The snail flinched in surprise when a small bundle of information was shoved into its brain.
*ding*
<code>Corpse: Ant (lesser)
Estimated experience: 1
Absorb experience?</code>
“Experience? I think I have some of that.” The snail thought. It thought for a long time before it remembered a connection. “I remember, experience makes levels. Levels provide points. I want experience.”
*ding*
<code>Absorbing experience. Estimated time remaining: 1s</code>
One second later, a final bit of information arrived.
*ding*
<code>Experience absorbed: 1</code>
“Where is the ant?” The snail wondered. It waved its eye stalks around, but it didn’t see an ant. The snail slid slowly around in a circle, searching. It glanced back towards the slime trail it left along the ground. A bumpy, angular thing stood out. The snail focused on the thing and learned.
*ding*
<code>Natural active unlocked: Identify
Identify: Ant (lesser, corpse, drained)</code>
“Oh, there is the ant.” The snail continued onwards to climb up the nearest plant stalk. It used Identify on the plant it was climbing.
*ding*
<code>Plant (worthless)</code>
<hr>
The snail found a few more ant corpses before it found a plant that gave a point. When the snail felt the new point, it stopped eating and used Identify on the plant.
*ding*
<code>Plant (poor, partially eaten)</code>
“Worthless gave me no points. Poor gave me a point. Good to know. I will look for ‘poor’ plants.” The snail finished eating the last bits of the ‘poor’ plant, but didn’t get another point. With Identify, the snail evaluated and skipped plant after plant as it crept along the ground. The snail didn’t find any more ant corpses, but did see some alive ants. The ants moved quickly, however, and the snail dismissed them.
After a few hours of searching, the snail found a second ‘poor’ plant and got a fifth point. It immediately tried to spend points to get more physique.
*ding*
<code>Physique +1: 5 points.</code>
The snail’s mind reeled as it felt a huge change in its body. Without understanding how, the snail felt that it could stretch farther, flex more strongly, and eat harder food. The snail’s eye stalks and olfactory tentacles retracted for a moment then re-extended. The snail could see and smell better than before. The snail hung off the side of the remains of the plant it had been eating. It was several minutes before the snail’s mind adapted to the increased level of detail and sensation.
“Ow?” The snail wasn’t sure how to feel about the changes to its sight and smell. It was more than it had ever dealt with before, but it wasn’t exactly painful. “Oh well.” The snail finished eating the plant and got another point.This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.
<hr>
Weeks later, the snail finished eating a ‘poor’ quality plant, but didn’t receive a point. Confused, the snail thought about its stats. The snail flinched from the spike of pain and stopped thinking about its stats. After a few moments to recover, the snail tried to only think about its basic stats.
<table>
<thead>
<tr>
<th>Name</th>
<th>Level</th>
<th>Experience</th>
</tr>
</thead>
<tbody>
<tr>
<td>N/A</td>
<td>3</td>
<td>56/100</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<table>
<thead>
<tr>
<th>Stat</th>
<th>Value</th>
</tr>
</thead>
<tbody>
<tr>
<td>Health</td>
<td>70/70</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Mana</td>
<td>1/1</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Stamina</td>
<td>70/70</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Intellect</td>
<td>4</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Physique</td>
<td>14</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Meta-physique</td>
<td>1</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Available points</td>
<td>1</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
“Ow. But not so bad.” The snail thought. ”Why didn’t I get a point from this plant?“_ It wondered.
*ding*
<code>Reminder: As a living thing becomes saturated with energy, it must improve its processing abilities or find more concentrated sources of energy.</code>
The snail didn’t understand the relevance of this information. “Why didn’t I get a point from eating a ‘poor’ plant?” The snail tried hard to concentrate on the question. After a delay, a drop of information was added to the previous answer.
*ding*
<code>Reminder: As a living thing becomes saturated with energy, it must improve its processing abilities or find more concentrated sources of energy.
Stat point total: 20. Find energy sources of higher quality to gain additional points.</code>
“Ah ha!” The snail cheered. “I need to eat better plants._” The snail waved its tentacles in celebration for half a minute. When the feeling of success wore off, the snail pondered its next move. ”How do I find better plants? I have found mostly ‘worthless’ plants and only occasional ‘poor’ plants. I can see much better than before, maybe I can look far away.”_
The snail stretched out its eye stalks and looked as far away as it could. It mostly saw underbrush and thin trees. It couldn’t see very far because the things it could see blocked its view. The snail pondered this new obstacle for a while.
“Perhaps if I eat the trees, they won’t block my view any more.” With this hypothesis, the snail began to glide towards the nearest tree. Although the tree was below average in hight, the snail climbed for hours before it reached the top. The highest branch of the tree moved back and forth, waving in the breeze. The brightness at the top of the tree was slightly painful, so the snail retracted and extended its eye stalks periodically. It quickly became distracted from the task of eating an entire tree.
The bushes and trees that had blocked its view were no longer in the way. The snail stretched out and looked as far away as it could. In every direction, a tall something blocked the snail’s view. The something blocked every direction, but the closest part was near enough that the snail thought it might be made of rocks.
_“I don’t need to eat this tree.” The snail decided. “I need to climb those rocks and find out what is beyond them.” The snail munched on a few leaves and some bark as the sun went down, then struck out in the direction of the rocks.
<hr>
In the morning, the snail ran across a live ant. The ant and the snail hadn’t seen each other and the ant was coated in snail mucus before either knew what was happening. The snail noticed the movement of the struggling ant at the edge of its mantel. The ant got its abdomen pointed at the snail and jabbed with a small stinger.
“Ouch!” The snail pulled back into its shell to hide from this attack. The snail instinctually squeezed out some foam and used Hide in shell. The snail hid in its shell for several minutes before tentatively extending its foot and eye stalks to asses the situation.
The ant was glued to the side of the snail’s shell. The snail looked at the struggling ant for a while before dismissing it as a threat.
<code>Natural active unlocked: Ensnare</code>
The snail briefly wondered what Ensnare did.
*ding*
<table>
<thead>
<tr>
<th>Active</th>
<th>Level</th>
<th>Resource</th>
</tr>
</thead>
<tbody>
<tr>
<td>Hide in shell</td>
<td>1</td>
<td>Stamina</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Identify</td>
<td>2</td>
<td>Stamina</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Ensnare</td>
<td>1</td>
<td>Stamina</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
“I don’t want to hold on to this ant.” The snail complained. The ant continued to struggle as the mucus holding it dried on the side of the shell. Without any way to remove it, the snail continued traveling towards the rock.