The Malfae which had grown familiar to the dangers of the Wild once again woke up to cracks echoing in its home. Its drowsy gaze landed on nothing special but its eggs hatching as the little caterpillars fought for their freedom. Such familiarity wasn’t anything unusual amongst immortals as their world was a cruel place where only the fittest survived. Immortals that didn’t develop such a basic necessity was not an immortal for long.

The blue creature sluggishly yawned before it experimentally flapped its wings to wake itself up. Not long after that, it took flight with the last night's hatchling in its arms and dropped off the bug at the same tree it had last time. The [Reincarnated] checked the tree for predators before it arrived back at the crevice and waited for the rest of the hatchlings to crawl out of their shell. It didn’t have to wait long as out of the 5 remaining eggs, 3 hatched.

No sooner had the caterpillars crawled out of their eggs that the Malfae's stomach suddenly burned from a piercing hunger which caused it to momentarily lose control of its body and fall. Pained groans escaped its purple lips as bile rose in the back of its throat. However, with each passing moment, the sharp hunger's edge dulled and the [Survivor] was able to realise that the pain didn't belong to it. It was just the intimate familiarity of the creature with the [Hungry] induced hunger that the abrupt agony had thrown it back to its own time as a caterpillar.

Although the [Survivor] was able to distance itself from its past, the experience had not been an easy thing for the Malfae.

Ting.

Ting.

Immediately, the creature’s thoughts cleared up and the dulled edge of the sharp hunger became pinpricks of a sharp needle as the multiple lingering effects of the Title [Hungry] were distanced from the creature’s mind. The Malfae could still feel the caterpillars' [Hungry] induced hunger but it did not draw out the Malfae's memories anymore.

‘That…’ The Malfae panted. ‘…heavens above.’ The Malfae leaned on the walls of the crevice and panted. The experience had been unexpected and all-consuming which had left behind haunting memories despite being little more than an illusion. The [Survivor]’s body grew hot and its massive ears stood up straight as it bared its sharp teeth. Its head swirled and its dark eyes maliciously glared at the newly born caterpillars. However, the immortal did not act on its impulse and instead let out a breath as it organised its thoughts. ‘Killing them would do me no good.' It convinced itself. 'At least they brought me a new Skill…’

Meanwhile, it focused on its new Skill.

Ting.

The creature tilted its head. ‘…it seems promising at least.’ Its pupil-less eyes bored into the hungry caterpillars that were finishing up the last of their eggshells. However, the Malfae forcefully smoothened its features and patted its chest to calm its angry heart before it picked caterpillar and flew off to dump it with the one it had already placed outside. Once it checked for the last time, it flew off to chase after its inexistent prey that satisfied both its greed and its cowardice. Thus, the night passed and the green moon began to fade into consistently brightening blue sky.

‘Eh?’ The creature was startled at a sudden feeling that one of the caterpillars had levelled up. The [Malfae] frowned but the feeling did not go away, instead, the sensation settled much like the hunger of the caterpillars. ‘Is this the effect of [Hive Mind]?’ Unsure of the sudden sensation's source, the blue creature decided to stop its fruitless search and returned to the caterpillars to find the little bugs the same as before, ceaselessly devouring the leaves.

The [Reincarnated] focused on the earlier sensation and immediately it felt drawn to the previous night's hatchling. Its pupil-less dark eyes narrowed as the sensation became clearer, allowing the [Survivor] feel the caterpillar in its entirety. The Malfae felt that the caterpillar was a day old. It felt the hunger of the caterpillar. It felt the increased level of the caterpillar. Strangely enough, the Malfae wasn't able to decipher the other things it felt from the caterpillar. It was as if the creature only understood the things that it had previously known.

‘This begs further investigation.’ The creature surmised. But how will it go along doing that? The creature had little idea.

0.0

As the Malfea continued to hunt the spiders over the next week, it also kept on failing to figure out the peculiar sensation it got from the caterpillars. It had tried several methods to explore more, the first of which had been to just focus on the feeling to gradually decipher the meaning. However, when that had spectacularly failed to give any result, the creature had even tried to study the Essence of caterpillars but this method too had not borne any fruit. It only ended up rediscovering previously known information through [Sense Essence]. Thus, the [Reincarnated] concluded that either its Skill Level was too low to know more, or that the Malfae was trying to use the Skill in a way that it wasn’t supposed to be used.

The third method employed by it was to use [Hive Mind] while using [Mana Manipulation] but that had been even more frustrating. [Mana Manipulation] had refused to work on the caterpillars for obvious reasons and when the Malfae had used the Skill on itself, the Skill had activated but remained as unresponsive as ever. Which brought the creature to its current situation where it’s hairless face was twisted into a mockery of its own. At this point, the creature was even willing to pull its hair out of its skull, strand by strand, if doing so would give it the answer.

