Editing/Standardisation: kubor04
Formatting/Extras: APM
Original Translation: Blastron
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In order to restore the stamina that nearly ran out while I was evolving, I’ve been doing nothing but eating. First to go was the rest of the snake. All of that meat that I was having so much trouble eating before now rests within my belly.
<Proficiency has reached the required level. Skill [Poison Resistance – LV6] has become [Poison Resistance – LV7]>
Just as I finished eating the snake, [Poison Resistance]’s level went up. I got two skill levels out of that thing. Tasty, tasty!
Man, before I evolved, eating this much would have caused my stomach to swell up like a balloon. It’s not really doing that anymore, though… where is it going, some kind of pocket dimension? It’s like whatever I’m eating is disappearing. While my food stocks are diminishing, though, my red stamina meter is steadily refilling. Hmmmm. I’ve seen a ton of really strange phenomena since I came to this world, but I think my stomach is the strangest of them all. What the heck is up with this thing?
Well, I shouldn’t put too much effort into thinking about this. “It’s just that kind of world” is a good enough explanation. I’ll leave explaining the rest of these phenomena to the academics.
Anyhow, even after finishing off that snake, my stomach isn’t even swelling a little bit, and if it’s not swollen, there’s no way it’s full yet. Plus, my red stamina meter isn’t full yet.
Luckily, I’ve got this huge mound of monster corpses stacked up in my home, stacked tall enough that, before I evolved, I had no idea how I could possibly get through all of it. I should be able to get even this enormous pile inside my new pocket-dimension belly, hmm…
Well, let’s dig in. I eat, and eat, and eat, I do nothing but eat. Umf, in my past life I had such a tiny appetite, but I’ve become a pretty serious gourmand! I could dominate the competitive eating scene like this.
Ahh, maaan, what is up with my stomach?! I have clearly shoved more food down my throat than the entire volume of my body, yet I can still eat more! It totally, seriously looks like my stomach is connected to a pocket dimension. I know I just said that I was going to leave the thinking to the academics but seriously this is my own body! I have a right to be curious! No matter how curious I am, though, it’s not like I can get an answer, so maybe I’m just being impatient… Stop! No thinking! Without thinking about anything, eat in stoic silence!
I eat, and eat, and eat, and… oh? I’m out. …Whuh? Did I seriously eat all of that food? …I did. Nothing’s left. Seriouslyyy? I’m not even full yet! My stamina meter isn’t full yet either. Even after all of this food, I’m still not full? Maaan.
Please don’t tell me it’s going to be like this forever. Please tell me I’m only extra-hungry because I used up all of my energy evolving! I’m going to starve to death otherwise, there’s no way I can find that much food. That would suck. That would reeeeally suck. Seriously, you know, that’s… impossible, right? Seriously, it’s impossible, right? If it’s true then I just stepped on a really big evolutionary land mine.
Ahh! Now that I’m thinking about it, evolution really is a land mine, isn’t it? I passed out, lost all of my energy, and was left defenseless for who knows how long. I was okay because I was in my home, but how do other monsters manage it? Man, I got really, really lucky with this one.
Even though I managed to get through evolving in one piece, running out of energy is a serious problem! Anything that didn’t have piles of food stored up like I did would have to drag themselves around, with no energy, hoping to find prey. They’d totally be at a huge disadvantage in a fight, right? Maaaaan, I got lucky. Is this the bonus I get for being the main character, or was it just coincidence? Ehhh, well, it’s not like they’d ever make a spider the protagonist, anyway. My life has been sufficiently awful so far that I can’t really say I’ve been lucky overall.
There’s a definite chance that this is going to happen again when I hit level ten, so I need to make sure that I’m prepared for it, starting from when I hit level nine. I happened to stumble on the perfect combination of circumstances for a flawless evolution, but if I’m not set up for it next time, then there’s no chance it’s going to go anywhere near as smoothly as this. Ahh, seriously, bringing down that snake was the best thing that could have happened! If I hadn’t been forced to sit still and eat through its corpse, I wouldn’t have made a home, and wouldn’t have accidentally stockpiled all of this food. Sir Snake, I thank you, from the bottom of my heart!
Now then! While I’ve certainly recovered a bit, my belly is still not full. And, since I’ve cleaned out my larder, there’s no need for me to stick around here any more. Let’s anti-shut-in-ify! And so, as I set off on my aimless journey, I bid farewell to the home that has taken care of me.
Thank you, my second home! Though I may have arrived thinking that my stay would be brief, you kept me safe for as long as I needed to stay. Farewell!
I depart triumphantly. My first order of business is to fill up my stomach, which means finding prey to hunt. Once that’s done… I guess I’m going back to wandering the dungeon, looking for the exit if I can.
My next evolution is probably going to require me to get bigger. My size didn’t change as a result of this evolution, so the possibility is still out there that evolving will make me get way bigger all at once. I’m a little bit uneasy with how small these passages are, then. I’d really like to try to find someplace bigger, if at all possible. Really, my best option is to go outside. Worst case scenario is that I get really big while in the dungeon, only to find that the only exit is really tiny, making it impossible to leave. Yeahhhh, and I don’t think I could take it if I had to live out the rest of my life here…
Yeah. Well, for now, let’s find something to eat. We’ll worry about what comes next once we get there.
APM - Translation 