After a bit of fluttering about, I’ve come to the conclusion that even as a butterfly I won’t be capable of doing much, especially delicate work like crafting.

But I did notice something interesting. A bird nest.

Yes, that could work. Of course, I won’t be building a bird nest. Something smaller should be withing my range of abilities though. How hard can it be to gather some small twigs and arrange them?

And since construction is basically also crafting, this should work. Now just to get the materials.

I fly close to the forest floor, scanning the underbrush for any suitable stick. And by that I mostly mean small enough for me to carry.

Turns out, that’s much harder than expected. No matter how long I look for or how hard I search, there’s nothing quite small enough.

Alright, new plan. Are there any coniferous trees here? Looking about, I can only spot the usual broad leaves. Okay then, up it is.

Heading upwards, I bop and weave between foliage. I sort of imagine this is how it feels like to navigate a spaceship through an asteroid belt. Fortunately, I don’t crash into anything and make it above the tree line.

An endless see of green extends before me. There’s no end in sight to it no matter which direction I turn. Yes, my vision is not the best, but enough to know this is a big forest.

Big enough to, hopefully, also have some coniferous trees. Is that how it works? By size? Probably not, but one can hope.

Now then, let’s see. How do I even differentiate my target trees from the rest? Is there even a way to do so? I hope so, otherwise this was for nothing.

Leisurely, I set out again, enjoying the sight. The breeze up here is strong enough to carry me a little and I don’t have to flap my wings that much. Just nature and me, gliding on the guiding hands of wind.

Sadly, as all things, I get bored of this too. Perhaps if I didn’t have the looming threat of death and loosing most of what I worked for, I wouldn’t be so quick to lose interest. Just all the more reason to figure this out.

The search continues with no end to be seen. I must have flown a considerable distance already, yet there’s not much change in the sea of leaves under me.

Ugh, this is so unnecessarily complicated. Why couldn’t I have been born as something with hand? Or even just any kind of appendage would be an improvement. Not like this butterfly body that can only move and fly.

Makes me wish to be born as something more interesting next time. A human shaped and or sized thing is probably too much to hope for, but a rat. I feel like that’s a reasonable option. Especially since I’ve already had to suffer as a caterpillar/butterfly duo.

Like, that’s probably one of the few species that completely changes shape throughout its lifespan and yet both of them are useless! Once again, who designed these?

There is one plus, if I may call it that, to all this. It’s given me time to properly think over and digest all that’s happened to me. It is, to understate it, not normal what I’ve been through. And yet I can’t deny I’ve always secretly dreamed of something like this.

Hours pass and there’s still nothing. I’m beginning to think there aren’t even any coniferous trees here. A shame.

And I’m getting sort of sleepy. Not completely, there’s no similarity with human sleep. It’s more like the thing I did as a caterpillar, the sort of ‘stay still and rest’ state.

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Well, there’s no use fighting it. I land on a high branch of the nearest tree and settle down under it. Then there’s not much more for me to do. I’ll jut suddenly realize time passed and be ready to go on.

You know what? That’s bullshit, actually. I likely don’t have that much time left to live as a butterfly. And I refuse to spend a big chunk of that spacing out.

So, instead of just surrendering to oblivion, I consciously try to stay awake. Not completely, that’s bound to fail eventually, but only partially. To at least be aware of the time passing, maybe also continuing my train of thought if I’m lucky.

And believe it or not, I’m successful! Partially, at least.

I still fall into a weird trance, like zoning out. But a small part of me remains. That small part is also able to pay attention (a little bit) and tell me how long has passed.

Which is the good news. The bad news is that butterflies, in contrast to caterpillars, apparently sleep through the whole night. But that’s not all.

As morning comes and the first rays of sunshine greet me, there’s an unexpected gift waiting for me.

> You gained the Meditation skill!

Oh. That’s nice.

…

Wait. A skill. I finally got a skill! Yes! There are skills after all! Oh, this opens up so much!

Does it? I’m actually not sure. Just the fact that there exists a difference between skills and abilities tells me something. And going by the names, it could very well mean that skills are actually, well, skills.

In which case I’m not sure how many skills a butterfly can gain. Most of them would probably have to be in the same category as meditation, so mental.

Alright, what can I do with my mind? Math? Not sure why I’d want that. Magic? Oooh, that would be nice.

Two problems though. First, there’s no mention of any magical stats on my status page. Second, I don’t know where to even start learning it.

That reminds me, has anything at all changed there?

> Name: None

>

> Creature type: Butterfly

>

> Level: 0

>

> Strength: 1

> Dexterity: 1

> Constitution: 1

>

> Skills:

> >> Meditation level 1

>

> Abilities:

> >> Flower Feeding

> >> Flight

> >> (innate) Metamorphosis Level 1

>

> Traits:

> >> (innate) Past Life Holdover

> >> (innate) Reincarnator

> >> (innate) At Least A Little Human

It would seem not. Except for the new skills section, but I already knew that.

Seriously, why is this so badly made? Why can’t butterflies gain experience through something simpler, like drinking nectar?

Okay, I know why, but it’s still unfair. Besides, a giant high-level butterfly wouldn’t even be that terrifying. As I already said, we don’t even have mouths to bite someone.

Well, I can imagine such a butterfly might accidentally stick its proboscis inside a corpse and develop a taste for blood. But how likely is that, really? Truly, there’s nothing to be worried about.

Yet nobody answers my extremely legitimate complaint. Huff, a bunch of stuck-up snobs, whoever designed this. I bet they don’t even consider butterflies as sapient.

A sharp pain pulls me out of contemplation. Right, gotta feed this mortal vessel of mine. Hmm, let’s maybe not go with the mortal vessel shtick just yet. Maybe a couple iterations in, once I’m less attached to it.

Finding another patch of flowers isn’t hard at all, almost as if I was built with that purpose in mind. And thus, I feed.

Until a friend comes by. Another butterfly, almost identical in colouring to me.

Hey, is that you! My leaf-mate? The first other creature I met in this new world? Oh, it’s been such a long time since we parted.

While I’m getting emotional about our reunion, the other butterfly rapidly approaches and land on the same flower as me. Then it begins walking towards me.

Closer and closer.

Hey. Hey! Buddy! I know that this is how we first met, but respect my personal space, alright!

But no matter how much I shout at it (inside my head) it doesn’t stop. Suddenly, the realization hits me.

Fuck, this guy wants to mate. Oh no. no, no, no, no, no. I can’t do that! That’s disgusting!

As fast as I can, I take off and fly away. Yet the bastard follows me, close in pursuit.

Fuuuuuck! Hey, don’t you know when to back off, take a hint!

It does not back off. In fact, it only gets closer and closer. I change tactics. Instead of flying away, I fly higher.

As high as I can go, even higher than before. I’m now far above the tree tops below. And the bastard is still hot on my heels.

Ugh, higher it is.

The air is getting colder and thinner. Not by much, I imagine, but noticeable enough for a small butterfly. The good part is that my unwanted pursuer also seems to be affected by it, gradually slowing down.

Hell yes! Take that sucker!

Alas, all good things must come to an end, and my triumphant victory doesn’t last long.

I just briefly manage to spot a bird swooping in to swallow my pursuer, before the same thing (presumably) happens to me, and I die.

My first life, kind of well lived, is over now.