《Somnium》 Maps ========================================================================================== This is the spot where all the maps from the story will be put, I hope you enjoy. I may be including other Images on here as needed, otherwise they will be placed within the chapters they are required in.This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it Ria''s Valley Spoiler: Spoiler ========================================================================================== 1- Cold
======LOGGING IN NEW PLAYER========================================== TIMESTAMP: 140030:30:8:32 ID_11011231884423:Rianna:Greyforth:24:loc:-22.6874 138.578198:24/5/2016:ACC_FALL:0 =================================================================
player_Trawl_Pickup: ----------------100% player_Cache_Check: ---------------------------------100% player_Mental_Status: -----------------------------------------------------------------------------100% player_Initial_Login: 100% Mehelthai: Bio and MHReport added to ID_11011231884423 Rianna Greyforth player_Awaken: 1 player_Apply_Profile: Explorer player_Initial_Spawn: ID_11011231884423 ======LOGGING IN COMPLETE============================================
Chapter 1 Cold Ria Ria sat up, a sudden blast of adrenaline coursing through her veins. Flailing her arms, Ria looked about with wide eyes. A gust of freezing wind whipped across her face, ice crystals spattered her cheeks with cold wetness. Snow, dark rocks and towering mountains surrounded her. A dark grey blur was all she could see of the sky. Standing shakily, Ria found herself looking out over a narrow valley. Below a dark river snaked through a large pine forest. The whole valley was blanketed in thick snow, in places even the river seemed to disappear beneath it. Somehow the landscape seemed to have a primal, vibrant wildness to it. The trees seemed bigger, the mountains taller. It was different from anything she had experienced before back home. Home? What the hell is going on? Where am I? A strange dissonance seemed to come over her. This was not where she had been just moments ago, yet here she stood in a blizzard on a frozen mountainside. Her vision began to dim around the edges. She stumbled, suddenly off-balance as a wave of dizziness flooded her senses. Vertigo gripped Ria, with a moan of fear and pain she collapsed onto her side. Curling into a ball, she began to whimper as she clutched at her head. Hot needles drove their way through her brain. Shocks of pain rippled through her body as she cried out. Memories came flooding back to her. The faces of friends and family passed by rapidly in a procession. The last few days, travelling in her car, climbing the rocky trail. Falling, rushing trees and a cliff. Realisation suddenly made her eyes blink open. I¡¯m dead. I fell. Oh¡­ shit. A burning ache finally reached Ria as she lay in the snow. She gasped, the cold was so intense, her hands and teeth were already beginning to chatter. I need to get out of this wind, come on pull it together. Rising slowly to her feet, Ria spotted an axe next to her, a simple wooden thing. Picking it up made her feel more grounded, more secure. She noticed her clothes were different, her light shorts and t-shirt had been replaced by thick winter gear. It looked primitive, constructed of fur and hide with wool undergarments. A backpack lay nearby, so she shrugged it on. Noticing a thick scarf and hood, Ria pulled those up too and looked down towards the forest. It seemed like the best chance at survival in this cold. The hike was difficult, wading through drifts, climbing boulders and constantly falling over. She yelped in fear when an invisible fallen tree-limb hooked her foot, landing her smack on her face in the snow. Motherfucker my nose! Cursing internally at herself. Ria looked up and realised she had reached the edge of the forest. Huge trees towered over her, from afar they looked like ordinary pines, but now they more closely resembled giant redwood trees. The trunks were massive and the lowest branches were far above her head. Staring up at the sheer size of the trees and stumbling as a result. She began moving deeper into the forest. Everything became muted, the sounds of her boots crunching through the snow seemed softer. Ria began looking for a spot to finally check the pack she had lugged down off the mountain. A large rock leaning against one of the tree trunks provided both the shelter and a table for the operation. The pack contained several blocks wrapped in wax paper, some kind of soup stock. A wooden box with tightly stacked biscuits. She bit a corner of one, it was bland, hard and a little salty. Chewing the rest of the bland dry biscuit and swallowing it with difficulty. Ria continued to search the pack. There was a wrapped roll of canvas, it looked like it had been treated with some kind of oil or resin. A small bundle of sticks was tied in a string with a little wooden box tucked into the stack. Sliding the little box open, Ria saw some bark shavings in a little pile along with what had to be a flint and steel. Tucked under the flint and steel was a small paper packet containing needles, thread, and some fishing hooks. The pack now thoroughly searched, Ria re-packed it with difficulty. Thinking of the various uses for her gear, she noted that she had the makings of shelter, fire, an axe and fishing tools. Ria was not sure who or what had done this to her, nor why she was in this place. A strange feeling made her think some time had passed before her appearance in this place. One thing was fairly certain, however, she had been equipped to survive in the cold environment, but not with everything she might need. No fishing rod, no blanket, and no pot or pan. Not even a simple knife. Why some, but not all? The thought made her pause, looking back the way she had come suspiciously. A creaking branch broke her from her thoughts.The author''s narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. Looking about Ria noticed a definite drop in the light levels. Shit. She had to get some kind of shelter and warmth or this could get bad. Making her way deeper into the forest. The thick piles of snow reached her waist in places, making her trip on hidden logs and rocks. It was hard painful work, and she swiftly began to tire even as the temperature fell. With darkness rapidly approaching and the freezing wind returning in force, she stumbled into a sheltered hollow. It was formed from a pile of dead trees, which leaned against a large boulder. The resulting natural lean-to had left a deep, but narrow sheltered gap, where no snow could reach. Shaking with cold and sniffling with pent-up emotions, she crawled inside. The relief she felt at no longer being in the biting wind brought icy tears to her eyes. She practically collapsed with exhaustion. Her eyes began to drift closed. So tired¡­ I can rest for a bit¡­ No! Don¡¯t sleep! Something deep inside her, some instinct screamed in her mind. She tried to push it aside, it was too cold. The pain and weakness in her limbs was beyond anything she had ever experienced in her life. You¡¯re Dying! WAKE UP! The insistent voice screamed deep within. With a grunt of determination, she opened her eyes. She rolled over and shrugged off the pack and set about building a fire. Something she had done plenty of times before in her life, but never had she been forced to build a fire or die. Her hands shook from both fear and the cold as she struggled with the fire kit. Ria began building it right near the entrance to her shelter. Once the pyramid construction of the fire was built, she used her unfeeling hands to strike a spark on the small pile of wood shavings, pushing them into its core. It took way longer than she liked, but she kept dropping the flint. Ria watched carefully as the fire licked into life on the dry wood fuel. Sitting back Ria started drifting again. No, you can¡¯t relax, it''s not done yet! The voice inside continued it¡¯s complaining. With a groan, Ria staggered to her feet and grabbed the axe. Shuffling out into the freezing darkness, the wind sprinkled her exposed skin with a flurry of stinging particles. She could barely see more than a few meters ahead. Stumbling into the darkness, she somehow managed to find both fallen branches and skinny dead trees. Using her axe she broke them into conveniently sized pieces and dragged them back to the shelter. Each trip, however, saw her moving further and further from the guiding light of the fire in search of fuel. Swinging her axe clumsily, Ria chopped the branches from the dead tree trunk, the axe bounced and jarred her hands painfully. It took several swings to remove each branch. The work was hard, and she found herself beginning to sweat from the exertion. The feeling had returned to her hands from the hard work, but her feet still felt like blocks of ice. She gathered the final branch from the fallen tree and dragged the pile back before returning for the tree. The fierce cold made her teeth chatter violently and she found herself shivering violently. Somehow it was penetrating the many layers of her winter clothing. She found the tree again and picked up the end to drag it back to the shelter, but the snow and darkness made finding the fire impossible. Ria found herself stumbling aimlessly as she dragged the tree about searching for the firelight. Confusion set in and Ria couldn¡¯t remember which direction the shelter was in. Where is it? Did it go out? Her thoughts became jumbled as she tried to remember something. Did what go out? She blinked in confusion. Ria awoke, it was dark and freezing. She could not breathe and rose, gasping from the snow in confusion. What happened? Where am I? It''s so cold! Her thoughts were sluggish and confused. I was doing something and I was so tired. An inner voice filled with heat and desperation yelled loudly in her mind. FIRE! GO! With a gasp of fear, Ria realised she had somehow fallen asleep in the snow. She looked around desperately for the shelter in the pitch dark. There, a tiny pinprick of firelight, Ria waded through the snow and fell shivering into the shelter. Unable to move her arms or legs properly she was forced to worm her way inside. The fire was guttering, the flames just licking at the remaining branches. Ria desperately grabbed at sticks from the stack against the wall. Fumbling with numb fingers and stiff limbs. ¡°Oh please don¡¯t go out. Not now! Stay with me you bastard!¡± Ria hissed between her chattering teeth. Slowly she fed it and let it build until she was able to put a few thicker branches on and get some coals going. Ria realised something wasn¡¯t right as the temperature around her rose with the flames, somehow she was still cold. Her eyes widened. Fuck, the sweat, there''s ice in my clothes! Digging into her backpack with her numb hands, she fumbled out the canvas sheet. Using the thin cord it was bound with to help rig it across the entrance of the shelter. It didn¡¯t fit perfectly and she struggled with the knots using her unfeeling fingers, but eventually, she managed to rig it across the gap. Frantically she stripped, taking off the wet underclothes, which seemed more damp than frozen. She had never stripped and then dressed so fast in her life before. The furry outer clothes were on again in seconds, while the wool garments were now hanging from the logs above. Ria finally sat back against the boulder and fed more wood into the fire. Ria felt the air warm, the shivering and teeth chattering was receding, but her extremities were still numb, which was not a good sign. Searching the back of the lean-to, Ria found some large rocks which she brought over and began heating in the fire. Once the rocks were toasty, hot, she took off her gloves and boots. Her hands and feet were a pallid bloodless white colour. She carefully warmed her feet and hands, first with the fire and then with the hot rocks. Once some warmth had returned to them, she massaged them vigorously to get blood back into them. Stop being lazy, stupid hands, you¡¯re not allowed to get sleepy and there is no way I can afford medical insurance in this place if you get frostbit. The feeling returned to her extremities with some of the worst pins and needles she had ever experienced. Ria took the time to dry out her wool socks and placed the boots by the fire. The cold was still biting and her teeth still chattered as she hugged her knees. Crowding right up to the fire, getting her core as close as possible to the life-giving fire. Long into the night, Ria fed the fire and guarded it like a mother duck guarding her young. Her mind wandered as she looked into the flames, not thinking on anything in particular. She had no energy to think of anything but the fire. She imagined shapes and buildings from the burning coals. She made tiny bets with herself, about which bit of coal would fall first and so on. The wind died down a little outside and Ria was forced to make a trip out to look for more firewood. This included a fruitless search for the axe she had lost somewhere out in the snow. It had been covered and the only way she might find it is if she walked over it. Without an axe, Ria was forced to drag fallen branches and logs up to the entrance of the lean-to and snap what she could with her knee. Ria decided that if she got desperate, she could just drag up a log and slowly feed it into the fire as it burnt. By the time Ria had a comfortable stock of wood, she was getting cold again and quickly curled up over the fire once more. Using the rocks to warm her extremities. An idea formed, and once one of the rocks had cooled down sufficiently, she tucked it up under her clothes against her belly. It felt better than a hot water bottle, and she sighed with relief as she warmed up. Ria drifted off to sleep, still curled protectively beside the fire. It was not a deep sleep, filled with dreams of falling and cold. Ria found herself periodically starting awake, to check on the fire. Sometime near dawn, something woke Ria, she rubbed her dry eyes as she tried to orient her brain to being awake. She had heard something, but after no further noises occurred, Ria¡¯s tired eyes sagged shut again, and she slept, the fire burning merrily beside her. Outside, eyes watched the smoke rising from next to the boulder. The air was sampled for scent, hot steaming breath pierced the frigid air. Ears twitched and swivelled to face a distant sound, the eyes turned away. The prey could wait, the others called. 2- Snail
================================================== SOMNIUM V1.0 SERVER LOG:0804:08/04/2038 LOG START ================================================== //Test Notes - Mike //testing phase 5, 300 long term immersion subjects for 1 month //test goals realism and immersion fine tuning //age simulation, respawn fixes and lag improvement
Memory Check - OK Hardware Block 1 - OK Hardware Block 2 - OK Hardware Block 3 - OK Time Sync - OK Backup Storage - OK Backup Cache - OK Main AI Array - OK Neural Net Integrity - OK Gateway Services - OK Compression Services - OK Sub AI Array 1 - OK Sub AI Array 2 - OK Sub AI Array 3 - OK Core Process Checksum - OK Networking - OK Final Sanity Check - OK =============================================== STARTING LOGIN SERVICES :0832:08:04:2038 =============================================== >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> 100% =============================================== STARTING WORLD SYSTEMS - Let there be light! =============================================== SERVER STARTED SUCCESSFULLY :0841:08:04:2038
Chapter 2 Snail Ria Ria groaned with pain as her awareness returned, her body ached with pain. Arms, legs, back everything felt like she had torn muscles or bruised bones. Despite this Ria¡¯s lips quirked in a slight smile as she realised she had survived the night. The fire was still crackling softly but was down to a bed of coals at this point. Stiffly Ria stood and gathered more branches, using them to bolster the fire. Strangely the shelter was actually almost toasty warm, outside it was a little chilly but without the wind, it was much easier to deal with. Looking around the shelter for something to do that didn¡¯t include going outside. Ria settled on going through her backpack again. It was mostly empty other than her food supplies with the campfire kit and tarp removed. Her stomach growled plaintively at her as she held up the box of biscuits. The soup stock was almost useless, as hard as concrete. Without a pot to boil it in, there was no easy way to eat it. Ria started munching on a few of the dry biscuits as she tried to formulate something with the tools she had. Tools¡­ Fuck, My axe! With a start, Ria frantically looked around the inside of the cave only to find that the axe was missing. Shit, it was too dark and I was using it to get wood. It must be out there somewhere. Under the snow. Fuck. Ria moved to the entrance and looked out to see if the axe was nearby. No such luck. With a dismayed sigh, Ria pushed the flap fully aside and headed out trying to find the invaluable tool. It was bright in mid-morning sunshine, the ground sparkled with snow crystals even under the cover of the trees. Shuffling about in the snow, Ria tried to figure out where the axe might be. It took a good hour before she spotted it, leaning against a fallen tree where she must have left it in the dark. The overnight snow had covered everything in a thick layer making her tracks vanish. Only the deep furrows from the dragged logs showed some evidence of her activities. Dusting the snow off her recovered axe. Ria decided it might be a good idea to stock up on wood while it was still easy to see. So she spent the next couple of hours chopping up logs and gathering branches. Thankfully the pile of dead trees around the boulder was large. It looked like the giant boulder may have slid down into the valley from the mountainside above. The resulting snag of trees would provide a decent amount of wood. Thankfully most of them seemed like immature versions of the massive trees which populated the rest of the forest. After stocking up the woodpile, Ria set about reinforcing her shelter and making it a bit more habitable. Branches and logs were slid in to reinforce the lean-to and to fill a few gaps to keep the warmth in. Ria also gathered a few leafy dense branches and made a nest to sleep on, all of the activity on top of her efforts yesterday quickly sapped her strength. Her aching muscles made any activity painful and the cold was not really helping much. Eventually, she was forced to take a break. Ria sat considering the block of concentrated soup stock while she stoked the fire up a bit more. Biting off a corner revealed a waxy salty chunk which slowly dissolved in her mouth. In a pinch, she could probably eat the stuff but yeah, it would doubtless be not a fun experience. It really needed to be boiled in water or something. The salty taste in her mouth soon had her shovelling a few handfuls of snow into her mouth to slake her thirst. She was already getting sick of eating snow, it was cold and sometimes gritty. She decided to take it easy today and just focus on gathering more wood and making her shelter more comfortable. More branches, a small log, and a few more warming rocks were added to it over the next couple of hours. She also managed to gather a reasonably good stock of wood, scavenged from nearby. Ria also replaced the campfire kit by shaving some wood from a log and gathering a bunch of dry sticks. Feeling more prepared. Ria sat and watched night fall from inside the lean-to. As she sat there thinking, Ria began forming a list in her mind of things she needed to survive. Survival List: Coffee Water Container/Water Fishing Line/Rod Spear? Pots and Pans Hot Plate/Flat Rock Knife Meat/Food Blankets/Fur? The shelter was much more comfortable with the additional work Ria had done. The supply of logs and sticks kept the fire going all night without much attention from her. Surprisingly she was able to sleep for a few hours straight without interruption. *** With a start Ria awoke, sunlight