From a Larva to a Nymph

Imogen has woken up once again and is feeling very productive, mostly in an attempt to forget her past memories.

 "My body has fully tempered and I'm feeling a bit hungry, perhaps I should check my status." Mused Imogen as the system brought up her status.

Name: Imogen

Race: Tick - Larva stage

Age: 4 days

Gender: Female

Bloodline: Common Forest Tick

Level: 2

Class: None

Hp: 9/9

Mp: 2/2

Str: 3

Vit: 0.9

Def: 6

Int: 4

Agt: 2

Skills: Racial skill - Blood Absorb, Weak Pierce, 70/30 Luck and Negligible Illusion Resistance

 "That's better than I thought it'd be, but why do I have such a low amount of vitality points compared to my defence." Pondered the confused Imogen while looking through her stats again.

 "I guess life didn't screw me enough already, these stats are just random." Frowned Imogen as she cursed the gods and a curious bird smelled a tasty morsel nearby.

~~~

 "I feel better now, I cursed those gods like there's no tomorrow." Claimed Imogen while looking up at the sky.

 "Now to get down from this tree, I would jump; but I'd probably break something." Decided Imogen as she spotted a scary looking bird not too far off.

 "If I can get onto that bird, I could get into it's nest; if it has one of course." Smirked Imogen while looking at the bird with greed.

 "If it has babies in the nest, I can latch onto them for a bunch of free food; they don't need all that blood anyways." Smiled Imogen as she watched the bird draw near.

 Full of desperation, the bird dived into the tree with such speed that Imogen thought it was insane, but in reality it just wanted to get home to its nestlings. Somehow, Imogen was a step ahead of the bird and tried to jump onto its face before it could eat her.

 Horrifically, Imogen had almost just jumped into the bird's mouth and she definitely would've if the bird had been predicting her suicidal move. Now Imogen has to think of a new plan before she gets eaten alive.

 "I can't believe I almost gave that dumb bird free food, it's supposed to be my free food!" Raged Imogen while staring at the bird with an air of superiority. 

 "But how am I supposed to eat this bird when it's flying around like a fricken maniac!" Fumed Imogen as she tried to jump on the bird once more, but almost got her legs torn off.

 "I guess I just have to give up and stay in a corner until that stupid bird decides to leave." Griped Imogen while rushing to the corner furthest away from the bird. 

 But this bird wasn't about to give up, he was infuriated by the tick; thinking that it was taunting him. So the bird flew away, causing Imogen to wrongly think that it had left; but it sure as hell didn't.

 It turned around and flew straight at Imogen with such determination that one could call it a bullet. The bird's beak landed just a few centimeters short of the tick and the gods cursed her luck.

 "That's one determined bird, but it's also kind of stupid; it left itself wide open." Snickered Imogen as she crawled up onto the defenceless bird and latched onto it.

 "This bird's blood tastes better than the mouse's, but still not as good as that worm's gourmet blood." Appraised Imogen while sucking the bird's blood.

 Albeit confused, the bird had sort of understood what happened, so instead of immediately flying back to his nest once he got free; he rammed every single tree in sight until the morning sun graced Tanvene. Imogen had a very rough night.

 "It's a good thing I didn't have much blood in me when that bird rammed me into all those tree's, I would've popped!" Whined Imogen as her eyes adjusted to the morning sun. 

 "It looks like this bird isn't an early riser, I wonder why; maybe predators are about." Pondered Imogen while looking at the still sleeping bird.

 "Actually, I don't care and I'll never care when there's six little nestlings here for me to steal blood from." Declared Imogen as she looked at the tightly clumped bunch of birds with a semblance of hunger.

 This caused Imogen to detach from the adult bird and head over to a nestling; she was quiet and stealthy, the nestlings didn't stand a chance. Imogen decided to latch onto the backside of this nestling so it couldn't pick her off easily.

 After the first sip, Imogen didn't know why, but she wanted to bite all of the nestlings and experience their different blood tastes. So without hesitation, Imogen followed that urge and tasted every last one of them; thankfully; without too many problems.

~~~

 "Ugh, I'm so darn full; why did I have to drink so much?" Groaned Imogen while feeling regret towards her life choices.

 "How am I supposed to temper my body with all these birds around, supid ingrates!" Exclaimed Imogen as she watched the nestlings hop around in unaware bliss.

 "This is like being in an egg all over again, but I could stand waiting before; because my senses were dulled." Pouted Imogen while trying to work on her patience. 

 "To change the subject, when do I evolve; do I evolve when I reach level fifteen or is it something else completely." Wondered Imogen as she watched the nestlings get fed.

 "I know I can since the system said my evolution choices had broadened when I touched that heart."

