Before hatchi could react the dark void grasped him, rough patches of it scraping against his skin. The small worm felt his precious slimecoat ripped away in large chunks, he had not even been aware he had a slimecoat until he felt it being ripped from him! The monster grasped him firmly, and something long and sharp ripped off his tail sending bolts of pain through his body. It was luckily only a small piece of his body, however no one would be happy losing any piece of their body!
He squirmed and bit at the monster, his tail leaking blood back into the dirt he had emerged from. Air brutally beat against his shredded body as it flapped its giant feathered wings, it felt as if it would tear him to shreds with the wind itself! This thing had to be some sort of bird right? Why was it trying to fly though? It had seemed content eating him on the ground before. Hatchis thoughts were interrupted by a sickening crunch, the void above him began to twist and twitch in agony while something else which appeared in a deep blue coloration to the mana sense bit into it.
Today was a lucky day for Mr. Crow, he had been trying to find himself a Mrs. Crow but had no luck since he couldn't catch anything! No woman would appreciate a man who couldn't feed her or their children. Surely luck had outrun him yet again today, that was all the poor bird coud figure. Just as all hope was lost the most shocking thing to happen in his entire life a huge, fat, stupid worm crawled right up out of the ground beneath him! He quickly grabbed it and ripped a piece off the tail, delicious!
He flapped his wings, ready to carry away his prize to a beloved bird who would surely feel impressed by such a man. Crunch! The sound of his own ribcage echoed in his ears and Mr. Crow let go of the worm as he clawed at the massive lizard that had taken a bite of him, today was not so lucky as it seemed it would be his last. He did not give up, the crow scratched and bit, screaming for help even though he knew it would not come to him.
Hatchi did not know what was happening, his only true concern was that he was free and that's really all that mattered. His body hit the earth with a thud only audible to him and he quickly began attempting to burrow down to safety. His teeth and mouth were too small to burrow through dead leaves or living grass, he was only used to eating dirt! He frantically failed around until he finally found a piece of nasty dry dirt to frantically burrow into.
Around twenty minutes later hatchi finally dragged his half eaten body into the nice moist dirt again. He carved himself a room and curled up in it, waiting for his tail to at least heal a little. He used mana sense again while waiting, focusing every bit of power on trying to see the surface.. there were the birds feet.. and something else. The birds feet were not whole, they were ripped to shreds and dangling from something else's mouth. Sharp claws dug into the earth's crust as what he could now see was a lizard began to leave the scene. How terrifying, something he had no hope of beating had been so swiftly killed and eaten! It was definetly safer underground.. but he felt it was probably much more rewarding to eat the things above ground! Hatchi needed something to help him eat what was up there, he couldn't even crunch a dead leaf yet.
Feeling that his tail had scabbed over hatchi began to eat, and finally a quest notification appeared!
[Quest: The Need to Explore
Something drives you to explore beyond the dirt, perhaps embracing it will help you in doing so. Consume ten thousand mouthfuls of dirt to receive a reward
251/10,000 consumed]
Hatchi would have widened his eyes at the number if he had them, that was a huge amount! But a guaranteed skill or evolution would be insanely useful to him so he began chowing down like there was no tomorrow. He decided to burrow in one direction so that he could hopefully pop up in a safer spot next time.
Eventually hatchi decided he should open his status again and called out to the system
[Name: Hatchi
Length: 5 inches
Race: Lasienna common mud worm
Age: three months]
Three months already of complete isolation from everything but the dirt, it was hard for a man.. or worm. He decided to check the quest status window
[Quest: The Need to Explore
9,870/10,000 consumed]
He was almost there, so close even though it felt like so far! So hatchi buckled up and continued to eat, just a few hours and he'd finally receive the reward he was promised. Even if he had no clue what it was..