Novel A World of Monsters. Chapter 11 is UP!

Discussion in 'Community Fictions' started by Ankur_93, Sep 22, 2020.

?

Can I post novel link here

Poll closed Sep 25, 2020.
  1. Yes

    3 vote(s)
    75.0%
  2. Hell no! Are you an idiot?

    1 vote(s)
    25.0%
  1. Ankur_93

    Ankur_93 Member

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    A World of Monsters: Synopsis
    Table of Contents:
    In a world where death dances naked, a soul is reborn. Its original world stands annihilated by the Nagas and the Yakshas, for a crime the inhabitants didn’t know was unforgivable.

    The soul that was once a meagre Sorceress is reincarnated by the forces even greater, the Eternals. However, what was once the past is no longer the future and what was once a human is now a monster- vermin and nothing more. With its negligible lifespan, it struggles against its fate.

    Meanwhile, Kiran leaves his home to defy fate. Named after the hope he represents, he seeks a [Class] so austere that hundreds fail in their search. Even those that do succeed remain haunted by failure at every step on this path before which even the Gods bow their heads in respect.
    0.0​
    A world of Monsters, follows a monster and humans in a system word, with a Buddhist/Hindu philosophy. The System is especially influenced by this philosophy.
    Things I can promise, in the story:
    1. No human form seeking
    2. Monsters will behave like monsters while humans will behave like humans.
    3. Evolutions.
    4. No harem.
    5. Grimdark
    6. Well defined characters [In my opinion at least XD]
    7. No OPness.
    If any of these things catch your attention, give this story a chance. I would recommend that you read the story up to chapter 8, which is ideal, but reading up to chapter 6 would give you a clear idea as well.
    -X-
    WARNING
    Not for trauma survivors.
    The human part of the story is a commentary on human nature.
    You have been warned.​
    P.S. Did not know that chapters needed to be posted here. That other gots locked due to my own stupidity.

    Available up to chapter 28 on RR, A World of Monsters
     
    Last edited: Oct 5, 2020
  2. Ankur_93

    Ankur_93 Member

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    Somewhere far away, a place so far that even the Gods dare not imagine such a distance. It was a place about which even the highest [Existences] of the [Creations] and the [Realities] dare not possess any knowledge. For such knowledge was not a secret but a curse. It eroded the sanity of even an [Existence], the highest of them all; a [Being] not of the flesh, blood and bones.

    It was a place so horrid that a mere glimpse caused the flesh to collapse. A place that was so heinous that the minds faded away long before they could even comprehend what they saw. A place where Laws were eroded and rewritten constantly.

    In such a place there existed [THINGS] that imprisoned themselves in that horrendous space. They rested there not for themselves but for others, whomsoever these others maybe. For if they left that place, the [Creations] bent to their unknown whims and unconscious desires. The laws of [Realities] changed and mutated to even their half-formed thoughts.

    For these [THINGS] followed not the Laws of the [Reality], they made them.

    In such a place and amongst such [THINGS], a soul drifted.

    “…Here comes it.”

    “Tch.”​

    “…Decided it is, it’s Cycle.”

    “Destroyer that it is, the meaning of Cycle for it is none.”​

    “This crime most heinous.”

    “Tch. Imprison it.”​

    “…What it seeks, the achievement of it will be when?”

    “What it seeks, there is none. The acceptance of it, when it descends.”​

    “…”

    -X-​

    The Illusion let a Soul emerge.

    The Forgotten guided its path.

    The Formless let it touch the flesh.

    The Endless let it last.

    .​

    The Mutated, the last of them all.

    The Mutated let it devour the Bridges,

    For a being was reborn.

    -X-​

    An [Existence] that was [Not One, But Innumerable], observed the result of its relentless pursuit. A pursuit that was likely a mistake, doomed to fail even before it started. Yet a quest that it had decided to undertake.

    For the [Existence], which was not a [Being], had done something that it never had. It had done something that it never saw itself do. It had done something that it should have never done. With this action, the [Existence] had spelt its doom. Yet, at this moment, the [Existence] had.

    It had dared to manipulate a soul. It had dared to deny the laws laid down by the [Eternals]. It had brought a soul to a [Reality] that was not the soul’s origin.

    The [Existence], which had nobody yet thrived, all the same, had transmigrated a soul; a soul that had been a [Creature] in its past life and had been destined to be, once again, the same [Creature] in its next life. A [Creature] that the [Existence] despised. A [Creature] that was more of a weapon than anything else.

    This soul, which had been transmigrated to the [Existence]’s own [Reality], was destined to be a [Creature] of a [Species] known for its savagery, its cruelty, its vengeance, its vanity, its hate and its plethora of other emotions that its [Species] was overwhelmed by.

    It was a [Creature] most hateful, ruled by its emotions and one that existed and survived not by its power but by the power of others of its kind. It was a [Creature] so weak, so humiliatingly frail, that its weakness was its strength.

    It had sought to overcome its weakness, not in itself, but in others, for it was a [Creature] pathetically feeble. It had sought strength in others and in turn, had found the source of power, the power that had been the cause of the downfall of many mighty [Existences] and [Immortals] alike.

    This [Creature], which was so miserably puny, had brought down [Existences] that had dwarfed it so horrendously that they hadn’t even registered this [Creature]’s existence. To them, this [Creature] might as well have been a smote of dust.

    Yet, they had fallen and this [Creature] had survived, ending them all as it thrived on the ashes of its fallen foes.

    This [Creature] that sought death for the sake of death, warred with itself and opponents that it didn’t even know existed. It defeated them with a weapon it did not even know it had, for it was the weapon itself. Its very existence was a weapon to be used against some of those mighty [Existences].

    And the [Existence], which was nowhere yet existed everywhere within its [Domain], had called this soul, which was destined to be this [Creature] to its own [Reality]. A mistake, the [Existence] knew. A perilous mistake.

    Yet the [Existence], which could not manifest in its [Domain] but existed within a prison designed for its kind, had brought this soul to its own [Reality]. An experiment, bound to fail, yet one much needed.

    The [Existence] knew what this [Creature] was and what it was capable of, for the [Existence] had seen it repeated time and time again, from one [Creation] to another, this [Creature] had devoured them all. The [Existence] knew just how dangerous this [Creature] was.

    And the [Existence] that spanned within the innumerous [Creations] within its own [Reality], had no intention of [Ending] at the hands of this wretchedly weak thing.

    Thus, the [Existence], which had no senses yet observed everything within its [Domain], had taken away from the [Creature] the one power that had allowed it to devour everything.

    The soul would not be born in the [Vessel] it had been destined for, no, the [Existence] knew it to be the source of its overwhelming and uncontrolled emotions. This soul would be thus born an [Immortal], fundamentally lacking the ability that had allowed the [Creature]’s species to rule them all, to conquer them all.

    Thus, the soul that had once been a [Mortal], a soul that had been destined to be [Mortal] once again, was now born an [Immortal]. The creature that had once been a [Mortal], born to thrive in civilization, would be born an [Immortal], a lifeform simply unable to coexist with civilization.

    -X-​

    Far away, at a distance so great that most couldn’t even begin to imagine such a distance. A distance that was so great that there existed transcendental barriers, not one but many.

    Within those barriers, inside a remote place, an ethereal book flipped its pages.

    -X-​
     
  3. elairz

    elairz Well-Known Member

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    is it necessary to use brackets? or is it just a placeholder till you find a better name?
     
  4. etherealbao

    etherealbao Well-Known Member

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    I saw you at royalroad forum. Are you posting it there too?
     
  5. Yang Guo

    Yang Guo Well-Known Member

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    How about Scribble Hub...?
     
  6. ExcitableFoci

    ExcitableFoci Well-Known Member

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    I'm sold.
     
  7. Ankur_93

    Ankur_93 Member

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    Brackets are for system identified words. They are numerous in the prologue but not so much from next chapter onwards.
     
  8. Ankur_93

    Ankur_93 Member

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    Yes, RR, SH, FF. Want to post on creative Novels too but they are not approving the novel there. :notworthy:
     
  9. Ankur_93

    Ankur_93 Member

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    I am posting on SH but the response there is dismal. I will continue posting there though. :)
     
    Yang Guo likes this.
  10. Ankur_93

    Ankur_93 Member

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    I am the same for this. XD
     
  11. Yang Guo

    Yang Guo Well-Known Member

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    Good. I will recommend to keep doing so. May be dismal now, but who know done the line. Takes a while for any novels to take off on SH, so don't give up there!
     
  12. Ankur_93

    Ankur_93 Member

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    Thank you. I will keep this in mind! :)
     
  13. Ankur_93

    Ankur_93 Member

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    Please don't mind the formatting. It's difficult to do so here.
    A creature slumbered peacefully. A peace that had not been meant to last long as it was shocked awake.

    After an awakening that was both, abrupt and hasty, it tried to take in the world around it. Yet, all it was greeted by was the vision of complete and utter darkness. Not unlike the one that had, for a long time, greeted it in its childhood.

    The old darkness was cold, cramped and lifeless. It threatened to swallow it whole.

    'Where am I?' The creature didn’t know the answer to that. In fact, it didn’t even remember anything at the moment. '…Just what is happening?’

    The more the creature’s eyes narrowed, the more its brows furrowed and a suspicion formed in its mind. At the moment the suspicion formed, its narrowed eyes widened and its pupils dilated. ‘Where am I?'

    Its heartbeat quickened, yet it felt heavy. It felt constricted by its surrounding and lack of space began to suffocate it. Veins puffed up and its eyes became bloodshot. 'Who is doing this to me!? WHY?!'

    The creature tried to move its body but, for some reason, all it could do was to make it squirm. The creature’s suffocation became unbearable. It seemed to the creature as if the walls confining it were moving in, ready to crush it with but a thought.

    The creature pushed back against the walls but it found its body had been rolled in some kind of fleshy meatball. All the while, the walls -seemingly- rushed in. The creature resisted but it couldn’t move its limbs. It couldn’t stretch its body. All it could do was make its body squirm.

    In the midst of the cocktail of emotions, an unnerving one took root. The creature began trembling, its body quivering like a leaf in the storm and its blood pumped faster. If this emotion could be named, it would horror that seeped through the eyes, to the flesh and to the bone.

    The mere thought of why it would be in the condition that it had found itself in, had seemingly shilled the creature’s very soul. ‘I couldn’t have been buried alive! No!’

    The creature tried to push with its body and even tried to shove. It threw its weight against the walls of its weird coffin.

    And the creature felt it move, not unlike the movement of a slime, before the coffin pushed back and retained its shape with equal fervour.

    The creature’s heartbeat raced and its quivering stopped as the creature shoved harder. It tried to punch the walls with its fists but for some reason, instead of 2 limbs, multiple limbs moved. And not in the way that it had wanted them to.

    It stopped mid-strike and tried to remember its last memory before it had woken up in the coffin. It was …it was …hazy and confusing. Mere trying to think about the past gave the creature a headache.