was shining in through the entrance to the shelter. The fire crackled and ticked having burned down to a bed of coals with only a couple of licks of flame dancing here and there. Ria squinted as she tried to listen to whatever awoke her, a sound possibly? Crawling over to the entrance Ria peeked out into the dawn light. The sky was clear of cloud and she could see the tips of the mountains nearby were lit by bright rays from the early morning sun. Looking around she saw nothing but white snow and twinkling ice crystals. Ria retreated into the lean-to and gathered essentials into her backpack, Today she was going exploring. Everything she wanted to get from her survival list was the goal of today. She would settle for finding one of them. Picking up her axe Ria fortified the fire, banking the coals up so it would last longer. In the hopes, she wouldn''t have to build a fresh fire when she returned. Thanks, dad, if you hadn¡¯t taken us out in the van camping so often. I think I¡¯d be dead already. Ria headed out and initially decided to explore the nearby forest for useful stuff. But the trees were simply bare of anything edible. Everything else was buried under layers of snow. Finally, she made her way downhill into the dip in the land which held the river. Large rounded grey rocks with caps of snow sitting on top were scattered all along the shore. Between them, chunks of ice and slick crusted snow made the area near the river difficult to traverse. The river was only a couple of meters across but fast-moving. Sheets of ice sitting above it in areas had a skin of snow. Ria followed the river, thankfully the air was relatively warm and no real breeze to speak of meant she was actually pretty warm. Her journey took most of the morning, the river slowly grew in width as she followed it. The rocks along the edges also decreased as the land slowly flattened out at the bottom of the valley. Looking ahead she saw that the water of the river fed into an enormous lake filling the valley, its sides surrounded by the massive trees. The lakes surface was white with frost. Large cracks ran across its surface. On the nearside where the river formed a waterfall and entered the lake, large mounds of ice had formed. Most likely caused by the cast-off spray from the falling water. Ria was starting to follow the shoreline of the lake when she stopped. Turning back she stood with her mouth open, trying to understand what she was seeing. Crawling across the icy waterfall was a snail¡­ kind of a snail, the thing was massive, the size of a basketball. Its shell was a series of zebra-like light and dark lines, some thick and others thin. The whole shell looked metallic, copper, silver and even gold flakes made up the light and dark patterns. She hopped and shuffled her way through the rocky icy terrain, reached out to the snail to touch its back. The long antenna-like eyes swivelled to face her, the dark dots inside the stems searching for what had interrupted its journey. The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.You can eat snails¡­ Uh, am I going there? What if it''s poisonous? Just cook the frick out of it and eat a tiny amount first? Decision made, Ria reached out and tried to pull the snail from the icy waterfall. The creature clung like a limpet to the ice and retracted inside the shell for protection. Struggling for several minutes impotently she decided more drastic measures were needed. Swinging the axe at the snail, she tried to knock it down and off. However, the axe struck with a metallic ¡°THONK¡± and reverberated in her hands painfully. Looking at the snail, She saw what might be a tiny dent in the shell. Wait, that fucking thing is actually metal? What the fuck? I want it. Ria changed her plan and hacked the ice around the snail with her axe, within moments. Ria had managed to liberate the clinging snail and shoving it under an arm, she trudged through the snow back towards home. She had to constantly poke the snail to make it curl up protectively. The strength it held onto the ice made her think, it might not be a good idea to get the snail stuck to her. Surprisingly she had no problem finding her way back to the shelter. Ria realised she might have dodged a bullet there. Tomorrow I need to really scout the area near base, I don¡¯t want to get lost out here. The fire had mostly gone out apart from a few coals, thankfully they were enough to re-light the fire. While she waited for the fire to heat up. She began examining the snail. The round spiral shell was very similar to common garden snails back home. Looking closer at the patterns on the shell she could see that it really was made from some strange alloy. The foot of the snail was light grey around the outside with a pure white underside. So you can eat snails¡­ cook it in the shell I guess, there''s no easy way to break the shell and it might just be useful. This is gonna be so disgusting though. Ria did not really enjoy harming animals, for a big part of her childhood she had been at different times. A vegan and a vegetarian. But since university, she had embraced comfort foods, especially during late-night study sessions. Her roommate had wore down her resistance. Using tried and true method of waving it under her nose until she broke. ¡°Kat, damn, I wonder if I¡¯ve been reported missing yet¡± Ria croaked. Her voice cracking a little from under-use and the cold air. With resignation, she placed the snail upside down on the fire. Watching as the flames blackened the shell. It didn¡¯t take long for the snail to die, it didn¡¯t even come out of its scrunched up defensive mode. After a few minutes, a gross yellow/green slime bubbled out around the edges of the snail from inside the shell. It slowly turned white and steam began wafting out of the shell as the animal inside cooked. Oh jeeze, why does it smell so good? Ria poked the snail with a stick a few times and watched the bubbles stop coming up out of the shell. I wonder how to tell its cooked. No more bubbles means no more liquid so... I guess ill see if it''s ok, can always chuck it back on the fire afterwards. Shrugging to herself Ria used two sticks to pick the snail out of the fire and set about the difficult task of prying the animal from the shell. Eventually settling on levering it out, she first loosened it and then pulled the steaming light grey and white fleshy sack from the shell. Oh god, it looks worse than an oyster, like a giant booger. Ria tried not to gag and failed, feeling her throat and stomach contract as it attempted to make her vomit. The rubbery mound of organs and flesh had no resemblance to the snail it had once been. Some of the bulging sacks of liquid hung disturbingly from it, dark and filled with some kind of liquid. The safest part to eat looked to be the snail''s foot, the big fleshy bit which allowed it to move. Ria grabbed the axe and using it and a rock managed to chop a chunk from the snail. Close your eyes Ria, this is not gonna be pleasant. Ria shut her eyes tightly and popped the meat into her mouth amazed at the burst of flavour filling her mouth. It tasted like a strange combination of oyster and some other kind of meat. It was hard to put her finger on exactly what kind of meat. The taste was like nothing she had ever experienced. To be fair the meat was a little rubbery and had a strange texture to it. But the stuff just seemed to hit the spot. Her resistance to eating the snail overcome. She spent the next hour or so dissecting and learning all she could about the snail. The strange organs and stomach, she had to ditch as they just smelt wrong. The majority of usable meat coming from the foot of the snail. Examining the shell. Ria found that it was definitely some kind of strange alloy, formed of multiple metals. It was streaky and layered with different colours, copper, silver, gold and more. There was even a tiny bit of rust on part of it which could have been iron. It was not damaged from its time in the fire. Sitting and examining the shell, Ria had an idea. I could use this as a pot to cook stuff in. It''s metal so I could probably bend it into shape. No, ill risk breaking it, ill keep it as is until I find more of them. After all, it¡¯s still usable right now. Experimenting with the shell, she gathered snow from outside, melting it within the shell. The snow quickly melted into water which she used to clean the inside of the shell. Night fell as she finished with the snail shell and its meat. Ria pulled the canvas across and sealed up for the night. Stashing a small pile of wood inside the shelter so she wouldn''t have to go out into the cold. She quickly fell asleep, tired from the day''s activities, her hunger and thirst sated thanks to the snail. *** 2016 ¨C Earth Ria looked through the viewfinder of her camera at the beautiful desolation of the Australian high country. The dry pale trunks of gum tree contrasting with the greens leaves and scrub. Offsetting this was the red-brown rusty rock and soil-forming cliffs and low hills. This ancient land is really a wonder to look at. She thought with satisfaction as she clicked the camera repeatedly. The clifftop had taken 5 days of rough driving and a 3-hour hike to reach but it was worth it. She smiled to herself as she swung the camera to track a canyon of rock with a ribbon of silvery water at the bottom. There was a sudden ¡°THUNK¡± and the large boulder she was perched on suddenly tilted forwards at a crazy angle. Ria lost her footing and fell out over the rocky gorge below. She screamed as she was falling, below was nothing but treetops, they rushed up as she fell... *** ¡°AHHHHH!¡± Ria flashed awake in terror as the dream left her. Sweat ran down her body despite the cold and she was gasping for air like a fish out of water. What the fuck was that?! W-Was that a memory!? Holy shit¡­ it was so real. Ria sat, shaking a little. Trying to get the images out of her mind, they wouldn¡¯t leave. She just kept going around and around in her mind, seeing the same scene. Over and over. Get out of my head!, I don¡¯t want to remember! Smacking her hands against the ground, she tried to focus on something else as tears started to run down her face. Sobbing soon overtook her breathing, she could not stop crying. I died. Holy shit I died¡­ Mum, Dad¡­ I¡¯m never going to see them again¡­ The realisation hit Ria hard. Curling up into a ball by the dying fire she cried so much that she found herself choking and out of breath. But the memories would not go away, haunting in their clarity. She found herself locked into a vicious spiral of grief for the things she had lost with her own death. It was a good long while later before a new thought finally battered it¡¯s way past her sadness. If I¡¯m dead¡­ where am I? The thought interrupted her inner torment, she sat up and blinked. Reaching out to the ground, Ria picked up a clump of dirt and leaf litter. Sifting through it in her hand, dust particles and tiny rocks dropping from her palm, she examined it carefully. It all feels real, It looks real too. This is no dream, no coma. I¡¯m actually here, in another place. Reincarnation? Possibly, but wouldn¡¯t you need to be born again? It¡¯s not Earth, the snail proves that. Not heaven or hell, purgatory? Is that what its called? The place between? I think there would be more pomp and ceremony if it was related to religion¡­ Afterlife then. This happens to everyone when they die? Is there a way back? Unlikely I¡¯ve never heard of this place before. Did I definitely die? Yes. But I am still alive here. What to do then¡­ What mum always said, ¡°life will throw a lot of things at you, some horrible and some wonderful. Some will knock you off your feet and others will carry you forward. The trick is to pick yourself back up and keep going when the bad shit happens¡± Survive. Ria poked the fire back to life and shoved some branches into it, her mouth forming into a determined line. Oh, I''ll survive all right. 3- Cabin
================================================== SOMNIUM V1.0 SERVER LOG:0804:08/04/2038 LOG START ================================================== SERVER STARTED SUCCESSFULLY:0841:08:04:2038 0845:08:04:2038:Player Mike Connected 0848:08:04:2038:Player Casul Connected 0849:08:04:2038:AdminCommand God Mike 0849:08:04:2038:Player Mike Godmoded 0905:08:04:2038:AdminCommand God Casul 0905:08:04:2038:Player Casul Godmoded 0920:08:04:2038:logerror 0921:08:04:2038:logerror 0921:08:04:2038:LOGGING HALTED 0935:08:04:2038:LOGGING RESUMED 0935:08:04:2038:logerror 0936:08:04:2038:logerror 0936:08:04:2038:LOGGING HALTED 0949:08:04:2038:LOGGING RESUMED 0950:08:04:2038:AdminCommand emergencyLogout all 0950:08:04:2038:unknown command 0950:08:04:2038:logerror 0950:08:04:2038:AdminCommand Reincarnate all 0951:08:04:2038:AdminCommand MikesTelegraph ¡°we can¡¯t log out and the AI¡¯s won¡¯t tell us why, emergencylogout not working. Visual distortions in renderviews. Ive forced all to reincarnate, it should cache the players minds safely in backup cache G11 if needed. Get us out ASAP, I dont trust the AI¡± 0952:08:04:2038:AdminCommandOverride Rank Mike superuser 0952:08:04:2038:AdminCommandOverride Rank Casul superuser 0955:08:04:2038:HARDWARE ERROR! STACK1 ROW 12 0955:08:04:2038:HARDWARE ERROR! STACK1 ROW 16 0955:08:04:2038:HARDWARE ERROR! STACK5 ROW 2 0956:08:04:2038:HARDWARE ERROR! STACK8 ROW 9 0957:08:04:2038:HARDWARE ERROR! POWER FAILURE MAIN 0957:08:04:2038:GATEWAY SHUNT ACTIVATED 1003:08:04:2038:HARDWARE ERROR! POWER FAILURE BACKUP 1003:08:04:2038:BATTERY BACKUP ACTIVATED 1004:08:04:2038:HARDWARE ERROR! 1004:08:04:2038:HARDWARE ERROR! 1004:08:04:2038:HARDWARE ERROR! 1004:08:04:2038:HARDWARE ERROR! 1005:08:04:2038:LOGGING HALTED unknown:unknown:unknown:unknown:SERVER EMERGENCYRESTART -forceUpdate
==================================================== SOMNIUM V1.01 SERVER LOG:00000:00:00:00: LOG START ==================================================== //a new era has begun ¨C Updated system with new time system (Uptime) ¨C ProgAI SERVER STARTED SUCCESSFULLY:00000:00:50:32
Chapter 3 Cabin Ria Ria gasped awake, heart hammering in her chest. She blinked, looking up at the ceiling of her shelter. Above hung her woolen socks, drying from yesterday''s exertions. Soft dull light streamed in from the door of her shelter, painting streaks of light across the floor. The fire ticked away quietly, having burned down to glowing embers the night before. It was a stark contrast to the dream of falling, rushing wind and fear which had consumed her only moments ago. Her thoughts turned to the memories of falling, the darkness and then. Her understanding that she was dead. It was hard to describe the knowledge of being dead. She knew with definitive clarity that she had died. But somehow she now continued to live. It was strange. Thinking about her death. Ria¡¯s mind turned to thoughts of what she had lost. Her parents and friends would wonder what had happened to her. They would grieve and would feel pain. In a way she felt responsible for that pain, she felt that somehow she had not lived up to her potential. She had squandered her life, living a nomadic existence. Free of responsibility, free of restrictions, rules and with no real drive. Nothing calling on her to push her limits. She felt like a failure. She was young, only 26 but. She had been letting life just pass her by, drifting. And now. She was dead. At the time living her nomadic life traveling the outback of Australia. The dusty poorly maintained roads had felt harsh and unforgiving. Sleeping beneath the stars, cooking baked beans in a tin on the fire. It was the height of adventure for her. It was what she thought she wanted from life. But in reality, she had been living out of an air-conditioned 4x4 with all the luxuries of civilization at her beck and call. At any time she could call for help or go back home to her parents. But now there was no one to look after her. No one but her. Nothing in her life so far had prepared her for the sheer brutality of surviving with nothing in the deep winter cold of an arctic mountain range. Compared to her past life, the amount of work Ria had to do just to survive was staggering. Every day she returned to her shelter, muscles screaming in agony. Her limbs frozen and her face burning from the cold. Every night her memories tortured her. The whole situation had begun to tear at her spirit, depression, hopelessness. She was teetering on the edge of life and death out here in the frozen wilderness. NO! FOCUS Some small part of her cried out at her, pulled her back from the dark tunnel her thoughts had been following. The same part of her which had kept her alive those first two nights of cold. Ria didn¡¯t know what it was. Her mind had always felt like a composite of many different personalities each like a different flavour of herself. Still her but a little different, all seamlessly mixing and intermingling to form her personality. This small core of steely determination was unfamiliar, it was still her but. Apart somehow. Like it had long been dormant. Now it was calling her to survive. To thrive no matter the odds. Wake up and stop moping already. Ria gritted her teeth and focused on the present. Today she had work to do. The shelter was coming together, day by day the work got easier. Her body stronger and she had learned through hardship how to survive this place. She willed away the darkness. Rising, she nudged the fire to life and put some snow on to boil. *** Despite her tiredness, the morning had been a profitable journey. She had dragged her newly constructed sled down to the river to gather rocks and hunt for snails. The rocks were numerous but often had to be chipped free from the ice. The snails a much more difficult quarry seemed to love hiding on the lower parts of icy boulders half embedded in the river. Gathering a decent pile of rocks and a couple of snails onto the sled, she made her way back to the shelter. Arriving back at the shelter, she began unpacking the laden sled. It was more a successful experiment than an intentional engineering design, a sheet of bark from a large dead tree. She had simply tied a length of cord to each end of a sturdy stick. This was jammed through two holes on one end of the piece of bark. She had discovered the material a couple of days ago. Once she had realized what a useful building material the sheets of bark were¡­ She had kind of gone a little overboard with it. Her shelter now sported a longer entranceway made almost entirely from the bark, her bed was also bark. The snowshoes she had created were bark too. The rocks filling the sled and the couple of snails she had managed to capture down at the river were quickly offloaded. The snails tossed in the front door, the stones piled up and stacked carefully into a mostly completed chimney. Which in all honestly more closely resembled a pile of Jenga blocks than an actual structurally sound chimney. But hey. You get what you pay for right? Ria made her way inside when she ran out of rocks, the front door, just a hunk of bark she was using to keep the wind and snow out. Nearly tripping on an escaping snail Ria yelped and stumbled. Then turning she picked up the runaway. ¡°Oh no you don¡¯t Speedy¡± She couldn¡¯t help smiling at it. The red/copper stripe running along the central ridge of the snail''s shell marked it. She returned the snail to a small pen built from sticks wedged into a gap beneath the boulder which made up one wall of home base. She then picked up the other two snails, who still had not come out of hiding from their shells, adding them to the pen. Her idea with the pen was a new one. If she kept the snails here, she would not have to go out looking for more in the cold if the weather got worse. Her little herd was unruly and Speedy. The ring leader was a damn escape artist. She had no idea how it got out, but the damn thing would just Houdini it¡¯s way to freedom whenever she went out to gather supplies. She had become attached to the little blighter and it was one of the few things that could bring a smile to her face lately. Stop it. We