Shedding Worries

The very next day, Marcus' leg didn't really hurt anymore, but it was feeling abominably itchy. Many cracks had appeared on the armour covering it, which had also lost its shininess, becoming opaque and rough.

"Goddammit!" Marcus cursed "What is it!?! Please let it not be an infection... I don't want to lose a leg! It would be a death sentence for me in this godforsaken place!"

He couldn't really walk, since he felt as if his leg was inside an ants nest, but luckily he didn't need to move around that much for now. Eating all those insects had actually somehow satisfied his hunger and he could always hunt for more inside the cave, so he wasn't about to die of starvation, but there wasn't much he could do besides rest and hope that he could heal soon. But doing so inside a cold, dark and damp cave was kinda depressing, so he decided to go outside.

Using the wooden spear as a crutch, Marcus slowly started climbing out of the grotto, pieces of chitin falling from his wounded leg with every step he took. He gritted his teeth and continued, until he was at the entrance of the cave.

For a moment, the sudden light blinded him, and he covered his eyes with his hand, trying to take a look around.

It was a nice sunny day, with only a few small clouds in the sky. Birds were singing and a nice, warm breeze was blowing through the trees, shaking their leaves. An idyllic and bucolic scenery, perfect for a picnic, that somehow managed to relax Marcus, lightening his mood.

He sat on a rock near the entrance of the cave, bathing in the light of the sun, and for a few minutes he didn't think about anything, just enjoying the warmth and the peacefulness of the day.

But soon the itch on his leg caught his attention again, and he looked down.

The chitin armour covering the leg was now in complete disarray, having fallen down in some places, but now he could see that under it there was not exposed flesh or skin, but another layer of chitin, albeit much paler than the original one.

"What is this?" he muttered.

It looked like he was shedding the old armor, and a new one was growing under it. He knew about some animals, like spiders and crustacean, that could regenerate limbs like that, but to see it happen to him? Well, that was a great surprise and another reminder that his body wasn't human anymore.

"What the hell is this?" he wondered "Does this mean that if by any chance I were to lose a limb, I could regrow it? Well, let's hope that I won't have to put this theory to the test..."

The new armour looked really soft though. Curious, Marcus tried to touch it.

That was a mistake: although not really painful, that chitin layer was extremely sensitive and he felt a weird, ticklish sensation that he felt all the way to his bones.

"Aaaaah!" he moaned, a girlish sound that felt incredibly weird in his own ears. It was the kind of sound that wouldn't be out of place in a cheap hentai movie.

"What the actual fuck!?!" he cried out, feeling intensely embarrassed "What the fuck was that!?! I sound like a girl now... well, I guess this body is female, but..."

This train of thoughts was making him feel deeply uncomfortable. So far, he had always tried to ignore that his body seemed to be female: even when he had to pee, he had always tried to do so quickly without looking down.

After all, so far he always had more immediate problems, like getting food or shelter, or escaping from predators. But since now he was just resting, the repressed thoughts about his situation flooded his mind.

Why was his body like this? If he was really reincarnated, why did his body have to be like this? And why did he keep all the memories from his previous life? Also, even if there were other humans in this world, would they accept him or would they see him as a monster?

There were too many questions, and he didn't have any answer to them. All he could do was trying to explore these lands, trying to learn all he could about them in order to survive. But maybe he could try to plan some course of action in case he actually met someone.

"Since I'm not human-looking anymore, people could be intimidated by me, so I need to look harmless, in order not to scare people... but what if they want to catch me and dissect me?" he shuddered at the thought "Ok, so maybe just revealing myself is not the best idea. I need to study the people before making contact. If they are hostile, at least I can avoid them this way. Yeah, this should work... but I have to find someone first."

He thought about the tower he had seen from the hilltop. The smoke that was rising from it seemed to reveal that it was inhabited, but the structure was rather medieval looking and he hadn't seen any light or road, so maybe the people of this world weren't very civilized compared to his own. Or maybe he was just in a wild area.

He shook his head. There were just too many things he didn't know. Having some sort of guide, or a way to acquire informations would have considerably sped up things. Something like a "game menu" or the power to "identify" things would have been ideal: after all, knowledge is power, and having a power like that would have made his life much easier.

But this wasn't a game: this was real life, and you just had to go in blind, hope for the best and learn from your failures. Too bad that any of those failures could potentially be fatal.

After thinking for a while, he established a rough course of action: he was gonna travel to the tower as soon as his leg was healed enough to let him walk and run without problems. He'd sneak near the building trying not to be seen, trying to collect informations about the inhabitants of this world. If they were peaceful enough, he could try to make contact, but otherwise, he'd have to remain hidden.

And even in the latter case, he could just sneak near their settlement to take a few things he could use to survive. After all, even things that would be considered trash could greatly help him survive right now.

Marcus nodded. That was a good enough plan for him. After all, making complicated plans for the future didn't really suit him. Having a general course of action prepared greatly helped, but he was always prepared to change it on the fly. After all, you couldn't predict exactly what the future had in store for you when you were making a plan.

He then spent the rest of the day outside, napping and resting while his leg was healing, although he was bothered by its itchiness.

The following day the old armor had completely shed off Marcus' leg, but it was still a bit too sensible to walk comfortably on it, so he decided to wait another day before trying to reach the tower, using this time to prepare himself.

First of all, he tried to secure some provisions: having much better mobility compared to before, he managed to hunt down a small lizard and some sort of rodent that seemed a mix between a big rat and a mole. The last one was a stroke of luck: Marcus had literally tripped over its burrow, trapping the creature with his right foot. The animal had tried to bite him but despite its powerful fangs the chitin on his sane leg was too hard, and so he had managed to get a good prey with ease.

Of the two, Marcus decided to eat only the mole-rat thing, and to keep the lizard for the next day.

At this point he had figured out that with his current body he could eat almost anything without getting sick, even raw or poisonous meat, and that raw meat somehow tasted great. Still, he had to force himself to take the first bite out of the rodent, although after that he had gorged down the thing with a wild appetite.

After eating, Marcus experienced the usual flow of informations about the thing he ate. He knew that it had amazing hearing, a powerful jaw and strong claws suited for digging, plus various other details about it's body and genetic makeup. He didn't exactly know why he was experiencing these things, but it didn't seem to be harmful and it wasn't unpleasant, so he really didn't mind.

Instead, having satisfied his basic needs, he focused on trying to light a fire. He gathered other dry leaves and sticks, this time taking many spares in case he accidentally broke some of them.

He then returned to the entrance of his cave, and he spent the rest of the day trying to light a fire.

After many tries (and many broken sticks), by rubbing a surprisingly pointy stick against the dry half of a log, he could see a small wisp of smoke rising from the wood. Immediately, he took a dry leaf and put it near it, while blowing gently.

The leaf caught fire, and Marcus immediately threw it into a pile of dry leaves and branches he had gathered on the rocks near him.

A warm, roaring fire almost immediately erupted.

"Finally!" Marcus gloated, throwing some more wood in the fire "I fucking did it! I have a fucking fire! Burn baby buuuuurn!"

He then organized things in order to take the fire inside the cavern. Since he didn't want the smoke to suffocate him, he had to light it near the entrance, and the damp air didn't help him, but after a while he managed to arrange a small bonfire on top of a few rocks.

The fire illuminated the cavern, making all the small animals squirms away from it, but Marcus welcomed it. The cold and dampness of the cave was banished by the flames, and he took a few more sticks to keep the fire lit during the night.

Only when the evening came, and he was getting ready to sleep, a random, sudden regret flashed in his mind.

"Goddammit!" he cursed "I could have cooked the rat thing before eating it!"