Chapter 1 - Dart
Dart-preevolution-fotor-202411191540 [https://i.ibb.co/gP8RKdW/Dart-preevolution-fotor-202411191540.jpg]
A red-tailed treefrog climbed an old cypress that rose majestically above the swamp water. She had trouble getting a grip on the slick bark, but wedged her tail into the cracks as an anchor. Twice, she would have fallen were it not for this trick, and at the thought she looked down at the clear water, where the unmistakable shape of a snapping turtle lay secreted beneath the silt.
While she considered herself a good swimmer, she had seen many of her siblings swallowed by the monstrous turtles, and preferred the safety of the trees. She opened and closed her mouth, without making a sound, steeling herself for the climb.
The firefly on the branch above faced away from her. It flashed its bulb again then kept very still.
Her mouth watered and she licked her lips in anticipation of the meal. She had already had three ants, and then a small grub. But it was old and dry. Fireflies were always juicy.
It felt like an eternity covering the last few inches to the branch. When she was about a foot away, she casually glanced at the cooldown timer in the lower right of her vision. She was only vaguely aware of how it worked. But green meant her power was ready.
Untitled-3 [https://i.ibb.co/CzrqK8V/Untitled-3.jpg]
The treefrog covered nearly eight inches this time! Sadly, it wasn’t quite enough to land her prey. The firefly buzzed off, landing on a twig at the end of the branch, not really sensing a threat.
Her ability turned red, and the cooldown started to tick. Distracted, the frog watched the circle slowly fill, until her stomach grumbled and she decided to focus again on the hunt.
She crept toward the shining morsel, placing one fat hand in front of the other, oblivious to stealth. She readied her tongue, but when she put her weight on the twig, she slipped and dangled by her tail.
The twig bounced. The firefly took off. Her support snapped. And before she could regain her bearings, the twig plummeted toward the swamp below.
The treefrog quickly gripped the projectile with her remaining limbs, trying to locate the snapping turtle in the pool below as she fell, but her vision seemed to spin and the ground came far too quickly.
Fortunately, the branch was not directly above the water, but positioned over a mound of black mud with gaping holes that looked like eyes. She righted herself as she fell and the broken end of the twig stuck in the ground like a dart with the treefrog clinging to the top.
When the dizziness wore off, she looked up after the firefly, but her view was obstructed by a status window.
critical-hit [https://i.ibb.co/PmsG2r4/critical-hit.jpg]
She stared, not comprehending the words, but knowing that the bright red color usually meant she had killed an ant. The symbols switched...
EXP [https://i.ibb.co/C6hMw08/EXP.jpg]
She heard a strange but pleasant ringing sound and a tiny window followed.
Untitled-3 [https://i.ibb.co/9TLrJjm/Untitled-3.jpg]
Her stomach grumbled and she wanted to find that firefly, but before she could even blink, the pleasant sound began to repeat itself, again and again and again...
Untitled-3 [https://i.ibb.co/6wDLn0r/Untitled-3.jpg]
The window glitched, then froze and grayed with a brief grinding sound. She tried to look away, but the window stayed in front of her view.
Untitled-6 [https://i.ibb.co/h8rd18G/Untitled-6.jpg]
The final line blinked in and out of existence, and the frog had the unsettling impression it was waiting for her. No... she knew it was waiting for her.
She placed her fat, red fingers on the window. The glass felt cool. She had never felt a status window before. Now that she thought of it, she didn’t really know what a status window was until now. Why did the words suddenly make sense? The glass cracked, and with another grinding sound it disappeared.
The cooldown for her ability turned green, and the change of color pulled her from her thoughts. But she had never really been aware of her thoughts before. She just… thought things. But now she could think about her thoughts, which felt… oddly different.
This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
The words under her health bar suddenly made sense—[Red-Tailed Violet Dart Frog].
Is that my name?
For someone who just learned how to read, she suddenly cared an awful lot about commas. Was she Violet, the dart frog or was her name Dart and the system was simply describing her.
Violet. She considered the word. She was definitely violet. But was she Violet?
Dart shook her head. She had no intention of being so fragile.
