”Uwaah! Help me!” Sunny screamed as he fell.

From out of nowhere his guardian angel appeared! The little moth flew headfirst towards the gem.

“Miss Moth! You came to save me!”

It hit its head against the gem and fell unconscious.

“YOU STUPID BUG! UWAAAH!!!”

They fell into darkness. Fortunately, both of them landed in a muddy pile of dirt. It was soft like a pillow, which eased their fall.

“Ugh!” Sunny grunted as pain shot through his body. “W-What happened? Why do I feel pain?”

He looked up to see half of the gem was missing.

“W-What? No… nonono…”

He landed on a sharp rock. It broke the crystal in half. The once tall and shiny quartz was now nothing more than a muddy ball.

“No! This is bad, this is seriously bad! I’m so small now! If that spider climbs down and finds me, I’m in serious trouble!”

The thought of that monster sent chills through his body. It was clear: either he runs away or hides.

“If I try running away now that monster might alert its friends! If one is strong enough to beat me, what will I do with a hundred of them?”

The moth crawled next to him. It couldn’t fly from the sticky mud covering its wings.

“On the other hand… the mud covering us could be used as camouflage. I’m also way smaller, so I can hide in small holes. Yosh! I’ll gain more experience, build myself an army and go to war with those spiders!”

The moth didn’t understand a word he said, but the flashes of light were intriguing. Pushing its head against the little ball, the moth eventually moved him out of the mud.

“Thank you, Miss Moth!”

Their surroundings were strange and alienlike. The moth pushed him into a mushroom forest, where blue mushrooms acted as trees and floating spores illuminated the way.

“So cool!” Sunny swam from wall to wall, observing the strange micro-jungle. “It feels like I’m visiting another planet! Planets… I know what planets are! Haha, I’m still smarter than a bug!”

They arrived next to a small lake. Tiny tadpoles swam across the pond, feeding on blue spores.

Sunny hid below a mushroom with a large cap. The moth sat next to him and watched as the tadpoles played.

“I bet you’re very tired, Miss Moth! It’s not a problem. You saved me more than enough times. Say, how about I give you a name? Let’s see… I was thinking about planets. Do you know what Luna is? Because I don’t, but it sounds pretty. Just like you! And I want to give a pretty name to my pretty friend.”

A status screen appeared. It was different than the ones from before.

[ Naming Requirements ]

[ Your Essence is at Least 1 ]

[ Creature is at Least Level 1 ]

[ Creature Accepts Name Willingly ]

“Huhh? Aren’t those requirements a bit too serious for a simple name? But yes, I have one point in essence and Luna is two levels ahead of me.”

[ Conditions Met ]

[ What Do You Want to Name Creature? ]

“Are you deaf?! Luna! Her name is Luna!”

[ Name has been Given to Silk Moth: ‘Luna’ ]

[ Luna has Joined Your Party ]

[ Luna has Gained: ‘Soul-gifted’ ]

[ Luna Now Bears a Soul ]

[ Evolutions are Unlocked for: ‘Luna’ ]

Next to the message another popped up.

[ Hidden Quest Complete ]

[ “Name Monster” ]

[ You’ve Gained 10 Experience Points ]

“Oh my, that’s a lot of text--“

[ Hidden Quest Complete ]

[ “Party Starter” ]

[ You’ve Gained 10 Experience Points ]

[ Level Up Available ]

“Yeesh! This system loves to overcomplicate stuff. Don’t you think, Luna?”

“Yes, Master!”

“Goo-- UWAAH! What the hell?!”

The voice came from Luna. It was a girly voice, calming and a bit confused.

“Y-You can talk?” Sunny asked.

“I… think?”

“Hold on! I wasn’t told this would happen!”

He swam closer and checked Luna’s status. To his surprise, the moth was one level higher than before.

[ Name: Luna ]

[ Race: Insect ]

[ Subrace: Silk Moth ]

[ Level: 5 (0/20) ]

[ HP: 5/5 ]

[ Strength: 2 ]

[ Agility: 5 ]

[ Constitution: 2 ]

[ Intelligence: 3 ]

[ Boons: 'Soul-gifted' ]

“S-Sorry!” Luna recoiled. „I'm confused too! Just a moment ago everything was so simple and now I have these thoughts about... language and planets and… some kind of creatures called humans!”

