The last thing Arthur remembered was the screech of tires and the blinding white light. Then, nothing. Utter, soul-crushing nothing. It stretched on, an eternity of absent awareness, until a pinprick of sensation ignited. A twitch. A scratch. A disjointed sense of… leg?
He struggled to focus, to pull himself from the void. The pinprick grew, multiplied. He felt six distinct points of contact with a rough surface. Wings, tucked tight against his back, stirred involuntarily.
What… what is this?
Panic clawed at him. He tried to scream, but no sound emerged, only a high-pitched buzzing that vibrated in his very being. He became aware of a chitinous shell encasing him, segmented and impossibly alien. Two large, multifaceted eyes swam into focus, offering a distorted, panoramic view of his surroundings.
He was… a hornet. A monstrous, buzzing, six-legged horror.
Despair threatened to drown him. Was this hell? Some cosmic joke? He thrashed, desperate to break free from this grotesque form, but his new body was unyielding.
Then, a new sensation washed over him, a cool, calculated intrusion.
[System Initiated]
[Welcome, Host. You are now a Vespa mandarinia, Asian Giant Hornet. Please familiarize yourself with your new reality.]
The words, or rather, the concept of words, flashed in his vision, superimposed over the blurry world around him. A blue screen, crisp and clinical, intruded upon the primal instinct screaming for escape.
[Current Stats:]
[Species: Asian Giant Hornet (Vespa mandarinia)]
[Level: 1]
[Poison Capacity: 5/5 Units]
[Poison Potency: Weak (Grade F)]
[Strength: 1]
[Agility: 3]
[Durability: 2]
[Skills: Flight (Novice), Stinging (Novice)]
Arthur, trapped in his newfound insectoid form, stared at the screen in disbelief. A system? Stats? Leveling up? Was this some kind of elaborate, sick game?
Before he could process the absurdity of it all, a hollow voice, seemingly originating from within his own head, spoke.
[Objective: Consume 1 Unit of Poison.]
[Reward: Experience Points (50)]
[Punishment: None.]
He was a hornet with a quest. The irony was almost unbearable. But as he scanned his surroundings, he saw a small, glistening smear clinging to a nearby rock. The residue of a fallen insect, perhaps.
Hesitantly, he extended his proboscis, a grotesque straw of chitin, and lapped at the substance. The taste was bitter, metallic, and vaguely repulsive. As he swallowed, a notification popped up:
[Poison Units Consumed: 1/1]
[Objective Completed]
[Experience Gained: 50]
[Level Up!]
[Current Level: 2]
[Poison Capacity: 6/6 Units]
[Poison Potency: Weak (Grade F)]
[Strength: 1]
[Agility: 3]
[Durability: 2]
[Skill Point Available: 1]
The notification was followed by a surge of… power? It was subtle, barely perceptible, but he felt a slight increase in his overall strength and agility.
This was insane. But… maybe, just maybe, it was a way out. A way to understand what had happened to him and, perhaps, even escape this nightmare.
A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.
Arthur, now the Asian Giant Hornet, vowed to survive. He would devour, sting, and conquer. He would master this system and climb to the top of the insect world, one agonizing level at a time.
Chapter 2: Brew of Bile and Blood
He spent days exploring his immediate surroundings, a forested area teeming with life and death. He learned to fly, the wind whistling through his wings, a terrifying and exhilarating sensation. He learned to hunt, his sharp mandibles tearing through the exoskeletons of hapless beetles and caterpillars.
He quickly realized the severity of his limitations. He was weak, slow, and his venom was pathetic. He needed to improve, and the key, according to the system, lay in his poison.
He discovered he could "brew" his own poison, combining raw ingredients with the venom he already possessed. The system provided a basic recipe:
[Poison Concoction Guide:]
[Basic Venom: 1 Unit]
[Insect Bile: 1 Unit (Increases Potency)]
[Insect Blood: 1 Unit (Increases Duration)]
[Plant Enzymes: 1 Unit (Increases Range)]
Finding insect bile and blood was relatively easy. Squashing a particularly juicy beetle resulted in a puddle of glistening hemolymph (bug blood), and the bitter glands of a caterpillar yielded the vile bile. Plant Enzymes were trickier, requiring him to gnaw at specific leaves and flowers.
He meticulously gathered the ingredients, his every action driven by the system's cold, calculated prompts. When he had enough, he sat on a large leaf and, following the system's instructions, mixed the ingredients.
[Initiating Poison Concoction]
The process felt strange, almost meditative. He felt the raw ingredients merging, transforming within his body. A notification popped up.