    But it was not the headache that the creature focused on. Rather, it was the lack of feelings from its hands and legs. Yet it could feel multiple other limbs protruding from its body; limbs that it should not have.

    Its heart beat even faster as it tried hard to remember, but all it got in return was searing and unfathomable pain. The creature trembled as its body reacted out of its control. 'Has someone tampered with my memory?! Where am I?! What is going on?!'

    'I died.' Its memory finally began to clear.

    The reason for its demise did not concern it, at least not at the moment. What did matter to it was just one thing? 'I died.'

    A hollowness unlike anything that it had felt before, seeped within it-

    'I died'

    -and, slowly, it’s pounding heart-

    'I died'

    -became so heavy, it seemed to stop beating.

    'I died.'

    It had lost its family.

    'I died.'

    Its life.

    'I died.'

    Its friends.

    'I di-'

    Screeeeeeeeeeeeech!





    Nothing.

    Nothing at all.

    The creature tried again and again. And, finally, it remembered.

    Power. Of the very Laws.

    Monstrous existences. Beyond the Gods.

    And obliteration.

    Nature itself had turned against them, ripping their civilization asunder.

    Even the [Five Great Ghosts] had abandoned their race; punishing the men, the women, the old and the children alike. The fate of one and all was nothing but one, death.

    The Gods had let their prayers go unheard. They had refused the summons. The death and the devastation had not seemed to move their undying hearts. The Divine grace, that had been ever-present and all-pervading, had abandoned them in their moment of need.

    Perhaps, even the Gods had died alongside their worshippers.

    Calamities, catastrophes and cataclysms unlike anything they had imagined had descended upon them. Not only had they descended down from the heavens but they had also ascended from deep within the womb of the Earth. And they had destroyed everything that had existed. Not a single being had been left alive. Not a single creature had been allowed to exist. It had been a complete and utter annihilation.

    It had been…a punishment from the Heavens and the Earth. ‘...but...why?!’

    The creature had no answer.

    At that moment, its eyes widened in the dark prison. Everything that it had known, no longer existed. The people that it had known, the city that it had lived in, the country that it had called its own, the civilization that had been its own...all of it, sundered. Annihilated.

    A Heavenly punishment for a crime unknown.

    The creature struggled in its prison. ‘Dead.'

    It squirmed, thrashed and struggled with all its might. ‘Everyone is dead!'

    It channelled its rage into achieving freedom. ‘Nothing remained!!'

    It had to. ‘Dead!'

    It just had to. ‘DESTROYED!!'

    ‘ANNIHILATED!’

    The cold air hit its head and its ears popped as it broke free. The sudden change in temperature shocked it out of its line of thought. It struggled and thrashed and pushed at the opening and finally, it broke through it. It was free, finally free. Yet, this freedom did not cause any joy to the lonely pair of hollowed eyes.

    The creature huffed and puffed as its desolation and anger simmered within it, but the sight which greeted it, in its freedom, forced it all back.

    And what a grotesque sight it was. In front of the creature lay huge balls, almost the same size as the creature’s body. And out of many of them, things were crawling out. Green and black and elongated things.

    'Insects!' The eyes thought before they corrected that line of thought. ‘Maggots!'

    Its eyes widened and heartbeat quickened as it looked around. 'Those round balls are eggs! They aren't coffins or prisons! They are eggs!'

    Eggs.

    Eggs.

    And more eggs.

    The creature was surrounded by them. Wherever it looked, the sea of eggs stretched. And out of most of them, things were coming out; things that were maggots.

    Its mind told it to look down, to look at its own body. But its heart didn't want to, for it was afraid. It was so very afraid of what it'd find.

    However, before the creature could do anything about its fear, something primal hit it and took over its mind. It was all the creature could think about as it overwhelmed the creature’s mind. The primal force forced it to look down at what was beneath its body.

    Hunger had overcome it and it was forcing the creature to eat whatever it was that was beneath its body.

    But as the creature lowered its head to eat, it also saw what it had become. What its body had become. It was green and black and elongated like all the other things crawling around it.

    'Maggot!' The creature’s mind supplied as it began to shut down.

    The creature, which thought that it was now a maggot, couldn't think. It couldn't feel. It couldn't process what had become of it. ‘Filth! Vermin!’

    The rage, the desolation, the shock, the disgust and the plethora of emotions overwhelmed the poor creature. It could do nothing as its fragile mind went into shock.







    !

    !

    !

    The maggot’s mind broke out of the stupor and it looked down at what it was doing. Somehow, when its mind had stopped working, the baser instincts of its new body -'Uggh!'- had taken over. Thus, it had devoured whatever it was that had been beneath its body.

    Hunger overcame it again and it bent down to continue eating, whatever it was that it had been eating until the creature devoured it all.

    Ting.
    [You have consumed The Gift.]
    Ting.

    [You have levelled up! Level up bonus of +1 HP granted.]
    The creature paused, both eating and thinking. Overwhelmed as its mind was, the only emotion to surface at the moment was curiosity. ‘What is this?’

    As if in answer to its thoughts, a new blue screen popped up.

    Ting.

    Status
    [Unnamed] [Skills] [Spells] [Dharma]
    It frowned and moved its head to the side, to look around the screen. Though, to the creature’s surprise, the screen too moved along. ‘Just…what is this?'

    But being a maggot, that it was, hunger made itself known by the way of immense burn that was raging in its belly. And dutifully, like a meek little servant, it began to eat again. As it chomped on the tasteless leaves, it focused on the one option that had disturbed it the most; the option, [Unnamed]. No sooner had it focused on the option than the floating blue list changed.

    Ting.

    Name: Unnamed

    Race: Immortal

    Species: Insect

    Vessel: Caterpillar

    Level: 2

    HP: 7/7 MP: -

    HPR: 1/Day MPR: -

    Lifespan: 90 days

    Titles

    [Reincarnated], [Hungry]



    Its toothy mouth twisted downwards and its eyes narrowed as it paused to consider. 'That makes no sense.'

    Despite not understanding the significance of information displayed before its eyes, one caught its eye; the title, [Reincarnated]. The creature focused on it and another blue screen popped up.

    Ting.

    [Title [Reincarnated] allows memories and experience of a single previous birth to be transferred to the new body.]
    'Is this about me?' The caterpillar frowned. ‘Is this about my reincarnation?’

    At that moment, despite being reminded of its death, the reincarnated creature didn’t feel the grief and the sorrow that had assaulted it previously. Instead, all it felt was an odd resignation. This was not only odd, it was unnatural.

    But this was not the only unnatural thing with this reaction. If the reincarnated creature had been of sound mind, it would have noticed such a reaction. But the creature didn’t. And it was not just because its mind was far from being called healthy and sound.

    Instead, it was because there was a war going on within it that it was unaware of. A war that it would remain unaware of until its death and maybe even beyond that. Ignorance was bliss, after all. But more often than not, it was death.

    Ignorant as it was, the creature began going through the information, one thing at a time. The next to catch its eye was something even more unbelievable than the previous one. It was its [Race], [Immortal].

    Ting.

    [[Immortal]s are lifeforms that are born with lengthy lifespans and the ability to increase it further. They are Creatures that are not bound by their Vessels and the concept of civilization. It denies access to Attributes and Spells.]
    The creature stared at the screen. It tried to comprehend the meaning of the words that it saw but there was just too much for it to understand at once. ‘I am now…an immortal?’

    The reincarnated creature focused and tried to recall if it had known anything about Immortals in its last life, but all it got was a sharp headache that left its head ringing. The creature halted its attempts immediately and shook its head as the pain began to fade away.

    This time, instead, it focused on the screen in front of it. ‘Not bound by my Vessel and concept of civilization? What does that mean?’

    It frowned and read the description again and saw the capital letter for Attribute. The capitalization seemed important to it and, as a result, it focused on it. In that very instant, a red screen popped up.

    TRAAAAAAANG!

    ‘Heavens above!!'

    [Attributes are blocked for Immortals. Access Denied.]
    The reincarnated creature shook its head as if trying to shake off the loud sound. It was only after the sound died that it looked up and eyed the red screen warily. It remained wary as the warning slowly faded away.

    ‘I do not want to experience something like that again!’ It had been an experience most unpleasant. The creature called upon the previous screen and eyes capital ‘S’ of Spells warily and moved on. It was not going through something like that again willingly.

    Though, now wary of what might come, it cautiously decided to explore the rest of the ‘Status’.

    It was then it noticed the [Lifespan: 90 days]. Its eyes widened and it felt blood rushing to its face as all its calm shattered like glass. ‘What the fuck!’

    It would have shrieked in anger if it had been able to. ‘What the actual fuck! What fresh shit is this!? Wasn’t I an Immortal?! Didn’t I have a lengthy lifespan?! What the fuck is this! Is 90 days a lengthy lifespan!?’

    With its body burning with fury, the tiny creature read the description of the Race [Immortal] before it scowled. The situation, that it had found itself in, would have tickled its dark humour in its past life. Yet, now that it was the one experiencing it, it could not see any humour in the situation.

    The creature took a deep breath. 'Focus. Focus. Focus.' It told itself before squinting and focusing on [Name: Unnamed] and just like before, another box popped up.

    Ting.

    [Names can be bestowed either by the sire or the master. You are an unnamed creature.]
    Its face twisted in distaste. 'I can't even name myself? What sort of absurd rule is that? Why can't I name myself?' This made no sense to the little being. But after the irony of being an immortal caterpillar with a lifespan of 90 days, this ridiculous rule did not surprise it.

    While focusing on returning to the previous screen, the caterpillar moved to another leaf. It had devoured its current one in its entirety. The current screen closed and the previous one popped up. It focused on [Vessel: Caterpillar].

    Ting.

    [Vessel is the current form of your body. You are a Caterpillar.]
    'Thank the Heavens I am not a maggot.' It moved onto the next option, [Species: Insect].

    Ting.

    [Species allows for different evolution pathways to manifest. Current evolution path available: Insect.]
    'Wait… what?' This was getting more and more ridiculous. 'What even is evolution?'

    Ting.

    [Every Immortal has the ability to evolve. Evolution is the ability to change one's Vessel, when one reaches Level 100, to a more powerful one on the evolution pathways granted by one’s Species.]
    'This is such bullshit.' It thought, for what felt like the hundredth time. ‘Yet, this explained what the Race [Immortal] had meant when it said that an immortal was not bound by its Vessel.’ Though, while still being left a bit confused, it focused on the word [Level].

    Ting.

    [Level is the relative power level compared to one's initial form after evolution. Experience is needed to Level up.]
    It focused on the word [Experience]. It did not know what that was either.

    Ting

    [Immortals live in the world of Kill or be Killed. Experience is what is gained by killing other living creatures.]
    'Well, that was clear.' It huffed but moved onto the next option nonetheless, [HP: 7/7].

    Ting.

    [Health Points is the maximum damage you can take. Zero HP results in death. Current HP: 7/7]
    It scowled and took in a deep breath to calm itself before it focused on [MP: -] next.