 "Whatever the case may be, I need sleep and I can't get it if I stay up all night." Concluded Imogen as she took one last look at the sky before drifting off into the world of dreamland.

~~~

 Imogen awoke to a cat creature eating the nestlings and spilling their guts across the straw floor. 

 "How the hell did such a fat cat get up here, it's pathetic looking." Gasped Imogen while looking at the cat in horror.

 "On second thought, these birds are the pathetic ones; they got eaten when they could have easily avoided that fate." Sniggered Imogen as she watched a limping nestling get torn in two.

 "Hmm, it should be pretty easy to get on that cat creature and take its blood." Contemplated Imogen while seeing an adult bird get cut in half with one lazy swipe from the cat.

 "I take it all back, I'm very grateful that he didn't do that to the dead nestling I'm on." Coughed Imogen as she gazed at the feasting cat. 

 "I don't think I'm going to try my hand at getting that creature's blood, what a fat cat." Conceded Imogen while crawling to the underside of the nestling she was on.

 "What?" "I can't just magically go back to sleep after I wake up, I'll be sitting here for a while; being a tick is very boring." Complained Imogen as she looked around in boredom.

*System Message: Your life span is almost up, you have but a day to reach the next stage of a tick.

*System Explanation: When you pass through a stage of a tick, it replenishes your body with Life Mana, Life Mana is the same as mana except it's primarily used to keep you alive.

 "What!" "Goddarn you system, you've sent me on a death sentence, but screw it; I'm going to die anyways!" Screamed Imogen while running at the cat in one desperate attempt to save her life.

 "With that extra point in agility, I feel like I am going twice as fast as before; but I'm still incredibly slow." Noted Imogen as the cat noticed her

 It took a swipe at Imogen, but because of how small she was; she was able to stand in between the cat's paws without much trouble. This seemed to enrage the cat, so he turned his paw into a fist and slammed down on her. 

 Luckily, the cat didn't seem to have much experience with using anything other than his claws; and he couldn't use his paws to their full potential.

 If Imogen could scream right now, she definitely would; but she still tried and made a surprisingly loud screeching noise. The screech annoyed the cat so much that he picked up his fist with increased vigor, and smashed Imogen into the table. 

 Imogen was crushed, and died; or that's what would've happened if she didn't do the smartest possible thing she could've at this moment. Imogen latched onto the bottom of the fist despite the pain and used her tree climbing skills to get on the side of the paw before the cat lifted his paw up to smash her into the grave.

 "God that hurt, it was the most pain I've ever felt in both my lives." Mumbled Imogen grimacing while moving to the head of the cat. 

 "I'm just glad I'm safe now, even though I've had many life or death situations already, they didn't really feel like it." Admitted Imogen as she bit down on the cat. 

 "I mean they were scary, but they didn't quite feel real; and I never got hurt as much as I am now." Admitted Imogen while stopping the blood from heading into her mouth.

 "I need to take this new life more seriously now on, and that means I have to figure out how to evolve, or stage progress; or whatever the system calls it!" Announced Imogen as she filled up with determination.

 "System, please tell me how to stage progress."

*Larva - Nymph Stage: 10/15 different bloods acquired, five more different bloods required.

 "So I could've just asked the whole time, what a load of crap!" Thundered Imogen while feeling pissed off. 

 "Well at least I know my quota now, maybe I could find another bird's nest." Scowled Imogen as the feeling of bitterness seeped into her very being. 

 "Wait, this cat's a hunter right, maybe I could drink the blood it gets on it's paws." Hoped Imogen while watching a family of rodents walk together on the forest floor in envy.

~~~

 Three hours later, and the fat cat had found his next prey, a family of ducks with seven to count.

 "I wonder why this cat doesn't go for bigger prey, isn't it the strongest thing in the whole forest, or maybe it's not." Inferred Imogen as the cat ran up to the ducks, and attacked.

 Its paws were sweeping around wildly, causing instant death to any duck who touched them. Imogen, who was unable to get any blood, jumped down and sprinted over to a dead duck.

 She took a tiny amount of blood before running off to the next, and continuing the pattern.

 "This is going surprisingly well, I just need to make sure that the cat doesn't kill me." Muttered Imogen while noticing that she only had two ducks left before Stage Progression.

~~~

 When Imogen had finally made it to the fourth duck's blood carcass, the last remaining three flew away into the sunset even with the fat cat chasing them along the way.

 "I knew something like this was going to happen, life has a grudge against me; and there's naught I can do about it." Despaired Imogen as she watched the fat cat dance around like a fool.

 "I guess I should spend my last moments drinking blood, for that sounds something a tick would do; of which I am one." Grumbled Imogen while slowly climbing onto the fat cat's paw and biting down.

*Stage progression Larva - Nymph: Completed, false evolution will begin when you chose to; you have six hours left to live.

 "Wait what!" "How did I get enough blood to Stage Progress? I only bit into four ducks; and I needed five different bloods to progress." Inquired the awestruck tick as realization struck her. 

 "Oh! It was because the cat scratched a duck before it flew away; the blood must've blown onto the fur." Grinned Imogen while climbing further up onto the fat cat.

 "Well system, could you start my Stage Progression now; I'm not going to find a better place than this." Assumed Imogen as the feeling of drowsiness struck her like a very familiar sword.

*Tick stage progression Larva - Nymph: Your false evolution has begun, have a nice day!