Night 25

Waking up, feeling empty, itchy and tired was not a good way to wake up, ever. So, obviously, I woke up just like that.

I opened my eyes before frowning. The scenery, which greeted me, was different from what I was used to; the darkness of the burrow was still there but the walls were much closer than they should be and same was the case for the roof. In fact, the burrow was a lot smaller than it should be. 'What-what is going on?'

And then it all came back to me.

The evolution.

The lost hope.

The shattered dreams.

The crawling out.

The subsequent collapse of my home.

The desecration of the memory of my home to get the stupid egg out.

The gender upheaval.

The decision to find a new home only to notice it was already too late.

I grimaced at the memory before groaning and began making my way out of exuviate. 'Uhh...last night had been eventful.' Shaking my head to wake up completely, I began crawling out of the temporary shelter. As I reached the surface, I felt the mud slip beneath my feet. I groaned. 'Uhh..not again!'

With a sigh I turned around and clutched the egg between my hands before starting to drag it out of the hole. 'If this shit is going to collapse on me, then I do not want to dig through all the mud again just to get the stupid egg out.'

Once out of the hole, I stomped my feet with as much power as I could muster near the entrance and immediately felt the entrance collapse. I rolled my eyes, wondering just how this fragile structure had held up all night and not collapsed on my sleeping form.

I stomped my legs again a few times, to entirely collapse the shelter, for no good reason other than spite and pettiness.

Yeah, I did not take kindly to the threat that this shelter might have collapsed on me. So I decided to stomp it to the ground as punishment.

Petty and irrational and incredibly childish, I know.

But it felt so very satisfying.

After having the dose of pettiness for the day, I made my way out of the shallow hole in the soft mud.

Clutching the eggs again, I dragged it to the newly made hole before covering it up with a thin layer of mud. After all, it was not as if I could leave my egg just lying around in the open, while I searched for a more permanent shelter than the one that I was currently occupying.

With the egg safe, I flapped my wings and took to air; I had a new home to find. But before that, just how much HP did I have? I checked my status, my HP read, [HP: 168/260] while my MP read, [MP: 160/160]. I sighed and used {Episkey}, twice.

Ting.

[-20 MP]

Ting.

[-20 MP]

Which left me with, [HP: 258/260] and [MP: 120/160].

'Good enough for the moment.'

With that taken care of, I began my search for a new home. I started looking around, searching for crevices and creaks in the trees, plants and boulders but there weren't that many of them around. The few that I did find were already occupied and I dared not go near them as both, {Scent} and {Sensor}, warned of other predators living in them.

Ting.

[Skill {Sensor Lv.6} has leveled up to {Sensor Lv.7}. Depth and Limit of sensing increased.]

Dismissing the window, I flew around for almost all night before finding a crevice in a cliff of some sort, south of where my hideout had been.

I grimaced.

Bringing the egg here would be such a tiresome job. 'I would have to constantly use {Ant's Will} to be able to fly with it up here, which would mean losing a ton of HP that I would have to restore using {Episkey}, if I wanted to continue trying to level up {Molting} and {Survive}. That meant that I would lose MP that I'd rather use either on the {Animagus} skill or on {Observe}.'

My grimace intensified.

Not happy with the turn of events, I turned back and flew to where I had left the egg. 'I swear this egg is more trouble than it is worth.'

By the time I returned to my destination, 4 hours had passed and my MP was back to normal. Though that was not important, what was important was that I was feeling some disturbance coming from the direction I had left the egg in; {Scent} also warned me of a smell that I would have usually associated with sewage and open drains.

I scowled. 'That stupid egg better be safe from whatever it is that is trailing this area or someone is going to be very, very sorry. I promise.'

Using {Stealth}, I crept behind the bushes and carefully slid in; trying to keep my presence hidden. My eyes searched for the egg but found the intruder instead.

The creature had brown, shiny and beetle like shell that hid wings beneath it. But it was not a beetle; it was too oddly shaped for that. And from where it was leaning on something, making slurping noise, I could see two antennas twirling and twitching.

Beetles didn't have antennas.

The creature turned all of a sudden, most likely because its antennas had picked up my scent.

…And I flinched.

The creature was the thing of nightmares. From a careless glance it seemed like a cockroach but when analyzed with more careful eye, its horrifying pincer like mouth was easily noticeable and so were its scythe like front legs.

But that was not what caused me to flinch, no; instead, it was the goo dripping down the creature's pincers. I knew what that goo was; I just knew it. What else could it be? It could be nothing but my egg. My stupid little egg that had had caused me to desecrate the memory of my very first home. It could be nothing else.