The treefrog glowered. The system had said she lacked the kills necessary to evolve, which was insane. She had killed three things already today, considering the larva was probably already dead.
She ran some numbers in her head. She had eaten at least five ants every day for as far back as she could remember. That added up to… at least twenty. How many kills did the system require?
Unless… the ants had somehow survived being eaten. She sheepishly looked back to a string of wet dung she’d left of the cypress tree, but shook the thought away. No, that wasn’t possible.
She still felt hungry, so eating an ant was worth a test anyway.
Dart slid from the shaft of her twig, landing in the black mud and pulled the tiny weapon free from the muck.
Another window appeared.
1 [https://i.ibb.co/ggZfVWC/1.jpg]
Yes, she would, thank you. Dart was relived to see the calming blue tint to the window once again.
This time, she had time to process that she was meant to input a word, and she tried to highlight a field, but her hand was unwieldy. With some effort, she folded down all but one plump finger, and carefully typed in a name.
2 [https://i.ibb.co/k2YwVXY/2.jpg]
The twig flashed silver when she submitted the name, though afterward it looked no different. Just a plain stick. Straight, but plain, with a few knots. She gripped the shaft in her hands. She felt… strong. The end of the makeshift spear was still stained black by the blood of… what was his name?
She looked up and around for the kill window from earlier, but it was long gone.
I don’t remember. But it said he was a god. I wonder if that’s stronger than a snapping turtle. From across the swamp, she heard the nightly rounds of the bullfrogs, who had also eaten more than one of her siblings… that’s horrific!
She suddenly remembered each of them and the weight of that thought brought her to her knees. Perhaps a bullfrog should be her next kill. After all, she had already killed a god. But while the thought of vengeance was mildly tempting, she had to admit that she didn’t know if a bullfrog was stronger than a god either.
For now, ants would suffice.
She took one step to begin her hunt again, but felt so much power in her legs that she decided to test her ultimate ability.
In an abundance of caution, she faced a direction where the dangerous swamp waters were over two feet away.
Untitled-3 [https://i.ibb.co/CzrqK8V/Untitled-3.jpg]
She flew nearly three feet! Dart panicked as her trajectory brought her over the buried snapping turtle. She plopped in the water still at a fairly high speed and plunged almost to the silt before she managed to right herself and ready her weapon between herself and the turtle. Words floated above its head: [Black Swamp Turtle]. She’d never seen that before.
She held her position, trembling, but the lazy turtle barely opened an eye, content to rest.
It was fortunate, because even given her new strength, she knew she wouldn’t stand a chance against the enormous brute. And it was one of the black ones, which were particularly fierce.
She had to talk herself into relaxing her combat “stance” before she could loosen up enough to swim to shore.
But there, on the bank, she encountered a large, black cricket, just emerging for the night. Words floated above its head as well: [Common Cricket].
With an eager smile, she skewered it with [Godkiller].12 [https://i.ibb.co/kqydLTr/12.jpg]
Nice! And it wasn't even a crit...
6 [https://i.ibb.co/cQqVykf/6.jpg]
In what sense was a Cricket considered low difficulty? It was easily the biggest thing she’d ever killed. Which meant ants probably didn’t count either. What a drag… She was, however, silently relieved to see the black window hadn’t returned.
An exclamation point appeared near the icon for her profile screen. She now knew what it symbolized, but had never opened it before.
Perk-Window [https://i.ibb.co/M5WWsMn/Perk-Window.jpg]
Dart liked all three options and decided to mull it over.
It grew dark, which meant she would need to find cover soon. But the calls of the bullfrogs started again. Dart used a foot to remove her kill from her spear, then evaluated her priorities. Somehow, the thought of testing her new strength interested her more than a meal or shelter.
The cooldown in the bottom right of her vision turned green, and with a smile on her face, the treefrog—the red-tailed, violet dart frog—headed toward the nearest, bullying croak.
*****
Forgotten, and again unnoticed by the heavens, the last drop of rich, black blood surfaced in the eye cavity of Akuja’s skull, freed by [Godkiller]’s tiny pinprick. And in the calm and cool of the night, a hapless mosquito landed to feed.