3.1. System: Administrator

Early chapters have been modified to remove MC's "Ruler of Pride" title. He still has [Pride], but not the title, [Abyss Magic Lv10], or [Hades]. I'm tempted to remove his [Taboo] as well... so I have, but not entirely. He's 75% of the way to [Taboo Lv1], and remember that you can't see skills until they reach Lv1 at least.

When I woke up again, I knew right away that something was different.

First, my entire body was covered by something hard... not a cocoon, more like a bunch of small plates all over my body. Probably armor.

Good. I'm not so vulnerable anymore.

Second, I'm hungry. Really hungry. For a moment, I wondered why, but then I took a look at my "Character Information"-

Earth Worm Lv1 Nameless
00d:08h:01m:55s

HP: 35/35 (green) | MP: 34/34 (blue)
SP: 35/35 (yellow) – SPL: 3/35 (red)
ATK: 35 | DEF: 35 | MAG: 32
RES: 34 | SPE: 5

-and sure enough, my stamina pool was low. Again.

I guess evolving takes a lot of energy.

Upsides: My defenses are now about the same as the rest of my stats, and I have new skills.
Downside: I'm hungry.

I dug down a bit further into the ground, being careful not to use too much stamina as I moved-

Proficiency has reached the required level.
Skill [SP Lessened Consumption Lv1] has become [SP Lessened Consumption Lv2].

-and I tried to do my usual routine of eating things in the ground, this time raising my [Impact] skill now that it doesn't hurt to level it...

Proficiency has reached the required level.
Skill [Impact Lv5] has become [Impact Lv6].
Skill [Impact Lv6] has become [Impact Lv7].
Skill [Impact Lv7] has become [Impact Lv8].
Skill [Impact Lv8] has become [Impact Lv9].
Skill [Impact Lv9] has become [Impact Lv10].
Condition satisfied.
Skill [Impact Lv10] has become [Enhanced Impact Lv1].

...but I soon found out that everything down here tastes terrible. Like, really, really awful. I tried different foods – paralyzing foods, poison foods, acid foods, rot foods (which were the worst) – but I could barely stand any of them.

It took me a while to understand why.

Apparently, evolving into an [Earth Worm] meant I got the skill [Enhanced Smelling]... even though I have no nose and I can't smell anything. But since smell and taste are related, that's probably why I can actually taste my food now...

But why do I even have it? I mean, if I'm not going to have a nose anyway, why give me [Enhanced Smelling] at all? Is this the way it's supposed to be, or did the system make an error?

Request...
Authority...
Limit...
Administration...

"D," said a man dressed in all-black, draconic armor, looking at an alert on a screen and speaking into a phone. "Why do Earth Worms get the [Enhanced Smelling] trait if they don't have noses?"

"Because I had to program thousands of skills for tens of thousands of creatures and millions of evolutions," D shrugged carelessly, though the man couldn't see that. "And I made mistakes sometimes. I was probably thinking about the next line in the evolution when I added that. I might be a god, but I'm not perfect. Besides, who cares about the worm evolutions?"

"I do. If they have [Enhanced Smelling] when they aren't supposed to, they can actually taste what they eat when they couldn't before. That would stop most earth worms from eating soil food, getting them killed and preventing them from moving to the next evolutionary line."

"Or they'll just get the 'Foul Feeder' title like everyone else and move on with their lives."

The man sighed heavily.

"But go ahead and change it if you care that much. It is probably an error."

Administrator Güliedistodiez has accepted the request.
Earth Worm species skillset modified.

Huh?

What was... wait a minute.

"Skill Progression Information".

Let's see now...

[SP Augmented Recovery Lv2] - 23%
[SP Lessened Consumption Lv2] - 34%
[Ground Attack Lv1] – 0%
[Earth Shell Lv1] – 0%
[Crushing Lv10] – MAX, [Enhanced Destruction Lv4] – 0%
[Piercing Lv10] – MAX, [Enhanced Piercing Lv4] – 1%
[Impact Lv5] – 12%
[Danger Perception Lv1] – 95%
[Heat Perception Lv7] – 60%
[Motion Perception Lv7] – 87%
[Magic Power Operation Lv1] – 48%
[Ground Magic Lv10] – MAX, [Earth Magic Lv4] – 10%
[Piercing Resistance Lv5] – 17%
[Ground Resistance Lv10] – MAX, [Earth Resistance Lv9] – 1%
[Cold Resistance Lv1] – 83%
[Poison Resistance Lv10] – MAX, [Deadly Poison Resistance Lv1] – 5%
[Paralysis Resistance Lv10] – MAX, [Crippling Paralysis Resistance Lv1] – 3%
[Acid Resistance Lv10] – MAX, [PH0 Acid Resistance Lv1] – 2%
[Rot Resistance Lv5] – 42%
[Pain Nullification] – MAX, [Pain Mitigation Lv1] – 11%
[Fear Resistance Lv10] – MAX, [Terror Resistance Lv1] – 20%
[Exhaustion Resistance Lv5] – 77%
[Hard Armor Lv1] – 0%
[Enhanced Touch Lv10] – MAX, [Tactile Enhancement Lv2] – 7%
[Pride] – MAX
Skill Points: 1900

Searching, searching...

Nope, can't find it. My [Enhanced Smelling] skill is gone.

Did I just cause the system to change? No, it said this "Gulie" person changed it...

Did I just cause him to change the system? Did I just report a bug? Did I submit a ticket to the game developers without even realizing it? Does this world have game developers?

No, the voice said "administrator" Gulie-whatever, so it has "administrators".

