It has been a week, a whole week of hunting anything remotely my size, a week of eating almost constantly. I didn’t even sleep, and for some reason I’m not tired at all. I just hunted anything I thought I could catch easily.

It seems eating anything I want isn’t quite as effective at letting me grow, I need something about a third my size or more for maximum growth and anything less than a sixth doesn’t give any noticeable benefits. This didn’t bother me too much as the forest was filled with creatures of all sizes, if I was to big to eat mice and frogs I could eat voles and sparrows, if they became too small I could eat doves and rabbits, if they became too small I could eat wild turkey and so on.

Right now, I was the size of a medium large dog. and I had run into a problem. I had stopped growing. More than that I had a feeling I hadn’t had since I was reborn; I was full. This was a little disappointing but also reassuring. I did want to grow bigger, but on the other hand growing without stopping might get out of hand pretty quick. I would prefer to be human sized, rather than eventually turning into Kamacuras. Of course that only applies if I need to eat to survive as well as to grow, I don’t have a clue how this whole business works so I’m not sure what I really want.

No matter the reason for my lack of growth, I’m not going to worry too much. I’m taking this opportunity to explore, I’m fast enough to escape from anything still big enough to eat me and I won’t be getting bigger any time soon. If I can find a sign of people that would be great. To find people I am going to need to locate a road or a river to follow.

The forest was fairly thick, the kind of density you get from trees that never saw a lumberjack in their incredibly long lives. The trees were absurdly large, and they were spaced quite tight together. Most of the ground was covered in bushes and briars. The only real standing room for anything human sized was the game trails; meandering paths seemingly too narrow for the animals that used them. I could have taken one of these but I decided to take the high road.

The great thing about these oversized trees is that the branches were thick and intertwined, even a full grown man could use them as a road if he wanted. Since I was much lighter and smaller I could travel at a decent run, and I was a very fast runner. I picked on direction and started scurrying off.

I was running

and running

and running

and running.

This forest is massive. I heard the term “sea of trees” but never considered it too much. as far as I could tell I was at least as fast as any of the birds I saw, which probably put me at the speed of a decent car driving at city speeds. I was also pretty sure I was running straight. Even so, I did not see anything but trees and bees, along with the occasional animals.

It was afternoon before I paused for a breather, I had no clue whether I made any progress at all. At least it seemed I had some serious stamina, running for hours without tiring is pretty awesome. Running for hours for no good reason is not. Frankly I was wondering whether Lady Luck dropped me off in the middle of nowhere just to watch me flounder.

There was no sign of any people whatsoever, just trees and animals. like that little spotted deer grazing down there.

*ssshhPLCH*

The deer that was just shot with an arrow. Sorry for doubting you Lady Luck.

I immediately go still, I haven’t forgotten the fact that I am a horrible bug monster and I doubt that whoever was out hunting is going to wait to experience my charming personality. I watched a man emerge from a hunter’s blind nearby and considered my options.

The man was short and lean, dressed in the subdued colors you could expect from a hunter, he had a simple trousers and tunic. His shoes were practical, heavy boots and his pack was simple but well kitted out. His only concession to fashion was a hat. Well, not fashion exactly...

The hat was a surprisingly elaborate affair that reminded me of the hats decked out with hooks that fishermen seemed to love; it was dotted with simple objects like a miniature flint and tinder, a small knife, some fishhooks and a roll of string. I had never seen a hat with pockets before. On the other hand also seemed a lot like the hats worn by old ladies at churches in the old days; an overly elaborate affair of feathers and flowers. It even had some wax cherries on it.

I wonder if he lost a bet or something.

Ridiculous hat aside, he seemed to know what he was doing. The deer had died instantly, I suspect he had nailed it in the heart. He unstrung his bow, put it away and was down the tree quite quickly. He didn’t wait around and immediately pulled out a long knife and began dressing the animal. This guy was obviously competent.

If I wanted to enter a town without getting attacked then I would need to figure something out fast.

I could use my camouflage abilities, but as awesome as they were they had limits. Disguises were out of the question, I was the wrong size and shape after all. I didn’t even have a buddy to try the old trenchcoat and fedora trick. Well, I also don’t have a trenchcoat or a fedora. I also couldn’t just pretend to be a normal “tree monk” at this size. I had seen a couple adults over the last few days; the biggest were just a bit larger than a human hand. I on the other hand came up to an adult man’s waist.

It was a pity I had been growing so much, I was a lot safer than I had been but also was pretty abnormal. My shapeshifting abilities had also gotten stronger but seemed to be limited to my original body type; I could add spikes, bumps or edges but not extra joints, I could put small bends in my limbs but not add or remove any. I was stuck with my original appendages.

My powers are minor shape changing, freely changing my bodies’ color, gaining strength, size, speed and toughness from eating prey close to my size and somehow not becoming massively fat and heavy from eating many times my bodyweight. The last one seemed to defy physics the most, I ought to be a couple times bigger and heavier than I am now.

…?

Wait a second...

I wonder if I could control it?

First I checked to make sure my hunter friend was busy with his kill, then I slid behind a tree so he wouldn’t see. Raising a claw I focused on it willing it to shrink. Over the past few days I had gotten quite good at shifting my body into various shapes; I had freely turned green and leafy, rough and bark-like, stringy and branch-like or brown and drab. I had grown spikes, barbed spines, sharp blades, toothy saws and blunt hammer lumps. This would be a new one.

