With the young night to himself, Creep picked flight. He was wary of the intruder, but its size eased him into the flow. He was observant at first then let his calculations take control. Right underneath him, at the distance of a few clicks, a small thing… was whimsically passing by, creating a sound not loud, but still a drone deep and prying.

It jumped from one multicolored flower to another and was in the process of carting pollen to a different group of flowers growing on a stalwart bush to the left. Maybe the bug understood its precarious position or maybe it didn’t, but it moved not in a straight path, instead, danced up and down, left and right as it flew. Its movement through improper held a fascinating quality to its rhythm.

Calmly, the bug flew, uncaring of its surroundings, surrounded with a layer of moral dilemma. Killing humans was one thing, but what danger did this tiny little thing evoke? How would Creep justify killing it? And even if he did decide to kill, then what would be the difference left between him and the humans? Or maybe he should simply become like them humans: an uncaring beast that intrudes upon others and behaves with nonchalance toward all life weaker than his own.

Such are emotions. They pester the weak but stay away from the strong. If emotions controlled Creeps actions, then he would have died inside the dungeon.  Some crying and weak human would have already turned him into pieces, ears and skin: taken, the body: buried. While the emotionless state of his did make murder easy for him, it didn’t erase the question. However, he first and foremost was an intelligent reasonable being. He wouldn’t have helped his companions in the dungeon if he was a murderous monster too and fro. His intelligence helped him consider his benefits foremost, but that didn’t stop him from acting for others when needed.

Computing helped him make peace with the twitches of his body. He understood the importance of finding the method to stop his stamina from decreasing. This was his only clue and he did what he needed to do. Otherwise, he would… well, he didn’t have any prior experience to judge what would happen if his stamina decreased to zero. Alas, it was just another question, a minor one in the grand scheme to things. Hence, he attacked.

He didn’t bring out his daggers. No point in using them for something so small. A small impulse grew inside him. It told him to use echolocation. Creep questioned the authenticity of this hunch but decided to follow through. One such hunch had given him his flying skill. Maybe this was the same thing.

Backed by the rising information, he created a mental image of the various paths his prey might take and analyzed a certain point of intersection.

Turning, flapping his wings, rising, and diving at the calculated speed, Creep approached the bug with the same emotionless temper, he had hunted countless humans with, but something unusual happened when he swiped his claws at the point where his prey was supposed to be. But he caught... nothing?

For some reason, even though he had done everything right- right to the last margin- he failed to catch the bug. He froze in mid-air, his mind calculating the various possibilities which could have been responsible for this result. The droning sound of his prey came just left of him. He looked around. The bug was right next to him, just about to go out of his range of sight and into the grey tempest of obscurity. Eyes: staring, feet: ready, jaw: open for a bite, he made another attack.

[Please stop flying and rest.]
[You are starving.]
[Stamina: -10;] [35/131]

His attack wasn’t emotional. He had rationally taken into account the path and the wind speed but hadn’t taken the bugs irrational behavior and boons into the calculation. So this time when he attacked, he succeeded.

[Computing has risen to level 4] [+2 INT]
[Ability to analyze movement has been added to computing.]

[Motor control has risen to level 2] [+1 STR; +1AGI]

[You have killed a Moon rider moth.]
[Experience granted.]

This whole affair took three lengthy and conclusively dangerously naked minutes to proceed. After which Creep was on the ground, standing upon an almost flat rock covered from all sides by broken branches and fallen leaves. He had his ears pointed toward the bush where the long and tubular assailant had gone toward.

One act performed, another followed.

Remembering how the hissing thief had eaten the bird, raw, he got in position to mimic the process when suddenly, something shot toward him from his right. A slime-covered appendage of red stuck the dead moth and stole it. His sound sense didn’t blare, meaning he wasn’t in any kind of danger, meaning it wasn’t the hisser or a human. It was once again something new, something he had never seen before. Creep turned to his right to see just what kind of being had the courage to steal from him, again. There he saw a small being staring at him, chewing on the bug he had caught.

It sat crouched on its hind legs and had big yellow eyes.

 Creep clicked at it to show his irritation. It gulped the broken mass of his meal and croaked in response. It had a curving body and head shaped like an arrow. It spotted marble-sized black dots on its green skin. Creep clicked again and it once again crocked in response. It was completely not afraid of him. Even more to Creeps annoyance, it turned and jumped toward the bushes, ignoring Creep.

Creep flapped his wings and screeched; it stopped and spat a ball of spit at him. Defend! His intelligence commanded and his body moved unnaturally to dodge the ball of spit, which passed by and struck the plant before Creep, resulting in puffing steam at the point of impact.

Stealing was one thing, but attacking? What had he done to be shown such behavior? He was simply trying to understand why everyone was so adamant about stealing from him.

