It was cold. Very very damn cold, every inch of it. I feel like I am going to freeze to death. I can't see anything too. I swore I was just dozing off—did I get kidnapped again and placed in a freezer? I wouldn't put it past my pursuers, but why can't I feel anything else? Then, as I struggled to ponder over my problematic situation, a singular sensation came over me. It was warm, sweet, light, pleasant. Wrapping around my fragile trembling being. A voice, as if heralding from the heavens itself, called out to me.
"Robert Aphens. You have been given the privilege of reincarnating into a new world. Though, you had lived with many tragedies and pain, I hope that you might be able to live a good life in the next world I will be sending you to." Huh. Huh? Wuwazzat? The soothing feeling was too much for me that I couldn't focus. But something about a new world? Wait, is this heaven then, and here I stand before the great arbitrary judge of the myriad lives? Then, a silhouette appeared in front of me.
Woah, I gained sight. And what I saw was nothing short of awe-inspiring. The very cosmos itself laid out before me, like a blanket of infinite gems-studded tapestry covering the all horizons. Nebulas, galaxies, planets, a hundred thousand colors amidst the blackness of space. Each and every one singular point connected to another through sophisticated flares of light, a branching divergence the only apt description, as if the branches of a world tree spreading the channels of the universe. Is this actually the Universe, then? It was so mind-blowing that it took me a full five seconds before I became aware of the figure in front of me. Clothed in white, a suffused radiant glow framing them as tendrils extended out as if seeking something. A blinding halo above their head, held a wooden staff, a sizable amount of beard below their chin. Their face, shrouded in luminescent light, recalled a memory. Is he that famous prophet from one of the world-renowned religions? But then I saw the radiant light shrouding his face go away. The figure was not the prophet, I say. I repeat, it was not the prophet. That face was absolutely gorgeous, I have trouble knowing if its male or female but—
"I shall bestow upon you a gift to accommodate your new life. This tool would be called the MoPako System. May it serve you well in the dangerous magical world teeming with beasts. Farewell, Robert Aphens. Perhaps you will be fated to meet me again one day. Live well." And then I got sucked into a non-existent vacuum. Wai-WAITTTT I DON'T UNDERSTAND!! WHEEEEAAAA!!
.....
When I got to, I felt a dizzying weakness in my veins. I tried to move but I can't. More accurately—I am trapped somewhere dark. I thought about that figure's words and I just can't wrap my head around it. All of a sudden, I am reincarnated now? As a human baby? Why do I still have memories then? MoPako System? Wait, I actually died? With all these distracting thoughts and wild emotions, my body instinctively wiggled out of whatever the heck I am trapped into and broke out of the protective membrane. Bazzah! I am out. My eyes became clear and I saw:
*Screeecch!* *Kapow!* The first sight I was greeted at was green. Moving flailing green with a dozen limbs. Ah, so many violets, blue and green—thousands of shades in two sides each. Oh, the light, the light is overwhelming! They're like reflective currents, cocoon of currents spreading all out in varying intensities. What in the…?
*Munch* *Squelch*
It took a while but my mind adjusted to my 'new' eyes a little bit and recognized a humongous armored centipede, almost half of my entire eye set, crushing a dozen also gigantic bees and eating them within its slithering embrace. Around the centipede are crushed honeycombs and more half devoured honeybees. Then I realized. This is an ambush on a honeybee nest and I am a honeybee. Wait. Wait. I thought I was being born a human infant? Without memories, perhaps? Why am I here? But the grim reality in front of me did not change even for half a minute. Soon, that centipede is going to realize my presence and eat me as well. However, it was too busy fending off the surviving army of honeybees stinging it. One fellow particularly appeared to be glaring at me to attack it. Sorry chump, I think we have no chance. If an army of honeybees can't take that thing out then what chances I have, who's a bumbling newborn who can't even control its body instinctively? Impossible. I will certainly die. Alright, before panic could lead me to ruin, I have to compose myself. Right, this isn't anything new. I'll think about other things later.
