But it wasn't exactly the same as I soon came to realise. When I measured myself against the piece of skin I realised I was a few inches longer, however, looking back at my body, my actual width had not changed much at all.

I noticed all my scars were left behind on the old piece of skin I shed. It was starting to harden, and all the injuries appeared much more prominent. My new body in comparison was without any scarring and felt much lighter to move. But I still felt tired, so I checked my status with the system.

______________

Name: Aurelia LV6 [Neonate Snake] |Poisoned|

Specie: Cerastes Vipera

HP: 29/55>64 Defence: 40>46

MP: 08/33>38 Intellect: 53>59

SP: 43/51>59 Magic: 15>22

Attack: 45>50 Agility: 50>55

Skills:

[Poison Fang: LV2] [Bite: LV3]

[Venom Rain: LV1] [Grip: LV3]

[Scent: LV1] [Heat Sense: LV4]

[Silence: LV2] [Rapid Strike: LV1]

[Stealth: LV2] [Appraisal: LV2]

[Buoyancy: LV1] [Steel Skin: LV3]

[Leap: LV1] [Rugged Scales: LV3]

Title:

[Apostle] [Coldblooded] [Commander]

Unique Skill:

[Devour]

Attributes:

[Obsidian Horn]

Resistances:

[Impact Resistance: LV3]

[Pain Resistance: LV3]

[Wind Resistance: LV1]

[Shock Resistance: LV1]

[Faint Resistance: LV1]

[Paralysis Resistance: LV1]

Experience Points: [136]

______________

There had been a few changes since levelling. My stats had improved obviously, but the most pressing issue of my depleted HP had not changed at all. I was a little disappointed with this and had hoped that with levelling, my HP bar would replenish a little and my body would become more adept at dealing with the poison. Unfortunately, it seemed that was not the case. Besides my lighter, faster body, nothing much had changed.

But with all my predators dead I felt more secure, yet I reminded myself to stay vigilant. There was no telling when my new found peace would be interrupted, and I still had to eat to recover more HP.

I placed my newly shed skin in one of the hollow corpses to hide it away, before proceeding to eat. I approached the dead wasp first out of curiosity. When I'd killed it, its level was much higher than the locust although it had clearly been weaker, so I appraised it.

______________

LV11 Melior Hesperia

Specie: Ailith Vespoidea

HP: 0/80 Defence: 26

MP: 0/34 Intellect: 42

SP: 0/58 Magic: 18

Attack: 35 Agility: 31

Skills:

[Sting: LV1] [Scent: LV2]

[Compound Eyes: LV2]

[Bite: LV3] [Grip: LV1]

[Lift: LV1] [Claw: LV1]

[Pain Toxin: LV2]

[Paralysis Venom: LV1]

Title:

[Hive Worker]

Resistances:

[Pain Resistance: LV1]

[Shock Resistance: LV1]

______________

Most of its skills were at LV1 and its attack stat was even lower than mine, before I levelled up. I could only conclude its premature birth had affected its stats, making them weak.

If it had successfully absorbed all of the locust's blood and other substances its stats would have been much higher. The wasp I'd faced before had not been so weak. I doubted I could recover much of my HP from it, but I ate it all the same. My HP went up to [37/64], before I moved on to the body of the locust which finally boosted my HP to full [64/64].

I was most curious about my own physiology. How was I able to eat a creature three times the size of myself, without feeling bloated or being full. If I wasn't currently aware I'd just eaten two creatures, I would certainly have eaten more! What I wanted to know now was where it all went.

And since when was I such a glutton? I wasn't this bad in my past life, although I'd been constantly teased and envied for my slim figure that never put on any weight, even after consuming copious amounts of junk food. I wondered if I inherited this quality along with my memories to my current body. The only difference this time was that I actually had some curves. I had so many now that my bullies would be left speechless!

Fond memories aside I was deeply curious about this new body of mine, but as I examined my status from inside one of the hollow corpses I realised my HP had fallen again. It was down to [63/64] and this time it was not from getting hurt. I watched my HP bar, to see if and when it would fall again, but nothing happened.