[Poison Concoction Complete]
[New Poison Potency: Weak+ (Grade E-)]
[Poison created: 1 Unit]
[Poison Capacity: 6/6 Units]
The improvement was marginal, but noticeable. The next beetle he stung died slightly faster, its struggles a little weaker.
He continued to experiment, meticulously documenting the effects of different ingredients. He discovered that spider venom boosted potency significantly, albeit with a high risk of being caught in their webs. Ants, on the other hand, provided a surprisingly potent source of enzymes, imbuing his venom with a longer range, allowing him to spit it at unsuspecting prey.
His diet became brutal, driven by the necessity of acquiring the right ingredients. He learned to recognize the signs of illness in other insects, targeting the weak and vulnerable for their potent bile. He became a scavenger, a predator, a walking, buzzing nightmare.
Chapter 3: The Raid on the Ant Hill
His progress was slow, but steady. He slowly climbed through the ranks, from Grade F to Grade D poison, his strength and agility growing with each level. He was becoming stronger, faster, more lethal. But he needed a breakthrough.
The system offered a hint:
[Advanced Poison Enhancement: Requires Genetic Material from a High-Level Species.]
High-level species. That could mean only one thing: other insectoids, especially social insects with complex hierarchies. And where there were social insects, there were colonies… and resources.
He had been observing a particularly large ant hill for days. A bustling metropolis of tiny, tireless workers, constantly hauling food and building their underground fortress. They were organized, disciplined, and surprisingly strong for their size. They also possessed a potent, formic acid-based defense.
It was a risky proposition. A lone hornet attacking an ant hill was suicide. But the potential rewards were too great to ignore. He needed their genetic material. He needed their queen.
He spent days studying their routines, identifying weak points in their defenses. He noticed a small, unguarded tunnel leading to the surface, used primarily for waste disposal. A risky entry point, but potentially devastating.
He planned his attack with meticulous precision. He would enter the tunnel, fight his way to the central chamber, and steal a sample of the queen's genetic material. He knew he couldn't kill her outright. The entire colony would descend upon him. He just needed a small piece, a single cell.
The day of the raid arrived. The air was thick with humidity, the scent of rotting leaves and damp earth heavy in the air. Arthur, now Level 10, with Grade C- venom and a significantly enhanced physique, took flight, his wings buzzing with anticipation and dread.
He landed silently near the unguarded tunnel. He took a deep breath (or the hornet equivalent) and plunged into the darkness.
The air inside was thick with the smell of formic acid and the constant chittering of the ants. He moved quickly, his mandibles tearing through any ant that dared to cross his path. He sprayed his venom, a cloud of acidic mist that melted their exoskeletons.
He fought his way through a maze of tunnels, deeper and deeper into the heart of the colony. The resistance grew stronger with each passing moment. Ants swarmed him, biting and stinging, their formic acid burning his flesh.
He was outnumbered, outgunned, but he was relentless. He was driven by the desperate need to survive, to evolve, to escape this insectoid nightmare.
Finally, he reached the central chamber. A vast, cavernous space filled with thousands of ants, all focused on a single, pulsating mass in the center: the queen.
The queen was enormous, grotesquely swollen with eggs. She was the heart and soul of the colony, the source of their power.
Guarding her were the elite soldiers of the ant hill, larger, stronger, and more aggressive than the workers. They were armed with powerful mandibles and potent stingers.
The battle was brutal, a swirling vortex of chitin and venom. Arthur fought with a ferocity he never knew he possessed, fueled by adrenaline and desperation. He dodged, weaved, and stung, his venom melting through their armor.
He managed to slay a few, but more kept coming, their numbers seemingly endless. He was weakening, his body battered and bruised.
Just as he was about to be overwhelmed, he saw an opening. He lunged forward, ignoring the pain, and bit into the queen's abdomen. He tore off a small piece of tissue and retreated back through the tunnels, leaving a trail of carnage in his wake.
He escaped the ant hill, barely alive, his body riddled with stings. He collapsed on a nearby leaf, gasping for air.
[Genetic Material Acquired]
[Initiating Poison Enhancement]
The system took over, his body wracked with pain and exhaustion. He felt his venom changing, evolving, taking on new properties. He was pushing his body to its limits, risking everything for a chance to become something more than just a hornet.
As he lay there, weak and vulnerable, he knew that his journey had just begun. He had tasted power, and he wanted more. He would continue to climb, to evolve, to conquer. He would become the apex predator of this world, the king of the insects.
And he would finally understand why he had been cursed with this life, this brutal, insectoid existence.
