So Weak!

It was no instant transfer, but more like a dive into darkness, slowly sinking as his body started to feel light, almost like he could float at a moment's notice, bones tingled, as if they were growing, and many other sensations came over him while his body changed into that of another species

By the time he came to Ingram was standing in the dark hole that would be his dungeon

"That felt…great"

Unlike the uncomfortable experience provided by the previous games he played this one was more like an inside out massage, furthermore there was no dissonance between him and this new body, stretching out with it proved to be as normal as he would feel within his own

Click click

A loud sound came from behind him, an unassuring one at that, once he turned to look the source was staring back with those glowing red eyes, the only visible thing among its surly disturbing visage

Ingram felt his skin crawl for a second, dismissing the feeling soon after since he knew this creature was in fact under his command

This dim view did not last for long, for a soft light quickly sorted in from the ceiling, and it was no hole that gave way for the sun, instead it be the work of small plants dotting the black rock, not so much illuminating the place but doing a rather good job keeping it visible

Under the soft light those glowing eyes turned back to solid black, while the figure bearing them slowly came into view

"Looks a bit creeper when it's moving"

Scissor like mandibles, black exoskeleton, and the size of a poodle, this was the Giant Ant that Ingram chose as his starter monster

"It looks a lot smaller than the one on display"

To discover why he focused on the dot in the hind of his vision, pulling up a status bar of sorts

He ignored the information relaid for now, choosing the Status Scan option extending from the side of his screen

Choosing this ant as his target he was presented with yet another status, that of the ant's

[Name: N/A

Race: Young Giant Ant Guard

Lvl: 1

Power Rank: F

Stats:

STR: 17%

VIT: 20%

DEX: 6%

INT: 2%

WIS: 0%]

"So it is still young, I see, but these stats…"

He did not mind the numbers themselves but the format they were quantified in

"So many people complained when the game announced its percentage progression, it is so confusing, they just did not listen though"

From what he knew it should be quite easy at the beginning, the percentage was based on the rank and not each person or monster's body so the base stat was shared among all, the problem lay later on

"How do I compare the percentage of two different ranks? They really should have made it numerical"

There were other problems posed but despite all that the game was still presented in this confusing way

Now he could complain all he wanted but the fact remained the same, he was better off checking the other ants

Stepping deeper into the cave he noted the downward incline as well as the narrowing path, after a short walk the walls no longer barred his sides as a large greatly illuminated room came to view

"So this is the nest"

His clue for assuming so was the ant queen, one about his size, laying still on the ground while another ant guard stood beside it

The first thing he did was check on its status

[Name: N/A

Race: Giant Ant Queen

Lvl: 1

Power Rank: F

Stats:

STR: 9%

VIT: 30%

DEX: 0%

INT: 10%

WIS: 10%

Skills: Incubation]

"Plain but fit for a starter monster generator"

This queen was the sole reason he chose Giant Ants as his starter, with its ability to lay massive amounts of eggs and his trait to fuse monsters he could quickly build an efficient army

"Now let us see how merging works"

For that, he looked through his own stat sheet

[Name: Ingram

Race: Avian

Trait: Merge

Lvl: 1

Power Rank: F

Stats:

STR: 10%

VIT: 8%

DEX: 20%

INT: 1%

WIS: 1%]

"...."

For some reason he felt the ant guard's innocent gaze turn into a mocking one but he shook the feeling away and turned back to the trait

Without the need for him to ask or do anything a tip was presented next to it, telling him to use the merge option in his creature's status

Following the tip he noted there was a circle on top of the status of the ant, and when he clicked it the circle spun and kept doing so

"Oh, so that's how it works"

Figuring it out he opened the other one's status, noting a 100% present above this one's circle

"Hmm, I should probably hold off the thought for now, who knows how much stronger it could get? If it is just a minor improvement I would have one less guard"

Bearing the thought in mind Ingram decided to cancel the merge, and that is when he felt a jolt run through his mind

Eyes turning back to where he came from he somehow knew this meant the intrusion of someone or something into his dungeon

"Already? Well, I didn't want to loiter around doing nothing anyway"

Happy to have his first visitor he ordered the two ants to take the front and go back to the entrance

They walked through the narrow path and past where he had come to, confidently striding toward the brighter end of the cave where he could see something moving about cautiously

The creature seemed to note their emerging presence as well, pouncing forward without notice

"Attack"

Not surprised since that was what most of the monsters did in all the games he played Ingram just ordered for the two guards to meet it head on, trusting in their exoskeleton to withstand this capybara like monster

The ants crawled forth with their deadly mandibles, clicking them in preparation to tear the enemy apart

The capybara did not back away at this threatening sight, smashing its webbed feet at the first ant

A squishing sound was produced when the exoskeleton caved in, spraying stuff all over while the guard writhed, managing only a nibble at the foot before being pushed backwards by the heavy force

"!?"

Not at all expecting things to turn out this way Ingram stood there in bewilderment for a hot second before moving in to intervene, knowing that once this thing got passed the ants, which it was about to, he might not be able to survive alone

"Get away!"

He yelled, for his ants not the creature so he could ram his shoulder into it

And ram he did, only he was sent rolling back instead, perhaps due to his light weight, while the creature that was not even half his height only got thrown to its back for a moment

"Oh I'm screwed"

Such a bad first intruder, seems like he was about to lose his unique trait without even trying it once, after all dying meant hard reset, one of the reasons for the generous percentage on traits since they would go back to the drawing board once you die

Seeing the enemy roll back to its feet and prepare to lung forth Ingram quickly opened the status of the able guard it was attacking, activating the merge on it which caused the circle to spin and glow

Then came down the monster's foot, only it missed its target for the ant that was about its size had grown within a split second after absorbing the other into itself, now standing at a meter high, looking down with mandibles wide open

Snap! They went, and before the creature could retreat its leg was caught and turned bloody

Writhing it smacked the black carapace but only small cracks formed, meanwhile it was being sliced apart in as bloody a way as possible

"Uhh, the gore upped a notch here"

He'd never played a game with such realistic combat, all of them thus far used health bars as an indicator, this one however seemed to be the type that imitated real life, meaning death could come quicker than one might think

In seconds his improved guard finished off the enemy, bearing only some light damages to the exoskeleton, meanwhile the enemy it wished to drag back to him was in one too many pieces to be carried at once

"Carry this thing back to the queen for now"

He ordered, not wanting to bloody his feathers, instead he checked the improved status

[Name: N/A

Race: Giant Ant Guard

Lvl: 2

Power Rank: F

Stats:

STR: 23%

VIT: 26%

DEX: 5%

INT: 2%

WIS: 0%]

"So it basically just reached adulthood, its stats also became better..right?"

He felt like something was off but couldn't put his hand on it, thus he ignored the matter and moved back into the nest

Upon arriving he noted the meat lay in front of the queen who was munching with relish

"Eat up, I need as many little critters as I could get"

And that he meant, the game already showed its fangs so he believed the difficulty bar was a tad more than what they had been told

"Or maybe my ants are just too fragile when they are young…"

That remained to be seen