The cold notification sound appeared in her mind, but Neva's overloaded brain actively ignored it.
This life-or-death battle consumed all of her energy and shattered her illusions about this world.
However, there was no time to complain; she had to hide quickly. The surrounding Worms had already been attracted by the previous commotion and were rapidly approaching.
She knew very well that if it weren't for coincidence and luck, she would be the one lying dead on the ground right now.
Unable to even defeat a single Worm, if she were surrounded by a group of Worms, her fate would probably be even more tragic than Shang Yang's five-part dismemberment.
Enduring the double torment of hunger and pain, Neva dragged her half-crippled body, wriggling with difficulty on the ground, and hid behind a rock connected to the cave wall not far away.
Soon, a large number of Worms gathered around the Worm she had killed.
They feasted there, sharing the spoils that should have been hers.
The Worms fought over each other, biting and tearing, and the scene instantly devolved into chaos, filled with blood and violence... Neva only felt her long-held worldview crumbling.
She quietly hid in the corner, watching the insects fight each other, watching them battle fiercely for food.
Is this survival... killing the enemy in front of you, or constantly escaping the pursuit of predators, clinging to a limited life... From a long-term perspective, she exchanged a few pieces of flesh on her body for a profound lesson and a clear understanding of her own predicament. Perhaps it wasn't entirely a bad thing.
Of course, it can only serve as a lesson if she lives; if she dies, it's a negative example.
But what saddened her even more was that she was crippled and paralyzed, yet she didn't get a single bite... She retracted her head, no longer observing, and completely hid herself in the darkness brought by the rock's shadow.
The small, dark environment did not bring her fear; instead, it slightly soothed her inner sense of crisis.
The Worm's natural preference for darkness, coupled with her self-regulating mindset, became an advantage in this situation.
But her resentment towards the Worms would not disappear.
Holding grudges, a good quality she had cultivated since kindergarten, told her that she should strike hard at "little friends" who snatched her snacks.
If she had the chance in the future, Neva would definitely not mind using these insects as dye to decorate the cave walls.
But right now, she was just a delicious and tender newborn Worm, and achieving the above was still a long and arduous task.
However, more important than these was to first find a way to stop the bleeding.
Blood was still continuously gushing from the wound, and Neva felt her consciousness becoming scattered, as if she would faint at any moment.
"No, I'll still die if this continues!"
But what could she do?
She didn't even have hands right now. How could a Worm bandage its own wound?
That's completely unrealistic!
Even if the bleeding could be stopped successfully, there were still a series of risks such as bacterial infection.
Thinking of this, Neva even had the self-defeating thought of "I'm tired, let's just destroy it all."
[host shell damaged, probability... Death.]
[Error fate...]
The sudden sound in her mind made Neva pause, but the sound did not stop due to her confusion.
[Unknown data enabled. Based on the current situation, the ability "Healing" can be acquired by consuming Evolution Value.]
Evolution Value? Acquire ability?
Is this an additional function of that strange heart?
Although the information provided by the prompt contained some difficult-to-understand content, Neva did not hesitate in her actions.
For her now, this might be the only hope.
But how to acquire it? Through language or consciousness?
Neva couldn't speak, so she could only silently repeat it in her mind.
[Consume 1 point of Evolution Value, ability "Healing" acquired.]
A strange prompt appeared, accompanied by an indescribable physical sensation. On Neva's panel, the ability [Healing] really appeared.
At the same time, her blood seemed to be blocked by some invisible force, gradually stopping its flow. The blood at the wound also began to clot, and she even felt an itchy sensation, as if something was growing.
Indescribably miraculous!
"Saved?"
Neva felt a sense of unreality, as if all her previous worries and fears had been for nothing.
But her body's sensations would not deceive her.
Although she still harbored vigilance towards this dark crystal heart, having survived a disaster, she couldn't help but want to say some words of praise for it.
Who was it that suspected the crystal heart was some evil existence before?
Just like a certain saying, since you can't resist, then... well, it doesn't seem quite appropriate here.
In any case, the survival crisis was temporarily resolved.
"Grumble~"
Uh... it wasn't completely resolved.
The unbearable hunger coupled with the huge energy consumption from the [Healing] ability forced Neva to return to square one: finding food.
Fortunately, not far from her, there was a cluster of white insect eggs.
After a period of waiting, noticing no movement outside, Neva dared to peek out and observe the situation beyond the rock.
