The Evolution Plan (That Immediately Backfired)
Aya had learned many things today.
One: Humans were NOT her saviors.Two: Everything in the outside world wanted to eat her.Three: She was weak.Four: Very, very weak.Five: Even snails could be terrifying when they were out for blood.
Which led to a very important realization.
She needed to grow stronger.Somehow. Any way possible. Immediately.
Aya huddled inside a crack in the dirt, covered in specks of mud, shame, and maybe a few tears. Her antennae drooped like wilting plants. She was officially at rock bottom. But if fiction had taught her anything, it was that rock bottom meant one thing: it was time to level up.
"Okay, okay," she muttered to herself, pacing the tiny space like a motivational speaker with zero credibility. "This is fine. I'm the main character. I've hit the low point in the arc. Now it's time for the power-up montage."
She sat in the darkest part of the crack, closed her eyes, and focused.
Deep breaths.
Channeling all her willpower.
Visualizing glowing blue panels.
System!Activate!STATUS OPEN!SHOW ME MY SKILLS, DAMMIT!
...
Nothing.
Not a single beep. Not a single glowing screen. Not even a helpful tutorial voice whispering, "Welcome to Bug Survival Simulator 3000."
Aya opened one eye.
Still an ant. Still alone. Still systemless.
"…Stupid scam isekai."
Okay. Plan B.
If she couldn't rely on a magical system to save her, then she'd do it the old-fashioned way.
Evolution.
"Monsters evolve by eating strong prey," she whispered."That's what they always do in the stories."
The idea lit a fire in her tiny thorax.
Eat.Absorb strength.Level up.Become a monster queen.Crush her enemies under her glorious insect legs.Return to the colony and show everyone she's no longer the weird, useless outcast!
…Okay, maybe she was getting ahead of herself.
"Let's just start with a snack," she said.
Mistake #1: Attacking a Spiderling
Aya crept out of her crack and scurried along a mossy path. Her eyes—well, compound eyes—scanned for prey. She passed a worm. Too slimy. A ladybug. Too flashy. A dead fly. Eh, questionable freshness.
Then she saw it.
A spiderling. Small. Fuzzy. Dumb-looking.
Perfect.
"Sorry, little guy," she said grimly, "but I'm in my villain era now."
She rushed in, fangs bared.
The spiderling turned its tiny head.
And immediately spat web at her face.
"ACK—"
The sticky silk covered her antennae, blinding her instantly. She panicked, rolling wildly in the dirt as the spiderling skittered away like it hadn't just disrespected her entire existence.
By the time Aya got the web off, the spiderling was gone.
She sat there, twitching.
"Okay. So. Spiders have web attacks. Good to know. NEXT."
Mistake #2: That Brightly Colored Thing That Was Definitely Poisonous
Aya saw a caterpillar next. It was chunky and slow.
"YES. You are lunch."
She pounced and bit into its soft flesh.
Immediately—
Bitter. Sour. Burning.
It was like licking a battery filled with acid and shame.
Her vision spun. Her stomach churned. Her legs locked up.
It was POISONOUS.
She staggered in circles like a malfunctioning Roomba before collapsing in a patch of moss.
"Okay. Okay. I can fix this. I just need to puke."
Nope.
Ants can't puke.
She lay on the ground, twitching, her body going full ragdoll mode.
"I'M GONNA DIE FROM A CATERPILLAR."
Ten agonizing minutes later, she recovered enough to crawl away.
"Alright. Fine. Maybe… something safer. Like… dead stuff."
Mistake #3: The Moldy Crumb
Aya found a bread crumb. Not just any crumb—this was the kind you see in RPGs with sparkles on it. Glorious. Untouched. Slightly moldy, but hey, beggars can't be choosers.
She gobbled it up like a starving gremlin.
And for a moment…
She felt power.
Warmth spread through her thorax. Her limbs twitched. Her eyes widened.
Was this it?Was this… EVOLUTION?!
She screamed in her mind:
YES! HERE IT COMES!EVOLVE! EVOLVE!—
Her back suddenly cramped.
Her head felt like it was being used as a drum.
Her legs twitched wildly out of sync.
