Hunter knew unease. They had left the water to hunt on the path that lead there, and the feeling of danger had grown. There had been times before that Survival Instinct spoke of danger, but in all of those it had been easy to know what the danger was. Here, Hunter knew only that there was a monster they could not find, and danger. The missing monster seemed like it should be the danger, but maybe danger was some different thing, and the missing monster was not important and distracting.

There might be many different kinds of danger in the world, and maybe against some it would not work to hide. But Hunter thought danger was usually a kind of monster, and one could hide from those.

Hunter hid.

[Survival Instinct has reached level 5, upgrade available]

That was good and not good. That skill seemed to reach new levels when Hunter came very close to becoming biomass.

They were in a good place on the path near water, and stayed very still and very quiet. This was a good way to hunt, but this time Hunter was not hunting. They waited, sensed, and thought. At first it was very easy to focus on these things because it turned out that unknown danger made one's mind clear. But after a time that was a little long, nothing happened. Hunter still hid, but their mind drifted. The thing that was best to drift one's mind to was generally one's status. Even if there was no biomass or skill point to spend, drifting thoughts now sometimes made the later thinking, when there were biomass and skill points, easier.

Status

[Name: Hunter]

[Level: 2 (core)]

[Stats:

Might 11

Toughness 14

Cunning 26

Will 15]

[HP: 35]

[MP: 12/12]

[Skills: Pincer Snap level 4, Grip level 3, Deadly Sting level 1 (II), Sprint level 3, Survival Instinct level 5 (upgrade available), Advanced Stealth level 3 (II), Dodge level 3, Mana Manipulation level 5 (upgrade available)]

[Mutations: Infused Stinger +5, Tomosvary organs +2, Exoskeleton +3, Claws +2, Antennae +1, Eyes +2, Legs +2]

[Species: Claw Centipede Hatchling (Unguibus Scolopendra)]

[Biomass: 1]

Hunter wished they had upgraded their antennae and not their exoskeleton. They did not like danger that hid, and wanted better organs for sensing to find that kind of danger. If they could find the danger then they could think whether it was better to sting it, hide from it, or run from it. It was fine though. A good exoskeleton would help against many kinds of danger.

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After a time that was long but not long enough to grow very hungry, the three monsters who had four long legs good for running and bodies covered in gray fur left water and walked together down the path. Hunter was not sure that one of them would be safe to hunt and quite sure that three were not safe at all to hunt. As they got close to Hunter's place to hide, it seemed maybe a thing bothered them. They made quiet barking noises to each other, and moved the wet black sensing organs at the end of their snouts around in the air. Hunter hoped they would not sense them.

The three monsters walked past. As they did, one looked right at the place Hunter hid, then turned to the other two and barked. Hunter knew fear, but the three continued on their way.

There were things in the place of water, on the ground and on the ceiling, that looked like the tip of a stinger but were very large and made of stone. As the three monsters walked, four of the stone stingers let go of the ceiling and fell at the three. When they hit, they stabbed into the bodies of those monsters, who howled, then tried to run, then became biomass.

This was curious. Hunter had never before known of rock stingers that could hunt dangerous monsters. Their eyes were not good enough to see clearly what had happened so far away, and they were very curious to learn more about these stone stingers. It seemed like if there were any between Hunter and the four who killed the monsters that those would have dropped down first, so it was probably safe to go a bit closer. Stone stingers could fall fast, but it did not seem like they would be able to move well on the ground, because they had no legs and were made of stone.

It was still good to be careful though. Hunter moved with stealth until they were close enough to see the stone stingers clearly with their eyes. The stingers were maybe not stone at all, or else they had monsters that lived inside of them. The stingers or the monsters inside them owned the monster smell that Hunter could not identify before. A slimy monster oozed out of the wide top end of each big stone stinger, or else they were parts of monsters who pretended to be made of stone. Or maybe monsters could be partly made of stone? It was odd. They were odd.

The slimy monsters or parts of monsters tipped the stone stingers over and began to eat the biomass that had been the three monsters of a different kind.

Hunter now faced a momentous question.

Were the stone stinger monsters safe to hunt?

Those had to be, right? They had no legs or claws or tails or teeth and did not look like they could move in any fast way on the ground. They could fall fast to sting prey that did not know of them, but had already done that and were on the ground now. Stone was a type of thing that was very hard, and difficult to bite or claw or sting through. Probably the stone stinger monsters thought they would be safe because nothing could hurt them while they hid in stone. Hunter though was very skilled at stinging, and had a very good stinger along with a core full of mana to put into it. They also have a venom gland that was full, and they had used much mana when they made that venom. It would be very good venom.

They sprinted over to the stone stinger monsters. More quickly than Hunter would have guessed they could, the soft slimy parts of all four drew back into stone shells. Probably those had some way to sting from the opening at the bottom of the stone stingers. They pulled into their defensive shells in a fast way, so if they could sting it might be in a fast way too. Stone was hard, and monsters who were not clever would try to get to the soft slimy part of those monsters through the opening in the bottom and get stung in their face parts. The four legged monsters had become biomass quite quickly, so the stone stingers had good venom. The stone stingers might not have a second part for stinging in the opening where their soft parts moved in and out of their shells, but it seemed like they should.

For all of these reasons Hunter decided to treat the openings at the tip of the stone stingers and at their base as very dangerous, and instead infused their stinger with mana and stung right into the side of the stone shell of the nearest one. The shells were not even, but had ridges that coiled up in a pattern. Deadly Sting said the rings that were between the ridges were a better place to sting. They had never stung stone before, because they had never found stone with a soft bodied monster inside it until now. It was not a certain thing whether even a mana infused stinger could punch through a shell of stone. One's stinger might even get hurt. Hunter was then quite happy to find that the sting could and did go through the shell, and without damage to their very good and important stinger. The shells were maybe not of stone after all, but of some kind of thing that was very much like stone, and were tough and very hard but not thick.

The inside of the stone stinger was squishy flesh, and Hunter pumped venom into it. Then they went and did the same to each of the other three shelled stinging monsters.

[Deadly Sting has reached level 2]

[Deadly Sting has reached level 3]

Hunter was now empty of mana and venom, and so it was time to wait and watch and see how well their venom worked.

It took time, but the venom worked well.

[You have defeated level 3 Conus Interfodio]

[You have gained XP]

[You have defeated level 2 Conus Interfodio]

[You have gained XP]

[You have attained level 3. One skill point awarded.]

[You have defeated level 4 Conus Interfodio]

[You have gained XP]

[You have defeated level 3 Conus Interfodio]

[You have achieved level 4. One skill point awarded.]

There were new skill points to spend, and much biomass to eat, but first Hunter moved their body and all thirty of their legs in a very happy way.

They couldn't help it.