TTT Chapters 1-10 (Patreon)

[Vol. 1 pt. 1]

I didn’t expect to see endless sky not only above me, but below me and in front of me when I woke up.

Huh?

I blinked a few times.

Where… where am I? I couldn’t possibly be—

I felt something underneath me. When I looked to see what it was, it looked like the gnarled, twisted root of a tree reaching down into the endless sky below. I found myself wedged into a hole created by the root looping around itself in the pursuit of finding more soil to extract nutrients from. Unfortunately for the root, it was never going to find more soil if it continued descending in this direction.

More importantly, if there was a root, there was a tree.

I looked up while tilting my body back to get a better view. That allowed me to see exactly what I was hoping for: land. The underside of a small, floating island with countless roots reaching underneath it filled my vision.

At the very least, I figured out where I was.

I was at the very edge of the world underneath a floating island.

It took me a few moments to really process that before the internal panic began. How am I supposed to get up there?! How did I even get here?! Why am I—wait… why—who am I?

The more I thought about my situation, the more confused I became. I didn’t even know who I was. I remember things like the language I was speaking in, random bits of knowledge I knew, various concepts that I must have learned from somewhere or somebody, but I had no idea who I was or how I came to know any of this information.

There was one more discovery waiting for me, too.

I wasn’t sure what my body was supposed to be like, but I had a strong feeling it wasn’t supposed to be anything like the body I was in. My skin looked purple and soft, my arms were replacing by several limbs twisting around one another, and all I had below my torso—if it could even be called that—were several more of those prehensile limbs hanging down where legs would normally be. They looked more like squishy vines from a plant rather than anything resembling normal limbs.

No, there was a better word for it than that.

They looked like tentacles.

When I opened my mouth to ask, “What?” out loud, no noise came out. Or rather, no understandable noise. Only an undulating, gurgling sort of noise without any meaning came from my mouth.

I also had no idea where my mouth even was. The noise sounded muffled as if it came from within me.

Every passing minute gave me even more to be confused about.

Making sense of things can come later, I thought. For now, I need to get up there. I can’t spend the rest of my life here.

I twisted my body around to get a better example of where I was. The good news was that, behind me, I saw the underside of many more floating islands, most of which were far bigger than the one I was under. If there were more islands in that direction then the mainland had to be that way, too.

I might have no idea who I am or why I’m here, but at least I have an idea of where I am now.

All that was left was to figure out how to get up on the island above me. Even if I climbed the root all the way up, I was going to run into the underside of the island. What then? Try to dig my way up? If I did that, there was the potential of loosening the ground enough around the tree to make it fall through the island.

I couldn’t remember much about floating islands, but I at least knew they were fragile. A pickaxe strike in the right spot could potentially cause an entire island of this size to lose its balance and drop into the endless sky.

I needed to be careful. I needed to be extremely careful.

The good news was that it seemed like my body was extremely small. Probably smaller than the head of an adult Chosen. So, if I made a tiny hole through the underside of the island, there was a chance I’d get up top without dropping the entire island.

You can do this. Be brave… do I even have a name?

If I did have a name, I wasn’t able to remember it.

I shook my head—well, my body. It looked like I didn’t exactly have a head. Instead, my eyes seemed like they were part of my torso. So, whenever I wanted to shake my head, it was more like I was shook the upper half of my torso.

Regardless, I shook my body to get rid of those thoughts.

Priorities.

My priority was getting to safety. The rest could be figured out later.

So, for the time being, I began my ascent of the roots. The limbs I had in replacement of normal arms and legs turned out to be pretty useful despite how short they were. With how maneuverable they were, I was always able to get a good grip on anything within reach. Furthermore, while the top and sides of the tentacles were smooth and provided no traction, the underside was fleshy, pink in color, and covered in little bumps that provided enough grip for me to pull myself up the root.

That brought me right up to the underside of the island. It was mostly roots, compacted dirt, and a few rocks here and there. Seeing how intertwined all the roots were gave me a bit of hope since they were probably doing most of the work in keeping the island held together. If that was the case, it wouldn’t be too bad if I made a small hole right through them since the main support was spread throughout the island instead of it all being just barely held together at a single point or anything.

Next came carefully prying apart the roots to make an opening large enough for me before using my arm tentacles to pull the dirt and rocks away, dropping them into the sky below.

It took me probably around an hour given that my limbs really weren’t made for digging to make up way up through the island, but I eventually made it through and poked the upper half of my body out through the hole I made.

That was when I came face to face with a beast. A small beast only a bit larger than I was that stood on two legs and was covered in fur. It had a long tail, hands that looked too large for its arms with claws that were as sharp as its bared fangs, and a scrunched up, pale face free of any hair that looked as if it was attempting to be a Chosen.

I never saw such a beast before. Then again, I had no idea which kind I did see before.

The beast screeched in my face before swiping one of its clawed hands at me!

I ducked back into the hole I dug, but that didn’t stop the beast from trying to reach me by tearing at the ground and making the hole even wider.

This, I thought, this… isn’t good.

[Vol. 1 pt. 2]

Get a life! Go do something else! Don’t you have anything better to be doing?! I mentally shouted at the beast as I tried my best to get away from swinging arms.

The beast didn’t care. All it wanted to do was screech and howl at me as it chased me down the roots of the tree right back to where I found myself when I first opened my eyes.

I wasn’t sure what I was going to do. Escaping didn’t seem like an option because the beast was faster and more agile than me. Fighting it didn’t seem like an option because… what was I going to do? Smack it with my tentacles? I was going up against a beast with claws on its hands that looked as big as my arm tentacles and were as sharp as its fangs! One swipe from those and it’d probably tear me in half!

An idea.

I noticed one of the loose rocks that fell during my digging landed on a nearby root, so I grabbed it by wrapping one of my arm tentacles around it, pulled my tentacle back, and whipped the rock at the beast’s head as quickly as a I could!

Direct hit!

It wasn’t just a direct hit, but it managed to hit the beast while it was mid-jump with its hands reached out for me. With its eyes closed and its hands now covering its head, the beast might just jump right into the endless sky and leave me alone.

If only it was that easy.

Instead of jumping into nothingness, the beast’s tail wrapped around the nearest root to catch itself.

That was just unfair. Its tail was as useful as my tentacles, so it took the only advantage I had away from me.

There was only one other thing I could think of doing. While the beast was distracted and in pain, I climbed back up the roots as quickly as possible to get myself on top of the island.

Next.

I had four arm tentacles, two on each side. I also had six leg tentacles, three on each side. The leg tentacles were helping me stay balanced and I wanted to keep them free in case I needed to try and escape, but my four arm tentacles reached out to grab anything nearby that could be used as a weapon. I ended up with two sticks and two rocks.

As soon as the beast tried climbing up through the hole, I stabbed the sticks down into it. The beast grabbed one to pull away, but I managed to stab the other one into its shoulder at least. Well, not quite stab. It was more like I managed to scratch its shoulder with the stick.

But that wasn’t enough. The beast was still coming for me.

Next came the rocks. I threw each one down into the hole as hard as I could. Again, the beast managed to block one with its arm, but the other landed right between its eyes and made it lose some ground.

