28 Footloose

I passed every day training my body to the absolute limit while searching for more ways to train my bugs. I taught them about several creatures, that I have seen by now. I taught them to wait and even to attack me. Getting them to attack me was really not that easy, I had to grab an animal that was still squirming in my little hands and hold in front of my body. Then pointing at it and yelling "attack", it took quite some time until they finally started attacking me without the creature in front of me.

But I had a painful realisation after an attack found its target in my nether region. Under tears and suppressing the urge to vomit I finally realized I was not wearing any kind of clothing. I had way too much on my head and literally, everything was of more importance than wearing clothes. After my sudden epiphany, I felt the cold wind downstairs and my whole body began to shiver. I put my other projects on hold and began to fanatically think of a way to solve this mess.

I am not yet able to permanently turn into the monstrous form and the threads of my bugs create a bit too much pressure for such a soft spot. I don't want to turn into a eunuch just because I want to wear something. I must find silk or something similar otherwise I might just as well refer to myself as the streaker.

There is another option but that is very risky.There are several tribes of NPC´s in this game and the system views me as NPC as well, that means that there is a possibility that I can get clothes that way. This seems to be the most feasible option that is currently available to me, the only downside is that I have no clue where to find such a tribe. Of course, I should not forget about the monsters and the players as well. I only fought cannon fodder till now.

It is time to gather more fighting experience, in order to stay alive. Hiding in my safe bubble is only good as long as I am not found, but thinking like that only is a fool's dream. If I learned one thing from this short journey of mine, I will be found for sure.

So let me summarize what I learned about my body and about the bugs. To make sure which things Ineed to improve before going on with my plan.

My body gets tougher if I let the bugs eat humans and if it gets stimulated by training. Any kind of wound I get heals faster even though the skin looks a bit strange when it begins to heal. Though I would rather refrain from referring to it as healed because it looks like it gets replaced by some sort of hard yet flexible substance that keeps its properties after hardening.

Just looking at it from the outside it looks as if it has never changed, but the skin was much more tenacious after the replacement. After coming to this realization I began to try and hurt my body everywhere I could. And an even bigger side effect was that the pain I once felt was numbed by a pretty margin. Seems like the mind is capable of adjusting to pretty much anything. Though a negative side effect is that my skin does not react to stimulation as it used to. I could get pierced by something and not even notice it.

And I still do not know how my body reacts to magic, because the membrane that absorbed mana is gone now. Even if I am able to absorb mana, it will still deal some serious damage on its target. Using my bugs as a shield is out of the question anyway, those little devils are not made out to be meat shields. Currently, my little bugs are able to act on the following commands "Attack" "Bring" "Stand" and "Return". It is not much but it is a solid basis I can work with. They are currently struggling if I combine 2 orders or more. But the terms Attack and Bring are pretty vague and do not specify what kind of way their goal is achieved. For example, the order Bring can include attacking the desired prey or just straight up picking up the corpse and bring it to me.

The things I am currently lacking are much unclear information that is important to evaluate their combat strength. I only have this one life and I should not take too many risks otherwise I will end up dead sooner or later. And if I want to get my message across being weak is not helping in the slightest, I would go as far and say that it would end up holding me back. Asking the strong to hold because I am too weak is pathetic. In this kind of world, only the strong are revered.

In order to improve I am looking to further strengthen my body, even though I end up risking my life that way, it is still something that I can at least partially control. Without wasting any more time I began my search for potential enemies to train my fighting skills. After searching in this wild forest I began to walk into a much rougher terrain. The atmosphere inside of it was not as colourful and cheerful as the forest. It was much rougher, much more antagonistic to life in general.I did not dare to walk too deep into it, because curiosity is what kills the little kitten.

Despite walking slowly and keeping my tension high, I still ended up being ambushed by a lone wolf. It sunk its teeth into my left shoulder after I moved my head away to dodge his bite into my throat. Blood was spilling out of the wound, but I am glad that the teeth did not sink too deep into my flesh.

I threw a punch onto his nose with my right hand to get him away from me. But one punch was not enough so I began to throw several more.After a wave of punches connected the wolf finally let me off.