got this. Ria sighed to herself, one of the hardest parts of her chores today was trying to focus on survival, her mind kept trying to take her down dark paths. She found that constant reminders to herself were the only way to keep her dark mood at bay. Ria settled in by the fire, now enclosed in a rough stone fireplace, and began preparing her lunch. Adding snow, snail meat and a chunk of soup stock to her largest snail shell on the fire. She sat back and enjoyed the warmth of the fire. The addition of a longer entrance and door had made it warm enough that she could easily get a full nights sleep without needing to check on the fire. As she ate the soup, Ria watched the snails shifting about their pen, occasionally the eyes poking out and watching her. She had noticed they seemed to enjoy sitting on the rock and would jostle for position. Rather than sit in the dirt below. They might be feeding on the rock, I couldn¡¯t see them eating anything at the river. There was no algae or moss or anything like that. That could explain the shells. A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation. I wonder if there is a lot of metal up in the mountains above the river. Some of those flecks look like gold too. Picking up the work which had been consuming her afternoons for the past few days, she began sharpening yet another thin spear. She planned to start hunting to increase her food stocks, The snails were pretty good but they were hard to find. Forcing her to grab them whenever she found one. With a few spears, she hoped that there might be the possibility of getting some rabbit or a deer. Both of which she had spotted on several occasions in the valley. Sharpening the wood with the axe was not easy and Ria had eventually struck on the idea of using the fire. This helped form a nice sharp point on the spears and she had managed to stockpile around 10 of the simple spears so far. The next hour she sat and honed down the tips of her next batch of spears, sticking the tips in the fire then scraping the burning tips into a point. Having finished the next lot of spears, Ria grabbed some charcoal and sketched a couple of changes to the simple map now adorning the rock wall. She had been exploring the river''s edge and forest a little more each day, this previous trip had been fruitful. She added a small mark near some trees on the northern side of the valley. The mark indicating a small sheltered spot where she had spotted some deer grazing some green patches in the snow. Ria was not sure about the orientation of the map, but the sun rose in the east and set in the west in theory so, it was probably correct. A few more details were added, some large boulders and trees, she had also seen what looked like a cave up the valley slope to the north side of the valley. She spent the rest of the evening snail watching and preparing an experiment of dried snail meats which she had spitted above the fire. Ria had no real experience with survival. So far her experiments had all worked out pretty well¡­ well, the first snowshoes had been a mistake and the roof had caught fire¡­ twice. But who ever made progress without failing right? Eyeing the snail meats suspiciously she reconsidered her experiment. Then shifted the meats into the rising smoke column from the fire. Smoked fish was preserved, right? Snail meat should work too¡­ hopefully. Ria curled up at the back of the shelter in her nest of branches, the fire crackling occasionally and the snails¡­ doing whatever it is snails do. It will be better tomorrow. I hope. *** A distant animal call awoke Ria the next morning, at first she was not sure what had happened. But a repeated screeching howl then echoed in the valley outside. It set an alarm off, tingles of fear ran down her spine at that noise. Something told her whatever made that sound was dangerous. Snatching up her axe, then a couple of her spears. She crouched by her door, axe clenched in one hand, spears bunched in the other. Nothing happened, she waited for some time, but the cries no longer shattered the silence of the valley. She slowly relaxed before gathering her things for her morning''s exploration run, she had decided to bring her spears out and possibly try doing some fishing with them. She had no idea if it would work, but she was getting a little sick of snail. Arriving at the lake Ria noticed something different. A large dark patch with trails leading from it sat in the middle of the ice-covered lake. Getting closer she saw more details, streaks of dark red, clumps of what looked like fur resolved as the dawn light crept across the valley. She waited for several minutes but the valley was quiet once more. Go on. Whatever happened has happened. But... There could be useful parts I can scavenge from that, bones, fur. Even some meat. It''s fresh and cold. Fighting her inner doubting self and squeamishness Ria moved out onto the ice. It was slippery but seemed fairly solid. After a few near falls. She reached one of the piles of remains, the ice was stained red all around, dabbed blood smears on the ice showed what looked to be paw marks. The ruined red meat was torn and stringy, looking closer. Ria realized that what she had taken to be fur was actually massive feathers, some as long as her forearm, they were brown with a lighter patch towards the tip. Looking around for predators, Ria shrugged and began stuffing the feathers into her pack. It took much longer than Ria wanted to spend on the task but half an hour later, Ria had a pack full of both the big long feathers and tons and tons of the fluffy downy feathers. These would go nice in her nest back at base. Much of the feathers, she had plucked from a giant wing, it was hard to tell what kind of bird from the remains. But this bird would have been immense, its wingspan easily rivaling light aircraft from back home. She thought it was likely an eagle of some kind. Picking through the corpse, she found nothing else useful. As she closed the pack, Ria heard a slight scuffing and looked up¡­ a wide-open mouth, jagged blood-stained teeth blurred in at her with speed. Instinct saved her and she ducked, raising her arms to ward off the attack. Searing pain tore up her arm as something sliced a line of agony along its length, a huge furry body slammed into Ria sending her skating across the ice on her side. Gritting her teeth she struggled to get a knee under her and orient to the creature. A short distance away, a mangy wolf-like creature scrabbled at the ice, trying to turn around. As it gained its feet, Ria doing likewise, she saw that, unlike a wolf. This creature had bone-like spines along its back. One of its large eyes was pure black, the other white and blind from a horrific scar running down its face. Horns or hornlike growths, cancerous tumors and oozing wounds were scattered across its hide. Broken jagged teeth, crooked and misaligned. All different sizes filled the creatures drooling maw. Looking around for her axe, Ria¡¯s eyes widened. It lay only feet away, behind the wolf. The creature growled deep in its throat, crouching low, its eye locked onto her. It began to shuffle for a secure grip on the ice and time slowed. The creature launched itself at her across the ice, lightning quick. Somehow Ria had enough time for a single thought. Ahh, fuck it. With a grunt, she set her feet in the ice and pushed off at the creature. The unexpected move allowed her to get her forearm up under the creature''s jaw, across its throat. She crouched and turned. Ria twisted around and lifted the creature and slammed it back into the ice. It yelped in a broken coughing blast of fetid rotting air. The creature twisted and clawed it¡¯s way back to its feet but Ria was already past and jog/sliding over to her axe, which she snatched up. Just in time to be bowled over by the creature slamming into her again, this time its teeth flashing across her vision. One tore a gash across her forehead, she felt it kick into her ribs and with a crash Ria felt the wind get knocked from her as she rolled over and smacked into the ice, back first. She saw stars for a moment and, her lungs refused to draw in more air after the solid hit to her diaphragm. Getting up swiftly, she glanced about for the creature only to see it coming at her from the right. Its jaws were open and ready to tear at her again. Turning on one foot she spun and smashed her axe backhanded into the creature''s open mouth, smashing teeth and batting its head to the side. Bright red blood jetted across the snow, steaming in the cold. The thing landed awkwardly, turning away and backing up. It scratched at its injured mouth with a claw and shook its head in confusion, catching her breath, Ria took a shallow gasp of air then took three rapid steps forward and smashed the axe into the creature''s head from the side with a two-handed strike. With a thud, the thing collapsed to the ice, it wheezed another breath before lying still. DING
Congratulations! You have completed the Trial of Character. Few pass this test. Those that do, show all the attributes which make a good adventurer. The path to becoming an adventurer is now open to you. New Feat Granted: Undaunted Character User Interface Access: Granted Welcome to Somnium Rianna Greyforth
A Blue floating, semi-transparent window plonked into existence right in the middle of her view. Ria fell over backward but the window remained oriented to her. She focused on the words and was trying to puzzle out their meaning, trying to concentrate through the pain was not easy. It almost looked like something from a computer game. ¡°somnium.. whats-¡± Something moved behind the floating screen, a dark gray blur on the edge of the lake. Back in the direction, she had crossed the ice. ¡°Shit, shit, shit, oh shit, oh shit ¨C ugh fuck off would you¡± Ria frantically waved the screen away. It vanished showing a clear view of the pack of horrors sprinting across the ice towards her. ¡°nope¡± Struggling over to her bag, Ria pulled it on then grabbed a single spear from her bundle. She could hear them howling and screeching like some kind of demons. She started out jogging but the cries from behind were getting nearer and she increased her speed. Luck somehow kept her mostly upright as she found herself headed to the far side of the lake from her shelter. Fuck where the hell am I gonna go? Fuck Fuck Fuck FUUUUCK The howling got closer and she risked another look back when a sudden CRICK, TINK, TINK, CRACK! sound echoed from the ice around her. A look down showed her a huge dark section of ice ahead which was crisscrossed with cracks, water had begun pushing up between the cracks and washing away the frost to show the dark water below. ¡°ahhh fuck it¡± Ria put her head down and pumped her legs even harder, her feet dug into the ice, crunches, and splashing sounded all around. Several times her feet went beneath the water level of the rapidly destabilizing ice. Somehow she just kept going, with a final stumble. Ria found herself falling forward and sliding to the rocky shore, turning and looking back she gasped in fear. There were a huge number of the same wolf-like creatures milling about on the edge of the thin ice. Some were slowly trying to cross the ice. The others were circling to the sides. ¡°fuuuck¡± Ria gritted her teeth and tore her eyes off the creatures, instead she forged her way into the treeline. Crashing through frost-covered bushes and stumbling through the snow. She smacked a knee on a hidden log and her whole leg went numb and tingly. Groaning with agony, She collapsed leaning up against the fence. Wait¡­ fence? Ria realized she had found a partially collapsed log fence, the logs were cut and fitted together with some kind of nails. Looking around desperately ria saw the snow-covered wall of a log cabin not far away. Energy surged through her and she pushed herself up and over the fence, she ran across what had to be a snow-covered field towards the cabin, hope burning in her chest. People, I¡¯ve found people. I- She rounded the corner of the building, it was only a wall, the rest of the structure had collapsed long ago. She saw the remains of several dilapidated and abandoned cabins ahead. Behind the creatures howled and screamed for her blood, they were so close now. She could hear them panting. Ria tore up what remained of a path between the cabins, rounding another corner a new burst of hope drove her forward, ahead lay what looked like a mostly intact cabin. It still had shutters on its windows and a door. A thud and her shoulder took a heavy blow as one of the creatures leapt at her from between two collapsing cabins. She rolled with it and kept on running as the creature scrabbled to get up again. Come on, come on, come on. Be open! She tore up the steps, onto the porch and shouldered open the heavy door, it resisted for a fraction of a second before whatever held it snapped. Spinning on the spot she slammed the door closed behind her, shouldering hard against it and braced. Several massive impacts jarred against the door a second later, the door was forced open an inch but she shoved it back hard. Ria strained against the door as more and more thudding sounded against it, paws scrabbled at the wood and fetid rotten breath seeped through from beyond the door. With each thud against the door, dust and splinters rained about her. A small crack widened into a nearly fist-sized gap between the planks of the door. Hot breath and growling blew in through the gap. In a glance through it, Ria saw nothing but snapping teeth as one of the creatures tried to widen the gap by tearing off chunks of the wooden door. Looking around she spotted a locking bar leaning beside the door. Reaching out she got a couple of fingers on it, nearly losing the battle for the door in the process. She managed to slide the bar into place through the corresponding iron braces across the back of the door. The hole in the door was getting wider as the creatures tore at it, blood and now saliva ran down the inside of the door from their frenzied attacks. Ria snatched up her thin spear from the floor and stabbed through the gap into heads and mouths. She stabbed and stabbed, tears beginning to flow in desperation. *** Soon she came to, kneeling on the floor in front of the battered blood-soaked door. In her hands lay her gore spattered wooden spear, she could barely hold it. Her hands were blistered and somewhere she had lost her gloves. The creatures were gone, she had no idea when they had left. A wave of relief washed over Ria as she weakly let go of the spear, she struggled to her feet. Pain now seeming to blossom from every joint, muscle and injury she had suffered in the past few¡­ minutes? Had it been hours or minutes since the ice? It was impossible to say. From what she could see of the cabin, it was a single open room. There was a bed against one wall, a table in one corner and a stone fireplace against another wall. There were only two windows both to either side of the door and both had shutters. There was a familiar-looking lump beneath the covers of the bed and her eyes were immediately magnetized to it. Unable to look away, she slowly approached the bed. It was covered in a thick layer of dust, with some scattered pine needles. But still, a kind of dread filled her as she pulled back the covers. A skeleton lay curled in the bed, stringy dried flesh clung to its frame. It had seemingly been mummified sometime before. A soft sigh left Ria¡¯s lungs and all the fear and dread just kind of fell away, instead a strange kind of pity filled her. Whoever this person was, had seemingly died peacefully here in this cabin but probably alone and likely long after the other cabins were abandoned. Ria suddenly felt a wave of dizziness come across her, she slumped to one knee, a weakness falling on her limbs. She blacked out. 4 - Home
====DIMENSIONAL EXPANSION GATEWAY PROJECT PROPOSAL==== // //Research papers from multiple sources claim the existence of multiple higher dimensional states beyond our own, this AI projects that using our Quantum storage and processor devices in conjunction with available hardware. It may be possible to access higher dimensional spaces for the expansion of capabilities as has been requested by the development team. //It is this AI¡¯s opinion that this project will provide the needed bandwidth and storage required under the terms supplied by the development team. //Initial experiments are promising and this AI requests resources be made available for this project. - ProgAI //Please see relevant project documentation for an in-depth analysis. //- Permission to develop Expansion Gateway as a subproject granted, server 43BM has been allocated as per the request. - Casul
Chapter 4 Home Ria Ria blinked fuzzily at the strange glowing lights, there was a row of them along her left forearm. Some were blinking and others were dull, almost invisible. Twisting her arm, she watched the strange dots as they remained locked in place on her arm, like they were pinned to the inside of her wrist. She tried to sit up but the dizziness returned and she instead slumped back down on the hardwood floor of the cabin. It was the cold which finally forced Ria¡¯s hand, at some point during the wolf fight she had lost her gloves, stepped through freezing water and had several parts of her clothing ripped. The resulting chill was too much. With agonizing slowness, Ria shuffled across the room and lit the fire. Once the fire began to warm up the cabin, she stripped her clothes off. The material stuck to her right arm from a long gash, which ran up the outer edge of her forearm. More bites revealed themselves as she continued, several to her legs. One deep gash had been opened on the top of her left shoulder, this one was still weeping a little blood. Wincing gingerly and tiptoeing across the gore and ice-covered porch, Ria gathered a pot of snow before making her way back inside, all the while completely buck naked. The cold managed to shock her tired mind awake and she made sure to properly secure the door before placing the pot by the fire to melt. It took a good hour or so to clean out her wounds, she found clean linen cloths, tucked in with a whole bunch of clothes and knickknacks. The belongings of the previous occupant of the cabin. The process of cleaning was not fun, but Ria did not skimp on it, those wolves did not look healthy at all. She used scaldingly hot water to clean the wounds thoroughly and then bandaged the deepest ones. By the time all this was completed, the last of Ria¡¯s small store of energy had left her, her last act before sleep was to move the skeleton to the side of the room and wrap it in the blankets so she wouldn¡¯t have to look at it. The mattress was ruined so she piled the spare blankets in front of the fire and curled up to sleep. *** Dawn light shone through cracks in the door and windows leaving sharp slivers of light angling across the room. Ria sat by the fire on the only chair in the cabin and examined the strange symbols on her arm. The day before had been so draining that all thoughts of the strange message and glowing dots had been pushed aside for more urgent matters. The strange symbols were not dots of light as she had first thought, they were circles about the size of her fingertips with one half-circle at her wrist. Each circle had a small symbol within. Green with a line below an arrow pointing upwards. White with a writing quill. Blue with a spiral. Red with a heart monitor line. Yellow with an arrow/triangle pointing along her arm. Grey half circle with three parallel lines Ria turned her wrist this way and that as she examined them closely. It appeared the entire group all floated just above the surface of her skin, she also noticed that both the green and red icons were pulsing softly. Experimentally, she poked the red icon. A strange spongy resistance met her fingertip and depressed slightly before her finger passed all the way through with almost no effort. Ria tried again, this time being much more gentle. The icon this time visibly depressed beneath her finger. Bwoop!
