Slowly stirring from yet another deep slumber hatchi used his mana sense to check out the sides of his body where he thought the new glide flaps would be. For the first time, Hatchi couldn't find his new upgrade! He scanned over his sides curiously before deflating with sadness as he couldnt spot a thing! He began flailing his small worm body in frustration at not immediately getting his way as he had been for the last.. however long he'd been down here.
Eventually he stopped throwing a tantrum and made his way out of the small cave he'd built, and into the main cavern lined with holes peering into that huge underground world. His small body slithered along the floor in an almost snake like way until he found a hole acting as a path leading down into the massive cavern below. It looked somewhat dangerous, the drop directly down was maybe three or four hundred meters and the path was steep.
Either way he had to progress, and this was the first interesting thing he'd seen that hadn't instantly tried to kill him! So he wiggled his little worm body down the long hole, moving on rock wasnt as pleasant as moving through dirt. It snagged on his somewhat delicate skin rather than warmly and wetly embracing it like his beloved dirt did. The rock had sharp "cliffs" that were only a couple foot tall drops, but difficult for someone as small as him to manage. The first was the hardest, but after a couple he managed to get the hang and really start moving!
The little tunnel down occasionally had gaps in the rock to peer through, and of course he did. This cavern continued to amaze him with its size, it was dimly lit all over by large clusters of mana crystals with strange trees and plants growing from the soil below them. There were small mountains and fairly large lakes, the trees and plants swayed with a wind he couldnt feel quite yet.. and potentially other things he might not want to see. Either way he had to continue, and so on the little worm went.. down.. down down.
He had made it around three quarters of the way when he began to feel incredibly hungry, there was no dirt or mana crystal around him, only rock. He could technically eat it but.. it honestly hurt and tasted awful! Since arriving in this world he'd never gone this long without eating.. but it didnt matter much, he would have to power through.
Hours or days passed, he honestly wasn't sure since being underground badly messed with his sense of time. But finally, he arrived at the bottom of the little tunnel and his grand entrance to the huge cavern! Long green grass with a bluish tint swayed before him, it was thin and thickly clustered together but he was just tall enough to see over it.
He slithered forward, the smooth grass caressing his slimy skin as he took a couple bites of the grass. It was okay, didnt taste as good as dirt but didnt taste as bad as rock! The experience he gained from eating it seemed to be fairly high as well! Not as much as the mana crystal but still!
Hatchi continued to explore, investigating the trees, huge and old and twisting in strange patterns. Amidst the trees he spotted little amphibians and bugs, working hard on tasks he didnt know of, yet they seemed very diligent. Amongst the trees was also a lake that he decided to slither closer to.
It's surface was clear, revealing flowering plants, tadpoles, and swaying kelp. Swaying.. alot actually. Hatchi's skin crawled and he jumped just as a huge fish broke the still surface with a violent lunge at him. He flung himself backwards as the large fish bit down on his tail taking a good portion of it clean off his already little body! The wound stung terribly, but the fish seemed sated and flopped back into the water. It was a gorgeous thing really.. if he was big enough to not be endangered by the fish it would be pretty cool! But.. if there were fish, then surely the trees concealed bigger things that ate the fish, which wiuld also want to eat him if he was bigger. So perhaps it was a mercy his big predators were small, stupid ones.
The little worm pulled himself away frome the pond to a tree, he began to eat away at dirt between the roots. Hatchi really needed somewhere safe to rest, as time passed his body felt heavier and heavier. Having a chunk tipped off really took alot out of him!