Not when I couldn't find the egg anywhere.

That goo was the egg.

This creature had just eaten my egg.

"HHHHHIIIIIISSSS!" The creature threatened, trying to make me back off of its food.

But that mattered not at all. All I saw was my egg being eaten by this-this thing. Rage dawned on me.

"SSSCCCREEECCCCHHH" I shrieked. Promising vengeance. Oh unholy and dark vengeance.

How dare this creature destroy something that was mine!? How! Had I not lost everything already?! Had I not lost enough that it had to come and destroy the only thing that I possessed besides this PATHETIC BODY!? Had I NOT SUFFERED ENOUGH?! WHAT MORE DID IT WANT FROM ME?! DID IT WANT ME TO LOSE MY LAST SHRED OF SANITY?!

I laughed. Maybe, maybe I will.

I was already seeing red. I had seen my egg broken and wrecked and I had already lost my shit.

Ting.

[Title, {Trickster}, activated. You seek to trick and harm others.]

'Incendio!'

Ting.

[-30 MP]

HP/MP: 268/130

A ball of fire formed right above my hand, blinding me as it ruined my night vision. Ignoring the obvious mistake, I sensed the creature and directed the resulting flame towards it.

I felt the creature dodge the incoming fire.

Fast, it was fast, way faster than anything I had ever dealt with. Finishing its move, the creature opened its shell and from it emerged a pair of translucent but powerful wings. Flapping the wings, creature took to air before spitting something at me.

I dodged and again guided the roaring fire towards where I could feel it making the air shift. The creature dodged but my fire hit a few of leaves before I could redirect it, setting them on fire. I ignored the fire; I couldn't care less at the moment.

I felt the creature rush towards me with its scythe like legs raised, ready to slash. I tried redirecting my fire but I was too slow and the creature's slash grazed me as I tried to dodge at the last moment.

Ting.

[-30 HP]

HP/MP: 238/130

I growled. 30 HP lost just from a graze? Just what was this creature! Whatever it was, it didn't matter; it was going to die. It was going to die a very painful death!

Missing its attack, the creature turned mid-rush and spat again. Still unable to see, I felt the spitting attack a moment too late.

Ting.

[Poison Damage: -10 HP]

HP/MP: 228/130

I hissed in pain. Poison. That was what it was. Not only that, it was a poison strong enough to overcome my level 9 {Poison Resistance} and render damage. Meaning that without my poison resistance, I would have taken 19 points of damage from that single shot, at the least.

Growling, I directed the flame around me like a tornado, hiding me completely from any and all the attacks.

Feeling the creature hesitate, I lowered the fiery protection to reveal my head. I was sure I looked terrifying. Trying to use its hesitation, I raised another hand, 'Incendio!'

Ting.

[-30 MP]

HP/MP: 228/100

Another ball of fire materialized above my hand before flames began pouring out of it. Instead of directing the flames directly towards the creature, I guided the flames away from it before slowly curving the flames towards it.

I was a flying thing that was surrounded by a sphere of fire and was still spewing fire. Terrifying, or rather horrifying, I was. And it made me feel so, so very good.

The thing dodged.

Ting.

[Poison Damage: -8 HP]

HP/MP: 220/100

I hissed at the screen; that stupid poison was still working. But I ignored it and circled the fire towards the creature, intentionally missing it by a large margin.

Ting.

[-15 HP]

HP/MP: 205/100

Fuck! I felt my wings sing from the fiery tornado protecting me. But if it was working on me then it should also work on it. I focused on the ball of fire that was feeding the flames encircling the creature. 'Incendio!'

Ting.

[-30 MP]

HP/MP: 205/70

The flames growled in protest before multiplying, like the flood gates holding them had been opened. I began to guide the flames in a spiral and forced them to move faster and faster, trying to squeeze the creature and cut off its way of escape.

Ting.

[Poison Damage: -5 HP]

HP/MP: 200/70

The creature tried flying up, to dodge the flames, but was met by a fiery wall that was not of my creation. I ignored that fact; it was not important. All that I knew was that fiery wall was helping me trap this thing; this thing that had dared to destroy what was MINE!

The creature turned away from the fiery wall as it tried to avoid my flames and instead flew straight towards the ground.

It must have singed itself from my flames as I saw smoke rising from it. I grinned.

Ting.

[Poison Damage: -2 HP]

HP/MP: 198/70

Ignoring the poison damage, I raced the flames towards the creature but it was already under the ground as it had begun digging.

I raced towards it, this time, and reached the hole that it had created. In the few moments it had begun digging it was already out of my arm's reach and if it continued, it would very well escape me.

No. I can't let that happen.