With burning dire efforts, I desperately tried learning to move my wings. Alas, it only twitched in spasms. Shortly, controlling my six legs are no problem. Okay back muscles are the key here, or thorax muscles, more accurately. For the time being I crawled sneakily away from the centipede and the few remaining honeybees and hid behind a rock. Move, move, move damn it!
"KRAAAH!" The rock I hid behind crashed into little shrapnel, hitting my body in several spots. One of it got into my eye—which hurts like stepping on a Lego as a baby. In other words, I have a fractured skul—not, my head and eyes are actually kinda tough. Still though, the raging centipede already wiped out the others. It locked its red menacing eyes on me and… SHITTT!
I ran like the fat ass bastard that I am with my comical six legs. I maneuvered through the trees and jumped over bushes but the centipede was rapidly outgaining me. That centipede really is pining for this booty. I would definitely die in less than five seconds if this keeps up. If I die again, would I be able to complain to that mysterious prophet? Damn it, this kinda unfair ain't it?
Then, something magical happened—my wings started to move up and down. Gosh darn it, make it faster like the wheels of a hyper cog! There you go, good job me. Steady, steady, this feels like an old-model airplane gaining its momentum not gonna lie. Time it right, and oomph! I pushed my legs with all the force, lo and behold, I took flight off the ground like the shooting of a catapult. Flight is back online!!!!
Hah you can eat my butt, centipede, which admittedly you almost took a huge chunk out half a second ago. I was almost celebrating in tears when I crashed into the tree's bark.
"SKREEECH!" Oh centipede, you still got half a dozen corpses of my kind back there, why do you hunger for mine? Is my big yellow booty butt that appealing? Eat it, sucker! Fortunately, I didn't drop all the way to the ground and set off flying. Soon, I left the centipede far behind. I was super-fast more than I expected. Or was that centipede just slow? Now that I think about it, it did look injured in multiple places. Must be the work of my kind. Eventually, once I got far enough, I decided to perch on the top branch of a tree relatively taller than the others, honestly, I don't know how big I am or this tree was. But the fact that my size resembles an eagle's or more relative to this tree, it should be significant.
Okay then, scout the surroundings first. This forest area is guaranteed dangerous, information is imperative for survival. I took a look and went gob smacked. The world was… huge. Filled with all kinds of flying monsters blotting out the blue, violet wide sky and the tops of humongous monstrosities jutting out of the forests. A bulbous bag of flesh, a moving craggy mountain top, another even appeared like towering cicada wings, then the broad torso of titan. A majority of the monsters crawling through the forest and engaging war. Yet all seemed nothing compared to the imposing azure mountains in the distance. The zeniths obscured by the clouds. Now I don't know what they're made of but this is no time to be wowin' since a flying pterosaurs-like monster is coming this way. Ah seriously man?
...
After flying and rolling and sprinting and flying around, I just can't help but want to hide in a hole and hopefully get out of this place by melting through the earth. To be honest, this is even worse than being chased by a bloodthirsty gang because you stole something of their property. Well, only slightly worse but come on. I expected something better. Because this place is absolutely bonkers. A giant moth, a giant stick insect, a flying winged wolf, another flying winged deer with drill antlers, a muscle-packed gorilla that even King Kong would get jealous of, a bear clothed with thorns, an ox-boar hybrid, a leopard with tiger stripes, a snake, a termite colony warring on moving trees etc. etc. Heck I even saw a tree dryad, but instead of a sexy hot lady luring you in, there's only a dryad that's taken the form of a big apple. What's up with that? But worse of it all are the flower monsters. Oh my god. Why is this land cursed with such abominations of a creation? One glance, and instead of where the pistil and stamen business are, there's an entire viscera of organs inside, pulsing with unholy green ichor. Granted, there are safe flowers here and there—but none that are big enough to hide in.
My only way to survive was to hide in an unoccupied mountain cave. This is a massive risk but its all I have at this point—everywhere else is a big no no. And I did got lucky, managing to get inside a coastal grotto. It's a shallow one so I believe there's no other monster lurking deeper inside. Phew! My body is not in good shape, I tell ya. Numerous scratches here and there, thankfully my body's kind of resilient without incurring a bleeding injury. I came close to death numerous times though.
