First prey spotted.
『Elroe Frog, Level 5. Failed to Appraise Status.』
A frog I've grown familiar with by now.
But it's got the highest level of any I've seen so far.
Hmm.
Part of me wants to test how much my stats have changed after evolving.
I mean, it's called an Evolution, so I've gotta be stronger, right?
But still.
My Level dropped back to 1, didn't it?
If the level correction from all those points I accumulated is still in effect, that'd be fine. But if my stats actually got reduced to match Level 1, that'd be pretty dangerous.
Well, I don't think that's likely, but some game systems do work that way.
You temporarily get weaker, but if you train back up, you end up stronger than before you evolved.
It's a perfectly valid system for a grind-heavy game, but having that happen to you in reality would be a life-or-death matter.
Yeah.
I'm pretty sure it'll be fine, but let's play it safe.
If there's even a sliver of doubt, I shouldn't do anything reckless.
My life is literally on the line here. Caution upon caution is the way to go.
I scurry up the wall.
I make it all the way to the ceiling and continue on, upside down.
Once I'm directly above the frog, I use silk to anchor my body.
Then I spin a separate thread and weave a small net on my front legs.
Preparations complete.
I dangle the silk down toward the frog and creep along it.
Three, two, one, go!
I swoop down from above, draping the net over the frog's head.
The frog has no time to dodge and gets trapped in the net. I pounce on top of it simultaneously, and then spray additional silk onto its body.
With the frog completely unable to move, I bite through the net!
Mm-hmm.
A dazzling hunt, if I do say so myself.
I might be ready to start calling myself an Assassin.
Heh heh heh.
Don't think you can escape from these fangs and silk, okay?
Aaanyway, let me enjoy this freshly caught frog.
Bon appétit.
But you know, it really is something.
Even after evolving, nothing about what I do has changed.
Gaining real combat experience was my original goal, and when you look at it this way, that feels kind of hazy now.
I mean, the Monsters around here are pretty much all higher level than me.
If I tried to fight any of them head-on, I wouldn't have enough lives to spare.
Could you maybe, I don't know, consider the concept of appropriate-level enemies a little?
My ambush-and-assassinate combo has gotten insanely good, though.
But while I'm busy building my nest, there are zero opportunities for ambushes. And if I focus on building up the strength to take on opponents that break into my nest, that strays from my original goal entirely.
...N-n-no way!
I evolved!
My Level is going up!
My raw stats are better!
Everything I've done so far wasn't wasted!
That's what I'm going with!
Phew.
I almost convinced myself that everything I'd accomplished up to here was meaningless.
Close call.
Hmm hmm.
But realistically, always relying on ambush tactics is dangerous too.
Losing My Home was partly because I'd become overconfident in My Home's abilities.
I'd like to develop some kind of new weapon to have in my arsenal.
That said, if it were something I could just think up off the top of my head, it wouldn't be worth much.
The first thing that comes to mind is, naturally, that Heterodox Magic.
If only I could use it, I might open up entirely new tactics. But I have no idea how.
Ugh.
If I were human, maybe I could have learned how to use it from someone else?
Well, speculating about hypotheticals doesn't help. But having to figure everything out on my own — there are some perks, but it sure is a pain sometimes.
Not having to deal with people is nice, but when I run into something I genuinely can't solve alone, it's really inconvenient.
Either way, in this form, I could never interact with humans even if I wanted to.
I can't talk, after all.
If I had telepathy or something, maybe that wouldn't be impossible?
Come to think of it, I hit Level 10 a while back. Maybe I've been accumulating Skill Points?
If I assume I get 10 points per level, I should have 100 points by now.
I was able to acquire Appraisal with 100 points, so maybe I can grab a new Skill soon.
In that case — Voice of Heaven, can I get a new Skill?
《You currently possess 200 Skill Points.
You can acquire the Skill 「Telepathy Level 1」 for 100 Skill Points.
Would you like to acquire it?》 Oh.
So it really is possible, huh...
Hmm.
But honestly, Telepathy doesn't seem all that useful in my current situation.
Pass.
But 200 points? That's more than I expected.
So that means I was accumulating 20 points per level.
Wait — does that mean I could have gotten a Skill back when I hit Level 6?
Between that and the Appraisal I grabbed right after, it would've been useless at first. But if I'd been steadily leveling up a Skill this whole time, it might actually be usable by now.
That's a bit of a waste, isn't it?
Hm?
No, wait, hold on.
Let me think back a little more carefully.
When I was Level 6, didn't I try to see if I could get a Skill?
And... didn't it say I didn't have enough points?
Hmm?
Let's see — the possible explanations are either that higher Levels grant more points per level, or that the Evolution increased the rate.
Both are plausible, but there's no way to test it now.
Well, whatever the reason for the point increase, I'll leave that mystery aside for now.