Ting.

[-15 HP]

HP/MP: 183/70

I cut off the spiraling flames as guiding them back to me and down the hole would take too much time, time; time that I did not have! Instead, I held my hands right in front of the hole and prepared for another attack. 'INCENDIO!'

Ting.

[-30 MP]

HP/MP: 183/40

Ting.

[-15 HP]

HP/MP: 168/40

I ignored the fire damage as a ball of fire formed right in front of the entrance. I grinned as the flames began to pour out and rush in the burrow; lighting up the night a bright color of orange! I waited to hear some signs that the fire had hit the creature but I heard none. Pissed I casted the spell again! 'INCENDIO!'

Ting.

[-30 MP]

HP/MP: 168/10

Flames roared and protested but multiplied as they tried to rebel against my control.

Ting.

[-15 HP]

HP/MP: 153/10

The rebellion died before it could blossom as my will came down hard on the flames with an iron fist and the fiery tornado poured out in droves, down the tunnel, burning my hands.

Ting.

[-15 HP]

HP/MP: 138/10

I heard faint screeches as the fire finally met its mark and began roasting the creature, that had dared to take away from me, the only thing that I had to lose.

Ting.

[-15 HP]

HP/MP: 123/10

Ting.

[You have Leveled Up! Level up bonus of +2 HP and +2 MP granted.]

I grinned in glee at the confirmation of the creature's death.

But I felt hollow.

So very hollow.

Ting.

[You have Leveled Up! Level up bonus of +2 HP and +2 MP granted.]

Ting.

[You have Leveled Up! Level up bonus of +2 HP and +2 MP granted.]

As the adrenaline died down, I gasped.

I panted.

In exhaustion, both physical and mental. Yet, I grinned. I grinned like a loon before cackling. It was dead! DEAD! The creature that had dared to hurt me was DEAD! Hurt me, WILL YOU?! Take away my possessions will you?!

Death. Death is what you'd get.

Ting.

[-15 HP]

HP/MP: 112/14

Panting and grinning, I cut off both the spells. I gasped and fell next to the hole, tired. Closing my eyes, I tried to calm myself. It was dead. The creature was dead. I tried to take a deep breath in but all I felt was heat, heat and a lot of heat.

Ting.

[-15 HP]

HP/MP: 97/14

I opened my eyes and looked around. Fire. Fire was all around me. Everywhere my eyes saw, there was fire!

'FUCK!'

Of course there was fire! I had been throwing fire all around like it was candy while under a bush! Under a fucking bush! Of course it had caught on fire and was burning!

Ting.

[-15 HP]

HP/MP: 82/14

Flapping my singed wings, I hurried away from out of the bush and flew until I was a safe distance from it before turning to look at the destruction that I had caused.

I sighed. The bush wasn't near anything that could spread the fire, so thankfully, the fire would be contained.

Shaking my head to clear it of the stupidity, I turned around and flew to the new home that I had found. This had just not been my day.

Reaching the crevice in the cliff, I settled down and checked my status.

[Name: Unnamed]

[Species: Doxy]

[Race(s): Insect]

[Level: 8]

[HP: 82/266]

[MP: 14/166]

[Titles: {Sentient}, {Reincarnated}, {Survivor}, {Master of Death}, {Bullheaded}, {Masochist}, {Gourmand}, {Fire Elemental}, {Trickster}]

[Skills: {Animagus Lv.1}, {Ant's Will Lv.3}, {Apparate Lv.6}, {Beast Tamer Lv.1}, {Crawl }, {Dig Lv.9}, {Doxy Shield Lv.1}, {Drone Eggs Lv.1}, {Fire Manipulation Lv.1}, {Fly Lv.6}, {Ice Resistance lv.1}, {Invisibility Lv.1}, {Leglimens Lv.2}, {Mana Control Lv.1}, {Masochism Lv.3}, {Meditate Lv.9}, {Molting Lv.4}, {Night Vision Lv.4}, {Observe Lv.6}, {Occlumens Lv.8}, {Overdose Lv.1}, {Pain Resistance Lv.6}, {Poison Resistance Lv.8}, {Poison Creation Lv.5}, {Rise Lv.1}, {Scent Lv.3}, {Sensor Lv.5}, {Slide Lv.3}, {Stealth Lv.3}, {Stubborn Lv.4}, {Survive Lv.3}, {Trap Lv.3}]

[Spells: {Lumos Lv. Max}, {Incendio }, {Expelliarmus Lv. 10}, {ExpectoPatronum Lv. 10}, {Protego Lv.10}, {Reparo 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}]

I scowled as I noticed my HP and MP; I had lost 184 HP and 152 MP. What had I been thinking? Just what? I had killed 4 fucking frogs and had lost less HP and MP than this! What the hell!

