This has to be a dream.
I thrashed around, trying desperately to wake up. But I didn't.
I had no choice but to accept that this was reality.
First, I was trapped in some kind of space.
The inside was filled with moisture, and a hard wall was blocking my movement.
I couldn't tell what kind of space it was just by looking. But it wasn't too difficult to figure it out.
[Green Gecko LV1]
HP: 7/7
MP: 3/3
This hard wall holding me back was a gecko's egg.
I had become a gecko.
It was unbelievable, but I had no choice but to believe it.
Of all the creatures in the world, why a lizard?
I would have been fine if I'd at least become a dinosaur.
They're cooler, for one, and I have some superficial knowledge about them. But I know almost nothing about lizards. A few YouTube videos I happened to see are the extent of my knowledge.
As if it had read my mind, something new appeared on the blue screen that I assumed was a status window.
[Green Gecko LV1] ▶View Details
View Details?
How do I use it?
'View Details.'
__________________________
[Green Gecko]
A lizard with a body length of about 15cm and a weight of about 70g.
It has fine setae on the soles of its feet, allowing it to easily cling to walls and ceilings.
__________________________
The description felt like it should have a footnote that said, "Source: Sea Wiki."
I wasn't exactly small—for a gecko, that is.
I felt tightly packed inside the egg. I must be a real prize baby.
Being big meant I was qualified to break out of the egg and go outside.
There was nothing to be gained by staying in this eggshell for long.
I used my head and hands to push against the shell.
There's a saying that the egg is a world.
It was a fitting metaphor.
For me, a gecko, the walls of the world were too high.
No matter how much I tapped with my small hands or pushed with my head, it wouldn't budge.
Still, I didn't give up.
If this worthless child shows they're trying this hard, surely a parent will respond.
Crack.
Thank you, Mother.
I squinted at the sudden influx of sunlight, only to realize that reptiles don't have eyelids and can't blink.
Phew, I'm finally out.
Once the egg was broken, I looked around.
It seemed I wasn't the first to hatch; there were other broken eggs scattered about.
But something was strange.
The eggs were clearly broken, but I couldn't see any of my siblings.
"Kigigik?"
Hearing a sound, I looked up and saw a creature incomparably larger than me.
[Oviraptor LV.10]
So my mother was an Oviraptor.
Hello.
I lowered my head slightly in greeting.
A strange feeling washed over me as I stood before a real, live dinosaur.
My heart pounded.
Was this excitement? Seeing a living, breathing dinosaur with my own eyes was a novel experience.
…But do reptiles' hearts even beat this fast?
In that moment, I had a vague inkling as to why my heart was racing.
I am not an Oviraptor.
I'm just a gecko.
Then who in the world is that dinosaur over there?
Oviraptor, Oviraptor.
The name was familiar.
'View Details!'
__________________________
[Oviraptor]
A dinosaur with a body length of about 1.6m and a weight of 20-40kg, discovered in the late Cretaceous period.
It preys on small animals, but true to its nickname, the "egg thief," its preferred food is the eggs of other animals.
__________________________
It was a creature I'd seen often in popular media.
The nickname "egg thief"…
Egg thief?
The way the Oviraptor was looking at me was strange. It wasn't the loving gaze of a mother looking at her newly hatched son, but the look of a predator eyeing its prey.
Did it help me break the egg just so it could eat the contents without the pesky shell?
No. That can't be right.
I am the fine offspring of an Oviraptor, and that dinosaur is my mother…
"Kieeeek!"
Fuck.
I have to run.
The moment I heard that roar, I knew what had happened to my siblings.
They were in its stomach.
I scrambled across the ground with my tiny feet.
I thought it would be hard to adapt to my newborn body, but perhaps it was instinct. I was able to flee faster than I expected.
"Kieek!"
But in the Oviraptor's eyes, it must have looked like a meaningless struggle.
Thwack!
Its claw slammed down on my tail. My tiny limbs were no match for its talons. I was completely stuck.
[Warning! HP is low!]
Is this how I die?
All that was left for me was to wait to become a meal for an Oviraptor.
No, this is so unfair.
What were my parents doing while I was in this mess?
Ah, right. My parents are probably geckos, too.
Is this how the gecko family gets wiped out?
[A skill is being granted as a Reincarnation Perk. Would you like to confirm?]
A skill?
Is that even a question?
Confirm!
「Tail Sever LV1」
Severs the tail!
