Truth be told, joining some tournament created by sadistic gods was not on my checklist that day. Or any day, ever.

  It began like any other, with me waking up like I always did - pissed off. Looking around, I took in all the colors of the ocean, frowning at its majesty. Don’t get me wrong, it was a sight worth waking up to, it just lacked one simple thing; blood. Specifically, the blood of my enemies. Who was my enemy? Well, in the depths of the ocean, everyone was. None of the cretin here could oppose me, of course - a Peacock Mantis Shrimp had no true enemies. Only victims.

  I left the crook in between the rocks that I slept in, using my whole body to wiggle out, and went out to find myself some breakfast. Stray beams of sunlight penetrated deep into the ocean, alighting my path. Not that I needed it - my vision was good enough to not need light- but I still liked the colors it brought to life.

  A few minutes of walking on the ocean floor brought me to a perfect place. This was it - I found myself a nice and cozy hunting burrow, hid myself, and prepared for the hunt.

  Now came the waiting part. One would think that I’d get bored by sitting in hiding spots for hours on end, but honestly? I kinda liked it. My brain wasn’t even large enough to get bored, and I liked waiting for the unlucky creatures that would just happen to fly a bit too close to the sun. The sand covered my body almost completely - My gorgeous chitin made me a bit too conspicuous, and so I had to hide like a burglar. But I’ve long gotten used to the injustices of being beautiful.

  Something moved. I darted out with a punch!

  …

  It was a damn piece of plastic. Could not eat that, sadly.

  I went to burrow myself back, but something moved once again. I shifted my eyesight and barely swam out of the way on time. A king crab, huge and monstrous, just attacked the place I was in moments ago.

  How dare he? Attack me? This “king” clearly had no idea who he was messing with! I swam close, my smashers ready to obliterate him. His other claw suddenly swooped up, and grabbed my whole body. Hey! Not cool!

  My chitin held on under the press, cracking in several spots but not giving in completely. I knew it would hold - it always did. Pain shot throughout my body, but I held on, waiting for an opportunity that I knew would come. This wasn’t even the first creature that was ten times my size that thought I’d be an easy meal, and this would end just like the others did.

  The dumb crab then brought me to its mouth, ready to eat me. He truly had no idea who he was attacking. I wiggled myself in the claw, doing my best to turn toward the mouth.

  A small nudge. Another. I continued moving, the moment almost slowed-down in my mind. I was just at his mouth now, the maw opening right in front of me.

  Good enough!

  I punched. And the crab shook. His mouth, transformed, broke into small parts and swam in all directions. The flesh around it was burned from just the attack itself. That showed him! He let go a little, and this meant I could cook him properly now. I swam even closer, and punched again. A hole replaced his fleshy, non-chitinous parts, and he hovered in the ocean, dead. Lovely. I adored the fact that my lunch sometimes served itself and walked right to me.

  I came closer, fully intending to eat my fill. And then a voice talked in my head.

  This one will do, &!/@?(#

  What the hell was that? I looked around for the source of the weird sound. Who dared disrupt my meal? Was it another meal that chose to walk up to me? Oh, that would be your last mistake, buddy!

  And then, out of nowhere, my body started disappearing into motes of light.

  I didn’t get scared, okay? And I didn’t run around because I failed to understand the phenomenon that was happening to me. Definitely not!

  The lights were barely frightening. A nuisance, really!

  No, I started running around because I was searching for an opponent to fight! Who dared attack my magnificence? I was a mantis shrimp, and I would tolerate this affront no longer!

  And what was this, anyway? The lights did not hurt, but it definitely wasn’t natural.

  As quickly as it started, the light stopped, and I became something else.

  If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it.

  Player #803 521 has been selected.

  Species: Peacock Mantis Shrimp

  Moving to the staging area.

  ETA until tutorial: 2 minutes

  I woke up.

  I wasn’t like before, when I lived in the ocean. I had actual sapient thoughts.

  I tried opening my eyes, just to realize that they were already open. What was this darkness, then? It was so ugly!

  Only a minute ago, I was just doing my daily hunting, trying to catch some prey, and then I’m suddenly here! I was floating in the middle of nowhere, and there was nothing underneath or above me, as if I were in a void. Would I be stuck here for long? It looked so dull, especially compared to the colors of my home, the expanse, the… ocean. Alien knowledge started flooding my mind, knowledge that I’ve had no way of getting before. Not that my mind had much of a capacity for knowledge anyway.

