Arc 1- Shaken - Chapter 9_Searching for Salvation

Night 18

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I woke up, feeling a lot more tired than usual.

Frowning, I tried to puzzle out the reason for this abnormality before remembering that I had just 49 HP left last night after I had used {Survive}. I checked my status and, sure enough, my HP read, [HP: 73/161] while my MP read, [MP: 60/61].

I grimaced; my MP and HP regenerations were low, very low, and now, my MP had reached a limit where even a 12 hours sleep wouldn't recover it completely. A grimace settled on my insect-oid face. 'I really wish there is a way to improve my regeneration permanently.' I sighed. 'And that I find it soon.'

Knowing that I could not go out in the wild, with not even half of my HP, I used the spell {Episkey}.

Ting.

[-20 MP]

Even with the spell, I had just recovered 45 points of HP, so I used it again.

Ting.

[-20 MP]

This twice use of the healing spell, left me with just 20 HP, thus I decided to meditate to recover the 40 MP that I had lost in healing myself. It took me a little more than 4 hours to recover the MP loss but, by that time, I was good to go.

Crawling out of my hideout, I flew towards the spider hunting ground and began my –now- nightly ritual of hunting the Willow Spiders, eating them and then suffering from their poison. The hunting part was almost boring now, now that I had perfected the spider hunting technique; though the eating part was still enjoyable.

What was not enjoyable was the suffering that came after the eating part. It was not enjoyable in the least no matter what some blue screen said!

It was after I had gorged on my 11th spider that I felt the same heaviness that I had felt yesterday; the same laziness, nausea and the inability to move.

With more effort than it should have required, I crawled out of the hole and moved as far I could to vomit my hearts out; it kept coming on and on without stopping and when it finally did stop, it left such a bitter taste that I did not want to eat anymore.

Eating, which had been one of the pleasures in my last life, now had become a tiresome chore; one that I didn't want to do anymore. Still, it was not like I could stop; I couldn't if I wanted to survive in the Wild.

And I will to survive

Feeling more disgusted than I was ready to admit, I choked back the gag and hunted more of the spiders to eat. I hunted and I ate and I suffered yet no notification popped up in my line of vision. It was as if the notification was testing my resolve. Or something.

I wasn't really sure at this point.

So I continued to gorge; I just couldn't not. I had to eat more to level up my poison related sub-skill if I wanted to hunt higher ranked monsters. Which I did. I very much did. Hunting these lowly spiders was not only boring but also almost painfully unrewarding.

I sighed.

After a long time, the much awaited sub-skill level up notification popped up in existence. It just took 12 more spiders and one more too-full-to-walk-vomit to finally materialize and when it did, I almost cried in happiness.

Ting.

[Skill {Poison: Bug: Resistance Lv. 6} has leveled up to {Poison: Bug: Resistance Lv. 7}. The effect of the poison has been decreased.]

Ting.

[Skill {Poison Resistance Lv.7} has leveled up to {Poison Resistance Lv.8}. You can gain up to 8 sub-resistance skills.]

Dismissing the screens, I sighed with a smile. At least, I gained another level in the main {Poison Resistance} skill.

I grimaced when I noticed the position of the moon; I had almost no time left. It had taken me 7 hours to hunt, eat and suffer 22 spiders. And after the 4 hours I had spend meditating in the morning, I obviously didn't have much time left.

All of the spiders, by the way, had earned me just 5 levels. I shook my head in disappointment; the decreasing utility of spiders was increasingly annoying.

With nothing better to do, I headed towards the clearing to try to level up {Observe}. Landing on the same flower that I always did –which, btw, hadn't wilted yet- I began using the skill.

As I slowly made my way down my MP, my mind brought up the problem that I had to face today. I had to spend four hours meditating just to restore my MP because I had spent all my MP on restoring my HP. And if I didn't do things differently tonight, I will end up doing the same thing tomorrow.

So as my MP trickled away, I thought about ways to avoid the time leeching meditation. The very obvious thing to do would be to heal myself already in the night so that I don't have to do that tomorrow. But if I do that, I won't be able to spend MP on {Observe}, which was strict no-no.

I had to level up {Observe}.

