Name: Natasha

Race: Mandrill lvl 1

XP: 34

Size: 70

Type: Beast

Faction: Unaligned

Armor: 0

HP: 5

Strength: 4/Speed: 8/Endurance: 4/Magic: 1/Plasticity: 0/Luck 6

Senses: Vision 2, hearing 3, smell 2, taste 1, touch 2

Abilities: Balance 1, omnivorous 1, aposematism 1, innate magic 1

Skills: Bite 1, strike 1, grapple 1, throw 1, climb 1, sneak 1

Spells: Bluster 1

You know, walking as a monkey feels weird. You run around on your knuckles, and your arms are long enough that you don’t need to bend your knees. Running on the other hand is basically just jumping while throwing yourself sideways. I’m surprisingly quick, but I really need to get used to this feeling. I slow down as I get closer to the cave and start sneaking. Though once the entrance was just a few yards away, I looked up and saw the same sort of glass-like screen appear above the entrance to the cave.

Makkerache cave

Dungeon level: 10

So a dungeon. Good to know those exist. How much like a game is this world anyways? I wonder if this “game” has mods, or admins, or developers, or whatever. I imagine they’d need something like that if a system exists, but even speculating on that would start me on a loop of existentialism my tiny monkey brain is not ready for, especially since I’m still trying to process how exactly I died. I took a deep breath in and then back out again before I continued inside..

Looking around, there were a few puddles all around the cave floor. Which I hope doesn’t mean water monsters. I really don’t want to see some evil octopus creature or anything equivalent. I kept going, but it was mostly just water puddles for the first thirty feet or so. It wasn’t until after I started around the next bend I saw the first formerly living creature, which was a rat. A rat as big as I am though. This does not bode well for whatever’s ahead. Their most basic creature is probably stronger than me. Even worse, around that corner, it was dark. I couldn’t see in the dark. Those adventurers probably had torches or something. Well… great. My little adventure into a dungeon has already ended, and it’s only what, forty feet into the cave?

I look at the body of the rat, and wonder if maybe I can use it for something useful. They did stuff like that in survival shows all the time. Like skinning it, or if its meat were good. Or, the bones. There’s always a use for bones. I raise my head to look at it again, it has a sword wound in its side, and is bleeding all over the floor. I feel my stomach lurch at the sight, which I felt a bit better knowing I still had, but the idea of butchering something else wasn’t as easy as the survival shows made it out to be. They never describe the smell, or the feeling. Just being next to it felt… well, gross. I hesitantly took a step forward and tried to grab a front leg, and pulled. It was heavy, and dragging it took way more effort than I thought it would. After a full minute of trying to drag it out I’d managed to pull it half way, muddying all the puddles on the way back out with viscera.

Now I just need a tool. A sharp rock shouldn’t be too hard to find. I drop the rodent at the entrance and start scooting around the wall looking for rocks. Though most of them look to be more rounded and clumpy, great for throwing, but cutting, not so much. Hopping around from bush to bush, searching for a bit of rock that might have fallen around them made me feel a bit silly, but a knife, even a primitive one, will put me leagues ahead if I can manage to find one. After looking for long enough however I began to think that the stones around here aren’t the kind that get sharp. Mayne I need to sharpen one myself? But how would I do that? Just hit rocks together until one breaks? I really should have paid more attention to those survival shows…

That’s a couple more things to add to the list of things I needed to do. Also might need to think about making fire. Though… Do I need fire? Monkeys don’t cook, so can I just eat raw meat now? Or is it still better to cook the meat if I can? Does a game-like world even have germs, or would diseases basically just be status effects? The idea of contracting a disease when I have 5 hp total does not enthuse me greatly. Nor does the idea of lowering my already miniscule strength or endurance. Rolling the dice already didn’t turn out well for the magic selection. I head back over to the rat body and it’s still sitting there waiting for me to make a decision. Should I just drop it and try again when I do find one? I pondered for a moment before looking at the rat’s teeth. Of course, stupid, rats have these great big pair of slicing teeth right in the front of their face.

I hop over, rock in hand, and reach for the mouth. All I’ve got to do is just… knock out the tooth right? Shouldn’t be that hard… I pulled the mouth open, squinting slightly as I lightly tapped the rock against the front teeth. It didn’t budge. Alright, just gotta do it, get it over with. If you can’t handle a little blood then how are you going to make it in a whole jungle full of monsters? I close one eye, raise the rock again and bring it down harder. There’s a loud clack, but looking again, it’s still in there. I take another deep breath, raise the rock, and bring it down hard. I cringe as I hear the loud crack as something breaks. I look down again and see that the stone had impacted the front of the nose, caving it in. I wanted to just step back and stifle my retching, but the tooth had come loose. It was still hanging on, but loose. I looked away again, reaching over and just yanked it like a baby tooth. I held out the tooth in front of me, having the first tool I can use. Well, technically second, the first was the rock.