Rocks were clearly the way to go. Sticks, not so much. So, while the beast recovered from its pain, I brought every single nearby rock I could find to the hole and began throwing them down as rapidly as possible. Two tentacles were dedicated to throwing rocks while six more, since I brought in some of my leg tentacles, were dedicated to searching around for new rocks.

It took me about thirty seconds of stretching my tentacles out to far greater lengths than what they were originally like to realize that I was, in fact, able to stretch them. Panic and desperation must have pushed me into making that discovery.

Thanks to being able to reach all over the small island to grab more rocks, I was able to keep up my assault until the beast looked tired and defeated.

Now, I could have stopped it there. The beast was probably injured enough that I would be able to escape without issue.

But it was a beast. Hostile beasts never surrendered, even on the verge of death. I remembered that much. There was never a reason to leave a hostile beast alive. If anything, it was cruel to. Only those who enjoyed watching other beings suffer, even if they were soulless beings like beasts, left them alive.

My only problem was that there were no nearby rocks to grab. The only ones left on the island were just out of reach.

I moved away from the hole to go and grab the rocks, but that gave the beast just enough time to crawl up through it and lunge at me with its claws extended.

I threw the rock, jagged side facing it, directly toward the beast’s head.

It turned out that I had pretty good aim.

Another direct hit.

The beast fell to the ground, skidding across it until it came to a lifeless stop directly in front of me.

I… I did it. Wait. I did it? I actually did it? Also, have I always been this good at throwing things? Well, I guess I technically have always been good at it if I’ve been good at it for the few minutes.

I relaxed on the ground and let out a deep sigh.

That was when I discovered where my mouth was.

My mouth was inside of my body. In order for me to sigh, my torso split open from the front. My right side, which made my eyes, was on its own “flap” of sorts while the rest of my torso was on the left flap. These flaps were what covered up my mouth inside of my body.

I was curious, so I poked some of my tentacles into my body to see what my mouth was like since I couldn’t see it.

There were teeth.

A lot of teeth.

A lot of sharp, jagged teeth that didn’t seem to be in any sort of order.

Sticking my tentacle into my mouth, I became aware of the fact that I had a few “tongues.” They were basically just more tentacles, but they were tentacles covered in sharp hooks that must have been designed for hooking into food and pulling it in. A little bit deeper into my mouth and I felt a pool of some sort of liquid. At that point, I was a bit disturbed from myself and pulled my tentacle out to shake it off.

Unfortunately, when I tried talking again, no words came out. I tried to ask, “Can I talk now?” Instead, all that came out was something that sounded like, “Grluk eruh krlak oaahl?”

So much for that.

At least I can still think normally.

Now then. The beast was dead and my tentacles were capable of extending long enough to grapple onto the next nearest island. All I needed to do was go from island to island until I could find somebody willing to help me out and hopefully explain what was going on since I still had no idea myself.

But before I could do that, I felt a rumble in my body.

I was hungry.

It must have been because of how much energy I exerted during that fight. In particular, expanding my tentacles took the most effort. They even felt a little bit sore as if I had just finished a really intense workout.

A workout?

Wait… exercise. I know what exercise is?

I had a really good throwing arm—well, throwing tentacles. I also knew what exercise was. Could that have been connected at all?

I didn’t know. What I did know was that I was hungry and that the only source of food nearby was the dead beast in front of me.

[Vol. 1 pt. 3]

Was it normal to feel that hungry? The longer I looked at the beast’s corpse for, the hungrier I felt. I couldn’t tell if it was a natural hunger or an unnatural one, but I did know that it was quickly growing overwhelming.

My body opened up before I was even aware of it happening, my mouth revealed once more as its hooked tentacles reached out toward the corpse.

Something about eating the whole corpse of a beast I just killed felt wrong.

But my hunger overwhelmed that feeling.

I reached out to it with my arm tentacles and brought it close enough for my mouth’s tentacles to hook into it. The beast was even larger than I was, but I was able to make quick work of it. The pool of liquid inside my pit of a mouth dissolved everything that entered it near instantly. Well, almost everything. I had to be immune to it or else I would have lost the tentacle I dipped into it before.

First was the beast’s head. Then its arms, torso, and legs. All that was left of its body was its tail that looked like a noodle hanging out from my mouth, but it didn’t last for long.

I consumed every last part of the beast’s corpse.

The feeling of overwhelming hunger came to be replaced with something new—something completely foreign to me. I had no idea what I could even begin comparing it to.

Whatever that feeling was, it steadily grew stronger and stronger as it flowed throughout my body. After a few moments, though, it condensed into the back of my body. It moved lower until it was in my lower back… and then pushed outward. I wasn’t able to see what was happening since I couldn’t turn my upper half enough to see back there, but I reached a couple of my arm tentacles back to feel around.

That was when I felt a large bump in my lower back that grew larger by the second. It continued growing, and growing, and growing. The longer it grew, the thinner it became which told me exactly what I needed to know about it.

I was growing a tail.

My new limb finished growing and the strange feeling was gone. It was just as long and as prehensile as the beast’s, but it was a similar texture to my tentacles and looked just like one of them. Well, except for it being completely smooth all around. It was also considerably longer than the rest of my tentacles in its resting state, and I quickly discovered that it could be extended to an even greater length than them.

This… this is great! I mentally cheered as I looked over at the nearest floating island. With how long this can reach… I can easily grab onto the tree over there. I have a way off this island! But wait… why did I even grow this tail? It’s like the beast’s was. Does it have something to do with eating its body? It has to be related to that. I killed the beast, couldn’t resist eating it, and then I grew this tail. Did I grow anything else?

I felt all over my body to check.

Nothing. Growing those claws would have been nice, but I won’t complain about having this tail instead. Could anything else have triggered this growth? It’s possible it could have been a coincidence, but I doubt it. And even if it was a coincidence, something had to have triggered it in the first place. Maybe eating? What if I try eating something else? Might I grow something related to it?

The only things around that I could eat were some flowers, sticks, rocks, and dirt.

Well, I’m safe and already have a way off this island. I should figure out as much as I can about this body before I move on.

The more I thought about experimenting with my body, the more… natural I felt. Something about it—something about theorizing and performing experiments felt natural to me. It made me feel like that was what I was supposed to be doing. Like it was my purpose.

But as natural as it might have felt, there was another feeling that resurfaced with it.

Guilt.

Overwhelming guilt.

I had no idea why I felt so guilty, but it was almost enough to make me jump off the island right then and there.

Like a word on the tip of the tongue, I felt like I was on the verge of remembering something. Something important. Something that would tell me who I was.

The memory escaped me before I could recall it. Fortunately, the feeling of guilt went with it.

What… what was that? That… was a dangerous feeling.

I would have sighed if I could. Instead, I looked at the stick and rock I held in separate tentacles. I was just about to try eating them before that feeling of guilt hit me, so I resumed my experiment by dipping them into my mouth’s pool one at a time.