And then she realized—
It wasn't evolution.It was food poisoning.
Rock Bottom... Again
Aya collapsed for the third time that day.
In a pile of dirt.With twitchy legs.Muttering nonsense.
"This is fine," she whimpered. "I'm learning. Every failure is experience points, right? That's how this works… right?"
The wind rustled a leaf nearby. It sounded like it was laughing at her.
"I hate this stupid world."
And yet…
Somewhere deep inside…
A flicker of determination remained.
She wasn't giving up.She would evolve.She had to.
But next time…
NO POISON.NO SPIDERS.NO MOLD.
Just good, honest food.
Even if she had to fight the entire forest to get it.
Poison is the Worst Meal Ever (Also, Why Do My Organs Feel Like Fire?)
Aya wandered through the damp underbrush, sniffing the air like a desperate little gremlin. She hadn't eaten anything edible in hours. Crumbs didn't count. Leaf goo didn't count. The weird bug leg from earlier? Absolutely didn't count.
She was starving.
Her antennae twitched.
There. On a broad green leaf. A small, squishy-looking insect was minding its own business, slowly inching forward like it had all the time in the world.
It was tiny. Pinkish. Kind of glowy.
Aya narrowed her eyes.
"...That thing looks like a free EXP point."
She crept closer, crouched like a hunter in a wildlife documentary. Her tiny ant body trembled with anticipation.
"This is it," she whispered to herself. "My first real kill. My first step toward evolution. I will grow stronger—no—I will become unstoppable!"
With a dramatic leap, Aya pounced.
Her mandibles clamped down with pride.
CRUNCH.
Victory.
…Until it wasn't.
Her eyes widened.
A vile, putrid, rotting taste exploded in her mouth like an entire garbage truck had been compressed into one bite.
Aya's mandibles snapped open.
"WHAT THE HELL IS THIS?!"
It tasted like someone had fermented a corpse, rolled it in sewer slime, then sprinkled it with despair.
But before she could spit it out—
The poison hit.
Like being punched in the soul.
Her limbs instantly locked up.
Her legs twitched violently.
A wave of blistering heat surged through her insides. Her antennae curled like dying vines.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGH!!"
She dropped onto her side, flailing like a panicked, dying shrimp. Her vision blurred. Her little bug heart thudded like a drum solo in a death metal concert.
Somewhere beside her, the squishy insect (still alive, somehow) slowly wriggled away, as if smugly muttering:
"That's what you get, dumbass."
Aya lay there, convulsing, snot-crying from her mandible-areas, wheezing dramatically.
"I'M GONNA DIE! I'M GONNA DIE BECAUSE I ATE A STINKY GLOWY SLIMEBUG! THIS IS NOT HOW EVOLUTION IS SUPPOSED TO WORK!"
A minute passed. Then another.
Finally, with a violent shudder, she vomited.
Half-digested bug guts splattered onto the dirt.
Aya moaned.
She wanted to bury herself.
She wanted to reincarnate again.
She wanted death, but less embarrassing this time.
Eventually, the burning in her limbs faded. Her body stopped twitching. Her vision stabilized.
She was alive.
Barely.
But it came at a terrible price: her pride, her hope, and possibly the lining of her stomach.
Coughing, she dragged herself a few inches away from the toxic remains.
She carved a mental note deep into the part of her brain where trauma lived:
❌ NEVER. EAT. THAT. BUG. AGAIN. ❌❌ DON'T EAT RANDOM GLOWY THINGS, YOU IDIOT. ❌❌ EVOLUTION REQUIRES STANDARDS. ❌
And just when she thought her day couldn't possibly get worse—
A shadow moved behind her.
Aya stiffened.
Her antennae perked up in raw, primal fear.
Not again. Not another bird. Not another centipede. Not another—
SLURP.
Something licked her.
Slow. Wet. Horrifying.
Aya screamed.
"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO—!"
She turned around—
And found herself staring into the enormous googly eyes of a giant frog.
Its tongue slurped again, tasting the air.
Aya didn't think. Her trauma reflex kicked in.
She launched herself backward in sheer terror, flailing her limbs like a possessed maraca.
