Ch.11. Beginning

“Awakening”

As soon as I opened my eyes and saw the dense forest before me, I should have been disoriented from the shock of just connecting to the device, unable to gather my thoughts… right?

‘…What’s going on.’

To my own surprise, I’m in an extremely rational and calm mental state.

If I had to describe the level of calmness, I feel as though I’m reading text describing myself—there’s not even a hint of agitation in my mind.

“First, I need to get up—”

So I concluded that I should objectively analyze the current situation to understand my condition and tried to stretch out my arm, but…

Squirm.

‘…What is this?’

What extended in front of me wasn’t my arm, but a milky white, pudding-like tentacle.

‘Am I in a game? Was I forcibly connected due to an error?’

Among all the bewildering questions that arose, naturally, the first hypothesis that came to mind was that I had been forcibly connected into a game.

The reason for this judgment is simple: the tentacle I’m looking at and the body it’s extending from.

‘This is that thing, isn’t it?’

This tentacle and body belong to Baby Hive, the mascot monster of the game. The mushroom-shaped head with an eyeball in the middle, and the tentacles extending from underneath—all of it confirms this.

But even so, there are still several things I can’t understand.

The fact that I’m connected to a game I never logged into. That I’ve become a character I neither chose nor customized. And…

“…The activation of psychic powers in a form that wasn’t predetermined, which is impossible with modern technology.”

Using psychic powers without setting a trigger beforehand is a technology that simply doesn’t exist. If it were possible, it would be a legally prohibited technology that reads thoughts without consent.

Well, this could be considered over-interpretation. But there’s a decisive reason why I’ve come to recognize this as reality.

It’s the bizarre sensation I felt in my head(?) when using psychic powers—something that can only be described as feeling like something is flowing out, nothing more.

If I really had to make a comparison, it’s like something leaving my brain, licking the inside of my skull, and flowing out through my arm—a sensation absolutely impossible in reality, which gave me this strange sense of realism.

“—Gah! Urgh!”

And the moment I internally recognized this as reality, all sorts of knowledge flowed into and engraved itself in my mind, accompanied by a terrible headache.

Instincts as a living being, how to develop supernatural abilities—psychic powers, my identity, and even how to become stronger.

I writhed in pain, rolling a body whose structure I “didn’t know,” and only after the knowledge was absorbed and the headache subsided could I deeply understand my identity.

I am a Baby Hive.

I am the larva of the Hive Queen, responsible for the quantity of monsters threatening humanity.

※ ※ ※

After realizing this fact, I—Baby Hive—began to assess my surroundings and look for a suitable hiding place.

According to Project Monster’s setting, even though it looks like a peaceful forest on the surface, almost all natural environments are actually inhabited by monsters that have become indigenous creatures.

And of course, these monsters survive by eating each other, which is why I, a fragile Baby Hive, am looking for a place to hide—if I encounter the wrong one, I’ll be killed and become a snack.

‘…This terrain seems familiar.’

After wandering quietly through the forest for about 10 minutes, strangely enough, I felt like I had seen the structure of this forest somewhere before.

Where could I have seen it? As I floated around analyzing my surroundings carefully, I suddenly discovered a rock embedded in the ground with some kind of pattern carved into it.

And this rock was very familiar to me.

‘Wait a minute… isn’t this the one from that hunting ground?’

It was the rock located in a hunting ground whose name I couldn’t remember, used for quickly leveling from 40 to 60.

‘Ah, that’s right!’

After recognizing it, I looked around again and saw many familiar landmarks: the valley used for mob gathering, the Red Light Tree that was a collection item, and even the cave in the middle of the cliff where the field boss would spawn.

There was no doubt. This forest was the hunting ground I frequented when playing Part 3.

‘If Part 4 is 10 years after Part 1… and Part 5 had a reboot. So is this the future?’

While trying to deduce the current time period, I thought of a way to find out for certain, though it might be a bit dangerous.

I decided to check if the notoriously violent field boss was still in its nest by causing a disturbance.

‘First, from a distance…’

After calculating the output and position of my psychic power, I hid my small body among the bushes, picked up a stone from the ground, and threw it with all my might toward the cliff.

My target was the cave where the boss would spawn. The stone flew vigorously and landed in front of the cave, albeit a bit weakly—

‘Nothing’s there. So, it is the future after all?’

Surprisingly, nothing happened.

In the latter part of Part 5, there was a global event that felt like a mass gathering of monsters. At that time, the regional boss “Burning Zagatan” appeared as a mini-boss, and after the update, the named monsters that were exterminated in the event story were deleted.

Of course, the developers were heavily criticized for the update and the boss deletion was rolled back, but there was only one thing I needed to know here.

In Part 5’s story, the boss of this area had died, creating a power vacuum.

And that means the cave is probably empty now, and considering that there was a mine in the game, this place might be optimal for settlement.

What if another monster has occupied the cave, you ask?

…Neither my psychic powers nor my detection abilities sensed any life forms in the cave, and there was no reaction to the stone I threw, so I could only hope that no one was there.

※ ※ ※

‘Phew, no one’s here…’

After carefully entering the cave using my psychic powers to float, fortunately, there was nothing inside except for the nearly crumbling molted skin left by “Burning Zagatan.”

Judging by the strong scent emanating from this molted skin, it was probably this smell that kept other monsters from approaching this place.

And the moment I recognized that this place was safe, I felt the tension in my body completely release.

After being on high alert all day, finding some peace of mind naturally made me feel drained as fatigue washed over me.

…Let’s rest for a bit.

So I decided to take a brief rest before moving again, released my psychic power, and immediately lay down on the cave floor.

And while lying there recovering my depleted physical and mental strength, it suddenly occurred to me that I might be able to create something like a status window using the knowledge about myself that existed in my mind.

‘That’s an incredibly silly idea.’

But this might not be a good choice. Without an actual game system, any status window I create would inevitably consume my psychic energy, which might reduce my combat power despite allowing for more intuitive information recognition…

‘So I should do it right away.’

After all, Baby Hive itself isn’t a combat unit, and such a status window could function like a programming tool or software, which I think would be beneficial.

Therefore, I immediately began organizing the various knowledge and information injected into my mind to process into a status window… and strangely enough, everything started falling into place perfectly.

Even though I was just trying to recreate the interface I used in the game, the methods of evolution in my mind essentially matched those systems in the game.

[Acquired skill ‘Status Window (A)’]

[Acquired skill ‘Guidance Message (A)’]

[The two skills are integrated into Comprehensive Interface (S)]

Thus, I was able to create the status window and guidance messages much more easily than I had initially anticipated, and at the same time, I could check my current status.

Name :: ???

Age :: 0 years (0 months 0 days)

Species :: Baby Hive

Grade :: 10

Level :: 1

Abilities

Strength :: 5

Agility :: 5

Vitality :: 10

Intelligence :: 10

Resistance :: 10

Energy :: 50

Leadership :: 50

Traits (5/???)

Monster Gene (EX), Predator (E), Imperturbability (A), Hive Mind (E), Versatile Psychic User (E)

Skills (3/???)

Comprehensive Interface (S), Psychokinesis (E), Split Thinking (E)

‘Hmm… exactly as expected.’

And my current status shown on the screen was, except for the Imperturbability trait, quite ordinary and standard for a Baby Hive.