Night 27

Nothing.

Bloody nothing.

That's what happened in the entire day today.

I bet the cliff, which I live in, had a more interesting day than the one I had today.

I sighed in more than a little helplessness and irritation.

This boring day had begun like any other day.

I woke up and restored the HP bar. After that I decided that since I do not require food to survive for the next few days, I might as well utilize it and make some headway with the Animagus process.

With that in mind, I had used the skill {Animagus} and meditated for the rest of the day.

'And what do I have to show for all of that? Nothing. Nada. That's what!'

I scowled in resignation as I couldn't do anything about it but just accept it and try again tomorrow. Still, I should at least try to think positive, shouldn't I? Motivation and all that pile of stinking garbage.

'It wasn't as if I expected to turn into an animagus just after one day.'

But my effort to think positive quickly turned sour as my motivational thoughts took a turn for the worse. Yay me and my gloominess!

'It was just that I had expected some improvement, even a tinge, just something to show that I was working in the right direction!'

I knew, okay, I knew that Animagus was a difficult art to master but my Dad had done it at 14 and so had his friends. And here I was -a man grown and then some- frustrated just after a day's work.

I shook my head at the thought. 'Am I really whining about not making any headway with the skill just after one day? That is not like me.' I shook my head. Violently. The bitching about made it kind of necessary.

But that was not what I needed. What I needed was sleep and to work on the skill tomorrow; that was what I should be doing and n- …not whining.

Shaking my head –again, because it was something that I apparently did now- in disappointment at what I had just been doing, I used the skill, {Molting}.

Ting.

[- 140 HP]

As the sluggishness rushed in me, I dismissed the screen and checked my status; my HP read, [HP: 128/268] while my MP read, [MP: 168/168].

I frowned. Sleeping with that much MP would be such a waste when I could generate it over the night. Though, there wasn't much I could do because of the condition that I was in. 'I really should have checked my HP and MP before losing half of my health in one go. Stupid!'

I sighed. I couldn't level up {Observe} now because of the lethargy and, come to think of it, I hadn't been trying to level it up in the past few days. I really needed to remedy that. But that was for later. I needed something for now that did not require me to move. At all.

As I scanned my skill list, my eyes fell on a particular skill and I cringed. I did not want to use that one. And I really meant that. I'd rather eat Dragon Dung than use that skill! That was how much I didn't want to use this skill.

So, with all my hope, I scanned the list again and again and again and again –oh you get the idea- but no other skill popped up that could make use of 120 MP judiciously.

I grimaced. No, not grimaced, I did not grimace because there was no name for the expression of resigned despair that had descended upon my face.

'I have to use it, don't I?'

So with dread running through me like blood, I activated the skill. 'Drone Eggs'.

I felt the subtle ache as the process began and mentally prepared myself for the one of the most uncomfortable experiences of my life. 'If giving birth is anything like this, then I do not know how women do this!'

The egg began to press against my throat, making me gag and nauseated, and then slowly, ever so slowly, it began to rise up, making me cry out in pain. As the egg continued its ascent, I cursed myself for following through this idiotic plan of mine as bolts after bolts of pain raced though me.

And then it slipped over my tongue, peeked from my mouth and fell on the floor.

And just like that, all the pain, all the discomfort, all the nausea were gone.

The other two eggs followed the first but surprisingly, they did not make me uncomfortable at all; it was as if my throat had been expanded enough by the first egg.

On that note, this experience was also a lot less harrowing than the previous ones. Was it because the skill had leveled up? Or was it because my body had grown accustomed to it?

I did not know the answer to those questions but whatever it was, I was glad for it. And I was glad that the ordeal was over, even though my throat ached like hell as it constricted back.

More exhausted than I had even been in the past few days, after vomiting those eggs, I fell asleep.

Night 28

Tonight had followed the script of the previous one too.

I woke up, restored my HP and didn't do anything but try to level up my {Animagus} skill, in which I gained no headway by the way.

I did not let it disappoint me though, like I had let it last night, and decided to try again tomorrow. 'Maybe I am missing something that I shouldn't be? Something very obvious. I do not know. But I will look into it tomorrow night.'

With that thought, I ended reviewing the day and headed out to try to level up {Observe}. There was no way I wanted to waste my MP and I was so not in mood to use {Drone Eggs} tonight too.

