It frightened him at first. The constant pressure of all the soil strangely made him feel safe. Without it, he felt vulnerable. Exposed.
Due to the rain, no birds nor other predators could attack him. This created the opportunity for Quinn to experience the surface. And boy, it felt empty.
'Wait, I can see?'
It was limited. Quinn could only tell that it was not dark. No detail could be made out, but it was something.
Without the constant pressure of the soil against his skin, Quinn felt quite exposed. But he also felt determined. Something about his instincts told him to crawl somewhere.
Quinn didn't know where, but he crawled. But he smelt something.
[Conditions met Growth Skill Unlocked:
[Pheromone detection] ]
[ [Pheromone detection] Activated]
'Woah... this is something else'
Quinn could inherently taste differences in the air. All of which tugged at his instincts.
Follow. Run. Food. Blank. Zap!
'Huh... A-A... A Mate!!?'
Quinn didn't know what the blank one was, but he did notice that the mate and 'run' were coming from the same direction.
'A trap??'
The food and blank were in the other direction, so Quinn went with the most logical choice.
Food.
While the prospect of a mate intrigued him, strangely Quinn didn't have the drive to even try.
All his life women tormented him because he wasn't a certain way. So maybe he didn't want to experience the pain of rejection.
Or maybe Quinn's juvinile body didn't host a sex drive.
'I need to get stronger so a female will accept me'
So he started to crawl toward the food phenomenon. Bump!
Quinn bumped into something. He touched it and sniffed it.
[ [Appraisal] Activated]
[Appraisal: Pebble]
'Wait, I remember now'
To activate [Appraisal], two conditions apply;
1. There must be an object to appaise. So it doesn't work on soil since it's an environment.
2. He must use his senses on it.
Quinn must've not realised back then, but he must've tasted his egg.
In response, Quinn curled up so he could sniff himself.
[ [Appraisal] Activated]
[Appraisal: Quinn(Juvenile Earthworm)]
'WTF. I still can't see my fucking STATUS'
[Conditions met: [Status] Unlocked]
[
Name:Quinn
Species:Earthworm(Juvinile)
Growth:38%
Satiety:37%
Strength:2
Agility:1
Vitality:1
Intelligence:2
Arcane:1
Skills:[Dig] [Appraisal] [Tenacious diet] [Internal Compass] [Pheromone detection]
]
'I'm tRaSh'
Quinn had almost the lowest stats. But because of his reincarnation, he thought he would be special.
'I guess the [Appraisal] skill distinguishes me from the other worms'
Quinn tried to repair his pride. He had to admit progress is being made. Before, he couldn't use the status window.
Getting back to his mission, Quinn began to crawl. His satiety was getting low, and he had a hunch that Exp will be unlocked upon growth completion.
On the way, Quinn appraised a lot of things. Even coming across a black stone that read:
[Appraisal: ???]
Not thinking much of it, Quinn continued. Until he finally, he found something.
[Appraisal:Dark pine leaf(food)]
Quinn found leaves before even eating some of them, noticing a slight boon to [Growth].
So why did this emit a pheromone. Quinn wrapped his liplike structure over a section of the leave. His saliva started breaking it down as Quinn finally got some down his esophagus.
It tasted like the heavens finally decided to bless Quinn. It felt like a disparity between hell and earth. Soil and leaf.
He ate as fast as he could. Hyenas would be jealous of his skills.
But then it stopped raining.
Quinn was left with two choices. Dig down or keep eating. Quinn hadn't had a good meal in ages, and his satiety was almost full.
But Quinn was a coward, so he started burrowing until he saw something.
Quinn's growth went from 39 to 46 in such a small time. He couldn't let this go to waste.
His tail was in the burrow when his head and body were above eating the leaf. In the unclear mirage of all the colours, Quinn touched something.
Sniffing it, he activated his appraisal skill;
[Appraisal: Pigmented Catipilar]
It was casually hanging on the undersides of the leaf while nibbling away at it.
'This bastard is stealing my food!!'
Not afraid of any catapillar, Quinn rammed his head into the catapillar. It did nothing. Actually, noticing Quinn's presence, it only sped up.
So Quinn sped up. Until he had to wiggle his tail out of the burrow to relocate. And at that exact moment, Quinn felt a gust of wind crawl down his back.
The caterpillar was hidden. He was not. The bird seemed to be quick and cunning to appear behind him so suddenly.