So. I'm a larva now.
That part took some time to accept. Not because I was scared — though I probably should've been — but because I was too busy trying to figure out how to move.
My new body didn't come with a tutorial. No arms. No legs. Just segments. Each one pulsed when I thought about crawling. I wasn't sure if I had eyes, but I could see shapes. Green above. Brown below. Movement all around.
And there were others.
Dozens of little worm-like creatures wriggled across the mossy floor. They looked like me — or rather, I looked like them. We were clustered around a pool of glowing water. Springwater, probably. Slightly blue. It shimmered like someone dropped stars into it.
My senses told me:Safe. Warm. Home.
[Skill Gained: Spatial Awareness Lv.1]
[Skill Gained: Ambient Heat Detection Lv.1]
...That voice again. System messages. Just like in a game.
Well, not exactly. No health bars or EXP counters. But I could feel it. A presence. Something mechanical and ancient, watching from behind the air, recording everything I did.
My stomach pulsed. Or... gurgled?Larva don't have stomachs, do they?
I looked down — again, "looked" being generous — and saw a leaf. Pale green, curled in on itself, resting on the edge of the pool. I didn't question it.
I bit down.
It was soft. Damp. Not terrible, honestly.
[+1 Leaf Consumed. Minor Healing Properties Detected.]
[Skill Gained: Digestive Adaptation Lv.1]
[Status Effect: Hunger – Reduced]
Alright. Step one: Eat leaves.Step two: Don't die.
Simple enough.
I ate another. Then another. Then a tiny root. Then a half-rotted mushroom cap that probably wasn't a mushroom.
[Skill Gained: Toxic Resistance Lv.1]
[Skill Gained: Taste Analysis Lv.1]
[Hunger Satisfied.]
Progress.
I was starting to feel something stir inside me. Not just satiety — potential. Like my body wanted to change. Evolve. Like there were pathways waiting to open... once I fed the right thing to the right place.
I felt it then. A ripple in the air.
The other larvae froze. Their little bodies stiffened like wind-up toys.Predator.
I couldn't see it, but I felt it — a scraping sound, faint clicks against stone. Something with legs. Something bigger.
And I realized… I couldn't fight.
I didn't even know what part of me was the face.
So I did the only thing a rational dungeon larva could do.
I dove under a leaf and played dead.
[Skill Gained: Survival Instinct Lv.1]
[Skill Gained: False Death Lv.1]
That saved me.
The predator — a centipede the size of a dog — slithered past the spring, antennae twitching. Its body was armor-plated and shining, and its fangs dripped violet venom. It munched on one of the slower larvae near the pool's edge. I watched the little guy get snatched up and crunched without a sound.
Brutal.
The centipede skittered away, back into the tunnel shadows.
I waited. Still as stone. One minute. Two. Ten.
Then I slowly crawled back out.
One bite of a leaf later, the system chirped again.
[Skill Gained: Emotional Suppression Lv.1]
[Skill Gained: Predator Recognition Lv.1]
So this world rewards suffering too, huh?
Fine. I could work with that.
I was Ren.Former social worker. Amateur monster-tamer.
Now… a larva with ambition.
If this world wanted to devour me, I'd devour it first.
I stayed close to the spring for a while.
Maybe hours. Maybe longer.
There was no sun. No sky. Just the low pulse of the glowing water, the rustle of slow things moving across moss and root. The air here was warm and damp — like a greenhouse without glass. The others crawled and munched in silence. It was peaceful. Almost meditative.
I ate another leaf.
Then a twig.
Then a dry scale — probably shed from something that used to be dangerous.
Then a pebble, just to see what would happen.
The system pinged.
[Stone Fragment Consumed]
[No Nutritional Value Detected]
[Skill Gained: Jaw Endurance Lv.1]
Huh.
I took another pebble and gnawed it slowly. Not pleasant. Crunchy. Gritty. But something in me liked the resistance. It was like chewing on defiance.
Then I saw it.
At the edge of the spring, half-buried beneath a pile of wet moss and tiny bones, something flickered.
Not leaf-green.
Not bone-white.
Not root-brown.
Blue.
A smooth, faintly glowing shard — no bigger than a coin. Oval-shaped. Its surface shimmered like glass, but felt… soft, somehow. Alive.
My body moved before I decided.
Mouth opened.
I bit down.
And the moment I did—
[Unknown Material Consumed]
[Dungeon Residue Crystal – Fragmented]
[Warning: Mana Detected]
[Hunger Reaction: Accelerated]
[New Trait Acquired: Mana Digestion Lv.1]
[Skill Gained: Arcane Filtration Lv.1]
Everything in me lit up.