Sunny was shocked. He never mentioned humans to Luna. A mist of confusion lingered in his head, only made worse by a sudden realization.

“Luna.”

“Yes, Master?”

“What do you get when you add one to one?”

“Two?”

“Oh no…”

“Then it's three! I'm sorry Master, it's three!”

“N-No, you answered correctly! Well done. You very smart!”

“Yey! I’m so smart, I made Master very proud!” Luna jumped around in excitement.

Sunny forced himself to be nice to the little bug and hid his concerns. Deep down he felt troubled, more than ever before.

“Why does she know basic mathematics? And how did she learn about humans? Could it be my knowledge transferred to her? Names are way more serious in this world than I expected…”

He felt something hit the gemstone. A lone droplet of blue liquid ran down the wall. It came from a mysterious sphere hanging from the mushroom above. It was easy to look through, barely noticeable with the little color it had.

“Huh?”

It fell on Sunny and devoured the gemstone!

“UWAAH!!! Luna, do something!”

“No worries, Master!” She chuckled. “It’s just playing with you!”

“What?!” Sunny shouted before checking the monster’s status.

[ Name: --- ]

[ Race: Slimefolk ]

[ Subrace: Ghost Slime ]

[ Level: 0 (0/5) ]

[ HP: 3/3 ]

[ Constitution: 1 ]

Sunny’s fear got quickly erased by a newfound curiosity.

“It has no intelligence stat, yet it has health points. Is this thing even alive?”

The slime spat him out by simply moving away. It slid into the lake.

“They are very unique, Master! They work like animals, but as you can see they are just huge blobs of water!”

“Interesting… say, could you bring him back?”

“W-What? You’re asking me to go into the water?”

“Uhum! It will do good for both of us! I can test my abilities on that little slime and you get to clean off the dirt from your wings.”

“O-Okay, Master…”

Slowly entering the water, she gazed at her feet. The water was warm and still.

In the meantime, Sunny checked his own stats.

[ Name: Sunny ]

[ Race: Core ]

[ Level: 3 (0/25) ]

[ HP: 1/1 ]

[ MP: 0/7 ]

[ Intelligence: 2 ]

[ Essence: 1 ]

[ Influence: 2 ]

“I’m so weak…” He whispered. “My influence has increased, but that’s it. No strength. No agility. Nothing.”

The water splashed.

“What’s the water like?” He asked with what sounded like a smile.

No answer came. Only more splashes of water. It got louder and louder, followed by… silence.

“We should stay quiet or else that spider might find us. Could you—“

Luna wasn’t there.

“Huh?”

His heart began to race. She wasn’t there. She wasn’t anywhere. She disappeared.

“What happened? Luna?! Where are you?”

He saw the water rise far from land as a moth fought her way to the surface.

“Help me! Master!”

“Luna!”

A black tail pulled her underwater. Small bubbles rose as she screamed for his master’s help.

Sunny was close to breaking down. His heart was already filled with fear and doubt, but the sight of his downing best friend was too much.

He searched around frantically, trying to find any clue of the enemy. He couldn’t see far from all the filth swimming in the water.

But there was something on the bottom of the lake. Two eyes. Looking at him.

[ Name: --- ]

[ Race: Frog ]

[ Subrace: Horned Frog (Tadpole) ]

[ Level: 0 (0/5) ]

[ HP: 1/1 ]

[ Intelligence: 1 ]

“Just what are you?” Sunny asked with slight disgust, which brought up a screen he’s never seen before.

[ Description ]

[ Horned Frog tadpoles are aquatic-based animals. They mainly feast on waste particles produced by dying organisms. Just like their adult counterparts, Horned Frog tadpoles are very aggressive. Their training rituals may appear to be simple games, but they serve to train tadpoles the basics of chasing down prey. They possess no venom or teeth, but a large tail which they use to drag unsuspecting prey underwater and drown. ]

Sunny looked back at the little tadpole. It wasn’t there anymore. It swam away, straight towards the drowning moth.