When I woke up I found myself in a small cave of sorts
It was dark damp and rather cramped but I quite liked it.
However the first thing I noticed when I gained conscience was not the cave but instead the feeling of hunger that was plaguing me.
I knew that in the process of bonding a new soul to a damaged vessel a large portion of the bodies fuel was used up which was likely why I felt like I was digesting my own stomach
How did I know this?
Barry the wannabe Jesus
Remember when he said he was the guide responsible for ensuring I knew at the least the bare minimum of information, well he went even lower on the minimum than I thought he would in the fact that instead of telling me the information he instead remotely uploaded it into my head like some form of remote celestial USB.
And I must say when that combined with the newly acquired memories and instincts of the [Black Mantis] gave one hell of a headache
Oh, right the mantis part
WHAT THE ABSOLUTE CRAP IS WITH THIS!?
AM I PART OF SOME KIND OF HIGHER POWER PUNCHLINE?
There is no way that I ended up getting this species role naturally!
I mean come on I end up in the world I least want to be in and end up as the one creature people have been comparing me to for my whole life.
I have yet to leave the cave so I don't actually know what I look like but I do however have the necessary information thanks to Barry.
[Black Mantis]
[Class 2-Wild]
[adult stage]
[An extremely rare variant of the white mantis species. Native to the Blood Forest of Asemas found on the outskirts of the forest and believed to be extremely valuable as a cultivation resource. An ambush creature and unlike a normal praying mantis has two large natural blades instead of barbs on its front legs.]
What sort of bull crap was that I mean sure cool that I have inbuilt blades and get to start immediately at second class strength but that is completely offset by the idea of being hunted by cultivators!
...
Okay time to start thinking logically…. Wait since when can I even do that!? How much did becoming a Mantis change me!?
Whatever change is better that death.
I need food and I need to gauge my strength and size. While I have the previous memory of this body it would be better to experience it first-hand. I also need to be careful I still don't actually know what killed me…. Or it
Whatever.
I slowly begin to move towards the entrance of the cave which kid of felt like crawling and standing up at the same time due to having six legs but thanks to this body's muscle memory wasn't uncomfortable of difficult.
Reaching the exit, I slowly peered out to the surrounding area and realized that I was actually in more of a burrow under a tree than a cave (shocking I know!)
I was clearly in some form of rainforest which made sense considering the name of Death FOREST
My instincts told me that simply walking on the forest floor would be extremely risky, so I began climbing the tree from which I just come out from under.
Now I'm no expert but these trees where Cleary very tall and as far as I could tell I wasn't small. If I were to gauge from the previous memories of the mantis which were pretty much nothing but climbing, staying still for hours, and ambushing smaller animals and a few vermin class monsters I was about the size of a horse so roughly two meters tall and maybe four meters long so these trees must be massive.
As I slowly made my way up the hill, I was able to take in certain feature of my new body such as my two front legs.
They were quite long and identical to the arms of a normal mantis except for a few features unlike the skin of a normal mantis which was generally slightly transparent and shiny mine appeared rather metallic and dull as if covered in a thin level of dense black chitin that was smooth and overlapped at the joints.
However, the biggest difference was that of the blades, if a normal mantis had sharp little barbs, I had a full saw it was extremely sharp and allowed for both cutting and grabbing as I had noticed as I tested on a few of the surrounding branches and leaves of the tree.
As reached the top of the tree and stood/clung to one of the higher branches I was able to look around and see the surroundings area
And this is where I would have screamed my lungs out with curses at Barry but all that came out was
"SCREEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!"
Because all I could see was nothing but endless forest. just trees and trees for miles.
So good news is I don't have to deal with any young masters or worry about cultivators trying to harvest my now shiny ass
But the bad news is that I am stuck in one of the seven Death Lands which thanks to Barry's info told me that this was one of the few places humans aren't even trying to explore due to it being choc a bloc full of beasts of the 4th Class!. Meaning while I don't have to worry about being crippled by some angry cultivator I do have to worry about being eaten and worse the FEMALE MANTIS that is slowly crawling towards me from another branch!!