Quinn, like the degenerate he is, panicked.
This lucky bastard chaotically learned how to, well, worm.
His pointless flailing and wriggling about sunk him into the soil.
His tendency to stress eat during times like these caused him to find that he could eat the soil.
[ [Dig] Activated]
As the scene of Quinn digging through the soil and eating, it activated. Although he couldn't see the windows. Only mere felt it through his mind's eye.
[ [Tenacious diet] Activated]
'Why!!!' He sobbed inwardly. 'Why is it always me... Wait!' He finally realised the system windows and that he has eating literal dirt.
The dirt tasted bland, but there was something about it that made it taste so much better.
Safety.
'Ahhhahhahahaha, I'll never go hungry. Only boredom could kill me now.'
Quinn began to eat.
[[Tenacious diet] Activated], [ [Dig] Activated], [ [Tenacious diet] Activated] ...
Gradually, the earth was getting harder and harder to eat. His pallet became more and more off put by the thought of eating dirt.
But Quinn persisted.
[[Tenacious diet] Activated], [ [Dig] Activated], [ [Tenacious diet] Activated] ...
Finally, something else happened.
[Satiety: 100%]
[Growth progresses ...]
'That means I'm fully, doesn't it.'
Suddenly, a sharp pain invaded Quinn's entire body. But as quick as it came, it left. Followed by a cramped feeling in Quinn's body.
'Ow, what was that. I couldn't even react to it.'
Even though Quinn is usually useless, his worm instincts fought the soil crushing him and activating [Dig] to create more room.
[You have Aged:
[Hatchling Worm] --> [Juvenile Worm] ]
[Growth completion: 33%]
'Ahhhh, what the heck. I don't even know what is happening. Did I evolve?'
Quinn might've been lazy and pathetic, but he wasn't stupid. He knew the system said,'Aged' not evolved.
It made sense why Exp was locked now. It would be very weird if a baby were to level up.
So levelling up was not tied to maturity. At least not in this world.
'Use Appraisal! Use Appraisal! Ahhh... Nothing's working. I have no control over my skills. [Tenacious diet] seems to be passive. [Dig] feels like it's built into me. Why can't I activate Appraisal. Am I forgetting something?'
Quinn had no choice but to keep worming. He had no sense of direction, so he didn't know which way was up. As if to answer this, the system transmitted;
[Aged body hosts new skill:]
[Growth Skill Unlocked:
[Internal Compass] ]
Quinn's sense of direction suddenly felt firmer. But this made Quinn shudder. He has been digging down this whole time. It explained the worsening quality of the soil.
He needed to go up.
Quinn might not have realized that by digging down into more compact dirt made Quinn's body feel weak.
This is because worms breathe through their skin. But there is less oxygen in deeper levels of soil.
In this way, he fell unconscious due to a level of oxygen deprivation.
Quinn, is that pathetic.
A worm drowned in soil??
...
Okay, okay.
Activate [Plot Amour]
God dammit Quinn we haven't even finished the 2nd chapter, and you already need this bullshit.
It rained.
With rain came a rush of new oxygen for Quinn to breathe. His buoyancy made him float up an unknown tunnel that he happened to come across.
'Huh, what happened?'
Quinn awoke. Noticing the water around him and the tunnel wider than his body, he flailed.
He tried to swim, but worms can't swim. He only hit the walls of the tunnel he was in.
He was trapped. What's worse was that something bigger had made this tunnel, and Quinn didn't want to find out what.
'Ahhhh... Why is it always me? You don't see Jesus reincarnate into a worm. No, instead, he convinced some people to kill him to create a religion.'
Not realising that Quinn might be in a better situation, he diverted the blame once again.
'I can't swim!! I'm going to drown'
This wasn't because of his body. Quinn genuinely didn't know how to swim. Hence, he started to sink.
'I-I can't breathe... Wait!? Am I even capable of breathing. I can't drown! Hahhhhah, I'm truly invisable.
I can't starve. I can't drown. I have permanent shelter. Just one thing.
Why do I want to go up so bad??'
Quinn's instincts screamed at him to go up. He couldn't resist. Perhaps he was curious. Or perhaps he was so weak willed he couldn't resist.
Quinn dug into the side wall. He finally had the bearings to tunnel up. He didn't do something with that determination before.
[Skill Levelled up
[Dig]Lvl 1 --> [Dig] Lvl 2
Exp: 5 ]
[Exp: Locked]
'pfft stupid system'
Quinn dug and dug until he finally reached it.
The Surface.