The frog blinked slowly. Its throat pulsed.
Then, it leapt—
BOOM.
The ground shook.
Aya screamed again and ran like her tiny life depended on it—because it did.
Behind her, the frog bounded after her like a slimy death cannon, its tongue flicking out to snap bugs from the air.
Aya didn't dare look back. She barreled through leaves, over roots, and between stones.
"WHY. DO. I. KEEP. ALMOST. DYING?!"
She spotted a crevice up ahead and flung herself inside just as the frog slammed into the dirt behind her.
Dust exploded into the air.
Aya, shaking, peeked out from the crack.
The frog gave a disappointed croak and eventually hopped away.
Aya collapsed onto the dirt, panting.
"I hate this world. I hate bugs. I hate frogs. I hate poisonous meat. I hate myself. I hate EVERYTHING."
And as she lay there in a pit of self-loathing and near-death exhaustion, she realized something very, very important:
Evolution is not a glorious transformation. Evolution is a death marathon where you eat garbage and run for your life until you accidentally stop sucking.
She sobbed quietly.
"...I'm gonna need a better plan."
Stuck in a Death Battle (That Has Nothing to Do With Her)
Aya limped away from the scene of her horrific poisoning, her legs still twitching with aftershocks. Every muscle in her tiny ant body screamed. Her face? Numb. Her pride? Dead. Her stomach? Betrayed.
She had one goal now:
WATER. CLEAN. LIQUID. NOW.
"I don't care if I have to suck water from a mossy rock," she muttered, voice hoarse. "I need to rinse this demon flavor out of my soul."
She stumbled through the underbrush like a half-dead zombie until she spotted it—a glimmer of dew gathered at the edge of a stone. Salvation! She dragged herself over, slurped at the droplet like a desperate man in a desert, and flopped down beside it with a groan of relief.
"I made it… I actually made it…"
And that's when she stepped into mistake #2 of the day.
Aya crawled forward just a little further and accidentally poked her head out of the brush into a small clearing.
She froze.
Time stopped.
In front of her, two colossal titans stood locked in a deadly battle.
One was a hulking black wasp, its armored exoskeleton gleaming with an oily sheen. Its wings buzzed like a chainsaw, and its stinger pulsed with venomous rage.
The other was a monstrous spider, thick and hairy with legs that looked like sharpened spears. Its red eyes glowed with a hunger that said, I eat pain for breakfast.
They were snarling. Hissing. Crackling with rage.
Aya instinctively flattened herself against the dirt. Her whole body whispered, nope nope nope nope nope.
Back away slowly… maybe they won't see you—
The wasp struck first.
It launched into the air, moving faster than Aya could blink, and dove straight at the spider.
SLASH.
The wasp's stinger stabbed through the air like a missile.
The spider reared up and spat a thick stream of webbing—an entire cloud of sticky silk filled the sky.
THWAP!
The wasp crashed through the web like a meteor, slicing threads with its mandibles.
The spider leaped sideways, barely dodging. It circled, lightning-fast, launching another web—and this time, it hit. The wasp was tangled!
Aya gasped.
YES. MAYBE THE SPIDER WOULD WIN. MAYBE THIS WOULD BE OVER.
But then—
BUZZZZZ!
The wasp exploded in a fury of wings, shredding the web as if it were paper. It let out a high-pitched screech and darted forward with murder in its eyes.
Aya was still just... standing there.
In the middle of the battlefield.
Watching this bug kaiju showdown.
"MOVE!" her brain finally screamed.
She turned to run—but it was too late.
The ground quaked as both monsters landed—right in front of her.
They turned. Slowly.
Eight red spider eyes locked on her.
Two wasp antennae twitched.
Silence.
Aya blinked.
"No," she whispered. "No, no, no, no—"
The spider twitched a leg.
The wasp hissed.
And then—
THEY CHARGED HER.
"WHY ME?!"
Aya bolted, her legs pumping like never before. Adrenaline turned her into a speed demon. Leaves blurred. Dirt exploded behind her. She leaped over rocks, ducked under twigs, screamed the entire time.
