I heard a ding.
Uuuuggg, five more minutes.
The ding sounded again. This time, I recognized it through my morning brain fog, the System.
“Level up, +1 to Lunar Scale Dust Level.”
“Level up, +1 to Moon Silk Level.”
I’m up, I’m up! I jumped to my feet, looking at the message. I must’ve fainted before I got this notification.
Wait, I was asleep!
I checked my EP.
EP: Green (Days to live 5/7)
Gah, more wasted time! And I'm only LV 3. How am I going to get seven levels in five days? I started grooming my Antenna with my legs instinctively… which surprisingly helped calm me down, ok Bug Jacob one point for you.
As I continued grooming my Antenna, I thought through what I could do, so I pulled up Lunar Scale Dust to see how it changed.
Lunar Scale Dust
LV 2/3
0/5
Ok, so nothing much.
I then turned my attention to my Mutation points, selecting them. No new mutations showed up, and I couldn’t mutate any body part unless I wanted to waste another day.
So are they just useless for now?
Then something caught my attention, just under my body parts, a different section also lit up when I selected Mutation points.
Mutation Points: 5
HP: Green
Lv: 1
Use 2 MuP to level up?
MP: Green
Lv: 6
Use 4 MuP to level up?
EP: Green (Days to live 5/7)
Lv: 3
Use 2 MuP to level up?
Oh, how had I not noticed this? I blame not having Moth Adderall for my ADHD, well, it doesn’t matter now.
I mentally clicked on EP and HP to confirm a level up. I didn’t want to get one shot as easily, and I was hoping that leveling up EP would maybe extend my life. Only after that did I realize what I did and had a small panic attack.
Was I going to waste another day! Oh, dear God, I'm so stupid. Why didn’t I think of that!
I paced around in my crevice, waiting for sleep to overtake me… but nothing happened. I looked at my stats again.
Mutation Points: 1
HP: Green
Lv: 2
Use 2 MuP to level up?
MP: Green
Lv: 6
Use 4 MuP to level up?
EP: Green (Days to live 5/7)
Lv: 4
Use 4 MuP to level up?
Oh, thank God! Leveling up those didn’t take time, and I have a use for MuP, instead of just letting it rot. But it was still a shame about not being able to mutate my body. After discovering what my Moon Silk could do, having something like Robust or Complex Silk Production would’ve been a big boon.
But I had to do with what I had, and I started forming a plan in my head on how to level as fast as possible. What should be my targets? The Ants, they’re numerous, and I know the most about them, wouldn’t want a repeat of that salamander attack. And I probably shouldn’t do a siege again, considering how it went last time.
Hit and run would probably do better. I wouldn’t be able to get as many ants as I wanted, but I also wouldn’t have to deal with those Flying Soldiers. Also, those were weird.
The only ants from back home that had wings were the royal ants. So, like, were those the Princes and Princesses of the Colony?
Well, that fact didn’t particularly matter; what did was that when they arrived, I would have to make a break for it when they did. It irked me that I had to; I wanted to see the life drain those little buggers, pun intended. But I also didn’t want to die; that was usually a deciding factor for me.
I stood up, flying off to start my plans. First, I tried to find something better than a Rain Raven. But they were just really good at what I wanted to do. Other animals had magical abilities, but they were all either too short ranged to be useful or too powerful for me to take over.
So I settled with my old friend the Rain Raven, naming them Huginn V2, and Muninn V2, the other three being Expendable 2-4. And they did their jobs wonderfully. We were all highly mobile, so we could make a break for it easily.
And by the afternoon, I had gained a level from half a dozen encounters, I was simultaneously happy and disappointed. Because I was definitely sure that my minions had killed more than during the siege, confirming the XP curve.
I was expecting that to be, but it would mean I would have to keep changing my tactics to kill more and more as I leveled.
I was grooming my antenna in agitation while my Raven engaged in the 7th battle of the day, safely hiding above in the tree canopy.
I couldn’t be completely separated from the battle, since I confirmed that getting too far away would destroy my control over my minions. But this was better than being in the middle of the battle. And during this time, my thoughts wandered.