Reaching out of the crevice, I began using the skill on things I didn't recognize. Though there weren't that many things that fit that criterion so I had to fly around a little and explore some unexplored areas. I used the skill until I had used up exactly 120 MP and stopped after that; I could only regenerate 120 MP a night and I did not want to have less MP in case I needed it.

I frowned. All I did these nights was meditate; which, due to being at level 9, increased my MP regeneration to 19MP/Hour. At that high regeneration, I could regenerate the rest of the 48 MP in the next 3 hours. 'Hmm. Maybe I can use the rest of MP after all.'

With that thought, I began using {Observe} again.

Ting.

[Skill {Observe Lv.6} has leveled up to {Observe Lv.7}. You can now see the MP of the target.]

Dismissing the notification, I used the skill again, this time on an ant eating a leaf.

Ting.

[Worker Red Ant. Strength]

[Level: 38]

[HP: 158/158]

[MP: -]

I smiled. Indeed, I could see MP now.

Though, the HP of this creature was ridiculously high. 158 points at level 38? There was no way that this was a first stage creature. It had to have evolved once.

Otherwise someone had screwed me up pretty bad. 'And that better now be the case! Do you understand Blue screen!?'

Scowling at the thoughts, I dismissed the screen as I mulled over the information once again. If I assumed that this ant has had evolved once, then that would explain the HP and the extra 20 points as the first evolution bonus that I had received too.

Nodding, I calmed down and began using {Observe} again. I used it until my MP bar was empty. It was only then that I headed back to the new home.

In the hindsight, it was pretty stupid.

Apparently, I did not learn easily.

Gratefully, nothing unexpected happened and I reached the crevice safely. Settling in, I used {Survive}.

Ting.

[-133 HP]

As the tiredness rushed in me, I fell asleep.

Night 29

Once again, the entire night amounted to nothing of consequence, when it came to progress in the Animagus department. I had -just like the previous nights - spend the entire night meditating under the guise of skill, {Animgus}.

I had woken up, restored the HP bar and had continued on to use the skill {Animagus} to descend into the meditating trance. Unfortunately, all of that had amounted to nothing even though when I had tried to do things differently this time.

I sighed.

Walking up to the edge of the crevice, I leaned out; enjoying the cool breeze of the night. Even though there hadn't been any progress, now I was able to maintain my calm, because I knew that I was doing everything in my power to achieve my goal.

It was a small consolation, but it was all that I had and I was holding on to it for dear life.

My eyes searched the sky and I noticed that the moon was about to set; it was time for me leave my new home to try and level up {Observe}.

Flapping my wings I took off and began my exploration, all the while using {Observe} on things and animals that I didn't recognize.

Ting.

[Skill {Scent Lv.3} has leveled up to {Scent Lv.4}. Radius for recognition and tracking of a scent has increased to 2 m.]

It took me some time but by the time the first rays of Sun had begun illuminating the sky; I had completely emptied my MP bar.

As the sunlight began to illuminate more and more of the sky and the world, my eyes began to itch from all the ultra-bright light and my skin began to feel the unappealing warmth of the day. In short, I did not feel good.

Well, it meant that what I had been thinking was true after all; I was indeed a nocturnal creature.

Flying as quickly as I could, I reached my new home and crept in. The eggs were where I had left them and no one was waiting for me inside. Good.

I shook my head. This was not normal.

But then, what could I do? I had never been this paranoid but with the recent destruction of my home, I didn't feel safe anymore; despite the fact that no one but me had anything to do it.

I grimaced. With the way my emotions kept jumping all over the place, I felt like a hormonal pregnant woman. 'I guess dying really did do a number on me, huh.'

With a soft sigh, I settled down and used {Molting}.

Ting.

[-140 HP]

I scowled at the number. 'Shouldn't it take less and less portion of HP as the skill level increases? But this skill seems to be doing the exact opposite. If this trend continues, then I fear that I would be just wasting my time and my MP at this skill. What good would it be if could not use it save myself from difficult situations?'

Shaking my head at the seemingly stupid skill, I fell asleep.

Night 30

Tonight, I decided, it would be the last night, when I stayed all night inside. Tomorrow, I would be leaving this crevice and explore the world; enough of the looming walls.

Even though {Overdose} kept me fed, I did not want to remain inside all the time. Talking about overdose, it seemed that my current body consumed 25 points from the skill {Overdose} for everyday that I didn't eat anything.