Now, tooth in hand… how do I use it? I have no clue how to butcher anything. Part of me wants to just take the win of having the knife and walk away, but I’ve made it this far. I raise the tooth and start from the wound already in the side, sawing away at the hide. It was gross, and it smelled awful. I had to hold my breath as I tried to cut away haphazardly at the skin. It looks like the hide actually separates pretty easily from the rest of the body, like one big chunk, but cutting through it isn’t easy. It ends up as more of a big mess than a pelt. Still, A pelt means I have a makeshift hobo bindle if I just grab a stick. So I’ll have a place to keep my stuff. Or should at least. Now with the rest of the body… Again, I don’t know if I need to cook the meat, but either way it's better not to risk it. Which means I’d need to make a fire… Which I don’t know how to do. I’ve seen it done in movies, but I still couldn’t replicate it. I know I need flint, but I don't even know how to tell what rock is flint. Hmm… maybe I should just bring the body back to the other monkeys and see if they eat it. Then I can just collect bones and eat more kipples.

With that thought, I gingerly gripped at one leg that still had fur and dragged it over towards our little clearing. It was slow going but eventually I came through the bushes and sloughed the body out where the monkeys could see it. It took all of about three seconds before a dozen eyes were on me and hooting loudly. They were hesitant to approach, more circling around warily before a much louder hoot came from above. I looked up to see one monkey, much bigger than the rest of us climbing down. He had his neck and shoulders covered in a thicker fur, his face was brighter red and blue, and there was a bright yellow beard hanging from his chin. I weighed maybe thirty, forty pounds at most, he looked like he weighs more than twice that. He opened his mouth, yawning widely and showing off a set of four massive fangs. He seemed to just ignore me, walking up when all the others had been too scared. He brought his nose down to sniff at the body, opened his mouth, bit down, and picked it up in his jaws before hauling it away.

Okay, so someone is in charge around here. I wonder, is he just a higher level, or is there an actual biological difference? Cause no one else here has a big mane or teeth like that. Probably still best to avoid being around him too much. He looks like he could literally break me in half. I keep a hold of my knife and pelt in one hand, stepping back through the brush to begin the next mission for my list. I need a stick. So ducking down again, I circled the bottom of the trees around the clearing, grabbing sticks. Nope, too short. Nope, too curved. Nope, too bendy. Nope, too weak. Yes, perfect. A nice long and tough little stick, perfect for hoboing. I took the end of it, using my knife to saw a few holes into the corners, and slipped them onto the stick. Not the most secure thing, but maybe it’ll be better if I can bind it with something. I’ll try and grab one of the bones later for that. For now though, it’s a place to keep the knife.

I hoist my makeshift bindle triumphantly and try to laugh, but it comes out as a hoot. Oh, right. Can’t speak. Well, it’s not like it really matters anyways, no one to talk to either way. I am, admittedly, still trying to process the fact that I am now a monkey, and that I had just died. I wonder if a normal person would have been freaking out right now. I mean, being dead should be pretty traumatizing shouldn’t it? Maybe it’s just because I don’t remember it? Well, let me think, what’s the last thing I remember? I woke up this morning, showered, brushed my teeth, got dressed, and left for work… Oh crap, I skipped breakfast. Why does that matter? I died. Let’s see, I left the house, pet the neighbor’s dog, and started walking down to the bus stop. I went to work and went until lunch. Then back on to work… then what? I can’t remember what happened after work. I know I go on autopilot a lot on my way home, but I should remember something. Maybe I fell asleep on the bus? Ah, don’t tell me I died in my sleep or something.

Sitting there, hands coming up to rub the sides of my head, I rub at my temples, trying to recall something about the ride home. The more I tried though, the more I realized I was just wasting my time trying to cook my brain. I hefted my bindle up and decided to head back to the watering hole, maybe the giant centipede is gone. I started towards the place I remembered the water being, but this time it sounded more active, which I didn’t take to be a good thing. Peeking through the brush then proved me wrong, seeing the six more monkeys already sat around the water. The frogs were still there, but they didn’t seem to want to bother each other. I sidle forwards, sticking close to the other monkeys as I reach a hand down to cup at the water. It was only after taking the first drink did I realize how thirsty I had actually been. Quickly drinking down several handfuls.

