I descend through the cave while listening to one of Aiko's songs in my mind.

Ahh, I'm already missing my Aiko-chan.

Maybe it's love? I dunno, haven't experienced such a thing before.

I should step up my efforts and find her as soon as possible though! You'll be safe with me my lovely Aiko-chan, ehehe.

Oooh, it's a group of crabs! They taste good if you ignore those pesky shells getting stuck in your throat.

It's a group of 10, smaller than the average group, making it a good target for me.

Initiate Crab-Hunting-101 Algorithm!

Step one: ambush an isolated crab from behind.

Step two: swim away and wait for the other members of the group to relax their grip and jump towards you.

Step three: It's feeding time!

Tried and tested by yours truly.

 

{Experience has reached the required level. Individual spina argentea has increased from LV 6 to LV 7}

{All basic attributes have increased.}

{Skill proficiency level-up bonus acquired.}

{Proficiency has reached the required level. Skill [Overeating LV 1] has become [Overeating LV 2].}

{Proficiency has reached the required level. Acquired skill [Stealth LV 1].}

{Skill points acquired.}

 

Great! I'm getting closer to the real starting line.

What is the real starting line you ask? It's my first evolution.

I'm not even a monster right now, just a normal fish.

Maybe my reincarnation skills are so strong that they resulted in my lack of skill points or rebirth as a non-monster creature.

Spina argentea starts with nothing but the standard marine creature Swimming skill which is more of a passive skill.

For me to become such a race, there can only be one reason.

D probably sent me as some sort of sick joke.

The best person in class has the shittiest starting conditions kinda thing.

Nevertheless, you won’t find me complaining, the ocean has an overabundance of creatures to kill for experience and raw fish doesn't taste bad. All of my desires are satisfied.

I can also avoid all the troublesome events that will happen on land and even Ms Oka can't find me.

Her Student Roster skill would just say I was born in the ocean, there’s absolutely no way she can find me using this information.

If there's anything to complain about, it's my starting location.

I'm trapped between a rock and a hard place right now.

The water dragon route is a no no, so I must find a way past the big crab if I wanna continue on with my journey.

For now, though, I need some rest, although my SP's fine, my mental state is suffering a bit.

Especially after that dragon jump-scare.

 

Hey hey! Good morning to all the delicious fishies around here!

Currently, I'm devising devious plans for hunting different creatures living in the cave and live testing them. Don’t do this at home kids.

As for why I’m doing such a thing, the experience from crabs is starting to decrease like the worms.

I don't want to find myself in a passive situation where I can’t level up because I’m inexperienced or unprepared for combat.

My first chosen target is a local sneaky sea snake.

These guys burrow themselves into the cave walls and lunge at any unsuspecting prey that passes by.

My strategy for them is simple, just grab a crab and throw it at their hiding place.

They’ll lunge at it, but I’ll be waiting nearby and bite down on their necks when they least expect it.

Using their own strategy against them, hehe.

Although I call it simple, only I can implement such a plan.

The way the snakes burrow makes it impossible to distinguish them from their surroundings.

I can easily spot them with Space Awareness, which is why I decided to try defeating them first.

Annnd there! I can see a snake a couple of meters under my location. There's even a crab group on the opposite wall, perfect!

I stealthily approach the crabs, swiftly nab one of them and swim away.

Woah, such a huge swarm jumping down at the same time looks terrifying.

I wait for them to bypass me, then drop the one in my mouth above the snake's position.

Wait for gravity to do its job... GO!

I easily bite down on its neck, but the snake counterattacks by wrapping around my body and squeezing in an attempt to crush me.

My defense and attack power are very weak, I can feel some of my internal organs easily getting mashed...

Dammit, I can't kill it quickly enough, I’ll die like this!

Instead of panicking, I calm down and search for any way out of this situation, I immediately spot a sharp rock protruding at the crabs’ previous position.

This will do, C'mon!

Using the last bit of my strength, I charge at it with the snake's head in front of me.

The pointy end easily pierces its head ending its life.

Its body hold softens and I hear the heavenly voice of Manager-san announcing my survival.

