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Success
Limbs were beautiful.
It was easy, to take them for granted. The ability to stand or pick up objects, the ability to move a part of your body and use it for creation of tools, utilization of said tools, survival, combat, navigation and recreation –
Even something as banal as rising up to change the channel required utilization of limbs. Something as rudimentary as picking up a portion of your meal or wiping your mouth utilized limbs. As a human, I never realized just how greatly I took them for granted until I died and no longer possessed them. There were hundreds upon thousands of anecdotes about one not recognizing the value of something they possessed until they lost it, and never once did I even think that such a thing would apply to something as basic as limbs.
No, not just limbs. To eyes as well.
The first thing I did upon the completion of my evolution, was to run.
I forgot what it was like to simply run. Not in fear of any danger, not in chase of any prey, but to run simply because I could run. I scurried back and forth across sand and grass. I raced up trees and down rocks, I moved, I swiveled, and, with significant amount of effort, stood on my hind limbs, a comical sight that was not expected of creatures of my species.
I could, once more, see.
I could see the grass. I could see the sand and soil. I could see the sky, the leaves, the trees, the numerous, numerous piles and piles of dead red fire ants. I regained not just my ability to move, but to see as well. The colors were nowhere near as numerous as they should have been, but even if I were seeing the world in black and white, I would not mind. Sight was invaluable. Movement was invaluable.
This was all granted to me with my new species.
Status
Name: [Unnamed]
Race: [Mutated Reptile]
Specie(s): [Purple Tongued Skink]
Level: 1
HP: 70/70
MP: 20/20
HP Regen: 35/Day
MP Regen: 10/Day
Negative Effects: [N/A]
Positive Effects: [N/A]
Title(s): [Reincarnated] [User] [Gorger] [Larvae Slayer] [Jonah] [Parasite] [David] [Agkistrodon Slayer] [Genocidal] [Retaliator]
I was a skink. A creature often mistaken for a gecko and often mistaken for a snake. Numerous types of skinks were simply ‘legless lizards,’ however, I was not amongst the category of the ‘legless’ anymore.
I. Have. Legs!
My attempt to scream out those words came out as a long stressed, nigh inaudible hiss. It sobered me immediately. Indeed, I regained arms and legs, however, I was still considerably far from my goal:
A creature that can laugh.
A creature capable of expression of the broad range of distinct emotional states. Once I attained a creature like that, I would be content, and I could begin focusing on finding the being responsible for my transformation into a worm, and vividly express my lack of amusement to it.
[You consumed a significant number of creatures as a Small Toxic Leech]
[Due to the title {User} you have attained the cumulative skills of these creatures as you evolved.]
[Do you wish to install the skills of the creatures you have consumed?]
[Yes]
[No]
The skills... of an entire ant colony?
[You have chosen to install the skills.]
[Installing {User} skills...]
[Skills Installed]
[You have attained the skill {Ant’s Strength Lv. 1}]
[You have {9999+} copies of this skill.]
[Combining copies...]
[This process may take a while.]
Surely, this was profitable.
[Copies Combined]
[{Ant’s Strength Lv. 1} has undergone massive evolution into {Herculean Strength Lv. 9}]
Herculean?
[You have attained the skill {Ant’s Exoskeleton Lv. 1}]
[You have {9999+} copies of this skill.]
[Combining copies...]
[Copies Combined]
[{Ant’s Exoskeleton Lv. 1} has undergone massive evolution into {Steel Exoskeleton Lv. 9}]
Was... was this... was this what I believed it was?
[You have attained the skill {Crawling Lv. 1}]
[You already possess this skill. You have additional {9999+} copies of this skill.]
[Combining copies...]
[Copies Combined]
[{Crawling Lv. 5} has undergone massive evolution into {Cheetah Sprint Lv. 9}]
How I craved the desire to laugh as a madman.
[You have attained the skill {Burrowing Lv. 1}]
[You have {9999+} copies of this skill.]
[Combining copies...]
[Copies Combined]
[{Burrowing Lv. 1} has undergone massive evolution into {Earth Control Lv. 9}]
More. More and more.
[You have attained the skill {Fire Ant Bite Lv. 1}]
[You have {9999+} copies of this skill.]
[Combining copies...]
[Copies Combined]
[{Fire Ant Bite Lv. 1} has undergone massive evolution into {Excruciating Toxic Bite Lv. 9}]
I could think of nothing less than a hundred different ways I could immediately begin utilizing my abilities. Hunting would go from being a challenge to being light exercise. Increased speed, strength, defenses and the ability to manipulate earth against ordinary forest animals?
There was no contest.
[Notice!]
[You have unlocked one or more of the necessary criteria required to constitute a formal Monster Classification]
Pardon?
[You are now classified as a {Monster} and will be treated henceforth accordingly]
[Your evaluated Monster Rank is: {Tier 2}. Your evaluated Threat Level is {Devil}]
Monster Rank? Threat level?
Note: There are (Ten) Tiers of Monsters, Poisons, Potions, Remedies, and Threats. Tier {1} is the weakest, and {10} is the strongest. Threat Levels are used to classify monsters, each level is given a name.
Threat Level 1 is [Vermin], Threat Level (2) is [Pest], (3) is [Fiend], (4) is [Hellion], and (5) is [Demon]. Monsters of Threat Level Demon (5) and above are universally considered dangerous.
Threat Levels, however, are not always a direct indicative of the Tier a Monster may be in or the power they may possess, but often of their potential ability to cause death, destruction and/or suffering.
My Threat Level was [Devil]. There was no indicator of what level that was supposed to be, only that it was most likely higher than five.
It mattered little to me.
My goal was unchanged. Monster or not, so long as I ascended back to a being with two walking legs capable of the finer arts of speech and laughter, I would be satisfied. Once this was complete, my search for Oblivion would commence.