    Ting.

    [Mana Points is the maximum mana available to cast magic spells. Your species doesn't allow usage of Mana.]
    ‘BULL. SHIT! I call bullshit!' It screamed in frustration. 'I was a sorceress in my previous life, how can I not have magic?! Magic has nothing to do with anybody's body! It has everything to do with one's soul! I was reincarnated, wasn’t I?! It means I have my soul! Give me my magic, you little shit!'

    It ranted. It raved. It ranted for a while as it continued to eat. But, as it had expected, it did not have any effect. Thus, tired of its own mental ranting, it moved onto the next option, [Titles].

    Ting.

    [Title is a label awarded by the Will of the World to the living beings, for performing specific tasks or for meeting certain specifications.]
    ‘That explained the [Reincarnated] Title. Though, what is this Will of the World?’ It focused on that.

    Ting.

    [Will of the World is the manifestations of Laws that govern the Creation.]
    ‘Laws of the Creation?’

    ‘…Heavens Above!’ The creature exclaimed in astonishment. ‘To think that the laws of the Creation could be uncovered in such a simple way! Simply magnificent!’

    It was a testament to the instability of the creature’s mind that it went through one strong emotion after another and yet seemed to forget the previous ones when the next one overwhelmed it. It had experienced grief, panic, joy and now giddiness, in just a short time.

    Yet, it did not find it strange at all. Its mind was fragile like an infant's crushed fist.

    Still, the current discovery left it feeling a bit buoyed. And unknowing of its own mental state, the creature moved on to the last Title, [Hungry].

    Ting.

    [The Title [Hungry] forces its bearer to eat continuously. It allows the creature to gain experience from consuming food. Title restricted to a single Vessel. Lost upon Evolution.]
    'Does that mean it will be removed when I evolve?' It frowned for a moment before moving onto his [Skills].

    Ting.

    [Crawl Lv.1]
    [Ability to crawl on your body.]
    Ting.

    [Molting Lv.1]
    [Ability to shed the exoskeleton/skin and come out as new. Cost depends on the size of being.]
    Ting.

    [Poison Resistance Lv.5]
    [Ability to reduce the effect of poison and delay being poisoned. Decrease the damage of the Poison by the Level of this skill.]
    Ting.

    [Venom Creation Lv.1]
    [Allows the creation of weak venom which does base damage of 5 points per minute. The skill lasts for minutes equal to the level of this skill. The effects of the venom stack. Increase the potency of the venom and increase base damage per 10 levels of this skill. The potency of the resultant venom depends upon the resistances obtained by the [Poison Resistance] skill.]
    It frowned again. All the rest of its skills started from [Level: 1] but this [Poison Resistance] skill started from [Level: 5]. It focused on it.

    Ting.

    [Ability to delay being poisoned. Due to being born a poisonous Immortal, the ability starts with a few levels mastered.]
    ‘That makes somewhat of a sense.’ It thought as it continued eating.

    Ting.

    [You have levelled up! Level up bonus of +1 HP granted.]
    Startled, it checked its status, and sure enough, its Level read [Level: 4] and its HP read as [HP: 8/8]. Giddy for the moment, it turned to the second last option, [Spells] and focused on it. It didn’t even remember the previous situation when it had focused on Attributes. Thus, it was quite surprising when a red screen popped up.

    TRAAAANG!!

    [Attributes are blocked for Immortals. Access Denied.]
    The creature shook its head and cursed itself for getting the previous experience. Yet, once the sound died down, it forgot about this experience once again. Instead, it turned to the last option, the most ominous one, [Dharma].

    A golden screen popped up this time.

    Ting.

    [Since there is life, death exists now. Since there is now death, life exists. Within the singularity of this infinity, lies the endless chaos of half-truths. Truth and Untruth, both extend through this singularity. In the moment between singularity to infinity and infinity to singularity, hides the meaning of Dharma.]
    [Dharma: Thrive.]
    ‘What…utter nonsense is this?’

    Its mouth fell open and eyes widened as it gawked, for it understood not a thing. It read the message again. And it tried to grasp the meaning that seemed to be hidden within. Yet, all it saw was a bunch of spiritual crap that was worth less than the time spent on reading it.

    The creature ground its teeth as its body trembled.

    It was all too much.

    The roller coaster of emotions, that this tiny being had gone through, had left it fragile mind mentally exhausted. All it wanted to do was stop thinking. It wanted to sleep.

    But sleep it could not afford. The fire raging within its belly left it unable to do anything but eat. It rose from deep within its body and burned its throat and took over its mind. Thus, the creature ate. It stopped thinking about its reincarnation and continued to eat. It ate and ate and ate. For the title [Hungry] demanded so.

    0.0

    When had the time waited for anyone? And as the time passed the days turned to nights and the nights turned to days as two weeks passed.

    In these past 2 weeks, the reincarnated creature noticed a peculiar thing. It had noticed that the moon seemed to behave differently than what the creature was used to. The heavenly body seemed to dance across the sky, hopping from one direction to another, every single night. And more often than not, it seemed to change colours when it jumped.

    The pale white rays that creature had been familiar with, would either get subsumed by either the azure blue like that of the clear blue sky or the fresh green of a newly birthed leaf. And although the moon changed colours like it was changing clothes, it’s light remained as pale as ever; maybe with hints of blue or green, but it mattered little within the devouring darkness of the night.

    On this particular day, the creature woke up, not because the shining rays of the sun had hit it softly, creating a perfect scene. No, nothing of the sort. It woke up because, after the number of leaves It had eaten, it had to shit. It had to shit a lot.

    With that bit of unpleasantness done, it resumed eating. It was not like it could do anything else. As the creature began to eat once again, it reminisced about the two things that it had achieved in these past 2 weeks. First was that its Skill, [Crawl], had reached Level 2, while the second was that the creature itself had hit Level 15, with its HP reading [HP: 20/20].

    It smiled slightly. ‘If I continue on levelling like this, soon I would evolve.’

    Now that the newly born caterpillar had reached [Level: 15] from [Level: 1] in a mere 2 weeks, it wished to level up even faster. So, it chomped and chomped and chomped.

    “Screeeeech!”

    The tiny creature heard the strange sound and it stopped eating to look around.

    The creature’s very blood seemed to freeze as a sudden chill hit it and its eyes widened. The tiny being had come face to face with its natural predator. The flying intruder was a bird of some sort and it was coming down faster and faster, aiming at the plant that the vermin had been devouring.

    The bird was, obviously, aiming for a little breakfast.

    The caterpillar knew that it was not fast enough to crawl away from the bird. No matter how much its crawl speed had increased due to the skill's new Level, the little vermin was no match for a bird.

    And that bird, that creature, was honing in on it, faster and faster.

    The caterpillar panicked. Its brain couldn't think of anything beyond the approaching death, that was descending upon it, with every passing second. It felt its heart race miles a minute and its body shivered in fear and horror. Its death was near, that was all that its instincts screamed at it; overwhelming the pest with the desire to flee because they knew that fighting was not an option.

    Seeing no other option but to flee, the caterpillar let go of the leaf, on which it had been hanging on and fell. Air rushed by it and disorientation hit it for a moment before it hit the ground with a smack.

    Disoriented as the caterpillar was, the creature shook itself, trying to shake off the shock of the fall and winced. That fall had harmed the tiny creature. And although the pain was undesired, the jolt had successfully broken the caterpillar out of its instinct induced panic.

    Clamping down on the pain, the caterpillar glanced at flesh which had hit the ground, and sure enough, it’s soft bulging body looked bruised and pulped. The tiny being swallowed. 'That had been a bad idea.'

    It turned back to watch the plant, which had been its home and source of food for the past few weeks and saw the bird…creature devour the rest of its brethren with no mercy. It was wolfing down every caterpillar in the sight. One after another, the caterpillar crawled but disappeared a moment later. The creature shivered.

    'Kill or be Killed.' It remembered the blue screen had said.

    Having noticed the situation, it turned around, unable to watch the carnage and tried to find someplace to hide, away from the eyes of the vicious thing decimating the population of caterpillars. Its eyes fell on a pile of dead leaves that cast a shade beneath them and the caterpillar tried to crawl towards the shade but the pain that erupted in its body felt like lightning.

    Forcing its tiny limbs to support itself, the tiny creature lifted its body. But that little effort left it breathing hard and gasping. The jolt of red-hot pain, which ran through its body, had its tiny legs refusing to move but It had no other choice. It wasn't a choice of life and death.

    It wasn't a choice at all, for it refused to die again. It would not die. Not here; not at the claws of some random bird.

    It crawled forward, barely making it. Its body almost refused to move again but through sheer will to live, the creature made it through. It took a deep breath and reminded itself that it had no choice. It crawled again. And again, a bolt of screaming pain pulsed through it. It bit down on the flesh of its mouth and tasted blood.

    Ting.

    [Skill [Pain Resistance Lv.1] granted. Your pain tolerance has been increased.]
    It heard the chime and felt the pain from its wound decrease just a tinge but it ignored the pain and the screen. It did not have the time for such silliness at the moment.

    Breathing in a shaky breath, it pushed itself towards the shade. It moved, just a tinge and its breath escaped it with the soaring pain. It took in another breath and tried again. It moved and it pushed itself again, not wanting to let the breadth escape this time.

    It winced and pushed itself through the hurt and the blinding pain until it managed to reach the shade beneath the pile of leaves. It took in a deep but shaky breath.

    Ting.

    [Skill [Pain Resistance Lv.1] has levelled up to [Pain Resistance Lv.2]. Continuous damage caused by pain is decreased by the 2 points.]
    Ignoring the screen, it turned back to look at the plant. The population of caterpillars was dangerously low now. Soon the bird would come down, looking for any that had fallen. The creature could not allow the bird to find it. It could not let the bird eat it. It could not let itself be killed.

    No.

    It would not die.

    It absolutely would not die.

    Taking another deep breath, it shoved its head into the soft ground and bit as much dirt as it could. It pulled back and spat the dirt out and shoved its face again into the dirt. It could not use its legs or its other limbs; they were short and stubby and useless in this situation.

    It repeated the process again and again and again. All the while, it thanked the gods that a caterpillar's mouth was much larger compared to its body than a Mortal’s. It could not imagine doing the same thing with its original body.

    Soon the hole was large enough for its tiny body to fill it in and through the pain and hurt, it managed to shove itself in, with its mouth down the hole and its ass facing the world.

    It was tired; so very tired. And hurt. But it could not give up, not yet. It was still vulnerable and had no way to hide its ass which was hanging out in the air. It was out of its wits and there seemed to be no way to hide itself completely.

    It felt the disturbance, a vibration.

    Thump. Thump.

    It felt the landing of the sharp claws and knew that the bird had come looking for the ones that had fallen. Fear strengthened its hold on the little vermin, and its heart, which had been already racing on pain and hurt, raced faster. It even felt its bowels move in fear.

