“Hmm…” An incoherent thought passes through my mind. I am dreaming about something, but I can’t be bothered to figure it out.
“So tired…” I think to myself, before falling asleep again.
***
Soon enough, I wake up again. This time, I feel that it’s rather tight in here.
Annoying!
I start pushing against the walls around me. It doesn't take long before I hear a noise.
CRACK!
Woah! That was cool. I'd better do it again!
CRACK! CRACK! CRACK!
I break out of the walls entirely; Its pieces are near my feet, but I don’t look at it. My senses are overloaded! I can see and hear and touch and feel so many things! But before I can take it in, I feel something warm touching the top of my head!
“Skreeeee!”
I look up, to see a giant, black thing. It’s rubbing its head against me! But it feels so nice.
“Skreeeee…”
I feel really safe. Mama is so nice! Wait, mama? What’s a mama? My thoughts are interrupted with more walls breaking sounds around me. A bunch of small mamas are surrounding me! Mama is so happy that her tail keeps hitting the floor!
***
After seeing that the small mamas hatched, Mama started moving away and then stopped to look at us. I think she wants us to follow her.
“Skree~” she said softly.
I quickly run and stop behind her tail. Seeing my lead, the others follow me. Then Mama suddenly starts climbing the wall! How am I supposed to follow?!
“Skreeeeeee…….” I wheeze sadly.
But if Mama can do it, so can I! I move towards the wall, and I put my paws on it. I start to get a feel for it, and I figured out how to stick to it!
“Skreeeeeee!” I hiss excitedly!
I quickly follow Mama. Again, my siblings follow in my footsteps. Before I knew it, we approached the ceiling, which has an open crack that could fit us. Mama goes through, then her head peeks at us, urging us to follow.
We end up making it through, and what I see makes all thoughts disappear from my head.
“It’s so huuuuuuuge!!!” I am shocked! I thought Mama was large, but I can’t even see the ceiling or the walls! As I spend time in shock, someone pushes me aside. It’s one of my siblings!
“Skree…” it hisses smugly. You stinky poo-poo! You’ll pay for that! Just as I was about to teach him (or her? I don’t know! What's the difference anyway?) a lesson, Mama starts moving. We all follow her. We slither between rocks for quite some time, until Mama stops. We end up staring at a bunch of brown things.
What are they?
The world just wouldn't stop bombarding me with new things to figure out.
Suddenly, something shows up in my head!
[Appraisal Lv.1] Unlocked!
[Bug]
[Bug]
[Bug]
[Bug]
Huh? What's all this stuff covering my eyes?!
For some reason, the neat scribbles and scratches make sense to me. As I was busy figuring out what they said, Mama leaped forward! In a few moments, Mama struck all the brown things with her paws! She then gestured for us to come over with her tail, then start eating the brown things. Excited, we run towards the 'bug' things as well. I am starving!
***
Mama took us to find more groups of the tasty food thingies. Again, she struck at a group of them. Just as we were about to follow, disaster struck! A black, eight-legged creature jumped on Mama and sunk its teeth in her!
“SKREEEEE!!!” Mama yelled!
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She suddenly began twitching and couldn’t move. The creature then started climbing a white stringy thing, carrying mama with it! Enraged, my siblings, led by my smug sibling, ran after it!
Unlike them, I was rooted to my spot. I was terrified! Mama, who was so strong, was taken down so quickly!
Paying me no heed, my siblings climbed to follow the creature, they began to slow down. Suddenly, they couldn’t move! I watched as the creature slowly approached my siblings, who were stuck on the white stringy things, get bitten by the creature and slowly meet their end. I looked to mother, and my siblings, then at the creature. It looked back.
[Lizard]
[Lizard]
…
[Lizard]
[Spider]
[Appraisal Lv. 1] leveled up to [Appraisal Lv. 2]!
[Abyssal Lizard]
[Black Hunter Spider]
I quickly turned around and ran away, terrified.
Eventually, I was back in the crack in the floor where mother hid.
“Skreeeeee…” I whimpered.
Mama and all my siblings died so quickly. Shame quickly filled me, the cowardice that allowed my family to die crushing my soul. It quickly faded and gave rise to fury. How dare that thing kill Mama!
“SKREEEEEEEEE!!” I wailed.
That thing is going to pay! But I realized that if even Mama couldn’t kill it, I can’t either!