The scowling creature's livid eyes bored into the caterpillars which had grown quite a lot in the past week and were now almost Level 7. However, instead of feeling happy, the Malfae was frustrated at their inadequacy. As these caterpillars were the Malfae’s progeny, the [Reincarnated]’s strongly suspected them to possess a lifespan similar to its own as a caterpillar. If it were true, then the hatchlings had less than 3 months lifespan left and they hadn't even reached Level 10 yet.

If this went on and the bugs only relied upon the Title [Hungry], then none of them would make it Level 100 before their lifespan ended. After all, the Malfae had faced this situation before. Although it had overcome this limitation through its own ingenuity and intelligence, it didn't expect that from the mindless caterpillars. They were drones, not reincarnated beings.

This realisation put the Malfae in a desperate situation, causing it to put the exploration of [Hive Mind] on hold to try and Level up the caterpillars faster. To achieve fast Levelling, the creature decided to have the caterpillars hunt but the hatchlings couldn’t hunt for themselves even though their lives depended on it. Thus, it flew off to the spider hunting ground and dug a hole to act as a safe place for the caterpillars to hide. Once it assembled all the caterpillars in the hideout, the [Reincarnated] used the Skill [Hive Mind] to prohibit the caterpillars from leaving the safety of the hole.

Once the bugs were hidden, the [Hive Monarch] covered the hideout with venom smeared leaf and went looking for a spider. It wanted the caterpillars to kill the half-dead spiders to Level up. However, it didn't end up as easy as the [Survivor] had initially presumed as despite hunting the spider not being a difficult task, keeping it in the state of half death was.

When the Malfea finally managed it though, the idea proved to be a bust as the caterpillars gained not a single Level from eating the spider alive. Such a result startled the [Reincarnated] as it had concluded the spider to be a Tier 1 creature, while the caterpillars were Tier 0 as they had yet to evolve. Thus, killing the spider should have netted them Levels instead of the absolutely nothing they got. Such a result hinted at the only thing. ‘Is there a no cheating rule here?’ Disappointed as the blue creature was, it repeated the experiment a few more times and each time, the caterpillars got not a single Level.

As Malfae eyed the carcases of the spiders, it thought for a moment about letting the bugs feast on it. However, ultimately decided against it. ‘These pipsqueaks won’t be able to live out the effect of the poison.’ Thus, the creature decided to eat the poisoned flesh rather than let the meat go to waste. As a result, when the pain from the poisoned flesh of 3 spiders hit the Malfae, it wasn’t surprised in the least. Though, the effect of the venom ended up being quite mild.

Ting.

Ting.

‘Eh?’ The blue creature blinked and read the notification once again. ‘Yes! Finally!!’ The Malfae laughed. It had been working on this Skill from the moment it had been born as a mere caterpillar. Now that it had become its first Skill to reach Level 10, the creature vindicated. Despite Level 10 being no different than any other previous Level, the double-digit was enough to fill the creature with giddiness.

Buoyed as the creature was, it decided to take the caterpillars back to their feeding tree. This was the area of the spiders and the hatchlings were nothing but a snack here. In fact, they didn’t even qualify to be a complete meal. Thus, the Malfae picked up the oldest caterpillar and brought it out of the hole before covering up the hideout by the venom smeared leaf. Once the creature had made sure that everything was in order, it flew off with the restless bug.

However, as the Malfae dropped the squirming caterpillar back on its tree, it felt one of the hunger pinpricks suddenly vanish, causing the Malfae to pause for a moment. ‘Is it done already? But how could that be with [Hung-’ The second hunger pinprick vanished before it could finish its initial thought. ‘Huh?’ The creature focused on [Hive Mind] to make use of the sensations that the caterpillars gave it. However, it felt only a single caterpillar while the rest were astonishingly absent.

The creature’s horrified pupil-less eyes widened as it flapped its wings to turn around and race back. The buzzing of its wings increased along with the speed as the creature rushed to the only trackable caterpillar. However, all of its haste ended up being in vain as the last caterpillar’s sensation and hunger disappeared.

The [Survivor] came to a screeching halt. Its tiny heart hammered within its flat chest while its blood raced. Its body grew hot while its massive ears flattened and its scalp tingled. ‘Dead. All dead.’ Positive of its assessment, instead of rushing back to the dead bugs, the Malfae landed on the nearby branch and tried to settle its jumbled thoughts.

The Malfae shuddered. It breathed deeply and then it breathed again until its racing heart slowed down as the rush of blood ended. The stifling warmth seeped out of its body and the creature’s wide eyes narrowed. If it was going to deal with this situation, it would do so rationally. ‘My pride will not get me this time.’

The creature remained seated on the branch for a few more moments before it took off. However, instead of flying to investigate the dead caterpillars, the [Hive Monarch] returned to the sole remaining caterpillar and brought it back to the crevice. With the caterpillar secure, the blue creature flew to the nearest tree to pick a handful of leaves for the caterpillar. Once the bug began eating again, the Malfae hesitated for a moment more as it eyed the [Malfae shield] that always guarded its back. ‘I might need it myself.’ It frowned before covering the crevice with another leaf. ‘I can’t afford to leave this here for this stupid caterpillar.’