Cost: 1 MP
This is what you call a skill?
True to its name, the skill description was also pathetic.
It wasn't something cool like, "Throws a spear to inflict physical damage."
No, this wasn't the time to complain.
Just being able to do something in a situation where I could do nothing was valuable enough.
'Tail Sever!'
The part of my tail pinned by the Oviraptor was cleanly severed.
And the moment my tail was cut, I gained incredible speed.
So much speed that I wondered if a body this small should even be able to move this fast.
Tat!
My small claws kicked off the ground. For a brief moment, I felt like I was flying. With that powerful leap, I put some distance between myself and the beast, then scrambled across the ground at full speed.
Pabababat.
I managed to create a good bit of distance from the Oviraptor.
That alone would have been enough for Tail Sever to do its job, but thankfully, its effect wasn't over.
Wiggle.
My severed tail twitched wildly, as if to announce it was still alive.
Wiggle, wiggle.
There was a high chance that the stupid dinosaur's brain wouldn't be able to comprehend the situation.
Still, it was too early to relax.
My tail wasn't even a mouthful for that thing.
The confusion wouldn't last long.
Once it came to its senses, it would be able to catch me in no time.
Even though I was faster now, the basic difference in our strides was enormous.
Ten of my steps wouldn't even equal one of its.
But there was still a path to survival.
A path only a gecko could take.
Pabababat!
I scurried up a tree at high speed.
It's common sense that geckos can climb trees.
The effect of Tail Sever was still active, so in an instant, I climbed high enough that the Oviraptor wouldn't be able to find me.
The Oviraptor searched here and there before giving up and returning to where it had been.
Wasting energy to find prey as small as me wasn't very efficient.
Tail Sever, I might have looked down on you, but you're a pretty decent skill.
It's a shame it's a one-time use, but since it saved my life once, I guess I broke even.
As I thought that, I looked at where my tail had been severed.
I couldn't believe my eyes.
The severed tail had begun to slowly grow back.
It wasn't a one-time use skill?
That was pretty good news.
If it weren't for the message that had popped up earlier, that is.
[Warning! HP is low!]
[Green Gecko LV.1]
HP: 1/7
MP: 2/3
Using Tail Sever hadn't consumed any HP.
The damage I took was entirely from when the beast stomped on me.
If I had timed it right and severed my tail just before it hit, I wouldn't have taken any damage.
Don't wild lizards cut their tails and run before they get attacked?
I flicked my slowly regrowing tail.
It moved without much trouble.
Judging by the speed of its growth, it seemed like it would be fully grown in a matter of minutes.
I glanced down from the tree.
It was a dizzying height. I could probably climb down the trunk without much issue, but I should hold off on that for now.
The presence of an Oviraptor meant there could be other dinosaurs.
Of course, I doubted dinosaurs like that would care about a small lizard like me, but I'd die if one just stepped on me. Until I found a better way, I had to live in this tree.
Besides, my HP was low right now.
I decided to focus on my current location.
I was on the branch of a large tree. There wasn't much space to hide, but given the height, I at least didn't have to worry about an Oviraptor attack.
There were plenty of leaves, so if I gathered a few to make a nest, it would serve as decent camouflage.
A plan began to form.
I don't know why I ended up here, but for now, survival is my top priority.
Right.
The survival journal of an isekai lizard begins now.
The beginning will be the most important part.
I moved between the branches, searching for a better spot.
I found a rather satisfactory place. The leaves were reasonably thick, and the branch was wider than the others. If the other spots were like 60-square-meter apartments, this one felt like it was about 80.
My body is small, so at least my house should be spacious.
Just as I was about to settle down, I sensed someone's presence.
I immediately snapped my head up.
A flame blazed. No, it was an intense red light that flickered so brightly it looked like a flame.
A spider with a brilliant pattern was staring me down with its eight red eyes.
Its torso was about the same size as mine.
But its legs were abnormally long. And it didn't have just two of those legs, but eight. The sharp fangs visible near its mouth looked incredibly threatening.
At a glance, it looked like a tiger spider.
But it seemed to be in a completely different league from an ordinary spider.
Why is a monster like that in my cozy tree branch house?
No, it looks scary, but I'm the one who overcame an Oviraptor.
I can easily handle a spider like that.
I focused my eyes, just as I had when I looked at the Oviraptor.
And then, what was invisible became visible.
[Nephila jurassica LV13]
The spider has a higher level than the dinosaur?
Please, just let me live.