But then I remembered the little blue screen that I hadn't given any attention to.

One of my many Titles had activated hadn't it? '[Trickster]' it was, if I remembered correctly.

I scowled.

I needed to level up my {Occlumency} and I needed to level it up soon.

I scowled. Again! Because once was just not enough!

But before that I needed a way to evolve!

'SLIMY WORLD! JUST KEEP FUCKING ME OVER WHY DON'T YOU! '

Now that, that was out of the way, I took a deep breath and dismissed the status. It will not help me, now, at all. I needed to sleep. So that's what I did.

Night 26

I woke up, feeling so tired that I didn't even want to move an inch. 'Uhh… just how much HP do I have?' Groggily, I summoned my stats; my HP read, [HP: 130/266] while my MP read, [MP: 136/166].

I groaned. I had less than even half my HP!

It was no wonder that I felt half dead, I was half dead. 'Uhh. Last night had been incredibly stupid. It was a small wonder that {Stubborn} didn't level up at my foolishnesss, like it usually did. Uhh.. I would have to heal and waste away my MP and that too, at least, thrice to completely restore the stupid bar.'

Ting.

[-20 MP]

Ting.

[-20 MP]

Ting.

[-20 MP]

I frowned as I rolled my shoulders and arched my back; my body felt stiff. Why was that? I checked my HP and MP; they read, [HP: 265/266] while my MP read, [MP: 76/166].

Still frowning, I looked around. Right.

I was no longer sleeping on the soft embrace of the earth; instead, I had slept on the hard welcome of my new home, rock. I stretched to crack as many joints as I could.

Crack, pop, crack, pop.

Ah. That felt good.

Standing up, I walked up to the entrance before collapsing on the edge of the crevice. The cold night breeze hit me in the face, making me smile, and the soft moonlight embraced me. I felt at peace as if this night was my world; my home.

I remained there, just feeling the world around me, for quite some time before the thoughts about last night's fight crept in.

I frowned; just where exactly had that fight gone wrong? Why had I lost all the HP and MP that I had?

I scowled. The very first thing that I had screwed up was losing my cool and associating that cockroach-thingy with something that it had no business being associated with. I had taken out all my frustrations, on losing everything that I had ever had, on the creature.

Which neither did that creature deserve and nor did I.

I guess I still hadn't coped with dying, as good as I had thought I had.

I laughed.

Coping with dying! Not nearly dying, simply dying! And, after that, beating myself over not being good enough at it! Such a thing could only happen to me!

As my mirthless laughter died down, I shook my head to clear it of the melancholy -there was no point in dwelling over it- and continued on with the assessment of last night's fight. The second thing I had screwed up was when I hadn't used {Observe} on the creature; that was something that had the result on the fight the most.

If I had used {Observe}, then I wouldn't have been caught off guard by its speed; I would have had some idea about it after all. At the very least, I would have known the creature's species.

The next thing that I had screwed up was the wasteful use of {Incendio}. Now looking back at how I used that spell, I looked more and more as a wild animal throwing fire left and right instead of a sentient being using the spell judiciously. I was very lucky that I didn't start a forest fire.

I grimaced. And as if all those mistakes were not all, I hadn't used any kind of strategy until the very end of the fight when I had begun cornering the creature in a tornado of fire. All I had been doing was rishing in with all the subtility of a rampaging bull in a china shop.

It really was a small miracle that {Stubborn} hadn't leveled up.

'Well, it's not as if I can do anything about it now; I'd just have to try to not repeat the same mistakes again in future.'

Shaking my head, I flapped my wings and headed out, looking for something to eat.

I frowned. 'Did I eat anything last night?'

My frown deepened. 'For that matter, did I eat anything except 'the gift' the night before that?'

No; I hadn't. I hadn't eaten anything proper in the last two days. Then why was I not feeling hungry? The only reason that I was heading out to eat today was because it had been something that was a part of my routine and not because I was burning with hunger.

Was this because of {Overdose}? I checked my status and looked for the skill.

Ting.

[Allows you to consume and store food without affecting your body. Current weight limit: 395/1000g.]

Huh. This must be it. I remember the current limit being more than 445 out of 1000, when the last time I had checked it. At that moment, I was glad to have the skill because I did not have the capacity to hunt last night and would not be able to in similar situations in future.

Shaking my head to clear it, I flew around, trying to find some prey to hunt. But, for some reason, I couldn't find anything that I was sure I could hunt. Whatever I did encounter, either my senses warned me against or was too insignificant to even kill.

