Hunger was a foreign concept to an entity that solely lived and breathed combat.
Literally.
There was never a moment when she considered putting slain prey into her mouth. In fact, she never thought of creatures devouring another as ‘eating’. From her combat standpoint, she’d call it ‘reloading’.
“Or is recharging better?” She pondered, her voice echoing under the blue, bioluminescent lights of the glowworms overhead.
The caverns were larger than she anticipated, twisting, and turning at random intervals. Drops and climbs split the caves into sizable sections. So far, everything appeared level for now.
She followed a trail that looked like something was dragged along the earthy cave floor. It must lead to the entrance, she thought. The reason being? She vaguely remembered waking up just earlier prior to hatching from that egg thingy in a forest. After that, she blacked out and appeared inside of the egg.
Either she sleepwalked, her egg rolled into a cave, or – she was brought there.
Her stomach grumbled.
“Eat or be eaten. A giant egg would look tasty. Ugh… *Grumble* My stomach needs to reload too. But do I have a stomach?” Her mind couldn’t quite stay on one thing at once for too long.
One moment she was patting her belly in search of this mysterious, glorious organ called the ‘stomach’, and the next she was fawning over tiny crystals, or staring at her own reflection in various pools. At some point she began skipping along in high spirits, which became a steady walk, then a slow crawl as her stomach growled loud enough to emit a haunting echo.
*Grrrrr*
“Maybe the stomach is a monster inside of people. What an evil thing. Uuuuuuuu.” She hunched over a rocky outcrop, patting her stomach as her short hair cascaded over like willow leaves. “Sad... maybe rocks can help?”
She intently stared at the rock. A strange compulsion to sink her teeth into it overcame her. Her intrusive thoughts won as she wrapped her teeth along the outcrop and chomped.
“Mwwwoooow!? Mwhy mwid mwy mwo mwat!? (Why did I do that!?)” The compulsion to eat the rock came from out of nowhere, and she recoiled in pain, clutching her mouth as she watched another sliver of her HP drop.
Hatchling Red | HP: 330
Dumb rock. Why is it so hard!? Nn… My HP doesn’t regenerate. Aren’t monsters like me supposed to be capable of it?
*Grrrrrr*
Her stomach turned again.
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“I’d rather have my belly full of bullets than starve like this.” She muttered as she held onto a piece of the broken shell, staring at the faint reflection of her crimson eyes. “I miss Fairy Tale’s Bane. I wonder if it’s hungry too… *Grrrrr* Ugh. My poor death rod. What’s its status like?”
Suddenly, and without warning, the floating, transparent glass with words that appeared earlier filled her vision again. It showed her all of her stats once more, but in addition to this, she was able to find other pieces of information further beneath.
< PROFESSIONS >
(O) OFFENSIVE (D) DEFENSIVE
(S) SUPPORT
(E) EXPLORATION (C) CORRUPTION HUNTRESS: 1 Nil.
FRIENDSHIP: 0
APPRAISER: 0 Unknown.
< ACTIVE SKILLS >
(O) Huntress’ Slash [0/10]
(O) Punch [0/10]
(S) Friends! [0/10] (E) Appraise Object [0/10] (C) Unknown.
< You do not yet meet the Nex and Level/Soul requirements >
“Huuuuuh? Nex? Level? Soul? Whaaaaat?”
It went without saying that she had zero idea what any of these things meant, and to be perfectly honest, she didn’t really care to read at all. She just saw the Friends! Skill and her eyes immediately twinkled.
Would she be making friends? She hoped so! She remembered the Workers and Employees of her previous facility and how they would look after her. But more than that, she remembered a kind, blue-uniform woman with blonde hair who once looked after her!
Maybe she’d meet wonderful people like them again. She could only hope!
< PASSIVE SKILLS >
(O) Bladeworks
(O) Critical Eye (S) Bonds! (E) Boosted Appraisal
< ABILITIES >
Blessing of the Star Child | Unrealized | Vengeful Colors | Aspect of Amalgamation | Fairytale Huntress
There was a lot to read, but also a lot she didn’t care about. Words used to mean nothing to her, and they still do. It was that, and the fact that her stomach pried her attention away from the words and onto more pressing matters.
Because she realized something.
The constant echoes of her growling stomach weren’t actually originating from her stomach. Deeper within the cave, she peered around a corner and found a wide, spacious den.
There, she saw a pack of wolves feeding on the dragged carcass of a deer.
“Wolves…”
Her eyes suddenly glowed a vibrant red.