I was slumped down to the cold wet ground floor, resting for all I was worth when I appraised my present situation. Seriously these new eyes of mine still disorients me a whole lot. The colors of green blue and ultraviolet are all I can see, the compound eyes are way too different from a human's, not to mention, it's so blurry past beyond 10 meters. At least I could move with this new body somewhat, along with the helpful motion detection of my ocelli. Honestly, it's a miracle I got to survive. Ah but man. From a honeybee caretaker to a bee himself, what an ironic twist of fate. I have no small number of grievances to that mysterious prophet figure but I have no choice but to accept what I am now. Can't help it, can we?
Now, what's this MoPako System prompt box in my eyes? From that figure's words, this should be like a game-like feature, right? Maybe to facilitate my level ups, status, skill etc.? Okay, expand system! Didn't work. Is it a physical touch thing? Gingerly, I placed one leg on the prompt box and it quickly expanded. From its contents reads:
[ MoPako System – Monster and Companion; destined ones to change the world's fate.
{ Skill Tree Chart} { Evolution Path} {Store} { Title Traits} {???} { ???} {???} {???}
Name: Robert Aphens
Race: Mel Apis Infans (Worker Honeybee Infant)
Level: 1 (Evo 1)
Strength: 10
Agility: 9
Constitution: 6
Intelligence: 14
HP: 16/24
Skills:
Core Abilities: Bee Sting lvl 1, Bee Bite lvl 1
Auxiliary Abilities: N/A
Titles: N/A
Skill points: 0
Ability Points: 0
Click here for more details ]
Huh uh. Hmmmm. Destined ones to change the world, eh? Okay, gehehehe. HAHAHAHA. So, I am a typical isekai protagonist then? Golly gosh, guess I could forgive you, mysterious prophet. Not sure about the companion part, I could assume there are others like me, then? But my status sheet is rather pathetic huh? Surely, there's some special ability to be unlocked that would make me overpowered. Let's take a look around the store first. It should be there where my overpowered-ness lies!
[
Normal Store
Feats: 1 (!) Achievements: 0
Total Points: 100
Minor healing: 5 pts (non-consumable, repeatable only three times)
Minor mana restoration: 6 pts (non-consumable, repeatable only three times)
Minor stamina refill: 4 pts (non-consumable, repeatable only three times)
+3 ability points: 10 pts
+3 skill points: 15 pts
Minor Navigation Auxiliary Ability (Initiate): 10 pts
Minor Stealth Auxiliary Ability (Initiate): 8 pts
Minor Tracking Auxiliary Ability (Initiate): 10 pts (Requires Navigation Ability)
Lesser Navigation Auxiliary Ability (Initiate): 25 pts
Lesser Stealth Auxiliary Ability (Initiate): 20 pts
Minor Vision Enhance Auxiliary Ability (Veteran): 18 pts
Unlock Evolutionary Path Evo 2 Requirements: 50 pts
Upgrade Normal Store to Intermediate Store: 50 pts
Click here for more details
Details:
Points could be attained through Feats and Achievements to buy from the store. Additionally, one could exchange ability and skill points for store points.
Feats – Significant actions done under special circumstances. Gives 5 up to 200 points, depending on the difficulty.
Achievements – Monumental actions and outstanding contributions worthy of being passed down in history. All Achievements comes with a new unique title. Gives 200 up to 2000 points, depending on the difficulty and the resulting effect on the world.
Upon buying all the auxiliary abilities, a new upgraded skill set would replace them to match your current skillset.
Buying a higher tiered auxiliary ability would remove the lower tiered auxiliary ability out of the store.
If you already have a lower tiered auxiliary ability, the next upgrade auxiliary ability cost would be lowered to half.
Upgrading the Store would not remove the items not purchased from the previous level.
Feat Unlocked! Survived Tremendous Low Odds! Gained 100 store points!
]