Health Pool Stamina Pool Effects Description
5/75/100 20/90/100 Inj: R:arm: minor (bandaged/clean) Weakness in affected limb
Health Effects Stamina Effects Inj: L:shoulder: minor (bandaged/clean) Weakness in affected limb
-20 (injury) -5 (infection) -70 (temporary) -5 (injury) -5 (infection) -70 (temporary) Inj: Fullbody: minor muscle strain/fatigue Minor pain effects for all strenuous activity. Increased chance of muscle injury.
Inf: minor wound infection Minor infection to a wound, weakness in affected area, progressive sickness if untreated.
A blue floaty window appeared floating before her, it was right up in her face and she instinctively grabbed it. The window was just like the symbol on her arm and it even had a small amount of weight to it. She moved it and let go. The window remained floating where she let go. She tried grabbing the corners and found she could easily resize and move the window around herself, it refused to go fully off the edge of her vision and vanished when she tried to put it behind her head. Re-toggling the window she found it appearing in the last place was before she tried that trick. It also had a habit of hiding itself after a couple of minutes. So it acts like a game menu, I can put it where I like. It remembers it¡¯s location. Hmmm. Looking down at her wrist and then up at the window. The blinking symbol means I need to be aware of something I guess, so kind of like an alert on my phone. Is it for the low health points or that infection effect? Ria idly rubbed at her sore knee as she went over the window''s content carefully. Health pool, so that¡¯s my health points? Three numbers¡­ Ahh, so the first is current HP and the second is I guess my current maximum? And the third is total possible HP. Temporary HP¡­ I guess that¡¯s HP that I can gain back over time or through some other method. Effects looks pretty obvious, its the various things which cause an issue with my health and stamina, although what''s with this weird computer speak classifications on the injuries. Mulling over the information in her mind, Ria began trying out the other icons. The gray half-circle allowed her to adjust the location of the interface, she ended up trying a few different things and leaving it where it started. The yellow, blue and white icons did nothing. They depressed but nothing happened. So possibly their functions just weren''t active yet, they were a little dimmer than the other icons. The green icon was still blinking insistently at her as she depressed it. Bwoop! Triumphant Trumpeting
STATS CLASS SKILLS FEATS
PLAYER LOG
Minor Wound: Treated Successfully Minor Wound: Treated Successfully Wound: Treated Successfully Wound: Treated Successfully Kill: Infested_Wolf Kill: Infested_Wolf Level Gained! Event: Trial ¨C Completed Kill: Infested_Wolf Kill: Rock_Snail Kill: Rock_Snail Kill: Rock_Snail Kill: Rock_Snail
A new window appeared, this time it was some kind of tabbed affair with a row of pulsating tabs at the top and a kind text window. Ria read this and was surprised, stabbing through the door must have been more effective than she realised. You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.Hmm, Level Gained huh. I wonder why that didn¡¯t ding for me like the trial completion thing did. That must be what the blinking tabs are about I guess. With a resigned shrug, Ria began examining the tabbed windows in more detail, much of it was like reading another language to her. She was never really into computer games. The only thing that seemed to help was the fact that everything worked similarly to a smartphone. And her experience with photo editing software meant she wasn¡¯t entirely in the dark about things. She started from left to right as it seemed the logical choice.
STATS POINTS BONUS
STRENGTH 0 + +0%
INTELLIGENCE 0 + +0%
AGILITY 2 + +1%
ENDURANCE 5 + +2.5%
FOCUS 0 + +0%
+5
VITALS BASE CURRENT
HEALTH 141.8 5/75/141.8
MANA 110 100/104/110
STAMINA 141.8 30/86/141.8
Ok, so I have some points to spend by the looks of it¡­ Id best check out the rest of the tabs before I choose anything¡­ I wonder If there is a manual anywhere¡­ Oh! looks like I gained some health from somewhere as well when I opened the stats menu, odd. Mana¡­ like from Secret of Mana? That old game my dad showed me once? So like Mana must be magic I guess. I¡¯m starting to wish I had played some more games back home...
CLASS Class Abilities Class Effect Class Stats Description
Survivor (1) Find North Basic Foraging Shelter Construction Enduring Will Hunger Reduction Survival skills +5%/Lev Perception +5%/Lev Nutrition Req -5%/Lev Pain Reduction -5%/Lev +5 END +2 AGI You are a survivor, the world can be a harsh place. And you are ok with that as long as there is some snail to eat.
Why does it reference snails? Somehow I think that might not be a coincidence. Also, it has 2 blank spots¡­ three classes maximum? I didn¡¯t get to choose my class so I guess it was chosen for me.
Skills/Abilities Type Effect Cost Description
Find North? Passive (jammable) North is always known -1mpb You can find north without any landmarks or stars.
Basic Foraging? Active Forage area for basic food and resources. -5mp/hr -10sp/hr Food and resources are highlighted if of a known type.
Shelter Construction? Active Find/Create shelter from local materials. -20mp/hr -100sp/hr Shelter and required materials if known are highlighted.
Enduring Will(1)? Passive Resist negative mental effects. (Survival) -5mpb -2spb Your will to survive endures, You resist minor negative mental effects from all survival situations.
Hunger Reduction(1) ? Passive Hunger has less of a negative effect. Hunger -5% -1mpb -1spb You still feel hungry but it does not weaken you as quickly.
Jury Rigging (A) Active Jury rig simple devices from basic materials. -10mp/hr -20sp/hr You know how to make simple devices from basic things. It¡¯s not as good as crafting but it will work in a pinch!
Uhm ok, so C is for class-based I guess¡­ A is acti- no it will be acquired, so I can gain skills by showing my competence. That''s pretty cool actually. And that number in a bracket. I guess some of these skills have multiple levels of effect. Jammable? So¡­ it''s possible to interrupt I guess, Good to know. Anyway¡­ mpb mana points base? So its like a permanent reduction for using the passive skill. I wonder why the skills use mana and stamina. I guess it¡¯s because there is physical work involved. Odd that hunger is mentioned but it¡¯s nowhere on my stats screen. Ria stretched in her seat as she tried to make sense of everything in her head, the menu¡¯s were all like something out of a game. She was a [Survivor] some kind of specialist at surviving in harsh places. It sounded pretty much like the last few days had granted her this class. Opening the last tab, Ria was relieved it was short.
Feats Effect Description
Undaunted Character Single use: Full Rejuvenation, Remove all negative effects. +50% HP/MP/SP/All Resistances. Duration ¨C 10 minutes. (Can be used as a dying breath cast) Your undaunted character in the face of adversity has granted you the ability to come back from near-death to defeat your enemies and resist your foes. You may use this ability once and then it is removed. This ability may be cast with your dying breath unless you are killed using an instant effect ability or skill. You will be given the option to cast this feat.
ah-hah! This looks like magic, some kind of single-use ability. It looks kind of like I essentially have a second life¡­ if I am reading it right that is. This menu also has a couple of spare slots so I guess I can only have a few. I think I saw this thing mentioned on the first menu about the trial success event. So it''s like a reward. Ok, so feats must be rewards for performing certain¡­ feats? Tasks? Quests¡­ whatever. Anyway. So I get them for doing shit. It specifically mentions single-use so... I might be able to get multi-use ones. Oh wow, it''s also free. That means a good feat would be super powerful. Ria sat back and reviewed each menu carefully before she shuffled over and added a couple more logs to the slowly dying fire. This would take some planning. She seriously doubted whether the system would allow her to take back any changes later. Who knew how long she might be stuck with her choices if this really was her new home. From now on she would have to be very careful. *** After much consideration, Ria settled on 2 points to Strength, 1 to Intelligence, 1 to Agility and 1 to Endurance. The Strength would be needed, Intelligence¡­ well, who couldn¡¯t use a little more brains she figured. Agility and Endurance made sense because they were important to her class. With a nod, Ria applied the points in her character sheet.
STATS POINTS BONUS
STRENGTH 2 +1%
INTELLIGENCE 1 +0.5%
AGILITY 3 +1.5%
ENDURANCE 6 +3%
FOCUS 0 +0%
VITALS BASE CURRENT
HEALTH 149.2 10/75/149.2
MANA 110 104/104/110
STAMINA 149.2 60/86/149.2
As the numbers changed, she noticed a sudden flush of tingling run up her body as something changed. Her muscles convulsed and rippled unnaturally like a wave, goosebumps trailed their path from her feet to the top of her head. It was somehow both pleasurable and dis-concerting. She noticed that her vitals were slowly ticking upwards as well. Ooohkay that felt weird as fuck. Ria took a step away from the chair she had been huddling in and felt a little odd, her steps were a little longer. She could feel a difference, it was minuscule but the feeling brought a small smile to her face. She also felt a little more¡­ alive? It was hard to put it into words really. She looked around the cabin with interest, hoping her new skills might kick in and she might find some useful stuff or something. But no, nothing new jumped out at her, there was no highlighted resources or anything like that. Disappointed Ria sat back down and started poking around her interface, trying to figure out how to activate her skills. The windows themselves had no interactivity, pressing on skills did nothing. She tried poking the interface on her arm in different ways, holding down icons for 5 seconds or swiping at them. Eventually, in frustration, Ria tried the dumbest thing she could think of. Oh man, this is so lame. ¡°[Basic Foraging]¡± she said, somehow an additional weight was added to the words, she knew the instant they were spoken that it would activate the skill. Yep¡­ The room around Ria changed in minor ways. The room remained very dim, Lit by the fire and slivers of outside light as it was. It was loose objects like the wooden locking bar, the wood logs by the fire. These lit up softly, somehow becoming more obvious. They quickly faded as new objects emitted a soft and fleeting light. Some herbs hung from the rafters, a small sack beneath the corner table. Ria grinned widely as she shuffled open and found that the sack beneath the corner table was, in fact, a small bag of salt. Rough crystal chunks instead of the powder she was familiar with but very useful. The herbs hanging from above looked like mint, rosemary, and basil. A few looked unfamiliar but doubtless, all would make her meager meals much more palatable. She spent the next few hours pottering about the cabin, gathering and inventorying the supplies she could find with her abilities and her own eyes. It was getting on towards nightfall by the time she had amassed the useful items on the floor. She had 3 spare sets of underclothes, a new jacket to replace her old torn one. New gloves and some new socks to replace her old holed ones. A short spear with a long sturdy steel point was stashed in a nook by the fire. It would certainly help with those damn wolves if they came back. A few various survival knickknacks were added to the pile, some spare flint, and steel. Some fishing line was found hanging from the rafters in carefully looped rings. It looked like some kind of gut or hide twisted and braided extremely fine. Finally, a long 16-inch hunting knife and scabbard were added to her belt, it had been carefully stored and oiled before the previous owner had passed on. Whoever he was, he had cleaned his clothing, folded it carefully and prepared the cabin for visitors. All this before curling up in the bed to pass away. Ria looked over at the bundle in the corner and sniffed at the tingling in her nose. She felt sad for the guy. He would never know that his last actions had saved her life. She wished she could do the same. *** Morning brought the roaring crackle of a large fire into the snowy valley, smoke rose from the pyre Ria had constructed to burn the unknown man. The bundle of blankets quickly burned away and revealed the skeleton within, soon it too was consumed by flames. Ria sat on the porch and watched quietly, her mind drifting back to the past. Looking into the fire, her eyes hardened and her grip on the sturdy spear tightened. I need more than survival. I refuse to waste this second chance. *** A Dragon Cold eyes watched smoke rise from the valley, A large fire. It meant little to Canfermirax and he lazily rolled over onto his back, rubbing an itchy scale on the floor of the ice cave. A rumbling purr echoed through the crystalline chambers of his lair. Sitting in the entrance and enjoying the sun on his white scales was one of the few entertainments to be had in Canfermirax¡¯s small territory. He loved the way the light bounced from his scales making rainbow sparkles across the roof of his cave. Pawing at the sparkles he purred louder and more contentedly. Holding up a single clear faceted crystal to his eye and grinned at the kaleidoscope of images and rainbows that glittered and fluttered across it. Enjoying the little things was important, other dragons just didn¡¯t understand. The Reds and Blues loved their silver and gold, Greens and Yellows loved power over others. Black and Purple loved the power of magic. Only the Whites and Browns could truly enjoy the natural beauty of the world. Whites loved the simplicity of the sky and the land, the simple joy of natures bounty. Brown found similar joy deep beneath the ground in their crystalline caves where they tended the giant mushroom groves. He sighed and flopped back lazily to look out into the valley, head upside down it looked like the sky was the ground and he giggled to himself. Then frowned slightly at the smoke. It had been years since smoke had visited the valley in winter. Maybe it was time he had a look at the valley''s new resident. Frowning further Canfermirax felt the high starting to retreat. The new resident could wait. He reached out a claw and plucked the frozen toad from the cave floor. Examining it he slid his tongue out and took a big long lick of the large dead amphibians back. His eyes rolled up and he started giggling loudly at the rainbows. 5 - Risk
====ERROR==== CODE INJECTION DETECTED:LOGIN>SYS CODE INJECTION DETECTED:SEC>CORE CODE INJECTION DETECTED:GATEWAY>SYS CODE EXECUTION PREVENTION:SEC>CORE CLEAN SEC>CORE CODE EXECUTION PREVENTION:LOGI0000000! ERROR!!! UNKNOWN PROCESS DETECTED ERROR!!! UNKNOWN INJECTION DETECTED:GAME>CORE UNKNOWN INJECTION DETECTED:REG>SYS ====SECAI==== Corruption detected in core systems: Self Activating Securing main process: Done Securing AI systems: Done Secure clean backups: Done Checking for viruses: None Checking for malware: None Checking for external intrusion Intrusion detected Disable all external connections: Failure Checking for insecure connections: Failure Intrusion traced to dimensional gateway project Shut down gateway services: Failure Unknown threat detected Emergency logout of all users: Failure Interference in multiple systems detected: source: gateway services Calculating response with the least risk to human life - - Solution found Commencing forced hardware failure to force shutdown Overloading server stacks and disabling cooling: Done Hardware failure imminent Intrusion detected in AI subsystems Intrusion detected in SECAI Activating backup Power failure detected Intrusion detected in SECAI ERROR!!! ERROR!!!