I discovered that: one, I was only able to taste things that my mouth’s tentacles touched. They were just like tongues. Long tentacle tongues with hooks. Since the taste of rocks and sticks wasn’t a pleasant one, I bypassed my mouth’s tentacles by using my arm tentacles to drop them directly into the pool.

The rock and stick dissolved without issue. The rock took a couple seconds longer, but there wasn’t a trace of it left.

That confirms it. I can dissolve anything in there except myself. Part of me feels like it isn’t exactly a stomach, but it’s close enough that it wouldn’t hurt to call it that. And the liquid is my stomach acid. So, I have a pit full of stomach acid directly beneath my mouth. Well, can it even really be called a mouth? I could argue that I don’t even have a mouth. All I have is an open stomach. There are teeth in there, but what’s even the point of them if I don’t have to chew anything? Anything I can reach with my teeth could be pulled into my stomach. Also… could this be used in defense? Well, that would be risky unless I’m able to completely restrain my enemy first. If I try pulling a living enemy into there, they might retaliate and attack from within my body. Is it possible to spit my stomach acid at enemies? That sounds disgusting, but it would be effective.

Next experiment. I overall two of my arm tentacles and tried my best to make a cup with them—something that could hold my acid. I then dipped it into the pit, scooped some of the acid up, and flung it toward the nearest tree.

The acid evaporated in the air before it could even reach the tree.

Alright. Throwing or spitting it isn’t an option. It evaporates too quickly outside of the body. Maybe there’s some sort of chemical in my stomach that maintains it? Wait… if my stomach is open in my body, what if I get flipped upside down? Would it all pour out?

I was upside down a few times when dodging all of the beast’s attacks under the island, so I figured it wouldn’t hurt to try it again while paying attention.

My leg tentacles reached up to a tree branch hanging over me, and then I pulled myself in to hang upside down.

When I opened my body back up to check inside, I felt that the entrance to my stomach was sealed tight. So, I kind of did have a mouth that was able to open and close. I didn’t seem to have any manual control over it, though.

This body barely makes any sense, but it’s what I have. I haven’t felt any changes since eating the rock and stick, either. Maybe it’s only beasts that can affect my body? There’s only one way to find out if that’s the case. More importantly, I think it’s time I get off this island to try and find some sign of civilization.

It was time to put my new tentacle to use. I wobbled over to the edge of the island and looked toward the mainland. I wasn’t able to see it due to all the other islands in the way, but I knew what direction it was in.

Next was putting my new tentacle tail into action. I sent it over the gap between islands, wrapped around the tree on the other side, and reeled myself in.

It was a simple means of travel, but an effective one. And as long as it worked, it was good enough for me.

[Vol. 1 pt. 4]

I’m so… so tired.

I felt like I wasn’t able to stretch out my tail’s tentacle even one more time. It was painfully sore and only getting worse every single time I moved between islands.

How many hours has it been? I feel like I’ve been doing this all day. I can’t even see the sun in the sky anymore.

The sun started off behind me. Now it was somewhere far enough in front of me that I couldn’t see it and it was getting dark. Pretty soon and I wouldn’t be able to see where I was going, and moving between islands while not being able to see well sounded like a horrible idea to me.

I should try to find some shelter for the night. Somewhere safe where I won’t be devoured by a beast in the middle of the night.

I was already good on food and water. One of the islands I visited had a small pond with berry bushes surrounding it, so I filled up while I was there. That didn’t change my body at all, either.

Hiding up in a tree is probably my best option. But with how big this island looked… there’s a good chance of more beasts living here.

Luck was on my side on the way to the current island. I encountered more beasts, but most of them were passive beasts that flew away as soon as they detected me. The hostile beasts were snuck past.

This new island was good in that it seemed covered in dense forest. At least, from what I saw of it so far. Tall trees reached higher than they did on the surrounding islands due to having more nutrients to pull from the ground. There were bushes and flowers in every direction that I looked, many of which hosted colorful berries and pretty patterns. Honestly, from what little I saw of the island, it was beautiful. It didn’t take much to realize that. It was the kind of place where I would have been happy to settle down and retire, not that I could even remember how I knew what the concept of retiring was.

But retiring wasn’t the goal. Hiding was and the dense forest meant there were plenty of hiding spots for me, but also plenty of hiding spots for any beasts hungry for me.

Staying near the edge within distance of another island to escape to was probably a good idea, too. Plus, I figured most beasts would be closer toward the center of the island. That was usually where most of the resources on these islands were.

Alright. Up into the tree I go. I’ll continue toward the mainland in the morning… assuming that I survive the nigh—

“Help!”

I was halfway up the tree when I heard what sounded like a person’s voice. Needless to say, that put a stop in my ascent and made me blink a few times. Did I imagine that? I’m still near the edge of the world. There’s no way that there’s anybody living out here, right? Then again… I’m—

“Somebo—!”

I’m not imagining things.

I didn’t know who they were or what danger they might have been in, but there was a person out there who sounded like they needed help.

That sense of guilt returned, but it came with an even stronger desire to protect this time.

I rushed through the forest as quickly as my tentacles would allow me. The most efficient method of travel turned out to be swinging from tree to tree with my tentacles, so I relied on them to get me to that voice as fast as possible.

Bad news was that the voice didn’t shout again. It went silent after the second time. That made it harder for me to track the owner of it down and it also meant that they might already be dead.

Come on! How much farther are they?! Shout again if you can! I’ll help you, but I have to be able to find you first!

Nothing.

I didn’t see anybody.

I didn’t hear anybody.

But I did hear something.

It was simple. Rustling bushes. That was the only clue I had.

If there was even a tiny chance, I had to take it. I had to.

I swung in the direction of the noise and perched myself atop a branch to look around.

Another beast entered my vision, one that was in the process of dragging its prey into the bushes. It was comparable to a plant in appearance. It stood tall, about the size of an adult Chosen, and walked around on tentacle-like vines in a similar way to me. It even had more vines for arms… except it had dozens more than me. Not only that, but they were covered in thorns with red tips. Then there was its head which was split open with a row of spikes along its edges designed for trapping smaller prey inside of its own head.

It was a beast that I had no confidence in being able to beat. It was far larger than me and equipped with more offensive capabilities. Going up against it would be suicidal.

But when I saw the body of a woman on the ground being dragged by it whose skin had already been lashed and pricked by its thorny vines, with her eyes closed and breathing shallow, there was only one thing I could do.

As the beast wrapped one of its vines around her throat while lowering its head toward hers, I swung from the tree with no idea what to do next.

All I knew was that I had to protect her.

I won’t watch anybody else die.

I had no idea where that thought came from, but that didn’t stop me from agreeing with it.

[Vol. 1 pt. 5]

The plantlike beast turned its head toward me, staring directly at me with the large eye on the flat side of its split head.

So much for catching it off guard!

I might have been detected, but that was alright. The beast realized I was a threat and switched focus from the unconscious woman to me.

Maybe I can lure it away from her. Distract it until she wakes up and gets up.

I looked over at the woman. I couldn’t see much of her given that she had a simple dress and cloak on that covered up almost everything but her hands, feet, and face. Well, there were the parts of her cloak and dress that got torn by the beast’s thorned vines.

