"I got six freaking legs, I can't believe this will hurt!" Penta screamed in buzzing as he dropped from a height of forty meters.
Smashing into the ground heavily he felt a squish happen as though he hit something slightly soft.
"huh, that hurt less than I thought it would. Though it still hurts... wait... the hell is this?" Penta started in surprise that below him lay an Agaran Hell beetle. Squished as though a metal mallet smashed him.
"..." Penta was still silent before he pronounced the victim deceased. " Rest in peace, beetle shit."
The next scene was a little gory for even his own taste. As he was completely unable to start a fire, he still couldn't let go of what was meat for the first time ever since he came to this world.
" I hope I don't get no weird addictions from this..." Praying solemnly with his roach legs clasped against each other before he started devouring the Hell beetle.
Having eaten the first slice, he immediately opened his eyes wide before destroying the cadaver.'It's so fragrant, the umami is amazing! I need more!'
Penta wasn't sure if it was from upgrading from dirt to meat or just that the Hell beetle was a special delicacy but he didn't care. He devoured the bastard like it was custard.
...
Lying on his back with a protruding stomach, Penta sighed in satisfaction. "Guess I should get some of this energy out of me. Can't help to look for the shore Ol'Ban was speaking of."
Penta's speech was gradually getting more coherent and less screechy as he observed his mumblings from a child until now.
"Wait! Aren't I barely a few months old?" Penta was shocked at his recent realization. He suddenly started giggling while imagining himself being some overpowered mythical level baby.
His Sibling's soul sparks, fantasies, and different expectations kept him company on this lonely road as he searched for the direction of Ol'Ban's "continent of Valor". He kept searching for a day and practicing "Nature's evolution" for another day considering he seemed to have a great capacity to store this creative energy.
Another round of meditation later, Penta was feeling refreshed and at ease. He knew this journey would allow him to grow and if he can get to the other continent maybe, he can finally learn a way to get back at that god. Oh, and return the favor to Ol'Ban.
"He must have died a while ago, considering how far he was from the shore... oh well,"
"Whooosh"
A speeding bullet was advancing through the planes at a speed of 750m/s. This was unimaginable to him before considering human limits but he seemed to have none of that. He understands a little of what may have happened to Ol'Ban now though.
"If even I can do this barely into a few months old. How would some of the other creatures be around here? Those that are years and years of age." Sighing he continued on route.
He was unaware of how he would cross the ocean but considering his speed as of late, he may just be able to skip over the water but considering it took months to cross. He would need a better solution.
His lifespan may be corrected with this new shaman path having opened up but he was far too unknowledgeable about common things. Was this really a novel? Where information would just drop out of the sky or did he have to find the common sense of the world through civilization? The answer was obvious.
He would have to find a way to cross the ocean through swimming, flying if I get wings, building a boat of stone, or digging under the ocean.
Swimming would be tiring but I could catch food on the way there. It might be a lot faster but just as dangerous. If anything Oceans are a bad place to be if you are weak and especially if you ain't a god damn fish.
Flying is really handy and oceans don't usually have crazy amounts of birds at least not unless there is land nearby. However, my royal roach-ness does not have wings. I could try to make some through forcing out some keratin and solidifying it but wings feel weird though I know roaches with wings exist and can be an evolution of sorts.
Building a boat of stone. Innovated from cavemen, can't use wood considering the decay around the lands. It seems legit if I find a large enough piece of stone. Though it isn't the easiest of things to build, make a float, drivable and I would be its only crew and weapon.
"As much as I hate to say it, digging seems to be my strong suit in this. I don't even know any techniques to use in accordance with "Nature's evolution". I can only use it to strengthen myself until I find civilization. All things considered, I could probably reach tier 1 by the time I find myself across the Ocean."
Without much further pondering he continued his fixed schedule of 1 night and 1 day of training "Nature's Evolution" and one day of searching for the shore.
He had simplified his means by jumping off slightly less degraded trees and try to spot the ocean and it did save him some time as he eventually could see a majestic looking view of the horizon where the lands were turning seamlessly into a body of water.
"Found you!" Penta excitedly dashed over and made the couple hundred-kilometer distance futile in stopping his traverse which he made under two hours. He also realized the ocean must have receded for it to be this far from Old'Ban.
Looking over the majestic carpet of water heading off into an unknown distance, he couldn't help but get emotional at finally seeing something different again. He had already seen oceans but this was the first time he saw something that could give him more than just a view.
Across this vast expanse of water, he knew a future awaited him, one of good or bad, he didn't know but one that led to opportunities regardless.
The joy swiftly settled as he knew that now he had to do something that was by all means unthinkable.
"Guess we can only hope to survive now." He said to himself and his little siblings he cared for in his soul.
Accurately estimating was an impossible thing to do. He could only hope for the best and shoot into the ground and started digging in a diagonal slope.
His mission was clear and his path was one in a dark, damp tunnel for the next few months.
...
Time seemed to slow as after finally seeing the light, Penta was forced back into the darkness of the earth. He actually didn't like it so much and with his shaman path opened he thought he could go be above but fate was determined to grind him down first before letting him revel in its sunny glow.
As he continued he considered different things but mostly about those creatures of his home, the Agaran plains, something strong enough to kill a tier-three shaman was definitely something he wished to check out but considering his current ability, he wasn't a fool. Patience was also a virtue for a reason.
With all said and done. He continued his journey keeping his pace at one day of tunneling under the ocean and one of training, a few leaks here happened, but they couldn't prevent Penta from just digging further below.
Another week of tunneling finally led to a change in the environment.
"Crap, I forgot. Oceans are heavy. I'm basically digging under a vast and very heavy body..." Penta was worried but fortune and misfortune do follow each other rather closely.
Penta had forgotten to eat since the accumulation of energy had kept him feeling rejuvenated and considering no one likes to eat dirt, it hadn't occurred to him to keep consuming it. Especially after having eaten the Hell beetle, the whole thing was so damn delicious.
"Sigh, back to the dirt for me, isn't it. At least, there may be variety down here. It's the ocean after all." Penta with a face of disgust started eating the dirt and sand around him.
To his surprise again, he didn't taste much aside from a salty taste. However, the bounty was that he felt this dirt and sand was helping his body just like the green mineral had. He forced it to circulate towards his exoskeleton and shell.
The journey continued with a lot of fear and doubt but he persisted and figured he would test his fate.
"How long will I survive, will this tunnel collapse, will the water weight of the ocean crush me, how am I even breathing now so far in...? Arghhh! Screw it, let some biologists figure out how I live if I do. Heck, I will get myself checked in for a DNA test as well to see if I caught anything from the bottom of the ocean."
Digging nonstop. The journey continued for a few weeks.
"Oh shiny..." Penta stared at a section of a giant red ruby-like stone. He had bumped into this after having gone forward a while and kicking the corner of the tunnel with one of his legs due to darkness depression, which he had named himself after spending weeks again in the darkness.
"Must taste good hehe but will it might hurt..." Penta had lost all care for what he ate after weeks of hardening his skin and bones with dirt and ocean dirt. He did take in a lot of minerals in the form of sand which boosted his strength by a large margin as he was excavating through heavily condensed rock as though it was soil and he was eating it to boot.
He started munching on the ruby mineral as he knew it tasted good due to his simple theory of "shiny rock = good" though it would pay him to care about his intake of random crap, he lost all care when the universe forced him not once, but twice to eat dirt and rock for weeks.
This mineral had an even more special feeling. It felt like it directly went into his bloodstream from his stomach which started mildly hurting his whole body as his roach emperor-ness was feeling itchy.