    And then it hit the worm. Shit. The answer was shit.

    These past weeks, it had eaten so much that it was bulging with shit even though It had already shat once. So, it shat. Through pain, fear and hurt it excreted. It shat all over its ass and tried to cover its hideout with it, as much as it could. It wiggled and squirmed, shaking the mounds of insect refuse and letting it spread. Some of it even fell down further into the hole and stuck to its body.

    It would have been unbearable and filthy if it had not been the method that was saving its life. The creature knew it was covered in refuse –rolling in it, even- but at the moment, it could not even begin to care. Its survival depended on that mound of shit.

    Thump. Thump.

    The bird moved and it felt the distance between them decrease. Its breadth hitched and its heart felt like it would run out of its body.

    Thump. Thump.

    The claws came closer and the caterpillar shut its eyes. It tried remembering if there was anything in its skill list that could help it right now.

    '[Venom Creation].' Tired as it was, with its life on the line, it remembered and activated the Skill without a second thought.

    The fine hairs on its body become wet and its shit covered skin became moist, as venom was secreted from its pores. But the creature didn't stop. It continued to secrete the poison, without stopping. It did not know if it would work but with all the poison that it was secreting, it hoped to take the bastard down with itself, if it was eaten.

    Though that was just a pipe dream.

    The little caterpillar was exhausted.

    It took a shaky but deep breath in. It had done everything that it could do as a caterpillar, and then some. And if now, if it was eaten then at least, it hoped to give the bird nasty indigestion. The tiny being smiled in satisfaction.

    Thump. Thump.

    It felt the bird come closer and held its breath.

    Thump. Thump.

    It could feel the bird standing right over its mound of shit. The bird paused over the hole and the tiny creature’s heart stopped. Would the bird look past the shit and poison and move on? It hoped it would. It prayed it would.

    Thump. Thump.

    The bird passed it over, yet, it held its breath. It did not move. It could not move. It dared not move. At that moment, there was a flutter of wings and the bird flew away.

    It remained there, still, not believing that it had survived. A shaky breath escaped it and it smiled a watery smile. It had survived. It was alive. It laughed and failed, for its body could not laugh.

    'I survived! I am alive!' It tried to laugh again and gasped. Yet there was a smile at its insectoid face. It gasped again as it’s heart finally slowed down and the pain that it had been ignoring finally caught up to it. It winced and yet it smiled.

    It breathed in a deep breath and searched for a specific Skill, hoping it would do what it wanted it to do. It checked its HP, which was at [HP: 11/20] and activated the Skill [Molting].

    No sooner had it finished using the skill, than the creature’s HP was reduced by 10 points, leaving it with only a single point in its life force. [HP: 1/20]

    'Oh shi-'

    -X-

    In a place far away, a place so far that there existed transcendental barriers to separate it from the others, there existed a vast desert.

    Hot and parched weather marred its description and massive sand dunes were the numerous scars; one of its defining features. The sand dunes crawled with the wind, covering massive distances as they drowned everything within a sea of sand.

    Venomous insects and poisonous plants littered the landscape like stars on a new moon night. They hunted, they preyed upon other creatures and, in turn, they got hunted and preyed upon by different creatures. They fought for food. They fought for water and they fought for territory.

    Yet, none of them dared to venture to the epicentre of the desert. Neither the predatory cacti nor the venomous insects dared to go there. Such was the Essence emanating from the epicentre that even the sand dunes refused to tread there.

    In such a place, there existed a shop.

    But to call it a shop, would be a bit too much. It was a decrepit building with the walls that were weakened by the ravages of time and filthy from the unknown years of dust accumulation.

    The door barely held onto its frame and seemed to be waiting for the last gust of wind to make it fall. But the gust dared not touch this place. Even the most ferocious of winds tamed themselves within the presence of this decrepit shop. The building seemed like a dying person, holding onto their last breath.

    Within this shop, what was sold and what was bought was unknown, for there existed no merchandise within this shop. Rows upon rows of empty shelves exuded a silent hollowness that threatened to seep within the bones of one and all. The manifold layers of dust covered the shelves like their last shroud.

    Beneath those bare shelves, the floor was littered with yellow dust mounds, though the termites that had created them were long gone. The roof of the shop was drowning in cobwebs that had spared not even the remotest corners. Yet, there existed no spiders to hunt in those webs.

    In the back of this vacant room was a simple desk layered with dust. In front of the desk, numerous dark stains plagued the floor. The stains radiated a feeling of suffocation and claustrophobia. They seemed to want to shout and yell but found that they could not even make a sound. They gave off the sensation as if they wanted to tell their stories and the horror dripping from them.

    What had created those stains and when they were created, both were unknown. Yet, the ominous aura continued to slowly leak out from them.

    Behind that desk was a simple chair. That simple chair seemed extremely out of place in the seemingly abandoned room as a youth sat within that chair. The youth seemed young, barely 17 to 18 years of mortal age.

    He had a face that was plain and forgettable by any and all standards. It was as unmemorable as the random passerby on a busy road. Along with his ordinary features, his skin that was light brown and his black hair that came down all the way to his shoulders, his presence made for a truly unmemorable appearance.

    In contrast to his features, his clothes were something else entirely. If his features had been made to be forgotten, his clothes had been definitely not. He was dressed in 2 pieces of unstitched fabrics. It was as if, in the culture, he came from, the people did not take fancy to the concept of stitched clothes.

    The first piece of fabric was wrapped around his waist and each of his legs before it was finally tucked right beneath his navel. While the second piece was folded neatly in layers and came from behind his neck before falling down his bare chest. One end of the folded fabric was wrapped around his arm that rested on the armrest of the chair.

    His shoulders leaned against the back of the chair while his legs were crossed at his feet. He had his eyes closed as one of his elbows rested on the armrest, with his palm supporting his chin.

    It seemed like he was sleeping. Yet, he gave off an unnatural sensation. He was still, way too still. Not even his chest moved when he breathed. Did the youth even breathe? The answer to that was unknown. He was akin to a carcass.

    Yet, this corpse-like youth had the aura of the living. If one were to be in his presence, then it would be impossible for them to consider him as anything but alive. But none could experience this aura for they would die long before they had even entered the desert that housed this shop.

    The youth that seemed dead but was not, seemingly slept.

    -X-

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  14. Ankur_93

    Ankur_93 Member

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    The green caterpillar woke with both its body and mind suffering. Its body was tired and sore while its mind was slow and hazy. In such a state, the blue glow of the notification didn’t help the poor creature any.

    Ting.

    [Skill [Pain Resistance Lv.2] has levelled up to [Pain Resistance Lv.3]. Continuous damage caused by pain has been decreased by the 3 points.]
    Ting.

    [Skill [Venom Creation Lv.1] has Levelled up to [Venom Creation Lv.2]. The active time of the venom has been increased to 2 minutes.]
    Ting.

    [Skill [Moulting Lv.1] has levelled up to [Moulting Lv.2]. The time required for the skill has been reduced by 4 minutes. Total time required: 5 Hours and 56 Minutes.]
    Ting.

    [Title gained: [Survivor]]
    Ting.

    [Skill [Survive Lv.1] granted.]
    ‘Huh…’ Bleary as the creature was, from having just woken up, it stared dumbly at the notifications for a rather long moment. Meanwhile, as it read the notification, the creature frowned before it shook itself awake.

    The caterpillar winced at the pain that should have assaulted but none came. Only the phantoms of the pain remained. It let out a sigh of relief. No bruises. No Pain. 'This is awesome! My hunch was right after all! I can use the Skill [Moulting] to heal my wounds!'

    Giddy from the good news, it checked its HP, which was [HP: 3/20].

    'So, it heals my physical wounds but doesn't increase my HP?' The [Reincarnated] frowned a little before smiling in relief. It was happy enough with what it had at the moment. 'Hmm… but if the skill doesn't restore my HP, then does that mean that I only heal from HPR?'

    The creature checked the value, which was [HPR: 2HP/Day], and grimaced before it tried to move out of its shit covered hideout. However, its body barely twitched, as the creature was still exhausted. With what little energy it had, the [Survivor] crawled out and looked up to notice the position of the sun.

    The Level up notification had said that the total time required had been reduced by 4 minutes. That meant the skill had taken 6 hours this time. And given the position of the sun, which was fairly overhead, the day seems to be about 24-25 hours long. ‘Similar enough I guess.’

    Lacking the energy to even think, however, it crawled back into the shit and poison covered hole to rest a bit more.

    ‘It’s odd.’ The [Reincarnated] observed. It would never have done the things, that it had done yesterday, in its previous life. It would never have excreted all over itself as a sorceress. No matter the benefit. It had had its dignity in its last life.

    Yet, here it had. It had done exactly those things that, in its last life it couldn’t even have imagined. Not only had it shat all over itself to preserve its life, but it was also willing to crawl back into the same faeces filled hole. Just because it was tired. ‘Why do I not feel disgusted with myself?’

    It thought for a moment about the issue. But the more it thought over the matter, the more trivial it seemed. What was a bit of refuse if it provided the creature safety? What was dignity if it had no life to live?

    This, of course, was not the thought process of a Mortal, but an Immortal. But how could that be? The [Reincarnated] had been a Mortal. So how could its thought process align with that of an Immortal?

    This was an oddity not as trivial as the [Reincarnated] had thought, however. It was something much bigger than the creature thought it to be. After all, never before in the history of the Creations and Realities had such a peculiar situation occurred. Never had a Mortal’s thoughts matched with an Immortal’s.

    Yet, such an oddity had begun to manifest, at this moment, as a result of an Existence’s meddling. But the creature knew not of the meddling or the just how odd its situation was. In fact, even the oddity that it had noticed in its thinking, continued to become trivial under the influence of an Immortal’s thought process.

    The triviality of the situation compounded until the [Reincarnated] decided that it really did not matter if it was its own shit that had saved it. What was important to the creature was that it was alive. And to remain alive for longer, it needed to rest now.

    With that last thought, it turned back to the notifications hanging over it and started to go through them, but not without a sigh. The creature, truly, was tired to the bone -which it wasn’t sure if it had any.

    The first few notifications were pretty standard so it just skimmed those by. 'A new [Title]? Now, this is interesting.'

    Ting.

    [Through your will, presence of mind and sheer stubbornness, you have defied your death. You have survived. Grants the skill, [Survive Lv.1]]
    It frowned. 'What does this mean by "my death"? Was I supposed to die there!? At the hands of that bird!? So soon after my rebirth!?'

    The creature scowled this time, despite its tiredness. 'That better not be true!'

    Irritated, it focused on its first new skill, [Survive].

    Ting.

    [When activated, stops HP and MP from decreasing below a certain limit for a fixed amount of time. Cost: (Total HP)/2. Current Limit of Time: 1 Minute. Current Limit of HP: 1. Current Limit of MP: -]
    It read the description once, and then reread the skill description because it did not know whether it should laugh or scowl at it.