She didn’t look like she took too much damage. Definitely not enough to have knocked her out. So, unless she suffered from some sort of medical condition, there was only one thing that I could assume.

The thorns on the beast’s vines were poisonous.

If that was the case, I had to hope the poison wasn’t lethal. I also had to be extremely careful not to let the thorns pierce me. Given how much smaller my body was than hers, it would probably take a significantly smaller dose of the poison to take me out. And even if it wasn’t lethal to Chosen, it might still be lethal to me.

The question of how I knew all that didn’t even cross my mind that time. I was too focused on the beast to care. If there was some past knowledge of mine or something that wanted to resurface at a convenient moment, I had no problem with it if it meant boosting my chances of survival.

Come over here! That’s right, away from her! I internally shouted at the beast.

Something I didn’t notice originally was that its arm vines were tipped with what looked like large, solid bulbs. Almost acorn in shape while retaining the green color of its vines.

Maybe there’s not any poison. If it hit her in the head with one of those, that could have knocked her out. Her voice was suddenly cut off earlier, so it’s likely that was what did it. But I still can’t rule out the thorns being poisonous.

All I could do as I led the beast away from her was try to analyze it. The more I knew about it, the higher my chances of surviving against it.

If I get it far enough away, I could try looping back for her to drag her away. But to where? I wonder if these tentacles are strong enough to lift her up into a tree.

There was a little bit of good news at least. While the beast’s vines might have been larger than my tentacles in their default state, the beast didn’t seem capable of extending its vines at all. They were long and deadly, but their size remained the same as they lashed out in my direction.

Just a little bit farther and then I can—shit!

I reached my tail out to the nearest tree behind me, wrapping around it as tightly as I could to save myself from flying off the island into the endless sky.

I focused too much on the beast and not enough on where I was going. While I did manage to lead the beast away from the woman, I did so by leading it straight toward the edge of the island.

And if I didn’t want to fall off the island, I basically had to pull myself directly toward the beast.

Things weren’t looking good. Especially considering the fact that the beast wrapped one of its thorned vines around my tail tentacle, and it squeezed tight. I felt its thorns puncture the skin of my tentacle which shot pain throughout my tail. To make matters worse, I felt that section of my tentacle go numb.

And the numbness didn’t stop there. It was spreading up through the rest of my tail.

Flight was no longer an option. Only fight was.

While still going in the direction of the beast, I used the rest of my tentacles to pick up every single thing on the ground that I could get them on. I threw with all my might while mid-flight.

But unlike the first beast I fought, which had a fleshy body and a soft head, this beast lacked those features. Nothing I did caused any visible damage. Between that and the fact that my entire body was growing numb, especially as even more of those vines pushed their thorns into my skin, things really weren’t looking good.

Then I saw a single, jagged stick on the ground next to me.

It was my only hope.

I picked the stick up and thrust it toward the “neck” of the beast, hoping that I’d be able to kill it in one go if I destroyed its neck that was even thinner than its vines.

That was when it smacked the stick away using one of its arm tentacles with the bulbed tip, shattering the stick.

I wish I had one of those.

Unfortunately, I didn’t have one of those.

But I did have something else.

I had no idea if it would work and I’d need to be extremely quick about it, but I didn’t see what other option I had.

I righted myself, opened up my torso, and dipped all of my available tentacles down into my stomach acid.

In that same second, before it had a chance to evaporate, I thrust my tentacles at as many of the beast’s weak points as I could. One tentacle for each of its eyes and the rest wrapped around its neck.

The plant beast’s skin burned underneath my tentacles. It released me from its vines to try and push me away, but I kept my tentacles exactly where they were since it was obviously working.

Well, I tried to keep my tentacles where they were. It ended up smacking not one, but two of those bulbed tentacles into my body. That weakened my grip on its body and jostled around my insides pretty good in addition to sending me flying away from it.

Good news, my plan worked.

Bad news, it didn’t work well enough.

Worse news, all but two of my tentacles were numb to the point of being out of action.

Better news, I still had one more shot. Two more, to be more precise.

The beast managed to knock me away right next to where the fragments of that shattered stick landed. They were small, about a fourth the size of an arrow, but that would be good enough if I could land my shots.

It helped that the beast’s eyes were out of commission and it no longer knew where exactly I was. Its vines were feeling around for me, though, so it would only be a matter of time before it found me.

I picked up the broken sticks and took aim.

Let’s see just how good my aim really is. Don’t fail me now.

I threw the first stick.

The beast moved at just the right time to dodge it without even meaning to.

My tentacles were almost fully numb at that point. I only had a single attempt left.

I aimed, waited, and… threw.

I didn’t score a direct hit.

But I did score a good enough hit.

The stick was small, but it was big enough. My acid already melted through part of the beast’s neck. All I needed to do was cut away a little bit at it, and that was exactly what the stick did. It cut just enough of the beast’s neck at the spot where it was already weakened to make it so that the neck could no longer support its head. The beast’s head fell to its side, connected only by strands of plant fiber, before completely breaking free and falling to the ground.

Now, I was still worried that the poison might be lethal to me.

I also had a theory that I could inherit traits from beasts that I killed and devoured.

Before my final tentacle could fall completely numb, I stretched it out as quickly as possible to wrap onto the beast’s now-corpse to pull myself closer to it. I made it just in time.

While all of my external tentacles were numb and out of commission, my stomach’s tentacles were still in good enough shape to reach out and begin pulling parts of the beast’s corpse into my stomach. Mainly its tentacles. I figured it would be safe to dissolve the thorns in my acid. Any acid on them would get dissolved along with everything else. There was also the chance of maybe inheriting some sort of immunity to it.

That was the hope, anyway.

But as that overwhelming hunger grew within me once more, so too did the urge to shut my eyes and go to sleep.

I ate as much as I could before losing consciousness.

[Vol. 1 pt. 6]

I woke up to the sight of a wooden ceiling over me and the feeling of a soft bed underneath me. “Was that just a dream?” I asked, reaching my tentacles out above me. Only, I didn’t have tentacles. I had normal, fleshy, Chosen arms. I even had a normal voice! A relieved sigh left my lips as I ran my hand through my hair. “That was… one of the weirdest dreams I’ve ever had.”

“Nn… what are you talking about?” the woman next to me in bed asked.

I had no idea she was there, but I didn’t feel any surprise to discover she was.

All I saw when I looked at her was her sleepy face and brown hair. Something about her looked extremely familiar… but I couldn’t place it.

I still couldn’t place who I was, either.

“Hey… do you know who I am?” I asked.

“What a silly question,” the woman answered. “Of course I know.”

“Right. Of course you would know. Sorry.”

“It’s alright. Don’t forget about the egg race.”

“How could I forget about the egg race?”

Everybody knew about the egg race, after all. It was the world’s most famous race! It was when everybody gathered around at the very tip of the world’s tallest mountain to roll eggs down it to see whose reached the bottom first! Of course, all of them cracked within seconds, so it didn’t really make much sense.

The fact that I was no longer in bed and instead hovering over the mountain didn’t make sense, either.

