Chapter 1: Awakening

As my eyes adjust I notice a faint blue glow emanating from the walls, and I become aware of the fact that I can feel rock against my skin.

What the hell!? The first thing I notice are my feet, if you could call them that. They're red, furry, and disproportionately large, with three large, clawed toes. Following up my torso, I realize that I have 2 long fingers and one long thumb each with large, thick, black talons at the end of my scrawny, red arms.

This has to be some kind of crazy dream.

Looking closer at my surroundings, I see that the walls themselves aren't glowing blue, but instead little crystals embedded within them are giving off the faint glow. Strange, I wonder where they get the energy to glow like that.

I unsteadily stand up on my unfamiliar legs, and hobble over to the wall. Upon closer inspection, the crystals have an octahedral shape. I reach out and touch one, and as I touch it I feel a warm heat flow out from the crystal and into myself. I close my eyes and let the warmth envelop me.

...

With my eyes closed, I see a status window in my head, like a video game.

<IMP>
Level: 0
HP: 100/100
MP: 20/20

...

That's it? I would think that in my own dream, I would at least have something a little more interesting.

Perusing the cave near me reveals that I'm in a dead end tunnel, with the exit being just large enough for me to crawl out of.

Continuing my exploration, I head out of the tunnel, only to begin hearing multiple high pitched yelps. As I peek my head out and look around, I see a much larger cavern with many smaller tunnels branching out of it, like my own. Scattered throughout the cavern are multiple other imps that look like me, they're all fighting each other, its quite brutal, with some imps lying dead on the ground with limbs missing.

I'm not particularly keen on fighting to the death. So I decide to remove some of the crystals near the entrance of my tunnel, so that it should be harder to see from the cavern.

After what seemed like hours, I've removed enough that I feel somewhat confident that my tunnel might be overlooked. Of course, this wouldn't have been possible if I didn't have these claws. If I had fingers, I couldn't have chipped the crystal out of the walls. As an added bonus, my dead end is a little brighter now, given the small pile of crystals I've collected against the wall.

I'm feeling a little tired now, so I decide to lay up against the warm crystals and fall asleep, hopefully waking up somewhere that isn't here.

---

As I wake up, the first thing I notice is... I'm still in the cave. I don't like where this is going. I thought I might have been dreaming before, but if I'm waking up, and my memory is still of sleeping here, I'm worried that I might be stuck here. I close my eyes again, and I see the status window.

You are reading story Rebuilding Science in a Magic World at novel35.com

<IMP>
Level: 35
HP: 170/170
MP: 27/27

... It seems like its moved up quite a bit. What could be the cause? Just living and surviving? I didn't fight anything, and the only other things I've done are sleep, and pull those crystals out of the wall. Speaking of what I've done, or in this case haven't done, I haven't eaten, and I am STARVING.

Using my tongue to feel around my mouth, it seems like all my teeth are sharp, I suppose I'm a carnivore? I suppose I should head out of the tunnel and see what the other imps are eating, maybe there is some form of convenient food source just outside the cave?

If only. What I spot instead is cannibalism. There are a handful of imps eating other imps in the cavern edges. What's a little more intriguing though are the goblins in the middle of the cavern. They seem to have made a small campfire, and are roasting some imps over it. No one seems to be battling anymore in the cavern at least. Although I have a feeling that when food gets a little more scarce, the fighting will resume. For now, I guess I'll try to grab some of the dead imps nearby and drag them into my tunnel.

Lucky me, if any imps or the goblins noticed me, they didn't show it, and I successfully dragged some dead imps back into my tunnel. Unluckily though, dead imps don't exactly appear to be appetizing. In fact, I'd say they seem down right repulsive. Well, I guess this is survival, I'll have to try and eat it.

I take a bite, and immediately vomit. Its disgusting. Its one thing to say I need to eat to survive, its another to actually successfully eat it. Maybe those goblins were onto something, maybe I can stomach it if its cooked. Speaking of those goblins, considering they had a campfire of sorts, our cavern must connect outside, and probably not to far away in order for them to get wood. My hunger must be over-ruling my better judgement, because I want to go back out into the cavern and try and procure a way to make some fire.

I head back out towards the cavern, but the scene that greets me isn't the same scene I saw before. All the imps are cowering and the goblins are looking towards the entrance, acting like they are ready to fight. As I watch for a minute, I eventually see what the imps and goblins are waiting for. Around the corner, a few goblins walk in. These new goblins are wearing tattered leather, and one goblin among them stands about a head taller than the others. As the new goblins move into the cave, the smaller goblins all take their time killing any imps they spot.

After they finally reach the naked goblins, the taller goblin does some hand gestures while making some indecipherable noises. They seem to be coming to some kind of agreement. The naked goblins and clothed ones both begin making their way back out of the cavern. On their way out, the tall goblin stops for a moment and looks up. I follow his vision and spot an imp in a side tunnel entrance like my own, except his is lit with crystals. The tall goblin points his arm at the imp, open palmed, and a fireball shoots out and kills the imp. The naked goblins all seem to be fairly impressed with the display, and they all leave the cave together.

I wait for what feels like an eternity, but none of the goblins seem to come back into the cavern. I guess I'll take advantage of the other imps' misfortune and take some of the cooked imp meat over the campfire. Once I get back in my tunnel, I try eating some of the cooked imp. Its almost unbearable, but I force some down, and keep it down. I use the remainder of my energy to gather some dust to pile over the vomit from before. Disgusting, but necessary. After tidying up my area, I decide to fall asleep on my crystal pile again.

In my sleep, I'm greeted by an odd sensation. Its hard to describe, but to put it into words, its probably similar to how a caterpillar knows that it is able to turn into a butterfly. Intrinsically I understand two options are before me. I can prestige, staying an imp and becoming a stronger variety, keeping some of my stats and restarting at level 0, and gaining a new trait; or I can evolve into a new species, keeping all my stats I've gained, going back to level 0, but not gaining a trait. I can see my status window, and a few options.

<IMP>
Level: 100
HP: 300/300
MP: 40/40

Available Traits:
Mana Affinity: Increased Mana Capacity, and retain more of your mana pool when prestiging.
Earth Manipulation: More easily manipulate rock and earth.

Available Species:
Goblin

I understand where the goblins come from at least now. I don't particularly like the idea of becoming a goblin, or a subordinate of that tall goblin for that matter, plus there is no guarantee of my safety if I do so. For now I'll just prestige as an imp and take Mana Affinity.

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