Drip. Drip.
Water continued to trickle down into the sewers from the world above, each drop echoing loudly through the darkness and onto the metal pipes below, crafting a rather spooky scene.
I crawled, or rather, walked on four feet, along one such metal pipe. Moving around in such a way still felt incredibly awkward. Especially this damn tail... it just seems to drag in the dirt, always finding some way to hit the sharpest damn stones.
Yeah, this is going to get annoying fast.
It was kind of like this new life, really. You expect a gallant steed and instead get a bad-tempered old donkey. The only silver lining in this whole fiasco was that this "donkey," and by donkey, I mean the body I now inhabited, still retained a few useful memories from its previous life. One of them, perhaps the most useful so far, was a certain memory about this tunnel. Without it, that dog back in the village would have ripped me apart.
Thinking about that village, I couldn't help but let out a breath of cold air. Those people really wanted to kill me.
Why?
Because, according to this little guy's memories, and by little guy I mean the previous owner of this body, had somehow managed to get into the village's food stores. Not only did he eat a good amount of them, but he also spoiled even more by taking a dump on top of their grains.
Yeah, he really had a talent for making friends.
Due to this, I could understand the anger shown towards me in the village. However, just because I understand it, it doesn't mean that I forgive their attempt at mashing my brains in with rolling pins!
Someday, I would definitely have my revenge. Especially against that little ginger nugget of a kid, that kids on my list for sure.
That day may not be today, it may not be tomorrow, but it'll come in the end. I'm a very patient person when it comes to revenge you know?
But right now, as a... what the hell am I anyway?
*Ding*
A weird game-like noise sounded inside my head as if to answer the question, accompanied by a light in the bottom right corner of my vision. Looking towards this strange phenomenon, it suddenly expanded outwards:
[Character Status Menu]
Name: Damian
Race: Scrittle
Stage: Juvenile (1/3)
Level: 1/3 (0/50 Experience Points)
Evolution Points: 0
Health Points (HP): 4/4
Stamina: 2.2/4
Attack: 6
Defence: 5
[Attributes]
Strength (STR): 1.2 | F-
Dexterity (DEX): 7.9 | F-
Constitution (CON): 1 | F-
Intelligence (INT): 11 | F
Willpower (WIL): 4.1 | F-
Charisma (CHA): 0.2 | F-
[Comprehensive Rating]
Total Combat Power: 25.4
Overall Grade: F-
I sat in a daze, blinking several times. Wait, so the earlier blessing wasn't a trick? This things real?
Looking at the screen that didn't vanish, some of my earlier suspicions of Ludus eased 'slightly.' However, the fact remains that I wasn't some dream-like race that would give me an advantage in this world. Apparently, I was just a weird little creature called a Scrittle.
Images of a certain sweet from earth popped into my mind at the mention of the name. Those sweets were pretty tasty, but who the hell wants to turn into something similar in name to them?!
Letting out a long breath through my new furry nose, I moved my eyes to the stats. F- across the board, apart from intelligence, that is, which I figured is because of my human past?
The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.
Let's be honest here: These stats are absolute garbage. The lowest of the low. And as a gamer, I felt insulted just looking at them. Especially that charisma value.
You actually gave me a 0.2 in charisma?
Really?
Even a rock has more than that!
Ludus is probably watching this whole scene right about now, laughing his head off at my reaction. Assholes like him are all the same. They trick you with their words and then sit back and enjoy the show.
I don't know why I even trusted that guy.
He didn't even include a tutorial or any damn explanation for this system, either. I'd already tried all kinds of ways to examine certain parts of it, but things didn't seem to work that way. There were no descriptions of what evolution points were or how to get them, and the stages could only be guessed at.
I did have certain ideas, like for experience. Most people would know how that works, and the stages might change while gaining levels? But other than that, there was really nothing. I would just have to try and investigate it myself later on.
But, for now, all I could do was move on.
My journey into the sewers soon began with the awkward clattering of clawed feet. I could tell that this place hadn't been used in ages. Tons of strange plants and vines crept along the walls, digging into rocks and puddles filled with... I don't want to know. However, the worst thing about this place wasn't that, not by a long shot.
It was those disgusting things called bugs. The detested, dirty abominations of nature.
These bugs weren't your average variety, either. Oh no, these things were freakishly huge! Each of them had a red exoskeleton, large mandibles, six little legs that skittered through the dirt, and antennae on their foreheads, which they used to... feel things?
Anyway, to cut a long story short, I hate bugs. They are repulsive little things that freak me out, especially spiders. And these particular ones were rather aggressive looking and similar in size to me! So now I'm left in a rather awkward situation since they block the only path forward.
Should I try and sneak past them?
Hmm, no, there could be more of them further down.