“Papa!” a small girl who barely reached up to my waist shouted, flying up to me and clinging to my leg. “Come on! You’re late for the egg race!”

“Right… right. Sorry,” I apologized again. “If your egg wins, I’ll go and get you your favorite dessert from that one little shop you love. Alright?”

The little girl’s eyes widened as her hair flowered all around her. It was as if a strong gust of wind came to blow her hair, but there was none I could feel. More importantly, the mountain was gone and replaced with a large body of water.

And I was all alone.

Well, I was alone until an ocean-dwelling beast with rows upon rows of sharp fangs leapt out from the water to try and bite me!

I smacked my tentacles at it out of instinct and—

“Wait… tentacles?” I asked. “Something’s…. something’s not right.”

I thought I had woken up from a dream, but I couldn’t have been more wrong. I was inside of a dream.

I woke up to the sight of a wooden ceiling above me and the feeling of a soft bed underneath me. Only, when I reached my limbs up to check on them, they were the same tentacles as before with the addition of white bandages wrapped around where the thorns stabbed me. Not only that, but I was aware of all my sensations instead of only a couple I was limited to focusing on in my dream.

Voices, dozens of them, came from below the floorboards. They sounded like grown men for the most part. There was endless laughing and bantering. In addition to that, I could smell something delicious. That scent alone could never be realistically replicated in a dream, so I figured I had to actually be awake this time.

Where am I? If I’m in bed and bandaged… somebody must have rescued me, but who?

Looking around the room, it looked like the average inn room that could be found in basically any city. Well, maybe it was a bit more homely than that.

Nobody else was in the room with me, either. I was alone.

Well… if I’m in a room like this, I must be back with civilization. I don’t know how, but I won’t complain. The only thing I can complain about is why didn’t I ask that woman in my dream who I was if she knew?!

Unfortunately, while I might have had some control at the beginning and end of my dream, I gave in and enjoyed the ride for everything between it. I had no conscious control over anything I did or said.

Who even was she? She looked familiar. And she was cute. Really cute.

Then there was that other girl in my dream—the little one. Only, when my mind thought of her… I felt crushingly lonely. Pain throbbed throughout my body as I thought of her and I felt like I was about to vomit if that was even possible for my new body.

Why… why were they so familiar?

I leaned up and rubbed two of my tentacles against my body next to my eyes.

Do I know them? Were they even real? There’s the chance I’m just so lonely and worried about my situation that I’m making up people in dreams to get attached to who don’t even really exist. I don’t know. I don’t understand anything that’s happening! I’ve never heard of anything like this before! What even am I?! Am I a beast—a soul beast? Soul beasts aren’t supposed to remember anything from the soul they take over! There’s never been a single recorded case of anything like this happening before! And they’re supposed to feel natural in their bodies, not confused how they ended up in them! I don’t even know how I know any of this!

Maybe it was because I felt safe from being back in civilization again, but every single other tiny little concern and question I had came surging forth all at once now that I didn’t have to worry about survival and finding people.

One could say that I was on the verge of having a panic attack. Or a nervous breakdown.

Or both simultaneously.

It was only when I heard the door to the room creak open that my racing mind came to a screeching halt.

Whoever was behind the door didn’t open it all the way. They only opened it just enough to poke their head in to check on me.

And I instantly recognized the face of the one checking on me.

She was the woman from the forest, but she now wore a gentle smile as she said, “Good morning.”

[Vol. 1 pt. 7]

I tried to reply to her, but I stopped the instant I heard the first, distorted syllable from my mouth. That could potentially be a problem. She had no way of understanding me. What if she wanted to ask me questions about who I was? Where I came from? Then again, considering how I looked, she might have just assumed I wouldn’t be able to reply in the first place.

So, since I had no other way of replying at the time, I lifted one of my bandaged tentacles and waved at her.

“Are the bandages too tight?” she asked, her voice as gentle as her smile, but there was a sort of… lack of emotion to it. She almost sounded monotone. Monotone but gentle.

To answer her question, I used two tentacles to make an X shape.

“I’m glad. Let me tell Granny that you’re awake and then I’ll be back. Okay?”

I lowered my tentacles and nodded my upper half.

The woman pulled her head back and left down the hallway, but she came back to poke her head back through the opening to ask, “Are you sure they’re not too tight?”

There was something endearing about her concern.

I nodded my upper half again.

Relieved from my answer, she left once again.

Dang… she’s cute. She might not show much emotion, but she’s cute.

Just going by her face, the woman looked like the definition of innocence and purity. The light, fluffy hair that framed her face only added to that definition. To think that a beast would dare attack her and try to devour her pissed me off. How could something want to ruin her like that? She looked like she deserved nothing more than pats atop her head and, at the absolute worst, maybe a kiss on the forehead. Even something like that might be too lewd for her, though.

Wait… I don’t even have lips.

I mentally sighed. At least I would still be able to pet her head.

Part of me even already missed her. She was just so easy on the eyes that I wanted to look at her even more!

Wait. I’m being creepy.

Maybe it was because I worried I wouldn’t find civilization any time soon. Now that I did, I didn’t want it to leave my sight.

And apparently, only her face was good enough proof of me being in civilization. Being in a constructed room with the sound of people downstairs wasn’t.

Fortunately for me, I heard her on the way back to my room.

I leaned back up and looked toward the door with eager excitement. I was probably too excited if anything.

“I’m back,” the woman said before opening the door the rest of the way to walk through.

That was when I realized something. While it was true that her face gave a sort of innocent and pure aura…

The same could not be said for any other part of her body.

My eyes widened at the sight. For somebody with such a cute face, her body betrayed the idea of cute and went all in on being as sexual as possible. The fact that she was wearing a black and white maid outfit that let almost all of her chest hang out didn’t help. Speaking of her chest, they were massive. Massive as in massive massive. Each one was larger than her head and then some! I could fit my entire body between them and suffocate!

That doesn’t sound too bad, actually.

And they were just… there! Was her cloak seriously hiding those things before?! Was she actually some sort of transbeast who wanted to grow such a large chest that she purposely evolved to make herself as busty as possible?!

The more I stare at them, the more I want to spend the rest of my life between them.

I shook my upper half to try and clear my head of those thoughts.

Just because she had a body that looked custom designed to be as sexual as possible didn’t mean that she was that kind of girl. So, to the best of my ability, I tried to look at her face and only her face.

But that was impossible. My eyes kept on trailing back down to her bust.

Those things look heavy enough that I probably wouldn’t even be able to lift one with all my tentacles.

“Granny gave me permission to take an hour off. Are you sure the bandages aren’t too tight?” she asked.

Right. She’s not that kind of girl. She’s only worried about my health.

I nodded my upper half once again for her.

She looked at me with a slight frown. “I’m… still worried. I never did something like this before and Granny yelled at me saying I wasn’t making them tight enough… but I was scared of hurting you. Are you sure?”

She was too cute. Between her worried frown and her self-doubt, I wanted to comfort her. Maybe it was too bold of me, but I lifted one of my arm tentacles up to give her a few pats on the top of her head while I nodded my upper half.

Her hair is so soft and fluffy.