And as I had more than 400 points, it could last for more than a few days, to say the least. But that didn't mean I should just rely on the skill. Thus I had initially tried to make the most of my nights of careless meditation. Yet, all my efforts turned out to be for nothing, as nothing happened.

And you know what; I wasn't even surprised, not at all.

Instead, I was kind of getting used to it, which was bad because I shouldn't get used to failures.

Don't get me wrong, I don't mean I should be afraid of failures, no. I should not be afraid of failures. But I should not be used to them either; as that would mean I wouldn't even try harder if I failed because it wouldn't be something new.

No, I needed to stop this moronic habit right now, right this instant.

With my decision made, I took a deep breath in and opened my eyes. Tomorrow night, I will not work on being an Animagus, instead, I will work on something that I knew I would succeed in; I will work on the skill {Mana Control}.

I knew I would succeed in this skill, not because I was being overconfident or because of some such nonsensical reason, no. I knew I would succeed because I had experience in it. Prior to my death, my wife –well, then fiancé and now a murderous widow- and I had been working on Wandless magic; the art of performing magic without the use of a wand or any other focus.

Its basis had been simple enough, to be in touch with one's magic and to be able to bend it to one's will. And to do that, one had to immerse themselves in their magic, becoming one with it; something which both of us had achieved. The only thing remaining had been the ability to bend it and let it flow according to one's will.

But then I had been killed. So there was that.

I nodded to myself to break out of the morose thoughts. As far as I could tell, MP worked more or less like magic had; it even fueled my spells like magic did. This made it safe to assume that I could apply the principles of wandless magic to {Mana Control}.

I smiled; I was feeling pretty good about it actually.

Standing up, I made my way out of the crevice and took to the air; I had a skill to level up. As I explored the area around my new home, I thought about the next night to come.

Tomorrow night, I would have to hunt; something that meant that I would have to conserve my magic tonight or else I would not have a full bar of MP to work with tomorrow. But even if I did conserve the last 48 points of HP, it wasn't like I would have a complete bar of MP anyway.

I would have to use {Episkey} at least twice -or thrice- to restore the HP loss due to {Survive} tonight and that would eat away at least 40 to 60 MP. If I wanted to avoid that then I would have to conserve even more MP and use {Episkey} tonight.

I sighed and began my calculations.

Hmm. If I used {Episkey} twice, today, after using {Survive}, then I would be able to regenerate the rest of the HP, as I slept during the day, and wouldn't have to use the spell tomorrow. But that would mean I would have to conserve an extra 40 MP.

I sighed and continued on with the {Observe} and only stopped when I had 88 MP left in my MP bar. And then I returned to my new home.

Entering the new home, I checked the eggs; they were unharmed and my skills assured me that nothing was amiss. I settled down and used {Survive}.

Ting.

[-133 HP.]

I grimaced as tiredness rushed in me and quickly used {Episkey} twice, just as I had planned.

Ting.

[-20 MP.]

Ting.

[-20 MP.]

Sighing in relief, I closed my eyes and fell asleep.

Night 31

I woke up, feeling completely refreshed, like I hadn't felt in a long, long time. 'I guess this is the benefit of waking up with full bars of HP and MP, huh.'

Stretching, I looked around. Everything seemed about right; nothing was out of its place or missing. Yes, my paranoia was getting the better of me; I couldn't wait for the eggs to hatch so that I could have my own sentries.

Shaking my head to clear it of lingering lethargy, I flew out of the crevice to hunt instead of trying to level up the skill {Mana Control} as I had planned; I had a reason for doing so.

The last time I had gone hunting, I had returned empty as I was unfamiliar with the area. And now though I was a lot more familiar, I still had not found a suitable source of food that I could hunt and gain levels from at the same time.

So flying around, that's what I did; I looked for a species that could serve as a source of food and give me enough of hard time that I could gain experience out of hunting it. Looking around, I found nothing that was what I was looking for; I had spent almost entire night looking for the perfect prey.

During all this flying around, I had thought about going back to the frog hunting ground but finally decided against it for two reasons. First, it was very far away from my current location and two, the frog that had escaped would have warned them of my existence.

I guess I would have to try and level up {Mana Control} tomorrow night then. I sighed and continued to look for a prey but all of my efforts proved in vain as I found nothing.

Dejected, after an entire night's worth of time was wasted searching for it, I decided to hunt the ants that I had seen earlier.