Maybe a compromise would be effective. I could try restoring my MP once tonight and restore the rest tomorrow; this way I could cut down the meditation time from 4 hours to two. 'Hmm, that could work.'

Deciding to follow that very course of action, I stopped using {Observe} when I had just 20 points of MP left and headed to the hideout.

Crawling in, I settled down and used {Molting}.

Ting.

[-90 HP]

I cringed at the HP loss; that was a lot of HP to lose in one sitting. Grimacing, I used {Episkey} to restore my little bit of my MP.

Ting.

[-20 MP]

I sighed and closed my eyes. I needed to sleep.

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Night 19

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I woke up, with my body itching all over the place; something that I had come to associate with the skill {Molting}. The itching, in itself, wasn't bad but when combined with the tiredness that came with having an incomplete bar of HP, it turned into a rather petulant annoyance.

With a tired sigh, I checked my HP and MP; my HP read, [HP: 135/166] while my MP read, [MP: 60/66].

Irritated, I hastily used the spell, {Episkey}, to restore my HP bar and to cast away the tiredness and lethargy that had seeped in me over the passage of the day while I slept.

Ting.

[-20 MP]

As sluggishness left my body due to a complete bar of HP, I began to struggle and wiggle to free myself from the clutches of my shed skin. It was, weirdly, a tiresome process. My exuviate had grown harder with each increase in level of the skill.

I heaved a sigh of relief as exuviate was finally peeled off of my body. 'Ah, it feels so good.'

Finally out of my itchy shell, I closed my eyes to meditate; I still had 26 MP to recover.

It took me a little less than three hours to have my MP bar back at its initial capacity, something which annoyed me no end as it meant that plan to save time –unlike yesterday- hadn't worked as well as I had hoped it would.

Sure, it had saved me 2 extra hours of meditation but, that had turned out be nothing, as I had to meditate for almost three hours nonetheless because my MP capacity had increased and because my MP regeneration was pitiful.

Grumbling, I crawled out of the hideout and tried to look at the bright side of things. At least, I didn't spend 5 hours doing nothing but meditation, which I would have had to if I hadn't restored my HP once last night. Thank god for small mercies.

Flapping my wings, I took to the air, and reached the spider hunting ground.

I had planned something different for toady; well, not all that different, just a tad bit.

After the time it had taken me to hunt all the spiders last night, I was hoping to reduce the number of spider kills today by consuming two spiders at a time instead of one. I had been eating one spider at a time to be cautious of their poison, as it was a strong one, but now that my resistance to it had increased quite a bit, I believed, I could handle more than one spider at a time.

I really didn't want to be proven wrong this time.

So that was what I did. I hunted two spiders and ate them together. It changed the effects of poison quite a bit; it impacted me much more strongly than before and lasted for a longer time too.

As I continued to gorge on spider meat, I again hit the same roadblock I had been hitting for the past two days. Grimacing, I made my way out of the hole that I had been devouring spiders in and made it as far as possible; my lethargy making it almost impossible to move.

Once I was sure I could move no more, I began to vomit. I vomited the life out of me before I was finally done.

Tired and panting from the heave-ho, I stumbled and sat dow-

Ting.

[Title {Gourmand} gained.]

[Skill {Overdose Lv.1} gained.]

'Wha-!'

Shaking my head to clear my thoughts, I focused on the new title.

Ting.

[You will do anything to enjoy more and more food. Grants skill {Overdose Lv.1}]

I scowled. 'I do not consume and then vomit food because it is delicious –though, spider meat is indeed delicious but that is not the point- I do so because I wanted to level up my skill! Fucking blue screen.'

Still scowling, I focused on the skill.

Ting.

[Allows you to consume and store food within your body, without digesting it. The weight of the stored food is evenly distributed across your body. Current weight limit: 0/1000 g.]

I blinked.

And then I blinked again.

'Is it really saying what I think it is saying? Do I really not have to worry anymore about eating more food than my body can store? Will there be no more sloppiness and lethargy after devouring more food than I can possibly eat?'

As my thoughts finally settled down, I let out a laugh! 'Oh this is good, so good! I can eat more and more and will never have to worry about starving! Oh Poison resistance I am so coming for you!'