Though I have only been a monkey for a short time, I am glad I was brought into the world as a social creature, mingling with other monkeys. Being on my own to start with would have been an awful way to begin, considering I would have no safety at all. At least as of right now, I can drink water in peace. If I had been a possum or something, I would have to watch my back every second of the day. I looked around the pond, following the shoreline to a small stream pouring down the hill, thinking maybe water magic would have maybe been the better option. Sitting, pondering, the frogs interrupted my thoughts with a loud croak. Brought back to reality, I looked at our slimy neighbors, waiting in the center of the pond, looking out around them. Clearly no frog species I know of, so they must either be native only to this world, or if they were on earth, they wouldn’t have been from any place I’d been. Big, bulbous heads, wide enough that if they lifted their heads they’d look like a clam with feet. They could probably eat a monkey.

Thinking about it, this jungle that I’ve popped into is really dangerous, and I’m a very weak creature. I don’t know much about how I’m supposed to progress in levels. I get that you need to kill other monsters, but how does a level 1 monster kill anything? Or progress skills? Like bite, it starts out at 1, and can’t be super strong, so in order to kill anything it needs to be stronger, but in order to get stronger, I need to kill things? Maybe I just need to keep a lookout for other level 1 monsters. But how can I tell what a monster’s level is? I can only see my own. Any way I look at it, the best thing to do is stick with my fellow monkeys and just watch them. They’ve probably figured all this out already. I look up into the canopy, the gold light filtering through the green really did make it look like a magical fantasy forest from a movie. Even the water is crystal clear. It would be really nice if I weren’t a monkey.

The thought escaped my mouth as a sigh, standing back up on all fours again before looking back to the other monkeys. Well, trying to. When I looked, they were gone. They must have left while I was lost in thought. I looked around, but didn’t see where they’d gone to, so naturally, as monkey’s do, I climbed up the nearest tree for a better look around. Hopping up about thirty feet to the first branches, climbing was a bit harder with a bindle in one hand. I looked around, seeing the other monkeys scampering back to the group. I wasn’t exactly in a rush to follow, but I did just have an internal monologue about how it was a good idea to stick together. Though before I follow, I wanted to revisit my status again.

I opened the glass-like panel up, seeing the listed abilities. Abilities were all biological in nature. Though, looking back at it, innate magic, does that mean that I have some magic organ? Or magic in an existing one? Either way, it makes sense that because it’s biological, then using it should also be biological, right? Maybe I need to figure out how to activate my magic organically rather than like some spell? I made random hand gestures, which didn’t do anything, so maybe it’s like a dragon, where it would come out of my mouth. Actually that would make a lot of sense, dragons have some sort of biological control of fire so they probably have innate elementalism as well. So then, how does one “breathe wind”? I tried to feel around my throat to see if there was some kind of wind sack that I could flex, but no such luck. Maybe if-

My thoughts were cut off by a sudden and sharp pain in my arm, feeling myself pulled backwards off the branch. There were no thoughts, just a vague panic filling my head as my legs flail about. I look, and saw a big brown reptilian eye looking back at me, a set of green jaws latched onto my elbow. It looked like a lizard, long and thin, wrapped halfway around the trunk of the tree. I was being pulled off the branch and my bindle dropped from my hand. The teeth were sinking into my bicep and elbow. I needed to do something.

-3 hp

That’s half my health. Without thinking, I pulled myself around to grab at the lizard’s head, blindly reaching until I’d managed to grip onto anything. I felt something to wrap my fingers around, grabbed onto it and squeezed until I felt a pop. The jaw loosened, and I felt myself starting to fall. I am fairly certain falling from this height will be more than 3 hp worth of damage. So I wildly grasped for anything to grab onto, trying to keep myself aloft, but my fingers couldn’t grip the bark, scraping at it as I slid down, barely managing to catch the lizard’s foot. I was hoping it would be able to hold on, but all I did was pull it loose to come tumbling with me. Both front legs coming loose, it started to fall, but the back legs and tail were still held on. I heard a pop of dislocating bone as I held onto the leg. Not sure if it were mine or his. His head swiped around to go for a second bite but just scraped past my side. Since his failed, I decided to go for one of my own, pushing forward to sink my teeth into the lizard’s leg. Its scales were tough, but these big fangs managed to punch through.