    On one hand, it fixed its HP so, in a way, it stopped it from dying. On the other hand, it consumed half of its HP and would limit its HP to a mere 1 point and that too for just 1 minute.

    The creature sighed. Its exhaustion constantly grew as its emotions transformed with each notification. And it had no desire to figure out the usefulness or uselessness of the skill. Thus, it chose one category and cursed. 'What an absolutely fucking piece of shit skill!'

    There was no rhyme or reason to its cursing. It had not bothered to spend even an ounce of energy to figure out the usefulness of the Skill. It cursed at the Skill solely because it felt like it. Cursing made it feel better. Amidst the Immortal thought process, the acting of cursing to let out steam, because of a beacon of Mortal thought process.

    And the unknown war within the creature’s mind continued.

    0.0

    The tiny being woke up once again and squinted as it opened its bleary eyes. The reason for its awakening had not been the end of its exhaustion, but rather, the fierce fire burning in its belly. The creature was famished. A state that was compounded by the Title it held, the unassuming little Title of [Hungry].

    It sighed. Though, now that it wasn't dying of exhaustion, the second thing that made itself known was an indescribable itch that attacked it from every single inch of its body.

    The word, uncomfortable, didn’t even begin to describe persistent itch. It was still weary from its earlier escapade and now it was also ravenous and itchy. It made for a very unpleasant situation.

    The creature shook itself and tried to move its hand. But the stubs, for limbs, that it had merely wiggled in their place. Irritation, of the likes, that it had never felt, rose up within the creature and it smashed its own face onto the sides of the hole in anger and impatience.

    ‘!’

    Unexpectedly, the action actually helped. The loose gravel on the wall of the hole had torn up a papery thin membrane that had been stuck to its body like a second skin. 'What is this?'

    From its eyes, and from its face, some odd greenish-skin-type-thingy was peeling off. The creature frowned for a moment before it remembered that it had used [Moulting] yesterday and that the odd greenish-skin-type-thingy was most likely the exuviate that it had shed because of using the Skill.

    It sighed and began to rub itself against the walls of its hideout with renewed vigour. As soon as it could, it removed the dead skin sticking to its body and crawled out of its hole to the nearest plant. Its ravenous hunger was so fierce that the creature almost ate the exuviate itself.

    It didn’t though.

    Thus, to dim the inferno within, the creature practically ran towards the plant and began to chomp on the nearest leaf without a second thought. Though, perhaps, it should have paused and thought for a moment when it realized that the leaves it was restlessly chomping on were a bit bitter in taste. It ignored the taste and continued to devour one leaf after another.

    It was in that moment when its hunger had subsided a bit, that it finally focused on the decidedly bitter taste of the leaves as the world began to tilt and its mind became hazy. ‘Oh no.'

    At that moment, it forgot its hunger. It forgot its fatigue. And it forgot its frustration. It spat out the mouthful of pulp that it had been chewing and immediately began to crawl away from the plant. ‘Poison! I had been eating poison!’

    Its mind overworked, trying to find a way to deal with the poison, but it had no idea what to do next. The first thing that came to its mind was to vomit out the pulp that it had eaten, but it didn’t know if caterpillars were even capable of vomiting. And even if the creature could vomit, it did not want to do it in open where any passing bird could pick it up as an afternoon snack.

    The creature was no longer within the safety of civilization. Instead, it was deep within the clutches of the world of Kill or be Killed. As its stubby limbs reached the shade of the plant, it looked up at the leaves and noticed that they were of the same shape as of the plant which it had been eating since its birth.

    Unfortunately for the little caterpillar, hardly had it entered the deeper shade of the plant when the poison hit it.

    It gritted its teeth as pain overcame it in waves. One after another, wave after wave, pain assaulted it. It did not end at that though. As the waves passed, its body began to convulse and shake. The creature writhed and it shrieked, yet it somehow managed to remain within the shade of the plant.

    Its body twitched and struggled against its will as the poison ran its course. Its vision began to blur and its sense of smell went wonky. It saw the world move and smelled the odd odour of buttercups and mint. It knew there were neither buttercups nor mints in its vicinity but that little tidbit didn't help as its body continued to twitch and shake against its wishes.

    However, as the convulsions slowly died down, so did the pain. Eventually, the world stopped moving and the scent of buttercups and mints vanished along with it. A sigh of relief escaped the tiny being and it gasped as it breathed. ‘It’s over. It’s finally over.’

    It quickly opened its status to check its HP, only to find not a single point missing. Its HP was [HP: 3/20], the same as before.

    As thankful as it was that it had not lost its HP, the creature still frowned. Why had its HP not decreased when it had clearly been poisoned? Its Skill [Poison Resistance] hadn’t been effective against the plant poison, as clearly demonstrated by waves of pain and olfactory hallucination that it had suffered.

    Yet, it had not received even a single point of damage. With a slight frown, the creature checked its poison resistance Skill which also happened to be its Skill at the highest Level, [Poison Resistance Lv.5].

    ‘Was the damage of the poison so low that it had been countered by 5 points of reduction from the skill?’ It mused. ‘Yet, the physical effect passed through.’

    Its poison resistance skill was one to blame for the bizarre situation, it finally surmised. There was no other explanation for the odd occurrence otherwise. Not only had the effect of the poison been delayed and no physical damage dealt, the effect had not lasted all that long, all things considered.

    Such a situation seemed only plausible under the mysterious effect of the skill, [Poison Resistance Lv.5].

    The [Survivor]’s reasoning was right on point. Its [Poison Resistance] that was at Level 5, had been able to cancel out the HP loss effect of the poison, if not the hallucinations and the pain, as the poison had been only a weak one. If the poison had been a particularly strong one, the creature wouldn’t have been so fortunate.

    With the mystery somewhat solved, the caterpillar rested within the shade of plant for a few more moments before it checked the leaves of the plant again. Only after it had confirmed a few times that the plant was not poisonous did it begin to consume the leaves.

    The next week passed in a blur as it did nothing but eat and sleep. And as it was no longer exhausted enough to justify the use of the original hole that it had dug, it had carved out a new place for itself to rest for the weary nights.

    Its continued feasting had had net it some results and by the time moon rose in the sky, with azure light this time, the creature had managed to level up to [Level: 27], which had raised its HPR to 3/Day and HP to [HP: 32/32]. With the increase in its HPR, the creature had been able to reach its maximum HP.

    With a grimace, the creature stopped eating as a thought popped up in its mind, yet again. It was something, that had occurred to it, soon after it had been poisoned. Though at the time, the memory of the poison had still been fresh and the creature had absolutely refused to entertain that thought.

    Now though, that some time had passed, the thought had made its comeback and it had seemed to become more and more promising, to the little caterpillar, with every passing day.

    The creature was in a world that had a single rule, Kill or be Killed. In the midst of such an environment, the creature needed every advantage that it could get. And the thought that kept on popping in its mind, promised to provide an extremely obvious advantage.

    It scowled in resignation, accepting the path laid down within its mind. After all, the Skill [Venom Creation] increased the potency of poison-based on the resistances obtained by [Poison Resistance].

    However, with this simple decision, something monumental occurred as the war within the creature’s mind tilted in the favour of a faction rather than other. All the while, the creature remained unbothered. It remained ignorant.

    With a defeated sigh, the little caterpillar headed towards the poisonous plant and crawled up the stalk. Slowly it began to chomp down on the tiny stalks connecting the leaves to the stem and spat out the pulp within its mouth.

    It had no intention of getting poisoned while still within the vicinity of the poisonous plant. As the leaves fell and gathered on the ground, one after another, once again a defeated sigh escaped the creature. ‘This is going to be laborious.’

    Once the little being had crawled back down, it grabbed the leaves one by one and slowly, ever so slowly, dragged the leaves towards its little hideout. Once it had dragged the leaf to its hideout, it crawled back to the pile of fallen leaves to repeat the process again. It continued this process until it had gathered all the leaves at the mouth of its hideout.

    Once the preparations were done, it crawled into the hole, but this time, with its ass down the hole and mouth sticking out. Then it began devouring on the leaves. It ate through the bitter leaves and continued to consume them until, soon, none were left.

    And then it waited with bated breath; for it knew what was coming. As it waited, its heart raced and its eyes twitched every other moment. The wait of the inevitable seemed scarier than the actual event itself.

    It took a few moments more than the last time but the poison exploded all at once and its body began to convulse as the pain began to rummage through the tiny being. It convulsed and it shrieked. It screamed its minuscule heart out but the tiny being that it was, its voice was even smaller.

    Its vision began to blur and its sense of smell went wonky again. The world started to dance this time and it smelled the odour of swamp and rain. The caterpillar knew that it was nowhere near a swamp and that it hadn't rained since its birth but that little knowledge didn't help as its body continued to squirm.

    Eventually, the poison ran its course and the convolutions stopped.

    Half panting and half gasping, the little caterpillar finally relaxed its body and laid still, exhausted. That had been rough; way rougher than what it had expected. It grimaced. It now had to go through that ordeal again who knew how many times more. It was so not looking forward to doing this again.

    Reaching out, it covered the opening with a dried-out leaf and crawled deeper into the hole and called its Status.

    Noticing the HP at [HP: 32/32], the creature activated [Survive Lv.1] and immediately felt weariness take over its mind as its HP decreased to [HP: 16/32].

    The creature has a reason for using the Skill despite not being in any kind of danger. The effect that the Skill, [Moulting] had on its battered and bruised body had been weighing on its mind for quite some time now. And this caused the creature to think back on its newest Skill.

    Despite the tiny being’s initial estimate, the creature could now see the potential within the skill. Thus, the caterpillar had decided to level up the Skill. It was not only [Survive] that the creature had decided to level up though. It had also decided to level up [Moulting] too.

    However, the [Survivor]’s plan faced its first challenge in the form of its abysmal HP regeneration. It took the creature an entire day to regenerate just 2 points worth of HP. Under such conditions, the creature could only sigh and use both the Skills, alternatively, when its HP finally reached its maximum value.

    0.0

    The caterpillar woke up to the feeling of its insides ready to burst. It was a sensation that was not unknown to the creature. Instead, over the course of the 5 weeks that it had been alive again, this sensation had become the alarm that had woken it up each morning.

    After finishing its morning ablutions, it began to crawl towards the poisonous tree and, just like every other day, chewed on the tiny stems connecting the leaves to the rest of the plant.

    Since the creature wanted to get this torture over with as soon as possible, it had decided to go through the torture, first thing in the morning. Just how intelligent this decision was, the creature did not care. Its fractured mind was too focused on instant gratification that it would provide.

    Thus, it chewed on 10 leaves and let them fall, before slowly dragging the fallen leaves back to its hideout. Once the creature had settled too, it began munching on the bitter leaves one by one. As the leaves slowly made their way down its mouth, the creature felt a familiar sensation as the world began to tilt.

    The caterpillar immediately stopped eating and quickly covered its hideout with the half-eaten leaf before burrowing deep into the hole.