Grinning like loon, I turned around and began hunting spiders. As I was sneaking up on my 15th spide-

Ting.

[Skill {Stealth Lv. 2} has leveled up to {Stealth Lv. 3}. The chance of others overlooking your presence has been increased to 13%.]

Dismissing the notification, I continued with my hunt. It took me considerably less spiders than it had taken me last night –just 17- before I heard the tell tale sound.

Ting.

[Skill {Poison: Bug: Resistance Lv. 7} has leveled up to {Poison: Bug: Resistance Lv. 8}. Your resistance to this poison has increased.]

Dismissing the notification, I turned to look at the moon; it's calm illumination enveloped and soothed me.

I sighed. It had taken me almost 6 hours to hunt the 17 spiders and all that I had gained from it were just 4 levels, which, by the way, did cause me reach level 50.

With the goal of leveling up the poison resistance achieved, I took to air and flew towards the clearing. Landing on the flower I usually landed on -the beautiful white flower which was shaped like a chalice and had blue stems hanging out of it- I frowned. 'Why is the flower still alive? Shouldn't it have died by now?'

Ignoring the weird flower, I began using {Observe} to level it up but, just like last night, I left enough MP to use {Episkey} once later in the night.

I just begun making my way down my MP bar whe-

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Ting.

[Skill {Observe Lv. 5} has leveled up to {Observe Lv. 6}. You can now see the HP of the target.]

Grinning, I continued using the skill on things that I hadn't used it on before. Though the results varied a little, for which I was incredibly grateful; it proved that my decision to level up the skill was indeed a good one. The skill had now indeed begun to showcase the HP of the living targets.

When I had 20 MP left, I took to air again and headed back to the hideout, even though I had one hour left but, the thing was, I had nothing left to do.

Reaching the hideout, I crawled in before settling in. Grimacing, I used {Survive}.

Ting.

[-85 HP]

As weariness overcame me, I used {Episkey}.

Ting.

[-20 MP]

Satisfied that it was best I could do at the moment, I closed my eyes, ready to sleep.

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Night 20

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I woke up feeling mostly refreshed. Surprised at that turn of events, I checked my HP, and sure enough, it read, [HP: 156/170] while my MP read, [MP: 65/70].

I frowned.'65 MP? Shouldn't it be 60? Hmm. Oh. Right. I had an extra hour of sleep.'

Satisfied with my current HP level, I decided to forego the ritual of restoring my HP -as it was just 14 points short of full bar- and crawled out of the hideout. Stretching to get rid of the last bit of sluggishness, I flapped my wings and took to air for my morning ritual.

Reaching the spider hunting ground, I decided to spice up the things a little bit more, especially after last night's success, and decided to eat three spiders at a time.

This obviously increased the pain level quite considerably but, at the same time, the time span of the effect decreased. 'I guess the resistance is finally coming into play, huh.'

Anyway, I was creeping up on my 12th spider by sliding down the branc-

Ting.

[Skill {Slide Lv. 2} has leveled up to {Slide Lv. 3}. Slide speed has increased to 3x the speed of {Crawl Lv. Max}.]

Dismissing the notification, I continued with my hunt. It was when I had spent 4 hours hunting the spiders and had eaten 15 of them, that, I received the notific-

Ting.

[Skill {Poison: Bug: Resistance Lv. 8} has leveled up to {Poison: Bug: Resistance Lv. 9}. Your resistance to this poison had increased.]

Dismissing the notification, I grimaced. I had gained just 3 levels from the spiders. 'Am I really that much above them in food chain? How? I am just a moth!'

Grumbling in confusion, I settled down and tried to think about what to do with the rest of the day; after all, I had 8 hours of night left.

I had two options, I felt. First, I could –obviously- empty my MP bar by using observe and then use the next 7 hours to meditate and restore it, only to empty it again so that I could level up {Observe}. Or the second option of using that time to do something else; what that something else was, I had no idea at the moment.

The choice would been easy, so very easy, if it didn't involve sitting down for 7 fucking hours with eyes closed and basically doing nothing. Thus I chose the second option; I did not want to be in a cave doing nothing for the rest of the day.