The chance of encountering an entire colony after bypassing the first three felt way too high to ignore. I'd be surrounded and trapped in the centre, meat on a plate for a huge pack of ravenous insects. Just the thought of getting eaten alive gave me the shivers.
No thanks!
Then, I guess I have no choice but to fight them. How, you might ask? Well, I'm still trying to figure that out. I certainly wasn't idiotic enough to believe that I could take them head-on in a fight, that's for sure. Look at the size of those mandibles on their heads. Wouldn't that simply be another form of suicide?
No, I need to be smart about this. Sneaky, even. Traps are a possibility, but then, wouldn't the best way be through some kind of ambush? Or better yet, a combination of the two.
Yeah, that sounds like a good plan.
Well... first things first.
I've gotta find a good spot. Everything depends on finding a good spot.
With this in mind, I began to examine various places within the tunnel. There were plenty of complicated rocky formations and plants, so I had a good selection of choices.
The question is... which one would be the best choice for me?
A couple of minutes flew by like this, various locations inspected before my eyes, until finally, they landed upon a particular piece of rocky terrain with a narrow choke point, as well as various small stones across the floor nearby. Maybe one of these stones could lure an insect out and away from the group?
Hmm... that works. At least if I did that, I could separate them from the others, right? They're already pretty scattered as it is, so the odds should be in my favour.
Not wanting to waste any more time, I Grabbed a few of the nearby rocks and shifted my position closer to the choke point in a nice little shaded area. Keeping low to the floor in an attempt at stealth. Admittedly, my attempt sucked, but I had a damn tail and claws that kept hitting against things...
[Proficiency gained]
A system message dinged, but things were about to get a bit dangerous, and I needed to concentrate.
Thankfully, the stupid insects still didn't notice my clumsy manoeuvres.
So I took a moment to calm down, exhaling a large amount of the musty air before I finally threw one of the stones away from me. The target was on the edge of a particular rock formation, away from where two of the other bugs were currently loitering around.
*Bang*
When the rock made impact, the bug's antennae twitched, and its head slowly raised. Standing there for a couple of seconds, tapping around with both feet as if in hesitation. At least, it seemed that way anyway.
The next moment, he finally took the bait.
But there wasn't any caution like I expected. Instead, this guy let out a low screech and bulldozed his way over, totally oblivious to everything else around him.
I felt my strange new mouth twitch at the corners as the scene unfolded. This guy was dumber than a sack of rocks. I mean, there's no fear or cautiousness... hell, I could just dig a hole, and he'd run right in!
My grin got bigger and bigger at the idea. And why shouldn't I do exactly that? This insect would probably kill me in a heartbeat if given the chance. Look at the way he's searching around, gnashing those mandibles.
He obviously wants trouble.
And seeing as I have a handy pair of claws nowadays, why not give it to him? These things were practically made for digging, after all. Oh, how I wanted to let out an evil laugh, but that would have to wait until later.
There was still a hole to dig.
As for the location... I think this place should do well.
I snook over to an area a bit away from the pipe, where there was less rocky ground, and started digging. The dirt didn't offer much in the way of resistance, maybe because it's already damp?
Still, these claws are really useful... and the whole digging things actually kind of addictive, I must say. Maybe it's because I now inhabit the body of a Scrittle, but the deeper I get, the more satisfying it feels.
Every now and again, I would go up to the surface to check on the insect. However, it seems that my worries were for nothing. This dumb creature still poked around the same rock I threw earlier.
How long does that make it? Five minutes?
...Anyhow, I think this hole is deep enough now. Once Mr. Insect goes in, he won't be coming back out anytime soon, or rather, ever. I could say this with certainty after a single glance at those weak ass legs holding his huge body up. That exoskeleton must be mighty heavy indeed.
Now, the only thing left was to deploy the bait.
Normally, that would mean me. But since I'm in a dangerous world where all kinds of things could happen against my will, I decided to err on the side of caution and stick to the stone.
Why expose myself when the opponent was a reckless insect without a single brain cell?
So, getting into a good position, I repeated my earlier actions while hiding away in the dark. My heart beat rapidly in preparation in case anything went wrong—something always goes wrong.
Yet, apparently not... since the insect did exactly the same thing again. It ran over, screaming like a little bitch, except this time, he encountered a huge hole and fell in headfirst. Its little legs desperately clawing against the dirt on the way down.
It felt almost comical how easy everything went.
My smirk turned into a low chuckle, the sound squeaky and strange.
Walking closer to the pit, I could see my prey hissing and screeching as he desperately tried to get out. The fear and anger in his eyes tasted similar to a sweet nectar to me. Especially when I remembered that this guy would give me experience points.
"Don't blame me. Blame your own stupidity." I squeaked out, knowing that he probably didn't understand. Then, I turned towards the earlier prepared pile of dirt.
This was the finishing touch. A good old burying.