I came ashore on the northern bank closest to the oak tree. An ant the size of a pick-up was marching with a squadron of ten soldier ants alongside it and a scout ant taking point. I dug myself into mud and my antenna waggled as I sprayed myself with Infiltrator Pheromones. I extended out my senses with my Hunter’s Antenna analyzing the massive ant.

  It had even more health than the arbalist ant. The massive tank of an ant sported mandibles that looked like they could cut through stone easily and its carapace was at least five inches in thickness. I wiggled deeper into the mud willing myself to not even breathe. The ants marched past one of the soldiers coming within ten feet of my position. Not even the scout turned to face me as they moved past.

  When they’d gone thirty yards past, I got up slowly and began shadowing them along the trunk of the oak. The patrol of ants continued along the trunk of the oak stopping when the puddle began to angle away from the Oaktree. They turned around and began to march back my way.

  Diving into the mud again I smeared it across my carapace and held still. The ants passed by again this time I was nearly stepped on by a soldier ant as the column passed by.

  Apparently dodging vastly higher-level creatures than you was good for your skill levels. Waiting until they passed me again I got up and crept away. Once I was into the thick grass under the oak again I broke into a run. I kept sprinting until my stamina was completely empty.

  I was gaining lots of skills, but I guess that was to be expected of a newborn. My antenna twitched as I looked around, I couldn’t detect any nearby ants, but I made sure to cover my scent trail for awhile as I headed deeper into the jungles of grass and weeds.

  I’d been hiking for an hour before I was attacked. A red creature with six legs the size of a large terrier jumped off the top of a giant clover onto me. It knocked me back a step as its pincers dug into my shoulder. I yelped in pain and stabbed my stinger up into it reflexively.

  I dropped the small bug to the ground only to have another one launch itself at me. While painful, the first mite had only done two points of damage. The second mite latched onto my arm as I brought it up to block. Its pincers dug into my carapace but only managed to do a point of damage past all my armor.

  Piercing the mite through the head I dropped it down onto the first. I heard more chirping and looked to see I was surrounded by the mites. They began launching themselves at me in waves. They weren’t so fast I couldn’t hit them midair, but they were so many I couldn’t dodge them all or hit them all. Five of them were latched onto my legs steadily gnawing at my carapace with their pincers.

  I stopped killing the ones already attached to me and just focused on dodging and killing the other ones that leapt towards me. The ones attached to me weren’t doing much damage and this seemed like the least dangerous way to level up my defense skill.

  Shaking off the mite impaled on my stinger I added it to the ever-growing pile. I hadn’t seen a mite over third level yet and they only gave me a max of three experience points. I’d killed over a dozen so far and gotten only twenty-two experience from them total. Rolling to the side I dodged four more mites jumping to latch with the rest of them.

  I had three more on my back and one on my arm and six on my legs now. They weren’t doing no damage, and I would have to deal with them eventually. For now, they were a source of skill levels. I think I’d gathered all the mites in the immediate area; they were surrounding me, taking turns to jump at me from all directions. Killing another two dozen I’d only gained an extra 36 XP and was at half of my maximum hit points.

  Rolling to the side I managed to pierce two mites on my stinger at a time like a giant bug shish kebab. My stinger was sticking out the end so rather than shaking them off I just shot off a blast of venom. The mite I hit thrashed on the ground for a second before going still.

  The remaining mites didn’t seem afraid or discouraged no matter how many of them I killed. A few of them tried abandoning the fight but I shot the each in quick succession.

  It had taken over ten times the number of bugs to kill to get to sixth level as it had the bugs to get to fifth combined. Granted these ones were a lot less dangerous and was probably why they gave so little experience. A level three clover mite would have no chance against even a level one worker ant from what I’d seen. A group of them could take down a few ants for sure but then the whole colony would descend on them.

  I was down to around twenty hit points left. I started stabbing wilding with my stinger clearing the mites off me as I rolled to the side dodging the jump attacks of the remaining mites.

  I started blasting off all my remaining venom charges. My poison left gaping fist sized holes in the mites as it spread and melted their flesh from its impact point. Soon I was out of charges, but I was rewarded for hitting with every shot, though it was hard to miss at such close range.

  There were only a few mites left, three on my back and five still trying to bite and latch on. I dodged three jumping at me skewering one midair and letting the fifth latch onto my leg. I retracted my stinger which I’d found was the fastest way to get something off; then I stabbed it through the mite, and it fell to the ground, its legs curling in. Quickly dealing with the remaining three that circled me I only had to deal with the ones on my back.

  It took a few tries stabbing behind my back, it was like trying to get a particularly hard to reach itch. Eventually I cleared off the remaining three mites. I sat down exhausted. I’d totally dominated the mites but still their had been tons. I’d lost count but I guessed I’d killed at least eighty in the fight. I had a total of twenty-six experience points now towards my progress towards level seven.

  Picking up a mite I started eating it as I went into my skill menu to see the new skills I’d gained and to spend my skill points.

  A lot of my current build turned me into a sort of rogue. My stinger was only about fifteen inches in length and so most closely resembled a dagger rather than a sword. I would have to grind these skills for awhile before I could really rely on them, but they would work terrifically together. Reading their description made me paranoid about creatures that might be stalking me right now that I just couldn’t see. Being stealthy might be necessary to survive and avoid other creatures out here looking for prey just like I was.