Taking off, I decided to explore the areas that I hadn't touched before; I headed to the territory where I expected the water body to be.

I kept constant vigilance with both my skills, {Scent} and {Sensor}, active. I wanted to use {Stealth} but decided against it after remembering the last few times I had used it.

Cautiously, I flew towards the territory from where my antennas detected the most humidity. Twitching at every disturbance, I hurried through the foliage. It took me some time but I finally found the water boy; it was a river that ran through the forest.

Carefully, I soared near the water and took the sight in. There were a lot of animals and creatures around the river; some lived there while the rest where there just for a drink to quench their respective thirsts.

As I was looking around, my eyes fell on a particular species of frog that I killed before. Sure, it had almost killed me to do so, but I had killed it in the end. And sure, I did not have any previous plans for doing so but that was not the point. Shut up brain.

My poison had worked on that frog before, so that was not the problem; the problem was getting the poison in its system and keep doing that until it was dead. I, for sure, did not want to use the same method as the last time; I had no intention of feeling every part of my body broken and hurt. I was not a masochist. Thank you very much.

I thought about my skill and if there were any that could help me here; I came up with nothing that would just work on its own. Sure, I could use {Incendio} to barbeque it but the problem would be keeping it in one place.

I had no doubt that the frog was highly agile -it had to be if it was anything like Trevor- thus not for even a second did I believe that I could hit it while it was free; I wasn't stupid. Crazy maybe; for trying to hunt a creature that was my predator, but not stupid.

So if I wanted to hunt it, I had to do something to keep it in one place and the only thing that I could think of, which could do that, was trapping it. But in the body of a moth, there wasn't much that I could do. After all, it was more than a little hard to function without hands, fingers and opposable thumbs.

I sighed and again thought over my skill list, trying to find something of use. 'Hmm, I do have {Dig}.' I could use it. Yes, that could work. I would have to dig a hole, big enough -and deep enough- to hold the frog and when it would fall into that, it would be barbeque time!

But the problem would be making sure that the stupid frog falls into the trap; for that to happen, I would have to lure it somehow, which I didn't want to do considering what happened last time when it got too close for comfort.

I grimaced; that was not a particularly good memory. 'If only I had something I could use as a lure. Like Snape had.'

I frowned; theoretically, I could use Patronus charm –I had enough MP to cast it after all- but I seriously doubted that a frog, which was the size of an adult human's feet, would be lured by a hulking spiritual stag. 'If only I had something small…hmm.'

A plan formed in my mind.

I could use the spell {Lumos} to cast a small glowing ball of light but I didn't know whether that light ball would be attached to me –as it was when cast with a wand- or would it be freely floating. And even if it was floating freely, I wasn't sure I could control it enough –or at all- to use it as a lure. 'Well, I would never know if I won't even try.'

With another sigh, I flew back to my where my hideout was. If I was going to try experimenting with my magic; I was not going to do in an area filled with creatures that would consider me a tasty snack. No thank you; as I said, I wasn't stupid.

Reaching back to the hideout, I landed carefully near the entrance but instead of crawling in, I sat there and used the spell, {Lumos}.

Ting.

[-10 MP]

A small ball of light appeared right in front of my face; blinding me and ruining my night vision.

'Stupid fucking ball!'

Blinking furiously, I tried to direct the light away, which it thankfully did. I tried to maneuver it around, making it bump and jump, rush and float; I even tried moving it in other complex motions, all of which the ball of light did.

I grinned; this was good. I finally had my bait. Now I just have to find my prey. But before that, I needed to shut off the light; it would attract unwanted attention otherwise. 'Nox.'

Ting.

[-10 MP]

I scowled. 'This is ridiculous. Why does it cost me MP to call off a spell? How does that even work? Wha-! Why! Just why!'

Annoyed, I flapped my wings and took to air as I flew towards the river. Entering the unknown territory I carefully made my way to where I had seen the cluster of frogs. Noticing that they were still in same position, I backed off.

If I wanted to hunt the frogs, I needed my trap to be somewhere nearby their location but not at just their doorstep; that would be just asking for trouble. I wanted to hunt down the stray frog that roamed a little too far, not the entire bunch.

