulted in more and more cracks before I was finally free of exuviate. I turned around to face the shed shell; it looked as if it was made out of thick paper like the ones used in high quality notebooks.

I frowned. 'Just what is going on with my shell?'

I shook my head and crawled out of the hideout. Meanwhile, knowing that I had more than enough MP, I used {Episkey} to fill up the rest of the HP bar.

Ting.

[-20 MP]

Ting.

[45 HP restored.]

With a small smile, I checked my HP, it read, [HP: 145/148] while my MP read, [MP: 28/48].

Beating my wings, I took to the air and this time I didn't bother with trying to decrease the bussing noise; I had been too busy with it to take notice of the real threat the last two times.

With {Sensor} and {Scent} active, I flew as high as I could but still tried to remain within the cover of the canopy. Reaching the hunting ground, I soon found my prey and used {Observe} on it.

Ting.

[Willow Spider. Poisonous.]

Satisfied, I used {Stealth} and landed on the branch from which the spider was hanging. Activating the skill {Slide}, I slid towards my prey. Reaching it, I began secreting both of my poisons and let them collect into a puddle near my body.

Then when it was just about to overflow, I guided it to the thread with which the spider was hanging. The spider, obviously, sensed the movement and began retreating. Meanwhile I guided more and more of my poison down the thread.

The shriek that reached my ears, told me that my poison had hits mark. The spider began to struggle wildly, trying to shake off the poison, as more and more of it reached it. But its struggles had the unfortunate effect causing the thread to snap which had him rushing off for the ground.

The hit to ground must have caused massive damage to the spider as it tried to stand up a few times before finally giving in.

I frowned. I didn't receive any level up notification this time. Was the spider not enough to level me up? Have I leveled up that much?

The last time I had been getting 2 level ups from a single spider, but that had been the case when I had been in one digit levels. When I had hit the double digit levels, the level up from the single spider had been reduced to one. And it seemed that now when my level was in 20's, I wouldn't even get that.

I sighed. I would have to hunt stronger opponents if I wanted to level up faster. Which I did. But that would have to be later. For now I had to eat this spider and hunt more until my poison related sub-skill leveled up.

I dragged the spider corpse back to the hole, which I had dug in the hunting ground, and began to chomp down on the delicious spider flesh.

I was eating, and hunting, one spider at a time rather than collecting a large number in piles and eating them at once as I had done with the leaves. I had my reasons for this. First, I had to hunt these spiders, which was not as easy as chewing on the lead stems to make them fall. And second, the poison from the spiders was way stronger than the leaf one and I did not want to experience whatever would happen if I consumed a huge amount of it in one sitting. Thus small doses it was.

After the pain subsided from the poison attack, I went out and hunted down another spider, much like I had done with the previous one and this time, I did receive a notification.

Ting.

[You have Leveled Up! Level up bonus of +1 HP and +1 MP granted.]

The rest of the day I hunted spiders until I received the notification I had been waiting for.

Ting.

[Skill {Poison: Bug: Resistance Lv. 3} has leveled up to {Poison: Bug: Resistance Lv. 4}. The effect of the poison has been decreased. A tinge.]

It took 6 more spiders to finally get this notification, which, in turn, resulted in me gaining just 4 more levels. Now that slow of a level gain really pissed me off. So I decided that from tomorrow, I would hunt stronger spiders, because now I had enough MP to make use of the spell {Incendio}.

The hunt and the eating took almost 6 hours and as I did not want to sleep just yet –I had slept more than enough in the last two days to last me for a whole week- I decided to level up my {Observe}.

I used all 28 points of my MP on using {Observe} on every little thing that I didn't remember seeing before. It took some time –almost an hour- as I had to choose my target but soon all of my MP was over.

Ting.

[Skill {Observe Lv.3} has leveled up to {Observe Lv.4}. You can now see the name of the species of the target and their strongest attribute.]

I spent the rest of the 4 hours meditating, in the little hole, to regain my MP before using those points again on {Observe}. I really wanted to level the skill up.

After I used up all of my MP again, I returned back to my hideout and used {Survive}.

Ting.

[-76 HP]

I sighed as tiredness overcame me but called up my status nonetheless.

[Name: Unnamed]

[Species: Poisonous Forest Moth]

[Race(s): Insect]

[Level: 32]

[HP: 76/152]

[MP: 0/52]

[Titles: {Sentient}, {Reincarnated}, {Bullheaded}, {Survivor}, [Master of Death], [Masochist]]

[Skills: {Animagus Lv.1}, {Ant's Will Lv.2}, {Apparate Lv.6}, {Beast Tamer Lv.1}, {Crawl }, {Dig Lv.7}, {Fly Lv.6}, {Invisibility Lv.1}, {Leglimens Lv.2}, {Masochism Lv.3}, {Meditate Lv.6}, {Molting Lv.4}, {Night Vision Lv.3}, {Observe Lv.4}, {Occlumens Lv.7}, {Pain Resistance Lv.5}, {Poison Resistance Lv.7}, {Poison Creation Lv.4}, {Rise Lv.1}, {Scent Lv.2}, {Sensor Lv.5}, {Slide Lv.1}, {Stealth Lv.2}, {Stubborn Lv.3}, {Survive Lv.3}, {Trap Lv.2}]

[Spells: {Lumos Lv. Max}, {Expelliarmus Lv. 10}, {ExpectoPatronum Lv. 10}, {Protego Lv.10}, {Reparo Lv.9}, {Incendio Lv.9}, {Aguamenti Lv.9}, {Stupefy Lv.9}, {Episkey Lv. 9}, {Immobulus Lv.9}, {Lumos Maximus Lv.8}, {Confundo Lv.8}, {Fianto Duri Lv. 8},{Protego Maxima Lv. 8}, {Repello Inimicum Lv.8}, {Accio Lv.7}, {Bombarda Lv.7}, {Petrificus Totalus Lv.6}, {Diffindo Lv.6}, {Reducto Lv.5}, {Wingardium Leviosa Lv. 5}, {Transfugiration Lv.5}, {Silencio Lv.4}, {Glacius Lv.4}, {Confringo Lv.3}, {Alohomora Lv.3}, {Sectum Sempra Lv.2}, {Imperio Lv.2}, {Muffliato Lv.2}, {Crucio Lv.1}]

Still miffed at the small amount of level gain, I dismissed the window and went to sleep.

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P.S. Unbeta'ed but edited to the best of my ability.