I wake up again, but something feels wrong this time. My thoughts are sluggish, barely able to form. It doesn’t take long for me to pass out again, darkness embracing me.
And then I wake once more. My mind still slow, even if less so now. And then I’m gone again.
Wake and sleep, wake and sleep.
The cycle repeats itself over and over again. Eventually I’m not even sure whether I’m awake or dreaming. My mind is muddled, thoughts barely able to distinguish between one idea and another.
It comes as a surprise when, as fast as it started, it stops. Suddenly, I’m shunted into full wakefulness. Not that that does me much better.
It seems I’m some kind of tiny creature that’s simply… floating about. Floating?
Yes, it would seem so. I can distinctly feel the air currents all around me.
I try to move, wiggle my tiny body in even the slightest way, but no luck. I can’t manage to shift a single bit.
So, left with nothing else to do but to float on, I do just that. Just float, let myself be carried away wherever the currents deem I should go.
At some point I fall into a sort of trance, hard to not do that when there’s nothing else to do. All I feel are the currents around me. How they move and shift around. How they grow and wane in strength. How they push me.
All I feel are the currents around me. I am the currents.
More time passes.
It’s nice. Just me, and nothing. Perhaps I’d like to stay like this. Forever? Probably not. For some time though sure. At least five more minutes.
Time passes and I’m lulled out of my torpor like state with a familiar screen.
> CONGRATULATIONS!
>
> You’ve reached sufficient maturity and are now considered an independent actor of your creature type: Starfish (larva)!
>
> Your base physical stats are 1!
>
> As a starfish(larva) you gain:
> >> the starfish ability Metamorphosis!
>
> Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.
>
> Metamorphosis merged into Metamorphosis!
>
> Metamorphosis reaches level 4!
Ah, hello again old friend. But it would seem we’re not going to stay long like this. I can already feel the urge to transform, to begin a new chapter in my life.
Strange beings, starfish. To gain the System just minutes before metamorphosis.
Very well, let’s do this. I’ll just consider it an extra opportunity to learn about the weird stuff happening while I evolve.
Putting to use muscles I didn’t know I had, I slowly swim down to the seabed. Oh, yes, apparently, I was wrong. Those weren’t air but water currents.
As I touch down on the ocean’s floor, something begins to shift within me. The process has already begun.
But it’s strange, much different to the other times I’ve done this. I don’t vomit up my insides to form a chrysalis, I don’t spin a cocoon around me out of the finest silk available. No, all I sense is something… shifting, moving withing me. As if my organs were rearranging themselves.
Without any warning, something pops and explodes into unimaginable pain. At the same time, I also explode out of my former body.
> Metamorphosis reached level 5! Milestone reached!
Once my pain, like the current, ebbs away I can finally collect myself.
That’s… an extremely gruesome way to transition between life stages. Do all starfish go through that? Makes one think.
Well, I suppose I’m a starfish now. Or, I will be as soon as I’m deemed sufficiently mature, or whatever. Shouldn’t take too long.
In the meantime, I make sure to get acquainted with my body. Having five appendages equally arrange around me is new, but not that strange by now. My mouth, the circular maw of death that it is (but only for tiny things), is likewise weird.
What throws me for a loop are the tube feet. Hundreds, maybe thousands even, of tiny tubes at the bottom of my arms. If I remember my starfish biology correctly, that’s my main source of locomotion.
Yeah, the only way I’ll be able to move is by perfect synchronization of uncountable mini-appendages. Just perfect.
Speaking of perfect, this time not sarcastically, my status decides to show up.
> CONGRATULATIONS!
>
> You’ve transformed your creature type into: Starfish (adult)!
>
> Your base physical stats are 2!
>
> As an adult you gain:
> >> the starfish ability Harden and Mucus Production!
> >> the starfish trait Regeneration and Water Breathing!
>
> You lose the following:
> >> Metamorphosis
>
> Metamorphosis is innate! No abilities lost!
That’s… a lot. The most I’ve gained so far. Even my stats start out at something other than one.
It does make sense though. Starfish are, after all, much bigger than insects. I’m sort of surprised I managed to luck out into something like this.
And all those abilities. It makes me salivate. It also makes it harder to decide which one to keep, but that’s a good problem to have. Just have to make I don’t choose stupidly. Like last time. In hindsight, I’m too embarrassed to even think about it.
Anyway, life’s short (not) and time’s a-wasting. It’s time for me to check out the ocean.
> Name:
>
> Creature type: starfish (adult)
>
> Level: 0
>
> Strength: 2
> Dexterity: 1
> Constitution: 5
>
> Abilities:
> >> Harden
> >> Mucus Production
> >> (innate) Metamorphosis level 5
>
> Traits:
> >> Regeneration
> >> Water Breathing
> >> (innate) Bioluminescence
> >> (innate) Past Life Holdover
> >> (innate) Reincarnator
> >> (innate) At Least A Little Human