Seems like I am still not used to this kind of pain. Fuck it still hurts. An angry groan left my mouth as I pushed myself up and ran towards the wolf once again.As long as I am still under the effect of adrenaline I have to deal as much damage as I can.

Closing in on it, I began to throw punches and kicks onto the vulnerable eyes. I was able to force it to close one of its eyes but the price was several bloody gashes by teeth and claws all over my body.

Ignoring the painful sensation all over my body,I tried to weave and avoid another bite, but due to injuries my reaction was delayed and the wolf nearly tore off my right leg. I wanted to scream but found my self unable to because my body was on the verge of collapse. Gasping for air, my lungs began to hurt with every little movement. The pain from my right leg was keeping my brain busy, preventing any kind of logical thinking.

I don't know whether time slowed down for me, or my brain just shut down. Either way watching the wolf failing to tear of my right leg, fills me with an unexplainable anger. How can such a mighty creature fail a task like that? A world full of magic, full of stuff that I deemed impossible beforehand. And yet this mighty creature fails at tearing of a baby's leg? This is sulling the reputation of wolves left and right.Biting is so easy, see this is how it's done.

A painful shriek was heard, as a little mouth was busy munching on the wolves eye.The wolf was moving wildly, but to no avail, the small little hands were holding on. The socket was cleaned slowly but surely.

" Do you feel it,? That is what a predator has to be like. You have to instil fear in your target."

" Your prey has to give up just by your sheer presence alone. It is your task to play and toy with it, give it hope just to crush it over and over again. Watch it die on the inside before dying on the outside. That is what it takes to be a predator,"

The wolves eye was full of anger.It began to furiously maul the leg off. While staring maliciously at his prey. But there was no painful shout, no scream, rather the response was something the wolf had never seen or expected, it was a laughter. a voice full of joy.

A place of life and death was replaced by 2 creatures standing still. For a fleeting moment, there was a strange feeling of resonance. There was no prey, no victim. Just 2 equals looking straight the other. Both started to move at the same time, the start to the last chapter in one of their lives.

The wolf was aiming for the throat, while his ferocious bite was blocked by moving the injured arm to block its bite. The other hand moved to the freshly torn off leg. Just as the motion finished the wolf let go of the arm and targeted the throat once more. With a sudden motion, the detached leg was rammed into the mouth of the wolf. This sudden development did not stop the wolf from pouncing at its goal.

After realizing the last futile attempt to keep the distance, the wolfs gaze turned haughty and contemptuous as his teeth bit through the leg piece by piece. Several minutes passed as the wolf continued to chew and bite. Its eye was locked as its prey during the whole process. More and more saliva began to pour out of its mouth, in anticipation of the upcoming feast. After finally biting through the object standing between it and the victim. The wolf prepared to finally get rid of this nuisance.

But that preparation was for nought, as the wolf collapsed never to wake up again. Its eye was still staring at the small baby in front of it.

"What a shitty way to die. I am sorry that is not an honourable way to die. But you don't have to worry soon you will forget, what has happened to you. You are just data, it only takes milliseconds for the server to regenerate you again. There is no sensation of pain for you, no real purpose. It is just your job to be here to get slaughtered by others only to respawn a while later. It is an endless cycle of neverending death and rebirth, but you are not able to care at all, you are just artificially created and forced to do what you have been programmed to. And your first death is due to a little foot being lodged in your throat. Fate truly is quite ironic if you think about it.

"In comparison, I am just something that should not exist in the first place. I was a filthy human being contributing nothing but negativity wherever I went. But now I am different, I found a purpose for myself. May it be selfish, hypocritical in nature, may it be just an attempt to distract me from all the thoughts that pester me. But this is the first time, in a very long time I truly feel important. Even if you are just a lowly mimic of a creature in the eyes of others, but I will always be thankful. You brought me back to reality. I am not chosen for anything I am the one choosing. "

" Deciding your worth by your contribution to the world is just stupid. This world does not care about you and I. Peasant or king, sinner or saint. rich or poor. weak or strong, in the grand scheme, everything is the same. Still, while the outcome is the same the process is different for everyone. That is why I am living for my sake now, but the idea I stand for is much bigger. "

Carpe Diem.

The only question that currently remains is, how to get my severed foot out of its throat...

"