I died. Twice, three times if you count what happened back on Earth. And I think it is just the beginning. In the back of my feeble mind, I could hear the Norse trickster laughing at my expense. And what the hell did he mean about a moose? Did he isekai a moose? Too obscure. I noticed I was thinking so I must be alive. Blinking lights told me I had System messages to read.
> CONGRATULATIONS!
>
> You have come of age and are now an adult of your species, Earthworm.
>
> Your base Physical and Mental Attributes are all 1. ERROR. OVERRIDDEN BY USER'S TRAIT. USING CUSTOM ARRAY.
>
> You gained 54 Attribute points to distribute.
>
> As an earthworm, you've been granted the following traits:
>
> * You gained the Pioneer Trait (Unique): You are the first of your species to be inducted in the System. Skill growth increased by 10%. ERROR. USER ALREADY HAS THE TRAIT. SELECTING RANDOM REPLACEMENT.
> * You gained the Absolute Clinging Trait (Unique): You can cling to any surface without damaging it, including force constructs.
> * You gained the Hermaphrodite (rare) trait: You are both male and female. ERROR. OVERRIDDEN BY USER'S CURSE. SELECTING RANDOM REPLACEMENT.
> * You gained the Very Fast Trait (rare): Your base movement rate is double your racial average.
> * Tiny (uncommon): You are tiny. Your maximum HP is divided by 100. Damage dealt is divided by 100.
> * Your race's maximum physical Attributes are set to 2.
> * Your race's maximum mental Attributes are set to 1.
> * Your race Attribute growth is 1 per 5 levels.
> * You gained the racial skills, Dirt Burrowing (uncommon), Tremorsense (rare), Dirt Digestion (uncommon).
> * You have 4 Skill Points to distribute. Unassigned Skill points will be randomly assigned in 2 hours.
> * Your lifespan is 8 years.
>
>
Now all I need is the spacesuit. For some reason which didn't surprise me, I was once again the first of my species to obtain self-awareness. Wonderful. Just wonderful. I fiddled with my windows and split my Skill Points to Burrowing and Tremorsense. I needed to worm around. And worm around I did. The dirt was moist and soft. I discovered two mistakes with my approach. One, my burrowing speed depended on how fast I could eat dirt, and second, my speed trait was worth nothing while I dug. I needed to do some serious workout.
The two hours passed, and my available Attribute points were automatically spent without my input. When I checked, Everything was maxed out.
> Strength: 2 / 2. Dexterity: 2 / 2. Endurance: 2 / 2 (HP: 0). Mind: 1 / 1. Willpower: 1 / 1. Charisma: 1 / 1. Magic: 0 / 0 (MP: 0).
Of the other forty-two points, nothing. They just vanished. I was probably the strongest earthworm in the world but seeing all those stats vanish annoyed me.
Checking my status page, I noticed my amoeba Skills were still there. Which made no sense, but it was a game-like world. From New York to living as a germ in another world. Pseudopods didn't work. Probably I needed to be inside some fluid. Liquid, for those that like scientific rigor. Other amoeba Skills were also dependent on the environment. The only thing that worked was Chemical Awareness. I could sense what was touching my worm skin. Dirt, dirt, dirt, sand, and cellulose.
Curious, I approached the source of cellulose. After worming around, I decided it should be some kind of plant root. I dug a lot of tunnels around the roots, to fluff the earth and promote the plant's growth. I bobbed and wove around the roots, happy as a worm. I discovered that earthworms needed sleep. Strange but true. I would stop in my tunnel and take a nap from time to time.
Skill gains came with time. Of which I had no idea. Earthworms have no sense of time. I gained points primarily in Digestion and a few in Burrowing. I opened my Status page and remembered there is an "Age" entry. Which displayed 0 years. Not as useful. The amoeba, with its lifespan measured in hours, counting the minutes. Worms didn't get months. And despite appearing to have a bug tracker, the System had no way for users to log tickets. At least not as far as I saw.
The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.
To stave boredom, I kept eating and digging. The days passed but the plant didn't seem to be growing healthy. The roots where shriveling. I was worming around the roots and with my Mind of one, I didn't pay attention to my {Tremorsense} Skill. When I felt the danger approaching, it was too late. If Luck is an Attribute in this world, mine was rock bottom.
