Hunter decided to make the thinking easier by eliminating the least good of the good choices first.
This was not too hard. They already had three body parts for sensing, and thus did not need Mana Sensing right now. The only good use for Mana Manipulation was to make it easier to put mana into their stinger in good ways, but their stinger was inside of them. They could not see how manipulating mana that was outside of them would help anything. Those two were easy choices, but narrowing down the remaining three was not so easy.
Deadly Sting was good in an obvious way.
Forceful Mana might be good because force was a thing similar to might, and Hunter wanted to be strong in all the ways they could be. If they could make their mana mighty, then maybe it would do something good when they let it out of their mouth instead of just puff away into air.
Mana Shaping might let them make mana into spells. They did not know what spells were, but instinct said they would be useful. It was not clear though if Mana Shaping could do this by itself, or if it would need other skills that Hunter could not get yet as well.
Hunter thought some more. There was one skill that was quite good, and two that might be quite good. If they purchased the skill they knew to be good, then that could help them to hunt more prey and get more levels to purchase the skills that might be good.
If that was so, though, then maybe they made a mistake by buying Mana Manipulation the last time they spent a skill point.
It was fine. Probably Mana Manipulation would help in some way that was good later.
Spend Skill Point. Purchase Deadly Sting.
[Would you like to upgrade the skill Sting to Deadly Sting?]
Yes.
Hunter had known how to sting well from the moment they spawned. As they hunted and stung many things, they had grown more skilled at it. But when the skill upgrade put more knowledge into their mind, suddenly they understood better ways to sting. It was odd. They had not thought that there was much more to learn on how to sting. It was a good and happy thing that they were wrong about that. Hunter wanted to learn everything that could be learned on good ways to sting.
Now though, it was time to explore. They had spent far too long sitting by water and moving mana that was inside of them. It all felt a little foolish now. They knew much of the above, but much remained unknown. Where were the edges of the above? Was it like a giant version of home, with a space inside and tunnels leading out to a wider world? Was there a bigger above on top of this above?
Hunter followed the shore as it curved. There were many monsters resting and drinking, but none were of great interest. After much walking, Hunter saw in the distance a thing that might be a wall of the above. This, unlike the monsters, was interesting. They went toward it. It was further away than they had thought at first, and larger. When they got close they could see the wall, and that it was very high and made of stone.
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Hunter followed the wall for a long time. Then they came to a large hole. It was a tunnel that instinct said was more safe than not safe. That probably meant it went up and not down. Down was bad and unsafe according to instinct.
They were very slow and careful and stealthy as they moved into the tunnel. It twisted and turned in a way that moved up, then down, then up, but added together to be more up than down. It was not like the tunnels of home, which were small and cozy and sized for centipedes and felt safe. This one was large in many places. Hunter felt a need to hide, always. It was a fun tunnel though, because it was new, and would take them to places they had not been before. They walked on the walls and walked on the ceiling and then again on the ground as they went.
There was a Big Head Cricket that did not know it was safer to move with others of its kin.
Hunter killed and ate it. Deadly Sting worked quite well, but it was hard to know how much better it was because one cricket was easy to kill with normal sting also.
[You have gained XP]
[You have gained one Biomass]
They continued on their way through the tunnel. After some time, a thing happened to the tunnel, and the thing was that it opened into a larger space with much water in it. Hunter could feel the change in how much water the air held with their Tomosvary organs long before they got to the large space. They could either explore this new place by walking on the ground or by climbing the wall and walking on the ceiling. The ceiling way seemed sneaky and clever, but they could not run well if they did that because of the need to grab hold with each step so they did not fall. So was it better to sneak better, or to be able to run away fast if something scary did find them? The ground plan had two ways to not die and become biomass, and the ways were sneaking and running away. The ceiling plan had only one way to stay safe, so it was not as good. They went on the ground, but were very careful to hide in the best ways they knew how.
Survival Instinct said this place was a bit dangerous, but not how it was. Their antennae and Tomosvary organs spoke, in vibrations and smells, of monsters of different types. Hunter knew some of them already. One smell was of the monsters who wore fur, had four long legs that looked good for running, tails that looked strong and a mouth that seemed very good for biting. There were monitors somewhere too. The air did not taste of Big Head Crickets, which was a pity because crickets were the easiest prey to hunt because they were very dumb. Clever crickets could be dangerous, but Hunter had never seen any of those, and did not think they were real. Some of the monster smells were new though, and this was a reason to be careful.
The place with water was big, though not as big as the above that was now below. It was a bit confusing how the above was below; Hunter's thinking words did not work right for this situation. In any case, the far side was not close enough to see. There was a pool of water that was not big like the big water in the above, but it also was not small. Probably that water had mana in it too. Bits of water dropped down into it from the ceiling and made splash sounds, though where that water came from Hunter had no idea. All through the tunnel and the place with water, on the floor and walls and ceiling, there were lines that glowed with soft blue light. It was the same color of light that lit the above. Maybe the above had a ceiling with lines that glowed.
This was not the above, but it was a place near water, and Hunter knew good ways to learn about those. The first thing was to go to the water, where it was safe, and look and smell and taste and listen and sense vibrations. This is what they did. There were three of the monsters with four legs and fur, five emerald monitors, and two monsters of a new type by the water. The new monsters, who were probably prey, looked like monitors that got squished into a fatter shape. They had four legs, a body, a head with a mouth for biting, and a tail, just like monitors did, but all the parts were shorter and fatter. There were spikes on their back that looked like they might be able to poke through exoskeleton.
Hunter stayed still and sensed for a time that was not long or short. Some new monsters came to the water and some that had been there already left to go to other places. None were of new types, which was odd because there was a scent in the air that seemed like monster but did not belong to any of the kinds near the water. It was faint though, so maybe it was of a monster that was far away, or very small. There did not seem to be more things to learn sitting next to water, so the next part was to find a place on the way to water to hide and hunt and maybe learn. There was a scent of a monster they could not find, and also an instinct that there was a kind of danger. Hunter wished these things did not go together. They would need to be very careful. It was important to hunt and to learn, but more important to not be like a dumb cricket who became biomass.