I willed my upraised claw to shrink, compress into a smaller version of itself. At first nothing happened, then slowly it began to shrink down. I was overjoyed, I quickly began shifting my whole body down. It took quite a while before I finished. I was now the size of a normal adult tree monk. I may still be a nymph, I still don’t have wings like the adults, but there is nothing I can do about that.

Now for the moment of truth. If I was still as heavy as I was full size then this whole thing was pointless. There was no way people would find a sixty pound insect normal, whether the size matched or not. I climbed out on a branch and worked my way down to the thinner portion.

It worked! I was light as a normal bug. Now I could tag along with the hunter to where he lived, from there I would find civilization, and then I could find books to tell me what I wanted to know about me and this world. Socializing would have to wait until I found out how to deal with… all of this.

Just in time too. The hunter had finished dressing the deer, he had tied the carcass to a frame of trimmed branches tied together with twine. Slipping the leftover twine into his hat he stood up and put his pack on, hooked to the pack was the frame holding the deer. The hunter was surprisingly strong, the deer hadn’t been too big, and was even lighter after it had been cleaned, but the hunter didn’t seem to be too burdened by the weight of the deer and the backpack.

I ran down the tree and climbed out onto a branch directly above him. when he straightened up I dropped directly onto his hat and sat in the middle. I was between a pair of long feathers and poked out the front like a hood ornament. He didn’t seem to notice so I settled down to enjoy the ride.

Alright! off we go!

He wasn’t too fast, at least compared to me, but the fact that he could manage a jogging run is pretty impressive. Even more impressive was the fact that he was relaxed enough to whistle as he ran. I wonder whether people here have special powers too? Or is this guy just that much of a badass?

I checked the position of the sun as it peeked through the trees, there was about four hours till sunset. I don’t know whether he would reach wherever he was headed to before then but if he didn’t then he would have to make camp. I hope his house is close.

...

...Are we there yet?

It’s almost sunset and he hasn’t stopped yet. It had taken me awhile to realise the reason he was whistling; he was alerting animals nearby of his presence. Thanks to this, we encountered no bears or wolves who were naturally cautious in regards to the unknown sound. I wasn’t sure whether it would guarantee we wouldn’t get attacked. But he seemed quite alert, so I wasn’t too worried.

As for me, I was passing the time playing with my color scheme. I had discovered I could control my level of shininess as well as the colors. I came up with a design I am now calling my “game face” for fighting and intimidation. Glistening black and grey, I covered myself in evil looking spikes and ridges. I also added red highlights and altered the face shaped scar on my chest into a devilish grinning silhouette for extra style points. A little tweaking here and there and I looked positively ominous. I was a tiny evil overlord. This maybe a bit to edgelord for normal everyday wear but I kinda like it.

Mentally undoing it, I decided to go for fancy this time. I figured out how to give myself metallic colors and turned myself gold and silver. I even gave my head and the face scar little crowns, and my eyes were changed to a jewellike blue. It took a little tweaking as well but I managed to make myself look like walking jewelry; I appeared to be an insect fashioned out of precious metals. with sapphires for eyes.

Other people can wear bling but I am bling!

As I finished my fancy look I happened to glance up, the hunter had shifted his pace suddenly, I came alert but he had seemed to relax. I don’t see anything, why did he slow down? Suddenly, he pushed through some bushes and exited the woods. If I hadn’t been riding someone who knew this clearing was here I never would have found it.

We had reached the edge of the woods and a couple hundred yards off was a wooden wall with particularly tall trees towering out from behind.

What was really special about the trees were the houses built into the branches.

Okay... this is just cool.

The hunter walked up to the gate and the guards let him in with without a fuss. I kept dead still, I figured his hat was ridiculous enough that they wouldn’t bat an eye at me sitting on it. As we passed through the gates I got a good look at the town we just entered; it was beautiful.

The trees were oak-like, except they were the size of the redwood trees in Sequoia National Park, there were small buildings that looked like houses built on and even into the trees with rope bridges strung from one to the next. At the base of the trees were larger buildings, they looked like shops and inns, with one that looked like a school or a library. In the distance I saw an immense stone bridge spanning an incredibly wide river that divided the city in half. the streets were paved but there were plenty of lawns and gardens giving the city a fantasy-like, picturesque feel.

“Hey Anthus!” (???)

The hunter, who I presume is Anthus, turned his head. looking towards a beautiful woman waving at him. She had a schoolteacher’s outfit on and filled it out quite nicely. Her long blonde hair was tied in a simple ponytail that exposed her pointed ears.

…

She’s an elf!

“Oh hey Mellina” (Anthus)

Elves are real here!

“When did you get back?” (Mellina)

“Just now, I was going to drop off this here at Lawrence's, he said he wanted one as fast as possible.” (Anthus)

Anthus twisted to show the deer carcass and I had to remember not to move.

“He’s gonna need it, a ton of visitors arrived recently, and Martha has been pretty busy, she wants your help. she told me to send you over as soon as I saw you “minus the stupid hat.” you should hurry, you know how she gets.” (Mellina)

“My hat isn’t stupid.” (Anthus)

Actually dude, it kinda is.

“You keep adding stuff too it all the time, it looks more ridiculous everyday. Where did you even find that golden tree monk ornament anyway?” (Mellina)

Oh s**t I forgot to turn back!