The blue creature took off to arrive at the location of the dead caterpillars within the spider hunting ground. However, as it observed the hideout, it didn’t even have to go inside the hideout to know that something was wrong as the venom smeared leaf was missing. The [survivor] gingerly landed on a nearby branch and its antennas picked up a foreign scent almost instantly.

To get a clearer picture, it activated [Sense] without wasting even a moment more and all the scents intensified in response. The foreign scent was fresh, sharp and heavy. It was akin to the scent of the black spiders that the Malfae hunted for poison but stronger. Much stronger. This was, unmistakably, the scent of a predator.

The [Reincarnated] flapped its wings and took off as it left the spider hunting ground post haste. All the thoughts of anger and pride left the creature and its heart began pounding once more. ‘What is such a creature doing hunting caterpillars?!’ A scent that seemed predatory to even a Tier 2 creature like the Malfae was not something that a caterpillar could handle. And neither should such a creature be interested in hunting Tier 0 creatures.

After all, the Malfae itself had not hunted any Tier 0 creatures in a long time. It was the creature’s very nature. It was not something that it chose to do, it was something it just did. The creature understood this very clearly. Being an ambusher, the [Survivor] understood that something was unnatural in the whole situation. This, it left without even a second thought.

The truth of the matter was that the Malfae’s senseless and malicious killing of spiders, to relieve its frustrations, had attracted the attention of the Tier 2 creatures within the area. And one such creature had decided to hunt the hunter but not because it sought vengeance for the dead spiders. Immortals didn’t even understand the concept of vengeance properly. Let alone, seeking it for other creatures. Seeking vengeance for others, the immortals wouldn’t even know where to begin to understand such a foreign and idiotic concept.

The Tier 2 spider had laid a trap for the [Hive Monarch] because of the Malfae’s inherent value. After all, the Malfae was a new Tier 2 creature and not a particularly high levelled one at that. It was a weak and easy prey that could provide a good boost towards their next level. Thus, the spider had tracked down the [Surtvivor] and had observed it for a long time to lay its trap.

As a result, when the Malfae had flown off with the caterpillar, the spider had killed the caterpillars in the hideout and lined the walls of the hole with its sticky web to lie in wait. With the recklessly malicious nature that the spider had noticed, it had been confident in ambushing an enraged Malfae. Unfortunately for the hunter, its prey had the intelligence of mortals and the caution of the immortals. This left the predator sitting in a hole, twiddling its inexistent thumbs.

0.0

The Malfae returned to the crevice and checked it with both [Sense] and [Sense Essence] before entering it to find the caterpillar happily munching away. After the scare it had just received, the [Survivor] didn't dare take any chances.

As it landed on the pile of yellowed grass, the Malfae sighed. ‘I should get new ones. These are all dried out.’ The [Reincarnated]'s gaze landed on the caterpillar and it shuddered. The loss of the three caterpillars weighed heavily in its mind despite the Malfae not being attached to the hatchlings. It was as if its possession had been stolen. Not a particularly precious possession or something of any value. But its possession all the same. The creature’s chest tightened and it breathed deeply.

As the [Hive Monarch] came to terms with the events of the night, it had a sudden realisation. It ran away from the cockroach that had destroyed its very first egg while it had not even dared to face the creature that had killed three of its progenies. What did that say about the Malfae? ‘I am a coward, that’s what.’ If the creature had been a mortal, then the realization would have either increased the creature’s [Reflection] Attribute or granted it the Attribute if the Malfae had lacked it previously. Such was the enormity of this realization.

But the creature was an immortal and immortals were denied all Attribute. Thus, the creature merely sighed and turned to stare at the happily munching caterpillars in contemplation.

‘I should, shouldn’t I?’ With the decision made, the creature grimaced. ‘[Drone Eggs].’ Immediately, a familiar sensation made itself known and the Malfae’s crotch began leaking fluids that ran down its thighs before wetting the dried grass pile. At the same time, its abdomen bulged before the said bulge began to move down the creature’s body. Soon enough, with a wet splosh, an egg fell on the floor in between the creature’s crotch. And then the process repeated quite a few more times to produce a total of 15 eggs.

The [Survivor] panted as it darkly eyed the eggs for a moment before placing them in the corner. It piled up the wet yellowed grass into a bundle and flew out of the crevice until it reached the small lake where it had dumped its shed skin and landed near the shore. It then dipped the bundle of grass into the water and washed it until the fluid had come off of the grass before throwing the grass deeper into the lake.

With the grass disposed of safely, the creature turned back to head to the crevice. On its way back, the Malfae collected a new bundle of soft grass for its bed. Reaching the crevice, it checked up on the caterpillar that was still eating the leaves that the Malfae had picked up for it earlier in the night and fell asleep.

-X-

Within a desolate desert, inside a dilapidated shop, on a simple chair, a youth seemingly slept.

-X-