    The quiver, the shakes and the motion sickness started a little later than usual and so did the hallucination. It suffered through them all, albeit not silently. Nausea hit the creature then and bile rose up in its mouth.

    Fortunately for the creature, nausea did not last long and was soon gone. When the torment finally ended, the little insect made its way towards the non-poisonous plant which had become its new source of food and began munching on one of its numerous leaves.

    The day passed by quickly. There were no sudden attacks by the bird and no poison induced hallucinations. The caterpillar merely devoured the tasteless leaves aimlessly and uneventfully.

    Ting.

    [You have levelled Up! Level up bonus of +1 HP granted.]
    Startled by the sudden noise, the creature paused for a moment before it noticed that it had reached [Level: 36] which had caused its HP to increase to [HP: 41/41]. It did not cause the creature to smile though. For the creature was, once again making its way towards the poisonous plant.

    The ordeal, as usual, was not over soon. It seemed to stretch on and on and when it was finally over, the creature sighed in relief and crawled in completely. Making itself comfortable in its home, it opened its Status and used the skill [Survive] once again as it creature had already finished one use of both, [Survive] and [Moulting], in the past few weeks.

    The creature sighed as its HP immediately fell by 21 points.

    -X-

    Within a desolate desert, inside a dilapidated shop, on a simple chair, a youth seemingly slept.

    -X-

    Like it?

    Hate it?

    Just review and let me know!

    Go Review!

    Now.

    Spoiler: Spoiler
    Name: Unnamed

    Race: Immortal

    Species: Insect

    Vessel: Caterpillar

    Level: 36

    HP: 20/41 MP: -

    HPR: 4/Day MPR: -

    Lifespan: 55 days

    Titles

    [Hungry] [Reincarnated] [Survivor]

    Skills

    [Crawl Lv.1] [Moulting Lv.2] [Poison Resistance Lv.5] [Venom Creation Lv.2] [Pain Resistance Lv.3] [Survive Lv.1]
     
  15. Ankur_93

    Ankur_93 Member

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    A/N: This chapter marks the beginning of the other character's story, however, these chapters are significantly shorter than the chapters of the other character. This is by design. Also, from this point on, the chapter's will alternate between the two stories.

    There existed a forest. It existed neither too far away from civilization, nor too close to it. And within this forest stood a massive wooden gate. This gate guarded a compound that was surrounded on all sides by wooden walls that were too low to offer any real protection.

    The massive gate was made of light wood and seemed feeble. It seemed like one kick away from falling off its hinges. The wooden walls were no better. Rather, to call them walls would be an exaggeration. Instead, the fence would be the better word, if their height was to be taken into consideration.

    Besides the height, even the structural integrity of the fence was questionable as moss had covered most of the fence, as far as the eyes could see and what little had been left, was splattered with holes. As if that was not enough, small mounds of wood dust could be seen littered near the feet of fence, all across its length.

    Clearly, the walls suffered from a termite infestation.

    Within this compound, there were buildings littered around without any sense of direction or reason. Though, to address those structures as buildings would be being generous, as most those buildings were made of mud and thatched roofs. Huts would be a more appropriate word for those structures.

    All in all, the compound did not give off the feeling of security.

    Yet, it existed and that too within the depth of the Evergreen Forest. A place with monsters and spirits abound. This phenomenon confused the group of fidgeting children standing in front of the massive gate, nervously and impatiently awaiting their entrance.

    The double doors of the gate smoothly opened with nary a sound, further proving their worthlessness, and an unremarkable man calmly walked out of the double doors. He wore saffron robes that contrasted remarkably against his dark brown skin. His grey dreadlocks were tied up above his head in an impressive bun. While his salt and pepper beard almost hid the necklace of thorny beads that he wore.

    The man was gaunt and thin but not overly tall. His skin was taught against his muscles in a way that indicated starvation but the pace of his walk and the glow of skin argued otherwise. His brown eyes were clear and his smile was bright. Yet, they did not manage to brighten his common appearance.

    He gave the group of children a casual glance.

    “Pranam Guruji.” The children hurriedly joined their hands and bowed as they greeted the man in an unsynchronized chorus. In answer, the man raised his right hand and, with his palm facing the group, muttered a blessing in response. “The glory be yours.”

    He surveyed the children once again, finding nervousness, longing, fear and anxiety as the main emotions saturating the children.

    “You are here to walk on the path of knowledge, curiosity, sacrifice, austerity and asceticism.” He addressed the children. “It will be difficult but not impossible. All that you require is the will to step forward.”

    An anxious buzz passed through the group as his words scared the children, much like they usually did every year. But this did not deter the saffron-clad man from baring down the truth before them, even though they were too young to comprehend the meaning behind his words. “This path, that you would walk, is the path of [Will] and [Reflection]. With enough will, this path is yours. With enough self-reflection, the world is yours.”

    “We who walk this path, nurture our curiosity and question the world. And to question we need the will to do so. But to know what to question, we need self-reflection to know so.”

    “Today you stare at a long and difficult road ahead of you, but if you bear to walk it, then know that you’d dare to question the blessed and the lords, the kings and the emperors. And if you walk down this path long enough, you’d even dare to question the Laws and the Gods.”

    His words, incomprehensible they may be, caused a buzz of excitement to pass through the children and the man smiled.

    “Enough of this now.” The children fell silent at his order. “You will be living in the Ashram from now on but you must learn to take care of yourself and renounce the world. But before that, follow me.”

    The man led the children to a large building on the far side of the compound. Surprisingly, the building was made up of wood rather than mud, like the others were. Though that was not much of an improvement considering the decrepit condition it was in. “This is where you will be staying, but only for a month.”

    He turned to face the children and his serious gaze met the nervous ones of the children.

    “During this one month, you must build a cottage of your own. You may only use clay and hay. Nothing more.” He ordered in short and precise sentences. “What you’d make will be your home from the beginning of the next month. If you have not made one by the end of the month, then let the stars greet you at night.”

    His declaration shocked the children into silence. Never had they imagined that they would have to build their own homes. After all, some of these children were the children of the affluent that had lavish houses to live in and servants to order around.

    A boy tentatively raised his hand; this situation was unacceptable to him. His father was the inspector in the nearest town; he clearly deserved better. Yet, he was no fool. He knew the person greeting him was no ordinary man. Thus, respectfully waited to be called upon.

    The man smiled and addressed the children. “Never fear to ask your teachers. We nurture curiosity and the spirit of questioning here. Yet, you must first try to reason the answer yourself. Only when you have failed, should you seek the guidance of your teacher. After all, curiosity without the will to reason yourself is no curiosity at all.”

    “I will answer your questions today. But in future, when you seek guidance from your teachers, you must come to us with a conclusion of your own and why you concluded so.” He nodded towards the child who had raised his hand previously. “Now ask.”

    “Guruji, umm,” The child hesitated, “why must we build these...sha- homes? Can’t we just live here?” He hopefully pointed to the building.

    “Good question.” The man smiled. “You must build your own homes because you must learn what you are capable of and how long can your determination last. Some of you would plan big houses but end up never finishing them. While others would plan a house too small and would regret that they had dreamed a bit too little.”

    “The other reason that you must build these shacks,” He smiled mischievously at the child, who blushed promptly at having his words caught, “is because you are young. As you would continue to grow, you would find that the homes you had built, with so much of your hard work and sweat, grow too small with each passing day.”

    “You would be forced to abandon your homes. You’d have to make them again and again and then again when you realise that you need more space than just for yourself. This process will break down your attachments to the worldly desires and help you walk down your path.” The man nodded at the child. “Anything else.”

    The children broke into a nervous yet excited chatter.

    -X-

    Within a desolate desert, inside a dilapidated shop, on a simple chair, a youth seemingly slept.

    -X-
     
  16. Saorihirai

    Saorihirai Well-Known Member

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    oh hey! I saw you on royalroad forum too lol
     
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  17. etherealbao

    etherealbao Well-Known Member

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    Oh hey hello, though I don't remember you :'( are you posting ur novel too there?
     
  18. Saorihirai

    Saorihirai Well-Known Member

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    I will be, though not yet. Gonna post it when it's complete. I mostly just lurk there so its only natural you didn't see me :blob_grin:
     
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  19. Ankur_93

    Ankur_93 Member

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    I am lurking everywhere. ;) I am trying to increase the reach of the story, so I am posting it on RR, SH, WN, FictionPress, here and on Reddit. RR is ahead of everywhere else though.
     
  20. Ankur_93

    Ankur_93 Member

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    The caterpillar woke up with a terrible itching all over its body. 'Uh, I hate this part of the Skill.'

    The creature wiggled its body and–

    Crack!

    -heard a crack reverberate in its little hidey-hole. It frowned and squirmed even more, hearing more and more cracks run across exuviate. ‘Huh? Why are there cracks this time? There were no cracks last time.'

    The creature thought for a moment but that did not stop it from its struggle to free itself. Soon enough, its struggles bore fruit and it was finally out of its shed skin.

    With a sigh of relief –caused by the absence of the insistent itch- the creature turned around to study the shell that it had just discarded. The exuviate, this time, did not feel like a dried and removed version of its skin, like it had last time, instead, it felt more like those dried leaves that had been crunched under someone’s feet in autumn.

    It frowned once more before turning away from the shed skin; whatever it was that had caused exuviate to harden, it did not have time for it. After all, at the moment, its bursting intestines were its priority. Thus, it began its morning ablutions.

    After finishing its daily rituals of shitting and dragging the poisonous leaves back to its hideout, it dug into the bitter leaves.

    What followed after that was the usual circus of pain, aches, convolutions, quivers, olfactory hallucinations and nausea. Though, this time it could not hold the bile in and vomited all over the area next to the entrance of its hideout.

    It grimaced. 'That would stink up the place.'

    The creature covered the puke with a leaf while trying to avoid the mess as much as it could, and began digging next to it so as to dump the resulting mud onto the vomit. After all, it did not want to walk out of its place, every morning, only to be greeted by the stench of bile.

    After making sure that the stink of sickness had thoroughly vanquished, the creature started crawling back to its usual plant. Though, it grimaced when it finally came into its field of vision. It seemed like it had already eaten most of its leaves in the last 6 weeks since its birth. And if the caterpillar ate any more, it was sure that the plant would die.

    The thought of plant’s death brought on another thought in the creature’s mind. It was the [Reincarnated]’s rapidly approaching death and the concern for its decreasing lifespan.

    The caterpillar originally had a lifespan of 90 days but now that the 6 weeks had passed, 42 days had been reduced from its rather limited lifespan and merely 48 days remained. The tiny creature had lived through almost half its life and yet, it had only reached Level 40.

    Where had the time had gone? The [Survivor] itself didn’t know the answer to that question. It had eaten and eaten and then eaten some more. Yet, its Level had only risen to Level 40. And now, almost the same amount of time was left.