  I have been alive for quite some time already, I realized quickly, but I was never awake. Wait, what even was this thing? Thinking? Words? I recognized the concepts for some reason, but these things were completely alien to me. I’ve begun thinking in a different way compared to how I did before. It was weird how the memories flooded in. The bottom of the blue expanse, the place that I called home. The hunts I’ve done, the scraps I’ve been through. All the memories returned to me, but it was as if I was watching them through a spectator’s viewpoint. They were my memories, but not truly, not the memories of the me that was awake now. How fascinating.

  I’ve realized that even the way I’ve been thinking until now has been completely alien, something called "language", spoken by… some weird things that lived above the ocean. That stopped me for a while.

  Above the ocean?

  I had the knowledge now. The knowledge about how the ocean was just one of the ways a being could live. Never in my... maybe around one year(?) of life has something so ridiculous, so amazing occurred to me. I didn’t have many complex thoughts, sure, but this was completely different. The knowledge of how many types of creatures walked the land was amazing. It was like my mind was already used to the information. As if my brain took this information for granted. I now even realized what my species was: A Peacock Mantis Shrimp. Truly an amazing name, for an amazing creature. I found it fitting. My new knowledge told me that these peacocks weren’t that shabby themselves. However, they weren’t apex predators, like I was. I’d have to teach them how to dominate the land if I ever saw one.

  I tried moving my legs, just to find most of them missing. What was this now? Where were my legs? I could feel a pair of them, but where were the others? Panicking, I tried moving my smashers, instead finding weird appendages with five smaller things on the end. My now enhanced mind made the connection immediately.

  A human body? But why? I was already the most perfect creation of the ocean, a being without rival. I’d have to have a talk with whoever decided to play this prank on me. Not even thinking about how I’ve never tried anything like it before, I tried talking, discovering that I couldn’t open my weirdly shaped mouth. This whole charade was weird.

  A booming voice broke the silence, my new ears taking in the noise. I instantly registered this as a human voice. The way they repeated their long words was unique to them. If it was a female or a male voice, I could not tell. Perhaps that would come with experience? I had to remember that this was how my thoughts worked now, too. How did the creatures above the water even tolerate so much noisiness? My eyes shifted towards a blue, glowing box that was now in front of them, finally breaking the darkness that surrounded me.

  Hello, dear players!

  We’re very pleased with the turnout rate for this tournament. Just above 8 million players is incredible, and we are all looking forward to seeing you quirky little creations in action. And by that, of course, we mean you, animal species of Earth! I’m sure you all have many questions about your new forms and about what’s going on, but worry not! All will be explained in a short while.

  What you do need to know is that you are now players in Exercia, the tournament of gods. Congratulations! You, yes you, have been picked by intelligent beings from your home planet who decided that you were powerful enough for this tournament. Okay, intelligent might be stretching it a bit. But we mean humans, of course. They have been presented with a choice of picking an animal, and you were all selected, so take pride in your species!

  The beings that selected you for this process will, from now on, be referred to as guides, and will be your spiritual companions until you reach the end of the tournament. They do not get to play, sadly, but they do get to view this whole thing as our overseers! Your lives will be linked once the tournament starts. In other words, your life depends on them, so treat them nicely! These guides will have additional information about the next steps in your journey, and will hopefully be in their best state to get you to the grand finale! For any other questions, rule explanations, or any other things we can’t be bothered to answer, please refer to your guides for answers. Hopefully, they have been studying the rules hard enough to get you your victory!

  That did not surprise me. Anyone with a functioning brain would obviously pick a mantis shrimp as the best fighter. Even now, with my knowledge of the world, I could not think of a better fighter. Maybe hippos, but I found their visage rather discomforting. Who decided to make beings of such malice so… round?

  As for the motivation for you cutesy little animals, there is a grand prize! The winners of the tournament, and yes, that’s plural on purpose, will be granted a sliver of divinity, the key to molding your very own planet! Yes, you can rule your own little kingdom. As for your guide, they will be rewarded handsomely too, so it’s in your best interest to cooperate.

  Welcome to the first game! Now, go on! It’s time to LEVEL UP!

  Level up? I have not yet taken my first steps in this weird, two-legged body, and they already want me to scale up human structures? I REALLY needed to talk with… whoever this was. Too bad my mouth still refused to work. I’d also need to ask about what exactly a "player" was, exactly. My knowledge, it seemed, didn’t go that far.

  The message disappeared as quickly as it appeared, and the darkness around me started receding. A landscape, nothing like I’d ever seen before, started gradually appearing all around me, beauty where a void was just seconds ago. I watched with wonder, trying to take it all in.

  And then, for the first time in my life, I took in a breath of fresh air.