Even after reaching the creek, the pup has still not followed, maybe that was normal?

Every time I’ve been at the creek, the pup comes later in the day. Wait, why do I care?

I looked down at my reflection, not grimacing for once. Before doing anything else, I used [Appraisal] on myself to open my [Status]

Name – Eclipse

Age – 17 days

Species – Insectoid

Sub-Species – Young Moonlight Moth

Level – 10/25

Stats:

[Strength – 3] [Endurance – 7↑] [Dexterity – 4] [Wisdom – 3] [Intelligence – 10]

[Unspent Points – 10↑]

Skills:

[Flight – Lv1] [Appraisal – Lv3↑] [Intimidation – Lv3] [Pain Resistance – Max] [Mental Fortitude – Max] [Translator – Max] [Starfall – Lv0] [Essence of the Moon – Lv0] [ Dodge – Lv2↑] [*New* Exoskeleton Manipulation – Lv0]

Titles:

[The Last of Your Species] [The Path Filled with Ruin] [Child of The Dark and The Light] [Pain is an Illusion] [The Unseen Has Been Seen] [Traveler of Dimensions] [Curiosity Killed The Cat, But Why?] [Unorthodox Helper]

Seeing the [Exoskeleton Manipulation] [Skill] made me grimace, I had almost forgotten about that useless [Skill], yet here it was.

Since my [Appraisal] is now at a higher level, maybe it’ll tell me more about my [Skill]?

I thought about it, but didn’t immediately do it, first I can here to see what my [Unspent Points] can do.

[Unspent Points] Points gained after every other level-up. Used for increasing [Stats].

I can use these to increase my [Stats]?

Before going into my [Skills] I tried mentally putting one [Unspent Point] into my [Strength]. It worked, and I felt my body heat up and swell slightly causing my exoskeleton to slightly expand.

[Strength] has went up by 1.

Well, that’s useful.

I thought about using some more points on my [Stats] but I decided to wait, I could only get these points after leveling up and that required me to fight. Plus, my [Stats] can increase without these points.

My next target was my [Skills], I wanted to figure out how [Starfall] and [Essence of the Moon] worked. But [Exoskeleton Manipulation] was starting to annoy me, so I decided to figure out how it worked.

[Exoskeleton Manipulation] Morph your exoskeleton in a limited way. [Dexterity] and [Endurance] must be above 5.

The last part confused me slightly, why would I be given a [Skill], but not allow me to use it until I reach a prerequisite? I felt wronged, but being curious as I was, I put a point into [Dexterity] feeling the flesh under my exoskeleton itch and shift around. It was one of the most uncomfortable feelings I felt. I pushed forwards and added another point into it as it required that I have [Dexterity] be above 5, suffering the same discomfort, however this time it felt worse somehow.

[Dexterity] has went up by 2.

The blue rectangle made its presence known, as it blocked the previous blue rectangle with another one.

Due to meeting the requirements, [Exoskeleton Manipulation] has leveled up.

After catching my breath, I tried mentally activating my skill, nothing happened. Not annoyed, I tried something else.

So, it says morph, can I just...?

I focused on one of my legs and tried adding a single spike to it that reached outwards. It worked, and with my full attention, I watched my exoskeleton start removing itself from my body, making it thinner, but since it was a small spike, it wasn’t a lot.

I looked at my new spike, before willing it to meld back into my body and it worked. It was fast too.

Is that why the [Skill] says I can morph my exoskeleton in a limited way because I only have so much of the exoskeleton?

I came to that conclusion, no longer feeling wronged, it was a fair skill.

I played around a bit more with my exoskeleton, seeing the limitations of the skill. I was not able to concentrate all my exoskeleton in one place, but I could remove half the thickness all around and move it to a different point.

That one area would be extremely armored, and it allowed me to create bigger things as I was able to use more of my exoskeleton, however it did give me more weight in a single point, ruining my balance completely.

After falling into the water as I was not able to keep my balance, I allowed my exoskeleton to return to normal and exited the water. I looked at the rest of my level zero [Skills] excitedly.

If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it.

Not being able to contain my excitement, I used [Appraisal] on [Starfall] and [Essence of the Moon].

[Starfall] Command the very stars themselves and use their power to cause devastation on your enemies. [Intelligence] must be above 25.

[Essence of the Moon] Take some of the moon’s power for yourself and use it for your own purposes. [Intelligence] must be above 5, [Wisdom] must be at or above 10.

I looked at the two skills, and back at my points. I have seven of them now, just enough for [Essence of the Moon]. [Starfall] was costly, I would have to increase my [Intelligence] by 15 in total, even if I kept all my points until I evolved, I would still not have enough.

I didn’t feel too bad about it however, I had no idea what a ‘star’ was and my [Stats] increased after I evolved, so I’ll just wait.

My other [Skill] however...

I quickly put two points into [Wisdom] with the intention of putting more, but I was quickly stopped before putting in anymore, I felt my entire body suddenly get extremely hot, and the inside of my head felt as if a bunch of spikes were appearing and disappearing as they pleased.

This went far longer than any other [Stat] increased, and was extremely uncomfortable, even causing my vision to blacken.

Even when all of that was over, other than my vision blackening, my vision had decided to start fuzzing up and made doubles of everything, I saw a creature coming up to me and almost started panicking, but as it got closer, I noticed the white fur of the pup and relaxed. Either relaxing was a mistake or not, I was not able to keep the blackness from taking over my vision.

