As Asumi went into his hole to take a nap, he entered and his eyes were greeted with the sight of what Gooper was doing inside the hole.
Gooper had a nicely arranged living space, Asumi mused, looking all around the interior of the hole. "Wow, this place looks nice, even for a hole."
Moving closer inside, Asumi met Gooper at a corner, stuffing his mouth full with quality nutrients. Asumi asked Gooper, snapping his mandibles while still eating, "how are you still eating?"
Gooper turned and looked at him, saying, "Food? __ Want some?" Asumi replied, "No thanks, I'm okay."
Then Asumi made his way to a corner. Upon reaching there, he decided to check his stats with the system, musing, "It's been quite a while since I came to this world, and I haven't seen the status window."
Asumi said, "System, display status window."
[System: loading...]
------------------------------------
| STATUS WINDOW |
-------------------------------------
| Name: Asumi Tora
| level: 2
| Experience points: 85/100
| Health: 100/100
| Hunger Level: 100/100
| Beetle Type: None
| Current Stage: Larva
| Next Evolution: pupa
|-------------------------------------|
| Abilities:
| - Basic Movement
| - Feeding
| - Danger Detection (New)
|-------------------------------------|
| Attributes:
| - Strength: 0.9/10
| - Speed: 0.7/10
-------------------------------------
| Free Stat Point: 0.4
```
Asumi, surprised, mused, "Wow, this is the first time seeing it up close, but it's so cool. Now let's see."
He rolled his eyes from top to bottom, inspecting his stats until something jumped out at him. He questioned the system, "Wait, what does 'beetle type None' mean? Aren't I a beetle?"
The system replied, "[System: Yes, host, you are a beetle, but your insect path hasn't been decided yet.]"
"Hmm, okay," Asumi mused, satisfied, and continued looking down. He noticed as well, "Oh, I gained a new skill. Why didn't you tell me?"
[System: Host, would you like to test it out?]
Asumi replied, "Yeah, sure," the system activated it, then his eyes started glowing blue as he looked at the world around him. He turned his head, looking around the room until he saw Gooper. Gooper looked back at him, tilting his head to the side, confused.
Asumi was able to see his name tag on top of his head, which had a green color indicating "(Friendly)." Next to his name tag was his level: Gooper(3). Asumi mused, surprised, "Wait, he's already level 3? Damn, so quick."
Then Asumi turned back to the system, deactivated the skill, and continued looking at his stats. He noticed his strength and speed were abnormally low. "In all my years of gaming, never have I seen stats this low. Damn, talk about weak."
Feeling tired, he yawned and proceeded to go to sleep, closing his eyes.
Suddenly, he heard a loud biting sound coming from outside the hole. He opened his eyes, curious, and went back outside to see what it was.
He then saw a group of small young ants moving around, biting and taking whatever food supply they could find. Asumi activated his Danger Detection skill and noticed the name tags on their heads as he looked around.
The name tags displayed Ant(1) with a white color indicating (not Hostile).
Asumi tried to communicate with them, snapping his mandibles, "Alright, what do you guys want?" But to his surprise, they didn't respond. Confused, he came up close to one and tried again, snapping his mandibles even harder, "Hey, I'm talking to you!"
But the little ant didn't respond. Instead, it went after the grass they were staying near. Asumi then went after it, saying, "Hey, where are you going?"
Then suddenly, the ant started biting their grass. Asumi went there, musing, "No, this is our property!" He pushed the ant away from it, but it kept coming back.
Asumi, feeling frustrated, gripped the ant with his mandibles on its back, trying to pull it away, but the ant wouldn't let go of its grip.
"Let go!" Asumi mused, then tightened his grip a bit more, inadvertently cutting the small ant in half. The ant's dead body fell to the ground, and the system prompted:
[System: Host has killed an ant (hatchling) +5 Exp]
Feeling a sense of dread for what he had done, Asumi mused, "No, I didn't mean to." He turned and looked at the other ants, using his detection skill. He saw all the name tags on the ants turn from white to red.
Immediately, they stopped what they were doing and rushed at him, climbing all over his body and biting him. Asumi felt immense pain as he struggled to move away from their incoming bite attacks.
As his HP increasingly started dropping, Asumi mused as they covered his vision, "Stop, please! I didn't mean to kill him."
Gooper, hearing and feeling something was odd, came out and looked around. When he saw Asumi on the ground being attacked, he immediately rushed in to save him, hoping he wasn't too late.
Immediately, as he closed in, he brushed his mandibles on Asumi's body. Ants scattered away, and the ones that came back after that action he'd step on or bite.
After a few minutes of Gooper removing the ants, the rest of the ants started to leave Asumi's body, seeing their numbers had dropped significantly.
Gooper finally removed the last ant so Asumi could see again. He snapped his mandibles, questioning if Asumi was still alive.
Asumi managed to stand up, snapping his mandibles in response, "Don't worry, Gooper, it's just a scratch. Thanks for helping."
Asumi then slowly walked back into the hole to rest, his body stinging from all the ant bites.
Asumi, inside the hole, slept not long after. Night fell, a time known for its dangers and unpredictability in the forest. The moon cast its dim light rays in the forest below, accompanied by creepy sounds and lurking shadows. A small army had gathered to hunt, the miniature huntresses of the insect world. They came prepared in this godforsaken evergreen forest.
Asumi and Gooper slept nice and sound underground, unaware of what was coming for them and the danger it posed.