I woke up. Everything was dark. I could not move. This felt familiar.

I pushed and pulled with my mind. Nothing happened. Some time later, probably a lot of time later, something changed. I could move a little. It was… wiggly. Something was all around. I did not fall but I could go down. I could go up as well.

I wiggled.

Food! Something soft. Did I have a mouth? I did! Time to dig in!

Wait! Status!

Species: Mink Frog (tadpole)

Age: 0

Name: -

Gender: female

Status: sapient, healthy

Level: 1

Class: -

Strength: 1

Constitution: 1

Dexterity: 2

Perception: 1

Intelligence: 12

Wisdom: 8

AP: 0

Skills: locked

‘I’m a frog?’

Things… did not go so well. My senses started to improve and one by one I took note of my siblings. There were a lot, at first. Now, it sometimes took almost a minute to find someone. I was glad I did not meet whatever ate them. Instead of worrying, I focused on eating. My body grew as I wiggled through the water. I did not even know if this was a pond or a lake or something else entirely.

There was no node nearby as far as I could tell. That might have given me an advantage. Although, seeing how terrible my physical Attributes were, I was glad no points went into Intelligence or Wisdom. I was still level one but growing older and bigger from eating gave me a little bit here and there.

I had tried to count the days but light was sparse in the lower layers of my home. Thus, I had no idea how old I was when I finally felt my hindlegs start to appear. For some reason, I stopped eating at that point as well. It was getting cold, anyway. There was little food to go around anymore. I sunk to the bottom of the water and decided to live off my reserves for a bit.

That bit turned out to be until my front legs were grown far enough for me to move onto land. My eyes had developed as well and I had spied on my surroundings. I lived in a pond. A small rivulet fed into it from the north side. I was guessing the water sunk into the ground faster as it could fill up since the pond had continuously gotten smaller. Maybe that was just me growing up but the rate did not really match.

This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

My status had changed a little, by now. I had gained five levels netting me two points in Constitution and Perception as well as one in Strength. Still very small. I was also listed as (young) rather than (tadpole). Would I have to wait for adulthood to unlock my Skills? Frogs had a much faster lifecycle than owls so that might be the case…

Catching food with my extendable tongue was fun. It took two more days to get my Racial Skills. They looked like this:

[Sticky Tongue lvl 1], [Prehensile Tongue], [Amphibian Skin lvl 1], [High Jump lvl 1], [Temperature Absorption lvl 1], [Swimming lvl 1], [Mating Song locked]

Sadly nothing really magical at this point. I would have loved something, anything, but I honestly had no idea what a magical frog could look like. Maybe turn into a princess? At least [Mating Song] was still locked. I had no desire to ever use that one.

I spent the next weeks just eating and growing, always staying close to the pond. It was too scary to leave. I was tiny and squishy and everything could want to eat me. Then, one day, I heard something unfamiliar. The sounds of the forest shifted, birds quieted and the ever-present rustling of leaves and twigs calmed down. There was an observatory tension in the air. It was not quite danger but close to it.

I hopped underneath a large leaf at the edge of the pond and looked around. Then, I felt it. Something shook the ground. It was more a soft vibration than actual shaking but there was an unmistakable rhythm to it. Steps. Something, or someone, was coming. I could feel the tremors increase in intensity.

Squish, squash, the steps closed in. Then, I saw them. Boots. Three sets made from sturdy leather and accompanied by voices. One deep and raspy, male. The other two were higher, likely both female. I… could not understand a word.

The boots stopped only two hops away from my leaf. Someone knelt down. A boy, or girl, maybe five years old. The second high pitched voice from higher up spoke something. The child’s mother? Small legs that were still giant to me dipped into the mud. The deep voice took on a scolding tone. The child nearly started crying. Then, it saw me.

Croak

The child pointed and shouted something. Then it moved. I panicked and jumped. Forwards. Like an idiot. Boots stomped through the mud as the voices got louder. I dodged left and right like an Olympic athlete at the slalom. Phew, that was a close call. Suddenly, darkness closed in around me. I felt gravity push me against something soft that was harder than mud. Then, a tiny beam of light fell into my prison. A large eye loomed over the entrance. The child’s voice came from just in front of me. I took a gamble.

[Identify]

Species: Human (child)

Well, that was worthless…

A scream and I was flying through the air. More shouting, this time a mix of panic and anger. I landed in the mud. Darkness closed in from above. I tried to jump.

SPLAT