During the third hunt, Hunter learned pain and anger. After, they learned what it was to be engorged. This was not pain. It was uncomfortable and hard to move. They also learned "too much biomass" was a thing that was, which seemed quite wrong. They ate biomass that had been kin, and biomass that had been rabbit, then kin, kin, rabbit, rabbit, kin, rabbit. It got hard near the end, and breaks were required before they could eat more. Still there was more biomass than Hunter and the two kin, also engorged, could carry home. They waddled back with swollen stomachs and claws heavy with biomass. No other monsters came as they ate, and none came as they went home. That seemed wrong, but made Hunter happy.

As they walked, the young centipede considered recent events. They gained much. There was nine biomass to spend. Skills grew higher, and they were Sting and Survival Instinct. This pleased Hunter, because stinging and surviving were quite good things to do. They learned. One thing learned is that hunts with the strong one were not in fact safe. The strong one correctly understood, as Hunter had also learned, that kin becoming biomass in a hunt was fine so long as oneself did not become biomass. In fact, if much prey and much kin became biomass, that meant one could grow much stronger after the hunt so long as one still lived. Strong one knew where to lead Hunter and kin to find the five Blood Tooth Rabbits who were prey along with a great deal of biomass, some that had been rabbit and some that had been kin.

How did the strong one know? Intense thought hatched the conclusion that the biomass that had been kin had gone with strong one to hunt, and rabbits and centipedes had disagreed on which was prey. In this instance it turned out kin was prey, so strong one returned to the mound that was home to gather more kin and make the rabbits prey instead. All of this worked out very well for strong one, because they were strong and grew stronger yet after they ate biomass when the fight was done. It went poorly for most kin who joined them on the hunt, however. Hunter's best guess was that a total of fifteen kin went with the strong one, and now thirteen of those were biomass. This was fine, because Hunter was not one of them. Still, it would not do to be in the other group in the future. But they also needed to hunt to get strong. It was difficult. They would think more.

The Noble seemed agitated and unhappy when they brought home biomass this time. Perhaps this was because it would have been better for the Noble if more kin and less biomass returned from this hunt. If so, Hunter believed they should amend their orders, which only considered the issue of biomass and not that of survival. Strong one was doing a very good job of following Noble's orders as given, and so the Noble really should have been pleased.

Hunter left this thought aside and found a quiet place in a side tunnel of home to think, digest, and spend biomass. They felt tired, which was a new thing, and realized they would need to enter torpor soon. That probably had to do with much hunting and fighting or else with engorging one's stomach with biomass. More could be learned on this in the future.

There was nine biomass to spend! Hunter was not sure how much biomass the world held, but thought perhaps nine was a large share of it. It had to be for their insides to feel so close to bursting. This seemed wrong when they thought about the numbers of it, but then their mind went back to how their stomach felt and they were pretty sure they'd been right after all.

In any case, the sooner this biomass became powerful body parts, the sooner the uncomfortable feeling would leave. But first they decided to pick a skill to buy with their new SP. This thinking would be easier than the biomass thinking.

There were three skills to choose from - Dodge, Piercing Snap, and Tail Strike. Hunter was surprised to find that it was not a hard pick at all. It was very good to sting, but the bad of being hurt or turned to biomass was even more bad than the good of stinging was good. To dodge attacks would be much, much better than to have their exoskeleton cracked open. Also, it seemed very likely that the strong one had the Dodge skill with many levels in it. When other kin tried to attack in the way the strong kin did, they died. But for the strong kin it worked all of the time - dodge prey's bite, grip prey's throat with claws. They would take Dodge.

How to spend their nine biomass? Stinger could to improve to +4 and another part to +2. Tempting. Hunter could also improve three parts from +1 to +2, and would then have four parts at +2 with three biomass left over to bring one up to +3. Which would be the stinger, because that was the most important part. It would be good to have a very strong stinger, but four upgrades was more than three. That seemed more important. While one's stinger was best, the strong kin did well in hunts by using claws to clamp on prey's throat and keep them from biting. With the Dodge skill and stronger claws, Hunter might be able to fight like the strong one did. It still seemed safer to let kin fight head to head and sneak to sting in prey's side or back parts though.

In hunts so far, very many kin had died because they were not careful and because when prey bit or hit them, their exoskeleton could not protect their soft inside parts. Hunter had been hurt by a kick that cracked their exoskeleton. It was best not to be hurt, but a stronger exoskeleton would help the hurt to be less when it could not be no hurt at all.

The last part to strengthen after stinger, claws, and exoskeleton was hard to choose. Legs were good because one could run in to sting when prey was distracted or in a bad position, and could also run away from prey that was too dangerous, or if one was hurt in a way that made it bad to stay and fight. Antennae could help in many ways and tell Hunter many things, but in a fight with many prey and many kin, Tomosvary organs were much better. All monsters made vibrations when they moved and fought, and it was easier to kill and to not die when you knew where all of kin and all of prey were and what they did. This one big thing Tomosvary organs did seemed more important than the many smaller things antennae could do. Hunter was pretty sure knowing where to move was more important than being able to move more quickly, which meant Tomosvary organs were better to upgrade than legs.

Spend Biomass.

Stinger +3, Tomosvary organs +2, Exoskeleton +2, Claws +2.

Spend SP, select Dodge.

[Would you like to purchase Stinger +3, Tomosvary organs +2, Exoskeleton +2, Claws +2, and Dodge? This will cost 9 Biomass and 1 SP.]

Yes.

A moment later, Hunter was quite sure no sensation in existence could possibly be more pleasurable than body part upgrades in progress. Mana energized and strengthened them from claws to stinger. When it completed its blessed work, the young monster was left exhausted, powerful, and quivering with happiness. This was a heady set of things to feel at the end of an eventful first day of life. They slipped into a deep, contended torpor.