Apparently, I was a tad bit too over-confident in my hunting abilities. I didn't expect that my claws wouldn't pierce deeply enough to keep that caterpillar stuck in place but thinking back on its size, it was kinda obvious.

That wouldn't be a real problem. I was fast and agile enough to keep standing behind it, avoiding its dangerous parts and slowly chipping away at its life.

What I couldn't expect was that it had some sprinting ability, allowing it to gain such a distance from me, to position itself in its proper fighting style: charging straight ahead, with that sharp horn pointed at its enemy, in this specific case, me.

Now that I could look at it better, the description wasn't lying when it said that the head was armoured. Sturdy-looking black plates of chitin covered its head and what would be the shoulder area on a human, forming a Juggernaut-like helmet, smooth and large enough to render the rest of its body inaccessible from that direction. The only exception to that smoothness was the horn right in the centre of that helmet. It wasn't very long, but sure it looked sharp and sturdy, more than capable of piercing me from side to side if I got struck by it.

*Yeah. I really should've thought of a better plan.*

Speaking of, I jumped away to the side, just in time to avoid being skewered by the enraged Bunja Larva.

Thanks to the tell-tale folding of its body that forewarned of its mad dash, I was able to move me out of its trajectory, receiving only a nick on my abdomen.

[Lost 3 Health Points. Actual HP: 7/10]

Shit. It was only a grazing strike and, I've already lost 30% of my total HP? What kind of power had that worm? What kind of beast would it become once an adult?

"At least I'm somewhat able to dodge its attacks, but for how much longer?"

My levels of stamina weren't exactly optimal for jumping around too much.

I didn't know how many times it could launch itself in such a manner, but I was ready to bet that it was more than I could avoid.

I needed to make full use of my strengths, taking advantage of the time required by it to reposition itself.

*You'd think it would take advantage to escape, but apparently, it's more aggressive than it looks.*

The Bunja, with no intention of letting me go after trying to attack it, was, in fact, slowly crawling to shift on the ground after overshooting my previous position to point itself in my direction again. That meant that its dash only worked in a straight line, that it was unable to stop itself once it started running, and that I had a window of opportunity after every dodge.

So, if I kept moving in a circle around it, it would be unable to get a good shot to me, while I could creep closer and closer to the vulnerable parts of its fat body.

The problem was, what if it sprinted away again? I didn't know if it was smart enough to do that, but having done it once already, it was probable that it could reach that conclusion and do it.

To gain some time, I started my circling of its body, keeping myself on its peripheral so that it would be forced to shift itself if it wanted to target me and to check if I was trying something.

"I have to limit its movements, but how?"

Making so that it would stick itself in a tree with its horn was a possibility, but that required me to divert my full sight from it and rely on the inferior one of my compound eyes and the sensibility of my cerci. They were things that I would have to learn to rely on more in the future, but not it wasn't the time for experimentation.

The Bunja Larva was growing irritated, and my running around was just consuming more of my SP. I needed a conclusive way to attack it, but my only weapons weren't exactly made to slash things as you'd see in fiction, and even if they were, the back of that caterpillar was incredibly tough to pierce.

What other uses there were for my raptorial arms? Grabbing things, climbing, appearing intimidating and lifting...

"Wait. I can do that!"

My Strength was naturally high, with no bonus, and mantises are known to lift prey so that they are deprived of the solid footing needed to escape. I couldn't possibly hoist the whole body of that beast, but I should be able to make it more vulnerable anyway.

It was time to act, lest the Larva grew tired of our game of cat and mouse and tried to attack me. Using the full of my speed, I went to its side, placed my arms under its belly and capsized it.

A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

[Low Stamina Points. Risk of losing consciousness.]

It was an enormous strain, in my weakened condition from the hunger, but I was quick enough that it wasn't able to sprint away on time, and now it was at my mercy. I planted my spiked claws into its belly, way softer than in its back, to keep it in place as I dug viciously with my maws into its flesh.

Again, the Bunja emitted a shrill shriek, but this time it was unable to move. Its short legs couldn't touch the ground from their position, and they couldn't even hit me with enough force to dislodge me from my vicious attack.