Regardless I was already spooked, and it reminded me of what little time I had left, so I did not linger anymore in the cavern.

But after coming out I was not met with an exit but a continuous curving tunnel with high walls that gradually sloped downwards. The tunnel was wide and spacious and the humming I'd picked up earlier was more pronounced out here than before.

It no longer came from under the ground but reverberated through the tunnel walls. Luckily for me, the tunnel was empty, and I did not meet any wasps, but everywhere I looked was the same rough ash coloured wall with no end or exit in sight. With nowhere else to go, I followed the humming vibrations, keeping close to the wall with both [Stealth] and [Silence] activated for safety.

The tunnel broadened into a wider corridor and there were many other tunnel openings wide enough for larger creatures to fit through, each one leading off to their own separate cavern. They were all centralised around a large circular opening sculpted into the ground, and there I found the source of the pulsating hum.

Drawn towards the sounds, I peered over the opening and was greeted by the sight of many wasps in flight below.

Their bodies whirred nimbly in the air, busily undertaking some task or another. Some armoured wasps moved in groups, carrying an assortment of paralysed creatures both large and small, flitting into the many tunnels below, disappearing from view.

Other wasps with noticeably less armour purposefully navigated the open space carrying clusters of pollen in their arms. Each one was fully grown, dark green in colour with that brilliant metallic sheen, unlike the wasp I just killed.

The swift movement of so many wings in the air created waves of pulsating sound that when diffused through the cavern walls became a low hum. It was a social gathering of hundreds or more and the terrifying sight of so many wasps with barbed stingers, made me feel a psychological pain throughout my body.

At the bottom of the central cavern of the flying metropolis, I located another hole much smaller than the one I was looking out from. That was where the majority of the wasps emerged from.

The tunnel I was currently in was at the very top of the hive, on one of the upper levels, leaving anything below sorely out of reach. To get down I would have to take a plunge or learn to fly – while guarding against many stingers. My mind swam with scenarios on how to complete the impossible task, all of which had to be feasible enough for myself to survive.

I couldn't exactly leap down, so retreating for now seemed like the safest option. The cavern I'd come from had been devoid of nearly every wasp except one. To me that was much safer than proceeding anywhere forward, so I hastily backed away from the opening, yearning for the familiarity of the dusty graveyard.

But before I could retreat back to my tunnel I sensed new vibrations of something large approaching from the tunnel directly ahead of me. I'd have to cross it before I could enter the tunnel I came from and yet I did not stick around to see whatever was coming. I hastily crawled into the tunnel nearest to me to avoid the encounter.

The rhythmic vibrations it made suggested it walked on four legs and not six like a wasp would, so I was curious to what it could be. While I hid myself, I peered out of the tunnel using [Heat Sense] to get the heat profile of the creature and I spotted something familiar.

Satisfied it was not a wasp I peered out sneakily from the tunnel to catch a glimpse of the creature. Its appearance was the same as that of the white ape I'd seen earlier in the graveyard, only its reddened face was not twisted in an agonised grimace.

Its hair was long and soft with a healthy sheen and its body was not thin or shrivelled up, but flexible and densely packed with muscles. The two when compared with each other, was a contrast so stark they could hardly be said to be of the same species.

What a difference it made to be healthy and not a dead drained husk.

As the ape approached the opening it immediately leapt down. Soaring through the air it latched onto the opposite wall with the grip of its fingers and toes and deftly climbed the walls to the bottom. Its absence made me confident enough to peer over the opening again, and I was able to watch the figure of the ape get smaller until it disappeared into the second hole below.

If the exit was anywhere, I knew it had to be somewhere below there.

But it was odd. Why had no wasp attacked it? Why was this ape allowed to move so freely in the hive even as the wasps brought in other creatures exactly like it? And if the ape was a [Host], how were the wasps able to differentiate it from the others?

My exploration of the tunnels only threw up more questions and I knew escaping was impossible until I figured out how the wasp's society worked – for now anyway. Retreating from the hole I entered one of the tunnels.

That ape had just given me an idea.