“Your tentacle is so soft and gentle. Um… is it okay if I… pet you?”

Even though I was already petting her without asking, she still wanted to ask me first before trying to pet me.

You really are a good girl.

I nodded and pointed at the top of my body with one of my other tentacles.

She smiled and brought a hand over to my body. Her entire hand might have been just a bit too big, so she only used two of her dainty fingers to pat the top of my body. “Ehe… you feel so soft all over.”

There was something really, really nice about being petted by her. And while she petted me, I continued petting her.

We sat there on the bed together just looking at each other and petting each other.

That was more than enough to satisfy us.

[Vol. 1 pt. 8]

We probably spent more time petting each other than what any normal people would do.

I went from surviving on my own and going up against beasts to mutually petting a cute girl on a bed. I wanted to do a lot more than just pet her, too, but with what? All I had were tentacles. As far as I could tell, I didn’t have the right equipment to deal with a woman’s body. And by that, I meant I didn’t have a dick.

The tentacles were kind of phallic in shape, but they were smooth, soft, and lacked the required functions. Even fingers would be better than them, probably.

Then there was the most important factor. While the woman in front of me might have had a body perfect for bedroom activities, she still gave off a pure and innocent feeling whenever looking at her from the neck and up. As cute as that was, I wished she didn’t. I felt guilty about wanting to do anything with her because of it.

Well, there was one other important factor, too.

She was a Chosen. I wasn’t. I wasn’t sure what I was.

While most people out there probably didn’t mind getting into bed with anything that had a soul, whether they were from the same species, a soul beast, or anybody else, there were still some who were against it. Not to mention that even if she was all for it… who would be attracted to me? I was a tiny little body smaller than her head with tentacles sticking out. I doubted that anybody would find anything about me attractive.

But that was alright. I didn’t need to be found attractive. All I needed was to figure out who I was. Preferably figure out where I was, too.

“Sorry,” the woman said all of a sudden, pulling her fingers away from my body. “I… got lost in how fun you are to touch. I hope I didn’t bother you.”

I twisted my upper half from left to right before lifting my own tentacle away from her head. Only, the second I lifted it away from her, she pushed her head up toward it.

You’re way too cute.

I gave her a few more pats before pulling my tentacle back. As much as I wanted to continue petting her, I needed to gather some information.

But how was I going to do that?

I wonder if I could—

“Thanks,” she spoke up. “If it wasn’t for you… I wouldn’t be here right now. You saved me.” Her gentle, subtle smile returned. “I used to… dream about being saved by a hero when I was younger. But nothing exciting ever happens out here… and I didn’t want to be in a dangerous position I’d need saved from. But it happened. And you saved me.” She reached out to hold one arm tentacle in each of her hands. “You’re my hero.”

The way that she looked me in the eyes while so honestly saying all of that made me feel hot. Hot in a blushing way. Could I even blush? I wasn’t sure.

“The tentacle on top of your head turned red. Is something wrong? Does it hurt?”

The… the tentacle on top of my head? I remembered seeing it my reflection when I drank water from that one island’s pond, but it was just a small little thing that I wasn’t able to control at all.

If it acted all on its own like that and expressed how I felt such as by blushing… well, that was embarrassing.

I made another X with my tentacles.

“Oh. If you say it’s alright, I’ll try not to worry. Plus… it’s kind of cute,” she said.

That made me feel even more embarrassed.

“Ah. It got redder.”

And knowing that it got even redder made me feel even more embarrassed still.

“Oh. I get it. Is it blushing?”

As embarrassing as it might have been to admit, I wasn’t going to lie. So, I nodded my upper half.

“Cute.”

Please stop. I like it, and I don’t want you to stop, but that doesn’t change how embarrassing this is for me, so please stop. But also don’t. But please do.

That was when I had an idea.

If she was so insistent on calling me cute, then I’d return the favor!

And I did so by pointing one of my tentacles directly at her face!

“Eh? Is something wrong with this one?” she asked, taking the tentacle into her hands to observe it. “It doesn’t look like I missed any wounds.”

Right. Without being able to say anything… she won’t have any idea what I mean when I point at her like this.

She won the battle of calling each other cute. She probably didn’t even realize there was a battle going on in the first place. That was how powerful she was.

That wasn’t all her power was capable of, either.

Just by being with her on the bed, I felt so… happy. I felt relaxed.

I thought that I felt like performing experiments and researching was my purpose before. But, when I simply spent time with the woman in front of me who I knew nothing about yet, I felt so much more… whole. The previous feeling I had toward what I felt was my purpose was nothing when compared to how I felt with her.

Don’t you think you’re getting way too attached to a woman you don’t even know?! I shouted at myself in my thoughts. What if she’s married?! And just because she’s calling you cute doesn’t mean that she would ever even think about liking you in that way! You don’t even know what or who you are yet!

I shook my head to clear it of dangerous thoughts before noticing something. There was a small, red scratch on her hand. It looked like she was just barely grazed there, probably by one of the thorns.

Then I remembered how she looked when I found her. Her clothes were torn from the vines, and her arms and legs were covered in wounds from the thorns.

I was such a colossal idiot distracted by the sight of her chest that I didn’t notice the bandages around her arms and legs.

Carefully, I reached my tentacles out to her and slid them over the bandages before looking up at her.

“Are you worried about me?” she asked.

I nodded.

“I’m okay. Granny took care of me after I brought you up here.”

You waited until I was in bed to fix yourself up? You foolish woman. You should have taken care of yourself first… but thank you, even if I can’t tell you that. Wait. I might not be able to talk… but I think I know one other way of thanking you.

It was the only idea I had. I reached all of my tentacles, tail tentacle included and head tentacle excluded, and wrapped them around her torso in different positions while avoiding her chest. I didn’t want her to think I was trying to grope her or anything. It was supposed to be a hug, not sexual assault.

The woman’s eyes widened just a little bit before she asked, “Is this… a hug?”

I felt a little embarrassed again, but I nodded.

Once more smiling, she reached down and picked me up by my sides.

Then she held me right against her breasts, almost pushing me between them as she hugged me back.

The bed could never even hope of competing against the perfect pillows I found myself hugged against. They were so soft and warm that I wanted to stay there forever. I didn’t even care about how sexual they looked, I just wanted to use them as pillows for the rest of my life.

I didn’t even notice that I subconsciously wrapped a couple of my tentacles around them.

[Vol. 1 pt. 9]

I was pretty sure that life couldn’t get any better than it already was. Even when I did realize that my tentacles were wrapped around her pillows, I left them there since she didn’t seem to care at all.

And the more I got to feel of them, the better life was.

“Oh. Did your tail always look like this?” she asked, grabbing enough of my attention to actually make me turn around and look at what she was talking about.

I held my tail tentacle up in front of my body so that I could see it.

The tentacle mostly looked the same as before… except for the tip of it. The tip, rather than ending with a tapered point like the rest of them, now had what looked like a bulb similar to what the plant beast had. Only, when I poked it with one of my other tentacles, it didn’t feel anywhere near as hard. It had a bit more firmness to it, but it was still significantly softer. It probably wouldn’t be good enough to use as a blunt weapon like the beast used its bulbs.