I needed to get stronger. It was time to make a plan!
***
Now that I’ve calmed down, I need to think about how I am going to take revenge on the Black Hunter Spider. For some reason, I seem to be a lot smarter than Mama and my siblings. More of a pansy too. I also have this weird thing in my head called Appraisal. It’s useless now, but when it ‘leveled up’, it showed me a more specific name. Mother and my siblings had the [Abyssal Lizard] things above their heads, while the spider had [Black Hunter Spider]. Maybe if I use Appraisal on stuff, it’ll improve again! [Appraisal]!
[Wall]
[Floor]
[Rock]
[Rock]
…
[Rock]
“…Well, that was useless. Maybe I need to use it on other creatures to make it level up faster?” I pondered.
“No, that’s too dangerous. Right now, I can’t afford to go out again. What if something like that spider shows up and eats me?! Better to just stay here and get Appraisal to improve again. I’ve got time.”
***
In a few minutes, I got what I was waiting for!
[Appraisal Lv. 2] leveled up to [Appraisal Lv. 3]!
“YESSSS!!!"
Now that I got it, it should show me more detailed information. You won't disappoint me, will you?!
Appraisal!
[Obsidian Wall]
[Obsidian Rock]
[Obsidian Ceiling]
Well, that was not as useful as I thought. I have no clue what this obsidian stuff is!
Just as I was about to give up on this skill and try to get something else to level up, I came up with a brilliant idea.
“I wonder what I’ll see if I use appraisal on myself… Only one way to find out!"
Appraisal!
[Abyssal Lizard]
Name: N/A
[Level 1]
EXP: 0/50
HP: 15/15
SP: 10/10
MP: 5/5
Vitality: 3
Strength: 1
Dexterity: 5
Intelligence: 2
Wisdom: 1
Racial Traits:
[Claw Strike]
[Night Vision]
[Wall-Climbing]
[Lesser Regeneration]
Skills:
[Appraisal Lv. 3]
Titles:
[Sapient Monster]
Minutes later, after I picked up my jaw from the floor, I started to think about the menu in front of me. Can I use Appraisal on the menu items as well? It’s worth a shot!
[Abyssal Lizard]
A monster that is found in the top layer of the Unfathomable Abyss, and near the bottom of its food chain. Only known for its regenerative abilities. Rank F creature.
[Level]
Higher levels lead to greater power. Represents progress to the next evolution.
[EXP]
Crystallization of experiences; Reaching the experience limit allows for level ups.
[Vitality]
Represents endurance. Increases in vitality translate to greater resistance to the elements, strengthened life-force, and improvements in other related traits.
[Strength]
Represents physical power. Increases in strength translate to greater damage dealt by physical attacks, increased carry weight, and improvements in other related traits.
[Dexterity]
Represents finesse. Increases in dexterity translate to more precise movements, quicker reactions, and improvements in other related traits.
[Intelligence]
Represents magic power. Increases in intelligence translate to greater damage dealt by magic attacks, quicker cast speeds, and improvements in other related traits.
[Wisdom]
Represents strength of connection to the divine. Increases in wisdom translate to greater damage and strength of incantations, quicker accumulation of piety, and improvements in other related traits.
[Racial Trait]
Abilities that are inherent in a species. May change as creature levels up or evolves.
[Claw Strike]
Basic claw attack. Damage dealt relies on the strength attribute.
[Night Vision]
Allows user to see better in areas with little light.
[Wall-Climbing]
Allows user to attach to climb vertical surfaces.
[Lesser Regeneration]
When out of combat, restore 1 HP every 20 minutes. Every 2 hours, 1% chance to regenerate a missing limb.
[Skill]
Special abilities possessed by living creatures. Earned through level ups, evolutions, titles, and other means.
[Appraisal]
Learn information about a creature or object. Can be obstructed by other effects.
[Title]
Earned through renown or feats, titles grant their owner special effects.
[Sapient Monster]
For some reason, you are a sapient monster. Whether that is a good thing depends on how you see it!
...
What is this? Who said you could dump all that stuff into my brain! How am I supposed to remember any of that?! Is this place called the Unfathomable Abyss? What is a Rank F Creature? What's a food chain, and why am I at the bottom of it? What does sapient mean?!
"SKREEEEEE!" I bellowed, my hands on my head.
I feel a splitting headache approaching...