No sound can be heard around here, it's dead silent. The air is stale and the sunlight feels cold, this feeling only gets worse in the early morning. The swamp itself refuses to make noise, the murky water unnaturally still with no visible currents rippling on the surface, as though something heavy underneath is actively blocking water flow.

  There are no plants here, the trees are dead and no lily pads can be seen. Reeds? There's a large circle of reeds a few dozen meters away from me, it looked like a field of grass with the way it swayed. But also not really. It's imperceptible thanks to the distance but those are twitches, not swaying.

  Despite their numbers giving the illusion of something else, the lines in the distance aren't reeds, they're antennae.

  People say that the water here is dead, and in a sense, they would be right. There's no oxygen in this pool, proof of this is the occasional breaching of shells. The crayfish themselves don't rely on their gills anymore but instead breathe in air like they aren't water locked crustaceans.

  Here? No life other than the aberrants can survive. Not even microbial life can push through the general lack of oxygen in the water. It's an ecological dead zone.

  This is Aberrant Crayfish territory. It has multiple names with the most popular being "don't go here" but to me, I prefer to call this place the "exp farm".

  At least I did back when I was experiencing this world through a computer screen. Now I'm just hoping I succeed in killing my first crayfish.

  Right now I'm looking for a place where I can build my traps and it's not going well so far. The blueprint in my head had several requirements in order to build my trap, I had all of the items to make it but not the ideal location.

  I need a place with a lot of trees for one, not too spacious but just has enough for the crayfish to fit. My traps also need some breathing room so that they don't get tangled up with each other upon activation. And my blueprint needs traps. Plural.

  The contraption that I am making contains several individual traps, otherwise one might fail and I wouldn't be able to contain the crayfish properly. Possibly, I might even lose my life because of it.

  I rapped my knuckles on the trees of an area that my class is intuiting would be the ideal location. Now I just need to confirm if it is... But just like the last few times I did this, some of the trees were hollow, others brittle. Dead and easy to break.

  Can these hold down an Aberrant Crayfish? I doubt it. They'd break from me climbing up and down their trunk most likely, and that's a working hazard I don't want to risk since I have fish hooks in my backpack.

  I shuddered at the thought of me falling from a tree and getting tangled up and hooked by my own trap. Not a fun thought.

  Expectedly– and also unfortunately. – I had to go to the deeper parts of the forest to find what I needed, the location was not ideal because it was way too far from the crayfish.

  "If I want to lead one here, I'm gonna have to run. A lot." I dropped my backpack and groaned in relief. The change in location didn't stop me from making the trap but I am definitely not happy.

  Hooks and lines came and went, my backpack emptying by the minute. I utilized the various fishing reels that I got from the storage into a pulley so that I can haul a rock up into a branch, one thick enough to hold a stone several pounds in weight.

  The other reels are getting used for releasing the fishing lines, they'll spin and let loose if the crayfish struggles. The more the creature flails, the more it gets tied up, until eventually it can no longer move.

  And when the trap finally rests, the ropes that keep the rock on the branch will be too frayed and that's when it falls from the sky and bashes the crayfish on the head.

  This will expose its brain matter, allowing me to grab my spear and stab the immobile and vulnerable crustacean straight to the brain to kill it effortlessly!

  The ideal look of my trap would be this weird spider-web like structure full of ropes, fishing lines, and hooks. The ropes are there to keep everything together– with a good few being used to keep the crayfish down. – while the stronger fishing lines are the real traps.

  This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

  The hooks, while useless against the tough shell of the crayfish, are useful for holding everything in place. They're stuck to the treebark, gripping it tightly so that the contraption doesn't fall apart from the crayfish's flailing.

  It took me several hours to actually make the trap and it was noon by the time I finished. I figured I had around 3 hours or so before dad comes barreling in here with Howaph so I need to make this quick.

  I grabbed my bait– myself. – and threw on waterproof clothing, gloves and boots that have a resistance to slipping, to finish my get up I strapped my (dad's) trusty angler's hat to my head. I had crushed peppers in my hand, wrapped around a sheet of paper just in case I mess up.