 

{Experience has reached the required level. Individual spina argentea has increased from LV 7 to LV 8}

{All basic attributes have increased.}

{Skill proficiency level-up bonus acquired.}

{Proficiency has reached the required level. Skill [Swimming LV 3] has become [Swimming LV 4].}

{Proficiency has reached the required level. Skill [Concentration LV 2] has become [Concentration LV 3].}

{Skill points acquired.}

 

I almost died from internal bleeding there. The snake's body is too strong.

Guess that's why crabs stay away instead of swarming them, huh...?

Too weak to hurt them with their weak claws.

Cheers to another survival through pure luck! I also want to thank Aiko's song for helping me calm down at the end there.

No snakes until after evolution though, that fight was too close for comfort.

Let’s go back to good ol’ crabs, shall we?

 

I wonder how early I was born compared to the others...? I mean Kumoko was one step away from becoming an Arachne when Sophia was just born.

There's no doubt that I'm first though, taratects are born monsters so they naturally hatch slower.

I don’t know if I can out-level Kumoko with Pride, that skill’s the fucking definition of a cheat, I really hope I get something like it.

Oohh, more crabs! Thanks for the meal.

This will be my last haul, for now, growing larger would make me a bigger target for crab boss.

I hold my breath and go into Stealth for the last stretch of distance, any extra levels in it would make my upcoming challenge much easier.

A few minutes later, a large pincer enters my sphere’s range.

Immediately halting my descent, I search my surroundings for a hidden spot in case I need to retreat.

There’s a hole that can fit my entire body a bit beneath my position.

That guy's pincers are larger than its width, so I can be completely safe in here.

As for the owner of the hole? It’s either away from home or was eaten by crab boss before I hatched.

Neither poses any problem for me, it’s just the difference between the hole being safe or a big snake could appear, distracting crab boss for me.

Now that everything's prepared, I go for a hearty meal and rest a bit to make sure I'm full on SP later.

 

I've been resting for a couple of hours, and I feel all refreshed and ready to go.

Crab boss ate eggs only once during my rest.

Judging by the delay between his meals and their size, my calculations come up with the conclusion that only 20% of the eggs remain.

That means I only have one shot at this plan, as all the eggs would’ve been devoured afterwards.

Crab boss habitually sleeps after his meals, so I plan to snatch one of the far eggs after his next meal.

Luckily, Stealth leveled up twice during my wait.

The current theory is that skill proficiency gain is proportional to the duration of usage and the circumstances during that time.

For example, my Stealth leveled up twice just because I was hiding from crab boss who has a strong perception, yet I had to rely on level-up bonus proficiency to acquire it when I was ambushing little crabs before.

Hooh? Crab boss's body is shaking, is it mealtime...?

He moves his pincers to pick up some eggs and starts munching on them, eggs missed from previous meals should be prime targets for me.

As he's finishing off his meal, I start focusing on his pincer positioning.

I mean, crabs' pincers are usually oriented to be in their field of view, so I should approach from the opposite direction.

Moving to a good spot, I wait until he's asleep again to start moving.

I'm aiming for an egg a good distance away behind him.

Slowly... I’m getting closer...

But then, my danger sense starts going haywire out of nowhere.

My first thought is that the crab is awake, but he's clearly asleep and looking in the other direction.

And the crab’s aura didn’t radiate this much danger when I sensed it before.

Something else is coming! As soon I realize that, I give up on the egg and rush to my retreat spot with all my strength.

Fuck Kin Eater and fuck the crab, whatever's coming feels closer to the water dragon in aura intensity.

I wait for the source of my dread to appear with bated breath. Yet I could never imagine what it turned out to be.

A large serpentine body slithers its way upwards and swallows the huge crab whole.

My body stiffens in terror as I clearly hear the crunching sounds even with the water barrier between us.

 

{Proficiency has reached the required level. Skill [Fear Resistance LV 2] has become [Fear Resistance LV 3].}

{Proficiency has reached the required level. Skill [Fear Resistance LV 3] has become [Fear Resistance LV 4].}

{Proficiency has reached the required level. Skill [Stealth LV 3] has become [Stealth LV 4].}

 

The image of the creature’s body scraping the walls is the same one I’ve seen tens of times before.

Exactly like the sea snakes.

This means this entire vertical cave is nothing but a huge sea snake’s burrow, and the sleeping dragon catches snakes from this cave the same way I did with the worms...

I truly am at the bottom of the hierarchy here, huh?