Imogen is slowly waking up, ready to see what the day holds for her.
"My eyes are so sensitive, this isn't a blessing; it's a curse." Whined Imogen as she yawned under the dawn's rising light.
"I'm ready to start my day, but I'm not ready to fight another bug." Groaned Imogen while attempting to rub her weary eyes.
"That last fight was too much for my little tick heart to handle, I've had enough stress to fill this whole week up." Jested Imogen as she poked the dried up spider carcass, half expecting it to get up and bite her.
"One thing's for sure, I don't like spiders or any other type of bug for that matter." Frowned Imogen while scanning the horizon for anything of interest.
"Well, I guess I'm not really cut out for this life, with all the death laying in wait around each corner; but I'll try to make the most out of it." Grinned Imogen as she felt a bit of enthusiasm strike her.
~~~
"Hmm, I have the strange urge to find and kill that ugly worm right now, I feel as though it should die for killing my siblings." Mused Imogen as she stretched her legs out.
"It may be a long ways away until I'm able to kill that behemoth, but when I do; I'm going to hang it's dried out corpse on the tallest tree I can find." Smiled Imogen as she began her day by meandering through the forest.
~~~
"Why is everything so fast?" "I just saw some sort of rabbit creature run past me like a bat out of hell." Recounted Imogen while feeling a bit sad.
"I wonder if there's a way to get my stat points up that high without leveling, or stage progressing." Contemplated Imogen as an idea hit her.
"Maybe the system could tell me, it's answered more questions than I thought it would've." Speculated Imogen while feeling a bit optimistic.
"System, is there a way to get stat points without leveling or stage progression?" Inquired Imogen as she watched the red, and white text box appear.
*Ways to gain stat points:
*Level up
*Stage progress
*Evolve
*Stat stones: Str - Agt
*Rare chance when doing something hard corresponding with the stat in question.
"There's more here than I thought there'd be, wait; what are stat stones system?" Intoned Imogen while awaiting the next answer to appear.
*Stat Stones: There are five main types of stat stones, first being basic stat stones, then adept stat stones, next advanced stat stones, afterwards heavenly stat stones; and lastly divine stat stones. You can acquire them via system rewards. Below is a representation of what each stat stone does.
*Basic Stat Stone: Increases any stat by 1
*Adept Stat Stone: Increases any stat by 5
*Advanced Stat Stone: Increases any stat by 10
*Heavenly Stat Stone: Increases any stat by 50
*Divine Stat Stone: Increases any stat by 100
"Why didn't I ask this before, I need to get a bunch of stat stones now." Declared Imogen as she hopped up, ready to go.
"So how do I get system rewards... system?" Grinned Imogen while thinking about all the stat stones she could get.
*System Rewards: Locked until level 5
"I shouldn't have even asked, I should know by now that life likes to toy with me." Griped Imogen as the strong feeling of disappointment hit her like a truck.
"I guess I have to find some bugs to kill for now, even though I said I never wanted to fight another bug again." Scowled Imogen while heading to a pond she had seen once before.
"Ponds have lots of bugs next to them, right."
But before she could get to the pond, a medium sized worm came out of the ground and tried bitting Imogen from behind.
Imogen saw it, but couldn't move fast enough to get out of it's bite range. The worm bit into Imogen, and crunched down hard to break through her tough carapace; apparently it had better teeth than the spider did.
"I hate worms, why did it have to be a worm?" Complained Imogen as she tried to shake the worm off her.
"Actually, I think I'd say that about any bug, but I particularly hate worms more." Lied Imogen while feeling the slightest amount of bias.
The worm chomped down again, this time slightly cracking the carapace and shattering Imogen's hope.
Imogen, now stuck to the worm's teeth; can't seem to escape. But instead of killing her outright, it decided to whack her against a tree until she cracked; for the worm had hurt it's teeth cracking Imogen's carapace.
One hit after another, and the worm's grip on Imogen had finally loosened. Letting Imogen fly out of its mouth, but not all is well; her leg had gotten ripped out in the process.
"My leg! It hurts so much, I'm going to make that worm suffer if it's the last thing I do." Screeched Imogen as she felt a deep rage grow in her heart.
Imogen immediately sprinted to the worm with her now seven legs trying to get onto it's side before it ate her. But the worm isn't just sitting still during this attack, and had tried to finish off Imogen before her cruel bite could land, but it attacked too early; causing a complete miss.