    In future, even if the little creature maintained the same levelling speed, then to it would only reach the mid-80s in Level. Nowhere near what it needed to evolve. And that was assuming that the levelling speed remained the same. Which didn’t seem to be the case from the way levelling had decreased in the past few weeks.

    Thus, the creature had eaten and eaten and continued to eat. After all, what more could a caterpillar do?

    The caterpillar sighed and began crawling as it searched for another plant with the same leaves as the previous one. It took it a little time but it found one quickly enough and it was a good find.

    The plant that it had found was big enough to qualify as a young tree. The tree’s trunk had begun to darken as it hardened. Yet, it seemed to have begun the process only recently, thus it still held the softness and green look of a plant.

    With a small smile, the creature crawled up the rather soft bark to reach the nearest leaf and began munching on the tasteless food. However, while munching on the leaves, it kept it senses hyper-aware.

    It was as it was moving onto its 4th leaf that its vigilant state alerted it of a disturbance from its back and the creature turned around. There, approximately 2 meters away from it, the caterpillar saw a snail, almost thrice its own size.

    The shell bearing creature was sliding towards the same branch as the caterpillar at a glacial pace. The snail’s eyes were oddly fixated on the caterpillar as if the snail was eyeing a piece of meat; which, to the snail, the caterpillar most probably was.

    In that moment, there were only 2 creatures present. The predator and its prey.

    The tiny creature’s heartbeat hastened as its mind raced. The caterpillar tried to think of a way to take out the snail before the predator could reach it. But the tiny creature came up with nothing.

    All the skills that it had were defensive skills and the only offensive skill that it had was [Venom Creation]. But that Skill secreted venom from the pores on its body and was the caterpillar’s last-ditch effort to take out its devourer alongside itself. The Skill was a suicide attack and the tiny creature didn't fancy dying again.

    If it had still been a sorceress, it would have been sweating right now because it had nothing to attack with. Sure, it had its teeth but its body was soft, so very soft; one slam from the shell of the snail would be enough to flatten it like mush.

    But the creature was not a sorceress. It was not a Mortal. It was a caterpillar. It was an Immortal. As the reincarnated creature geared itself for the fight, the war within in mind tilted again in one’s favour than the other.

    However, the reincarnated creature remained unbothered. It remained ignorant.

    The caterpillar gulped. This was dangerous, extremely so. Additionally, the creature was not armed, in any way, to confront the snail that was blocking its exit. There was no escape. And unlike last time, the caterpillar couldn't repeat the falling act again.

    Because, unlike last time, the caterpillar was no longer on a shallow plant but on a young tree. And although it was a small tree, it was a tree nonetheless. If it tried to redo its last escaping act, its soft body will splatter on the ground, showering the world in its innards. Not a scenario that it wanted to recreate.

    But then an idea struck the tiny creature; an incredibly stupid and brilliant idea. It would require the creature to time the act just correctly or it would turn into snail feed real soon.

    With no other option available, the caterpillar executed the idea and started moving in the direction of the snail. After crawling for quite a distance, it stopped and activated the skill, [Venom Creation]. Venom began to pour out of its pores until all of the minuscule little hairs on its body were dripping with it.

    Satisfied, it rolled around, trying to make a straight patch of venom as it rolled. It rolled and rolled and it rolled. It rolled as if its life depended on it; which, it actually did. Hence, it kept rolling. The venom from its body soon formed a path but the caterpillar kept on using the Skill to secrete more and more of the –hopefully- lethal liquid.

    It continued on rolling until the branch had a thick line of poison stretching across its width. Its plan was simple; it just had to create a few thick lines of venom so that when the snail slid over it, the shell bearing creature would absorb the maximum amount of poison and hopefully die.

    It just hoped that the snail was stupid enough to fall for it and not try to bypass the patch. It grimaced when another thought struck it; a lot of this plan was based on just hoping. 'I am going to die, aren't I?'

    Shaking its head to clear it of the negative thoughts, the tiny creature crawled back and again began secreting poison to make another patch. Fortunately for the caterpillar, its predator was a snail; a creature that was painfully slow. Thus, it gave the tiny creature enough time to make a few patches and allowed it to move onto the last part of its plan.

    The caterpillar moved towards the snail this time and kept on crawling until it was just behind the very first patch of venom it had created. The caterpillar then began secreting venom again. Though, instead of rolling around, it bent down until its mouth was touching its body and sucked; taking in a mouthful of poison. The creature planned on spitting the poison on the snail when it came in its range.

    By now the shell bearing creature had made its way to the way too visible trap and fortunately for the caterpillar, the snail was stupid enough to cross it over without a second thought.

    The tiny creature knew the exact moment its poison began to work as the snail's face twisted in pain. And the caterpillar took that chance to spit the venom that it had in its mouth.

    It missed. 'Just my freaking luck!'

    It bent down again and sucked before turning to face the snail and spitting. It hit the snail this time and the creature hissed in pain. The caterpillar smiled. 'This just might work.'

    The caterpillar bent down again and spat at the snail as the snail crossed the venom patch; wincing and flinching all the while.

    The caterpillar retreated to the second venom patch and continued to spit venom at the snail. As the snail continued to advance at its glacial pace, the caterpillar kept on retreating and spitting venom.

    The tiny creature’s heartbeat quickened every time the snail crossed a venom path and it desperately repeated the process again and again. But due to the caterpillar’s lack of skill and the continuous movement, the creature got a mediocre result. At sometimes it missed while at other times it hit the snail.

    When the snail crossed the final patch of venom, the caterpillar spat again and, this time, it got lucky. The caterpillar’s venomous spit had hit the shell bearing creature in one its eyes and the snail began thrashing wildly.

    Knowing that the caterpillar did not have many options left, the tiny creature crawled over to the thrashing creature and bit at the stalk of the creature's good eye, the one that it hadn't hit with its poison. The snail thrashed even more and tried to hit the caterpillar with its shell but, at that very moment, the caterpillar pulled with all its might.

    The eyestalk broke off and the shell bearing creature recoiled in pain, causing the attack to just grace the tiny creature, yet, the pain that exploded into the creature was enormous.

    The caterpillar retreated a bit and then thrashed the creature with its poison covered body. The caterpillar hit the snail again but at the same time, the snail lunged forward and bit the caterpillar.

    The tiny creature winced and thrashed the snail with renewed vigour. If there were ever to be a do or die moment in its new life, then this was it. And the caterpillar did not plan to die. It winced as the shell bearing creature ripped off its flesh but the caterpillar continued to hit the snail with its poison covered body.

    The little creature hit the snail again and again until the snail’s struggles grew week. The continuous poisoning from the venom patches, the poisoning of its eyes, the ripping off of its other eyes and the further venomous hits from the caterpillar finally took their toll on the shelled creature and I died.

    Ting.

    [You have Levelled Up! Level up bonus of +1 HP granted.]
    Ting.

    [You have Levelled Up! Level up bonus of +1 HP granted.]
    .

    .

    .

    Ting.

    [You have Levelled Up! Level up bonus of +1 HP granted.]
    Ting.

    [Skill [Venom Creation Lv.2] has levelled up to [Venom Creation Lv.3]. The active time of the venom has been increased to 3 minutes.]
    The gasping caterpillar gaped. Its Level now read, [Level: 46] while its HP read, [HP: 22/51]!

    6 Levels! 6 freaking Levels and a Skill Level ups from just one fight! 'Why am it wasting my time eating those stupid leaves, when it can just kill these snails?'

    But at that moment its body decided to remind the tiny creature just why it would be a bad idea to fight snails while being a caterpillar.

    The bruised and battered pulpy flesh of the caterpillar sent jolts of pain as the caterpillar trembled in excitement, bringing its joy to a grinding halt. The area, from where the snail had bitten off the flesh, was leaking fluids that the creature had no name for. And now that the battle was over, exhaustion was making itself known.

    With a wince, the caterpillar gave up eating for the day and made its way towards its hideout as its brain churned. The little creature had a lot to think about after that little battle.

    The first of which being, why did the snail give the caterpillar such huge amounts of experience that it transcended into multiple levels? When, at the same time, it had to eat tons of leaves over the course of days just to gain one level. What was the difference? Why were the snails so much more profitable to the tiny creature?

    What the caterpillar didn’t know was that the caterpillars had always been prey and the snails had always been their predators. Thus, when the caterpillar killed the snail, the natural order of death had been reversed and the hunter had been hunted. How could such an act not gain massive experience?

    But the caterpillar did not know this and it continued to ponder as it crawled and winced. ‘Is it because this is the world of Kill or be Killed? Will death always give more experience than food?’

    The creature shook its head. ‘If it is because of the Kill or be Killed thing, then I could surely exploit this in future.’

    A smile slowly morphed itself on the little creature’s face and it shivered in excitement but immediately flinched. It experienced what was called, instant regret. 'Yep. That's why I should avoid confrontation. Because I am a freaking caterpillar!'

    It grimaced and checked its Status to get the reading of its HP, it read [HP: 20/51]. The creature ad 20 HP initially and it seemed to have lost 2 HP further, most likely due to its injuries and bleeding.

    It sighed and stopped returning to its hideout. Because even though the thing that it most wanted to do was to go back to its hideout and use [Moulting] but it had less than half of its HP. In such a situation it couldn’t use the Skill as it demanded a sacrifice of nearly half its HP. Hence, trying to use the Skill now would be, hands down, the stupidest thing that the caterpillar could ever do.

    Thus, it carefully crawled, wincing and flinching all the while, back up the tree and began to eat again. Although it couldn’t use [Moulting] at the moment, it could when its HP reached the requirement.

    And, although the creature didn’t know if eating would help its situation, it still preferred it to be cooped up inside a hole while both hungry and hurting. Thus, it slowly ate while trying to keep the bleeding area as stable as possible.

    It took a few minutes before the bleeding clotted over. The clotting was also helped by the fact that the caterpillar had not been bleeding blood but some other fluid that it didn’t know the name of. Although the bleeding clotted over, the creature could only regenerate 5HP over the course of the entire day.

    Thus, the [Survivor] ate for the rest of the day and only used the Skill [Moulting] at the end of the next day.

    Ting.

    [Skill [Moulting Lv.2] has levelled up to [Moulting Lv.3]. The time required for the skill has been reduced by 4 minutes. Total time required: 5 Hours and 52 Minutes.]
    Ting.

    [Skill [Crawl Lv.2] has levelled up to [Crawl Lv.3]. Crawling speed has been increased.]
    Ting.

    [Skill [Pain Resistance Lv.3] has levelled up to [Pain Resistance Lv.4]. Resistance to pain has been increased.]
    Despite the various level-ups, the creature did not feel any joy. Instead, it sighed as it checked its Status, only to notice the measly amount of HP left on it. [HP: 3/51]. Apparently, [Moulting] had close to 27-28 points of HP out of the 30 that it had after regenerating HP for 2 days. ’This is just too close. I am just 3 points away from death.’