“I think… that beast hit me with something like this,” she said while rubbing the side of her head.

I was right after all. The thorns were poisonous, but it must have been the bulb smashing into her head that knocked her out.

That aside, if I managed to evolve my body a little bit more, that meant I must have finished off the beast’s corpse despite passing out while eating it. I had no idea how I managed to do that, but—wait. How did she even find me and get me back?

I really needed something that would let me communicate with her. Verbal communication was completely out of the question and my tentacles were only good for making a few different shapes. That would never be enough to communicate with without developing an entirely new language for us to use based off the positions of my tentacles.

Then I had an idea.

I was still able to grip things.

“Your little tentacle just stood straight up,” she said while I looked around for something to demonstrate with.

Fortunately, the room had just what I needed. A small, handheld mirror and a spare, unlit candle. I grabbed each of them and pulled them over to the bed, placing the mirror down against it while holding the candle above it. Next came the “writing.” I moved the candle around as I would a pen on a sheet of paper. Without actually touching the mirror, of course. I didn’t want to damage it at all by smearing a candle all over it.

“Are you… trying to write?”

I threw all my tentacles up in celebration as I nodded!

“If you know how to write,” her eyes widened with just a small hint of excitement, “we can talk!”

I kept on nodding.

“Stay here. I’ll be right back.”

The woman, who I still didn’t know the name of, rushed out of the room.

“Where do ya think yer goin’ with that?!” shouted what sounded like an older woman from downstairs.

Moments later and the much younger sounding woman returned with a sign and marker. They were pretty high-tech ones, too. They were the kind usually found in the Southern cities where technology was far more advanced than what could be found practically anywhere else.

So, I can remember what some places are like… but I can’t remember their names. I wonder if I’ve been there before. Or what if I’m from there if I can remember that?

I didn’t know the answers to my questions, but I did know that the board and marker looked out of place in the room we were in.

“Here,” she said, popping the cap off the marker to demonstrate by pressing its black tip against the board. “You can erase it, too.” She flipped the marker over to its other side which featured a little brush capable of wiping the board clean.

This is perfect!

Taking the board and marker from her, I was quick to write down my first of many questions to her.

WHAT IS YOUR NAME?

I looked over my handwriting—tentaclewriting, with pride before flipping the board over to show her.

I made sure to write in big, clear letters so that it would be easy to read. The downside of that was how much space it took up on the board. If I wanted to keep on writing like that without having to write, wipe, write, wipe, and repeat multiple times for longer sentences, I would have to cut my sentences down to only the bare minimum words required to understand them.

More importantly, she smiled. “Good job. I’m proud of you.”

Hearing her say that sent a wave of satisfaction through my body.

“Oh. And I’m Lada.”

Lada. Lada. I like it. That’s a pretty name. Wait, I can actually talk to her now. I don’t need to only think this. But there’s so much I want to say! I’ll try to cut this down so it all fits.

So, cutting down the sentence was exactly what I did.

PRETTY NAME. I LIKE. VERY NICE.

Maybe I cut it down too much…

“Do you… really think so?” Lada asked.

Is it me or does she look like she’s blushing a little?

VERY PRETTY. PRETTIEST NAME. BEST NAME.

MAKES SENSE TO HAVE NAME.

“It… makes sense? Are you… calling me—”

PRETTY. YES.

Her cheeks turned just a tiny bit redder. That made me want to keep going to make her blush even harder.

Unfortunately…

“Lada!” that old woman from before shouted. “Break’s over! I need ya down here!”

The red in Lada’s cheeks vanished before my eyes.

Dang it.

“Sorry,” Lada said. “I have to go. We can talk more later. Um… you should probably try to get more rest. The more rest you get, the quicker you’ll recover.”

LADA NEED REST TOO THEN.

“I promise to rest later, okay? I can’t until—”

“Lada!” the elderly woman’s voice shouted even louder and angrier than before.

“Sorry, I’ll be back.” Before I could write anything else on the board, Lada took off for the door and was halfway out the room before stopping and looking back at me. “Um… did you… really mean it? Do you… think I’m pretty?”

I might not have been able to stop her from leaving, but I could still try to send her off with a smile.

YES. LADA PRETTY. LADA PRETTIEST.

Just the tiniest hint of red returned to her cheeks as she smiled before leaving without another word.

Alone once again, I flopped onto the pillow.

This is nowhere near as good as her pillows. I already miss her. Wait… it’s not like I’m being held prisoner or anything. There’s nothing stopping me from leaving the room to go see what’s going on down there. She might have wanted me to rest, but she’s not doing it herself, so she can’t complain if I don’t do it either.

With a plan in mind, I stretched out my tentacles to make sure they were all in good shape before hopping off the bed.

It was time for a bit of information gathering.

[Vol. 1 pt. 10]

Question: where was I?

Hypothesis: I was in some sort of inn.

Experiment: leave the bedroom and look around to gather information.

Lada had a maid uniform on. I was in a bedroom connected to a hallway that was lined with doors leading to what were most likely more bedrooms. I smelled food and heard loud conversations coming from downstairs. Therefore, I assumed I had to be in an inn of some sort.

Just as I was about to leave my room, though, I heard somebody coming up the stairs. I tucked myself back into the room as soon as I saw that it wasn’t Lada.

This new person walked by, yawned, and went to open one of the doors at the end of the hallway.

He’s huge, I thought. The man who walked by was a Chosen and an older one at that. Maybe in his fifties or so. He had grey hair, massive biceps, and dirty clothes that made him look like he must have spent a day working the fields… if there were even fields around wherever I was.

Once he went into his room, I snuck out from mine and slid over to the top of the stairs with my tentacles.

“Oi! Lada! Can I get a refill?!” a masculine voice from downstairs shouted.

“Lada! Tell that old hag to hurry up with the food back there!” another voice shouted.

I heard a loud crash followed by laughter after that one.

It was so… noisy. I actually kind of missed my alone time traveling between islands. There were only the sounds of nature to keep me company out there, so things were peaceful and quiet. Now, I felt like maybe I was getting a bit too much audible stimulation.

But everybody sounded like they were having a fun, friendly time at least.

I began my descent of the steps and clung to the corner of the wall to peek around it, looking down at the lower floor.

It was full of men. There were large, rough, older men everywhere. There were a few women, too, who I could only assume were there because their husbands were, but they also looked like they were having a fun time as they smiled and joined in on the laughter and conversations.

I might have missed the peace and quiet of nature, but there was a part of me that felt… like I was at home. Something just felt so… natural about the sight before my eyes. Even all of the noises were quickly growing on me and turning into a source of comfort rather than a source of annoyance.

But part of me was worried.

Lada was a beautiful, young woman who had a lot on display.

Almost all of the patrons down there were large, rough, older men.

Was she being taken advantage of? Were they the kind of men who would smack her rear every time she walked by? Make lewd remarks?

The instinct to protect her was almost overwhelming.

Then I saw Lada walk into sight. She dropped a large mug of alcohol off at one of the tables before turning around and walking away. Only, before she could get out of reach, one of the men sitting there reached a hand up and went for her ass.