Okay... there's not much I can do about that. Well, I guess I can keep pointing out system errors when I see them. Hopefully there's some kind of karma system in place for being a good beta tester.

Well, almighty voice in the sky? I did a pretty good job there. Plus, you took away one of my skills. I deserve something in return.

Upper Administrator "D" has accepted the request.
Karma system created. Karma system accessed.
Individual Earth Worm (no name) received 100 skill points.

That's better.

Also, everything down here tastes disgusting... well, I mean, it doesn't taste disgusting anymore, but now I know it tastes disgusting, and it's hard to keep eating something like that even if you can't taste it anymore, so I'm going back up to the surface.

I've got the [Danger Perception] skill now, so if I keep that skill and [Motion Perception] and [Heat Perception] active, I should be able to stay away from danger...

And maybe find something not disgusting eat.

3.2. System: Karma

So it turns out that finding something not disgusting to eat is harder than it sounds. Even though I can't taste things anymore, going by texture...

Ugh, plants are a no-go.

So... what doesn't taste disgusting? I mean, what has a texture that doesn't remind my mouth of disgusting tastes? I bet if I could find some fruit, it would be good...

But I can't see.

Maybe the creatures? I can "see" those with [Heat Perception Lv7].

In fact, there are... let me count them... 27 creatures pretty close by. Wait, that might not be right. Let me count them again.

Skill proficiency has reached the required level.
Acquired skill [Presence Perception Lv1].

Yup. Definitely 27.

And now that I've got that new skill, I can see them even easier against the background heat.

I was avoiding creatures because my SPL is low and I didn't want to get in another fight... but then again, I can probably use [Stone Spear] to kill one. Actually, I could probably just use [Pebblekinesis] to kill the smallest ones. They don't seem bigger than tiny beetles. Maybe they're mites or ticks. And I can use the same spell that I kill them with to bring the bodies to me, instead of wriggling over to them.

So that's what I did. It got easier and easier to manipulate the pebble as I went because...

Proficiency has reached the required level.
Skill [Magic Power Operation Lv1] has become [Magic Power Operation Lv2].
Skill [Magic Power Operation Lv2] has become [Magic Power Operation Lv3].

Yeah, that. I wonder why I didn't get more of that skill back when I was training [Ground Magic] to Lv10. I bet it's because I was using it aimlessly, but now I have a goal, like how I couldn't level [Earth Magic] much until I was using it against an enemy.

But now I am using [Ground Magic] against enemies, so [Magic Power Operation] is increasing.

Ha ha!

Die, die, die.

Experience has reached the required level.
Individual Earth Worm (no name) has increased from Lv1 to Lv2.
Individual Earth Worm (no name) has increased from Lv2 to Lv3.

All basic attributes have increased. Skill proficiency level-up bonus acquired.
Skill [Magic Power Operation Lv3] has become [Magic Power Operation Lv4].
Skill points acquired.

Now, let's see how they taste... well, how they feel to eat... hmm, crunchy. Not a bad texture.

I wonder how many that was?

Proficiency has reached the required level.
Skill [Presence Perception Lv1] has become [Presence Perception Lv2].

Turns out that 24 of the creatures were weak enough to kill that way. And it only took one point of mana and one point of stamina to kill all of them and bring all their bodies to me! I had to go one-by-one, but it was certainly an efficient use of mana-

Proficiency has reached the required level.
Acquired skill [MP Lessened Consumption Lv1].

-and stamina.

Proficiency has reached the required level.
Skill [SP Lessened Consumption Lv2] has become [SP Lessened Consumption Lv3].

This sure is a good way to get food.

"D," said Güliedistodiez, his eyes still on the same screen and the phone still in his hand. The alert had disappeared, but he had continued watching the same creature for a time when he noticed...

"Yes?" said a slightly-annoyed voice on the other end of the call.

"Why can the [Ground Magic Lv3: Pebblekinesis] spell be maintained without spending mana points after the initial cast? Other duration spells require mana to continue using them."

"You think I care about tier zero spells?"

The man sighed again.

Anomalous behavior detected.
System Administrator Warning:
[Ground Magic Lv3: Pebblekinesis] now requires mana to maintain.
New spell constraint: 1 MP allows ten seconds of [Pebblekinesis] spell use, though if the spell is maintained continuously, no additional SP are required beyond the initial cast.

WHAT?!

Karma system accessed.
Individual Earth Worm (no name) received 200 skill points.

Hey, that's not fair!

I want the infinite mana on [Pebblekinesis], not 200 skill points! How do I file a complaint?

How about...

I demand to speak with the upper administrator!

Request rejected. Karma system modified. Karma system accessed.
Individual Earth Worm (no name) lost 100 skill points.

Hmph.

Fine.

Whatever.

Take away my exploits. See if I care! I can play by the rules, too.

Watch me kill things without [Pebblekinesis]!

Brief note: In that most recent exchange, MC gained 200 skill points, then lost 100, for a net total of plus 100 skill points, and for an overall total of 200 skill points earned through the karma system... a system which isn't canon, and which I don't think will be used more than a few times this fic. Just wanted to introduce the administrators, and thought this was a good way to do it. Plus, MC will be needing a certain exact amount of skill points, and this will help me round out uneven numbers. He started with (and spent) 100 points; each individual level will grant 100 skill points; and evolutions grant more. The most recent evolution earned 1000 skill points, which is why he had 1900 skill points when he checked his stats. In the future, I won't be explicitly saying these exact numbers. You'll have to do the math yourself to see how many skill points each evolution earns, if you care about that sort of thing.