"Where the hell am I?" I wondered.
I felt my fingers sink into something warm and soft — something like moss, scattered with broken eggshells.
With great effort, I finally managed to open my eyes. The entire world appeared in shades of blue and green. Dozens of lizards surrounded me, all of them covered in slime — just like me.
Panic hit instantly.
I thrashed my limbs, tried to scream, to run — to escape anywhere — but no sound came from my mouth. The only thing I saw was a long, hissing tail, completely beyond my control.
"Did I reincarnate as a lizard!?" I screamed internally, cursing every religion I had ever known.
"What did I do to deserve this!?"
Many of the hatchlings were only just discovering the world, testing their senses. Scratching sounds and tiny cracks came from some of the eggs. Not all of them had hatched yet.
I felt small. Weak.
Only my sight and hearing seemed to work properly.
My first instinct was to get out of there — as far away from this uncontrolled brood of reptiles as possible, before something snapped in their tiny heads and they descended on me in a starving frenzy.
All around me were cave walls, stalagmites, and stalactites. I hadn't even taken a few steps when one of my so-called siblings lunged at a weaker hatchling from a smaller egg and began biting it with its still tiny teeth.
"They're going to eat me alive!"
A slimy, dark-colored lizard stood in front of me. It hissed, staring at me with eyes red as blood. I froze, unsure what to do. We stared each other down, locked in a silent duel of fear.
Then something unimaginable happened.
Above its body, orange text appeared — written in a language I knew. Clear. Terrifying.
[ Species: Cave Hydra
Evolution Stage: Newly Hatched
Level: 1
Threat Level: HIGH ]
"H-Holy shit… a Hydra!?"
I had no idea where I was, and I didn't even want to think about it. Hunger, fear, and the growing cold spreading across my skin — or rather, my scales — overwhelmed me as I moved farther away from the hatching site.
I tried to circle around it while keeping my eyes locked on it, but another one suddenly attacked from the side. It bit me viciously, trying to shake me around like prey.
I was lucky.
The hydra that had been blocking my path lunged at the stronger one instead, helping me break free from its jaws. A full-blown fight erupted — hissing, biting, shrieking.
Something inside me snapped.
An uncontrollable fury consumed me, as if a bloodthirsty demon had possessed my body. I bit at anything I could reach, tearing bloody chunks of flesh free.
This wasn't me.
The taste of my newly hatched sibling's blood was… pleasant. Too pleasant. Adrenaline flooded my body, a murderous hunger surging so intensely that heat spread from within, filling me with strength. I bit, devoured, and drank blood mixed with slime.
Other hatchlings quickly joined the slaughter, each trying to tear off something for themselves. All of them were starving. All of them naturally aggressive.
My scales were still soft and slick with slime, and I felt others sliding over me just to get closer to the victim. Some were so overwhelmed by excitement that they bit anything nearby.
Sensing a powerful grip closing in on me, I slipped away.
"They'll be busy with that one for a while. This is my chance."
I searched desperately for an exit from the moss and clay filled depression. That's when a horrifying thought struck me.
Something had laid these eggs.
Was there a massive hydra nearby? Or — gods forbid — more than one?
Biology was never my thing. I'd even had to retake it once just to pass. But after watching Jurassic Park, I remembered that reptiles could reproduce without mating.
Best case scenario, it wouldn't notice me — or wouldn't care about losing a single hatchling when they were already eating each other.
My claws were still short and soft, but good enough to scrape at the ground as I climbed the steep slope.
I turned back briefly, terrified of slipping and falling back among hundreds of starving brothers and sisters — if I could even call them that. Everything around me shimmered in countless shades of green and blue.
I still couldn't get used to this body. Walking alone was difficult. Controlling my tail was a nightmare.
But what disturbed me most were those orange letters hovering above my head.
Is this some kind of game!?
What the hell is happening!?
Everything felt far too real — every sound, smell, sensation, and sight.
Once again, I focused on the small hydras, almost like I was preparing to cast a spell.
This time, the text that appeared was blue instead of orange.
[ Species: Cave Hydra
Evolution Stage: Newly Hatched
Level: 1
Threat Level: MODERATE ]
I might have been panicked, confused, and furious — but I noticed the difference immediately. Just moments ago, the threat had been marked as HIGH, in orange, not blue.
I didn't know whether some god was messing with me, or whether the beating had left me schizophrenic and hallucinating in a psychiatric ward.
One thing was certain.
I had to run — or these little monsters would eat me too.
Answers could come later. Survival came first.
The climb was slow and exhausting. I was slick with egg slime and clumsy in this new body. I stopped briefly to catch my breath.
Bored, frightened, and overwhelmed by this new world, I began experimenting with the strange RPG-like text.
I stared at the moss, focused my vision, and forced the letters to appear.
This time, the text was white.