I wonder how my brother, Boe, is doing. Last I heard of him, he was still taking care of my Great Uncle Jacob. The man was in his 80s, so it wasn’t a surprise. My mother had decided to do it first while I was in high school, and God, it was a nightmare living with that old racist fuck.
For the last two years of high school, I had to deal with being called Jake by my family because “He was named first”. And after my mom died from catching Covid from one of her patients, my Uncle just got worse, saying stuff about how “The government gave it to her”.
I don’t know how Boe dealt with it, but after I graduated, I just got my own place, going no contact. It was easiest with my Dad, nothing to cut in the first place. My Uncle was easy too, he didn’t even know how to use a cellphone. And my brother… well, I don’t think he wants to speak to me after our last conversation.
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Why am I even thinking about this? We can’t contact each other even if we wanted to now.
Then my Antenna picked up on something moving towards the battle. It wasn’t the Flying Soldiers; the smell was different, and from what I could tell, it was a lot bigger. Then it came into view, it seemed like it was a mountain compared to me and the ants, it had a weird, long snout and wicked looking claws.
It casually waltzed into the middle of the battlefield, and from its long snout, a foot-long tongue emerged, picking up ants and devouring them.
Then I recognized it, a Giant Anteater! It was dealing with the ants by the legion with just a single stroke of its tongue. Then I sensed the Flying soldier coming in, I recalled the Ravens, but I didn’t leave myself. I wanted to see if it could deal with them.
The Flying Soldiers came in, metaphorical guns blazing. Landing on it and slowly chomping past its thick fur, but it didn’t seem bothered as it kept lapping up ants. Then, the next moment, a flash of light blinded me for a moment, and when my vision returned. I saw the Flying Soldiers on the ground.
Heaps of corpses covering the ground, the smell of their death Pheromone overwhelming. But there was another smell just below it, ozone.
Was that Lightning?! Holy hell, I have to get that thing in my arsenal!
I sensed another swarm of Flying Soldiers coming, this one more than twice as big as the last. I decided to leave at that point to keep from getting caught up, plans forming inside my head. Then I heard two dings from the system.
“Level up, +1 to Stealth Level.”
“Congratulations, you’ve fulfilled the condition to gain the skill ‘Appraisal’, would you like to accept? Yes or no.”
OOO
I checked over my status again.
Just one more time, and that’ll be it.
Species: Lunar Scale Moth
Level 4/10 till Evolution
Antenna: Basic
Wings: Quick
Tarsus: Basic
Abdomen: Basic
HP: Green
Lv: 2
MP: Green
Lv: 6
EP: Green (Days to live 4/7)
Lv: 4
Core Skills: 2/5
Lunar Scale Dust
LV 2/3
5/5
Moon Silk
LV 1/3
Locked
Locked
Locked
Gained Skills: 2/3
Stealth
LV 2/5
Appraisal
LV 0/5
Everything was fine… but just in case, I'll checked it again.
Then my Antenna picked up on the Anteater moving nearby. I looked up, the sun was at its noon position, I looked down and saw the Ant mound.
It wasn’t the main one; I hadn’t found that yet. And I knew that all of the ant mounds in the region were part of one super colony because all of them were the same species. And when ants that came from different mounds encountered each other, they started working together instead of warring.
And the flying soldier never came from these mounds; they always came from somewhere else. My current theory was that there was a main mound that the Flying Soldier came from. This suspicion formed when I noticed they always came and returned from the same direction, all of them coming from one place. Which took a while to figure out, but that gave me information on where the main mound possibly was.
Like I said before, I haven’t figured out where it was exactly, but from my observations, this specific mound was far from the main one. Meaning it would take a while before the Flying Soldiers would come.
Then an Anteater came out of the brush, heading for the Ant mound, digging at it with their claws, then sticking their tongue in. I used my new skill Appraisal to see its status.
Tempest Ant Eater
HP: Green
Lv: 9
MP: Green
Lv: 15
EP: Green
Lv: 7
I found it kinda annoying that Appraisal gave me more information about random creatures than Lunar Scale Dust did about my own minions. But never mind that.