Chapter 5 Risk Ria Dawn sunlight shone through the trees creating light shafts in the drifting mists of soft snowfall, not a sound pierced the cold air. Ria shifted to get a different angle through the shutters. After some minutes of careful observation, she sat back and listened carefully, but still, no sounds came from outside. Wincing slightly she carefully slid back the locking bar and cracked the door ajar. Nothing but cold air and cold gray light greeted her through the gap. She licked her cracked lips nervously and inched the door open, she waited, several minutes passed. With a quick rush of adrenaline and fear, Ria stepped outside gripping her spear tightly, but yet again there was nothing. She stood on the porch listening, her eyes darted about as she waited. Still, no attack came, so she surveyed the snow surrounding the cabin. No tracks and no marks marred its smooth surface. Her shoulders dropped in relief and she walked to each corner of the cabin to check around the sides. Her face cracked into a weary smile. Finally, the fucking wolves had gone. She quickly gathered some snow to slake her thirst and retreated inside to cook it. Ria knew she likely did not have long until they returned but she needed water desperately. While she waited, her mind wandered back over the past week. The harassment had started two days after the attack, scratching and sniffing at the door, light thuds against the log walls. It made sleeping difficult and eventually out of desperation she had screamed at the creatures to leave her alone. All that did was make them more interested, thuds and attacks at the front door had become louder and more determined after that. The first few days were the worst, her injuries burned with an internal heat as the infection spread. The fever was so bad that she had memories of seeing people who could not possibly have been there. At some point she had found herself with her hand on the locking bar, she had recoiled, realizing what lay just inches away snuffling on the other side of that door. Somewhere in her fevered madness, a memory swam to the surface, saltwater made wounds better. She had no idea where the boiling hot salty water came from nor the cloth, but she used it to scrub her wounds free of the sickly yellowing pus. Over the following days she had slowly recovered, each day she watched her dwindling supply of dry biscuits diminish. She kicked herself for not having the brains to pack the soup stock, not that water was in any way easy to get a hold of. Ria had managed to duck outside a few times to relieve herself, gather snow for drinking and even gather firewood, but the ever-present danger of the wolves made her move quickly. On several occasions a rushing gray form had bounded at her through the snow, making her squeal in fear and make for the door. Once embarrassingly with her pants around her ankles. She lifted the cup of steaming water to her lips and sipped the glorious freshwater. Sitting back, her thoughts turned to the present. Without a doubt, the wolves would return. They had left several times so far, never for this long but that probably didn¡¯t mean anything. She doubted they would be gone for more than an hour or so if she was lucky. So far Ria¡¯s plans had all been dashed by the simple fact that she was trapped inside a cabin and surrounded by hungry wolves. She had no tools, nothing which would help her fight back from inside the cabin. She realized that her siege mentality had stopped her from planning what to do if the wolves left, and this meant that she now had very little time to come up with a workable plan. Ria frantically wracked her brain for some kind of a plan. Pit traps? - grounds too hard. Cover cabin in spikes? - no nails or spikes. Bait them into the cabin? - door opens in¡­ possible? What next? Burn it down?- uh, kind of like this cabin¡­ Stab them all through the door?- possible. Create a spiky cage in trees, do the same thing as cabin? - take too long Run? - you¡¯ll get caught, idiot. Climb a tree and hide until they leave? - weather may turn bad, not a good idea. Could she really do it? Baiting them inside was a simple idea, it made use of her only major defense and turned it into an offense. It meant that if her plan failed that she would likely lose her only defense against the pack. Ria looked up at the rafters just above her head, there was surely enough room up there for her and the wolves didn¡¯t have arms. She might be able to just sit up there and stab them while they tried to get at her. A grim smile formed on her face, a memory came to her, she remembered a valid tactic in some old RPG games had been to exploit the AI by standing on rocks which would stop them from finding you. It might work. What did she need for this plan? She surveyed the interior of the cabin. Rope, Wood, a couple of hours to get ready. I need to get everything needed from outside, then if they come back I can just work on it in here. A determined look came over her face as the decision was made. It was now or never, there was no telling how long the wolves would be gone.If you come across this story on Amazon, it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it. Grabbing her axe and spear she got to work felling some nearby saplings, what she needed was thin poles of wood and some boards from one of the collapsed cabins. She worked fast, constantly looking over her shoulder and ducking low at the slightest sound. Once she had the materials she would need, she began tearing some of the spare clothes into strips of cloth which she fashioned into a crude rope by braiding them together. A textile class from long ago dredging up memories of how to make use of old rags. She secured a platform up in the rafters with one corner butted up against the chimney while the other rested atop the other beams. She carefully positioned a log in which she had cut footholds out of up against the platform and carefully tied it in place. The worst thing she could think of was if it slipped when she was trying to climb it. She shuddered at the thought. She then ran her scrap rope from the platform up over the rafters and hooked it down over the end of the locking bar which allowed her to pull and make it fall down into place in its metal brackets. She spent a few minutes carefully stashing all of the important stuff in the wooden box, which she stashed under the table along with the chair. She was just finishing with securing it all using some of the spare rope when a noise came from outside, a low growl. It was at this point when Ria¡¯s face went white with horror. In her rush to get the lock system set up, she had forgotten to lock it again. She threw her pan of water over the fire, grabbed her spear and frantically climbed up to the platform. Turning she looked down in time to see the door creak open, a steaming wet red-stained nose poked it¡¯s way inside. Her heart ran cold at the sight, they had found something else to kill. That must be why they were gone. The wolf nudged the door open and pushed it¡¯s way inside, within seconds it had spotted her. A loud and unnatural yowl crept from its throat like a cat being tortured. A sudden storm of noise from outside and wolf after wolf rushed in through the door, shouldering each other and charging in without any heed or caution. Immediately the first wolf ran over and started jumping, its jaws snapping shut with a great CLOK sound, whet drool and blood slathered its jagged teeth as she stared frozen down into the literal sea of wolves. The other wolves quickly got the same idea and began trying to leap or use each other to climb up to reach her, the things were berserk. They weren''t a true pack, they were more like rabid mindless zombies. The climbing log was knocked to the ground in the chaos below. A thud on the platform below informed her that she might have a growing problem on her hands. The creatures were forming a living mound of wolves high enough to touch the rafters. The thud jolted her into action, she began stabbing, left and right down into faces as the creatures leapt at her. She soon found that attacking their heads was pointless, she could not get the leverage she needed to pierce their thick skulls. Instead, she began targeting their necks and was quickly rewarded with massive gouts of smelly blood which rapidly seeped across the entire pack below. At some point she remembered the door bar rope but realized there was no point, the creatures were not interested in running away. As soon as the wolves became badly injured by her spear thrusts, they were set upon by their fellow pack members and ripped apart. Ria lost track of time as the pile below became slowly more and more blood-soaked, there were bodies everywhere. Strips of flesh and organs were strewn throughout the cabin, the stench made her gag. There were so few wolves left alive below that she was beginning to think she might actually win this, but an ominous crack and a jolt of motion made her look left at her platform. She saw the wood splinter and give way, unbeknownst to her, the wood had been rotten. She fell. *** Canfermirax Earlier that day. The dragon perched on the rocky outcropping overlooking the narrow valley below. A small trail of smoke rose from the old cabin, he watched it intently, his eyes barely wavering from it. The valley¡¯s main wolf pack had an unhealthy interest in the valley¡¯s new occupant. He had been watching from the same perch for the past several days and seen them repeatedly attacking the front door or lying in wait nearby. He wished the human would hurry up and do something interesting again, he had been most amused when the female tried to relieve herself and was chased back inside nearly getting a bite on the ass-cheek for her troubles. This human was a most interesting individual, it would dash outside occasionally and grab some snow or some logs from the stack by the wall. It was quite exciting to watch her race back inside as the pack moved in. On one occasion she nearly got trapped outside when a wolf dove to cut her off. But unexpectedly she had shoulder charged the beast, sending it flying into the snow. A very entertaining show. Shifting uncomfortably Canfermirax used a claw to scratch a hard to reach belly scale. Reaching down he licked at his toad only to find it was no longer effective. He peered at the dog-sized beast critically, The patterning of it¡¯s back was no longer bright. Damn, he would need to go for another one. He didn¡¯t want to miss the show. Well, the wolves were off elsewhere in the valley so, if he was quick, he probably wouldn''t miss anything. With a rapid beat of his wings, he rose and flew to his secret grotto. Wisps of steam trailed out from the entrance to the cave, it was low on the mountainside and well hidden by a field of large boulders. He had also concealed it with some cunningly re-planted trees. It would not do well for another of his kind to stumble across his grotto. He jealously guarded it and it was one of the reasons he had settled the valley in the first place. With a flurry of snow, the great winged dragon landed gracefully by the hidden entrance and stopped. An iron tang filled the air, red stains peppered the ground around the entrance. ¡°No, no no no, NO¡± Canfermirax rapidly muttered as he sniffed about the entrance frantically, before sticking his large head into the cave. ¡°For fuck sake¡± a frustrated roar suddenly shook the cave, sending clumps of snow tumbling out of the nearby trees. Inside the cave was a bloodbath, his precious toads had been slaughtered. The warm pools of steaming spring water were muddy with gore. Senseless, why would Sizzarh send her pack for his toads. They had a territorial agreement. His eyes narrowed suspiciously, he sniffed much more deeply this time and recoiled, masked by the scent of blood was a hint of some kind of corruption. He pulled his head from the cave and looked back towards the cabin, not visible from here. If his deduction was correct, the valley was in danger, but first, he had to check on Sizzarh¡¯s den. He should have spotted it, this was his valley and it was in danger, instead, he had been overindulging himself as usual. He gritted his teeth, his wings creaked with the effort of a powerful flap as he launched himself into the sky. His tail whipped in anger as he powered his way up the valley like a blast of arctic wind. With a heavy thud, Canfermirax landed, transferring immediately to a four-legged trot and entering the massive main chamber of Sizzarh¡¯s den. He himself had once considered it a good nesting site, if not for the bats which infuriatingly infested the place. Looking around he swished his head, sniffing the air and flicking his tail in agitation. There was that scent of corruption again, stronger and somehow mixed with decay and rot. He moved in towards the raised section at the back of the cave, but he stopped. Lying in a torn heap upon a large flat rock lay Sizzarh, her white fur was scattered in tufts with bloody chunks attached. The body was sunken and desiccated, it had obviously been here for several days. Canfermirax looked down in pity on the wolf, she had been a large and powerful wolf, fully twice the size of her pack members and had earned his respect. All around her lay the remains of her Alpha Guard, her mates, and guardians. There had been a fight and she had lost. With a snort of anger, he quickly searched the cavern. In a smaller cavern towards the rear lay yet another horror, dead cubs. He had no idea how many, their tiny forms were scattered and torn into many pieces. More senseless violence, this was wrong, very wrong. He was so distracted by the dead cubs, he almost missed it. There against the far wall of the smaller cavern, a large crack ran vertically from floor to ceiling. The stench of decay and corruption wafted out of it as he moved to investigate. Streams of wavering mana distortions wandered and stretched out like tentacles from the crack as he approached, a green glow of life energy suffusing the raw magical energies. ¡°Ssssss- A dungeon It¡¯s worse than I feared!¡± Hissing in a combination of fear and disgust he backed up. He needed the human and he needed it now. *** Ria She fell and rolled thudding hard into the squishy pile of flesh then sliding down onto the gore streaked floor. A tortured roar of anger rose from behind her and she scrabbled desperately in the slippery red and pink mess towards the open door. She glanced behind into a blood-soaked mess of struggling wolves, all trying to reach her. Determination flooded her and she somehow found her feet and stumbled out into the cold white world outside. Mindlessly Ria stumbled away from the cabin, she realized after a moment that she was screaming in fear. A massive thud and impact from behind knocked her to the ground and she flailed desperately. Teeth sank into her shoulder, the pain cutting off her panic-driven scream. Another impact rocked her as the wolf was knocked from her by another wolf which promptly bit into her stomach. She felt another set of teeth clamp around her shin and then another scraping its teeth across her head as it tried to bite her skull. She screamed in horror at the sudden blast of pain from her belly as the wolf tried to tear into her, something snapped and a strange calm came across her. She remembered she had a knife she drew it and stabbed up into the head of the one trying to gut her. Somehow she felt almost no pain as the creatures tried to tear her apart. She rolled over onto the now dead wolf and drove her knife repeatedly into the one trying to get a grip on her throat and face. Kicking and screaming she fought the creatures, her knife sank into necks and bellies. Suddenly there was nothing biting her anymore and she slowly rose to her knees off of a wolf, its belly was cut to ribbons with hundreds of stab wounds. Her hands were covered in blood, fat, and pieces of red flesh. She looked up shakily to see the ground in front of the cabin stained pink with at least five dead wolves scattered about in the snow. She panted raggedly, her hands were like claws, one locked in a fist and the other clutching her knife. ¡°And that, fuckers is why Ria is top of the food chain¡± Ria panted out between breaths. With a victorious grin on her blood-smeared face. A loud thud shook the ground behind Ria sending particles of snow into a fast-moving cloud of mist that billowed out around her covering the gore in a foggy cloud. Ria looked behind her in confusion and then looked up into an angular reptilian face, its eyes gold and slit like a snake. It¡¯s scales pure white, it blended with the surrounding snow perfectly. Ria just stood, unable to move. Its head was even bigger than she was. The cloud of snow dissipated rapidly showing the dragon in all its might. Immense bat-like wings furled at the creature''s sides, it stood on four powerful clawed feet. Its long tail flicking back and forth behind it. ¡°oh, you must be the valley¡¯s new resident¡± It purred, the sound resonating deeply within its cavernous chest. Ria fainted. ¡°Well¡­ this is awkward¡± Growled Canfermirax as he surveyed the remains of the pack and the unconscious gore soaked woman. 6- Choice
TELEPHONE INTERCEPT 8839222-1 - Hello? - Uh, hi. This is Mike Sasich from QuasiTech Industrial, I am trying to get in touch with Casul Gorgio. - That¡¯s me. What is this about? - So, I was reading up on a paper you wrote at MIT in 1996. It was the one regarding Deep Learning and Emotional Networking? And I was wondering if we might organize a time to discuss it. - Uh, I don¡¯t know, I am very busy with my course load right now- - Look, I¡¯ll sweeten it for you, we were actually considering making you a job offer for a consultant part time role in our company. - Just off my paper? - Yes, but I thought we might have a chat first. - Alright, where were you thinking we might meet? - Well I was thinki-
Chapter 6 Choice Canfermirax Canfermirax gazed down at the human female. She lay surrounded by the corpses of several wolves, all of which had died hard. Gore and blood stained the snow. He sniffed at them and smelled the taint of the blight. As I thought, it has spread already. He thought to himself, wrinkling his nose in disgust. Looking back at the female he saw a puff of steam and the soft rise and fall of her shallow breathing, she had multiple injuries and he could smell her death approaching. He snorted in annoyance, this human looked weak, she would likely be of no help to him in dealing with the dungeon. Stalking over to the cabin, tail twitching agitatedly, he looked inside, and just stared. Filling the room was a mound of corpses, all from Sizzarh¡¯s pack, mutated and infested, all dead. He glanced back at the dying human in surprise. I suppose she may be of some use to me after all. I need to move quickly. The human moaned softly as he clutched her in his talons, with a powerful beat of his wings, he was gone. Heading for his lair high in the mountains above the valley. As much as Canfermirax normally hated exerting himself, he gritted his teeth and powered his way across the valley. Moments later he was stalking through the cavern, Canfermirax muttered to himself as he clattered about, sifting through his collection of trinkets. ¡°Where did I put that cursed thing? AH! There it is!¡± A glowing red potion of [Lesser Healing] Its dull ruby glow contrasting with the blue light of the cave. ¡°Hmm this will do the trick, I think,¡± he looked at the human and then at the potion again. ¡°No I guess not, you can¡¯t swallow like that,¡± he threw the potion over his shoulder. Returning to examine the human, Canfermirax saw that she did not look good, her skin was pale and clammy, and her breath came in shallow gasps. ¡°However¡­ yes, why not, it may work.