Epic of Caterpillar
Epic of Caterpillar - Chapter 3: The River King!

[Day 5]

After a nice long sleep of around 9 hours, I headed silently towards the river. I made sure that no birds were peeking at me this time and started to wander around the River until a big fish began to follow me around. It was yellow this time and had whiskers on its face.

"Hmm, it hasn't come out yet, and it looks somewhat different than the last two, this one is a little bit bigger and has whiskers. Perhaps it is evolved? Wait… then wouldn't it be a bad idea to confront it?"

Just as I started to ponder the danger of the situation the big fish jumped out of the River shining brightly with its yellow-colored scales and majestic whiskers. Its body was way bigger than what it looked like the inside of the river and it had two pairs of strong limbs to walk with, it was completely different from the other Walking Fish I had seen.

"Gweeh…! This guy is fucking massive! I will not die…! Maximum speed!"

Just as I started using all of my stamina to run as fast as I could the fish followed close behind me. It was oddly fast for its massive size!

"It really wants to eat my fatty meat! I cannot keep up! He is going to catch me! What do I do? What do I do? How could I have such bad luck! Damned minus two luck stat!"

The big fish gulped at me several times trying to grab me creating a terrible sound every time it closed its mouth. I was barely able to even dodge each of its bites.

"This damned bastard! It really wants me! Ugh!"

Using my Thread Manipulation skill, I threw a long line of a threat up the closest tree and was able to get out of its range. Finally, in a safe space, I glanced down.

"Mweh… This bastard does not give up! But he cannot climb trees anyways, right?"

Just as I thought that the big fish formed paws and little claws on its limbs and without hesitation, it started to climb the tree at full speed!

"What?! Are you kidding me? This is a joke, right?"

Using my thread, I climbed to a faraway branch, but the damned bastard kept following me.

"You fiendish fish! Know your place!"

With anger, I went to another branch, but the big fish kept following me.

"What do I do? It does not give up and it is not running out of the air at all (or water?) Why is it not suffocating? Can they stay fully on the ground when they evolve? That is an unfair cheat!"

The fish suddenly jumped over and almost got me!

"Ugh! Do not scare me like that, you bastard! Damn it! I wish I had long-range attacks! With just Weak Bite I cannot do shit to him while I run away! Wait, what if I use my threat to attack? But how?! I have to grab something with it and then hit him with it! But what?!"

I looked around for a rock, but my little vision could not see very well so I decided to use Spider's 8 Eyes to increase my range of vision.

"Agh… Ah! There it is! A medium-sized rock! Please, strength stat, do not disappoint me this time! Uuooh!"

I threw a strong thread over to the rock and wrapped the thread around it, then I used my full force to swing the rock right into the fish's stupid face! This caused the big fish to yell in pain and while blood sprouted from its face as if it were in extreme pain the fish yelled to the heavens.

"Hah! Why are you crying so much, you stupid bastard? Have you ever felt pain before in your life? You stupid evolved idiot!"

Using my full force again I swung the rock back to me and then I swung it right back into its face for a second time! The big fish struggled but managed to keep up on the tree, it yelled full of rage as a strong red aura covered its entire body, its limbs getting stronger making it look completely different than it the goofy look it had before.

"…Eh? What the hell is going on…? It got stronger all of a sudden! Did it activate some kind of buff?"

So, there are things like that in this wicked world!

Damn it!

I am not going to give up either your stupid fish bastard!

The fish began to climb the tree at max speed while I ran away even higher but when I had almost gotten to the top of the tree, I realized something.

"No! This is dangerous! If I go to the tip of the tree I am going to get eaten by birds! I need to jump off to another tree right away! Right, now! Oof!"

Using my thread, I was able to jump to another tree with relative ease but the fish became enraged at my runaway tactics and jumped over to the other tree. The strong force of that jump almost broke the original tree in half!

Are you kidding me?

This bastard is absurdly strong!

"This is not fair at all! I am no more than a pitiful caterpillar! Agh!"

Using the full force of my threats I managed to pull myself a food distance away from the fish's approach while also balancing the rock I was carrying.

"Here! Take this, you bastard!"

When the rock hit the fish right in its face it started to yell in pain as blood sprouted from its wound.

Gluuuuuooop! Geeh…

As more blood came out of its pitiful fish face it got even angrier and its buff seemed to get even more potent, its limbs became even more muscular, covered in veins. In a big jump, it destroyed the tree that we were both standing on and then tried to bite me again.

"Ah! Stupid idiot, you destroyed the tree! We are going to fall now!"

Using my threads, I was able to climb to another nearby tree, but the stupid fish fell to the ground taking some serious damage.

"Guuoohh..." it muttered.

Crack, crack!

Clash!

As the fish tried to recover, the rest of the tree fell onto its body, completely crushing it into a meat paste.

[You've gained: 544 XP]

[You've gained: 3 levels]

[Level 8/10 XP 9/300]

[Your HP has recovered]

"Phew… I almost died there… Hah! That is what you get for messing with me!"

Ugh, I am so tired… How did I even get the XP?