"FIND EACH OTHER! NOT ME! FIGHT EACH OTHER! I'M NOT A BOSS MONSTER—"
A wasp stinger grazed her side. A spider leg slammed into the dirt beside her, nearly flipping her.
Aya shrieked and launched herself into the nearest hole in the ground.
WHUMP.
She tumbled down a tunnel of loose soil and roots, bouncing off pebbles until she landed hard in a damp, dark crevice.
Dust floated in the air. Everything was quiet.
Then—
The hole above was sealed shut with a chunk of fallen dirt and webbing.
Aya gasped.
"...They're sealing me in?"
No.
They weren't sealing her in.
They were sealing each other out.
The tunnel shook with distant roars and screeches as the wasp and spider resumed their death battle—right above her.
Aya curled into a tiny ball.
"I'm not food. I'm not a threat. I'm just a dumb reincarnated office worker trying to get a promotion from 'useless ant' to 'not completely pathetic.' IS THAT TOO MUCH TO ASK?!"
Above her, the battle raged on. Dust rained down. Something exploded.
She sighed, twitching.
"...Evolution better be worth this."
The Great Escape (Or How I Became a Survivor Again)
Aya ran for her life.
The ground blurred beneath her feet as she skittered madly, zigzagging like an out-of-control marble shot from a cannon.
Above her, the wasp let out an ear-piercing screech. Its wings buzzed like a chainsaw as it shot through the air, gaining on her with terrifying speed.
Behind her, the spider chased in eerie silence, its hairy legs gliding across the terrain, barely making a sound—like a creeping nightmare made real.
Aya's ant legs pumped furiously.
Her mandibles flailed.
Her thoughts screamed in full panic mode.
"WHY AM I ALWAYS THE ONE GETTING CHASED?! FIGHT EACH OTHER! I'M NOT EVEN A SNACK—I'M A CRUMB!"
She dodged a falling twig the size of a tree and leapt over a puddle that felt like the ocean.
The wasp's shadow passed over her.
Aya ducked just in time as its stinger stabbed the ground inches from her head, leaving a smoking hole in the dirt.
"OH MY GOD, THAT THING CAN LEAVE CRATERS!"
She darted under a curled leaf, but the spider slashed through it like wet paper, its fangs dripping venom.
The trees—no, blades of grass—blurred around her as she pushed her legs to their absolute limit. Each heartbeat felt like a drum in her chest. Her vision tunneled.
She was fast—but not fast enough.
The wasp was gaining. Its wingbeats thundered behind her like a helicopter chasing a loose chicken nugget.
Aya screamed.
"I'M TOO YOUNG TO DIE! I HAVEN'T EVEN UNLOCKED MY FINAL FORM!"
And then—salvation.
Her eye caught it.
A small, dark hole in the earth.
Tiny. Hidden. Perfect.
Her one-way ticket to "not being eaten today."
She didn't hesitate.
She didn't think.
She launched herself forward, wings of panic propelling her through the grass.
Behind her, the wasp dove.
The spider lunged.
Aya dove into the hole—just as the wasp's stinger stabbed the earth behind her, sending dirt exploding into the air like a miniature bomb.
BOOM!
A burning gust of wind followed her into the tunnel as the tip of the stinger scraped the entrance, just a hair too wide to squeeze through.
"I MADE IT! I'M ALIVE! I'M—"
The wasp thrashed at the entrance, trying to jab its stinger through. The spider screeched and flailed at the edge, trying to web up the opening.
Aya bolted deeper into the tunnel, tumbling down a narrow slope until she landed in a shallow pool of damp dirt.
It was cold. Safe. Dark.
Silence.
Finally.
She gasped for breath, her chest heaving. Her legs gave out beneath her, and she collapsed.
"I'm not dead. I'm not dead. I'M. NOT. DEAD!"
She rolled over and stared up at the tunnel ceiling, laughter bubbling from her mandibles like a bug who'd lost her mind—and maybe she had.
"Take that, nature! You threw poison, monsters, birds, HUMANS at me! And I'm still standing! Kind of. In a lying-down, hyperventilating kind of way!"
Outside, the muffled sounds of battle resumed. The wasp and spider, now deprived of their side snack, returned to their war.
Aya didn't care.