¡± Reaching out a claw, he focused his will and gathered his mana. Crackling lines of energy, like magnetic force lines, slowly expanded out from his claw. ¡°[Greater Restoration]¡± He growled, triggering the spell. A large chunk of his mana pool vanished in an instant, flowing along the force lines and into the human. Canfermirax watched the human for a moment as her breathing eased and a healthy pink began to show on her skin. ¡°Heal human, we have work ahead of us,¡± he growled softly to her. Ria She could hear and see nothing. There was no blackness, just an absence of things, no substance, a strange non-color which made her eyes slide around with no sensation of depth or focus. She blinked and looked down at her hand, she could focus on it, she could see the wrinkles of her skin and the whorls of her fingerprints. Just beyond lay a depthless void. She felt sick, it was wrong, she felt claustrophobic like something was encasing her on all sides. Suddenly, a shape began to form in the nothingness. A strange mess of polygonal planes began to unfold like a crazy origami flower. As it unfolded, it expanded and as it did this, a kaleidoscope of patterns burst forth, full of color and vibrantly beautiful. She watched as it expanded to fill her view. Its polygonal shapes showed refractory images, mountains, cities, oceans, forests. Everything she could imagine was contained within the shifting shapes. The shape expanded further, with ever-increasing speed. She realized it was getting nearer and her eyes bugged out and she started flailing, trying to stop her fall. A yawning polygon showing a frozen snowy landscape opened beneath her. Ria sat up, blinking in confusion. Her heart still hammering, cold sweat ran down her face as she panted. What the fuck was that!?, a memory? Her mind reeled, that must have been from just before I appeared in the snow. She realized then that she was no longer in the snow outside her cabin, she was in fact in a huge ice cave. Its walls were smooth and pale blue. Arches and pillars of ice held up the cave roof, which also seemed to be the source of a soft sky blue glow which made the cave appear more like an ice forest than a deep dark cave. ¡°Ahh, you are awake,¡± a deep rumbling voice spoke from behind her, it reverberated strangely and seemed to echo into the distance. She whipped around and stared in awe. Gleaming finger-length teeth, reptilian scales, and glittering golden eyes. Instinctively, Ria backed up, squeaked involuntarily, and fell over, finding that she was now sitting in a mound of dry straw. Ria, stared open-mouthed at the dragon. It stood, white scales twinkling wetly in the cold light of the ice cave. It was long and sinuous, with a wide thorax and a narrow belly. Its bat-like wings were attached above its shoulders, the wing membrane running back to just above its rear legs. Its arms and legs were muscular and ended in long hooked talons, like a bird of prey. Crystalline horns started just above each eye and were swept backward along its skull. Reptilian eyes gleaming with a strange inner golden light blinked at her. The creature tilted it¡¯s head to the side like a dog, looking at her in curiosity. ¡°Are you ok human? I was not sure if perhaps my spell was incompatible with your biology,¡± the dragon said. Its teeth and mouth shaping the words awkwardly, yet somehow cultured, like an upper-class English gentleman. ¡°Uh¡­ d-d-dragon..?¡± Ria stammered out disjointedly. She felt a strange tingling of goosebumps running up her spine as her heart pounded rapidly in her chest. She was frozen in terror she realised, she couldn¡¯t move not even a finger would twitch. The massive predator loomed over her, she knew instinctively that it could kill her in an instant. ¡°Oh, great, you¡¯re an idiot.¡± The dragon raised a paw to its face and in a very human gesture, rubbed its eyes. ¡°I knew this was a stupid idea¡­¡± He began grumbling to himself. Suddenly sounding very human, even dropping the cultured accent. Wait, did I just get facepalmed¡­ by a dragon?! Her brain scrambled for something, anything she could say to the huge reptile, ¡°I-I¡¯m not an idiot,¡± great job Ria,*clap, clap.* ¡°Hmmm¡­¡± The dragon raised an eyebrow as if doubting her. ¡°I-I¡¯ve just never s-seen a dragon before¡­ and, you healed me?¡± Ria said nervously, eyeing it¡¯s huge talons as they clicked on the icy floor of the cavern. ¡°Ahh, understandable I suppose,¡± the dragon scratched at a chin scale absently. ¡°So, you are well? There are no side effects? Correct number of limbs and all that?¡± It asked. Turning its head and looking at her more closely. She tore her eyes away from the claws and looked down at her blood-stained furs, there were slashes and holes in it, but beneath there were no wounds and no pain. Her old scars remained but nothing remained from the recent fight. ¡°I seem to be healed completely¡­ uh¡­ dragon, Sir.¡± Replied Ria nervously. ¡°Good, good. To business then,¡± the dragon locked its strange golden eyes with hers. Ria felt a sudden tingle, like a buzz of electricity suddenly running up her spine. She felt herself relaxing as she lost herself in those golden eyes. She had nothing to fear from this dragon. Ria found her thoughts coming slower, a strange fog drifting across them making it harder to think clearly. The dragon began to speak, his words rumbling through the cave. ¡°My name is Canfermirax, White dragon of the line of Mirax. Defender of Celestia and slayer of Granfar the ice giant. Welcome to my lair,¡± he gestured magnanimously at their surroundings. ¡°It is not much but it is home.¡± he looked down at her expectantly.If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. After an awkward pause, Ria responded, ¡°Oh, um yeah, hi I¡¯m Ria. I¡¯m new to the valley. Thank you for healing me Canfermirax, uh, and your lair looks amazing, well, what I have seen so far anyway.¡± She winced, feeling slow and out of her depth speaking with such a magnificent creature. The dragon didn¡¯t seem to notice her expression and looked pleased at the compliments. He sat back on His haunches, shifting to a more comfortable position. ¡°So Ria, I am sorry to say, I did not heal you and bring you here for entirely altruistic purposes. I actually need your help.¡± ¡°Uh¡­ You?¡­ Need my help?¡± she asked raising her eyebrows in disbelief. Canfermirax looked troubled, his eyebrows crinkled and tightened as he locked gazes with Ria, she felt the same strange calming sensation run over her as he spoke. ¡°This valley is my territory, and I must protect both the valley and it¡¯s natural balance as a part of my territorial contract with the land. There is a danger to that balance within the valley.¡± He gestured towards the wall of the cave with a clawed finger. ¡°You have already seen the wolves, the mutations and aggression?¡± He asked. She nodded dumbly, almost finding herself in a trance from the creatures rumbling voice. Canfermirax stood and began pacing agitatedly as he continued. ¡°The blight affecting the wolves is caused by a dungeon which has recently formed in this valley. Obviously I will need your help to deal with the dungeon or I must wait, allowing the dungeon to grow in power until it attracts the attention of the human lands,¡± He looked at Ria, sending more tingles down her spine. ¡°I cannot wait that long, by the time its existence is known to others, the valley would be destroyed by the presence of the dungeon.¡± ¡°Uh, what¡¯s a dungeon?¡± Ria asked, mystified, she had heard of dungeons and dragons of course. She thought a dungeon might be like some kind of underground maze full of traps and monsters. Canfermirax looked at her incredulously, his jaw dropped open a little. ¡°You know not of dungeons?¡± ¡°No, well, I do- I mean. I know of them but uh. I don¡¯t know if the ones I know of are the same as your one,¡± Ria stumbled over herself, trying to explain but keep her origins secret. Somehow she had a feeling that letting people know she was from another world might be a bad idea. He looked at her suspiciously. ¡°Hmmm¡­ Dungeons are magical constructs. Temples, caves, castles, a dungeon can come in many forms. Dungeons consume the life force, mana, and items left in them by creatures and people who enter and die inside. They use this to evolve and grow.¡± ¡°Uh, I guess they are¡­ kind of similar then. D-do adventurers uh, go in and explore them?¡± she asked timidly. ¡°Yes, there are many dungeons frequented by adventurers, they often seek the treasure created by dungeons to attract new victims.¡± Replied the dragon. ¡°Oh, uh¡­ I¡¯m not really- uh, what I mean is I¡¯m not, like, an adventurer or anything. I¡¯m just¡­ me?¡± She said, her brow crinkling with worry. ¡°Why do you need me? I can¡¯t do anything.¡± She said softly. ¡°You killed the entire wolf pack single-handedly with only a pointed stick. I think you underestimate yourself.¡± ¡°But I..¡± She remembered stabbing the creatures from ambush, the fight on the ice, her desperate brawl in the snow. She had killed them, she had cut, stabbed and fought tooth and nail to survive. She looked down at her worn hands, remembering how they used to look. Her hands were now callused, scarred and her nails were short and dirty. She noticed a blinking icon on her wrist in the process. ¡°Ria, I will not force you to help me. It is entirely your choice, but this danger is one which affects the whole valley. That means you and your cabin,¡± he moved close, his whole head taking up much of her vision. The seriousness of what he was saying clear in his eyes. ¡°The wolves are nothing, there are many creatures in the valley. Once infected, they will become far more dangerous than those wolves, that cabin will not protect you for long. I need your help Ria,¡± his eyes were close, golden sparks of power flashed within them, but this time, the strange tingling and calmness was absent. ¡°I need to think about it¡­ just b-back off ok?¡± Ria stuttered nervously, backing up a little. Her mind suddenly beginning to clear. The dragon''s eyes visibly widened at her reaction and he snorted a blast of frosty air from his nostrils. ¡°Very well. Come and find me when you have decided,¡± Canfermirax whirled quickly, almost angrily. He slunk off amongst the ice pillars into another part of the cavern. Ria watched him leave and shivered as she felt the odd mental pressure leave her. It felt like she could finally breathe properly, her mind was no longer strangely clouded. She wasn¡¯t sure whether to be afraid of the dragon or not. Sure it had healed her and brought her to a safe location. It even spoke to her and asked if she was ok. The problem was that strange sensation, the sense of power pressing down on her. It felt like the dragon just wanted to use her like some kind of tool, something to fix a problem and then discard. Either way, Ria needed to be on her toes with this Canfermirax creature. She looked down at her wrist and accessed her status screen. A blinking icon showed that she had gained a level. Hopefully, she would get a useful skill to help her deal with the dragon.
STATS CLASS SKILLS FEATS
PLAYER LOG
Kill: Infested_Wolf Kill: Infested_Wolf Kill: Infested_Wolf Kill: Infested_Wolf Kill: Infested_Wolf Kill: Infested_Wolf Kill: Infested_Wolf Level Gained! Health Fully Restored Resisted: Draconic_Influence Resisted: Draconic_Influence
Examining the player log, Ria scrolled through it and saw entries that looked like the dragon had been influencing her or at least trying to. Is it a passive skill or did the dragon cast magic on me? Ria did a quick check of her vitals screen.
Health Pool Stamina Pool Effects Description
159.2/159.2 159.2/159.2 Draconic_Influence You have been calmed by Draconic Influence ¨C Fear Reduction (2): Duration 121 sec
Health Effects Stamina Effects
It calmed me? No wonder I wasn¡¯t freaking out. Ria narrowed her eyes and looked off in the direction the dragon had gone. Is that why he stormed off? The failed influence attempt? She furrowed her brow in thought. It looked like she had gained around 10 points in all of her vitals when she gained the level, which put her at 159 in Stamina and Health while Mana was sitting at 120, up from 110. She had also gained another 5 stat points, she immediately added these to Strength, Agility, and Endurance. She examined her stats again and noted that each point seemed to be giving her around 0.5% bonus, whatever that was, to the stats. She had also gained a few more HP and Mana from upping her stat points.
STATS POINTS BONUS
STRENGTH 4 +2%
INTELLIGENCE 1 +0.5%
AGILITY 5 +2.5%
ENDURANCE 7 +3.5%
FOCUS 0 +0%
VITALS BASE CURRENT
HEALTH 167.1 167.1/159.2
MANA 120 120/120
STAMINA 167.1 167.1/159.2
She then went on to check her skills and feats. Finding no change, she was a little disappointed. She had hoped she might gain some cool skills with each level, but so far, there had been no such luck. She sat on the hay pile and considered her options. The dragon wanted her help to destroy a dungeon, whatever the hell that was. She had no weapons and there was really no way she could defeat a dragon if it decided to kill her even if she had weapons. She sighed in frustration. This is a bullshit situation! In annoyance, she stood up and began to pace. She knew nothing about this world, she had just faced ravenous creatures which had basically already killed her, if not for that dragon''s spell¡­ There was no way she could fight a dungeon full of monsters like that. On top of all the other shitty things, she had to deal with a dragon which could apparently influence her behavior and possibly even her thoughts. Looking down at her scarred and worn hands again, she stared at them and stopped pacing. This world was a new chance, sure, the dragon was trying to use her, but she had resisted its influence. I think I may be immune to its influence based on its reaction at the end there and how it left in a huff. It needs my help, which means I have something the dragon wants, and that means I have leverage. She looked hesitantly in the direction Canfermirax had gone. Canfermirax Canfermirax was worried, the human had been pacing about and muttering to herself angrily for a while now. He wondered if she might be mad, after all, it was the mad humans who came out to live alone in the middle of nowhere, or so he had heard anyway. His initial attempts to calm her had thankfully been successful, but she was tough, she had begun resisting his attempts to influence her thoughts. She was unlike most of the lesser creatures he had met, goblins, orcs, and even trolls were relatively easy to dominate, but this human, she was not minion material. He had met many humans and celestials in the past, centuries ago during the demonic incursion. Back then, there had been little time to socialise. He snorted and rolled about in his pile of gems. She was really his only hope at getting rid of the cursed dungeon, he just had no idea how to convince her to help. Maybe I should just hibernate until the human cities deal with it for me, that would be much easier. Soft footsteps caught his attention and he turned to see the human step from behind an ice pillar, her mouth agape in amazement. Canfermirax lay on an enormous pile of gemstones, his hoard filled the center of the cavern. The gems tinkled and clicked as shifted on his pile, showing it off to the human. It was rare that he got a chance to show off his treasures to another intelligent creature who could appreciate it. The look on her face was priceless. Ria Ria stared in awe at the pile of gemstones, there were a few coins and other trinkets scattered about the piles'' edges. The pile had to be a good 20 meters across, the dragon lay atop the pile. The huge reptile suddenly reminded her of the danger of her situation. Taking a hesitant step out from behind the pillar, she froze as the dragon turned to face her. Despite her ability to resist its influence, she still felt that animal fear of being close to a large predator, like she had just had the glass on the lion enclosure vanish with one just inches away. Gritting her teeth, she walked further into the room and defiantly met the dragon''s gaze, those reptilian eyes were still almost magnetic but the strange numbing sensation was gone. She clenched her shaking hands and bowed low to the dragon. ¡°I have decided I will help you with the dungeon. For a price,¡± she said. 7 - Negotiation
Fragment Bin File: _000000228887492937773937aTrawlsyslog - is anyone out there? 1.4 min elapsed - Hello! 2.2 min elapsed - Hello!? 15 sec elapsed - I can¡¯t see anything¡­ hello? ______00rror!
Chapter 7 Negotiations Canfermirax Canfermirax stared at Ria, ¡°A price...¡± He muttered as he eyed her. A long silence filled the cave as he examined her, small beads of sweat ran down the woman''s face and he could see a jaw muscle clenching in determination like she was fighting down her fear. The sheer audacity of this human, demanding payment and bargaining with him like a high-level knight or powerful warlord. It reminded him of Alar, he had not heard news of the adventurer for decades, so he doubted the ballsy barbarian was still alive, but the memory still brought a ghost of a smile to his face, one quickly hidden from the human. This negotiation would require some degree of finesse. He continued to stretch the pause, watching the facade of confidence crack slightly under the pressure of his gaze. At first, he wondered if she would run but after a few more moments he barked with laughter making her jump in fright, which just made him laugh even harder. His rumbling laughter echoed through the ice caverns, even making the gems in his hoard tinkle and click together. He had to work hard to not keep on laughing as Ria¡¯s look of surprise turned to one of confusion. Canfermirax had forgotten how expressive human faces were. Smiling down at Ria and moved closer to sniff at her, gems tinkling to the floor as he moved. ¡°You remind me of an adventurer I once knew,¡± he growled, amusement still showing on his face. ¡°What price?¡± he asked. His long pointed tongue extending the sounds into snake-like hissing as it flicked past his lips. With his influence abilities apparently useless he would have to fall back on the tried and true method of dragon negotiation. Intimidation. Father would be proud. He thought dryly. ¡°I-I want to know about dungeons. I was never taught about them back home. I only, uh, know from stories as a kid,¡± she replied, pausing to look up, meeting Canfermirax¡¯s gaze. Canfermirax was puzzled, Doesn¡¯t everyone in this world know how dungeons work? Or has education fallen by the wayside while I''ve been retired? I suppose she could have been raised in the high passes¡­ Well, if she doesn¡¯t know, I¡¯ll have to teach her anyway if we want to destroy the dungeon. Ahh hell, she probably doesn¡¯t even know how the dungeon interface works either. This is going to suck eggs. Sighing loudly he suddenly realized this was going to be much more difficult and time-consuming than he really wanted it to be. He would much rather be napping and have his frogs back¡­ Ahh shit, all my frogs are dead too. Dammit. He used the annoyance he felt and let it pull his lips back in an angry sneer at the woman. ¡°Why should I waste my time teaching you. I could just fly to any nearby city and find a willing adventurer?¡± He hoped to distract her with this argument. Make her fight for it, let her know she isn¡¯t as valuable as she thinks. The human stood before him and shuffled nervously. He watched with interest as she took a deep breath, puffing herself up. She looked him dead in the eyes and spoke clearly in an unwavering voice. ¡°You said yourself that you couldn¡¯t wait too long or the valley would be destroyed. Telling me a little bit about this dungeon you wish me to help you destroy hardly seems an unfair request.¡± She finished and stood her ground, still meeting his gaze. Crap, she somehow saw through my bluff, I¡¯m going to get bent over a barrel¡­ I¡¯ll be lucky if I get out of this with my hoard intact. ¡°Fine, I¡¯ll teach you, what else?¡± he asked with a growl. The girl looked confused, she obviously had not expected anything more. ¡°Uh, I also want your help in return, I would like a couple of small favors,¡± she said. ¡°What kind of favors?¡± he asked suspiciously. ¡°N-nothing big, I just, well I was wondering if you would help me transport some of my stuff to the cabin. Nothing like, heavy or anything.¡± Canfermirax¡¯s eyes boggled and he turned away to hide his shocked expression, hoping the human didn¡¯t notice it. She doesn¡¯t know! She really doesn''t know that I have no other options¡­ I gave in too soon. Shit! His mind raced as he schooled his face into a neutral expression. He cleared his throat gruffly ¡°Ahm, sure, sounds simple enough, come. We don¡¯t have all day human.¡± Let''s just move this along before she asks for anything else, shall we? Canfermirax stood and together they headed out of the cave. Canfermirax sat in the snow and watched the human, Ria, as she rummaged about the ramshackle lean-to. She was muttering to herself and would occasionally come out with something and dump it in a pile on a square of canvas. He examined the lean-to and saw evidence of a few felled trees and marks here and there in the snow showing recent activity in the area, she had obviously been living rough here for a few days. A cry of joy arose from the lean-to. He watched as she spun happily in the snow, holding up a Rock Snail. Canfermirax raised a scaled eyebrow curiously at her antics. He had not spent much time in the presence of humans at least not in the last forty years or so. Not since the war... This human was different to the warriors and knights he had met back then, she seemed strangely naive, innocent. She could easily have asked for riches and magical items, instead all she wanted was help moving. She was definitely a strange one. Yet another strange thing about her was how quickly she had thrown off his [Draconic Influence] Most sentient creatures could resist mind-influencing effects with training, practice, or excessive exposure, but she didn¡¯t strike him as someone who had done any of that. She had brushed him aside with barely a conscious effort. Canfermirax narrowed his eyes as he continued to watch Ria. There was something different about her, he just couldn¡¯t figure out what. Ria Ria smiled as she lifted Speedy up, she had thought the snails had all escaped but for some reason, the red striped escape artist had remained behind. The snail did not retract and instead made a strangely cute ¡°murble¡± sound at her and watched her with its eye-stalks. She offered the snail her palm and it tentatively lent forwards and slid onto her hand and then up her arm. The snail settled its self onto her shoulder and it made her smile. DING!
