It’s hard not to notice when you’re alive. In fact it often stands out quite clearly as a different state to death. Even so, our protagonist did struggle to understand exactly what kind of alive she was.

  She woke up into darkness, a body could be felt attached to her consciousness and even eyes to blink, but she could not see anything. This, as it would for most folk, set off a little bit of panic in her. Was I born blind? So I finally get reincarnated and it’s as someone blind? A blind baby!? Her thoughts raced.

  Quickly though, the panic faded as soon as it peaked, because her other senses kicked in. Dirt. I feel dirt. I’m in the dirt. She thought. At first, this did provide her some comfort, that is until more questions spawned. Wait. Why am I in the dirt? Did any of the legends state that humans are born in dirt? Truly, she seemed in a bit of a pickle.

  With much effort, the farmer girl managed to wriggle her body. She definitely had legs, but if she had arms she could not feel them. It was beginning to occur to her that she might not have been a normal human. There was also every chance that this dirt she felt was something entirely different and the fact she couldn’t feel any arms on her body meant that it was the more horrifying prospect. That she was still forming in her mothers womb.

  Either way, having half of one’s limbs missing was not her idea of a pleasant wake up. If it were my world I could at least check my stats. Odwiff always told me that other worlds didn’t have them. Her thoughts once again moved onto new subjects, unable to stay on any one topic in her excited state. Though. It wouldn’t hurt to check, surely?

  Somewhat surprised would be the best term to describe how the ex-farmer girl currently felt. She had just found out several surprising things and was having difficulty processing any of them. Number one, she had definitely been reincarnated, number two, it appeared to be in her own world again and number three it was as a Mushman.

  Mushmen were a common monster, even on her island home, generally docile and honestly, not too smart. The issue wasn’t the monster that she had been reborn as, but the fact that she had been reborn as a monster at all. She had never heard of such a thing, not in any historical book or tale from a friend. Does that make me completely unique? She wondered. Surely not? Though, just being born into the same world again seems strange enough.

  Even if the farmer-turned-Mushroom wanted to scream or complain or just ask why, she couldn’t. Despite having mouths, Mushmen could only squeak at the most, and that made it a tad difficult to communicate with other intelligent beings. All she could do for now was wait. So wait she did.

  On her second day, she looked back at her stats, which had not improved as of yet, but more importantly, she was so shocked about what she was, she didn’t take a moment to properly look at what she had. A unique skill. Something she did not have in her last life, something not many did. It had to be because of her unique situation, a human being reborn as a Mushroom monster. It looked like it was called ‘Mushroom Helmet’, so perhaps it just meant her head was… Tougher than most? That would explain why her defense seemed so much higher than her attack, as far as she was aware Mushmen were not considered an especially hardy species.

  Still, was that really that useful? Some of the less unique ones would probably prove more so. Tough stomach was likely something all Mushmen had as despite their appearances they could eat anything if they needed to, including meat. Then there was night vision, which would just be useful.

  Her skills in her past life had not transferred, she honestly wasn’t sure how it would work going back to the same world. Though she had always been pretty tough, perhaps that was what influenced the unique skill she had been born with? No one could truly know how the Gods think.

  Irritatingly, she could not test any of these skills out in her current predicament, unless she wanted to quite literally eat dirt. She had also looked at all there was to look at when it came to her stats, so there was nothing else to do, but be born. She had no idea how long it would be until that happened.

  The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

  Days passed by, then a week, then nearly two, until finally, something changed and it changed fast. She had felt her body grow, checking her stats periodically to confirm it as she had literally nothing else to do and that’s when it happened, as soon as she grew to one and a half foot there was suddenly a quite literal pop and then, sunlight.

  As she had no arms to cover her eyes, the Mushling had to close them to protect herself from the blinding light. A searing red on the edge of her vision that slowly dissipated. ‘Squeek!’

  An adorable noise made her open them once again, albeit slowly. Standing in front of her were two more Mushmen, around four feet tall, with red caps, white spots and pale cream bodies. Forest Mushmen, just like her. Which probably meant they were her parents.

  ‘Squeeak?’ she sounded out a noise. A noise that was meant to be questioning whether or not they were her parents. If anything it at least served as proof that she could, in fact, not talk. Which irritated the tiny mushroom creature to no end.

  The two adorable creatures began to hop up and down, excited about the birth of their child. After taking in their adoring looks, our protagonist began to observe the surroundings.

