Salvos (A Monster Evolution)

Chapter 2 - The Others

2. The Others

I saw the others for the first time. There were many of them, all grouped together and wandering mindlessly through the empty landscape. They stood out in the white background— their vibrant colors stood out in sharp contrast to the blandness of the landscape, making them almost seem inviting. But I did not approach.

I waited in the near distance, watching to see what they would do. There were all sorts of them— most of them like me, but with slight variations in their forms. One of them had black and yellow spots on its back, despite the rest of its writhing mass of a body being red in color.

Another one had only a single eye on its face instead of the two I had, with a pair of long protrusions right above it. And another one had multiple small protrusions at the bottom of its body, wiggling and moving in a way that somehow made it faster than the rest.

It almost reminded me of the rocks wrinkling the ground— we were all the same, only slightly different. Was I then just like a rock with absolutely no individual characteristics to me? Was I not special in any way? Somehow, the very thought of that terrified me.

At first, my interest had been piqued from encountering these other creatures, but now I wanted to run away from them. I had to be different. I had to have something that differentiated myself from the others!

I was just about to flee from the group of colorful beings that looked just like me when I remembered the words that resounded in my head when I was first born. No— I wasn't remembering the same words. It was different now, but I knew it was the words that defined me. And it was...

Salvos

Species: [Infant Demon]

Subspecies: [Demon Larva] - Lvl. 2

That was right. I had leveled up, which was why I was Level 2 now. But that wasn't why I checked my Status. I did it because I could use it to compare myself with the others. If I used [Identification] on them, would the results be the same just like with the rocks?

I was uncertain, but I had to know. I felt my entire body quiver as I focused on the nearest of the others— the one with the colored spots patterned throughout its body. I hesitated for a moment, however went ahead with activating my Skill anyway.

[Identification]!

The words appeared in my head: the information that described the being for what it was. My entire body tensed as I processed it all—

[Demon Larva - Lvl. 1]

I found my entire body sagging, feeling the tension that once held me disappear. This sensation, it was... relief? I wasn't entirely sure just yet what it was, but I liked the feeling. It was nice.

This Demon— [Demon Larva]?— or whatever it was, was evidently the same Species and Subspecies as me. And yet, I was higher leveled than it. It was different from the rocks which all produced the same results. There was a distinction between myself and the others. I was not an object, but a subject— just like I thought I was. And somehow, that thought calmed me down.

Wait, that means...

I carefully approached the group of Demons that had taken notice of me and were now just staring at me; some of them had a curious look on their face, almost as if they were waiting to see what I would do, while others seemed completely uninterested and were just following whatever the group was doing.

I got closer to them and began using [Identification] on each and every single one of them. I might have been unlike a rock in that I was unique, but I was not sure if that applied to these Demons too. Perhaps they might have all been the same, which in that case, meant they were just more rocks. That was almost the conclusion I came to where I checked the first three Demons.