  I had skill points to spend so I turned to those skills. The mites were going down much faster than the ants had and I’d already eaten six tossing aside their red empty shells. There wasn’t enough meat on their legs to justify eating them. They each gave me three biomass. It wasn’t much but it would add up with them all.

  Pulling up the description for Stinger-fighter I looked over it first.

  Since I didn’t have a hive warrior was out as a viable option. That left Duelist and Knight, Duelist would likely be great for boss fights but would limit me mass combats or against swarms of creatures like the mites and ants. Knight would be a much better choice if I still had my wings. I couldn’t pick all my upgrades based on the here and now though, eventually my wings would grow back, and I would need my build to account for that.

  Knight was the best option for a wasp, even if it wouldn’t give me an immediate advantage now. I selected it and my skill upgraded. There was no pain, and it was over in an instant.

  The upgrade to my skill had changed some of its description and its name. I had one other skill point to spend and so I pulled up the options for Armored Defense.

  Looking them over I first dismissed Guardian. Losing speed would be directly counter to the skill choice I’d made for my fighting style. Legionary was better but again losing speed would reduce my damage and also make it easier to take more hits. That left skirmisher, sure it wouldn’t give me a massive increase to my damage reduction, but I could always dodge attacks, and this wouldn’t impede any of that. Making my choice, my skill immediately upgraded.

  My skill had upgraded to also benefit from Dexterity instead of just Toughness. I guess this had to do with it being the defense style based on maneuverability. Having spent all my skill points it was now time to spend my stat points. It was tempting to put them all into Toughness again, but I needed to do more than just take hits and increase my health. Dexterity was one of, if not the most, important stats. It had been high originally, but I hadn’t upgraded it all since I’d been spawned into this world.

  Putting my two stat points into Dexterity my work for now as done. I focused on chowing down and finished every last mite. After counting them as I ate it turned out I’d killed ninety-four of the clover mites.

  I couldn’t move, I was so full. I needed to spend some biomass just so I could stand up again. I had plenty to upgrade my existing mutation paths. Maybe what I needed was to unlock a new mutation path and see what options that gave me. Pulling up the menu I looked at the list.

  It was very vague, but I guessed it would allow me to unlock a mutation path related to that section of the body. I selected headfirst.

  Pheromones were listed as an option, but it was crossed out. Since I hadn’t unlocked it the usual way, I was still allowed to select another mutation path, but that option obviously wasn’t available since I already had it. I could get pincers if I wanted with a biomorph so Compound Eyes was the only choice. Deciding to look at my other body parts first before selecting anything, I pulled up the list for body.

  The first option was fascinating, how many times would it have been useful to have an extra pair of hands? This was a literal extra set of limbs making it a top contender in my book. I already had light carapace so that was crossed out. I wasn’t sure what would happen if I took medium carapace since I already had the light version. Its drawbacks didn’t enthuse me on it either.

  I moved over to the list for arms to see what I could get there.

  I didn’t need talons and it didn’t seem like they would be that beneficial. Plus, I was pretty sure I could eventually unlock those with Adaptive Analyze. Striker Muscle increased damage so it was in top place. Bracer Carapace didn’t sound as useful, but I had been getting my arms chomped on by a lot of pincers lately.

  Going with the option that would increase damage I picked Striker Muscle. If I got those extra set of arms this mutation path would be effecting four separate limbs. My arms burned as they changed but the result was phenomenal.

  I didn’t even bother to look to see what I could get for wings; I didn’t have them right now, so it was moot point. Pulling up my options for legs instead I looked them over.

  Absorbent legs were useless to me right now, but it wouldn’t be forever. Sprinter Legs would be useful to me now but less useful when my wings grew back. Spring Legs were a middle ground and could be useful at all times. I wasn’t sure and so tabled the decision for now. I couldn’t purchase everything, so I’d come back to it when the decision was more relevant.

  Pulling up the last and strangest option I decided to see why the system though an entire mutation path for my genitals was necessary.

  The last option fit the best with my trait but right now this mutation path was a luxury I couldn’t afford to spend my biomass on.

  I could unlock three new mutation paths, or I could unlock two and still have some biomass left over to upgrade those I had. Deciding to go with two and upgrade the rest I selected two of the mutation paths I thought might be the most useful.

  Pain exploded in my sides. I passed out again, when I woke up I guessed an hour had passed based on the position of the sun. Looking down I could see a pair of arms that were maybe two-thirds the size of my main pair. I only had three fingers and thumb on my smaller set so my grip strength wouldn’t be as strong there.

  I had two-hundred-and-twelve biomass left. I picked Compound Eyes the ability to see threats was equally as important as the ability to kill them. This would hopefully help to level up my Detection skill and let me pick my battles better.

  I screamed in pain for a few minutes, but it was much shorter this time since it was just adjusting an existing structure and not creating an entirely new one. Standing up shakily I looked around with literal fresh eyes.

  I’d wait on future upgrades for now. I needed to see If I could find some more mites or other creatures to grind my skills on.