  They were in a forest, with her birthplace being a raised mound of dirt with a single tree reaching out of it. This tree, like every other around them, was impressively large. Some more so than others. There were those that were wide enough that they could contain a small cottage. Ancient giant beasts that must have been older than any other living thing in the forest. There was just enough light shooting through the canvas to make it all rather pleasant. ‘Squee- squeak?’

  She refocused her eyes on the Mushmen who both looked at her curiously, she had just been sitting still not making another sound. Perhaps that was odd for her species? She had met plenty of Mushmen in her life. Not just docile, most breeds were incredibly affectionate, caring for their young right until they die, usually around a meagre five years for the forest variety. Then, the children just carry on the cycle, blissfully unaware of their short stint on this fragile soil. So that was something she had to contend with now. She may have been reborn, but it would be a remarkably short lived victory if she didn’t do something about it. At the very least she could be happy that she was born a Forest Mushman and not a Plains, they were known to be the weakest of the species.

  With a squeak she began to struggle to drag the rest of her body out of the hole she was born in. Her parents were now kicking into action to assist her. They used their teeth on her crown and pulled as she kicked her legs. Generally, that should have hurt, but she felt fine. She did spot a unique skill when she looked at her stats but didn’t think much about it. It was called [{Mushroom Helmet}] if she recalled correctly.

  After a minute there was another pop and a burst of dirt and finally, she was out of her birthing hole. Her cute parents jumped up and down with joy, happy squeaks and dancing stubs for feet.

  It was strange, she already felt quite a bit of affection for her parents, she couldn’t communicate with them and had only just met them, but it was almost built in, a part of her very nature. Perhaps there was something built into the very structure of the Mushmen that made them so affectionate.

  As her mind wandered once again, her two parents had already set off. Where? She had no idea, but she hopped to catch up, which wasn’t easy. Even after growing she still stood tiny, every tree hulked next to her, even the leaves and bushes dwarfed her. To add to that, even though her stats had grown, she was still weak, very very weak. It had to be the child of one of the weakest species in the world that she had woken up as.

  There were positives to being a Mushman of course, the main reasons the species had managed to live so long despite seeming so contrary. First predators generally avoided them, as they weren’t entirely meat or entirely mushroom, so they were kind of a desperate last resort. Also, Mushmen were one of the most popular pets and the first choice for many aspiring monster tamers, so a lot of them just ended up domesticated anyway.

  The family walked past a family of small wolves, she wasn’t aware of the particular breed. Though, just as expected, they may have looked up, but they didn’t care.

  She had no idea where they were going, if they were even going anywhere. This may have been a slow and simple life, but she wasn’t just another normal Mushman. Though she may have already become fond of her new parents, she didn’t want to stick around them forever, even if she was oddly comfortable in a Mushman's body, deep inside she was still human. The ex farmer missed having arms, and the ability to talk and even the ability to survive a small fall. She had to evolve and that would be hard to do if she just stuck to following these two around.

  One benefit that she did have, was that Mushmen were very quick to evolve, it was just that they so rarely fought in the wild so most would never evolve. They also have one of the broadest ranges for evolution. So at least she would have plenty of choice, hopefully one of which would give her back more functionality.

  A small yawn escaped her tiny lips. It had only been a few hours since she had awoken, but apparently that was enough. What am I, a child? How am I already tired… Oh wait, I am a child. A newly born child. Her heart grumbled. Is this really all I’m capable of right now?

  ‘Squeak?’ The smaller of her parents looked at her, tilting their little head. She assumed this one was her mother, which would make the other her father. They stopped completely now and looked at each other. Reaching a silent understanding, Mother now pushed her against a large tree trunk and snuggled up to her, rubbing her cheek against her child's. The Father, who watched on, turned around and disappeared into a bush, coming back moments later with a mound of moss in his mouth. He dropped a chunk in the Mothers mouth, and one in the daughters, then squeezed in on the child's free side against the trunk, keeping her warm.

  Our farmer-turned-mushroom looked at both of her parents, feeling their warmth as they both munched into their meals. Neither even hesitated to stop the moment she yawned, there was still light out, but she couldn’t help but be touched.

  Though they were both wide awake, her poor small body couldn’t hold out. The sun beamed on them with a soft warmth, not too far in the distance, down a small slope was a gentle stream with a few small monsters darting around. She felt the touch of dreams close her eyes as she let the world fade. For now at least, she found herself very comfortable. Still confused, but comfortable.