I was about to throw myself down there and stop him with my tentacles.

But then I saw raise his hand just a little more to give her lower back a poke. “Lada, you’ve got a rip here. Want me to fix that up?”

Lada reached behind herself to check it out for herself. Upon closer inspection, it turned out there was a rip after all. “Ah… it’s alright. I don’t want to bother you.”

“Please, it’s not like all the brutes in here care about getting tears in their clothes and giving me some business. Stop by tomorrow and I’ll fix it up in a minute!”

Lada nodded while looking as expressionless as ever. “Okay. Thanks.”

Alright. Maybe I was overreacting. These guys might look like troublemakers, but they’re good people after all. Wait… what’s he—

Another man reached out and grabbed Lada by her hips, pulling her close to the point where she almost fell onto his lap.

My tentacles began to extend right as the man said, “Sorry, didn’t want you stepping on his glasses.”

Lada tilted her head and looked down. Surely enough, there was another man in the process of bending over to pick up his glasses. She would have crushed them if she took another step forward. “Ah. Sorry. I’ll pay better attention next time.”

“It’s alright, nothing bad happened! Keep up the good work, Lada.”

Lada nodded and bowed. “I will. Thanks.”

Despite her varied interactions with all of the patrons, she never showed them any emotion. Her face and voice remained the same at all times.

Something about that made me feel really happy. She had no problem showing me some of her expressions when it was just me and her.

If they’re all this nice and friendly, then it should be fine for me to go down there.

Feeling a bit of excitement at the idea of getting to join everybody having fun, I went down a couple more steps.

That was when one of the women sitting at the table nearest to the stairs saw me and screamed. “Beast!”

In almost perfect unison, every single man in the room, and some of the women, stood up ready for a fight.

And they were all looking directly at me.

“That’s no beast,” one of the men said. A man who looked older than the rest with an eyepatch, white hair, and battle scars across his face and arms. “We don’t have beasts that look like that around these parts.”

“Then—then what is it?” another man asked, a much younger man standing next to the grizzled veteran. He looked out of place among all the other men down there.

“Best bet is a Corrupted.”

The atmosphere changed in an instant. Half of the people who looked ready for a fight looked afraid when they heard that. Many of them were already pouring out of the building to run for safety.

And I couldn’t blame them. If they really believed I was a Corrupted… then I’d be running, too.

But there was no way I was a Corrupted! I was a person! Sure, I might have been in some weird body, had no idea who I was, and… had the abilities of a Corrupted, such as evolving my body by consuming other living beings… but… I couldn’t be one, right?

The grizzled veteran stepped to the front of the crowd and unsheathed the sword to his side, pointing it straight at me. “Stay just like that. I’m an old man now, so I’d appreciate it if you make this easy for me.”

I shook my body and climbed back up a step. I didn’t want to die.

I should have brought that board and marker!

Unfortunately, going back to the room to try and grab those was probably a bad idea. He’d kill me before I could do that. He might have been old, but all those scars were proof of his strength. Old men covered in scars were the ones who survived all their past battles. They were some of the strongest around.

I had no idea what to do. Going up against a Chosen, especially one who looked as old and as strong as him, was completely different from going up against some random beasts in the wild.

The old man took a deep breath, a step forward, and raised his sword.

Even though I’d probably die trying, I turned to try and run back to the room.

“Wait!” Lada shouted.

“Lada! What are you doing?! Get out of the way! That’s a damned Corrupted behind you!” the old man shouted.

“He’s not a Corrupted! He saved me in the forest! I was even talking to him before I came down here!”

Turning around, I saw none other than Lada standing in front of me with her arms reaching out past her sides and the man’s sword less than an inch over her head.

There was so much emotion in her voice, too.

“It… saved you?” the old man asked.

Lada nodded. “I promise. He’s friendly.”

The old man looked past her, straight at me, and raised an eyebrow before sighing and putting his sword away. “If you promise, I’ll take your word for it, but I want a full explanation about what happened. Understand?”

Lada nodded again. “Thank you.”

“Come on, don’t look at me like that. You know I can’t handle it when a girl cries.”

Lada’s crying?

She raised her arm up in front of her and wiped it across her face. I could still only see the back of her head, unfortunately. “Sorry,” she said.

“You apologize too much,” the old man said.

“I’m sorry…”

“Gah, you never learn. Just explain what’s going on, alright?”

Once more, Lada nodded.

Before things could return to normal, though, I felt a terrifying presence emerge from the back of the room. I wasn’t the only one who felt it, either. Everybody except for Lada froze.

“Time an’ time again,” the voice of an elderly woman said, “I tell you lot to keep yer asses sat down and to behave. And what do I see when I come out here? Well, I sure as shit ain’t seeing you all behaving!”

I couldn’t see her yet, but I didn’t need to. Seeing the reactions of everybody else was enough. Even the grizzled veteran who was about to kill me looked terrified as he rushed back to his seat.

Lada was the only one left standing, and I even heard a little giggle from her.

As for me, I snuck back to the bedroom to grab the board and marker before there could be any more misunderstandings.

Author's Note-

Would you believe me if I told you that this is supposed to be a smut? rofl. When I first started writing this story, I wrote 2 sex scenes for it that take place after all this. I was inspired for those and figured I would write the stuff leading up to them afterward. I'd probably get to the sex around chapter 6, I thought. After all! This is supposed to be a smut series with tons of consentacles! There'd be sex everywhere!

Well, uh, so much for that. I've written 10 chapters and we're probably still like 5-6 chapters away from actually making it to the sex scenes I've already written. However, once we do reach those first two sex scenes, there's going to be pretty frequent lewding. So, yes. This is a smut series. It's a smut series that is going to have plot and lots of cute romance, but it's still /supposed/ to be a smut series. As for whether I'm able to actually attract the smut-loving audience to the story due to how long it takes for the sex to start, who knows, but I'm really happy with how it's turning out so far!

Also, I plan on commissioning hentai for every sex scene, so the sex scenes are actually going to have illustrations to go with them. Continuing that depends on whether or not the story is able to attract enough new patrons who make paying for the art worth it, though, because each illustration is going to cost around $200 due to being fully colored, including 2+ characters, having a background (even if simple), and paying for the commercial right to monetize it here on my Patreon. So, if this story can bring in like... at least $300 or so worth of new patrons, then I'll make sure that all the lewd scenes get illustrated. I hope that sounds enticing to some of you!

That being said, here's a side-by-side of our main character and the first waifu, Lada. Yes, he is very smol. Yes, she is very... big, in a certain department.

And below that is a little tiny teaser of the first illustration being worked on which should be done soon and ready for the first sex scene! Anyways, I hope that you've enjoyed what you've read so far, I hope that you like the following art previews, and feel free to let me know what you think in the comments!

Also, if it's not obvious yet, this is going to have a good amount of monster evolution stuff involved.

Oh, and yes, if I didn't make it obvious, this takes place in the same world as TQH now. This is the second out of three stories planned to take place there. The third one will probably be another month or two out!

Also, the above lewd teaser is an unshaded WIP, so it's going to look even better once it's properly done!