The Worms had long since dispersed, leaving only a mess on the ground.
She carefully crawled out from behind the stone.
The sand and stones on the ground continuously rubbed against her wound. She endured it with effort, fearing that she might attract the attention of the Worms nearby.
She picked up an insect egg with her mouth, then immediately crawled back behind the rock.
No longer being squeamish, Neva bit into the insect egg, and indeed, there was an underdeveloped Worm inside.
And it was still... twitching!
"Can't be picky, can't be picky. Imagine it as jelly, yes, that's jelly..."
Neva continuously hypnotized herself, enduring the discomfort, and ate the insect egg and the larva inside.
Warm food entered her stomach, and her hunger was relieved.
Her stomach was happy, but her tongue was wailing!
The taste of the larva was truly beyond her expectation, very spicy and bitter.
It formed a huge contrast with the insect egg itself.
[Consumed 1 insect egg, Evolution Value +0.1]
Hmm?
Can eating also increase Evolution Value?
...Name: Neva
Race: Gluttonous Worm (Larva)
Rank: None (Data Rating: 0.3)
Evolution Value: 0.1 / 10
Profession:
[Main Profession]: None
[Sub Profession]: None
Magic Energy: 2
Soul Strength: 11
Abilities: Unknown Data (??), Devour (1/10), Misfortune (1/10), Healing (1/10)
...Although very tired, Neva still gathered her spirits and looked at the contents on the panel.
Due to the Grayish-white Worm's attack and the unbearable hunger, Neva hadn't been able to understand the panel in more detail.
But some things were relatively easy to understand.
First, Evolution Value.
The method of obtaining it was basically clear; prompts had sounded when killing Worms and when eating.
Besides using it to acquire abilities, that corresponding progress bar should be another use for Evolution Value.
Neva thought so.
[Evolution is the prerequisite for advancement. Without reaching the Evolution Value limit, Evolution is impossible.]
The strange prompt once again responded to her inner question. This feeling, like having someone in her head monitoring her thoughts, was still a bit strange.
Since she knew that the other party would respond to her doubts, Neva no longer held back and continued to ask questions.
"The Data Rating and Soul Strength seem to have increased compared to before. Why is that?"
The responsible prompt once again provided an answer:
[Data Rating is a comprehensive assessment of strength, related to individual combat experience, energy level, proficiency of owned abilities, mastery of Magic Energy knowledge, and other aspects.
Soul Strength represents willpower, mental strength, and soul energy. Enduring pain, fear, and mental damage can increase it.]
Neva gradually understood.
Gluttonous Worm, Magic Energy, extraordinary knowledge... From this, it seemed that this was indeed not her original world.
As for the several abilities on the panel, she also questioned the prompt.
[Unknown Data: Detection failed... Unknown composition... Key... Access... Known effects: Acquisition of life individual information, acquisition of world knowledge, can consume Evolution Value to convert and acquire systematic abilities and ability knowledge, (Type: Unknown)]
[Devour: Devour creatures or Magic Energy substances, slowly increase self-energy level, and bring intense hunger, (Type: Conventional, Evolver profession essential ability)]
[Misfortune: Increases the probability of an individual encountering Misfortune. As strength increases, Misfortune proficiency will gradually improve. (Type: Special)]
[Healing: Increases wound recovery speed, slowly repairs missing limbs. (Type: Basic)]
...Before, she only had a superficial understanding of the abilities on the panel. She didn't expect that the [Misfortune] ability really only brought Misfortune to herself.
Rather than an ability, it was more like a curse.
Neva suddenly thought of a question.
Was her attack by the Grayish-white Worm influenced by [Misfortune]?
She shook her head; so-called luck was simply too ethereal.
But what she understood the least was that [Unknown Data].
It was truly absurd; this description was like a bug in a game that the system couldn't understand.
Perhaps it could also be called a cheat?
It had quite a few functions: identifying information, exchanging abilities, giving a sense of a system store from a novel.
The prompt in her head might also come from it.
"Ugh!"
Perhaps she was thinking too much, but her head started to hurt again.
Fatigue and pain, these two negative statuses, pushed this small Worm body to its physical and mental limits.
Even though she tried hard to stay awake, Neva couldn't suppress the onset of sleepiness.
Accompanied by the occasional hissing of Worms in the cave, she unconsciously fell into a deep sleep.
But the killing in the cave would not stop because a certain Worm was asleep.
For these Worms, the feast had only just begun...