For the next hour, I searched for the perfect location; one that was neither too far, nor too close from the location of frogs and was nowhere in immediate vicinity of any other predator that might be lured by the smell of burnt flesh.

After an hour of search I sighed and decided on a spot that would have to do, even though it was far from perfect; there were predators everywhere. With a grimace, I began to dig. I was so glad for the skill {Dig}, at that moment, because in my moth body, I had a small mouth and if I didn't have the skill, it would taken me a lot of time to dig a frog size hole.

Still, it took me a decent amount of time as I had to dig constantly for 5 hours. Finishing up the job, I fought over what to do. 'Should I fill my trap with poison? Or should I not? Because if I do fill my trap with poison and then the frog does not die, the poison can hinder my flames by acting as a wet coat that will protect my prey. I do not want that.'

'But if I don't use it, I will be willfully neglecting my biggest advantage; which is just a stupid thing to do.' More than a little confused, I decided to go with poison. If it didn't kill the frog and acted as a deterrent to my fire, I could use the spell a second time; because I could do so now, now that I have restored the entirety of my MP bar –all 73 points of it- in the last 5 hours.

With 73 MP, I could use {Incendio} twice and {Lumos} once; though it would lead me being unable to snuff out the ball of light as I wouldn't be able to turn it off because I wouldn't have enough MP to use the spell {Nox}; which, again, was ridiculous.

Huffing, I began to collect leaves to layer the bottom of the pit so that my poison wasn't just absorbed by the mud. It took a lot of time to collect individual leaves and then set them in specific positions so that they could hold my poison. It was gut wrenching work in my current body, let me tell you, as it consumed another 2 hours.

With the leaves layering the bottom of the pit, I settled down and began secreting, as much as I could, both the poisons I was capable of creating. Just as I was finishing up wi-

Ting.

[Skill {Poison Creation Lv.4} has leveled up to {Poison Creation Lv.5}. You can create up to 5 poisons now.]

Dismissing the screen, I flew out and began hiding the entrance with leaves; after all, no one –not even stupid frogs- would jump into an open hole.

With my trap complete, I again used the spell {Lumos}, and created my lure, the ball of light.

Ting.

[-10 MP]

Flying up high, I slowly guided the ball to where a lone frog had wandered off to. As it floated eerily and inched towards the frog, I was reminded of Snape. Scowling, I tried to wipe that thought off of my mind. I did not need unpleasant distractions right now.

As the ball of light, my lure, came in line of sight of the frog, it –obviously- caught attention of its intended target.

The frog jumped and landed a little closer to the light. Tilting its head, it tried to understand what it was that was floating in front of it. Was it food? Was it not food? It didn't seem to be able to decide. To help the poor creature, I guided the light a little closer to the prey; trying to entice its curiosity.

And sure enough, I had its attention. The frog jumped again, this time landing a lot closer than before. I quickly, guided the light away from it and towards the trap. It tilted its head before, like lightning, its tongue shot out of its mouth towards the light.

I almost didn't have time to react and its tongue managed to graze the immaterial ball of light, before I finally managed to recoil it away from the frog. The frog jumped and tried to hit the light again but I successfully guided the light away and towards the trap.

The cat and mouse chase continued and slowly, the frog inched closer and closer towards the trap. Meanwhile, whenever the frog's tongue leaped out of its mouth, I tried to judge its reach and by the time my prey finally arrived at the trap, I had a rough idea.

Guiding the light past the trap, I positioned it so that it would only be in frog's reach if my prey tried from just above the trap. Positioning the light, I waited. And just as I had expected, the frog jumped and landed on the pile of leaves, which hid the pitfall, before falling down the hole.

There was thud and a splash before a screech echoed from down the hole. My poison had begun its work.

Cautiously, I made my way towards the trap, as the frog continued to hiss and screech.

I was afraid that the noise it was making would attract other predators. Deciding to end this once and for all, I reached to the edge of the hole and used the spell, {Incendio}.

Ting.

[-30 MP]

A small ball of heat formed in front of my face before flames after flames leapt out of it and raced down the hole. The screeching increased, incredibly, as the fire hit the frog before they turned to screams of pain. After a moment, it abruptly came to stop.

Ting.