This Anteater must’ve been young, judging from its MP level, and based on my rough calculations, it could only use its lightning three times. But that was good for me.
While it was distracted, I sent Expendable 2 down to attack it, pecking at it violently. The Ant Eater shrilled at the pain and used its lightning, the Rain Raven falling to the ground, smoking.
Then I sent Expendable 3 to do the same thing, but apparently the Anteater didn’t do repeat performances. It slammed into the side of a tree to get the bird off, succeeding, but the Raven just landed on it again and went back to pecking.
Then I had an idea, I had Expendable 3 direct the Anteater so it was facing a sudden dip in the ground. Then the Raven landed on its back, and the Anteater, trying to get it off, ran into the drop, falling onto its back.
This was good enough.
I flew out of my hiding spot, hovering over the fallen creature, using Lunar Scale Dust on it. The expected “Too High Level to Enslave” message popped up, then I used Appraisal on it again.
Tempest Ant Eater
HP: Green
Lv: 9
MP: Yellow
Lv: 15
EP: Green
Lv: 7
Lunar Scale Enslavement Status: Red
I’d tested this out before; I'd have to get that status to Green. And right now, it was having a hell of a time trying to get back on its feet, I checked its status again impatiently.
Lunar Scale Enslavement Status: Orange
Mentally, I was giggling like a mad scientist, but while I was distracted, it had gotten up and looked straight at me.
For some reason, creatures could always tell I was the one at fault for attempting to subjugate them. Then I noticed the smell of ozone in the air.
Oh, screw you!
Lightning crackled for a moment before it burst out. It didn’t head directly for me; electricity always went the direction of least resistance. And I was a decent distance away, but not far enough.
A small finger of electricity connected, paralyzing me for a second, making every muscle in my insect body go lacks. I was falling through the air before I regained control of my body, and I frantically fluttered away. Checking my HP along the way.
HP: Red
Lv: 2
My circulatory system went wild when I saw it, but I didn’t have much time to process my fourth near-death experience of the week. I sensed Flying Soldiers close by. I went back to my hiding spot, letting my four remaining Ravens circle above.
The Flying Soldiers flew in and immediately started attacking the Anteater. While they were preoccupied, I took the opportunity to use Appraisal on the Ants out of curiosity.
Junior Prince Cutter Ant
HP: Green
Lv: 4
MP: Green
Lv: 2
EP: Green
Lv: 10
So they were Royal Ants, Junior ones… I did not want to see an army of Adults.
But I didn’t have to worry about this batch of Prince’s growing up, as they were all electrocuted by the Anteater. I checked its status with Appraisal.
Tempest Ant Eater
HP: Green
Lv: 9
MP: Black
Lv: 15
EP: Yellow
Lv: 7
Lunar Scale Enslavement Status: Orange
It started to wobble, like when I had run low on mana, then it fell over unconscious. I used this opportunity to fly down and continue by Subjugation, seeing the status slowly rise from Orange to Yellow. Then, in the distance, I could smell another swarm of Princes heading for the Anteater.
Come on, come on, I know you can do it, Lunar Scale Dust, just go a bit faster!
But it didn't, so I sent Expendable 3 out to distract them, quickly getting a notification of the bird's death. But it gave me enough time to see the Subjugation go from Yellow to Green.
Then, the Junior Princes arrived. I threw my three remaining Ravens at them.
Then I attached a strand of Moon Silk to the Tempest Anteater. I didn’t take its skill; I didn’t have enough mana to use it, even if I was topped up. Instead, I did something else that Bug Jacob was telling me to do. I pushed through the silk instead of pulling.
Giving the Anteater my mana, only enough to get it into the Red, though, that alone took half of my mana. While it was standing up, I subjugated some ground ants, making them confuse the swarm.
Then me and the Anteater ran off, thick as thieves, unpursued by the Junior Princes. Having been distracted by the Ravens, and being lied to by members of their own colony about what even happened.
And I took the sweet pleasure of cackling maniacally in my head as we made off.