As soon as the bite landed, the back legs came loose, and it started sliding down the outside of the tree the sound of bark grinding against scales filled the air as we both fell from the tree I pushed myself up over the lizard’s back, hoping to cushion the fall as the both of us collide with the ground. The lizard landed with a crunch, but I practically bounced off of its back, rolling to the side. I groaned, lifting myself to my feet, but shaking immediately as I put weight on the injured arm. I lifted it up to look at the wound seeing the holes ripped through the muscles, right at the elbow you could even see the bone. There was a solid ten seconds before I saw the next little pop up.

70 XP

Level up available

I had assumed the lizard died in the fall, and just forgot about xp being a thing. It must have been alive, for a bit. I’ll need to remember that for the future. It’s not dead until you get the xp. I looked down at the now near useless arm and thought 70 xp wasn’t even worth the exchange. I felt the sting of trying to move it and huffed, wobbling over to the hobo bindle left on the ground, reaching in and grabbing the knife. I didn’t feel nearly as bad this time as I stuck the knife into the lizard, and started trying to cut the pelt off. It was much harder to saw through and get the scales loose, both because of the scales and my bum arm. It was still just as messy as the previous job, but at least there was more of it this time. I wasn’t going to be dragging this big thing all the way back though. The smell was just as bad as last time, but as I reached in, I stuck the knife in, and tried to cut out a rib. Which was not as easy as I thought it would be. I don’t know why I thought meat would be as soft as after it’s cooked. I had to basically wrestle the bone free.

Once I had the rib in hand, I took the skin, wrapping it around my arm. My body hated the idea of touching it, and tried to pull away, but this is the only thing I have close to a bandage. I wrapped it around a few times before taking the rib and sticking it through to pin it in place. I flopped down on my butt, feeling the throbbing in my arm, rhythmically pulsating with pain. So I sat down, trying to distract myself with my status again. I opened it, seeing the level up available and casually pressing the button to see what would change.

-100 XP

Name: Natasha

Race: Mandrill lvl 2

XP: 4

Size: 70

Type: Beast

Faction: Unaligned

Armor: 0

HP: 10

Strength: 4/Speed: 8/Endurance: 4/Magic: 1/Plasticity: 0/Luck 6

[Talent points available]

Senses: Vision 2, hearing 3, smell 2, taste 1, touch 2

Abilities: Balance 1, omnivorous 1, aposematism 1, innate magic 1

[Ability upgrade available]

Skills: Bite 1, strike 1, grapple 1, throw 1, climb 1, sneak 1

[Skill upgrade available] [Skill points available]

Spells: Bluster 1

[Spell upgrade available]

So that’s interesting. What’s more interesting however was that my health is full, and double what it was. The pain in my arm was fully gone, and I got a bunch of new buttons to press. Though… Only then did I realize I had suffered through all that pain while butchering that lizard for nothing. I could have pressed a button and been fully healed. Which means in the future, I’ll have to make the choice between healing and gaining skills. Not a decision that I look forward to making. Still, best be glad that healing was still a thing.

I Unwrapped my arm and started fattening the pelt around my hips instead. Now it looks more like a skirt, which feels better to have something between me and the elements. Also, I take my hobo bindle, slip the knife back in and slide the bindle onto my hip. Much easier to carry this way. I’m tempted to look at my other status changes, but I’ll probably wait until after I’m back with the other monkeys this time. Can’t just be a sitting duck for another lizard. That said…

I turn to the dead lizard, and though I don’t want to, I wonder if eating it has any benefits. I had to kill the thing to get the xp, but would I get more xp for eating? Or would it be that eating things like this is what made that one monkey so big? Or maybe I’d just be eating a lizard. I huff, not really wanting to eat raw meat, but science demands it. I hold my breath, stepping back over to the partially skinned reptile. I lean in, holding my breath as I close my eyes and try to imagine it’s just a rare steak. I sink my teeth in and they stick still very tough to try and saw through, and rip a chunk out. It actually doesn’t taste as bad as I’d thought. Still not good, but better than the bugs. I chewed through the fat and forced myself to swallow, half expecting something to pop up, but no there was no screen, or notification. I ate raw lizard for nothing.

I turn back to the direction of the other monkeys and start walking back to the group, this time keeping a much keener eye out for things that might try and eat me. I was lucky enough last time to not get my head bitten, but next time I’ll probably not be so lucky. I came back into the clearing, the other thirty or so monkeys all gathered around in little cliques and socializing. Once I’m back, away from the bushes and sat down, I feel safe once again and just start to deflate. It has been a long day, and it’s not even been a full day yet.