Now, though I had decided to hunt ants, I had no idea how I was going to do so. Ants are strong. And fast. And have tough exoskeleton. And they are always working together.

I landed on a branch and observed the working ants. They moved in a line, always with a destination in mind, never straying from their destined paths, like golems. Or machines. Whatever.

Though there were some, some that weren't with any groups or were following any line. They were the ants that were looking for food. They were always looking for more food. And when they would finally find their treasure, they would double back and return with lines after lines of workers to loot the newfound source of food. Their treasure.

These treasure hunters often strayed a little too far, in their single minded search. They forgot themselves and their surrounding, with only their goal in mind.

I observed these strayed treasure hunters.

They often seemed lost and confused and were a good source of food; though, I sincerely doubted that I would gain any level from killing these ants. Most of these ants were one evolution below me and did not pose much danger to me.

I sighed; gone were the days when I could kill a prey and receive half a dozen level ups.

Shaking my head to clear it of the melancholy, I searched through my skill list, trying to find something a lot less flashy and attention grabbing like Incendio. The only two that I could even remotely consider using were {Doxy Shield} and {Trap}. Although, {Trap} wasn't something that I could use in itself; after all, it wasn't a skill that created a trap, it just represented setting up a trap to capture my prey.

I frowned. 'Ants have hard exoskeleton, so any traps that I could come up with –not that I could come up with many- would most likely not hurt them much; which would mean I would have to use {Incendio}, not something I wanted to do. Besides, couldn't ant climb on walls?'

Yep. They very well could. That meant I couldn't just trap a linear path and wait for them to fall. These buggers could move in three dimensions.

This left me with the only other option that I could use, the {Doxy Shield}. I focused on the skill.

Ting.

[A shield the shape of Doxy's (Beetle's) wings forms in front of you. Current Hit Points: 10/10]

I grimaced. With that low a hit points, it was truthfully useless. Still, wanting to at least know what it was, I used the skill. 'Doxy Shield.'

Ting.

[-50 MP.]

'What! That much MP for such a useless skill!? Are you kidding me! There was no reason to justify this! Not a fucking one!'

As I raged, a translucent and blue semi-spherical shape materialized in front of me. It was large enough to cover my entire torso but left my head and legs open. It also had a line running vertically through its middle. Essentially, it was a replica of a beetle's shell or rather a Doxy's.

Calming down, I frowned. There was nothing to hold it or grab it anywhere. 'How is it supposed to protect me when I can't even hold it? How am I supposed to move it? With my mind?!'

The translucent shield twitched.

I blinked.

I blinked again, perfectly mimicking an owl. 'Did this thing just twitched on its own?'

It twitched again.

And I blinked again.

I thought about moving the shield to the left and the shield moved. Instantly.

I blinked. Again. And I grinned. 'I can see now why it costs so damn much.'

Smiling, I called the shield to me, wanting to observe the line that ran through its middle. 'Just what is that about?'

I pressed my fingers against the, seemingly useless, bifurcating line and tried to push, to see if it would open.

I flinched at the sudden movement as the shield split across the line and opened in a V-shape. Although expected, I had not truly expected the shield to open up. The edges that had made the line looked sharp and bladed. They looked like translucent blades of a scissor, ready to cut anything that got in between its blades.

I thought about closing the blades and the shield closed noiselessly, reforming into a semi-spherical object.

I opened it again and, very lightly, ran my finger across the blades; it drew blood. I closed it and watched as the sharp bits of the blades ran over each other before getting locked up and assimilating in the rest of the shield. The entire shield was indeed like the blades of a giant scissor.

I grinned. 'Oh this shield is definitely worth the cost!'

As I continued to work the kinks out of my new spell, an idea formed in my head, about how to hunt the ants. Completing the inspection and how it would work, I used the skill again.

Ting.

[-50 MP.]

Ting.

[Skill {Doxy Shield Lv.1} has leveled up to {Doxy Shield Lv.2}. Current Hit Points: 20/20]

Dismissing the screens quickly without bothering to read them –I had more important things to worry about- I tried maneuvering the shields side by side. It was difficult, incredibly so. This skill was not meant to be used as I was using it; two at a time. When I tried to move the first, the second one moved or the two moved together.

It was not easy by any standards anywhere. I was sure of that.

I sighed. 'This is getting ridiculous. Moonlight is fading fast and I need to eat something soon if I want to uphold yesterday's decision and not just rely on the skill.'