Considering the danger the spotted croaker produced toward him, Creep rose into the air and raced toward it. He first thought of using burst, but understanding that the skill depended on his stamina, he decided against it. The croaker took the aggression really well. Instead of fighting back, it jumped toward the bushes in order to escape. It possibly had prior fighting experience and had enough intelligence to understand the difference between a fight and suicide.

Or

Running away was the frog’s pre-planned course of action in case of danger. Whatever the reason, creep decided he couldn’t let it leave. For better organization, he made a detailed file on the croaker’s abilities and specifications. Organization, it was called, received when his computing had turned level 3.

The frog jumped into the bushes, Creep tailed it with his daggers finally drawn out, slicing through the first set of vines and bushes in the way. A few seconds later they were in open land. The croaker grew disadvantageous. It knew it wouldn’t survive.

However, it still attacked. As Creep grew closer, it attacked with another ball of spit, which struck Creep in the head. The spitball covered his eyes, blinding him. The croaker croaked in glee, it thought it had survived. Unfortunately for it, Creep didn’t rely on his sight as much as his echolocation; with the ability of path tracking added to his repertoire, he really didn’t need to constantly click away from his position either. Though it was not the best skill for fighting other beings, it was enough to give him the edge he needed in this case. 

Seeing Creep still heading its way, the croaker croaked: visibly holding, but emotionally panicking; when the bat dived upon it caring nothing of its useless tactics. It did try one last trick and hurled its fleshy appendage at the bat, but its enemy flipped in the air, dodging the attack and pushed the daggers it held right into its head.

It croaked one final time, its body spasmed in response. Blood spurted out of the gaped slit when Creep pulled his dagger out of its head. Its body rose with Creeps pull and then fell back on the ground like a deflated balloon. Red appeared in the yellow of its eyes and it died staring at the cycle of life continue but without him.

[You have killed a spotted ‘Insect eater’ frog]
[Experience granted.]

‘Devour’ Creep thought.

Yes, his stamina was below twenty now. Yes, he needed to perform the experiment. But he had found the frogs method of snatching the moth so interesting, he wanted to devour it. Not only would it make it easier for him to catch moths if he needed to, but it could also prove to be an excellent method of wielding his dagger.  

-Devour is activating. Which trait would you like to devour?

‘Frog tongue’ he thought and a swirling mass of black similarly to his attempt with the night watcher rose from the frog’s mouth and entered his.

-You have devoured a spotted Frog’s tongue.
-Compatibility is at 100%.

-Your saliva has gained a new property- adhesion.
-Your tongue has gained a new passive skill- Flash.
-Raises Agility by 1 every level.

Flash: Your tongue attacks at lightning speed.
Effect: Has a chance of stunning your opponent on impact.

Following the system announcements, something unusual happened. Creeps lower jaw unhinged. A deluge of viscous saliva flowed out of its mouth, his jaw dropped and grew wider before it hinged back again. He willed his tongue to move like the frog and a thinner, more flexible mix of his and the frog's tongue shot out of his mouth covered in a shiny coat of saliva and returned back in a split second.

Rather than a tongue, it looked more like a sword cutting through the darkness. Having tested his new weapon he tried to hold the dagger with it, but the voices rang again in his mind.

[Your stamina is critically low.]
[You are starving.]
[Stamina: 10/131]
[Your strength and agility are capped at 10% of your maximum.]

Urgently, he looked at the corpse lying on the ground. It lay motionless on the ground, refusing to disappear. Maybe bodies only disappear in the dungeons. He thought. But what made a dungeon different from the human's cave? Aren’t they the same? Or, the corpses only disappear after being left alone.

He would have liked to test his hypothesis, but he had a much-needed need to understand the frog’s and the hissers need to steal. It could be his way out of the stamina well after all.  Opening his mouth as wide as he could, Creep tried to swallow the frog whole, just like the hisser. Needless to say, it didn’t work out. Not only did his jaw started hurting, which he knew was a bad thing, but at one point the corpse refused to move further down his throat, leading to propulsive gagging. The hisser had managed to do so, he wondered why he couldn’t.

He didn’t know what to do. He had experienced two being dealing with the corpses; one engulfed and other chewed. Deciding, creep tore a small a bite of flesh from the frogs back and swallowed the meat. He anticipated something would happen, but nothing did.

Marking the experiment as a dud, Creep got ready to fly away from the frog when a message rang in his mind.

[Stamina +3]

One single notification changed his way of thinking. The bird attacked to kill me. The snake ate to replenish his stamina. Stamina is important to stay healthy. Without staying healthy one can’t hunt. If I can’t hunt, kill, and eat, then… What will happen then?

Everything clicked in his mind, and once they did, more messages followed.

[You have managed to solve your starvation. You have found the reason for others hostility.]
[Wisdom +3]

[Computing has risen to level 5.]
[+2 INT]