[ Name: Green Moss
Type: Plant / Resource
Effect: Used to create healing and enhancement potions
Rarity: Common ]
I concluded that some kind of built-in information system existed within me — something designed to help me survive in this world.
I didn't know who gave it to me, or why I had been reincarnated here — but I knew it would be invaluable.
Out of curiosity, I began nibbling on the moss with my small snout and barely formed teeth.
I froze.
I actually felt fuller — and the scrapes and bite wounds hurt less. The moss truly healed and strengthened me, at least temporarily — like a good meal.
As a monster, I apparently didn't need it brewed into a potion.
So not only was I a carnivorous cannibal — I was also a herbivore who gained tangible benefits from plants.
I tried eating clay too, but it barely went down my throat and didn't make me feel stronger at all.
After healing up a bit and wasting some time, I closed my eyes and tried to remember my murder.
"Doesn't someone who defended the weak deserve something better than being reborn as a reptile?" I asked whatever god might be listening.
There was no answer.
Maybe, deep down, I felt that I deserved this fate.
I closed my eyes again and focused — without any clear intention — simply hoping something would happen. Some magical force to take me away from this place.
To my surprise, white text appeared again.
This time, it was about me.
[ Species: Cave Hydra
Evolution Stage: Newly Hatched
Level: 2
HP: 61/64
MP: 3/3
Strength: 9
Agility: 4
Endurance: 11
Magic: 1
Physical Resistance: 2
Magical Resistance: 0
Passive Skills: Dark Vision, Bloodlust, Cannibalism
Special Skills: — ]
An overwhelming amount of information.
I couldn't memorize it all at once — but I understood one thing clearly.
I had been reborn as a Hydra.
A Cave Hydra, to be precise.
This definitely wasn't my world.
That realization terrified me the most.
I was an economist by education. I liked numbers. But numbers ripped straight from video games filled me with dread — as if Satan himself was playing with my soul after death.
For now, I chewed on moss and thought.
I knew several things for certain:
I was a one-headed, lizard-like hydra inside a cave — or maybe a massive cavern — in a world that functioned like an RPG, where levels, stats, and evolution mattered.
And I needed to understand this system as quickly as possible and evolve into something stronger.
My survival depended on it.
I reread my stats several times. I was clearly no mage — but the very existence of magic unsettled me deeply.
I decided not to dwell on it for now.
I had enough problems already.
My attention turned to skills.
I had no special ones yet, but I possessed three passive skills. I experimented until I realized I needed to focus on a skill's line to expand it.
[ Passive Skills:
Dark Vision — Allows the user to see even in complete darkness without a light source. Greatly improves navigation in caves, tunnels, and dark forests, granting an advantage in low-visibility environments.
Bloodlust — Allows the user to sense the presence of blood, both living and freshly spilled. The more blood nearby, the sharper the senses and stronger the combat instincts become. Useful for tracking enemies and increasing combat effectiveness.
Cannibalism — Grants bonus experience and temporary stat boosts when consuming members of the same species. The more same-species enemies consumed, the stronger the bonuses become, allowing faster growth and development. ]
I roughly understood it now.
These were permanent abilities — always active — and they were the reason I hadn't been eaten by the other hydras.
I was afraid to imagine how many skills and how much power an adult, fully evolved hydra possessed.
I knew one had to be nearby.
I had to get out — fast — before that beast ate me to grow stronger.
My small, reptilian heart pounded wildly, driving me onward. I dug my claws into the soil, scrambled upward with all four limbs, climbing like my life depended on it.
Some of the other hydras followed my example, trying to escape the brood — but fighting each other slowed them down.
After immense effort, freezing and starving, I finally crawled out of the pit.
And nearly died of fear.
Before me lay one of the three sleeping heads of a colossal hydra — so massive and terrifying that I was like a mouse before a cat.
By some miracle, it hadn't woken yet.
It likely never expected one of its young to escape so quickly from the pit carved by its own claws and teeth.
I decided then and there:
I would not be eaten.
I would not die here.
I checked its stats and bolted toward the cave wall, desperately searching for cracks or holes to squeeze into.
The black-colored text hovering above the hydra said everything.
[ Species: Cave Hydra
Evolution Stage: Adult — Three-Headed
Level: 49
Threat Level: DEADLY ]
"Screw this" I muttered — producing only a lizard-like hiss — and dove into a hole.
Behind me, a terrifying roar erupted from three maws, followed by a tail slam that shook the cave.
I was lucky.
I escaped.
Leaving the black letters of certain death behind, I crawled forward into unknown tunnels, still hoping I could somehow escape this hellish place.
Once, I thought reincarnation might be better than eternal nothingness after death.
But with my stomach clenched, surrounded by the stench of countless insects and monsters in this massive cave system…
I would have preferred nothingness.
This was not how I imagined a new world.