Shell 3 woke up and, after thinking about it, realized that the 'System' hadn't changed anything for him, did it? While it described what he could do, the only thing it had changed was standing on two feet. While standing up on two feet was a change, and he did have to get used to moving like this, it was not a life-altering thing.

The little part of his mind that had awakened after he had learned about the 'System' disagreed. Now it whispered in his mind, "Changed many things have, Acupuncturist you are, kill you shall." Shell 3 did not feel that this part of his mind was him, it sounded different, and he didn't want to kill anything. Maybe he should be more worried about this part of his mind than the 'System.'

Shell 3 decided he did not need to act as if anything had changed other than walking on two feet. So he did what he thought was most important, finding food.

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An unassuming rat looked at a shelled creature with a gleam of hunger in its eyes. It had remembered that shelled creature. When the shelled creature was knocked out, it thought it was dead and did not want to eat a potentially hazardous corpse. So the rat left the shelled creature alone. Now it found the shelled creature perfectly fine, wandering around without a care. This creature had cheated him out of his lunch! The rat crept behind the shelled creature. Today that shelled creature would not escape, and the rat's stomach would be filled for the first time in its life.

The rat didn't know this, but Shell 3 didn't have much meat. He was mainly shell, so there was no chance of filling its stomach.

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As Shell 3 walked around and moved from shadow to shadow, he sometimes heard a small crack or sniffle behind him, but whenever he turned around, there was nothing to see. Maybe he imagined it, but he felt something was following him. He might have dismissed this before, but many weird things had happened throughout the last two sun cycles, and being followed in a forest full of hungry predators was not unreasonable. Who knows, this might be the most normal thing that had happened to him in the past two sun cycles!

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After wandering around for some time, he found some food. There was grass! Shell 3 turned his whole body toward the grass, and a second later, he heard a loud crunching noise as something slammed into his shell. He whirled around to find what had disturbed his reunion with his beloved friend, the grass. He saw a stick-thin, dirty, mangy creature barely bigger than him.

This thing dared disturb his first taste of grass since he entered the forest! Something deep inside of him snapped, and information flooded his brain. The creature leaped at him, but this time he was ready. He summoned a needle into his hand and jabbed it into the animal's chest just before it impacted him. Nothing happened; the creature slammed into him as Shell 3 sunk down and took the blow. That was ok, this was just the start.

The rat kept on leaping at him. He stabbed it in a specific area with his needle, and the creature jumped again. The fight now looked like someone kept playing the same small part of the fight repeatedly. After what felt like millions of sun cycles later, the rat started to tire, fatigue was not only setting in, but everything was getting sluggish as the rat's vision started to blur. What was happening?

Shell 3 finally knew how to fight. He did not know how he knew. He just knew. Thinking about how he got this new knowledge could come later after the battle was done. Finally, his master plan was almost complete. One final poke and... done. Each jab had purposefully pierced a nerve cluster. Virtually all these connective strikes led to the mangy creature getting paralyzed. With his last strike, Shell 3 stabbed it through the heart.

After the creature had died, multiple 'System' messages popped up in front of his vision.

You have slain a Forest Rat, Experience gained

You have Leveled Up, +2 Tough, +2 Control, +1 Speed

Skill Summon Soulbound Needle has Leveled Up to Level 2

Skill Acupuncture has Levels Up to Level 2

Shell 3 felt himself become thicker, harder, faster, and more controlled. He flexed his fingers as each became more limber and quicker to move. He sprinted for the first time in his life. His legs propelled him forward to speeds he had never dreamed about. The 'System' had done it. Maybe it was more valuable than he had thought.

As Shell 3 wandered away, the weird part of his mind woke up again and whispered in his thoughts, "Welcome to the System, my padawan. Weak you are now, strong you will become with training from us."

Shell 3 paused and asked that part of his brain a question, "How can you train me? I know anything you know. You are just a weird part of me that developed with the start of the 'System.' You will most likely dissipate into my other thoughts, and I will forget about you in a few sun cycles."

That part of his brain replied with a "Talk we must, sit down you should."