Deciding to master use of two shields together later, I stopped using the second shield and began searching for a prey that would sooth the burning fire in my stomach. I activated the skills {Stealth} and {Sensor} before taking off, searching for an ant that was alone and confused.

Soon, I found what I was looking for. It was an ant; quite similar to the one that I had noticed before and it was almost as big as my legs and almost twice as thick. 'Observe.'

[Worker Red Ant. Strength]

[Level: 22]

[HP: 142/142]

[MP: -]

Nodding at the notification, I dismissed the screens.

With one shield in front of me and the other trailing behind me, I crept up on the unsuspecting creature. Focusing on the shield, I tried to keep it floating high up in the sky, and watched as it floated higher and higher. I made it float as high as I could while still keeping it under control.

As it reached its position, I moved the shield horizontally so that it was hovering right above my prey, though it was very high up. And then I made it descend as fast as I could with its blades open.

The ant looked up at the last moment but it did not matter as the blades where already closing in across its neck. The blades hit the creature, doing significant damage before shattering like thin glass.

Disappointing; though not surprising, as I had expected that much after the extremely low hit points that the shield had sported thus, at this very moment, the second shield was already flying towards the ant, with its blades open, to finish the job that the first shield had been unable to.

The blades closed across the creature's neck, delivering the damage before shattering. I took to air and began secreting the Doxy Venom in my mouth –something I was so very glad to be able to do. If the creature was still alive after both the hits, it would be going down to my venom.

Surprisingly, the creature was indeed alive.

Knowing that stealth was useless at this point, I flew at my top speed and spat the venom directly in the wounded area.

Underhanded?

I don't know and I don't care.

I will survive.

The creature hissed in pain and anger but it could hardly do anything at this point. It was wounded, bleeding, and poisoned. It wasn't going anywhere.

Soon enough the shrieks and the thrashing of the ant stopped completely though no pop ups appeared indicating the creature's death. Just to be cautious, I used {Observe}.

[Worker Red Ant. Dead.]

[Level: -]

[HP: -]

[MP: -]

Well, that was convenient; the declaration of death that is. But I guessed that once you were dead, no matter what your strongest attribute had been, after death, it doesn't matter much.

Flying down, I gingerly broke apart the still dangling head and began eating the soft and juicy flesh. It tasted like nothing I had tasted before and it was delicious. It felt exotic. In short, I loved it.

By the time I was finished with the ant, moon had already set and the morning light was beginning to make my eyes itch.

'What a wasteful day.' I sighed.

Deciding to forgo trying to level up {Observe}, as I didn't have the time or the MP, I returned to my new home. Checking over the eggs as I entered into the crevice, I settled down before using the skill, {Molting}.

Ting.

[-140 HP]

Ting.

[Skill {Molting Lv.4} has leveled up to {Molting Lv.5}. Time required for the skill has been reduced by 10 minutes. Total time required: 5 Hours and 20 Minutes.]

I smiled at the skill level up, it was about damn time. Though at that moment, sluggishness caught up to me, and tiredness rushed in me. To stave it off, I used {Episkey} twice, to restore a large portion of my HP.

Ting.

[-20 MP]

Ting.

[-20 MP]

Sighing in relief, I checked my status.

[Name: Unnamed]

[Species: Doxy]

[Race(s): Insect]

[Level: 8]

[HP: 216/266]

[MP: 24/166]

[Titles: {Sentient}, {Reincarnated}, {Survivor}, {Bullheaded}, {Master of Death}, {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.2}, {Drone Eggs Lv.2}, {Fire Manipulation Lv.1}, {Fly Lv.7}, {Invisibility Lv.1}, {Ice Resistance Lv.1}, {Leglimens Lv.2}, {Mana Control Lv.1}, {Masochism Lv.3}, {Meditate Lv.9}, {Molting Lv.5}, {Night Vision Lv.4}, {Observe Lv.7}, {Occlumens Lv.8}, {Overdose Lv.1}, {Pain Resistance Lv.6}, {Poison Resistance Lv.9}, {Poison Creation Lv.5}, {Rise Lv.1}, {Scent Lv.4}, {Sensor Lv.6}, {Slide Lv.3}, {Stealth Lv.3}, {Stubborn Lv.4}, {Survive Lv.4}, {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}]

Nodding at the notifications, I closed my eyes and feel asleep.

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