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I felt my vision return as my surroundings were filled with a snarl. I tried to move my body, but I got no response. Once I heard a yelp however, I felt that I regained my body as a fuzzy feeling washed over me. I ignored the blue rectangle appearing and rather rushed out of the bush as the yelp sounded too familiar.

I didn’t stop when I saw the pup thrashing its leg as a long thick line tried enveloping it, I tried using one of my legs to puncture whatever it was, however my leg slipped off its skin. However, I was able to distract it as it let go of the pup, and bit me at a speed I could not react fast enough. I felt it bite into my thorax, not being able to go past my exoskeleton, however I felt an intense pressure that caused my exoskeleton to start cracking. I was thankful that it missed my head even though I felt my breathing go thin, I didn’t stop attacking the creature.

I bit down into the creature, my teeth finding purchase in-between the shell-like parts, the creature did not let go, however. My breathing was turning rougher and rougher, and I was starting to feel a powerful weight envelope me.

My vision was starting to blacken again, and I felt my bite loosen even if I had put more strength into it.

Thankfully that all ended as the creature suddenly went limp and I could breathe again. I once again ignored the blue rectangle and rather focused on taking deep breaths. I looked up and I saw the pup with a chunk of the creature in its mouth. It was also breathing heavily.

We locked eyes before the pup dropped the chunk onto the ground and walked over to me, placing it's still bleeding leg onto my head. It took me a moment to notice before I backed off. I looked at it, and it tried healing me again. This time I simply headbutted it and ignored the softness of its fur, causing the pup to sit down.

We both looked at each other until it tried healing me again, I immediately bit into its hurt leg, trying my best to not hurt it. I ignored the sweet blood and let go of the pup after it yelped.

After one more staring session, I finally started seeing the flesh on its leg meld back together. Once that was done, I immediately went up to it and sat right in between its front legs, enjoying the soft fur even though it was matted.

Thankfully, the damage I suffered this time wasn’t serious and it didn’t take long for everything to be fixed. However, I stayed right next to it.

I’ve already lost contact with everyone I had known; I did not want to lose you.

The two of us simply stayed together for a bit longer, the pup had decided to place its head on my thorax, I wasn’t complaining, it felt warm. During this time, I felt something beating at a constant beat in the pup, I wasn’t sure what it was, but Silven had something similar, so I wasn’t worried. After a bit longer, I decided to finally pay attention to the two blue rectangles.

[Wisdom] has went up by 2.

So, was my vision blacking due to this?

I wasn’t sure, but every time I added a point into my [Stats], it almost felt like my body reacted harder and harder each time. I would have to figure it out in a safe place.

You have aided in defeating a [Snake].

I looked towards the dead body of the snake, I felt slightly angry for some reason, however that went away as I felt hungry. Not too hungry, but noticeably hungry. I waited a bit longer before leaving the warm confines of the pup and towards the snake chunk, I ate it quickly, the texture was chewy, but the meat tasted good.

I looked at the pup who hadn’t moved from its laying position.

If I was hungry, it should be too.

I went over to the entire snake, marveling at its size, it was longer than the two of us combined and was larger than me, not as large as the pup though. I grabbed it with my mouth and started dragging it towards the pup.

The pup looked at me and then at the snake, ripping off a chunk of it and eating the insides of said chunk, I don’t blame it, the outside was extremely hard.

I didn’t want to leave the pup this time, even though I could hear the creek and see where the trees ended. Rather I stayed beside it until it finished eating.

Once it did, I returned to the creek, and immediately jumped in. I was starting to collect multiple creature blood in my fur, and I did not like it one bit.

The pup seemed to have the same thoughts, however it decided to splash me with water, and look at me as if it was waiting for something. I was slightly confused, but then I remembered that the darker pups were playing similar to this, so I decided to join the pup.

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After chasing and some soft biting, I was clean and somewhat tired, but I felt happy, something I don’t get to experience much in this forest.

The two of us had enough of the creek and decided to go back home, however I wanted to explore some more as the sun had only just passed the midway point, and the area I wanted to explore was the area with the ensnaring trap. The pup seemed willing to follow me, so the two of us went.

Thankfully, the area wasn’t too far so we reached it quickly, almost didn’t spot it due to all the leaves, but when I did, I was surprised as the trap seemed to have reopened itself and now has some sort of blue and pink berry which I used [Appraisal] on.

Uncommon Dream Berry A sweet berry with a sweet aroma.

I was tempted to taste it, but I didn’t want to get close to the trap. The pup did, however, and before it could get close to the trap, I headbutted it causing it to stop and look at me. I waited for a moment so it wouldn’t get close to it again before searching the ground for a stick.

The pup just looked at me, which I was fine with since that meant it wasn’t going close to the trap. After finding a stick I grabbed it in my mouth and brought it over to the trap.

I didn’t know if this was how the trap worked, or if I could trigger it since the stick, clearly wasn’t an animal.

I put the stick onto the trap and started putting pressure onto it, causing the two sides with spikes to shoot upwards and collide with each other causing the trap itself to slightly jump up.

Both of us got frightened by the suddenness of the trap, but afterwards seeing that nothing was happening I quickly ate the berry that fell onto the floor and immediately loved the taste, I wasn’t even hungry, and I wanted more. I started to trot past the trap, with the pup following.