For one strange moment, I could feel colors. Taste vibrations.It wasn't food — it was energy. Cold and bright and endless.
And I wanted more.
I scraped at the moss. Dug through bone and dirt. Found two more tiny fragments hidden near the water's edge. Munch. Munch.
[+2 Dungeon Residue Crystals Consumed][Skill Gained: Ambient Mana Detection Lv.1][Core Instinct Unlocked: Arcane Threading Lv.0 → Lv.1]
I froze.
Not in fear. In awareness.
The spring wasn't just water.
It was a source. A rootline. I could feel tiny threads now — magic veins, crisscrossing the ground like nerves beneath skin. They ran through the rocks, the roots, even the leaves I'd been eating.
The moss wasn't just moss.It was alive with trace mana.
I opened my mouth again.
This time, I didn't just eat.I fed.
Moss. Leaves. Bark. Old bones.I swallowed them in turns. Taste. Texture. Energy.I couldn't stop.
[Skill Gained: Organic Absorption Lv.2 → Lv.3]
[Skill Gained: Minor Mana Storage Lv.1]
[Status: Hunger – Stable]
[Status: Evolution Threshold – 12% Reached]
I paused.
That word again.
Evolution.
I hadn't been wrong — the world wanted me to change. Something inside me — maybe this Hunger — was keeping count. Like an invisible progress bar. Like experience points.
Except I wasn't leveling up.
I was becoming something new.
The thought both thrilled and terrified me.
I went back to the glowing spring. Drank from it for the first time.
The liquid slid down my throat like silk. Not cold. Not hot. Just… pure. I didn't gain a skill for it. But I felt stronger. Like the pieces of me were finally syncing into something whole.
Then something strange happened.
My mandibles clicked.My skin hardened — ever so slightly.
[Skill Gained: Chitin Reinforcement Lv.1]
[Trait Gained: Exo-Shell Budding]
[Status: Hunger Awakening – Suppressed]
[Status: Evolution Threshold – 16% Reached]
My whole body twitched.Like it wanted to burst.
I hissed. Or maybe groaned. Whatever sound larvae make when they're… digesting enlightenment.
Still, I wasn't full.
Not even close.
I buried myself in moss and kept chewing.
Bark. Roots. Ash-flecked bones.Even a tiny glass tooth.
Then something metal.
A piece of rusted chain, half-dissolved by dungeon rot. I couldn't digest it. But I could bite it. And bite it I did.
[Skill Gained: Material Recognition Lv.1]
[Item Registered: Iron (Corroded)]
[Adaptation Unlocked: Partial Metalbite]
[Jaw Endurance Lv.1 → Lv.2]
Somewhere in the dungeon, I imagined an ancient AI whispering:"What the hell is this larva doing?"
But I didn't care.
I was alive.
I was growing.
One bite at a time.
The spring eventually ran quiet. The other larvae had wandered off, following instinct, chasing damp tunnels or dying somewhere in silence. I stayed behind.
Maybe I wasn't ready to leave.
Or maybe… I was still hungry.
I'd gnawed bark, chewed bones, swallowed mana crystals. But my body still pulsed with a low, aching hunger. Not just for food. For meaning. For… more.
I followed the edge of the spring, weaving between roots and glowing mushrooms, until something caught my senses.
A smell.No — more than a smell.
A presence.
Rot. Old blood. Burned silk.
I followed it. Slowly. The ground turned harder, colder. The moss gave way to smooth black stone. Vines curled across the ceiling like veins. And in the middle of the alcove—
There it was.
A body.
Eight legs curled inward. Exoskeleton cracked and drained. Fangs shattered. The creature was massive — the size of a small horse — and long dead. But its silk still clung to the walls like cobwebbed prayers. Some strands glowed faintly. Others wept black venom.
A spider.
No… more than that. Its body was too complex. Chitin plated like armor. Segments reinforced with crystalline ridges. There was a marking on its back — a strange rune, long faded, etched into the shell.
It didn't move.
I crept closer.
[Corpse Identified: Arachnid Sentinel (Degraded)]
[Age: Unknown][Cause of Death: Mana Starvation]
[Material Scan: Chitin, Silk Glands, Poison Sac, Residual Divine Thread]
Divine...?
I bit it.
Not the whole thing — I could barely get my mandibles around the leg joint. But I gnawed at a broken limb, and the system lit up.