Imogen barely managed to get onto its side before it snapped at her again. She bit down to drink its sweet blood.
The worm thrashed around, futilely trying to get Imogen off its side, but to no avail; and died after forty minutes of painful existence.
"Finally, it died; I was starting to think I was going to pop before I killed it." Laughed Imogen while feeling quite bloated.
"I don't think that I can move well, so I'm just going to stay on this corpse for a while longer." Groaned Imogen as she slipped off into the soft embrace of sleep.
~~~
The next morning Imogen awoke to see that her missing limb was back, showing no signs of ever being gone.
"Wow!" "I can't believe my leg grew back already, or even at all!" Exclaimed Imogen as excitement bubbled inside of her.
*System Notice: You've slain a Sharp Toothed Worm, you have leveled up, system quests and rewards have now been unlocked.
"I have to get used to the system messages being late, it really sucks." Pouted Imogen while completely blanking on what she just read.
"Oh, I'm level five already; I need to check my stats!" Announced Imogen as she felt her legs give.
"System, please show me my status!" Begged Imogen while standing back up.
Name: Imogen
Race: Tick - Nymph Stage
Age: 10 days
Gender: Female
Bloodline: Common Forest Tick
Level: 5
Class: none
Hp: 19/19
Mp: 4.5/4.5
Sr: 8
Vit: 1.9
Def: 16
Int: 9
Agt: 7
Skills: Racial skill - blood absorb, Weak Pierce, 70/30 luck, Negligible Illusion Resistance and Fast Eyes.
"My stats are so beautiful, it brings almost tears to my eyes." Exaggerated Imogen as she once again tried to rub her eyes.
"I didn't think I'd get so strong this fast, I can probably take on anything this world throws at me." Jested Imogen while feeling like she had forgotten something.
"My progression is pretty good, well I think it is at least, but it's still not fast enough; how am I supposed to kill the giant worm at this pace." Ruminated Imogen as she felt a pang of sadness strike her hard.
*System Announcement: Beginner Mode is now off, because of your recent advancement to level five. Faster level up speed - deactivated.
"I really hate that dumb delay speed, I was just fricking talking about how slow my leveling speed was, and now it's going to be even slower than before; what's wrong with you system.
"Sometimes I wish I had just stayed dead, at least it would've been peaceful." Growled Imogen while feeling despair crowd her mind.
"I wish those gods didn't drop their stupid sword on me, and ruin my life; I didn't ask for any of this!" Wailed Imogen as she clawed at her head.
*System Milestone Gift: 1 Skill Stone received.
"...Really system, this almost makes me want to laugh." Chuckled Imogen while feeling her mind uncloud.
"I guess I should use that skill stone now, there's no time like the present after all." Suspired Imogen as she felt her hopelessness subside.
"System, could you use the skill stone on Blood Drain?" Asked Imogen while feeling somewhat polite.
*System Reminder: Racial skill - blood Drain has leveled up.
"That makes me feel better, thank you system." Praised Imogen as her eyes shifted to the pond
"Now I have to find some more bugs to kill to test out my newly leveled skill."
"Should I continue going to the pond, or find bugs elsewhere; because now I'm scared of finding a giant water serpent in it." Admitted Imogen while moving her head back, and forth in indecision.
"I guess I should face my fears and continue onwards to the pond, I can't guarantee that I'll find another opportunity like this one." Grumbled Imogen as she moved forward towards the pond.
~~~
"There aren't any bugs here, or even birds chirping... something doesn't seem quite right" Foreshadowed Imogen while looking around to no avail.
"The water here is light blue, and sparkling, but I feel like it's watching me somehow." whispered Imogen as she eyed the water suspiciously.
"Fine, fine, I'm guessing that I shouldn't do the forbidden, and touch the water; but it's still really tempting." Chortled Imogen while barely squashing the rising urge to touch it.
"Well, I'm going to be smart for once; and not make the stupid choice by touching the pond." Claimed Imogen as she stared at the pond for a while longer.
Suddenly, the water shifted from calm to rough as a horned lizard creature jumped out of the water to grab whatever its prey was, but Imogen was already long gone.
~~~
Imogen is now strolling around the peaceful forest, waiting for an opportunity to come her way. There's no birds chirping, but somehow it makes the forest seem even more peaceful to Imogen.
After a while, Imogen finally spotted something of interest, an open field with hundreds of humans sparring within; and mana running amuck.