> Mole attacks with Bite, dealing 3 points of damage.
>
> The endurance test failed. You have -3 HP. You are severely wounded.
>
> Your maximum speed is reduced to 10% of its base value.
Through all the pain flaring, one thought crossed my mind. Being the strongest earthworm apparently meant I was the biggest and fattest one. A tasty snack for the mole. I wriggled and tried to escape, but I could only crawl. The next message, however, appalled me.
> Disease Vector activated. You successfully infected mole with amebiasis.
I heard Brad Pitt laughing, "You don't know where I've been!" Then I winced in pain. The mole was busy gagging and retching. Whatever the System thought amebiasis was, it wasn't nice. Or slow. The mole was gagging and Tremorsense told me a viscous fluid was seeping on the tunnel. I heard - yes, earthworms can hear; tremorsense, doh - the mole evacuate most explosively. The mole shivered and tried to run away, but started to have seizures. Me, on the other way, was perfectly fine. Not.
> You lost 1 HP. You have -4 HP. You are critically wounded.
I was seeping worm-blood. Earthworms have closed circulation, thank you. We are a superior kind of...
> You killed level 3 Mole. You gained 90,000 Exp (90 Base x 10,000 x 0.0001 x 1,000 Size Bonus).
>
> You reached level 9.
>
> You gained 1 Attribute Point.
>
> You gained 18 Skill Points.
>
> Unspent points will be randomly assigned in 2 hours.
I couldn't focus. The next message was as expected.
> You lost 1 HP. You have -5 HP. You are dying.
>
> Unspent points automatically assigned.
>
> The endurance test failed. You died.
At least the pain stopped.
----------------------------------------
Wyxmos, God of Logic, sat before the main core of the System in the divine realm. One hundred years after its inception, he was still learning about the System. A red light flashed on the core surface, and he willed the messages to appear.
> USER SOUL REDIRECTED. SELECTING RANDOM SPECIES... FOUND. INITIATING REINCARNATION.
That should not be. Reincarnation and resurrection were banned in the System. All souls were sent to feed the gods' power after a mortal suffered Final Death. It was one thing the entire pantheon agreed to. When Wyxmos opened the details of the user, he was appalled.
> Unnamed earthworm (level 9 earthworm) died of bleeding. 0 Exp granted. The attacker is dead.
Earthworms were not sentient and should not be part of the System. "List all users with race {Earthworm}," He commanded the System.
> Total Users: 0.
"List all races currently with zero users."
> {Earthworm}, {Amoeba}
Wyxmos pulled his beard. Given the other messages, one outcome was obvious. "List all races with exactly one user."
> Rabbit, Archdemon.
The Archdemon was known. The Demon Lord, one of the safeguards against System corruption. He saw some minor error messages and pulled them. Usually, they were beneath his attention.
> ERROR. RACIAL STARTER ARRAY ASSIGNMENT OVERRIDDEN BY USER'S TRAIT. LOADING CUSTOM ARRAY.
>
> ERROR. USER ALREADY HAS THE TRAIT {Pioneer}. SELECTING RANDOM REPLACEMENT.
Wide-eyed, the god fired his commands. "Display full information for trait {Pioneer}!"
> Pioneer (unique): You are the first of your species to be inducted to the System. Skill growth increased by 10%.
>
> Acquisition Condition: Be the first member of a species to be inducted to the System.
"Mark trait {Pioneer} as inactive," He ordered. It would block new users from gaining it. The effects were minor but the message implied that the rogue user was gaining it multiple times as they jumped races.
> ERROR: Trait {Pioneer} has 02 users currently assigned. Cannot inactivate.
"Deny grant on trait {Pioneer}!" He shouted, flustered.
> Confirmed. Trait {Pioneer} will not be granted anymore.
"Deactivate automatic creation of new racial entries."
> Confirmed. Automatic creation of new racial entries deactivated."
With that, the user should become one of the normal System races. Wyxmos would have to report that to the pantheon. He needed only one more thing to do. "Deny activation of new users in races {Amoeba}, {Earthworm}, and {Rabbit}."
> Confirmed. Racial entries {Amoeba}, {Earthworm}, and {Rabbit} will not accept new users.
He sighed in relief. Now comes the hard part. Enduring the scrutiny of the entire pantheon.