Chapter 1. Lyvin
A void, just a black void. It seemed like nothing more. I was stuck here, how could I escape? I thought I couldn’t, but I did.
Then I opened my eyes. What I saw was fuzzy. A lot of grey is what I saw first. I realised I was looking up and so I put my head - head? Yes, head. - I put my head down to see the ground, my view was already sharpening and what I saw were rocks and pebbles, grey and white in their colours with a few plucks of dead grass here and there. Looking down, I saw my body, which looked like it was just a typical slug or larva, standing in a pool of black... liquid.
I stepped out of the liquid and onto the pebbled ground when I noticed something in my head.
Name: Lyvin
Species: Demon larva - level 1 (+0)
General abilities:
[Racial] Language comprehension: level 1 [MAX]
Class points: 0
Class 1: Locked
Class 2: Locked
Stat points: 25
Vitality: 1
Strength: 1
Dexterity: 1
Constitution: 1
Intelligence: 1
It wasn’t plain text or spoken words, it was more like a memory, replaying in the subconscious until I brought it forward by thinking about it. This was me, Lyvin.
I concentrated on the area around me again. I looked at the puddle of black I had come from, seeing nothing but a void. I crawled away from the puddle, looking at the gravel around me.
I was in a pit-like area, the gravel seemed to be formed in lines, like there were many small pathways. In between these stripes of gravel, the pebbles became rocks and grass taller than myself started mixing in.
I crawled up over the edge of this pit and saw a big stretch of this pattern made from rocks and grass. Past that I just saw bigger fields of grass on one side, and a stop of ground on the other. Far further than the supposed edge, I saw some kind of white and grey formations.
I crawled up to where the ground had seemed to disappear and upon nearing the edge, I realised that it wasn't a drop, but a slope down. Down to more lower formations and further just plains. Then smaller formations, hills, again and ending in the big white and grey formations I saw earlier, mountains.
There were a few creaks in the land, with some liquid the colour of the grey sky running through. Currently, I could see a few pools with the black liquid around the lower areas, with things moving near them.
I backed off away from the edge again and now turned to the aforementioned tall grass. I moved through for some time, seeing far smaller creatures, bugs, all either grey or beige like the rocks and grass. Whilst looking at the bugs, I started analysing them. They were all small, around the size of a pebble or marble mostly. They had two eyes, most of them black in colour. Some had a flat top with a split through the middle and others had long bodies with tiny limbs which could snap smaller bugs. They were all unique while vaguely the same, why? I let the thought go as I thought about the rocks around where I spawned. They were the same as the bugs.
Eventually I noticed something in the area where I had found my Status List.
Obtained a General ability:
Inspection: level 1
Gained experience.
Levelled a General ability:
Inspection: level 1 > 2
Gained experience.
Inspection? I thought about it for a while, what would this ability do? I connected the dots: this ability is what I gained from inspecting the bugs! I intuitively knew how to activate inspection. I turned to a bug and-
[Inspection]!
[Bug - ??]
... That is all? What did those question marks mean?! I tried inspecting it again and again, untill.
Levelled a General ability:
Inspection: level 2 > 3
Gained experience.
[Bug - A grass eating bug.]
Oh, so it... is just a bug. There was another message right after the level up! I looked at that one too, to distract from my disappointment.
Species levelled up:
Demon larva: level 1 > 2
Gained Stat points (5) and Class points (1).
Levelled up. It felt good, like I was better than before, more.
I had gained stat points. Now that I was thinking about them, I decided on looking into these points.
Stat points: 30
Vitality: 1
Strength: 1
Dexterity: 1
Constitution: 1
Intelligence: 1
Vitality would give me more Health, strength would make me move stronger, dexterity would make me faster, constitution would give me more Stamina and something else and intelligence would give me more Mana and do something else with that mana. That's all I understood. I thought about it for a moment before turning back to where I came from and slowly crawled back to my spawn.
I realised how slow I was and how long it would take me to be back where I had come from, so I put four points into constitution and dexterity. I immediately felt how there were limbs which grew from my body, how my body felt faster in itself and how I felt more refreshed and with a better mind than before.
I sped out of the grass, returning to my spawn pit area when I noticed another Demon larva like me coming from the black stuff. When it was completely outside, the black liquid was completely gone. It looked around, saw me and just charged!
I dodged the attack. The Demon Larva had apparently not upped its dexterity yet, so it was much slower than me. I charged at it and struck it in the middle with my teeth. The Larva turned around and bit me too. I pushed myself away from the Larva and invested two points into vitality. My body changed, effectively healing the wound. I knew I was still damaged, but with the larger healthpool I got, its bite was less severe. It would’ve killed me!
Defeated an enemy:
[Demon Larva - level 1]
Gained experience.
Like that! I would’ve died like that idiot!
Species levelled up:
Demon larva: level 2 > 3
Gained Stat points (5) and Class points (1).
Huh, I levelled from that? One Larva and I level a whole level? I’ll take that! In fact, I’ll take more than that! More levels, more Larvae!
I decided I wanted to look at what was below this hill I stood on, so I descended until I was at one of the creaks in the land - a river. I looked down into the grey water, seeing myself. I was going to level up! I followed the river and eventually saw another Demon larva. It was going up the stream, slower than me. We met and I charged at it. The Larva just stood there and I killed it.
Defeated an enemy:
[Demon Larva - level 1]
Gained experience.
I went further until I saw seven more Larvae, seven! I can’t take that! But… they didn’t seem to want to attack me, I felt that. One of them even went on his back limbs and waved at me. I stopped for a moment before continuing to move forward. When I came close enough, I could use inspection to see their levels.
[Demon Larva - level 2]
[Demon Larva - level 1]
[Demon Larva - level 1]
…
[Demon Larva - level 5]
The one who waved at me was level five! How! Did he kill the Larvae he gathered? No, it doesn't seem like it. Maybe he’ll show us? No, why would he do that? Wait, maybe he’s different from the ones I killed?
The Larvae all seemed the same, with slight variations in size, shape and limbs. But! There was an important difference. I could tell that these Demon Larvae were either he’s or she’s, the others were its. Yes, these ones must be like me, like Lyvin!
Most of the Larvae just looked around, like slugs, doing nothing for a while until the level 5 started moving. We all followed level five, probably for the same reason. I mean, they were even more like me than the first two others!
We moved for some time, the ground beneath our feet was now completely white, we were in the plains, which were made only from pure, white gravel and sand. No bugs, no grass, no water, no life. Eventually, it started raining and black pools formed around us. The rain itself was black, the colour of our blood.
After a while, the rain had stopped, but we continued moving until we heard a sound. It sounded like the screech the first other Demon Larva made, but louder and with a lower pitch.
We all turned towards its direction. I saw, with my sharper sight from inspection, that it was a large Demon Larva making the sound. It came right to where we were.