[Skill Gained: Chitin Armor Lv.2 → Lv.3]
[Skill Gained: Silk Secretion Lv.1]
[Skill Gained: Poison Resistance Lv.1]
[Trait Detected: Web Instinct (Suppressed)]
My body shivered.
A thread spooled from beneath my jaw — thin, silver, barely there. It stuck to the floor like dew. I twitched, surprised, and reeled it back in.
So this was silk.
I kept chewing.
[Divine Thread Sample Acquired]
[Compatibility Detected: Gluttony Signature → 0.3%]
[New Evolution Path Unlocked: Hollow Weaver (Locked)]
[Status: Hunger Reaction – Active]
Something pulsed in my stomach.
The divine thread I'd chewed flickered inside me — not like food, but like a memory. A half-buried shape. A voice I couldn't hear. It felt ancient. Lonely. Starving.
Like something was sleeping… waiting.
I backed away, body trembling.Not from fear. From change.
My skin rippled. My jaw hurt. My segments twitched. Silk spilled from my mouth in short, sticky strings.
I had to get away — find somewhere quiet — somewhere to molt.
But before I turned to leave, I saw it.
At the base of the arachnid's body, buried in the nest of old silk, was a glowing thread. No — a trail. Thin. Faintly red. Like a heartbeat pulled from silk.
It led deeper into the dungeon.
And it smelled like mana.
No…It smelled like her.
Whoever she was.
I dragged myself away from the carcass of the spider, silk trailing behind me like a lazy scarf. My body still pulsed with mana-sickness, but it was mellowing — like the aftertaste of a strong drink I wasn't ready for. The spider's scent still clung to my mouth. Strange… bittersweet.
But something else filled me now.
Not hunger.
Satisfaction.
For the first time since I woke in this dungeon, I wasn't desperate. I wasn't panicked or starving or crawling just to survive. I was full — at least for now — and that changed everything.
So I found a wall.
A high stone outcrop nestled near the spring's edge, shaded by roots and overlooked by glowing fungi. It reminded me of a hilltop. A quiet perch.
I chose it.
Why?
Because back in Tokyo, my old apartment had been small, but high. Seventh floor. Slight view of the train line. And no one ever bothered me there.
This felt… the same.
So I got to work.
I began weaving.
At first, it was awkward. The silk glands were still new. I wasn't sure which muscle twitched which nozzle. Sometimes I squirted silk across my own face and had to roll over to scrape it off with a rock.
But slowly, instinct and memory aligned.
I laid down a floor — soft moss packed over old roots. Then I spun silk over it, layering it like a futon. I found flat stones and dragged them over, arranging them like low tables. I carved a small water groove from the spring using a shard of bone — it let a tiny trickle of water run past the nest like a personal sink.
[Skill Gained: Spatial Structuring Lv.1]
[Skill Gained: Silk Weaving Lv.1 → Lv.2]
[Trait Unlocked: Territorial Instinct (Suppressed)]
[Status: Mental Clarity – Boosted by Fulfillment]
A flat chunk of crystal became a mirror, propped against the wall.
Not because I could see myself.Just because… that's what apartments had, right?
The roof came next — a fine web stretched between two long root-branches, designed to keep out spores, dust, and other crawling things. It wasn't perfect, but it felt like… mine.
I even made a door.
Just a loop of silk that draped down from the ceiling, but it made a soft whispering sound when passed through. A sound like a noren in a ramen shop.
I remembered those.
One summer, I ate cold soba every night for a week under a red noren.The shopkeeper never smiled, but always added an extra egg for free.
My segments twitched warmly at the thought.
Then I coiled in the center of my little den. A silken hammock I'd strung between two root-hooks. The springlight glowed faintly outside. The smell of moss and mana drifted in.
And for a moment, I forgot I was a larva.I forgot the hunger. The centipede. The dead spider.I just… rested.
Not in fear.
In comfort.
[Condition Met: Safe Shelter Constructed]
[Skill Gained: Recovery Efficiency Lv.1]
[Temporary Buff: Mana Regeneration +10%]
[Body Status: Molt Cycle Imminent]
There it was.
A message.
I'd seen enough RPGs to know what came next.I'd reached a checkpoint.A save point.A soft little moment of peace.
I smiled.
Or twitched. Or… whatever a larva does to grin.
Then I began to wrap myself.
A cocoon of silk, drawn gently over my frame. Not tight — I left space for air, for warmth, for dreams. This wasn't a tomb. It was a bedroom.
My bedroom.
And as my body slowed…As the dungeon fell into quiet…
I thought about Hana.
About melonpan.
About summer rain.
And somewhere beneath the roots of the world,a larva slept.
And began to change.