章 2: Chapter 2 Obsidian

The screeches became louder before abruptly stopping. He flicked his antenna, trying to sense what happened, only to find the scorpion lying on its side.

For a moment, he just stood there awkwardly, unaware of what he should do next. 'Scorpion…?' He crawled a bit closer.

Was it really dead? He was startled back by a loud "crack!". Was it…molting?

He waited with bated breath, and thankfully, it didn't take long for the arachnid to jump up and energetically race across the ground like nothing happened.

'Has its injuries recovered!?' He thought in disbelief. Just a moment ago, it seemed as if it would die any second from now, and yet it's running around like nothing happened!

The creature screeched gently, something akin to a sign of affection. He could feel its intentions just from its voice…although it felt a bit strange.

In the next moment, he slightly perked up. There was an obvious change in its appearance.

No longer was it just a scorpion, it had sharp objects jutting out of its exoskeleton, its claws spiked and its tail much bulkier.

Its size didn't change in that regard but it was obvious just from its silhouette that it mutated.

'Maybe I really should just kill it?' As if sensing his thoughts, it tapped its claw against his carapace as if in complaint.

He shook his head. No, wait. Maybe this was an opportunity? If he can raise a powerful guard/subordinate for himself, couldn't he just relax and let them do all the work?

Bringing him food and free EP(Evolution Points)...now that would be nice.

He drooled at the thought. Being able to grow stronger while being lazy…he pushed the thought to the back of his mind.

Those dreams were far off right now. No need to get all excited. First things first, get out of here and survive.

If need be, he can just use the scorpion as a distraction if they ever encounter something dangerous.

…

'I'm hungryyy…' the duo had been crawling here and there for several days, and yet they couldn't find the exit, not to mention any prey. Maybe it was because he was a mutated creature, but his metabolism was incredibly high.

…And unfortunately, if any creatures saw either of them, they would scatter and skitter away. Ever since, all he had were the [Obsidian Shard]'s he learned could supplement the scorpion.

He practically glared resentfully at the creature as it slowly chewed on a shard happily.

'Good for you. Why don't you just choke to death..' he grumbled mindlessly. There were several things he learned while traveling with this guy.

Mutating by eating the corpse of a mutated creature was not a common phenomenon like he first thought; and neither were mutations itself.

After 'witnessing' several lizard-like creatures eating the corpse of some kind of mutated animal, he realized that maybe the scorpion's physiology was simply strange.

Or maybe it was the lizards?

Unfortunately, he didn't get the opportunity to eat when he felt the ground vibrating under his legs.

The first to react was the scorpion who hid behind him.

He had a bad feeling and led them away, sensing a large mammal-like beast pass the area they were just in.

That nearly gave him a heart attack.

Thankfully the scorpion seemed to know its way around the caves and they mostly stayed out of trouble. Something else he found strange was how intelligent the arachnid was. It seemed to have gotten even smarter after mutating as well, using its now hard carapace-harder than his-to block off surprise attacks from some of the more elusive creatures.

Upsettingly, those all got away before they could even try to attack. The centipede glanced at the smaller creature beside him, a bit skeptical. Maybe this guy was also a reincarnator? It wasn't that unbelievable when taking himself into account, but something told him that wasn't the case.

He sighed internally, deciding to open his status window to distract himself from the hunger he was feeling.

[Status:

Name: –

Age: 1 month 19 days

Evolution Points(EP): 1.1/10

HP: 120/120

Mana: 20/20

CON: 12

INT: 2

AGI: 10

Skill(s): Bite, Sharp Edge, Lock, Dash, Cognizance]

1.1 EP….he wondered what it would be like to get to 10. Would he evolve? Or was that the max amount of points he could carry? And what did they even do in the first place? Is it like money for online shopping?

He shook his head. There was no point thinking about it. His sight dragged down to the bottom where his skills were. [Bite], he already knew what it did, but the others he had learned of slightly later.

[Sharp Edge]

[Desc: Increases the sharpness of ones mandibles by 15%]

[Lvl. 1/5]

[Lock]

[Desc: 25% increase in mandible strength]

[Lvl. 1/5]

[Dash]

[Desc: 50% increase in speed for 3 seconds]

[Lvl. 1/5]

[Cognizance]

[Desc: Allows one to perceive their surroundings(Low grade)]

[Lvl. 1/5]

No name. He honestly did really care, but it did concern him that he couldn't remember his previous life's name.

Either way, [Cognizance] was definitely the skill that allowed him to see despite him not having eyes while he probably got [Dash] from when he was running away from that large being he had first seen when he woke up, before the system was fully integrated with him.

[Sharp Edge] and [Lock] seem to be intrinsic skills that were there before he ever arrived on this planet.

Again, he sighed. The small arsenal of abilities were disappointing. Compared to the majority of the things inside the cave, he was considered at the lower end of the food chain, just above non-mutated beasts.

He stopped where he was, feeling a presence nearby. If he rounded the corner, he would find himself staring at what could only be called a salamander with a body length so long he would've called it a snake if it wasn't for the figure of what could only be called two stubby arms inlaid at its front.

It was pure white, eyes cloudy indicating it was blind with little feathery protrusions on its head.

He popped his head out from behind a large rock, observing. It wasn't moving and seemed to be asleep. 'What to do….' They could turn back and try to find a different path or fight. He felt his stomach protest, causing him to fall into a dilemma.

Risk fighting or skitter around it? [Warning: Hosts hunger levels are dangerously low]. He frowned internally. What 'great' timing….welp. It seemed he had no choice in the matter. He wasn't confident, but he was either starving to death or dying in battle.

He liked the sound of the latter a whole lot better. He tapped the scorpion on where he assumed was its head, gesturing it to move across from him. He hoped the arachnid understood his intentions.

He felt satisfied when the creature moved to the left of him, readying its pincers and tail for the inevitable battle. It wanted to return the favor and what better way than to help support them in a fight?

'Alright….' His plan was for them to attack from multiple areas. He went for the tail while the scorpion was to get the front. I mean, he didn't necessarily want to take the riskier route, okay!? It was a bit cruel, and he felt bad seeing how riled up his 'companion' was beside him, but he wanted to live god dammit!

And, who knows? Maybe they'll both make it out alive? With a subtle countdown in his head, he pounced when it reached 0. The scorpion quickly followed. While he snapped at the tail end, the arachnid stabbed its sharp stinger into the white salamander's head.

To be continued…