I did not even kill him directly…

I wonder if it does it still count?

After the fight I was completely exhausted, my entire body was very fatigued, so I decided to rest a little on a tree branch.

"Wait! I cannot rest right now!"

I have to get it before a bird eats it…! Move, body…!

Even though I was struggling I managed to make my way down somehow, wrapping the mushed body of the fish inside some of my threat I slowly dragged it into my nest.

Phew! Time to enjoy a good meal…!

For the rest of the day, I dedicated myself to eating the massive walking fish. It tasted like raw Tuna, the best raw Tuna, better than any Tuna I had ever eaten in my previous life.

Nom, nom…

This is marvelous! Such a strong taste! I could eat this for my entire life! So juicy yet so meaty! All the struggles paid off in the end…

I am also close to level 10 now, just two more levels, I can do it… Right?

After spending several hours eating, I finally finished the entire fish, not even its eyes or scales were spared!

"Sigh… I should have saved some for tomorrow, but it was so good! I couldn't stop myself!"

[You've obtained a new title: River King]

[You've learned the following skills]

[Silver Belly]

[River King Strong Body]

[River King Strong Claws]

[River King Strong Bite]

[High Water Elemental Affinity]

[Water Shot]

…Ah! This is amazing… I am amazing!

These skills are from an evolved monster and yet I got them from eating it!

Heh…! Wait… Water Shot? Is this… A long-ranged attack? Finally!

But I wonder why didn't it used it against me? He would have been able to easily shoot me down…

Perhaps he could not figure it out? Or perhaps it needs water inside of the body, and it also needed it to breathe outside? So many questions… I cannot figure this out for now.

After thinking about that stupid fish, I checked out my new skills, it seems that the big fish was actually the River King.

How could I be so unlucky? Or lucky?

The [River King Strong Body] Skill is actually an active buff that I can apply using 20 stamina. It will boost my max HP, Strength, and Defense by 10 points for an hour.

The [River King Strong Claws] and [River King Strong Bite] Skills are very strong attacking skills, however, they cost 10 stamina each instead of my [Weak Bite] which does not cost anything.

With these skills, I can be more confident in close quarters combat… But I still like [Water Shot] more, I have never been someone that likes fighting in close quarters anyways.

I remember getting beaten to a pulp several times in my younger years in school, I was such a stupid kid.

Well, now I am a stupid caterpillar, is it more pathetic or an upgrade? I cannot tell.

Well, I already died on Earth, I should just forget those stupid memories…

I am just a bug now. A nice a simple life… filled with challenges.

I started testing the [Water Shot] Skill on some little rocks around my nest.

And to my surprise, it is amazing!

This skill is incredible! I can create little lethal water bullets! And they can perfectly penetrate such a strong rock like it was nothing.

No way… This is a bit busted.

The water bullets surprisingly only cost 3 stamina each, how convenient. After practicing for a while, I realized that my two [Water Elemental Affinity] related skills increase the power of my bullets to almost double its power. After I was finished practicing, I went to my comfy but messy bed.

I never expected I would fight the King of the River today… I just wanted to eat fish, maybe this minus two Luck is a blessing in disguise that is giving me good opportunities to grow stronger faster. No way. It is just that bastard Mysterious Voice toying with me… Status!

[Name: None

[Class: None

[Race: Common Forest Caterpillar

[Level: 8/10 [XP: 009/300

[Status: Full

[HP: 18/18

[MP: 0/0

[Stamina: 127/100

[Strength: 9

[Defense: 11

[Magic: 0

[Resistance: 7

[Speed: 8

[Charisma: -1

[Luck: -2

[Skills]

[…]

[Titles]

[First kill in this New World]

[Trash Eater]

[River King]

I wonder what my titles do… Do they give passive abilities or stats? They seem to do nothing at all and every time I check them nothing shows up. Maybe I have to be a stronger being to make use of them?

As I made myself comfier in my little bed a small amount of melancholy went through my heart.

Level 10… It does not seem too far off from now… It has already been almost a week in this new world… I do not really know how to feel, I barely have time to think about my past with everything wanting to eat me.

I wonder how my parents are… Are they sad that I died? Or are they happy that their useless son finally died? Sigh… I hope they are doing okay, wherever you two are… Ah well, I should not think about this, I just said that I died there.

But still, it is hard to just forget about the bonds you made with the people that raised you through your entire life, you know?

And what about that Mysterious Voice…?

Who is he really? And why did he reincarnate me in the first place? Couldn't you have just left me to die alone? What is the point of all this…?

I am questioning things too much; I am just a pitiful bug. I need to think of how to survive, for now, yes that is enough for now.

Level 10 here I go…!

[Day 6]

Thanks to the big amount of stamina that I got from eating the fish I woke up early this morning since I Didn't need to sleep that much. Since I have a long-ranged attack now I decided to go a little bit to the east this time since my hunts should become way easier. As I walked into the road a loud sound made the earth tremble.

What is it this time?

