《25 Year encroachment》 Chapter 1: Into the depths Waking up to an intense headache, Malo opened his eyes and immediatly thought ''why do I feel so short''. All his senses felt so vivid compared tothe rushed live he had lived yesterday. The stone room he was in was at least a mile both long and wide, and was dimly lit with blue stones evenly placed against the ground. That is when he noticed he was standing on fourpaws, not two feet. The mechanical voice spoke again monotonously [Host has completed tranformation, running systems check]. A display then appeared.
[Identity:Malo reih ] [Type:Monster]
[Race:Wolx(teir 1)] [Gender:Male]
[Vitality:F+][Strength:E-]
[Senses:D-] [Grace:E]
[Intellect:C+] [Instinct:D-]
[Weight:F-] [Charm:D+]
[Innate ability: {Monsterous appetite}]
''What the heck is happening'' Malo pondered while staring forward at green humanoid figures dropping from a black portal 50 feet in front of him. ''They don''t look too friendly'' The beings pointing muck covered sticks at him. He almost tripped while getting used to running on four legs over the cold stone floor. Compared to when he was human, or a husk as the voice called it, he ran at least two times faster. After getting out of sight of the green things behind a few layers of trees he took a better look at himself. ''Fur the color of silver and a long, bushy tail, I became a fox/wolf hybrid considering my size''. His self evaluation didn''t last for long as he heard quite crunching of leaves on the floor against the dirt and gravel occupying the grove of trees. Suddenly a loud growl originated from his stomach. The green things,alerted, peered around the gigantic redwood.''lying on the stone floor must had made me hungry'' thought Malo as, unable to supress his urges jumped at one of the short green humanoids tearing through it''s neck. The blood oozing into his mouth tasting sweet as sugar. The other three green things were suprised, holding their sticks in defensive stances. Due to the suprise, Malo was again able to retreat into the thick flora of the grove. The green beings, scared from the suprise attack slowly approached in a defensive formation, and after completely losing Malo took a few baubles and trinkets from their dead comrade left as soon as possible. Malo approached the dead being in order to satiate his ravenous hunger. Starting with the left arm ate as little organs as possible.''Now all I need to do is find a renewable source of water, I can try to figure out what is going on while searching''. Suspecting a stream or river to support the vibrant green plants around the area, Malo walked through the grove.Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation. The sound of running water echoed inside his oversensitive ears while meadering the gigantic trees that appeared overnight. A river almost 30 feet wide moved through the forest-once-thought-grove, it''s edges reflecting the forest''s green color. Over the river Malo''s eyes shone yellow, finally getting a look at his new face.''For a monster I look quite good'' Thinking while drinking the clear water. The voice rang out [91 days remaining on floor one before termination] in it''s eerie emotionless voice. ''looks like I have to figure out how to change floors before i get "Terminated"'' He pondered.''Maybe I should explore the area and find a safe plce to sleep''. On one of the great trees he scratched an arrow in the direction he came from, in an effort not to get lost. In survival situations it''s best to use a simple method to mark your surroundings. He returned in the direction he came from, leaving arrows after every while. The Sun had a blue color as if tinted by glass, and it''s beams pierced the canopy from directly above. Malo, uncomfortable with the heat radiating through his new fur walked in the shadows.
People all over this new sectioned off world awoke with changed bodies. Those with an inclination towards good became elves. Those with an inclination towards evil sprouted horns, grew tails, and unfolded wings became demons. Those not exactly just and not exactly evil became monsters, losing the ability to improve their strength through training and gained the ability to improve their strength through eating stronge beings. Not all monster came from humans though. As many black portals appeared around the stone labyrinth spawning monster that had been artificially generated by magical means. Chaos reigned as people who were not used to fighting fell and groups formed. Many elves became part of an elven alliance, seperating themselves from the accursed demons. Demons formed a mafia like group to control the elves. Small warbands scoured the earth looking for a way to move floors to avoid termination. The only ways down must have been behind the giant steel doors, guarded by an army of what many called goblins. [80 days left until Termination] The voice said as malo finished his perimeter search of the forest, now knowing about the masses of goblins scouring the stone plains. Chapter 2: Floor 1 exploration Malo, in an attempt to build a proper map, acted as if the area he entered the forest in was north. At about 35¡ã a group of goblins were stationed directly next to the forest, about 50 in number. A number of smaller tribes were stationed anywhere from 135¡ã to 270¡ã, making sure to stay out of the larger tribes way. While walking around the forest he also happpened around a few camouflaged snakes and bright colored frogs. They were used as a temporary food source ,although the frogs had a slightly toxic kick, they were nothing his new body couldn''t handle. When he was human he used to get sick all the time but now almost nothing could make him feel sick, his immune system was at least 5 times stronger than before. This also helped when he got knicked by a goblin spear while hunting, but it could just be a specific immunity to the poison the goblins use which might have stemmed from the forest frogs. It would explain why so many tribes lived around the forest. After a couple days of eating only goblins their sweetness faded, now only tasting like dry cereal. [Now initializing a routine systems check for 80 day deadline] the mechanical voice sounded.