With my latest armada of skills and titles, the first thing I needed to do... was test them.
/∞/
Skill: [Herculean Strength] Lv. 9
Details: This skill enables the user to lift and withstand 105,000 times their own body weight without effort. The user’s striking force is also significantly increased as well.
The poor, pitiable rabbit looked up at me with what was most certainly confusion within its eyes. I gazed back at it, unable to stop the triumph that overcame me as I crossed the clearing faster than it could turn around and hop away, and with a mighty crash of my tail against the back of its neck, the rabbit dropped to the ground, immobilized.
Skill: [Cheetah Sprint] Lv. 9
Details: This skill enables the user to move with the speed of a fully sprinting cheetah, without the need for recuperation.
It was common knowledge that Cheetahs were the fastest land mammal. The little rabbit may have been fast by its own right, however, I was a lizard that could move at the speed of a cheetah. There was quite literally no way for it to beat me in the aspect of speed.
I climbed over the back of the rabbit’s head, precisely targeting its neck, where I believed its spinal cord should be, and with a small recitation of the grace, for irony, I sunk my teeth deep into it.
Skill: [Excruciating Toxic Bite] Lv. 9
Details: This skill enables the user to deliver a bite with the same bite force of a rampaging crocodile. Upon completing the devastating bite, the user injects a Tier 9 insect-based paralyzing neurotoxic venom into the victim. The user is immune to the venom. Inflicts [Fatal Poisoning] on creatures with no Poison Resistance, Weak Poison Resistance and Average Poison Resistance. Inflicts [Severe Poisoning] and [Paralysis] on creatures with Strong Poison Resistance and Superior Poison Resistance. Inflicts [Minor Poisoning] and [Paralysis] on creatures with Master Poison Resistance.
The rabbit went utterly still. Even now, I knew not if the rabbit died because of the sheer pain of the enduring what was essentially a crocodile bite, or if it was merely the poison which immediately spread throughout its entire body rapidly that killed it instantly. Or perhaps it was both, a combination of the pain and the poison.
[Common Rabbit x1 Killed]
[250 Experience Points Gained]
––––––––
It was somewhat harder to gain experience now, or it seemed that my experience threshold would only count depending on the difficulty (or the numbers) of the kill. Killing a single rabbit did not seem to be viewed as a difficult task anymore, hence, I would not be gaining massive experience from doing such.
The title [Genocidal] has come into effect for the Species: [Common Rabbit].
One of my titles? I wondered if it knew what I was going to do before it activated. I went forward, effortlessly stalking and catching up to another rabbit, crashing down on it and unleashing a devastating bite on its neck. I did not wait to confirm my kill, and moved on to another one, and another, and another. The more I killed them, the easier it seemed to become to kill them. Sometimes, I’d merely slap them with my tail and they would die, other times, I would land on them and they would die. It was... odd.
[Common Rabbit x5 Killed]
[1250 Experience Points Gained]
[You have gained a level]
I was not sure how many hours I spent hunting rabbits before I grew tired of them, and before the eventual experience returns started diminishing.
[Common Rabbit x10 Killed]
[1000 Experience Points Gained]
Now, I was only getting a mere 100 Experience for a single rabbit, which was far lower than the initial amount I started with. Deciding to call it a day, I turned my attention towards scavenging and foraging for items and materials I could take back to my domain.
I knew I must have made for an unusual sight. Several rocks, pines, sticks, leaves and vines tied and steadily secured on my back, to which I barely felt the impact as I deftly made great strides through forest, relying now on sight and my numerous senses to navigate properly.
Racing at the speed of a cheetah at full sprint, and doing so with luggage on my back made most creatures dart and flee away from me the instant they sensed me coming. I was a skink, I doubted I was larger than the size of an average human palm, but there was no longer any doubt about my ability to outrace creatures far, far larger than I.
Within a manner of minutes, I pushed past a clearing and returned to the sight of still, clean water. My Domain remained unbothered, and thus, I strode across the surface of the water, and immediately set myself to work.
Skill: [Earth Control] Lv. 9
Details: This skill enables the user to be capable of swimming, bathing, and burrowing unobstructed through earth, rock and stone. For a cost of [0.5MP/sec] the user may mold dirt, mud and clay into whatever shape they desire. For a cost of [2.5MP/sec] the user may mold rocks, stones and granite. For a cost of [5MP/sec] the user may change the composition of the earth and rocks. For a cost of [10MP/sec] the user may create and mold earth, stones and rocks where there is none. The clearer and precise the knowledge and details, the sturdier and better the earth created.
There was no need to be excessive with my fortifications. The worst I would be facing would be wild animals without a lick of intelligence, however, I decided to be prudent.
Picking up a pebble I gathered from the woods, I felt for my [Earth Control]. The object became mushy in my claws. Soft, malleable, almost like I was holding a lump of meat or fat rather than I was holding a stone. I molded it, stretching it out as much as I could, until the pebble’s shape turned distinctively conical, and its point extending like a pencil and reaching a fine-tuned level that I was comfortable with.
It was the first time using a skill that cost “MP.” There was a drain I felt that was unexpected. Not a physical drain, but a mental one, as though I spent several hours solving a taxing puzzle or writing challenging examinations. Once I was satisfied with the shape, I stopped using my skill, and the object returned to its regular hardness. Harder, and stiffer, with a clearly defined point, it was an oddity of nature. A perfectly smoothed rock in the shape of a perfect cone.
Perhaps I should make it jagged? Like an arrow head instead...
The power to mold the earth as I wanted. I was limited by the amount of MP I possessed, but that was an arbitrary limitation. For the first time since I was reborn, I could confidently feel that things were looking up.