    Today had been the night for using the skill, [Survive], but because of the condition that it had been in, it had to use [Moulting] instead. As its thoughts began to dim and [Moulting] began working, drowsiness overtook it and it fell asleep.

    0.0

    Over the course of the next week, the caterpillar followed its usual routine or poisoning itself, eating and then poisoning itself again.

    And it was during this period that the caterpillar noticed that the effects of the poison had lessened to a large degree. Although the convolutions, the quivers, the hallucinations, the aches and the pain that heralded the effect of the poison, still assaulted its body, their duration had been reduced quite a bit and the circus had been over a lot sooner than all the previous times.

    It smiled and began crawling towards the new tree that it had found. Now that it had regenerated 35 HP and had reached Level 50, its HP read, [HP:42/55]. This bolstered the [Reincarnated] enough that it had decided to employ its plan.

    Reaching its new source of food, it crawled up its soft bark and began searching for a branch that was rather new and still tender. Soon, it found what it was looking for and began to dig a hole in the middle of the branch. Once the hole had been dug, the creature began to expand it from the sides, so that it covered the entire width of the branch but left it narrow enough that it could hide it by covering it up with a few well-placed leaves. After the ridge had been completed, the caterpillar filled it with poison.

    Today, the caterpillar was going to hunt even more snails.

    The caterpillar had given it a lot of thought over the last week. And even though it had been originally against the idea, it had decided to go through in the end for one reason alone. And that reason had been its lifespan.

    With the end of the 7th week, the caterpillar had just about 40-41 days left to live. And even though it had levelled up to Level 50 in the last week, it still required 50 more levels within the next 40 days to evolve and increase its lifespan. Given the fact that it had taken 50 days to reach Level 50 and that included the fast levelling of the initial levels and the levels from the snail, the caterpillar was not too hopeful of its chances if it just relied on its Title, [Hungry].

    Thus, it had decided to hunt snails. However, it was no match for a snail. Even though it had won the last battle, it had done so at a great cost to itself. Its HP had been reduced to mere 3 points afterwards! It had been just 3 points away from death!

    Thus, this time, it had decided to fight by its own rules and on its own grounds. It was not going to have a straight head-on battle. Rather it would use its intelligence and hunt the snails using traps. It planned to trap the route to reach the caterpillar with pits of venom. So that when a snail tried to make the caterpillar its lunch, it would have to cross through its puddle of poison and, hopefully, die.

    Though, the caterpillar would also kill those snails that tried to it their breakfast, for that matter. The caterpillar decided not to discriminate on the basis of eating time.

    It was after a lot of effort and time that the traps were complete. Sighing, the tiny creature crawled down the branch and began to munch on the ever-tasteless leaves while keeping its sense hyper-aware.

    By noon, it hadn't had any run-in with any snails, like the one it had encountered last week. But that soon changed as the creature saw a disturbance. Its heart began beating faster and it heard the sound of its own blood rushing into its head as it turned around to observe the disturbance. And sure enough, there was a snail, sliding towards the caterpillar with hunger filled eyes. This one was on the smaller side though, barely twice the caterpillar’s size.

    With its heart-pounding, it began crawling towards the trap and stopped at a safe distance away from it before activating [Venom Creation] to soak its body in poison. The [Survivor] planned on repeating its previous strategy, if the trap failed. Not the best plan, the creature knew that, but at the moment, it would have to do.

    The caterpillar watched like a hawk, as the shelled creature slid towards it at a glacial pace before finally reaching the trap. The snail ignored the leaves completely as its eyes were fixated on the tiny creature.

    And then as the snail continued to slide, its body didn't find anything solid to support its wait and it fell in its trap. The shelled creature shrieked, thrashed around and convoluted as the poison began working. The caterpillar, on the other hand, waited with bated breath before crawling closer to the trap.

    The snail was still thrashing and withering in pain and when the caterpillar made it to the trap, it winced. The tiny creature would not want to be in that situation, ever. But, at the moment, it could not bring itself to feel that bit of guilt. It was 'Do or Die' and it, sure as hell, did not want to die.

    The snail, still flinching, tried to make its way out of the puddle but as soon as it was within its range, the caterpillar hit the would-be predator, as hard as it could, with its poison covered body, making it fall back in the trap.

    The snail shrieked, but it did not give up and, once again while wincing and flinching, the shelled creature tried to make its way out of the puddle of venom. The caterpillar was there though, waiting for the snail, and the tiny creature hit the shelled creature with the tail end of its body.

    But this time, the snail had wizened up and tried to bite the tail end as the caterpillar’s body raced towards it. The snail’s teeth grazed the caterpillar and tiny creature flinched back in pain.

    The snail, on the other hand, advanced as it tried to make it out of the puddle while the caterpillar was busy licking its wounds. The caterpillar had no intention of letting the snail out of the trap though, and it shook itself and crawled forward. This time the tiny creature was aiming for its shell when it tried to hit the snail.

    It struck.

    It winced. ‘That was stupid! Incredibly stupid!! Why in the world did I think that it was a good idea!?’

    The snail's shell was as hard as a rock and when the caterpillar hit the shell with its soft and pulpy body, it had been like slamming its face into a wall.

    'Ugghh…'

    But then, fortunately, the shelled creature went limp as it died.

    Ting.

    [You have Levelled Up! Level up bonus of +1 HP granted.]
    Ting.

    [You have Levelled Up! Level up bonus of +1 HP granted.]
    .

    .

    .

    Ting.

    [You have Levelled Up! Level up bonus of +1 HP granted.]
    Ting.

    [Skill [Venom Creation Lv.3] has Levelled up to [Venom Creation Lv.4]. The active time of the venom has been increased to 4 minutes.]
    It grinned as it checked its status to find that its Level has risen to Level 56 and its HP had become [HP: 38/61]. It almost laughed. ‘6 Level ups and 1 skill Level up for the loss of just 5 HP! Who wouldn’t want that!’

    That caterpillar crawled forward and bit the snail before trying to drag the creature out of the puddle. After all, it still had leaves to eat. Gasping from the effort, it dragged the creature out of the puddle and towards the crook of the branch. There, it turned around and hit the snail, once again, with the tail end of its body causing it to fall down.

    Thud.

    The dead snail fell on its shell and got stuck in the ground, upside down. But the caterpillar cared not and merely shook its head before crawling towards the puddle and filled it up again with its poison. The snail, after all, in all its thrashing and quivering, had caused the poison to spill out of it.

    After it had restored the trap, the creature gave it a once-over and found it to be still in good condition as the snail hadn't managed to damage it much. Nodding, the little creature made its way over to the leaves and began munching with its senses still hyper-aware.

    It was in the afternoon that it once again noticed the disturbance, though this time, it wasn't coming from the back, but from beneath the caterpillar. There was something on the ground. As the tiny creature watched, a large scorpion made its way over to the dead snail.

    The scorpion looked around carefully before chomping down on the soft meat of the dead snail and the caterpillar winced. ‘Is that scorpion an idiot? Can't it tell that the snail is poisoned?’

    The caterpillar watched in morbid fascination as the moron of a scorpion ate the complete snail and began to walk off. The little creature waited for its poison to kick in, for it surely would.

    So, it waited.

    And the creature walked.

    And it waited.

    And the creature walked.

    And it waited.

    And the creature walked until walked out of its sight and its range.

    Without any ill effect from its poison.

    ‘What.’ The creature gaped for a moment before feeling embarrassed and angry at the same time.

    ‘That snail had been dripping to the brim with my poison!’ It fumed. ‘And that scorpion just shrugged the poison off like it was some oriental spice!’

    'Fuck you scorpion! Fuck you too!'

    The rest of the day passed in relative peace for the caterpillar; that is until the sun began to set. The tiny creature felt another disturbance and it turned around to face yet another snail.

    Silently, the caterpillar watched as the snail slid towards it. It waited patiently, for the snail to fall into the trap. And when it did fall, the shelled creature screeched but the tiny creature ignored it and made its way towards the hissing and flinching snail rolling around in the venom puddle.

    Finally, the snail tried to make its way out the puddle. But as it neared the caterpillar standing guard, the caterpillar bent down as fast as it could and bit at the snail’s eye stalk before pulling with all its might.

    The snail almost made it out of the puddle when the stalk ripped off of it and it flinched and shrieked in pain. Taking advantage of its distraction, the caterpillar hit the snail, sending it back rolling into the puddle. The snail hissed and flinched for a few moments before again trying to slide out of the puddle. Though as it neared the caterpillar, this time it rushed forward, trying to bite the little pest.

    The caterpillar flinched back when the snail moved. Still, the snail reached the little bug easily and almost bit off a chunk.

    Trying to avoid the mollusc’s bite, the tiny creature moved again and bit at the remaining eye stalk before pulling harshly. The green bug’s pull caused the snail to make it out of the puddle as the eyestalk broke, causing it to shriek and hiss in pain.

    The caterpillar’s heart raced as it began to panic but, then, common sense kicked in so it spat out the eye and head-butted the snail, causing it to fall back into the puddle. The creature screeched and thrashed around as it rolled in poison before its movement finally came to halt.

    Ting.

    [You have Levelled Up! Level up bonus of +1 HP granted.]
    Ting.

    [You have Levelled Up! Level up bonus of +1 HP granted.]
    .

    .

    .

    Ting.

    [You have Levelled Up! Level up bonus of +1 HP granted.]
    The green bug grinned manically. ‘5 Level ups and not a single HP loss! Brilliant!’

    Though, it noticed, none of its Skills had Levelled up this time. Still, overall, the haul had been good enough. Smiling, it once again began dragging the giant ass corpse of the snail as it gasped and did its utter best to make it move.

    Finally, it dragged the corpse and threw it down. It left the tree soon after that and made its way towards the poisonous tree for its daily routine of trying to Level up its skill.

    After having its fill, the little bug waited for the poison to hit with bated breath. It took the poison even longer than usual to hit and when it finally did hit, it not only lasted for a shorter time period but also had far few effects. Hallucinations hadn’t occurred this time and neither had it experienced nausea, resulting in a vomit-less experience.

    Tired from the convolutions, the caterpillar made its way towards the hideout. Reaching the hole, that had somehow become its home, it settled down. The creature thought about using [Survive].

    As it calculated the amount of HP required to use the Skill, it came at a number somewhere near 33-35 and let out a laugh. ‘That much HP loss would have killed me just a few months ago!”

    -X-

    Within a desolate desert, inside a dilapidated shop, on a simple chair, a youth seemingly slept.

    -X-

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    -X-

    Spoiler: Spoiler
    Name: Unnamed

    Race: Immortal

    Species: Insect

    Vessel: Caterpillar

    Level: 61

    HP: 30/66 MP: -

    HPR: 7/Day MPR: -

    Lifespan: 41 days

    Titles

    [Hungry] [Reincarnated] [Survivor]

    Skills

    [Crawl Lv.3] [Moulting Lv.3] [Poison Resistance Lv.5] [Venom Creation Lv.4] [Pain Resistance Lv.4] [Survive Lv.1]