Day 4

  I sighed, having grown increasingly bored with slaughtering frogs. My Biomass was currently at 80 after spending all morning ambushing and eating the tasty little buggers. Honestly, I would have stopped long ago had they not been so delicious to eat. My stomach rumbled, and I patted it.

  This was getting a bit ridiculous. I was NEVER not hungry. No matter how many frogs I consumed, there was always more space within my stomach. What sort of bullshit skill was this?!?!

  I paused and looked at the treeline, considering the benefits of leaving the wetlands and go into the forest: More interesting.

  Cons: Bears and giant snakes. Likely even more powerful creatures hiding out of his sight. Still, that strange creature with a bow that I had encountered recommended reaching level 10, if possible. And at this rate, I’ll need to kill and eat 1000s of Frogs to make it there…

  I paused, a slight rustling catching my attention. As I snuck closer, I saw a singular Frog, hopping around. It hopped three times to the left, and then back, three times, as if it was unsure of what it should be doing. It was a scrawny fellow, almost not worth the effort to kill. My stomach rumbled.

  Fine, fine, then I’ll just…

  The Frog hopped left three times, and back to the right three times.

  I frowned, my eyes narrowing. I watched it for another 10 minutes, in which it continued to repeat the same series of hops. Is it possible that this….was a trap?

  I began to back away from the solo Frog and circle around, carefully placing my feet for every step. Eventually, hiding the shadow of a mound, I found several Frogs of a type I had never seen before. They were around the same size as the usual, but they had a streak of red down their back.

  Frowning, I rubbed my chin. There was only 3 of the red streak frogs, were they really so powerful that they could handle me? At the very least, this was evidence that the frogs were taking me seriously.

  Then I froze. The mound lifted itself up and turned. A dull green eye opened, staring directly at me. It’s mouth began to open impossibly wide.

  Shit.

  I threw myself to the side, feeling a rushing wind as something incredibly powerful shot past me. A tongue, I ascertained with a quick glance, but the fact that it could shoot out at such short notice, and at such a long distance…

  Frogs, including the red streak ones, hopped out of the surrounding area, making a beeline for my position.

  I turned and sprinted away, praying it wasn’t able to quickly repeat that level of power. Luckily it seemed that was the case, and I was eventually able to shake off pursuit. From my wandering, I was able to determine that the frog villages were pretty independent, so I could go to the next village over and hunt frogs there without worrying about these sort of traps. It was just galling that the frogs were able to drive me from their land…

  The author's narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

  But, I resolved myself. When I grew stronger, I would return here, and make that giant mound frog pay.

  I looked at my cudgel skeptically. A blunt weapon had worked thus far, but with that much body in the way… It would be hard to damage anything vital. I would have to come up with something else.

  *****

  After traveling for several hours into wetlands I hadn’t explored before and casually killing and eating frogs, I had around 111 Biomass when I finally reached level 4. Unfortunately, I was mid fight, so I ignored the notifications that appeared until I had finished off the last two frogs. Then I checked the blue screens.

  Not this time, system. I shivered. I wasn’t looking forward to the decision I would have to make if I found a growth rate that was really good. Those failed mutations…

  I clicked no.

  ...the impression within me was roiling. The word “computer” floated up, but I ignored it, mostly just curious on what benefit I would receive from this.

  Unlike the failed mutations, this process wasn’t nearly as painful, but it did feel like a group of rowdy men were performing construction within my cerebral cortex. My head pounded, and I fell to my knees, unable to see straight or maintain my balance. The world swam. Unable to bear with whatever was happening to me, I passed out.