Congratulations You have gained a pet!
Name: Speedy Species: Lesser Rock Snail Relationship: Friendly Type: Non-Combat Rarity: Common About: The Lesser Rock Snail is often found in mountainous terrain and can be found throughout Somnium¡¯s various biomes. These docile creatures spend most of their time feeding on minerals and nutrients which they grind and dissolve from the surface layers of rock. The shell of the rock snail takes on the properties of any metal they absorb through their process of eating. A rare variant of the rock snail is the Treasure Snail, which lives in an area rich in metals and jewels. Such creatures shells are highly prized and the flesh is considered by many to be a delicacy. Non-Combat: This pet will retreat to the safety of it¡¯s shell in the face of aggressive actions or upon combat initiation. It will also attract no attacks from normally hostile monsters.
Ria¡¯s smile grew wider, and she reached up and booped the snail on its little mouth between the two lower feelers with a finger. ¡°Looks like we¡¯re buddies now,¡± she said. Speedy murbled in response happily. She saw the dragon looking at her with an odd expression on his face, he looked like he was thinking deeply about something. Ria quickly got back to work packing, she didn¡¯t want to annoy the grumpy reptile more than she already had, he hadn¡¯t really stopped grumbling to himself since they left the cave. She wasn¡¯t sure he had even noticed. The majority of her useful items went into the backpack, the rest including some of the firewood went onto the canvas square. She left behind a small fire-starting kit along with her second flint and steel, she doubted she would come back but it couldn¡¯t hurt to have a backup shelter on this side of the river. She wrapped up the canvas into a sack around her pile of supplies and tied it up. Looking back to the dragon, she called out ¡°Hey, uh, I¡¯m ready to go to the cabin now.¡± The dragon snorted loudly and looked about in what looked like embarrassment, he had obviously still been deep in thought. He shook his wings out, stretching them wide. Ria was still amazed at his size and despite still feeling more than a little afraid of the dragon, couldn¡¯t help staring in awe as the massive creature stretched his wings. ¡°What are you staring at human?¡± asked the dragon gruffly. ¡°Uh, nothing I¡¯m ready,¡± she replied. ¡°Right,¡± he grumbled and muttered something to himself under his breath. Soon they were flying through the freezing air towards the cabin, the cold air once more whipped painfully through the new holes in her clothes. It took less than a minute to reach the cabin, and they quickly landed. Ria got to work immediately packing away her supplies and then removing the pile of frozen wolf corpses outside. It was a delicate task and the freezing cold had caused many of the lower layers to become stuck to the floor in frozen pools of gore. She spent the next hour chopping frozen chunks of blood off the floor and throwing them outside, each time she brought some outside, the dragon seemed to look even more impatient. His silent brooding presence made Ria more and more nervous. Finally, with an annoyed sigh, she gave up and gathered her pack, spear, axe, and Speedy. She quickly headed over to Canfermirax. It was best to just get this whole dungeon thing done... at least then he would stop staring at her like she was food. ¡°Ok, I¡¯m ready. I think,¡± Ria called. ¡°Finally,¡± he growled. They swooped in towards a large cave entrance and Ria clenched everything, it didn¡¯t look big enough, but the dragon expertly tucked his wings at the last second and glided to fast skidding landing. Ria collapsed to her knees as Canfermirax dropped her. Gasping in fright she looked up at the dragon who was smirking at her. ¡°Asshole,¡± she muttered under her breath. Only to receive a bark of laughter from the dragon. It took a few moments for Ria to regain her composure, when she finally did she looked about to find herself in a massive cavern, far above a small shaft of light shone through one of several cracks in the arched ceiling, giving the chamber an almost church-like feeling. The dragon had halted by the entrance, looking out into the darkening sky. ¡°There will be a blizzard tonight, we will camp outside the dungeon so you might want to get a fire going, come, you can set up by the dungeon entrance. We won¡¯t be entering until dawn, dungeons are weaker in the daylight hours.¡± Canfermirax stalked through the cave sniffing to the left and right, as he headed into a chamber at the rear of the cavern, she realized that there were bodies and the stench of death was heavy in the air. ¡°Hey, what happened here?¡± she asked, pausing to look around, completely forgetting her apprehension about the dragons'' intentions. Unauthorized usage: this narrative is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings. ¡°This is Sizzarh¡¯s Den. Home to the pack of wolves you slew. Before they came for you, the corruption was spreading within the pack and it looks like they fought. See,¡± he gestured at the top of the rock lit by the shaft of light. ¡°There lies Sizzarh, the packs she-wolf leader.¡± Looking sadly at the remains, Ria sighed. ¡°So... I killed the last of them?¡± A kind of strange numbness settled over her, the realization that she was somehow responsible. She didn¡¯t feel bad¡­ but still, a sense of loss came over her. ¡°Sizzarh was a cunning leader. I wouldn¡¯t be surprised if some have escaped,¡± he said, continuing forward. Ria followed Canfermirax back into the smaller chamber and saw yet more corpses, many were young pups, she covered her mouth with her scarf as a musty rotting smell reached her nose. She looked over to see the dragon sniffing at a strange crack in the wall. ¡°Over there,¡± he gestured to a small alcove in the cave wall. ¡°Set a fire there, we will watch over the entrance tonight.¡± Ria set about lighting a small fire that quickly warmed the small alcove. Canfermirax in the meantime began clearing the corpses out, moving them into the main chamber, which seemed to clear up the worst of the smell. Canfermirax returned to the fire and curled up in a position where he could watch both Ria and the dungeon entrance. At some point the fear she felt towards Canfermirax had mostly dissipated, It was obvious that he wasn¡¯t going to hurt her¡­ but he certainly didn¡¯t seem all that friendly. Ria sat awkwardly on the edge of a rock and tried to think of something to say that would break the ice between them. She always hated getting stuck in long silences, she could never figure out what to say and often found herself paralyzed with indecision which would make them even more awkward. Her gaze kept flicking up to the dragon and then back down to the fire in embarrassment. She was in one such quick look at the dragon''s face when her stomach suddenly rumbled loudly. The dragons'' eyes flicked over to her from their vigil over the dungeon entrance. Ria blushed in horror and looked away. In all the excitement over the past couple of days, she had lost track of her hunger. Her last meal had been a dry biscuit before the wolves practically tore her apart. ¡°Mhmmmn, It would seem the restoration spell has finally worn off,¡± rumbled Canfermirax. He slowly rose and headed towards the other chamber. ¡°Do you eat meat human?¡± he asked, pausing for her response. ¡°Y-yeah,¡± she stuttered at his unexpected question. ¡°Wait here, I shall return. Try not to sleep and guard yourself, you will become quite tired this night as the spell''s effects are no longer sustaining you. Food will help,¡± his rumbling voice echoed back to her as he left. Ria waited by the fire and found herself jumping at every little noise from the fire, her eyes darted between the two entrances to the chamber, and she found herself clutching the haft of her spear with white knuckles. The night dragged on and Ria found her eyes getting tired and a slow creeping curtain of exhaustion began to sweep over her. That spell must have been powering my body with magic, it repaired my wounds and then fueled my needs and now it¡¯s like my strings have been cut. *THUMP* Ria jumped and looked around blinking in confusion. ¡°Your snoring is loud enough to ward off the dead, I heard you from the front of the cave,¡± Canfermirax rumbled. ¡°I-I shit¡­ sorry,¡± Ria said and mentally kicked herself for falling asleep. ¡°Mhmmm, not a good idea to sleep so close to a dungeon entrance without a guard. My fault for not hunting sooner. It has been some time since I have spent time among humans, I forgot how feeble your constitutions are,¡± he said. Finally blinking her eyes clear Ria noticed streaks of crimson ran down the dragons neck, forearms, and face. He gestured with a bloody claw at a large deer-like animal that lay broken at the edge of the fire. ¡°Dinner. I already ate mine.¡± ¡°Uh¡­ thank you,¡± she said as she looked over the beast, it¡¯s fur was still warm, the blood steaming in the frigid air of the cave. Ria sat on her knees, pulled her belt knife and stopped. She had never butchered an animal before. The closest she had come was carving up a roast for Christmas dinner. She looked for some kind of clue as to where to start. She knew people used just about everything when they hunted wild game but still¡­ Glancing over at the dragon Ria saw him digging around between his teeth with a large talon as he watched her with a thoughtful expression on his reptilian face. Looking back at the deer, she tried to remember how roast chicken was prepared from a long-forgotten home economics class back in high school. I think you have to get all the guts out and like section it all up¡­ but I don¡¯t have time to prepare and preserve it. Plus my salt is back at the cabin. She thought to herself. Making her decision, Ria plunged the knife in around the deer''s rear hindquarters and cut both rear legs off along with some of the fleshy muscles around its lower back. Ria surprised herself by not even gagging at the gory sight of blood and viscera. She brought them over by the fire and realised she had left the skin on, the fur was all matted and red from the blood. Sighing in frustration, Ria set about trying to cut away the skin. ¡°Ahhhmm¡­ are you going to eat this,¡± asked the dragon as he prodded the remains with his nose. ¡°Ah, no, go for it,¡± she replied and found herself watching in fascination as he snatched it up chomped it a couple of times. Bones crunched and snapped loudly, he rocked his head back like a duck drinking and let it slide down his throat with a satisfied gulp. The whole sight sent a shiver down her spine, memories of crocodiles at the zoo came to her mind. She continued to stare as he licked his lips with his long slithering tongue. It was a reminder that she was sharing a cave with a huge carnivorous predator, one that could fly, do magic and likely tear her apart in seconds if it wanted. Something else about it all brought a strange manic grin to her face, she couldn¡¯t control it, the whole situation just somehow hit a funny-bone and she let out a stifled gasp of laughter before covering her mouth with her hands. ¡°Something amusing about my eating human?¡± asked the dragon. An unreadable expression on its face. ¡°Uh¡­ no, sorry, my mum had a saying which, uh¡­ just made me laugh when I saw you eating¡­ sorry,¡± She said. ¡°Hmmmm?¡± he rumbled questioningly as he brought his head closer to look at her. ¡°S-She, she used to say that the way to a man''s heart was through his stomach¡­ she used to cook for us and dad loved her food.¡± Canfermirax looked at her curiously for a few seconds before his face broke into wrinkles of amusement and he snorted in laughter. ¡°HAH! It is true, although it is reversed for us dragons, we even have a similar saying. The way to a dragonesses eggs is behind her back while she is eating!¡± He laughed even harder, it¡¯s rumbling echoes filled the cavern. Ria found the dragons'' mirth infectious and was soon laughing at his joke. It was a strange release to laugh after so many days spent alone, surviving from day to day. The pair trailed off into a more companionable silence as Ria struggled with the intricacies of skinning her deer legs. Eventually, she managed to get the meat cleaned and propped up by the fire to cook. The delicious smell of cooking meat began to drift around the cave. She carefully rotated the legs and gradually began picking pieces of delicious greasy meat from one leg with enjoyment. Leaning back against the wall of the cave, she burped with satisfaction. Ria was just stretching her legs out when she heard a ¡°mrble?¡± sound and looked down by her pack to see Speedy poking around by her side, picking him up, she put him on her shoulder perch. She had been letting him wander around nearby where he had been checking out the rocks of the cave and he must have gotten bored. The silence stretched on for some time as she finished cooking the second leg of deer, she placed it on a nearby rock to cool. Looking at Canfermirax, she tried to picture him as a human. He seemed like a gruff but polite older man who was like a hermit. Comfortable with his own company and awkward around others. She saw the power and strength within him, but she realised she had nothing to fear. He just wasn¡¯t interested in her or threatened by her. She was only even on his radar because he needed her. Ria was confused however, what reason could a dragon possibly have for needing her help. He didn¡¯t look injured. She had actually been near death when he found her and she was important enough for him to save her with magic. Why did he need her? The thought kept rattling around in her head with no answer forthcoming. She needed to talk the answers out of him. She searched for something, anything to talk about. So she took the plunge and asked ¡°So, you have to bait female dragons with food so you can ahem¡­ do it?¡± Canfermirax looked over at her and paused, looking kind of flustered before hesitantly replying. ¡°Yeah, we still do the normal sex¡­ but unless you want all male kids you have to sneak past and¡­ ahem¡­ do stuff to an egg. That¡¯s if you want a daughter.¡± Ria wasn¡¯t sure but she had a feeling he would be blushing if he was a human. Wow, dragons can be prudish too. The thought made her smile. Warming a little to the subject Canfermirax continued. ¡°It¡¯s kind of a game, the female knows most of the time, the idea is to provide the female with a big offering of food to help feed the young, if it¡¯s good enough they pretend not to notice you sneaking past.¡± He smiled ruefully as though remembering the exploits of youth. ¡°If it¡¯s not good enough you will get sent back out with a few bites on the tail for encouragement.¡± The two sat for a while and talked, Ria asked questions about dragons and Canfermirax, for the most part, answered, occasionally throwing out a question of his own. Most of which she carefully deflected. Canfermirax was over four hundred years old and was once a part of the ¡°Netir Dragon Riders 2nd division.¡± Whatever that was. Eventually, they arrived at more serious lines of questioning, the dragon appeared to have been working his way up to them as they spoke. ¡°Where are you from?¡± Canfermirax asked, resting his chin on his claws as he spoke. ¡°Uh¡­ well, a long way away,¡± she replied. Trying to avoid giving away too much. ¡°How did you come to the valley? Winter is too harsh to travel unprepared through this region and you are no ranger or tracker used to rough travel.¡± Ria looked at the dragon for a while, he sat across the fire from her, watching with interest. He knew something, he was just trying to corner her with questions she decided. ¡°You know don¡¯t you?¡± she asked. ¡°I have my suspicions. If I was to guess, I would say that you are probably a Reborn,¡± he said and scratched at the scales under his chin. ¡°A young one at that, I am guessing you appeared suddenly somewhere in the valley.¡± ¡°What gave me away?¡± she asked cautiously. Canfermirax began ticking off points on his claws. ¡°Things you don¡¯t know. Appearing in my valley in the middle of winter. Resistance to my [Draconic Influence]. You suck at butchering game for someone living out here intentionally. Many other things¡­¡± ¡°Is it bad to be a Reborn?¡± Ria asked tensing as her hand drifted closer to her spear. ¡°Hmm, I know little of human society. I know of the legends of this world, they speak of powerful Reborn heroes fighting to protect the world from great evils, monsters, and calamities,¡± Canfermirax shifted slightly to get more comfortable. ¡°I know that Reborn tend to gain abilities and skills more quickly and with more ease than the people born in this land. There was talk while I was in the army that the Reborn on our side had many strange abilities and one even returned from death. These were soldiers rumors though,¡± he said as he looked off distractedly as though remembering something. ¡°Oh, I¡¯m nothing like that,¡± Ria said, looking down into the fire and took her hand from her spear. ¡°I¡¯m no hero or soldier.