[Identity:Malo reih ] [Type:Monster]
[Race:Wolx(teir 1)] [Gender:Male]
[Vitality:E-] [Strength:E-]
[Senses: D-] [Grace:E]
[Intellect:C+] [Instinct: D-]
[Weight:F] [Charm: D+]
[Innate ability: {Monsterous appetite}]
His vitality and weight were one sublevel higher than the previous check.''Must have been due to the change in diet'' He figured while heading back to the river. The river traveled from west to east in almost a straight line in and out of the center of the forest area. The forest provided everything Malo needed, but the time limit slowly crept up.
Tensions between the elves and demons were rising. They both felt the need to get to the next floor before the other. while the elves trained in order to attack the goblin army, the demons set up traps in order to make the elven expedition fall through. The expedition was set at 45 days before termination hoping that everything will go according to plan. During the days before 80-1T(80 before first floor termination) the elves discovered their ability {spirit control} while the demons discovered their ability {essence expulsion}. {spirit control} helped the most during group battles, and {essence expulsion} helped in individual battles. Both sides decided their leaders by their power over the abilities.
Bored of the easy lifestyle, Malo decided to explore downstream. After walking for about half an hour he heard the trickeling sound of water falling. It lead to a large cave with an underground lake.''Even though the ground has been perfectly flat, there just happens to be an inconsitency'' He rationalized ''quite suspicious''. The cave had a musty air as if nobody had entered it in a long time. At the end of the cave was a symbol scribbled in blood. It was three needles pulling strings into a y formation. The Mechanical voice boomed [Host has found the origin story of a master craftsman, please choose a reward]A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.
[A craftsman''s Masterpiece](robe)
[Pouch of unending needles](artifact)
[All Floor one secrets have been found] the voice mentioned to all who could hear. After a quick deliberation he decided on the pouch, a robe would only restrict his movements. The pouch strapped itself onto his front right leg and the voice explained [This pouch hold a maximum of 20 steel needles which regenerate inside the pouch after deformation or destruction within 10 minutes]. If he wanted a needle he would have to open the pouch and spill them out due to the lack of opposable thumbs. Tired after 10 days without rest, he fell asleep in the darkest part of the cave. Waking up, he felt an intense hunger ''How long was I asleep'' he wondered without a way to find an answer. He waltzed out of the cave refreshed from his long nap. Looking at the river water he saw mixtures of red and purple drifting dowstream followed by bodies of both green and white humanoids.''I should probably check out what''s happening upstream, must be a pretty large scale battle''. After an hour long walk he arrived at a battlefield. All the small goblin tribes west from the forest were wiped out, their villages being looted. "We leave in ten minutes" shouted a buff man with pointed ears wearing crude steel armor. ''Everyone else must have also transformed into fantasy beings'' he reasoned out, not seeing a single human in the group. The group of people left after burining their dead leaving only goblin corpses sccatered around.''Nothing tastes as good as a free meal'' He filled himself with goblin meat, first eating the chief of the village. Compared to other goblins the chief had more flavor. It tasted rich with iron and protein, deserving it''s title as the villages strongest. The warband of people went towards the big goblin village on the other side of the forest. It was all part of their training in order to defeat the Giant settlement of goblins guarding the door. They had to be fit for battle within 33 days, where elven troops would siege the settlement and take the upper had against the evil forces of the demons. The demons already tried many things to foil their plan including poisoning food in the storage, and creating fake letters from the higher ups. Malo followed them while hiding in the forest thinking ''The strongest of the big village must taste the most delicious''. Monsters taste buds relied on the strength of what they tasted, not any other factors. This is one of the main reasons why monster are always fighting- They hated things which tasted bad. Of course, the stronger senses a monster had they more agressisve they were, they either met an early death or grew incredibly strong. The battlefield was full of elves chanting and goblin screams. Semi-translucent beings formed blades of wind and tossed sharpened stones at the goblins. These were spirits. Fueled by the elves faith and intellect they would fight on the battlefield, making it completly one side.''Note to self, don''t mess with them'' Malo thought perturbed.''I lost a crucial supply of food, put at least I can now travel around the area with piece of mind''.