…Eh? Is that…

After making sure to hide near a tree I took a look at what was making such a loud sound and it was a humanoid figure with long red hair wearing a set of iron armor over its body, grey pants, a ragged helmet, it was holding a little knife in its left hand and a wooden shield in its right.

"Is that… Is that a human girl? No way, there are humans here! Hello? Can you hear me?"

I approached the girl, trying to communicate with her, but it seems she could not hear me and walked away to the eastern Rocky Mountains. Her body was so big that I could not keep up with her speed and I did not want to waste stamina trying to follow her.

Now that I think about it, I am a Caterpillar, whatever noise comes out of my mouth, they will surely not be words.

Sigh… I wonder if she was cute, she had beautiful crimson hair that is for sure.

So, it is pretty much confirmed now that humans do exist in this world…

I wonder how many countries there are. How many cultures… Are there demi-humans? Demons perhaps?

Haah, it is so sad that I am just a caterpillar and I cannot find out anything at all! I want to meet a cute catgirl…

Lamenting my own weakness, I started to head towards the West, afraid more humans might come to the East.

On the road I found others of my species but when I tried to befriend them some ran away and others tried to bite me, so using [Water Shot] I killed them swiftly and wrapped their bodies in my thread and took them back to my nest.

[You've gained: 63 XP]

[Level 8/10 XP 72/300]

I tried talking to these caterpillars, but they seem to be very stupid and others tried to bite me, no point trying to talk with such senseless beings.

I guess I am a special case because of my reincarnation, well anyways I got 3 caterpillars for dinner! Yay for cannibalism!

Just after getting back to my nest, I thought about fish meat.

Wait, if I killed the River King does that mean it is easier to catch fish now? Hmm, should I use these caterpillars as bait?

Ah, that is quite a decent idea coming from my stupid bug brain.

And so, I did, using my thread and a little stick I made a pretty messy fishing rod.

Do not blame me, I was not the best at constructing fishing rods on Earth, in fact, I never did construct one. So, the result is quite good if you consider that.

I think this is good enough… Now time to stick the caterpillar corpse in the end and… there we go.

Splash…!

"Hm…?"

Just as the caterpillar hit the water, a strong force immediately started to drag me!

Ah! Here it is!

After activating River King Strong Body, a powerful red aura started to envelop my tiny body, giving me new strength!

Uuooohh!

Using my new strength, I pulled the fish out of the water and used Water Shot two times on its head, killing it. Afterward, I started using Weak Bite on it to see how it tastes.

[You've gained: 221 XP]

[Level 8/10 XP 293/300]

Nom, nom, nom…

You are as delicious as ever, fish-kun.

I stopped munching on it to wrap it in the thread. Afterward, I managed to catch 2 more fish and headed back to my nest.

[You've gained: 436 XP]

[You've gained: 2 levels]

[Level 10/10 XP 79/0]

Oh? Heh! To think I could get to level 10 so easily today…!

I did not even struggle an inch!

Now it is time to eat fish until I pass out!

I do need to save some for tomorrow though…

And thus, the rest of the day was used eating two of the fish, I am saving the third one for tomorrow.

Phew… I am so stuffed… I did not think it would be possible for a caterpillar to eat two whole walking fish, I bet this is all thanks to my Silver Belly skill.

[You've learned the following skills]

[Underwater Sense]

[Sturdy Fish Scales]

Oh? More fish skills! These seem to be the last ones.

I needed to eat a lot of fish to get them all huh. Anyways they seem pretty basic so no need to test them out, I suppose the Underwater Sense is about increasing my senses underwater, pretty basic.

And Sturdy Fish Scales must be some kind of active buff that gives me fish scales to protect my skin, right? Yea I do not need to test them out… Let us see, status!

[Name: None

[Class: None

[Race: Common Forest Caterpillar

[Level: 10/10

[XP: 078/300

[Status: Full

[HP: 21/21

[MP: 0/0

[Stamina: 154/100

[Strength: 11

[Defense: 13

[Magic: 0

[Resistance: 9

[Speed: 10

[Charisma: -1

[Luck: -2

Hmm, very good, now where do I evolve?

Ah, there is nowhere!

I really will not evolve.

But… So even if I can get stronger with skills I will still be stuck as a caterpillar?

No way! I cannot even level up anymore…

This is… quite terrible.

I am just going to sleep and see what I can do tomorrow…

Good night to me, I suppose.

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[The requirements for Evolution have been accomplished]

[Initializing Evolution Tree]

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[System Error]

[Evolution Tree for Common Forest Caterpillar not found]

[Unable to Evolve]

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[Ding!]

[The System Master: ######## has approved the creation of a unique Evolution Tree for the Common Forest Caterpillar]

[Loading Evolution Choices]

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[Initializing]

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[Loading Evolution choices]

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[Undine Butterfly]

[Giant Caterpillar]

[Lesser Fairy]

[Awaiting the approbation of user]

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…Eh? What is this? A dream? What are these status screens? Undine… Butterfly… What?

[Undine Butterfly has been selected]

Wait for a second…

[Initializing Evolution]

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[Evolution Success]