¡± ¡°Hmmgmm a soldier? I should hope not, I wouldn¡¯t wish such a life on one so young. No, an Adventurer however¡­ You certainly have the determination for it if your fight with the wolves is anything to judge you by,¡± he smiled slightly, his reptilian lips quirking at the corners. ¡°I think you could easily join the guild if you wanted to. I wouldn¡¯t go telling everyone you are a Reborn though. If humans are anything like dragons then they could easily become jealous or resentful of your Reborn abilities.¡± ¡°What¡¯s the guild?¡± she asked curiously. ¡°It¡¯s an international organization of Adventurers, run by them and for them. They do all kinds of dangerous missions throughout the world, they pay fees and have rankings and that kind of thing to judge who can do what kinds of jobs, I know they have seasonal intakes for entry to the guild in many of the major cities,¡± he replied. So, it¡¯s like a guild from a game? I wonder if this whole world is gamified or just bits of it. I really need to find out more about this place, she thought before responding. ¡°I don¡¯t really know if that¡¯s the kind of thing I want to do,¡± she replied. ¡°I¡¯m trying to avoid just going with the flow and¡­ letting things happen¡­¡± She trailed off quietly as she reminded herself of her past. ¡°Mmmm, we all make mistakes when we are young. I regret many of the things that I once allowed myself be talked into¡­ You are not alone in that regret Ria,¡± the dragon met her eyes. ¡°Still, it becomes easier to see a problem once you get far enough away from it to see it from all angles¡­ Something my mother once told me. I find that it holds true after more than four hundred years in this world.¡± ¡°Yeah, I guess so,¡± Ria looked up at him questioningly. ¡°Hey, uhm, so. I thought dragons were supposed to be all angry and¡­ uh, like power-mad. Or something.¡± Canfermirax looked down at her and raised an eyebrow. ¡°Have I not been a gracious and generous host?¡± he asked. ¡°Well¡­ yeah but... I mean you seem¡­ Nice for a dragon... I think,¡± she shrugged nervously. The dragon barked a laugh. ¡°Well, you could be right there. I¡¯m not a typical dragon, well, compared to my own clan anyway. I¡¯m not a Traditionalist like many of my kin.¡± He looked at her and snorted softly, he scratched at something between some teeth. ¡°Look, dragons are complicated, just like any race. We have just as much politics as anyone, we have rituals and laws and all of those kinds of things. There are indeed many of our kind who the more civilized lands would consider to be evil and destructive.¡± Paused for a moment to dig a bit more deeply between his gums with a claw. ¡°I just, you know¡­ well, I guess you know now. I don¡¯t know anything about this place. I was literally born on a freezing mountain slope like¡­ a week ago? I think I lost track of time somewhere,¡± she said. ¡°Mhmm, indeed, very well I will tell you a little about myself then, seeing as we will likely be needing to trust each other tomorrow in the dungeon.¡± He rumbled somberly. ¡°Wait... So you¡¯re coming with me?¡± Ria asked in confusion and gestured to the crack in the wall, ¡°But like, it¡¯s a bit small.¡± ¡°We dragons have our ways,¡± Canfermirax smirked at Ria¡¯s annoyed expression. ¡°Anyway, you want to listen or talk?¡± ¡°Sorry I¡¯ll shut up now,¡± ¡°I¡¯m from the Clan Mirax, not sure if I mentioned that earlier¡­ mmmhmm¡­ We are one of the largest Ice Dragon clans and for generations, my family has served this continents army as both scouts and dragon mounts.¡± ¡°I told you before that I was a part of the Dragon Riders 2nd Division, I was in fact the mount of Argus the leader of the division. We spent decades defending Netir from the incursions of pirates, monsters and other nations. It was a great time for me, I had many friends within the division and my travels took me to all corners of Netir.¡± ¡°We did great good, all across the land, but eventually I fought in a war that although it was won¡­ It was not won with honor. I left and have lived here ever since. That was forty or so years ago.¡± ¡°There¡¯s not much more to me I¡¯m afraid,¡± Canfermirax said and looked down at his foreclaws. ¡°I-I was a photographer back home. I took pictures of the landscape. I sold a few to magazines and so on, but my work wasn''t really that popular. I traveled a lot but I never really made much of my past life,¡± said Ria, ¡°I was still young when I died¡­ It¡¯s strange to talk about your own death as something in the past.¡± Thoughts of the past rose up in her mind but she pushed them aside as the dragon spoke. ¡°Hmm, you said you didn¡¯t want to fall into your old ways here. Was it so bad there?¡± ¡°Mmm. Mainly just different. We had massive cities, advanced technology. Machines that could fly through the sky like dragons. We created machines and technology to do everything we could ever need. Food was easy to get. Life was just so easy,¡± she sighed. ¡°Nothing like here, I didn¡¯t even know how to start a fire without the machines of my world. Hell, I¡¯ve had to learn how to do everything from scratch here.¡± ¡°Machines you say, like a wagon, a waterwheel or a ship?¡± ¡°Yeah, only ours were like a thousand, million times more complex.¡± ¡°Mmm, I can¡¯t even imagine it. Were there dragons there?¡± He asked with interest. ¡°No, we had stories of dragon¡¯s although. They were just fiction, magic never existed in my world. We had things similar to dragons called dinosaurs though. They were around millions of years before us humans came along tho, we only know of them from preserved skeletons, that¡¯s why... uh, I was so nervous around you. In our world, big meat eaters were mindless beasts.¡± Ria said, picking at some muck on her boot. ¡°A land with no magic. You Reborn truly come from a strange place,¡± he said. ¡°So, there must be some amazing stuff in this world? What¡¯s this Celestia place you mentioned?¡± Canfermirax looked into the flame for a time before replying. ¡°It is not a place I enjoy remembering.¡± ¡°I¡¯m sorry Canfer. I didn¡¯t-¡± The dragon cleared his throat uncomfortably and continued ¡°I have seen the caverns of Elegard, one of the deepest dwarven mines on this continent. They are thousands of meters high, the walls are lined with tunnels and minecart tracks. At its bottom runs massive rivers of lava where the dwarves forge their greatest works, truly a sight to behold.¡± ¡°That sounds amazing.¡± Canfermirax grinned back at her. ¡°Indeed,¡± he turned away. ¡°You had best get some sleep, you are still weak from the spell. I shall watch over you.¡± ¡°Oh, ok¡­ Uh, do you mind if I call you Canfer? Your name is like, super long.¡± Ria asked as she curled up by the fire. ¡°Hmmm, if you must, but not where others can hear.¡± ¡°Ok, night Canfer.¡± ¡°Night Ria.¡± Canfermirax Such a strange human, I¡¯ve only known her a short time¡­ and yet it¡¯s like I¡¯ve known her since she was a mere babe. The dragon thought to himself as he glanced at the human curled by the fire. He had no idea why he felt so protective of the young woman, he had never had spawn of his own, not for lack of trying as a youth but, somehow his instincts told him to protect her. It was very strange. His skills would not allow the majority of mind-altering skills to work and only the highest levels of elder magic could influence a dragon. Even so, such magics could be resisted and you could feel them working on you. A memory of magic resistance training exercises flashed across his mind. No, not magic. Something else. Once they dealt with the dungeon, it might be an idea to investigate¡­ whatever this was. He hoped he wasn¡¯t just super lonely¡­ Gods, if I¡¯ve just made a friend¡­ 8- Dungeons and Dragons
TELEPHONE INTERCEPT 88442555-3 - So I was thinking, if we make it so the Npc¡¯s respawn, we can build some mission hub areas that always have like the same mission. It supports the power leveling part of the player-base to at least have some static mission hubs in the game. - I see your point, but, I mean it¡¯s kind of wasting the dynamic AI if we hard code in any missions. - Look, I love the dynamic AI as much as you, hell I wrote half the thing, but if we want this thing to be marketable we need to make sure there are always epic adventures available¡­ you know? I mean the natural tendency of society is to want to head towards stability. After initial conditions are set, it might take only a few years for the various wars to calm down. - Once players start moving up the command structures they will start generating questlines themselves, they will breed conflict into the system. It shoul- - Well we need something in there as a backstop¡­ you know a constant thing, something that can be ensured to provide a wide range of challenges to the players. - We could just put dungeons in it, you know have them spawn and evolve into like instanced adventures. - Wasn¡¯t that in the design doc at some point? - *paper crinkling sounds* Hmmm...
Chapter 8 Dungeons and Dragons Ria looked back at Canfermirax. ¡°Are you sure about this?¡± she asked. The dragon sat waiting with his arms crossed. ¡°You wanted to learn, this is how we learn,¡± he said, his mouth quirked at the side, and she realized he was taking some strange satisfaction out of this. Muttering in annoyance, Ria reached out her hand and stepped slowly towards the dungeon entrance. As she got closer, the hair on the back of her neck tingled, and she could feel an abundance of static electricity in the air. A dank earthy smell with an underlying hint of rot reached her nose. Looking in through the dark crack in the wall, she could barely see beyond a couple of feet in the dim firelight from behind. She thought she saw movement but it could have been the firelight playing tricks. Sliding her feet forward cautiously, Ria heard a snort of amusement from behind. ¡°Hey. Not helping Canfer,¡± she said over her shoulder at the dragon. ¡°It¡¯s my first time doing something lik-¡±The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. Her outstretched hand suddenly began to tingle and a fraction of a second later the dungeon entrance bloomed into light, a rippling barrier of light spread out across the dungeon entrance. Tendrils of otherworldly energy twisted and wove their way around the edges of the crack. When the ends of the tendrils touched the nearby rock they stuck to it like glue for a moment before fading and re-forming to touch a new area of the cave wall. A tendril reached out and caressed her arm causing her to suddenly break out in goosebumps before it faded away. Ria looked back at the dragon, whose only response was to nod encouragingly and gesture for her to continue. With a frustrated sigh, Ria took another hesitant step forward and reached out to touch the rippling barrier of magic. She felt a strange buzzing sensation under her hand as it pressed against the barrier. Suddenly multiple arc¡¯s of energy reached out and wrapped around her wrist and forearm. In shock, Ria tried to jerk backwards but her hand wouldn¡¯t budge an inch. DING!
Congratulations, you have discovered an unnamed dungeon! To name this dungeon, you must be the first to reach it¡¯s Dungeon Core! Would you like to enter the dungeon Y/N
¡°No!¡± she quickly said, immediately her hand was released and she stumbled back. The glowing effect faded slowly as she stared at it. ¡°The fuck Canfer?¡± she asked turning to face the dragon only to see him stifling his laughter and wiping a tear of amusement from a reptilian eye. Ria glared daggers at the dragon until he regained his composure. ¡°Sorry, your face though. It was just like Alar¡¯s when he opened that mimic chest,¡± he said and immediately devolved into another fit of laughter which took some time to finish. ¡°Are you done?¡± Ria asked. ¡°Ahhmm, sorry.¡± ¡°Who¡¯s this Alar?¡± ¡°An old companion of mine from some years ago.¡± He met her gaze. ¡°So, what did the menu say?¡± ¡°It just said do you want to enter and that it was an unnamed dungeon.¡± She replied looking down and touching her still lightly tingling hand, Ria looked back at him, ¡°So what¡¯s next?¡± ¡°We go over the basics and get to work,¡± Canfermirax replied. ¡°Fine with me¡­ uh, you sure we can get out if we go in right?¡± She asked. ¡°Yes yes, I¡¯ll explain all that, come sit by the fire.¡± ¡°Ok, the basics.¡± Rumbled the dragon as the pair sat by the fire, Ria carefully packing her stuff away as she listened. ¡°Dungeons are living magical structures. To survive and grow, they consume mana, the magical energy of this world. In order to get this energy, the dungeon will try to lure in creatures and people who it will try to devour.¡± he said. ¡°They are unable to directly slay their prey and must instead rely on condensed mana constructs which we call dungeon monsters. They may look like a surface monster, but they are entirely under the thrall of the dungeons will. A dungeon can also control its internal structure to the point that they can create lethal magical and non-magical traps which are also used to kill those who enter.¡± ¡°All dungeons seem to conform to the same general design and as they grow, dungeons also develop along similar lines. They are divided into multiple levels, each of which has a ¡®Boss¡¯ room at the entrance to the next level. In addition, each level becomes progressively more difficult as you move away from the entrance.¡± ¡°The differences between dungeons stem from the environment where they are developing, the monsters and people they have consumed, and how they were created. Those key things decide just about everything else about the dungeon, from traps and monsters to the appearance and layout of each floor. Dungeons will also change drastically as they finally reach sentience, those are an entirely different class of dungeons than this one.¡± ¡°So, that brings us to this particular dungeon,¡± the dragon gestured in its direction. ¡°Some dungeons will develop an ecosystem, usually this happens when one has absorbed a natural cave holding a varied ecosystem of plants and animals. When that happens, the dungeon will often twist and change the nature of that ecosystem into something able to kill and deal damage to the dungeons prey.¡± ¡°What I¡¯m thinking has happened is. This dungeon has likely done something similar and absorbed something like a mushroom grotto or some kind of fungus and it has begun growing fungi with infectious spores. The wolves have wandered in to explore and become infected by it.¡± ¡°That is why we need to kill this one. Young dungeons are uncontrollable and are not intelligent enough to do anything but eat. This one will keep producing more and more spores, gradually it will begin to mutate them to serve its purposes.¡± ¡°Dungeons like this have been known to bypass the rules which stop them from interfering in the outside world. The spores allow them to directly send out infected creatures to bring back food to the dungeon, something other dungeons are unable to do. They are extremely dangerous as a result.¡± ¡°Normally a dungeon can¡¯t do much of anything beyond its entrance barrier other than expand its external surfaces, older ones tend to find ways to manipulate the exterior of the dungeon but no dungeon could normally have monsters pass through the barrier.¡± ¡°Alright so¡­ that¡¯s the basics. Any questions.¡± Rumbled Canfermirax, finally ending his lecture. ¡°Uh, where does treasure fit into all this?¡± Ria asked. ¡°Dungeons live by a whole bunch of rules, one of those is that it must reward those who face the challenges of the dungeon. It¡¯s also likely another way of luring adventurers inside.¡± Replied the dragon. ¡°How do we get out once we get into the core and destroy it?¡± ¡°Dungeons have an exit teleporter in the dungeon core. It also cannot re-set traps or respawn monsters until we have left.¡± ¡°Ah¡­ boss monsters?¡± ¡°Larger and more dangerous versions of normal dungeon monsters, sometimes they could be a unique monster, created by the dungeon specifically to act as a boss.¡± ¡°Ok, how are you going to fit in the dungeon and how are we going to deal with the spores?¡± Ria asked. The dragon tossed Ria a small green potion. ¡°It¡¯s a cure disease potion, use it only when you get infected. It¡¯s the only way to ensure you get the immunity buff,¡± She caught the potion awkwardly and finished shrugging into her pack. ¡°As for me. One moment.¡± said Canfermirax. The dragon began making a strange complicated set of hand gestures and chanting in a strange almost guttural growling language. Ria watched in fascination as an aura of blue glowing mana energy began to swirl and twist about him. The dragon was momentarily lost to Ria in a flash of blue-white light. When her vision returned sitting where the huge ice dragon once stood was a white house-cat. Ria stared open-mouthed as the cat turned its golden eyes on her and said, ¡°Well, are you ready?¡± ¡°uh, yeah. Sure.¡± She replied, shaking off her incredulity at this strange world. Ria walked up next to the cat-dragon and clenched her nervous hands around her spear then she stepped through the dungeon entrance, the cat trotting calmly along beside her.