It was very squishy in my mouth like I was eating a tub of jelly, and the fishy taste wasn't helping very much, but I couldn't stop as it was for my survival. Also, I wasn't entirely sure if insects had a gag reflex or if they could even vomit, if not for some specific cases like bees or ants. But they were part of the same order and colonial bugs, so it was probably connected to that.

I ate, and ate, and ate again at the large body, even sticking my whole head in the hole I made, until I finally felt the caterpillar emit a last, weak noise and then going limp. It was long and excruciating, but at last, it was dead, and I was the winner.

[Gained Exp Points.]

[Subject is now Level 2.]

[Health and Stamina are fully recovered.]

[Stealth Skill reached lv 2.]

[Ambush Skill reached lv 2.]

*Oh yeah. Level up!*

It was nice to be rewarded after overcoming such a challenge. It was only one level, even if my enemy was one higher than me, but I couldn't complain, as my HP and SP bars were both all filled up again. Even two of my Skill went up, so it was all good.

[Harvest Skill activated.]

[Selecting Harvested target's Skills...

Five Normal Skill found inside the targetted Bunja Larva. Verifying compatibility with the Subject...

The Subject is compatible with two Normal Skills: Dash and Produce Silk.

Which will you choose?]

So, this was Harvest at work. It practically dissected the target to find what I could possibly get from it. Very helpful, and it saved me from selecting any of the available Skills to hear if I was compatible or not.

*Dash or Produce Silk, uh? I can get only one of these, but which will be the most useful to me?*

I've already seen the Dash Skill at work, finally explaining how this worm could move so fast, even with those stubby limbs it had. That would help me, either for sudden attacks or for quick escapes.

The Produce Silk one could be convenient in the long term, but I never had a knack for working with strings, and I doubted I could start learning with no fingers to work with.

*As much I'd love to become the closest thing to a badass spider-mantis, I'm going to choose to go fast.*

And while completing my selection, I thought, if I was compatible now, I could get it sometime in the future. There was no way that this would be the only Bunja Larva I'd ever met, and spider-type monster were bound to have the Skill too.

[Process complete. The Normal Skill Dash will be given to the Subject.]

Checking my Status, I could confirm that the Skill was now figuring in the list of Normal Skills, with all the improvements from the level up. And the Dash Skill was a nice one: with an expense of SP, I could add to my Speed Stat a bonus equal to my actual value, multiplied with the Skill level, meaning that at lv 1, I could already double how fast I could move in a straight line.

"The preys will never see me coming."

Then, as I started to eat the Larva, I was hit by a thought. Why did I only get exp points by the Bunja and nothing by the Roca I killed earlier? And the same thing for Harvest as it didn't activate with the tiny bug. What was the difference between those two?

Then, I got it. The Roca was classified as a bug, a normal creature, and not as a monster species, like the Larva! I could get exp and Skills only from killing monsters such as I was, and it dawned on me.

My siblings. They were all killing and eating each other, killing monsters and receiving exp, levelling up already after birth.

My own superior consciousness stripped me of the chance of a grinding session, and now there were tens of cannibalistic Mantreas running around the grass field, all of them stronger than me.

I got up from my meal, looking around to see if all the noise from the fighting attracted any creature. I was in a too open space for my liking, and it was better to correct it as soon as possible.

*I ate enough for now. I'll found a home, and then I'll come back for it. A safe haven has the priority.*

And with this new determination, I scurried away from the corpse of the caterpillar. I had a house to find!

STATUS

Name: N/A

Stats:

Strength: 12

Constitution: 5

Defense: 3

Dexterity: 9

Speed: 9

Intelligence: 11

Charisma: 2

Luck: 2

Species: Vilpuo Mantrea Juvenile Nymph

Gender: Female

Lv: 2/10 (42%)

Condition: Normal

HP: 12/12

SP: 12/12

MP: 0/0

Normal Skills:

Stealth lv 2 (passive)

Camouflage lv 1 (passive)

Ambush lv 2 (passive)

Dash lv 1 (active)

Inspect lv 2 (active)

Mathematics lv 1 (active)

Unique Skills:

Harvest lv- (active)

Titles:

Smart!