Resigned, I returned to my new house after 4 hours of fruitless search; after all, it wasn't as if I would starve if I didn't eat, I did have that covered with {Overdose}.

266/116

Ting.

[Skill {Fly Lv.6} has leveled up to {Fly Lv.7}. Flying speed and maneuvering capability has increased.]

Dismissing the screen, I entered the crevice and frowned. Though the entrance to my new home was hidden, it would be good to have a trap waiting for those that dared to enter my new home. But the problem was that I didn't actually know anything about making traps.

I entered and settled in. Maybe not a trap then. Still, an extra protection would be nice; like a guard or something. But where would I get someone like that? It wasn't like I was rolling in options here?

Hmm. I could get a sentry from the drone egg. But the process was so horrible that I did not want to go through that again. Another option was taming an animal but that had its own problems. The first being, that I could only tame a Level 1 non-sentient, non-evolved animal.

I mean what sort of condition was that! And where in the world would I find an Lv.1 animal! Wouldn't it be hiding somewhere because it was weak as shit? And secondly, taming meant that after the spell had worked, I would have to take care of the animal; like taking care of a pet or a dog.

Not something I could do now, when I was living by the day, every day. No thank you sir.

I guess that left me with the former option rather than the latter one. I made a face; I really didn't want to do this, but, my stupid brain had decided that I had to. Grimacing, I used the skill.

Ting.

[-100 MP.]

Immediately, I felt my stomach turn as a very familiar ache began to spread in my belly. I felt myself gag as bile rose in my throat. I gagged. Then I gagged some more. The egg, just like last time, was trying to force its way out of my throat. I felt it try again, trying to expand my throat beyond its limit.

Pain. Pain was all I felt and fell to floor; unable to stand. As the pain continued to wreck me, I gagged even more. I gagged as the flow of air cut off. I felt the egg hit my tongue and slip over it as it peeked out of my mouth. And then, in one long hurl, a long cylindrical thing fell out of my mouth and hit the floor.

'Ugghh!' I groaned. 'What in the world came over me that I decided to use this skill again?! This isn't worth anything! Nothing! Not even a sentry to guard my door!'

Ting.

[Skill {Drone Eggs Lv.1} has leveled up to {Drone Eggs Lv.2}. You can now create 3 eggs per use.]

-Eh? This dumb skill leveled up? Just after two uses? What does it give me now? I focused on the skill.

Ting.

[You can lay eggs which hatch to birth Drone Doxies. Current egg limit per use: 3. Current time required to hatch the eggs: 12 days.]

'3 Eggs? Are you kidding me?! Where earlier I had been getting 1 egg for 100 MP, now I could get 3 eggs for the same cost! What this even real?! And this much improvement just from one level up? What will this skill give at higher levels? Should-should I level it up a little more?'

I shook my head; focus! I was back in the crevice to level up my animagus, not some stupid drone skill! That could happen later, not now!

I took a deep breath in and closed my eyes before slowly breathing out. I took another breath in and checked my status. I just had 16 MP left.

A scowl morphed on my face.

Now I had to spend the next 2 hours meditating to obtain the meditation bonus of +9MP so that I could regenerate my MP at +19MP/hour. 'Fuck. This. Shit.' I almost growled.

Taking a deep breath in, I tried to calm myself. I failed, obviously. Still, I tried closing my eyes, to at least pretend to meditate. What was it they said? Fake it, till you make it? I guess that was my plan at the moment.

The next time I opened my eyes, just two hours had pssed. I sighed and checked my MP. It was a little more than 50; more than enough for what I needed.

With a tired sigh, I used the skill. 'Animagus.'

Ting.

[-50 MP]

Unsurprisingly, besides the MP loss, nothing happened; which I had completely expected by the way. I needed to find the beast representing me and merge with it before something could actually happen. With that thought in mind, I continued breathing.

As the time went on and I continued to meditate, nothing happened besides my Mana filling itself way faster than it should have because of {Meditation} bonus. In the end, when I finally came out of a meditative trance, all me efforts amounted to nothing. Absolutely nothing.

I grimaced and sighed; unable to decide which one suited the situation better.

Feeling stiff, I moved my joints and heard them groan in response. Just how much time had passed? I peeked out of my new home; the moon had already finished its journey across the sky and was preparing to set. Huh, 10 hours had passed since I started meditating for the skill {Animagus}.

I guess I was done for the day, after all.

Returning inside, I settled in before closing my eyes and using the skill {Survive}.

Ting.

[-133 HP]

HP/MP: 133/166

As the tiredness rushed in me, I fell asleep.