  With a heavy breath, I walked back to where the aberrants were, picked up a rock, and threw it at the nearest crustacean to get its attention.

  "C-Chase after me you stupid fish!" Fish? Why did my voice crack?

  My heart was suddenly hammering against my rib cage and heat was climbing up my neck. My lungs refused to move, the same goes for my legs.

  My nose was feeling stuffy, it was hard to breathe but I kept myself focused, I needed to run when the time came. I can't just freeze in place and die from stupidity.

  The crayfish made keeping my cool really, really hard.

  What rose from the bog wasn't like your typical aberrant, hell, it didn't even look like a crayfish at all! It was this gigantic shelled creature with a segmented body that looks like a train, and four bulbous eyes on its beak-shaped head.

  The damn thing had four mandibles where its mouth is and the tip of its snout? Nose? Look, the crayfish had a pointy end to its head and guess what? It looks like a trident.

  And even while resting and half submerged underwater, its dozen legs have a powerful feel to them. You know, enough that if the oversized crab puts in the effort it could lunge forward and spear me.

  And that's not even mentioning its claws! There are two of them, typical for any crayfish but what separates these ones is not only their size, but also the fact that the area between the pincers are lined with these molar-like growths and I have seen the crayfish use them to "chew" prey with their claws.

  Prey such as human children, you know, like myself?

  I gulped and ran before the creature could even get out of the water. I knew how fast these things can move and I didn't want to take any chances. I headed for the trees, zigzagging despite knowing that the creature didn't need to see me in order to know where I am. Cutting its line of sight is good enough!

  But those antennae aren't just for show, they're powerful feelers that can sense prey for several meters, miles if they're underwater according to the lore.

  And oh yeah, the lore.

  Back in Firelight Chronicles, these things were easy to beat and I loved farming them. They were one of the best sources of exp.

  Now though? I don't know how the main characters didn't shit their pants after they see one of these things crawling towards them with the same speed as a car.

  Trees are such a god send, they're the best. I can't stress enough that without these things blocking the crayfish, I would be between two powerful pincers, my flesh would be turned to mush and I would get eaten.

  A fun thought!

  Food for thought!

  I gagged. Okay. Maybe not.

  I was breathing heavily, I was clutching the spice bag preparing for the worst when suddenly— Salvation. Holy fuckkkkkkkkkkkk!

  I couldn't even talk, I'm unable to let out a scream of triumph. My strained lungs didn't have a single ounce of air in them!

  I can't think straight anymore, I think I'm actually panicking, like, a lot. A lot- a lot!

  My stuffy nose no longer felt stuffy, I read somewhere before that the stronger your heart rate, the less your nasal veins will get clogged by stress. Why? I don't know! It may be fake for all I know! It's a random memory!

  I went through the open path between the trap– the one I set for myself – passing the trap and when I was beyond the threshold, I dared myself to look back.

  I flinched when a claw was about to reach me, I froze. Unable to move.

  It stopped several feet away from me and I realized what happened, I laughed. Laughed hysterically. Madly. Cackled like I never had before. My lungs hurt but I didn't care! It worked! It worked!!!

  I gave the crayfish the middle finger. Both hands.

  "Take that you oversized clam!" Are crayfish clams? I dunno. "You see this?! This is human ingenuity baby! I'm fucking smarter than you! Don't you ever forget that! You brainless ape!"

  Ape?

  I taunted the crayfish like I wasn't close to death several minutes ago, mocking it with my superior intelligence even though its lack of one probably meant it didn't understand what I was saying.

  But I didn't care!

  I pointed upward, but again, the crayfish was too dumb to understand my gesture. The moment was ruined but only for a second because the rock soon fell from the skies!

  The shell on its head cracked, the brain got exposed, and then I grabbed my spear.

  I walked towards the twitching creature, spear in hand.

  I stabbed its brain.

  [Level up! 4 > 7]

  I laughed like a madwoman.