She curled up in a little ball of dirt and despair.
"If this is evolution… I want a refund."
The ground rumbled softly above her. Distant screeches. Cracks. Earth falling.
But none of it mattered.
For now, Aya was safe.
She was cold, bruised, borderline traumatized, and covered in dirt—but she had survived. Again.
"I'm getting really good at this… horrifying escape thing."
And maybe—just maybe—that counted for something.
Because survivors? Survivors evolved.
Even if the process sucked.
The Lessons of the Day
Aya lay on the cold dirt floor of her hiding hole, trembling and twitching as if she had just survived three natural disasters—which, for an ant her size, she practically had.
Bird attack? ✔Poisoned prey? ✔Giant wasp vs. killer spider brawl that somehow included her for no reason? ✔✔✔
Her antennae sagged.
"This is a nightmare," she mumbled.
Her body still throbbed from the poison earlier, her legs ached from sprinting like a lunatic, and mentally… she was so done.
"Reincarnation is supposed to be a second chance," she muttered. "Not Dark Souls: Bug Edition."
But despite everything—being chased, nearly eaten, and internally melted by toxins—Aya had learned something. Several somethings, actually.
She sat up slowly, antennae twitching with purpose. "Alright. Time for today's takeaways."
📚 Lessons of the Day:
Lesson 1: Evolution is NOT easy.Just because you want to grow stronger doesn't mean the universe cares. No flashy power-ups. No convenient glow-ups. You have to earn it with blood, sweat, and way too many close calls with death.
Lesson 2: Not everything is edible.Especially if it smells like regret and old socks. If your food looks like it wants you to die, maybe… don't eat it.
Lesson 3: Some things will try to kill you from the inside.And you'll wish they just bit you instead.
Lesson 4: Even if you're not involved in a fight, you can still get dragged into it.Wasp. Spider. You. Doesn't matter who started it—just run. Always run.
Lesson 5: If you want to live in this world…You can't just survive. You have to adapt. You have to evolve—mentally. Even if your body's still a pathetic ant.
Aya sighed again, her body sinking into the dirt. "No flashy skill trees. No evolution screen. Just pain. And trauma. And bugs trying to bite my face off."
She flopped onto her side.
"If this world really has magic," she muttered to herself, "I better get some OP abilities soon… or I'm doomed."
But as the adrenaline wore off, a strange calm washed over her. A weird kind of peace. She was still alive. She'd faced poison, predators, and panic—and she was still breathing.
That had to count for something… right?
She wasn't strong yet.
But she was getting smarter.
And maybe, just maybe, surviving was a kind of progress.
For now—
She just needed to rest.
🐜 Extra: Aya's Bug Survival Guide (That She Keeps Failing At)
📖 Aya's Bug Survival Guide, Entry #1:Rule 1: Hide from predators.
✔ Step 1: Stay completely still.✔ Step 2: Blend in with surroundings.✔ Step 3: Don't make a sound.
❌ Outcome: Immediately gets spotted by a bird and chased across the forest.
"Okay, great start. Maybe this guide needs a rewrite."
📖 Aya's Bug Survival Guide, Entry #2:Rule 2: Only eat things you're sure are safe.
✔ Step 1: Identify slow, weak prey.✔ Step 2: Check for weird smells or glowy bits.✔ Step 3: Nom.
❌ Outcome: Accidentally eats a poison slug and nearly dies.
"Note to self: Just because it's slow doesn't mean it's safe. That's reverse psychology, you idiot."
📖 Aya's Bug Survival Guide, Entry #3:Rule 3: Avoid fights between bigger monsters.
✔ Step 1: Spot the battle early.✔ Step 2: Walk the other direction.✔ Step 3: Do not make eye contact.
❌ Outcome: Somehow becomes a third-party target and ends up being chased by both.
"I'm not even in the fight! Why am I being targeted?! This isn't a battle royale!"
Aya curled up in the darkness and yawned.
Today was terrible.
Tomorrow would probably be worse.
But she'd be ready.
Probably.
Maybe.
Hopefully.
"Please don't let there be snakes," she whispered before drifting into a twitchy, bug-sized sleep.